Sullivan told The Rushville Times the governor’s office reached out to him Friday and asked if he had received the email. He said that prompted him to search his email account, and that is when he discovered the forwarded email that had originated with McClain.
“I was stunned,” Sullivan said. “I immediately knew the optics and what it looked like.” […]
“I take full responsibility, and I’m not making excuses, but Mike McClain sends lots of emails, most of which I don’t even pay attention to,” Sullivan said. “I know in my mind and my heart that I did not read all of that email. If I had seen an email that talked about a rape in Champaign, I would have turned it over.” […]
“I understand it looks horrible,” Sullivan said. “…I’m stunned and I’m disappointed…I can’t believe someone would put that kind of information in an email. How would you expect that to help someone get a job or get through a disciplinary hearing?”
“I just want people to understand the context we were working in,” Sullivan added. “I understand it looks really bad. I got the email, and I didn’t do anything about it. I understand. However, I am disappointed in the statement the governor put out that makes it look like I did something criminal.”
However, the Governor holds all state employees to the highest ethical standards, and the Governor requested the Director’s resignation because he is disturbed that then-Senator Sullivan became aware of the existence of the July 31, 2012 email contemporaneously, and did not handle it appropriately, including not alerting the inspector general or other authorities.
The total liability of the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois increased $4.5 billion over the year that ended June 30, 2019, while its funding ratio decreased over the same period, according to the most recent audit of the state’s largest public employee retirement fund.
TRS covers all public retired teachers in Illinois, outside of Chicago Public Schools. An Auditor General financial audit published Tuesday for the previous fiscal year showed the system had a total pension liability of $134.4 billion, an increase of $4.5 billion from the previous year when the fund had a total liability of $129.9.
The funding ratio for TRS decreased from 40 percent in 2018, or $77.9 billion underfunded, to 39.6 percent in 2019, or $81.1 billion underfunded.
Total administrative expenses in 2019 were $24.3 million, up more than $2.7 million from the year before. Investments were up nearly $755,000.
There were nearly 124,300 TRS benefit recipients, an increase of more than 1,870. There were 163,000 active members, an increase of more than 2,100. Inactive membership also increased by more than 2,000 to 136,178.
Capitol News Illinois: What do you think you learned about state government in your first year? Is there anything you know now that you didn’t know coming into the job?
Pritzker: Certainly from outside of government, I had seen that government had been hollowed out and that there were agencies that just weren’t fulfilling their functions properly. But it isn’t until you get inside of the agencies that you see just how bad it really is, that they hadn’t been fulfilling their mission – in part because of morale, in part because of a failure to fill positions that are authorized to be filled, and in part because there’s a failure of mission and direction. When I came into office, it was frankly worse than I thought. And so I have worked very hard over the course of my first year to change that and to set us in the right direction.
And we have made real progress. I’ll give you one example, if I may. We walked into office and found that there was a backlog of people who had applied for Medicaid, many of whom are eligible for Medicaid, and those who have applied for what’s called redetermination. Year-in year-out, Medicaid recipients have to reapply. That backlog had grown to 140,000 people. That’s basically because under my predecessor, they had stopped processing those applications. And so when we walked into office (seeing a) 140,000 backlog, we had to work very hard to address that. We basically cut that in half in just a year, which is a very hard thing to do, because we were already understaffed.
Today is the one-year anniversary of Pritzker’s inauguration. His campaign committee, Think Big Illinois, has compiled a list of accomplishments. Click here for that.
* The Question: On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best score, how would you rate Gov. Pritzker’s first year in office? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
* This press release caused quite a stir within the Senate Democratic caucus…
Progressive Leaders Endorse Michael Cabonargi for Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court
Progressives at multiple levels of government rally behind the only candidate with a vision to bring progressive reform to the Clerk’s office
Michael Cabonargi, candidate for Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court, announced today that he received endorsements from an ever-growing list of progressive leaders who represent the people of Cook County at various levels of government, including the following:
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago)
State Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park)
Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) is also running for circuit court clerk. The Senate President election is this coming Sunday, so endorsing against Sen. Martinez wouldn’t have gone down too well in the caucus, no matter which side Martinez is on. Harmon has said he endorsed Sen. Dan Biss in the Democratic gubernatorial primary because Biss was a colleague and he endorses colleagues.
* Harmon’s people say he did not endorse Cabonargi, even though he has been a contributor over the years and passed petitions for him. Sen. Martinez told me Harmon also assured her this morning that he did not endorse Cabonargi.
* Cabonargi spokesperson Rebecca Evans…
Mike has appreciated the support and friendship of Don Harmon for a number of years, but his name was mistakenly listed on a large list of endorsements that was announced today. It’s since been corrected.
Odd.
…Adding… From an email sent by Democratic Party of Oak Park Committeeman Don Harmon (xxxxx@donharmon.org) in November of last year…
Hmm.
*** UPDATE *** Sen. Iris Martinez just called.
“I’m f—ing pissed,” Sen. Martinez said. “He lied to me early this morning,” she claimed of Harmon’s call to tell her that he hadn’t endorsed Cabonargi.
Martinez pointed to the home page of the Democratic Party of Oak Park that Harmon chairs. It lists the county party’s slate of candidates, which includes Cabonargi. I explained to Martinez that this was the county party list not the township party list, but she was unmoved.
“It doesn’t matter,” Martinez said. “I know the games that are being played behind the scenes.”
Martinez was furious when Speaker Madigan wouldn’t back her bid for countywide office and claimed that Harmon was making “a Madigan move, making sure that I’m not the endorsed candidate.”
“I’m just really disgusted right now about this,” she said, saying it was “typical of some of these committeemen.”
* We talked yesterday about how Rush Darwish is the first Democrat running in Dan Lipinski’s 3rd Congressional District to send direct mail. I also told you he would air a cable TV ad today. The campaign claims they’re “spending $9K this week in 3 zones and will be upping our spend weekly hereafter.”
