“Courtesy titles” out at Crain’s
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Robert Feder writes about the new Crain’s Chicago Business website…
The folks at Crain’s Chicago Business unveiled a beautifully redesigned website this week — and now they want everyone to see it.
So they’re holding an “open house” on the site, dropping their usually strict paywall and inviting non-subscribers to sample everything online for one week (including the just-released “40 under 40” list for 2014). The free peek runs through December 12 at chicagobusiness.com.
He adds…
One other change longtime readers may notice: Crain’s no longer includes those quaint courtesy titles on second reference to subjects in its stories. So it’s no more “Mr. Smith” or “Ms. Jones.” Now it’s just plain “Smith” and “Jones.”
* Zorn rejoices…
The New York Times still clings to this custom, though not in sports stories, even in referencing non-sports figures.
I chafed at the courtesy titles when I first started writing for Crain’s, but one of the most common reactions to my moving over to the magazine were the comments about how my column was now “classier,” although nobody could put their finger on why. I think that had to do more with the courtesy titles than anything else.
So, now, believe it or not, I kinda miss ‘em.
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Rauner talks taxes… kinda
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner denied today that his post-election warnings about the sorry fiscal state of Illinois’ budget are designed to lay the groundwork for a tax hike…
“I’m not saying that at all. I think it’s important for voters to understand exactly what’s going on,” Rauner said. “Our politicians have been making short-term borrowing to fill budget gaps. We are going to have honest budgets going forward.”
* But when asked if the 3.75 percent tax rate as of January 1st might be increased, Rauner didn’t say “No”…
“As I’ve said, we want to roll the income tax hike all the way back down to where it was in 2010. We’ll work that over time and right now the law is 3.75 and that’s what we’re going to manage with.”
When asked if that meant he was committed to 3.75 tax, Rauner hedged, saying “nothing will be off the table.”
“Well, 3.75 is the law. But I will also say this: everything will be assessed as an opportunity to getting our economy growing again. Everything will be assessed as a way to get back into a healthy, fiscal position. Nothing will be off the table,” Rauner said. “But 3.75 is the law. I’m going to implement the law, we have to plan for that. And the critical thing is over time we get the income tax burden reasonable and the real challenge and the real answer for revenue in the future is to become a growth state again. We got into this mess by only thinking short term. Let’s talk about short term but let’s also talk about long-term competitiveness.”
* But as Steve Schnorf said the other day about a Voices for Illinois Children budgetary study which predicted cuts of up to 33 percent if the tax hike partially expires on schedule…
This analysis, while almost certainly mathematically correct given whom it was done by, simply ignores the fact that the GA isn’t going to pass a budget that contains 25-33% cuts in all those programs. So, on to plans B,C, etc.
Exactly.
* More from Rauner…
“We don’t have the time to mess around, we are in deep, deep trouble financially,” Rauner told a meeting of the Illinois Farm Bureau at a downtown Chicago hotel. “The next 24 months are going to be rough. And I apologize. I ain’t going to be Mr. Popularity for a little while. That’s OK. Four years from now I think though, everybody will appreciate what we did.”
Also…
He did offer at least one hint Monday on how he’d govern, saying it’s possible some government agencies may be consolidated while numerous boards and commissions could be abolished. That’s a common move when a new Illinois governor takes over.
Consolidation rarely saves much, if any, money.
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Another view
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Joe Cahill wonders if the Illinois Supreme Court might just surprise everyone…
Professor Mark Rosen of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law says “there’s ample leeway” for the court to uphold the pension law if it accepts the principle that even constitutional rights can be limited when necessary to serve an overarching state interest. I suppose the justices could dismiss the argument as airily as Belz did, but a deeper analysis could lead to a different outcome.
Plenty of courts have ruled over the years that important state interests can justify limiting constitutional rights. In fact, the Illinois Supreme Court acknowledged the principle in a 1985 case involving a change in the computation of judicial pensions that left some judges with lower benefits. The constitution “does not immunize contractual obligations from every conceivable kind of impairment or from the effect of a reasonable exercise by the states of their police power,” the court said in Felt v. Board of Trustees. The court invalidated the law because the state failed to show it was necessary to advance an important state interest.
A similar line of analysis in the pension case would lead justices to consider whether the reforms serve an important state interest. In the Felt case, the court said, “The state has an undeniable interest and responsibility in ensuring the adequate funding of state pension systems.”
The pension reforms are intended to advance the same state interest. But are they “reasonable”?
Professor Ann Lousin of John Marshall Law School says it depends on what other options legislators might have used that would have less impact on the constitutionally protected benefits. Lousin thinks this is where the state’s argument breaks down, noting legislators could raise money to pay full pension benefits by hiking taxes and/or cutting spending (however politically distasteful that may be to lawmakers).
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Rauner again vows support for capital bill
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As I’ve written before, a big capital bill could help Gov. Rauner smooth out a whole lot of Statehouse problems. Rauner reiterated his support for an infrastructure bill while at the White House the other day…
He said he also met Thursday with Illinois Republican Ray LaHood, transportation chief during Obama’s first term, and on Friday with current Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and several other key administration officials.
“We have got to find ways to invest in our infrastructure, upgrade our infrastructure and expand it so it’s world class,” Rauner told reporters. “Illinois is the crossroads of America. We’re the heart of the transportation network for the United States. We need to invest in our infrastructure in Illinois.”
He said he and Pritzker talked about ways to improve economic opportunity and achieve more rapid growth. Illinois, he said, was “suffering with low job-creation rates and a difficult economic climate.”
* From my post-election Crain’s column…
Members of the General Assembly, for the most part, love capital bills. Projects help their districts and help boost their own images back home when they cut those ribbons.
The Republican governor-elect will need to heal some of the wounds he inflicted during a very bitter, brutish campaign. He also will need to ease the partisan panic of Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both chambers and have controlled just about every major state institution for the past 12 years. Aside from jobs and contracts, there’s almost no better way to do that than by giving out gifts in the form of fixed roads and bridges, new public buildings, etc.
Mr. Rauner also will face a tricky problem with GOP legislators, who have been shut out of power for so long that they’ve grown accustomed to opposing every budget and bashing almost every major piece of legislation the Democrats propose.
By my count, a grand total of 13 Republican legislators who previously have served under a GOP governor will be members of next year’s Legislature. The 54 other GOP members have no idea what it’s like to vote for unpopular stuff to help their party’s governor cut a deal with the other side.
The legislative tradition is that members of the governor’s party sponsor all budget bills. So, not only will many have to vote yes on a state budget for the first time ever, but some will have to actually sponsor the monsters and accept full responsibility.
Mr. Rauner has implied that after the income tax rate automatically rolls back to 3.75 percent in January, he may want to temporarily jack that rate up closer to the current 5 percent before stepping it back down. If so, that will require Republican sponsors and lots of Republican votes.
Pleas for partisan unity and arm-twisting go only so far with legislators. You must offer them some carrots to go with the big stick. Those capital projects can be parceled out judiciously to grease the squeaky wheels.
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* I’m told the governor now has the votes to make this happen…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s former campaign manager has decided to pursue overtures to become executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, setting the stage for a lame-duck maneuver that could rankle Mayor Rahm Emanuel and tie the hands of Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner.
Aides to the governor had insisted Friday that Lou Bertuca was not interested in replacing Kelly Kraft as head of the state agency that built U.S. Cellular Field and rebuilt Soldier Field.
They confirmed a report by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed that Bertuca had been approached about the job by the governor’s appointees to the board. But, the sources insisted that Bertuca was not interested.
Over the weekend, Bertuca apparently had a change of heart and decided to interview for the job. Unless one of Quinn’s four appointees to the seven-member board jumps ship, Bertuca is likely to have the votes to win the coveted job.
* Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner was not pleased…
Asked if there was anything he could do to reverse the move once he was in office, Rauner said: “I hope so.”
I don’t think there’s much he can do.
*** UPDATE 1 *** It’s now a done deal…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s former campaign manager was hired as executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority on Monday.
In a 4-3 vote during a meeting at U.S. Cellular Field, the board gave a two-year contract to Lou Bertuca.
*** UPDATE 2 *** It didn’t go well…
The decision drew outrage from the three ISFA board members appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. They blasted board Chairman Emil Jones for hiring Bertuca without a search process.
“We think the taxpayers of the state of Illinois are due a transparent process in how we select the executive director,” board member Jim Reynolds, Loop Capital CEO, said at the meeting. “That’s not what happened today.” […]
Jones argued that the board’s statute does not require a national search for a candidate, but Mesirow Financial Holdings Chairman Richard Price and longtime bank executive Norm Bobins joined Reynolds in staunch opposition to the way the hiring was done.
“Whether the law says you do a national search or not, I think just going with the government’s assistant isn’t much of a search,” Bobins said during the meeting.
Oof.
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* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Campaign Staffer - Illinois House Democrats goes to Eric Lane…
He may not have the title of campaign manager but he oversaw 5 staffers who did.
Regionals never get the accolades they deserve. Eric had to juggle five races including Scherer and Sente in an environment that proved to be very hostile to incumbents. He not only kept his cool but kept his candidates and staffs focused.
Eric is the man behind the scenes pulling the strings…for not one but five campaigns this season. If that doesn’t deserve this award I don’t know what does.
And the fact that nobody really knows him means he does his job and does it really well - much like an offensive lineman in football. You only know their name when they do something wrong.
I think the fact that Eric has been a regional in both primary and general elections since 2010 and is mostly anonymous speaks volumes to his skills.
There were a lot of very strong nominations in that category, but Eric’s stood out above the rest.
* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Campaign Staffer - Illinois House Republicans goes to Chris Guy…
[Chris] oversaw Dwight kay and Terri Bryant. Nearly everyone was counting Dwight Kay out a year ago, but he won going away, as did Bryant.
Guy was Joe Woodward’s right-hand man in the Downstate region. Downstate was the only real bright spot for the HGOP’s, so that was the tipping point for me.
* OK, let’s move along to today’s categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best campaign staffer - Senate Democrats (Dovile Soblinskas)
* Best campaign staffer - Senate Republicans (Pat Barry)
As always, please explain your nominations or they won’t count, and please make sure to nominate in both categories. Thanks.
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* From the AP…
[The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois] objected to an expansion of the kinds of investigations in which police may eavesdrop without a warrant — at least initially. The bill allows police — with only permission from the state’s attorney — to surreptitiously record conversations for 24 hours when investigating such serious crimes as murder, the most heinous sexual assaults, kidnapping, human trafficking and others.
That, ACLU of Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka said, is “the kind of unchecked police authority that we’ve always resisted in this country.” When citizens allow such intrusion, it’s typically been only after approval by an impartial judge.
Previous law allowed emergency eavesdropping in a hostage situation or undercover drug buy. The new exemptions don’t comprise a “danger situation” said Steve Clark, legislative liaison for the Cook County public defender’s office, who fears additional crimes will be added.
Nekritz acknowledged the eligible-crime expansion was a trade-off for eavesdropping protections, but prosecutors regard it similarly — they’d prefer so-called “one-party” overhear consent, like in federal law and 38 states.
“The best evidence of the crime itself … is that recording,” said Matt Jones, associate director of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor. “The defendants may have to defend what their actual words are, but they don’t have to defend against what a cop writes in his report.”
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Two towns fell through the cracks
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* According to the BGA, there have been 660 Chapter 9 filings nationwide since 1937. Chapter 9 is a form of bankruptcy for local governments. Illinois doesn’t allow local governments to file Chapter 9 unless they successfully navigate a lengthy and complicated procedure (and even then, no towns over 25,000 are allowed into that procedure), but two small towns somehow got away with it…
The village of Brooklyn, a town of 750 people across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, filed in 2003, in part to help restructure payments related to lawsuits alleging police misconduct and financial mismanagement.
In the wake of an embezzlement scheme, the town, in a cost-cutting move, dropped its insurance coverage, leaving it unable to afford mounting legal costs, according to court filings.
In 2005, the nearby village of Alorton, population 1,960, filed for bankruptcy around the time a police shooting victim obtained a $978,000 judgment against one of the town’s officers. The victim was one of Alorton’s largest creditors, court filings show.
“I’ll be honest, I just got away with it,” says Belleville attorney Stephen Clark, who filed Chapter 9 petitions on behalf of both towns. “Everybody either didn’t know [about the authorization requirement] or they knew and felt it was better to approve the plan.”
The village of Washington Park, another Clark client, wasn’t as fortunate.
A federal judge dismissed the town’s bankruptcy petition in 2010 because state officials didn’t authorize the move. Washington Park also filed in 2004 but later withdrew, Clark says.
A 2014 analysis by the law firm of Heyl Royster concluded that the bankruptcy proceedings “apparently survived because no one objected to the filing of the petition or raised this issue.”
Chapter 9 access has become a major issue for the Illinois Municipal League of late.
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A look ahead
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From last week…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has asked the Illinois Supreme Court for an expedited hearing of her appeal of a lower court’s declaration the state’s pension overhaul is unconstitutional.
Madigan announced the motion Thursday. It says issues raised are of “widespread public importance'’ to state government and seeks a ruling in advance of lawmakers’ May 31 budget approval deadline.
Madigan’s office had already filed the appeal concerning the 2013 law designed to reduce roughly $100 billion in unfunded liability.
Court spokesman Joe Tybor says the court must first decide whether to expedite the motion before setting a schedule on the appeal.
Madigan’s motion is here.
* Kurt Erickson looks at what happens if Madigan’s motion fails to persuade the Supremes…
Madigan suggested the court schedule oral arguments for as early as Jan. 22, or no later than mid-March.
Attorneys for the retirees have until Tuesday to file their objections.
Without the expedited schedule, the deadline for filing the first significant set of records in the case wouldn’t occur until the final week of January.
After that, the typical court schedule calls for both sides to trade paperwork for nearly three months. Once that is completed, the high court would schedule oral arguments.
Under that scenario, the court could hear the case as early as May. If they miss the May docket, the next time the judges are scheduled to hear oral arguments is September.
Following the argument phase, the court could take months to issue a ruling.
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Plenty of blame to go around
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Pretty much every Statehouse finger of blame was pointing North toward Chicago for the minimum wage hike bill’s failure during the legislative veto session which ended last week.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel does indeed have a lot of explaining to do. His decision to move up a vote to pass a $13 an hour minimum wage for his city completely undercut Springfield’s efforts to pass a statewide minimum wage capped everywhere at $11 an hour.
Months ago, Emanuel scheduled a vote on raising Chicago’s minimum wage for the week after the General Assembly’s annual fall veto session. After the election, though, retailers, restaurant owners and other business groups agreed to an eventual $11 an hour statewide minimum wage, but only if Chicago and other home rule municipalities were not allowed to raise their own local wages above that amount. Proponents say they were within two votes of House passage before the second and final week of veto session when Emanuel quietly filed paperwork calling for a special hearing on his own minimum wage proposal before the second week kicked off in Springfield.
There was just no way that House Speaker Michael Madigan would publicly rebuke his city’s mayor by reversing that ordinance via state law. It’s just not in his nature to go up against a mayor like that. Besides, Madigan lost of ton of votes from Chicago legislators who could not or would not risk supporting legislation which “cut” their constituents’ pay.
Even so, Speaker Madigan himself shares in the blame here. Yes, he’s not all-powerful, but he probably could’ve passed a minimum wage bill during the spring session. Instead, he didn’t want to rile up business groups before an election and believed he could use the issue to fire up his party’s base and the unions in the November election.