[ON CAMERA] I’m Rush Darwish and I approve this message because Americans deserve a choice when it comes to our healthcare.
[VO] Choice is a fundamental American value. The freedom to choose where you live, who you marry, how you make a living.
[VO] I’m the only candidate in this race who believes that we should provide Medicare for all who want it, while also keeping a private insurance market so you have a CHOICE when it comes to your insurance.
[ON CAMERA] If quality, affordable healthcare is important to you, vote for me, Democrat Rush Darwish for Congress.
This McClain email is emblematic of a culture that has been poisonous in Springfield for far too long. Those who protect the culture, those who tolerate it, those who promote it, well, they’ll have to answer for their role in it. […]
If an investigator contacts someone and asks them to cooperate, they should cooperate. Not put a smug grin on their face and laugh about not cooperating like Mike McClain did. And furthermore, anyone who thinks that it’s OK to talk about these things [rape and ghost payrolling] like they’re in a crime syndicate doesn’t belong in Springfield anymore. We need change.
Reporter 1: Are you saying that if the feds asked Mike McClain to cooperate against Mike Madigan that he should?
Pritzker: I think anybody that is interviewed by an investigatory body should be forthcoming with the information that they have. […]
Every person in Springfield needs to take a good hard look at themselves and ask what their role has been in creating this culture, the availability in engaging in corruption, the culture that I’m talking about that’s so poisonous. […]
Whether you’re a leader, or a member, or a lobbyist or anybody engaged in that Springfield culture, you gotta ask yourself what direction you’re taking things, or what you’ve done to contribute to it or what you’re doing to alleviate the concerns that voters and the rest of us have about this culture and the corruption.
I think there is a gathering storm for people who are headed in the wrong direction, the people who created this culture, the people who are contributing to it. As you know there are investigatory bodies involved just in this McClain email, including a former federal prosecutor our OEIG, including a prosecutor leading the state police… including a prosecutor in Champaign County that are all engaged in rooting out what’s involved in this particular matter with Mike McClain. And then there’s the broader matter which obviously the federal government and the FBI are looking into. So we’re going to know a lot more in short order. […]
Nobody belongs in Springfield who is engaging in this kind of corruption.
Despite previously saying she had the City Council votes and wanted to move forward on a plan to allow people to smoke weed in Chicago tobacco shops, Mayor Lori Lightfoot will not present the ordinance to the City Council this week, her administration said Tuesday.
The mayor’s team will head to Springfield to try to get state lawmakers to make several changes to the laws governing where people can publicly smoke cannabis, which could delay the implementation for several months or longer as the amendments make their way through the legislature.
That will leave many Chicagoans without anywhere to legally smoke weed they purchase in dispensaries, since landlords can prohibit tenants from smoking in the apartments they rent and smoking is not legal on sidewalks or in cars. […]
Lightfoot’s City Council floor leader, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, said aldermen raised “a whole bunch of concerns” about the way the state rules and the mayor’s plan were designed. It could take until February or March at the earliest before state lawmakers act on those changes, Villegas said.
“At the earliest” is right. Lawmakers rarely favor reopening laws they just passed unless it’s for technical changes. That’s what they did with cannabis in November and it’s one reason why the mayor’s casino bill went nowhere during the veto session.
Easing the public consumption laws by lowering the start-up fees, expanding the cigar bar alternative, deleting the 1500-feet between shops mandate, etc. could take a lot of time or never pass. Remember, the bill passed last year because it didn’t have those things. The taxes fund the program, lots of legislators feared looser public consumption rules and they absolutely didn’t want to create dense cannabis shop clusters like they’ve had in Denver and California.
This is how the Statehouse works. Pretty much the only way to pass a sweeping new law is to load it up with restrictions or tack on a sunset date to convince the squeamish to go along - and there’s a lot of squeamish people in the General Assembly. And then they wait to see if all heck breaks loose before easing up a bit.
Think about the civil unions path toward marriage equality. There have been exceptions (death penalty abolition being one), but those exceptions tend to prove the rule.
* I’m not saying that Chicago can’t possibly make some changes. But the city needs to stop delaying its own local actions while it places demands on the state legislature that a majority of legislators are super-reluctant to pass so soon.
Thankfully, Mayor Lightfoot also said today that she plans to bring the cigar bar expansion ordinance to the floor next week, because, as mentioned in the headline, the only way legislators can see if something works or doesn’t work at the local level is if locals go ahead and try it out (and that goes for the casino as well). /rant
In a phone interview, Pritzker referenced only in passing some of last year’s accomplishments, from raising the state’s minimum wage to enacting a $45 billion capital plan and strengthening abortion rights. He said he’ll begin year two by focusing on a bit of advice from one of his GOP predecessors, Jim Edgar, to enact a balanced state budget—in Pritzker’s case, for the second year in a row.
“We’ve got to keep on with our progress,” he said. “We’ve got a lot more to accomplish.” […]
The governor was a little more specific on his graduated income tax amendment, again dangling the possibility of guaranteeing that a greater share of the proceeds will go to pay off the state’s huge pension debt. Pritzker has offered $200 million a year, but in our chat said, “It could be more.” […]
The governor also indicated that Mayor Lori Lightfoot and he are in agreement on proposed legislation designed to revive a proposed Chicago casino. Lightfoot needs some of the revenue from the gambling center to pay pension costs, and Pritzker needs some for debt service on his capital plan. The two officials “have a common understanding” about what should be in the bill, but they’re not the only interested parties in the Capitol, Pritzker said.
That’s good news about the casino. Those two absolutely must be on the same page for this to have any chance.
On property taxes, Republicans have complained that a task force on the issue hasn’t taken their ideas seriously.
“Many legislators on both sides regularly contact me to talk to me about their ideas for lowering property taxes,” Pritzker said, “so I have heard many of the ideas already.” He said he would be “happy to listen” to GOP proposals.
But, he said, he did a lot over the course of the year to alleviate the burden on local property taxes including raising state school funding. The pension consolidation bill for downstate police and fire pension systems also ultimately will save “billions of dollars,” he said. The savings are expected to come through better returns and less administrative costs when about 650 local pension funds are consolidated into two for investment purposes.
Despite some continued differences with Republicans, Pritzker said his ability to work with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle “probably stands in stark contrast to the national stage, and to my predecessor.” He was referring to President Donald Trump and former GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, whose battles with Democrats led to more than two years without a state budget in place.
The property tax burden is around $30 billion a year. He did a bit more than nibble around the edges, but lots more needs to be done.
When Deborah Bruyette imagines a world where it is 5 p.m. in Missouri, but 6 o’clock in Illinois, she doesn’t like it.
“That’s a no go. It would just throw everything off,” said Bruyette, a Freeburg resident who works at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville.
The idea of having Missouri and Illinois in different time zones is circulating after the Illinois Senate approved legislation earlier this year that would make daylight saving time the standard in Illinois.
Although the proposal still needs approval in the Illinois House, as well as the signature of the governor and an OK from the federal government, it has residents and business owners on both sides of the Mississippi River thinking how it might affect their lives.
Sex education in Illinois middle and high schools would be required to include a discussion on sexting if a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives becomes law.
House Bill 4007, introduced by Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, would require sex education curriculum in grades 6-12 to include material on the legal and social risks of sharing sexually explicit images, messages and videos.
“This is something that a lot of our students are dealing with and are partaking in without really understanding what the consequences could be,” West said.
After hearing reports of first responders losing life insurance coverage after getting anti-overdose drugs for work, an Illinois lawmaker wants to prohibit such cancellations.
State Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, said she didn’t know that there was a coverage issue until a resident of her district reached out.
“A constituent had been denied life insurance when she had the prescription because she is a first responder,” McDermed said. “When we investigated, we found out that this is an issue and that a number of states have already acted legislatively to address the issue.”
Her legislation, filed last week, would bar life insurance providers from denying coverage or dropping a contract for a first responder solely because that person got a prescription for an opioid antagonist, the most common being naloxone or Narcan.
Then the story goes on to describe the bill, but the full text is actually silent on first responders. Here’s the summary…
Prohibits a life insurance company from denying coverage to an individual, limiting the amount, extent, or kind of coverage available to the individual, or charging an individual or group to which the individual belongs a different rate solely because the individual has been prescribed or has obtained through a standing order an opioid antagonist.
It’s a law that’s been on the books in Illinois for more than 50 years, but State Representative John Cabello is looking to have the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act repealed.
The 68th district Republican filed House Bill 4067 which would eliminate the law that requires all Illinois residents to apply for a FOID card in order to legally possess or purchase guns or ammunition in the state.. Those in favor of FOID cards say it helps keep Illinoians safe because the application process includes a background check. But Cabello argues that FOID cards are needed in just three other states: Hawaii.. New Jersey and Massachusetts. So why is it needed in Illinois.
“For me it’s seems like it’s just another road block for law abiding citizens,” said Cabello. “Criminals are never going to go out and get what they need because they’re criminals. It’s just one more layer of government. I think right now there is a 62,000 back log of people trying to get their FOID or renew their FOID. It’s a problem that we’ve had for a long time. “
Hyde Park-Kenwood’s state representatives have long been vocal about the need to refine Illinois’ legalization of marijuana, and both introduced legislation to that end late last year that may be considered in the legislature’s spring session.
On Dec. 27, State Rep. Curtis Tarver II (D-25th), who represents Hyde Park east of Ellis Avenue and southern Kenwood east of Woodlawn Avenue, filed House Bill (HB) 4009, which would amend the Juvenile Court Act to expunge law enforcement records of people who committed cannabis-related violations before turning 18.
His bill would also require law enforcement agencies to allow access, review and confirmation of automatic expungement. Circuit court clerks would similarly expunge people’s juvenile court records. […]
In November, Buckner introduced HB 3953, the Cannabis Banking and Credit Union Act, which would create state-licensed financial institutions to provide banking services to cannabis businesses.
* Gov. Pritzker set aside about ten minutes for interviews with some political reporters last week. I’ll have more on my interview for subscribers tomorrow. Hannah Meisel decided to focus on DCFS…
In an interview with The Daily Line last week, Pritzker touted $128 million in new granted to DCFS in the current year’s budget, along with efforts to hire more frontline agency workers to both investigate claims of abuse and neglect and at the agency’s so-called “front door” — its overworked hotline.
But some changes are slower than others. Pritzker said thousands of DCFS employees are being retrained on his watch.
“Don’t think that’s a small thing,” Pritzker said. “That takes time and effort and expense and we’re doing all of that. We’ve replaced personnel. We put in new policies and procedures. And, very importantly, we have outside advisors and monitors that are helping us to figure out what more needs to be done…Because this is maybe the important thing that government does it protect the most vulnerable people, the defenseless people in our society and the kids who are in the DCFS system, as well as the many who don’t get identified to DCFS.”
The governor also pointed to an uptick in reports to DCFS as evidence the agency is beginning to turn around. Agency officials told The Daily Line that DCFS investigated 5,000 more claims of abuse and neglect in the 2019 fiscal year as compared with 2018.
Pritzker acknowledged the dismal numbers and conclusions published in DCFS Inspector General Meryl Paniak’s annual report earlier this month, in which Paniak and her staff found that 123 children died in the 2019 fiscal year even after DCFS had prior contact with the child or families. Additionally, Paniak confirmed to The Daily Line last week that in the first half of the 2020 fiscal year, 56 children DCFS had prior contact with had died.