As Champaign News-Gazette columnist Jim Dey wrote not long ago, former Senate President Phil Rock’s autobiography contains a story which explains Madigan to a “T.”
Rock wrote in his book “Nobody Calls Just to Say Hello.” that he wanted to pass a bill guaranteeing women unpaid maternity leave. Rock told Madigan and another House Democrat that he’d like to get the issue off the table by passing it. The Senate President believed Madigan was stalling.
“We jousted back and forth, and one of the House members said to me, ‘You know, I’m getting a little tired of you trying to do what’s right all the time. We’ve got a great political issue here,’” Rock wrote.
That’s Mike Madigan: Use an issue for political advantage rather than pass it into law. And he’ll likely use the minimum wage issue again next year, perhaps by passing a bill that he knows will be vetoed by a Gov. Rauner. He can also use the issue to keep organized labor focused on that topic and away from other stuff that Madigan might oppose (like an electronic trading transaction tax, for instance). Business groups will also be frozen in place in opposition to a minimum wage threat.
But the blame doesn’t end there, of course. As I told you months ago, Gov. Pat Quinn and US Sen. Dick Durbin didn’t want Chicago to pass a $13 an hour minimum wage ordinance before the election, believing it would undermine their attempt to gin up the city’s vote for the statewide $10 an hour minimum wage referendum. Politically, this made some sense at the time. Why would any Chicagoan bother to vote for a $10 an hour minimum wage when it had already been raised to $13?
In reality, though, the minimum wage referendum didn’t work as planned. And instead of a statewide attempt to partially catch up with Chicago’s minimum wage during veto session, the whole effort fizzled.
The governor announced plans to make the minimum wage hike his final legacy, but he didn’t bother to make sure his ducks were in a row before saying so. And that is Pat Quinn in a nutshell. He’s good at press conferences, not so spectacular at governing.
And, of course, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner’s demand that the General Assembly not pass a minimum wage bill in the veto session can also be blamed for the measure’s failure this week. He’ll have to wear that jacket unless and until he can come up with a plan to actually put something in place.
This was, in the end, a failure of policy, of politics and of governance all around. Low-wage workers deserved better.
Madigan’s spokesman said this morning that there is “no actual recollection on the Madigan side of the ball about the Rock story.” He also suggested that the Republicans and the business community deserve more blame for “stonewalling.”
Your thoughts?
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* Some libertarians are making the case that the problem behind the Eric Garner cause célèbre is “too many laws.” Here’s Stephen Carter in the Tribune…
On the opening day of law school at Yale, I always counsel my first-year students never to support a law they are not willing to kill to enforce. Usually they greet this advice with something between skepticism and puzzlement, until I remind them that the police go armed to enforce the will of the state, and if you resist, they might kill you.
I wish this caution were only theoretical. It isn’t. Whatever your view on the refusal of a New York City grand jury to indict the police officer whose chokehold apparently led to the death of Eric Garner, it’s useful to remember the crime that Garner is alleged to have committed: He was selling individual cigarettes, or loosies, in violation of New York law.
The obvious racial dynamics of the case — the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, is white; Garner was black — have sparked understandable outrage. But, at least among libertarians, so has the law that was being enforced. Wrote Nick Gillespie in the Daily Beast, “Clearly something has gone horribly wrong when a man lies dead after being confronted for selling cigarettes to willing buyers.” Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, appearing on MSNBC, also blamed the statute: “Some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes, so they’ve driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive.”
The problem is actually broader. It’s not just cigarette tax laws that can lead to the death of those the police seek to arrest. It’s every law. Libertarians argue that we have far too many laws, and the Garner case offers evidence that they’re right. I often tell my students that there will never be a perfect technology of law enforcement, and therefore it is unavoidable that there will be situations where police err on the side of too much violence rather than too little. Better training won’t lead to perfection. But fewer laws would mean fewer opportunities for official violence to get out of hand.
I don’t necessarily disagree. We do have way too many laws that unnecessarily imprison people in this country. They couldn’t have just written the guy a ticket?
* But while we may have too many petty crimes actively policed at the bottom of society, there are too few laws governing the top. Matt Taibbi…
That was economic regulation turned lethal, a situation made all the more ridiculous by the fact that we no longer prosecute the countless serious economic crimes committed in this same city. A ferry ride away from Staten Island, on Wall Street, the pure unmolested freedom to fleece whoever you want is considered the sacred birthright of every rake with a briefcase.
If Lloyd Blankfein or Jamie Dimon had come up with the concept of selling loosies, they’d go to their graves defending it as free economic expression that “creates liquidity” and should never be regulated.
Taking it one step further, if Eric Garner had been selling naked credit default swaps instead of cigarettes – if in other words he’d set up a bookmaking operation in which passersby could bet on whether people made their home mortgage payments or companies paid off their bonds – the police by virtue of a federal law called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act would have been barred from even approaching him. […]
But the policy looks worse when a white yuppie like me can live in the same city as Garner for 15 years and never even be asked the time by someone in uniform. And at the very highest levels of society, where corruption has demonstrably been soaring in recent years, the police have almost been legislated out of existence.
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GA sends Quinn hot potato
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s…
The Illinois Senate [yesterday] overwhelmingly passed a two-year extension of the smart grid law that permits Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois to hike electricity delivery rates annually via a formula.
The 40-4 vote sends the bill, which authorizes formula rates through 2019, to Gov. Pat Quinn. Though the utility-backed legislation passed by veto-proof majorities, it may die anyway.
If Quinn, who vetoed the original smart-grid bill in 2011 and has vetoed changes to benefit the utilities since then, rejects this two-year extension, it may not get an override vote before the next General Assembly convenes in January. That would start the legislative process all over again.
* There is one minor twist, however…
Before leaving, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that extends by two years the state’s smart grid law. The law allows Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois to raise delivery rates for electricity each year under a formula for making upgrades to their infrastructure.
The smart grid law was set to expire at the end of 2017. The bill extends that to 2019. […]
Immediately after the bill was approved, Cullerton filed a motion to reconsider the vote, a maneuver that for now prevents the bill from being sent to Gov. Pat Quinn. Quinn has previously vetoed bills allowing utilities to raise rates.
* More…
Quinn’s office said the outgoing governor would “carefully study” the proposal. He vetoed the original smart grid law, but that move was overridden by the Legislature.
If Quinn nixes the latest plan, it likely will die because House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, sent members of the House home Wednesday and doesn’t plan to call them back to town before the new General Assembly begins its work. […]
“The sponsor chose to keep the bill in the Senate until he has a chance to speak with Gov. Quinn about his intentions,” said Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon.
Among the groups opposing the legislation is the Citizens Utility Board, which said the 2011 law should be allowed to work as planned without the changes sought by Ameren.
So, it’s all up to Quinn now.
…Adding… From comments…
You are missing the strategy. Cullerton looks to be holding the bill until Jan 13th one day into the new gov’s term and one day before the 98th dies.
He’s bypassing Quinn.
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* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political goes to Giovanni Randazzo…
Not many people arrive as early or stay as late as Gio. Simply put, he works his tail off. Manages two of the most time consuming and challenging committees, is always willing to work on a member’s project (usually because nobody else wants to) and has the institutional knowledge to help in almost any situation.
Love the guy.
The clear runner-up was Mike Hoffman.
* The contest for the 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State House Staffer - Non Political wasn’t even close…
Mark Jarmer is a staple to the HDEM Staff. He is a veteran. Yes he is an actual veteran, but also a veteran staffer. He has to deal with some difficult subject matters that are always controversial, but he handles each issue with integrity and professionalism. He offers guidance to new staff, just trying to navigate the insanity that is our job. He is a clear leader and one of the most trusted employees of the Speaker.