“We have a lot to work on at DCFS itself,” Pritzker said. “Some of it is what was elevated in the OEIG report, which was very important. These are challenges DCFS has had for years…It is the hollowing out of government over a number of years prior to my becoming governor that has led to the tragedies that we’re now seeing.”
* More on the DCFS angle from Shia Kapos’ interview…
It’s no surprise Pritzker is pivoting toward efforts to improve the lives of children. In the private sector, he supported education at every level.
During his first year in Springfield, the governor said worrying about children under the care of the embattled Department of Children and Family Services is what kept him up at night. “They deserve better,” he said. A recent report notes 123 children who had contact with the department in 2019 had died.
An inspector general’s investigation into Illinois’ child welfare agency after the October 2018 deaths of two Quincy children found multiple lapses in the department’s ongoing investigation with the family that started more than six months before the blaze.
This includes an investigator with the Department of Children and Family Services not going inside the home at 611 N. Eighth for a required visual inspection and multiple failures in following up in the case.
After the Oct. 12, 2018, fire that killed Toby Brewer, 8, and Emma Kramer, 5, fire officials found extension cords hand-spliced together with masking tape, including one placed under a mattress, which were later determined to be the cause of the fire.
The family was supposed to vacate the home in September 2018 and was squatting there. There was no electricity or other utilities to the home, and the extension cords were used to receive electricity from a neighboring home.
One of the family’s two other children later told fire investigators that the cords would “snap and pop and smoke” and that they would hold the cords over their heads until the popping stopped.
Sunday can’t come soon enough for state senators who will gather in Springfield that day to elect a new Senate president. There was buzz Monday fueled by blogger Rich Miller and WCIA reporter Mark Maxwell that state Sen. Elgie Sims was backing out of the race and endorsing Kimberly Lightford over Don Harmon. But a source close to Sims tells Playbook he’s still deciding. So we wait.
First of all, Lightford herself told Maxwell that Sims was backing her. The interview is not online yet, so I asked Mark for the transcript…
Mark Maxwell: Do you have the support of Senator Sims?
Senator Kim Lightford: I do.
MM: That seems like a significant development.
KL: It is. Senator Sims is a capable member of our caucus. I’m honored to have received his support.
MM: What got him across the line?
KL: I think he just realized that I’m the person to lead the caucus in a new direction with a lot of creativity, a lot of new ideas on how we can collectively come together and collaborate. He and I just spoke about it a number of times as we’ve been campaigning along the way. I’m just really glad that he’s decided that I would be a better fit for it for the race.
MM: Can we presume that means he’s bringing a few votes along with him?
KL: I’m not certainly sure about the level of support the Senator has arrived at, but I know for he and I, we have a good understanding of where he wants to be.
And I talked to Sims and the Senator told me he’s endorsing Lightford.
* Kristen McQueary spent some time going through lobbyist expenditure reports and then wrote about several legislators who had meals with Mike McClain…
His lobbyist expenditure reports show a long list of regular breakfast, lunch, drink and dinner companions at Springfield bars and restaurants. Honestly, he should have put up a sleeping cot at Saputo’s or Sangamo Club and skipped the walk to his hotel each night. Would have been more efficient.
He actually had an apartment in town. But, she’s right, he was out and about every day. And he was one of those people who refused to allow anyone else to pick up a tab. Wait staff would always side with him because he brought in so much business. The only exception was Speaker Madigan, who almost never allows anyone to buy his meals.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with lobbyists taking lawmakers to dinner. It’s what they do.
But the trail of relationship-building shows why all of Springfield suffered a wave of nausea when the Tribune first reported that the feds had raided McClain’s house and recorded his phone conversations. It’s why so many players in Springfield are tiptoeing along the marble corridors of the Capitol and nibbling their fingernails.
McClain was Madigan’s guy. That gave McClain power. It gave him access. He knew everybody. He worked with everybody.
It must be isolating to be McClain now. Because nobody wants to be linked to Mr. Everybody.
* Press release excerpt from the Illinois Democratic Women and Chicago NOW….
It is time to shine a bright light on why Mike McClain had so much political power in Springfield. McClain emailed two of the most senior officials in state government referencing rape and a coverup as well as ghost payrolling without fear of any negative consequence. McClain’s email is further evidence of unscrupulous behavior in our state capital which harms women and everyone who calls Illinois home. The women of Illinois will no longer tolerate this kind of abuse of power within our political system. McClain’s actions and those who have enabled him put our state’s future at risk. The time is up on this toxic culture in Springfield.
* From Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) on yesterday’s collateral damage…
John Sullivan is one of the very best legislators that I have ever had the privilege to serve with in the legislature. What he brought to the Senate and then as director of Ag was a true public service mindset and a desire to do right. As a farmer – legislator, he brought a unique perspective that made a difference for the people he represented and for the State of Illinois. John was the perfect person for the governor to choose as his Ag Department Director. His leaving that office is a loss for the state.
* Related…
* WBEZ: Pritzker’s Agriculture Secretary Resigns In Fallout From ‘Rape In Champaign’ Email
* Sun-Times: Pritzker’s agriculture chief ousted over ‘rape’ email he now says he ‘simply did not read’ in its entirety
* WGN: Pritzker’s Dept. of Agriculture director out following email scandal
So reads one Illinois newspaper caption from Jan. 13, 1983, the day after Madigan’s peers in the General Assembly elected him speaker of the House for the first time. The choice was easy. Madigan had recently redrawn Illinois’ legislative maps, which meant many lawmakers in part owed their jobs to the 40-year-old from Chicago’s Southwest Side.
Madigan has now held that speaker’s gavel for 35 of the last 37 years.
The state’s median age is 37 years old, meaning one man has served as speaker for the vast majority of most Illinoisans’ lives. No legislative leader in American history has held power for longer.
What were you (or your parents) doing in January of 1983?
* I’ve been trying to pull together some longish posts on a few topics and finally looked at the time. Oops. So, talk amongst yourselves, but be nice to each other and keep the conversation Illinois-centric. Thanks.