He is also just a great guy to work with. Always in a good mood, always there to offer advice or a kind word. There are not enough good things to say about Mark.
* OK, let’s move on to today’s categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best campaign staffer - Illinois House Democrats: (Kristen Bauer)
* Best campaign staffer - Illinois House Republicans: (Nick Bellini)
Please nominate people for both categories if you can, and also make sure to fully explain your votes. Thanks.
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Today’s number: “Under half”
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Will Bunnett at Campaigns & Elections…
According to the Off the Grid National Survey 2014, under half of voters now say live TV is their primary way to watch video content—and other than sports, nearly 30 percent did not watch live TV over the past week. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, whose candidates made big gains this year, recommended spending 20 percent of total campaign budgets online.
* But as far as fundraising goes, social media ads alone don’t do the trick…
For years it was the zombie prediction that wouldn’t die: fundraising will shift to social media. Did you hear any of that buzz this cycle? Asking for money on social media is like going up to your friends and shouting, “Who wants to help move my couch upstairs this weekend?” Asking over email is like looking your friends in the eye one by one. […]
Most political advertising online relies on so-called “last click attribution” to measure effectiveness: somebody saw the ad and clicked to the website, so did they take an action or not? But commercial marketers long ago moved beyond simple last-click models. This cycle we learned that political marketers must, too. My employer, Trilogy Interactive, partnered with Facebook on a study that showed supporters who receive fundraising emails and ads simultaneously contributed 67 percent more via email.
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Unclear on the concept
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner earlier this week…
“Our problems have not been created by the tax hike expiring,” he said. “That’s not what is creating our problems. What’s creating our problems is years and years of financial mismanagement.”
* So far, as we’ve already discussed, Rauner has said he’s found $1.4 billion in the budget which is “fundamentally dishonest” spending. It’s essentially money being moved around to keep things afloat, while creating problems down the road.
And as we’ve also discussed before, Voices for Illinois Children estimates revenue lost from the partial income tax rollback in January will blow a $2.3 billion hole in this year’s budget and $5.4 billion in next fiscal year’s budget.
And, as we’ve also discussed before, just about every dollar of the 2011 income tax hike has gone to pension payments, which had been skipped or skimped in years previous.
In other words, despite what Rauner is saying, the expiration of the tax hike is gonna cause severe problems. Fix all the mismanagement you want, but it ain’t gonna total $7-8 billion a year for pension payments.
…Adding… That’s not to say there weren’t “years and years of mismanagement,” but good management now won’t make that hole suddenly disappear.
…Adding More… From YDD…
Every time he says this, another Democrat steps off the roll call for phasing the tax increase back in and back out again.
And two Republicans.
According to him, all he has to do is manage the state’s current budget better.
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Guilty, guilty, hostile
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Sun-Times writes about the guilty plea by Curtis Thompson, former chief of staff to Ald. Howard Brookins…
However, according to Thompson’s plea deal, Thompson met with the informant and another unnamed individual Oct. 7, 2013, at Brookins’ ward office. That’s when the informant showed Thompson a note that read, “$7,500 to Ald for L.O.S.” Thompson took it to mean the informant was offering to pay $7,500 for a letter support from the alderman, according to the plea. Thompson said he understood and said he’d bring the proposal to his boss.
The document then describes an Oct. 29, 2013 meeting between Thompson, Brookins, the informant and another unnamed individual in Brookins’ ward office. There, the informant handed the alderman a sheet of paper that read “$12K to you for letter of support,” according to the plea deal. The piece of paper was then passed to Thompson.
At a Nov. 19, 2013 meeting attended by Thompson, Brookins and two others, the informant said he was trying to become a 7-Eleven franchisee, and Brookins expressed his support, according to the document.
When the informant asked Brookins who he should go to “to hold up my end” — and if the alderman was “good with the same arrangement” they’d spoken about before — Thompson understood the informant was making reference to the bribe, according to the plea deal.
Over the next few weeks, Thompson prepared two letters of support for the informant on Brookins’ letterhead, signing Brookins’ name. Before doing so, he sought Brookins’ approval, the plea deal said. Thompson knew the informant later picked them up and planned to use them to obtain a liquor license for his proposed store.
Finally, on Dec. 19, 2013, prosecutors said the informant handed Thompson a Christmas card in a red envelope at Brookins’ holiday party. It was filled with 75 $100 bills.
Yikes.
* In other guilty news….
A former Illinois state representative is expected change his plea to guilty in a child pornography case.
A defense filing this week said Elgin Democrat Keith Farnham intends to plead guilty in federal court in Chicago on Friday as part of a plea deal.
The 66-year-old pleaded not guilty earlier this year to possessing, receiving and transporting child pornography.
Prosecutors say Farnham possessed videos depicting child pornography on a computer. A complaint provided graphic details about images allegedly sought and traded by Farnham online. Some children were allegedly under 10.
Good riddance.
…Adding… From the US Attorney’s office…
In pleading guilty, Farnham admitted that on Nov. 25, 2013, he sent an email from a computer in his Elgin office with the following message: “do you trade. This is what I lik.” Farnham attached two files to the email that he knew contained child pornography. In addition, he possessed images and videos depicting child pornography on computers and electronic storage devices in his residence, car and offices.
On March 13 of this year, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed federal search warrants at Farnham’s state office and residence in Elgin and seized computers and electronic storage devices. On that day, Farnham possessed no fewer than 2,765 images of real minors engaged in sexually explicit acts, including sexual intercourse, with prepubescent children. Some of the images involved sadistic or masochistic conduct and depictions of violence, according to Farnham’s guilty plea.
According to the court documents, HSI agents were investigating information received from the HSI Cyber Crimes Center that an email address, later linked to Farnham, was being used to trade child pornography on the Internet.
A sick monster.
* Meanwhile…
Federal prosecutors plan to summon Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, one of President Barack Obama’s closest friends, into U.S. District Court in Springfield next week to question him outside the presence of jurors before a judge decides whether Whitaker can be called as a hostile witness in the fraud trial of a Chicago businessman.
The 49-year-old Chicago physician is set to be questioned by prosecutors at 2 p.m. Monday before U.S. District Judge Richard Mills. The judge ruled this week that prosecutors made a good case to treat Whitaker as a hostile prosecution witness but said he would hold off ruling on their request until first hearing how Whitaker answers questions outside the presence of the jury.
After questioning Whitaker and getting Mills’ ruling, prosecutors will decide whether to call him to testify in the trial of Leon Dingle Jr. and his wife, Karin Dingle, who are accused of stealing more than $3 million in state grants obtained from the Illinois Department of Public Health, which Whitaker headed from 2003 to 2007.
“The final determination as to whether [Whitaker] would be called as a witness in the case has not been determined,” Sharon Paul, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield, said Thursday.
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Protecting his people
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Quinn is trying to take care of a couple of folks at the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority on his way out the door…
Sneed has learned that Sports Facilities chief Kelly Kraft, who was Quinn’s controversial choice to lead the authority, is now out of a job after a contract expired last week. A movement may be afoot to hastily replace her on Monday, before Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner takes office next month.
But Sneed also hears Quinn could have a problem with such an appointment if his four handpicked facilities board team members decide not to approve the move before Rauner’s first day.
“Businessmen like doing business — and Rauner is now the state’s top businessman,” a Sneed source said. “Quinn would need all their votes to approve such a move.”
And a top Facilities Authority source claims that Lou Bertuca, Quinn’s former campaign manager, former deputy chief of staff and fellow Fenwick High School grad, is being floated as a possible appointee.
Quinn wants Bertuca to get a two-year contract. As of the other day, Quinn didn’t have the four votes needed to pull that one off. We’ll see.
* And this is from my colleague David Ormsby…
There may be a gubernatorial transition taking place, but the process of the state buying things - big and small - continues to trundle forward.
On November 17, Central Management Services issued a whopper of a RFP looking for a single Prescription Benefit Manager that will be responsible for the administration of the prescription drug benefit available under all state-sponsored self-insured health plans, including the State Employees Group Insurance Program, the Local Government Health Program, the Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program, and the College Insurance Program.
The current contract expires June 30, 2015.
CMS wants all bids in by January 5 - one week before Bruce Rauner is sworn in.
Subscribe by clicking here.
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C’mon, man
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner was in Washington, DC yesterday meeting with the congressional delegation and stopped to talk to the media…
“To be clear, Illinois is in dire condition,” Rauner said. “Our financial condition is far worse than has ever been discussed publicly before.” [Emphasis added.]
* Um, no. I’ve already pointed to the column I wrote in June that found even more budgetary gimmicks and pressures than Rauner has talked about so far. The Senate Democrats also released this informative PowerPoint presentation in July…
Also in July, the CTBA released a detailed budget analysis that you can read by clicking here. And the Civic Federation released a report in October discussing the same stuff.
* Zorn…
Rauner, on the last day of May, ripped the spending plan as “phony” and “the same type of broken, dishonest budget that career politicians in Illinois have been passing for years.”
And adds…
The “If only I’d known how bad it really was!” pose from newly elected pols trying to lower the expectations of those who actually believed their commercials is always galling. But it’s especially galling here, given that Rauner spent much of the last year refusing to answer with any specificity questions about how he plans to address Illinois’ deep financial problems.
Rauner spent decades buying up companies. He has loads of experience doing “due diligence.” As some commenters have noted here, did he not do any due diligence or is this all just an act?
I’m betting on the latter.
It would be nice if the rest of the news media would start pointing out this stuff.
…Adding… Mike Flannery did a good job of rebutting Rauner’s claims this week…
“The voters have been misled intentionally by the politicians,” Rauner said.
Those politicians include Democrats, Republicans and Mr. Rauner himself. Among his campaign promises: billions of dollars in tax cuts, as well as increased spending on education, not to mention the re-opening of a Downstate facility closed to save money. He seemed to ignore six months of watchdog warnings about the current state budget.
“You would think the whole General Assembly was on medical marijuana when they were passing this thing. It’s grotesquely out of balance. It doesn’t have nearly the revenue that they claim. And they emptied their whole dirty bag of tricks to make it look balanced,” [said Mike Flannery] in early June.
In early October, the budget watchdog Civic Federation issued a detailed report on Illinois’ budget crisis. Their conclusion is one no politician wants to hear.
“There is no easy way, there is no politically attractive way to get through this. It’s gonna require sacrifice from all parties. The taxpayers are gonna end up having to pay more money. They’re gonna get less service. The employees are gonna have to take less benefits,” President of the Civic Federation Laurence Msall said.
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Question of the day - Golden Horseshoe Awards
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Beth Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant goes to Beth Chapman…
She’s got a very liberal Chicago legislator (Cassidy) and a downstater (Phelps) and can switch gears on a dime when taking calls. She’s able to serve two almost completely different constituencies with the unique touch needed for both.
She’s also one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet, and has the best candy on her desk!
Kristin Milligan, whom I dearly love, received quite a few votes, but she won last year and we should spread this around.
* The Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant goes to Lisa Katava…
Having business at the Capitol fairly often you get to meet a lot of people, elected officials, Leg. Asst’s, and State employees in various agencies. Of all that I have met, Senator Mulroe’s L.A. Lisa Katava has to be the best. She speaks to everyone, pays attention to what you are saying, and goes out of her way to accommodate everyone. If I haven’t said it before, ”Thank you Lisa.”
* Let’s move along to our next categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political (Eric Madiar)
* Best State House Staffer - Non Political (Heather Weir Vaught)
Please explain your nominations and do your best to nominate people in both chambers. Thanks!
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* As you already know, the Illinois Supreme Court declared the state’s eavesdropping law to be unconstitutional. There have been several attempts to draft a new law, and the latest has cleared both chambers. Some bullet points from the bill’s sponsor…
_An eavesdropper is someone who uses an eavesdropping device to secretly record a private conversation without the consent of all parties involved in the conversation. A conversation is considered private if at least one of those involved had a reasonable expectation the conversation is private.
_An eavesdropper is anyone who uses a device to secretly record electronic communications without the consent of everyone involved.
_An eavesdropper is someone who discloses the content of a private conversation or private electronic communication without permission.
_The penalty for eavesdropping on a law enforcement officer, state’s attorney or judge is reduced from a Class 1 felony to a Class 3 felony.
_Law enforcement can use an eavesdropping device to record conversations around certain forcible felonies with the approval – written or verbal – of the local state’s attorney. State’s attorneys must submit reports annually explaining how often this exemption was used.
* The “discloses the content of a private conversation or private electronic communication without permission” stuff troubles me. A lot. Here is the language…
Uses or discloses any information which he or she knows or reasonably should know was obtained from a private conversation or private electronic communication in violation of this Article, unless he or she does so with the consent of all of the parties.
* Private conversation defined…
For the purposes of this Article, “private conversation” means any oral communication between 2 or more persons, whether in person or transmitted between the parties by wire or other means, when regardless of whether one or more of the parties intended the their communication to be of a private nature under circumstances reasonably justifying that expectation.
* The reasonable expectation definition should mean that somebody could record a police officer in a public space (which is what the state Supreme Court case was about) without first obtaining permission…
A reasonable expectation shall include any expectation recognized by law, including, but not limited to, an expectation derived from a privilege, immunity, or right established by common law, Supreme Court rule, or the Illinois or United States Constitution.
But…
The eavesdropping of an oral conversation or an electronic communication of any law enforcement officer, State’s Attorney, Assistant State’s Attorney, the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney General, or a judge, while in the performance of his or her official duties, if not authorized by this Article or proper court order, is a Class 3 felony, and for a second or subsequent offenses, is a Class 2 felony.
So, unless we get another top court case, I figure people will still be arrested if they do something like record police officers who are in their homes.
* Now, let’s move on to the definition of private electronic conversations…
…any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or part by a wire, radio, pager, computer, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, when the sending or receiving party intends the electronic communication to be private under circumstances reasonably justifying that expectation.
So, forwarding a private e-mail would be a crime? More importantly, if a journalist receives a forwarded private e-mail (which happens more than you might think), could the journalist be charged with a crime if it results in “disclosure”? Sure looks that way.
Not cool at all. I’m told this was inserted at the insistence of the Senate Democrats, but it was done in such a way that if (when) a court strikes it down the action wouldn’t kill off the rest of the law.
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Savings program goes to governor
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From AARP…
On a vote of 30-25-02 in the Senate and 67-45 in the House, the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program (SB2758) was approved by the Illinois General Assembly today. The bill will give millions of private sector workers in Illinois the opportunity to save their own money for retirement by expanding access to employment-based retirement savings accounts.
SB2758, sponsored by Illinois Senator Daniel Biss and Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, will automatically enroll workers without access to an employment-based retirement plan into the Secure Choice program. While workers can opt-out of the program, those who do participate will be able to build savings in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) through a payroll deduction. All accounts will be professionally managed; the large number of accounts expected to be under management will ensure that fees are low and investment performance is competitive. […]
More than 2.5 million workers do not have access to a retirement savings account through their employer, according to a report from the Woodstock Institute. The report found lack of access is most serious for low-wage workers, of whom 60 percent lack access, but even for workers making $40,000 or more, 49 percent do not have access to an employment-based retirement savings plan. In every Senate district in Illinois, over half of private-sector workers do not have access to this type of plan.
* Greg Hinz…
No American state now has anything quite like the program, which would apply to employees of firms with at least 25 workers who do not have access to an employer-provided retirement account. That may explain some of the opposition, especially from the insurance industry and Springfield Republicans, who say the measure was rushed through and should have been left for Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner to consider.