* One of Congressman Dan Lipinski’s lesser-known Democratic primary rivals, Rush Darwish, is already in the boxes with two mailers. Here’s the front page of one…
Here’s the back page of the other…
Click the pics for the full mailers. No other candidate in that race has sent out any mailers as far as I can tell. Marie Newman is considered the frontrunner of the challengers, but we’ll see I suppose. Charles Hughes is also in the race.
According to the FEC, Darwish reported $318,113 cash on hand in his most recent filing.
And according to the Darwish campaign, he’s going to use some of that money to go up on cable TV tomorrow “and will be up through the rest of the cycle.” I suppose we can only wait and see how big the buy is.
* Text message this morning from an Illinois Republican Party operative…
Wanted to pass along that the ISP director who is now assisting in investigation [of the McClain email] is also a recipient of McClain campaign contributions.
Leader Brady trusts the professionals at the Illinois State Police to conduct this investigation in a thorough manner.
* The Question: Should the state police director recuse himself from this probe? Make sure to explain your answer, please.
*** UPDATE *** From ISP Director Brendan Kelly…
Hey Rich,
The donation in question has been donated to the Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run.
I have no personal or professional relationship with Michael McClain and until I read the news I didn’t know who he was.
As a State’s Attorney for eight years, I enforced the law and prosecuted both Democrat and Republican public officials alike- actually more Democrats- and did so because that’s what my oath required.
The professional investigators of the Illinois State Police will pursue violations of the public trust without regard to party or status.
As Director its my job to fight to make sure they have whatever they need to do their job, and that’s exactly what the outstanding men and women of the Illinois State Police will do.
I’m told he asked the general counsel’s office about this and was told that there’s not enough connection to McClain to reach the threshold for a recusal.
A top cabinet official in Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration tendered his resignation this weekend.
The departure of state Agriculture Secretary John Sullivan is apparent fallout from last week’s WBEZ report about a former lobbyist’s email that defended a state worker facing disciplinary accusations for having stayed silent about “the rape in Champaign.”
More to come.
…Adding… All-staff email from Jeremy Flynn, Chief of Staff…
Effective yesterday, Director Sullivan resigned his position leading the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Effective immediately, I will be serving as Acting Director for the Department.
The accomplishments over the last year are many and I know we will continue the mission of the Department. I appreciate everything you do to serve Illinois’ number one industry.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Pritzker administration…
Governor Pritzker sought and accepted Department of Agriculture Director John Sullivan’s resignation this weekend. Director Sullivan had a long and productive public service career as a State Senator, and the Governor is grateful for his willingness to serve in the administration. Director Sullivan put together an outstanding team at the Department of Agriculture, and as a result, the Department’s work thrived.
However, the Governor holds all state employees to the highest ethical standards, and the Governor requested the Director’s resignation because he is disturbed that then-Senator Sullivan became aware of the existence of the July 31, 2012 email contemporaneously, and did not handle it appropriately, including not alerting the inspector general or other authorities.
The Governor’s general counsel has shared all of the information she learned from Director Sullivan with the Office of the Executive Inspector General and offered to share this information with all law enforcement agencies looking into this situation. The administration will continue to assist in the ongoing investigation.
Sullivan is from the Quincy area and represented Mike McClain’s hometown for years.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From former Director Sullivan…
This past weekend, Governor Pritzker’s General Counsel notified me that an August 2012 email from Mike McClain to Governor Quinn’s staff referenced my name as state senator and McClain’s advocacy on behalf of my constituent, Forrest Ashby.
That information led me to conduct a review of my own personal emails from that same period of time. My search discovered a forwarded copy of McClain’s July 31, 2012 email reported by WBEZ. I shared this information with Governor Pritzker’s General Counsel.
The summer of 2012 was a stressful time for me. I was in the middle of a state senate reelection campaign, as well as preparing for and undergoing cancer surgery in Baltimore, MD. I was already well aware of McClain’s efforts to keep me informed of his advocacy on behalf of Ashby, and l simply did not read the entire forwarded email.
Had I read the email thoroughly, my reaction would have been disgust and I would have immediately notified proper authorities. Nevertheless, the email was in my inbox and not reading the entire email led to my failure to immediately respond as I would have.
Bottom Line, I accept responsibility for what was truly an unintentional oversight and the subsequent inaction.
In light of these circumstances, Governor Pritzker asked for and I submitted my resignation as Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture effective immediately.
It has been an honor to serve Illinois and the agriculture industry. I cannot say enough about the outstanding and dedicated employees at the Illinois Department of Agriculture and all they accomplished this last year.
…Adding… ILGOP…
Chairman Tim Schneider released the following statement in response to the revelation that Director of the Department of Agriculture, and former state senator, John Sullivan resigned because he knew about Mike McClain’s “rape in Champaign” email at the time and did nothing:
“If a random state legislator like John Sullivan knew about McClain’s email at the time, surely there were others who knew about it and also ‘kept their mouths shut.’ It defies belief that John Sullivan knew of the email and its contents, but Speaker Mike Madigan, a close confidant of the email’s author, knew nothing.
I get what they’re saying, but Sullivan was no “random” legislator. He was McClain’s Senator.
Just now: Senator Kim Lightford tells me Senator Elgie Sims is dropping his bid for Senate President and will endorse her to lead the chamber. The development delivers a boost to Lightford’s chances, but doesn’t clinch it for her. She or Senator Don Harmon needs 30 votes to win. pic.twitter.com/zsjfKzOHoP
* We talked last week about vertically integrated cannabis companies with growing centers and retail outlets. A spokesperson for one such vertically integrated company claimed it had no product shortage problems at all while other retailers which didn’t also own growing centers were reporting shortages.
HCI Alternatives in Springfield will suspend recreational cannabis sales for the day on Monday.