But Biss said a similar measure was endorsed both by President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Sen. John McCain in the 2008 election, and he expects great things from it. […]
Biss disputes charges that the plan will place a big new burden on business. Companies merely have to offer new hires a form to decline enrollment and then integrate withholding into their regular payroll software, he said. […]
Fees will be limited to a maximum of 75 basis points, or 0.75 percent, of the value of an individual’s savings account. The bill takes effect June 1, with a two-year setup period, so no savings accounts will be established until June 2017.
Some insurance folks who market “whole life” plans as retirement options were opposed.
* The SJ-R editorialized in favor…
Clearly, it’s easier to save money when it’s an automatic, hands-off process. Few people have the fiscal discipline to set aside a money from every pay check to deposit later for something fun, like a vacation or a car, let alone the long-term goal of retirement.
It’s an especially difficult prospect for those who barely make ends meet in the first place, a problem frequently exacerbated by unemployment or underemployment in this still-recovering economy.
What happens to all of these savings-challenged Americans when they no longer can work and have no money saved to pay for their health care, housing and food? They will be thrust into the nation’s social safety net, which taxpayers support whether they want to or not.
* From a Sen. Michael Frerichs press release…
“I applaud Senator Biss and Leader Currie for championing financial security, and we all thank the businesses, nonprofits and religious groups that helped make Illinois the first in the nation to take this innovative step,” said Treasurer-elect Mike Frerichs. “I’m honored to have helped millions of middle class Illinoisans save their own money for their retirement, and I look forward to implementing Secure Choice as the next state treasurer.”
We’ll see how implementation goes, but this is a really good idea.
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* From Rahm Emanuel campaign manager Mike Ruemmler…
“Today, an objection was filed to the petitions of Mr. Willie Wilson and Mr. Frederick Collins, both candidates for Mayor, by Julian Nicks and Pam McKinney, both of Chicago. Mayor Emanuel’s re-election campaign supports these challenges and believes that they will be successful.
“A full and thorough review of all of Mr. Wilson’s 43,000 signatures has revealed an astonishing pattern of deception. After careful review, the campaign found that more than 35,000 signatures included fake and duplicate signatures, false addresses of petitioners, and a particularly sloppy overall petition submission, rife with name and address strikeouts.
“Of particular concern is the fact that there were similar patterns in the petitions of Gabe Beukinga, a candidate for 27th Ward Alderman, whose petitions are also being challenged on similar grounds. The common denominator between Mr. Beukinga and Mr. Wilson is Ricky Hendon. Not only is Ricky Hendon involved with the petition gathering effort for both candidates, but he is Mr. Wilson’s political director.”
“Mr. Collins’ signatures fly in the face of any acceptable standard. His pages feature the same handwriting, page after page, for pages on end.”
Attachments include:
* So, who is Willie Wilson and why is Mayor Emanuel concerned? Charles Thomas profiled the businessman not long ago…
Wilson, who owns a $60 million a year medical supply business, says his voting address is a penthouse apartment overlooking Lake Michigan. It’s a long way from rural Louisiana, where he says he picked cotton and dropped out after seventh grade. […]
“We give away personally about $800,000 to $1 million a year to churches every year,” Wilson said.
And the leaders of those churches say they’ll help the candidate. […]
Wilson, who supported Republican Bruce Rauner in the governor’s race, says Rahm Emanuel failed the city’s children when Emanuel closed schools.
Wilson’s net worth is estimated by some to be as high as $65 million.
* From an October Chicago Magazine story…
Willie Wilson, owner of a medical supply company and a gospel music production company —his weekly Sunday morning gospel show, Singsation! nationally syndicated, airs on WGN-TV—spends many Sunday mornings with Rauner, accompanying him as he makes the rounds of black churches “up and down the state.” The two drive in one car, Wilson says, and their drivers in another. Wilson says he’s been “pretty much a Democrat all my life”; he donated heavily to Quinn’s 2010 race. Quinn is a “personal friend” who “wasn’t happy” when Wilson, a Louisianan sharecropper’s son, the third of 11 children, told him he had switched sides.
The Rauner campaign is understandably steering clear of Wilson’s candidacy these days.
* The Wilson campaign’s response to the petition challenge…
Wilson’s spokesman denied those accusations and said it’s all political chicanery.
“We know that our signatures are good,” said Gregory Livingston. “We’re not putting people out to do those kind of deceptive things.” […]
Livingston chalked up the accusations to “old school Chicago politics” and said Emanuel’s campaign is trying to scare black voters.
“They decided to go with the biggest kind of scare they could,” Livingston said. “It’s going to backfire on them.”
If they don’t succeed in knocking Wilson off, the challenge could very well backfire. I’m assuming the mayor’s campaign knows what it’s doing here and understands the risks involved. We’ll see.
*** UPDATE *** Rickey Hendon just called to say he has starting going through Emanuel’s objections. On the first page alone, Hendon claimed, he found about half of the objections to be spurious.
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Not a good week for the governor’s legacy
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan says he plans to adjourn his chamber on Wednesday and not call lawmakers back before the new governor is seated.
The Chicago Democrat told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the House has “finished our work for this session.”
That would mean lawmakers will not address major legislation such as a minimum wage hike and the state’s financial problems before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner and a new General Assembly are sworn in in mid-January.
* Tribune…
In gaveling an end to the session Wednesday, House Speaker Michael Madigan ensured plenty of opportunities for the Democratic-led legislature to spar with Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner next year.
Lawmakers did nothing to extend the 2011 income tax hike, which means Illinois residents will get a big tax cut come Jan. 1, when the personal rate rolls back from 5 percent to 3.75 percent, even as state finances will take a $4 billion a year hit.
A statewide minimum wage increase fell flat in the House. Senate Democrats passed their own version of a wage hike, and departing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said “it isn’t over” and indicated he would use his fading power to ask House lawmakers to reconvene and urge them to pass it. A Madigan aide said a special session would be futile.
* SJ-R…
Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, principal sponsor of the minimum wage bill, said she was told by Gov. Pat Quinn that a special session could be called to give the House a chance to vote on increasing the minimum wage.
“I know for sure that our governor is looking to call a special session for the House to return and take up the measure,” Lightford said following the Senate vote. “He straightforward said that he would not allow the House to not vote for a minimum wage increase before the end of the year. He said before Christmas.” […]
However, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said there is no indication a special session will be called.
“It’s been said to us they (the Quinn administration) are not contemplating a special session,” spokesman Steve Brown said.
* Kurt Erickson…
An 11th-hour bid to establish a state-based health insurance exchange fell short Wednesday when the Illinois House adjourned for the remainder of the year without bringing up the matter for a vote.
Against the backdrop of a federal deadline to take action and the looming end of single-party control of state government, the sponsor of the measure said she couldn’t round up enough votes to get the measure to outgoing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.
* AP…
Illinois lawmakers have overturned the governor’s veto of legislation aimed at increasing the speed limit to 70 mph on the state’s toll highways.
The House voted 100-11 Wednesday to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto of the legislation sponsored by Republican state Sen. Jim Oberweis. A bill passed in 2013 increased the speed limit to 70 miles on interstates, but kept the limit lower in urban areas. Oberweis’ bill allows the state Tollway Authority to establish higher limits in urban areas.
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Trial lawyers win a big late victory
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Senate Democratic press release…
Mesothelioma, a type of cancer linked to asbestos exposure, is often an aggressive and fast-moving disease. Attacking the membranes that protect the heart, lungs and other vital organs, it causes death within an average of eight to fourteen months following diagnosis.
But symptoms typically don’t manifest themselves for 20 years — or even as long as 50 years — following exposure to the fibers that make up asbestos, which was widely used in construction as late as 1970s and is still being removed from many homes and buildings.