The dispensary at 628 E. Adams St. will remain open regular business hours Monday (9 a.m. to 8 p.m.) to serve medical cannabis patients.
It based its decision on the need to replenish recreational use inventory and allow staff to recharge.
HCI’s Collinsville dispensary is also suspending recreational sales Monday. Both dispensaries are expected to resume recreational use sales on Tuesday.
* The state has taken notice. From an email sent Friday by Bret Bender, the deputy director of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s Cannabis Control Section…
Dear Licensees,
The Department has become aware that some adult use dispensaries have inventory from a single cultivator center entity in excess of the 40% limit mandated by the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (“Act”). 410 ILCS 705/15-70(p)(5). The Department is currently investigating the scope and extent of these potential violations. In addition, it has been reported that many dispensaries are experiencing a shortage of cannabis products, including products for medical cannabis patients. The Department takes seriously the availability of product for medical patients and dispensaries are required by law to prioritize providing products to medical cannabis patients.
Dispensaries in violation of the 40% limit must immediately remedy the problem and come into full compliance with the Act. In addition, the Department expects dispensaries to immediately take affirmative steps to avoid future violations of this requirement.
Any dispensary that had or currently has inventory exceeding the 40% limit is in violation of the Act and may face potential non-disciplinary or disciplinary action by the Department. Prompt remediation of this violation will be considered a mitigating factor regarding any discipline the Department may impose for these violations. Future or continued violations will be viewed by the Department as avoidable and intentional, and dealt with accordingly.
I do not like vertical integration in that industry. This was wholly predictable, even with state limits.
* This idea was promoted by some Republican legislators last year, but is now being taken up by the majority Democrats. From a press release…
Legislators who resign their seats in the General Assembly before the end of their term no longer would be paid for days they haven’t worked under a proposal by Illinois State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza.
Mendoza’s plan was prompted by recent cases involving State Sen. Martin Sandoval and State Rep. Luis Arroyo – each of whom are under federal investigation – who resigned their seats on the first day of the month but still received paychecks for the entire month. The practice is currently allowed under state law.
“It’s Jan. 13 – nearly two weeks since Marty Sandoval resigned his seat under federal investigation. Despite resigning on the first day of this month, my office must still pay him for the entire month. That’s ridiculous,” Mendoza said. “I can think of no other enterprise that pays an ex-employee for work they never performed. Each of these lawmakers left under a cloud but stayed just long enough – the first of the month – to collect an ‘exit bonus’ from state taxpayers for a month’s pay for no work.”
Under the proposal, lawmakers who resign before completing their entire term in office would be compensated on a prorated basis – meaning they would be paid based on the number of days they work in the Legislature. The same rule would apply to lawmakers appointed to complete the term of a vacancy.
In addition, legislators would be paid twice a month, just like all other state employees and constitutional officers. Currently, legislators are paid once a month. The Illinois Office of Comptroller issues paychecks to lawmakers, state employees and constitutional officers.
In some cases, taxpayers have been on the hook for two lawmaker salaries for the same position. Not only did the outgoing lawmaker get a check for a full month’s salary, their replacement did as well – even if the replacement began at the end of the month.
The proposal, Senate Bill 2456, is sponsored by State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin).
“In any other job, a person would not be compensated for an entire month if they only worked one day,” Castro said. “This is a glaring loophole that has been exploited far too many times at the taxpayers’ expense, and I look forward to working with Comptroller Mendoza to close it once and for all.”
Sometimes, the full-month’s pay can be used to help ease someone out of office, but I do get the point. Your thoughts?
* Speaking of which, from the Office of Executive Inspector General…
A recently released OEIG report about Governors State University (GSU) details a course of mismanagement that resulted in payments totaling over $1.5 million to 33 at-will employees after they had been terminated without cause.
The OEIG investigation uncovered that GSU had a long-standing practice of paying at-will employees after they were terminated. The amount of payment was based on the employees’ start date and length of service without any regard to the individual circumstances surrounding the termination. These employees continued to be paid by GSU without completing any work for GSU (or only minimal work) even when they obtained other non-State employment. Furthermore, many of these employees were instructed to continue to submit timesheets after they left GSU, thus falsely indicating that they were working a full-time schedule for GSU.
GSU did not have any policies regarding how these types of terminations and payments should be handled or evaluated, or by whom. GSU also did not provide any clear direction to administrators about instructions to be given to terminated employees on future employment or the submission of timesheets. The OEIG concluded that, as the head of the university, GSU President Elaine Maimon provided little or no guidance on these issues, nor did she effectively delegate her management role to other individuals.
In response to the report, the GSU Board of Trustees stated that it was preparing new timekeeping and termination pay policies to address the issues raised in the OEIG report. The Board also stated that it was forming an executive search committee to begin the process of selecting the next GSU President by June 2020, due to the upcoming expiration of President Maimon’s contract.
Mike Bloomberg and [Cook County state’s attorney candidate] Bill Conway are grabbing headlines lately for fueling their own campaigns — the former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate has dropped $200 million, while Conway’s billionaire father has given his son $4.85 million. There are other self-funders in Illinois, too, spending a combined $7.58 million so far this election cycle.
Documents filed with the state Board of Elections show Appellate Court Justice Shelly Harris just last week donated $1.4 million to his campaign for state Supreme Court justice, bringing his war chest to nearly $2 million. And attorney Daniel Epstein has donated $300,000 to his own run for the state Supreme Court.
Jacob Meister, an attorney running for Cook County clerk of the Circuit Court, has given himself $100,000 for the primary race. Like many self-funders, he’s distinguished himself as an outsider. […]
Self-funders have a critical advantage in any race. They don’t have to work a day job and then “bust their butts” at night trying to fundraise, Ken Snyder, principal and co-founder of SnyderPickerill Media Group told Playbook, whose firm has managed campaigns across the country. “Lots of mistakes or gaffes a candidate makes can be attributed to fatigue.”