That’s a problem for sufferers and their families, who are currently barred by Illinois law from seeking damages from negligent construction companies more than 10 years after they were exposed to asbestos.
State Senator Kwame Raoul recently sponsored legislation to change that by removing the time limit on lawsuits over mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
The House and Senate have both approved the measure, and if signed by the governor, it will become law, allowing victims of this deadly and preventable cancer to seek compensation for their medical expenses and their pain and suffering.
* There are other views, of course…
Described by one opponent as a “last-minute and desperate attempt” to change rules before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner is sworn-in, Senate Bill 2221 will move to the desk of outgoing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s for signature. […]
Another critic, Travis Akin, executive director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, said the bill will “open up a whole new way for personal injury lawyers to file asbestos lawsuits in Madison County.”
“Madison County already attracts about one quarter of the nation’s asbestos lawsuits. This will only attract more out-of-state lawsuits and make Illinois even more of magnet for out-of-state lawyers looking to hit the lawsuit lottery in Illinois,” he said. “This legislation will only lead to more lawsuits and what Illinois needs is jobs – not more ways to sue.”
Approximately 40 business opposed the bill during session on Monday.
Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, called the amendment introduced two days before Thanksgiving the “veto session surprise.” He and others said the legislation would be detrimental to business interests.
* More on the Madison County angle…
This Monday, on the first day of the month, 181 asbestos cases were scheduled for trial in Madison County Court. Can you guess how many of the plaintiffs were from Madison County?
You’re not going to win anything if you guess correctly – other than bragging rights – but it’s a challenge and you have to respond because we’re daring you to do so.
Come on, take a wild guess. Out of 181 suits scheduled for trial, how many plaintiffs are from Madison County? 150? 100? 50?
Believe it or not, out of 181 asbestos cases filed in Madison County Court, only one plaintiff is a Madison County resident.
She is represented by the Simmons Hanly Conroy firm in Alton.
Of the 180 plaintiffs who are not Madison County residents, at least 163 are represented by the Simmons firm.
* But things may be changing elsewhere…
Despite a string of multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in favor of plaintiffs, asbestos defendants may now have a friendlier forum in McLean County, Illinois. Recently, after a three-week trial, it took a McLean County jury just one-and-a-half hours of deliberation to reach a verdict for the defendants in a forum that was once placed on the “Judicial Hellholes Watch List” by the American Tort Reform Foundation. The decedent in McGowan v. Illinois Central Railroad (Case No. 08-L-12) was a former rail yard worker. The plaintiff in McGowan alleged the decedent was exposed to and came into contact with asbestos-containing products of Sprinkmann Sons Corporation of Illinois, an insulation contractor, while working at Illinois Central Railroad. In light of the testimony from the decedent’s brother that he could not specifically remember Sprinkmann or any other insulation contractor being at the Illinois Central Railroad yard, perhaps the verdict for the only two remaining defendants in the case should not be a surprise. After all, Judge Rebecca S. Foley had granted a defendant’s motion for a directed verdict at the end of the plaintiff’s presentation of evidence on the product liability claim, with only the plaintiff’s spoliation of evidence claim proceeding to the jury.
What may be more remarkable is that the verdict for the defendants was the third such verdict recently reached for Sprinkmann in asbestos cases in McLean County, according to HarrisMartin Publishing. Defense counsel in the McGowan case – Matushek, Nilles & Sinars LLC – also report three recent verdicts in favor of asbestos defendants in McLean County. The defense verdicts are significant in part because McLean County is not a high volume asbestos litigation forum and, therefore, the verdicts represent a good sample of cases in the county. To date, only eleven asbestos cases have even been filed in McLean County in 2014.
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* From Michael Sneed…
Sneed hears that powerful Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s decision Wednesday not to call the state’s minimum wage bill during this week’s veto session — which Quinn wanted big-time — was intended to do Mayor Rahm Emanuel a favor.
◆ Translation: “Gov. Quinn wanted the state minimum wage hike passed before he leaves office — but Madigan, instead, tossed a sop to Rahm in order not to steal Rahm’s re-election thunder,” a top Sneed source said. […]
The latest version of the state’s minimum wage bill would have nullified Chicago’s home-rule authority to raise the minimum wage in the future. The City Council — under Rahm’s leadership — passed a bill this week raising the city’s minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019. […]
Quinn may be a lame duck — but he is still quacking.
“Before the new governor arrives, I want a $10-an-hour minimum wage passed outside Chicago,” he told Sneed Wednesday. “I’ve been waiting for Mike [Madigan] to get this needle threaded. I just want a plain vanilla minimum wage passed. But it has just been hurry up and wait for the Senate to act.”
Two guesses who that “top Sneed source” is.
*** UPDATE *** The Quinn folks say that the governor and his staff were definitely not the source and that the governor doesn’t agree with the sentiment expressed.
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Question of the day - Golden Horseshoe Awards
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for best political bar in Springfield goes to DH Brown’s…
Good atmosphere and service. Also agree that it is starting to attract both political parties, which is great to see.
Brown’s used to be known as a “Republican tavern,” but it’s now far more “bipartisan.”
* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for best political restaurant in Springfield goes to Obed & Isaac’s…
Their food is fantastic (leg of lamb sandwich, anyone?!), brews and spirits are some of the tastiest in town, and some of the best political convos among staffers take place there. Not to mention their beer garden is great in April for its bocce ball.
O&I is a tad bit outside the usual “sandbox” area, but it’s still close enough to attract a sizable Statehouse crowd.
* OK, on to our next category, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* The Beth Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant: (Jody Aiello)
* Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant: (Anita Colvin-Barth)
Remember to explain your vote, please.
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Union local stabs Rahm in the back
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Chicago mayoral hopeful Jesus “Chuy” Garcia more than doubled the amount of cash in his campaign fund Tuesday by depositing a single check from a major government workers union, but it did little to close the growing money advantage Mayor Rahm Emanuel has in his bid for a second term.
Garcia, a Cook County commissioner, reported a $250,000 contribution from the Service Employees International Union Healthcare political fund, driving up the amount he’s raised to $477,000.
* Subscribers know a bit more, but here’s Greg Hinz…
News of the big donation came on the same day that the City Council overwhelmingly approved Emanuel’s plan to boost the city’s minimum wage to $13 an hour over the next five years. Some activists had pushed for a $15 figure, including Garcia.
The SEIU Healthcare donation came even though SEIU’s state council a few days ago tentatively decided to remain neutral in the race for mayor.
* And then Greg updated…
In a statement, SEIU State Council President Balanoff confirmed something he wouldn’t tell me earlier: That last week’s meeting resulted in “a formal vote . . . to remain neutral in the Chicago mayor’s race.”
He adds, “The subsequent contribution to a mayoral candidate by SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana is in direct violation of that vote and the constitution and bylaws of the Illinois State Council. The violation will be addressed through SEIU’s official internal processes.”
Looks like the fight is on.
So, the SEIU Healthcare local spends a fortune on voter registration and GOTV for Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign and his $10 an hour minimum wage proposal, then pushes the state council to endorse Garcia over Emanuel, even though Emanuel is for a $13 an hour minimum wage, but after the state council votes to remain officially neutral, the local violates its own union constitution to give a quarter million bucks to Garcia.
Oy.
And, from what I’m told, SEIU Healthcare now wants to disband the state council, but that can’t be done, either.
* From SEIU’s constitution…
Any Local Union or affiliated body willfully neglecting to enforce the provisions of this Constitution and Bylaws shall be subject to suspension or revocation of its charter or such other sanctions as may be determined by the International President.
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Irony alert!
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You’ve probably already seen this story about Elizabeth Lauten…
“Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you’re both in those awful teen years, but you’re part of the First Family, try showing a little class,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”
The remarks didn’t go over well. After a wave of negative publicity, Lauten on Monday resigned her position with Republican Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher of Tennessee. “After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were,” Lauten explained in a statement, saying her comments had been extemporaneous.
* The Tribune talked to her former boss…
The staffer, Elizabeth Lauten, has been working for Rep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee after a 2011 stint as the congressional spokeswoman for controversial one-term U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, an Illinois Republican.
Walsh, now a radio talk show host, told the Tribune on Monday that “Elizabeth should have kept her mouth quiet.”
Fill in the blank: Joe Walsh saying somebody “should have kept her mouth quiet” is like ______.
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* Tribune…
In residential treatment centers across Illinois, children are assaulted, sexually abused and running away by the thousands — yet state officials fail to act on reports of harm and continue sending waves of youths to the most troubled and violent facilities, a Tribune investigation found.
At a cost to taxpayers of well over $200 million per year, the residential centers promise round-the-clock supervision and therapy to state wards with histories of abuse and neglect, as well as other disadvantaged youths with mental health and behavioral problems. On any given day, about 1,400 wards live in the centers, although far more cycle through each year.
In the best cases, the facilities rebuild and even save young lives. But the Tribune found that many underprivileged youths — most of them African-American — are shuttled for years from one grim institution to another before emerging more damaged than when they went in.
* Just one example…
At Indian Oaks, which specializes in treating children who have endured sexual trauma, the Tribune identified 17 reports of sexual assault or abuse during a 21/2-year period starting in September 2011. Facility reports to DCFS and police dismissed nearly half of those incidents as consensual, even when alleged victims were not old enough to consent or had cognitive impairments.
* And…
The state’s beleaguered child welfare agency, which has had four directors in the past year and seen its budget sliced by more than 10 percent since 2009, is more than a year behind in analyzing facility performance records that show how many days kids go on the run from each center, or are sent to jail or psychiatric hospitals.
Go read the whole thing, but prepare to be thoroughly disgusted.
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* From In These Times…
AFSCME’s and other unions’ efforts failed to prevent Rauner’s victory over Quinn, and Illinois public employees now face an uncertain future. When their contract expires in July 2015, workers will have to renegotiate with a governor who has questioned the very validity of collective bargaining rights for public employees (and even refused to say whether he believes such rights are valid for any kind of worker).
The union is planning to meet with Rauner for the first time in early December to talk contracts. In preparation, the 200-plus members of the AFSCME contract team convened in Springfield, Illinois, last week to hold a “demands meeting.”
No one knows but Rauner how he will engage with AFSCME, says Brent Eliot (not his real name), a delegate from an Illinois city, and this led to a tense demands meeting.
On the one hand, says Eliot, the union emphasized readiness in case “things go badly” with Rauner, setting up a phone tree among members to quickly communicate about workplace actions such as a “button day” (when all employees at a given workplace don pins with a common message), wearing all the same shirt to work, or going out to the street on lunch break to picket.
Because of a no-strike clause in their current contract, AFSCME members are not allowed to strike—Eliot says that AFSCME discourages workers from even using the word “strike.”
“It was stressed to us at the meeting that we’d have to [report] back to our members that we’ve got to get ready—not to strike, but to do something,” says Eliot.
On the other hand, Eliot claims that leadership at the meeting censured some of the more ambitious proposals for demands that came from the contract team, pushing for more “modesty” in their bargaining, though he declined to give details about what those scaled-back proposals were.
Discuss.
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He may very well be underestimating the problem
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From yesterday…
Rauner also outlined a series of financial pressures he said totaled $1.4 billion, citing budget gimmicks mostly identified when the General Assembly left town last spring. The items included borrowing as much as $650 million from state funds set aside for myriad specially designated purposes.
The Republican lashed out at what he called “dishonest” Democrat-approved financial tricks, saying the price tag of the current year’s budget was masked by absorbing some of the costs in a previous budget to make the current one look better. In other cases, Rauner maintained that expenses were deferred and will be pushed into the coming year.
* Here is Rauner’s breakdown. You can click the pic for a larger image…
* But Rauner shouldn’t have been so surprised. This is what I wrote back in June of this year…
I based what follows on what I know about how the budget was crafted. But whatever the final number ends up being, it’s crystal clear that whoever wins the governor’s race will face a monstrous challenge after he’s sworn in next January.
Borrowing $660 million from special state funds, as this new budget does, is a one-off affair. The money is being put into the state’s spending base and will have to somehow be replaced the following year. A two-year repayment plan means another $330 million will also have to be found in the next budget, for a total hole of about a billion dollars.
Using about $500 million in one-time revenue increases from this fiscal year to pay forward some bills in next fiscal year means that same $500 million will have to be found again when the next budget is crafted.
Not funding employee salary and health insurance-benefit-cost increases kicks another $380 million down the road. So, now we’re at $1.9 billion. […]
Also, Rep. Greg Harris, who chairs a House appropriations committee, told reporters last week that the new budget could create as much as a “couple of billion” dollars in past-due bills in the coming fiscal year. If that’s accurate, then the FY16 hole becomes much, much worse, plus there’s all that new debt owed to providers which will eventually have to be paid back.
…Adding… Don’t forget that the state’s pension payment is expected to rise by almost a billion dollars next fiscal year.
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Always bet on nothing
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* That sound you hear is a big House thud…
House Speaker Michael Madigan told fellow Democrats on Tuesday that the 98th General Assembly will adjourn with the end of business, state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said. Lawmakers will next reconvene Jan. 14 with the seating of the 99th General Assembly.
This also means that there will be no January lame-duck session in which legislation can get rammed through by outgoing lawmakers, including any extension of the 2011 income tax increase set to substantially expire Jan. 1.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown confirmed the news, and said that while Madigan firmly believes in raising the minimum wage, the number of different versions and conflicting interests are preventing him from marshaling the needed votes.
Franks said the move also may be a gesture of good faith on Madigan’s part.
“I think maybe he wants to work with the new governor. Who knows?” Franks said. “This might be an olive branch.”
* Greg Hinz…
The “complications” that Brown referenced was a decision by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to move ahead on his own with a city wage hike that is even higher than one that had been contemplated by state lawmakers.
A state bill, raising the current $8.25 figure to $9 to $11 an hour, “is totally dead,” said state Rep. Jack Franks, a McHenry County Democrat, “because of what happened in Chicago.”
Earlier in the day, the City Council voted 44-5, at Emanuel’s request, to raise the minimum wage to $10 in July and $13 by mid-2019. Emanuel said he acted in part because one version of proposed state legislation would have pre-empted action by Chicago, holding the city to a rate no higher than that of the rest of the state.
Mr. Rauner, who takes office in January, has said he’ll sign a wage hike only if it is linked to pro-business moves such as enacting tort reform and changes in the workers’ compensation system.
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Good morning!
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the New York Times…
Bobby Keys, a Texas-born sideman whose urgent, wailing saxophone solos wove a prominent thread through more than 40 years of rock ’n’ roll, notably with the Rolling Stones, died on Tuesday at his home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 70.
His family announced the death, without specifying a cause.
A self-taught musician who never learned to read music, Mr. Keys was a rock ’n’ roller in every sense of the term. Born (almost literally) in the shadow of Buddy Holly, he was a lifelong devotee and practitioner of music with a driving pulse and a hard-living, semi-law-abiding participant in the late-night, sex-booze-and-drug-flavored world of musical celebrity. […]
Mostly playing tenor and sometimes baritone saxophone, he recorded with a Who’s Who of rock including Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, George Harrison, Carly Simon, Country Joe and the Fish, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker and Sheryl Crow. He toured with Delaney and Bonnie and was recording with them in 1969 when they shared a Los Angeles studio with the Stones, who were making their album “Let It Bleed.”
* He was our greatest ever rock saxophonist, and here he is at his very best. Turn it up…
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