Of course, self-funding doesn’t guarantee victory, either. Just ask Jim Oberweis, the state senator now running for a congressional seat. In the 2006 GOP gubernatorial primary, he spent nearly $3.3 million of his own money only to lose to Judy Baar Topinka (who lost to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich). Self-funders are known to make rookie campaign mistakes in spending. […]
Judicial races tend to see more self-funders than most campaigns. That’s because they aren’t allowed to personally solicit donations — though friends can on their behalf. And many see self-funding as an investment of sorts. […]
Though Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his predecessor, Republican Bruce Rauner, found success in self-funding, the odds of those candidates winning aren’t great. That’s because self-funders tend to be inexperienced in politics. Or they rub voters the wrong way (People might think they’re trying to buy an election).
All good points. Until Rauner came along, self-funders just didn’t click at the state level for one reason or the other.
* Speaking of money, check out this video by Illinois Supreme Court candidate Daniel Epstein about the need for conflict of interest rules and procedures at the appellate level and above…
* Democratic state’s attorney challenger Bill Conway gets another $2.35 million from his wealthy father, records show
* In this race, nobody passes the purity test: But one other aspect of this is worth noting. That’s where Conway is getting his money: from his father, William Conway, and other executives at Carlyle Group, a Washington investment firm known for parlaying political contacts—George H.W. Bush was on its payroll for a while, as was former U.S. Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci—into shrewd investments in the right defense contractors when wartime rolls around. They’ve donated roughly $5 million so far to the younger Conway’s campaign.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is “still learning” what Rahm Emanuel already knew about legislative lobbying, but she’ll get what she needs during the spring session to avoid a massive property tax increase, retiring Senate President John Cullerton predicted Friday. […]
“The language with the casino is agreed to by many negotiators in the House, the Senate and the governor’s office. It’s just that people in gaming — they always want to add other things. It’s the things that were not in there that were causing people to not commit to vote,” Cullerton told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“That’s something that can easily be worked out once people realize that the Chicago casino is gonna fund the capital bill. The people downstate who get all the money for the roads. They always want to vote against Chicago. But this deal is what provides the money to pay for the roads. That’s why it’s inevitable that this will pass.” […]
“What you have to do in Springfield with Chicago issues is…be under the radar. You can’t have press conferences and brag about how you got more money for Chicago, even though you were entitled to it,” he said.
As for the looming, $1 billion spike in pension payments, Cullerton urged Lightfoot to follow his lead and use the “consideration model” to hammer out cost-of-living concessions with the largest of four city employee pension funds.
The interview was broken up into two parts. The other part, about Speaker Madigan, is here.
Chicago-area labor leader William E. Dugan, an Illinois political heavyweight who doubled the size of one of the state’s most influential unions over a two-decade tenure, died Saturday at age 86.
About 10,000 workers were represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 when “Wild Bill” Dugan took the helm of the Countryside-based organization in 1986, according to the union’s general counsel, Dale Pierson.
By the time he stepped down in controversy in 2008 — after weathering several economic recessions amid a downward national trend in union membership — Local 150 boasted more than 23,000 members across numerous construction industries.
“Bill helped lead us through so many ups and downs in the financial markets amid labor law erosion. That growth was incredible,” said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. “He built one of the most sophisticated teams of union organizers we’d ever seen. He was fierce, caring and he had everyone’s back.”
The man was a legend and had an enormous impact on Illinois politics. But there was this..
Dugan retired from Local 150 in 2008, after the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed that authorities were investigating whether he illegally used union resources for personal gain. Federal agents raided Dugan’s Maryland buffalo farm, and he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating federal labor law by demanding and accepting custom-made livestock feeders from a company that employed the union local’s workers.
* Local 150…
Memorial services will be conducted on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, at the Local 150 Union Hall in Countryside, Illinois, 6200 Joliet Road. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m.; visitation will be held through 4:30 p.m. Memorial service will take place from 4:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.; visitation to resume until 10:00 p.m.
* ComEd CEO Joe Dominguez is on a mission to turn around his company’s scarred image in the wake of the federal investigation. He makes some good points, but are these facts enough? Maybe, but we still don’t know what the feds have found…
Whether the standard is affordability, reliability or use of clean energy, ComEd is a top performer, the envy of other utilities, even those in the Exelon family, Dominguez said. Since 2012, the utility has improved reliability by 70%, according to Dominguez, an unprecedented improvement for an industry accustomed to merely incremental changes.
He gives credit for that to ComEd employees. “Nothing prepares you for being in this chair when the workforce is going out and the weather is negative 50 degrees or when it’s super hot and seeing the day-to-day dedication of the people we have here,” he said.
Dominguez said the scandal, which has included two federal subpoenas for Exelon documents and a U.S. securities probe of its lobbying activities, shouldn’t detract from the company’s achievements. […]
Staying silent must be hard on him. At 57, Dominguez has a background that seems especially apt for ComEd’s situation. He’s a former federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. And he moved through the ranks of Exelon in general counsel and government relations roles. […]
If ComEd were a state, its electricity cost as a percent of median household income would be lower than anywhere but Utah, according to the utility. At 1.4%, the rate compares to a U.S. average of 2.3%.
* Related…
* The ICC should pull the plug on this ComEd power play: “Consumers paid public utility rates to ComEd and (downstate utility) Ameren reflecting the higher federal tax rate, and now that the federal tax rate has lowered, fairness dictates that consumers should get that money back,” Raoul said in a statement. “Allowing an unreasonable refund period of close to 40 years nearly guarantees many customers will never get their fair share of the refunds.”
State investigators are looking into whether an explosive email that refers to keeping quiet about a “rape in Champaign” could be tied to an inmate who got out of prison early and then sexually abused a young girl, sources familiar with the probe told the Tribune. […]
On Saturday, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told the Tribune that officials are looking into whether McClain’s “rape in Champaign” reference could involve the early release of prisoners under Quinn, who came under fire for the practice in 2010.
The source said investigators are looking at the case of Scott Wayne Thompson, who is being held at a state facility for sex crime offenders in downstate Rushville. Thompson received early release from prison and then was charged with and convicted of sex abuse, records show.
At the time, Ashby worked at Rushville as a hospital manager, according to McClain’s email to state officials. That meant Ashby potentially was in position to know about Thompson being admitted to the facility for the sex crime.
* I called around and it does seem plausible. From a senior administration official who has reviewed the Department of Corrections records…
Scott W. Thompson was released early from a 2.5 year sentence for violating a sex offender registry requirement. (State law allows him a day of credit for each day served.)
For that sentence, Thompson was admitted to Big Muddy on March 17, 2009.
In addition to the 50 percent sentence requirement, on May 29, 2009 - which was 60 days into his sentence - he was given 180 days of good time credit.
He was paroled on Nov 20, 2009 and immediately violated parole at the door because he didn’t meet the terms of mandatory supervised release. He was discharged on May 20, 2010.
On Aug. 1, 2010 he was indicted in Champaign County on charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 13.
During 2011, Thompson was also transferred in and out of the Western Illinois Correctional Center.
He was paroled out in June 2012.
He is presently listed on the state’s sex offender registry as a sexually violent person who is in DHS custody. (In other words, Rushville)
The Quinn administration was hugely paranoid about its Meritorious Good Time Push program, but Thompson wasn’t in that accelerated program, which explains why the Rauner campaign never found him. Even so, a released prisoner who sexually assaulted a young girl would be bad for Quinn, considering the previous publicity over MGT Push.
Some people may have jumped to the conclusion that the “rape in Champaign” was about somebody close to Quinn. Most, I think, were just horrified that McClain would weaponize a rape (and ghost payrolling) for patronage purposes.
To my mind, at least, you can’t argue that this somehow exonerates McClain. He did what he did. And the Quinn administration officials he contacted need to answer why the discipline hearing for McClain’s guy was postponed the day after McClain sent that email.
“He has kept his mouth shut on Jones’ ghost workers, the rape in Champaign and other items. He is loyal to the Administration.”
That’s from an email sent by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s consigliere and ultimate Statehouse insider, Mike McClain, to Gov. Pat Quinn’s chief legislative liaison, Gary Hannig, and Quinn’s former chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, at 2:04 pm on July 31, 2012.
The message came to light after WBEZ reporters Tony Arnold and Dave McKinney filed Freedom of Information Act requests for all emails between McClain and gubernatorial chiefs of staff during the last ten years.
McClain was trying to save the job of fellow Quincy resident and state employee Forrest Ashby, who was facing disciplinary action the following day by the state’s Department of Corrections.
To my eyes, it sure looks like McClain was weaponizing the cover-up of alleged multiple felonies involving ghost-payrolling and rape to protect his guy.
And this is very, very important to keep in mind: McClain had to believe that Hannig and/or Stermer knew about those allegedly covered-up crimes and understood that the exposure of those crimes would severely damage Gov. Quinn’s administration, or his pitch couldn’t possibly work.
Neither Hannig nor Stermer replied to McClain’s email, but Ashby’s disciplinary meeting was postponed and McClain sent a follow-up email on August 1st: “I do not know what happened but I know nothing happens accidentally.”
He then thanked both men.
I have so many questions:
1) Who is the rapist and how would the possibility of his exposure, um, “encourage” the Quinn administration to help McClain’s guy?
2) What’s this “Jones’ ghost workers” thing about?
3) What kind of a person weaponizes a rape cover-up for patronage?
4) What kind of a person puts that sort of thing into a FOIA-able email?
5) Did the Quinn administration put its finger on the scale after McClain’s implied threats?
6) If McClain would go that far over the top with the governor’s chief of staff and chief legislative liaison, what did he write in his internal ComEd emails that have all been subpoenaed by the feds?
The answer to that last question, according to sources within ComEd, is “a lot.” The man overshared. Hold on to your shorts.
This blockbuster WBEZ story has rocked the House Democratic world like nothing else that has come before, and for good reason. McClain’s obvious penchant for saying things he shouldn’t via email (the “magic” lobbyist list, the “magic” spreadsheet of contribution bundlers, funneling money to the brother of Speaker Madigan’s alderman after he was accused of sexual harassment and fired, etc., etc.) might bring down the entire empire.
Madigan’s press secretary wouldn’t comment on the record, but House Majority Leader Greg Harris told me: “The reference to a rape coverup is shocking. It is good that the governor’s office has referred this to the appropriate authorities for further action.”
Gov. Pritzker, whose campaign hired Ashby to do faith-based outreach at McClain’s request, forwarded the case to the state office of executive inspector general.
”This email is horrific and troubling,” said Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago. “Since when should someone be rewarded for covering up a rape? Women deserve respect not cover-ups. The Champaign County state’s attorney and people with the proper authority should open up an investigation and start handing out subpoenas to get to the bottom of this.”
After some initial hesitation, the Champaign County state’s attorney (a Democrat) has agreed to investigate and claimed Friday that she was working with the Illinois attorney general, the state police and the U.S. attorney in her area.
I would add, we also need to know if those “Jones’ ghost workers” are still on the state payroll and who put them there and who this “Jones” is. I have my suspicions, but that’s all.
McClain was Madigan’s top guy for decades. He acted in Madigan’s name the entire time. Madigan has denied knowledge of anything in that 2012 McClain email. But it just seems unlikely to me that his top advisor apparently had significant dirt on the Quinn administration and he was kept totally in the dark.
Proving otherwise, however, could be very difficult if not impossible.
When George Ryan was elected governor, I said his friends would damage him much more than his enemies. That eventually happened to Ryan and it’s clear to anyone with eyes that the same thing is happening to Madigan.
