* I told subscribers about this letter earlier today…
A bipartisan group of 30 Illinois House members on Tuesday threw their support behind efforts in the Senate to craft a bill package aimed at ending the state’s historic budget impasse.
“We ask the senators from both parties to pass the best negotiated package they can, and then we will take up their work in the House,” the group said in a statement.
The package, which includes tax hikes, pension changes and a local property tax freeze, stalled in the Democratic-led Senate in March, when most Republicans withdrew their support.
John Patterson, a spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton, said on Tuesday both sides are “trading ideas in trying to find agreement.”
That’s a positive. House members have been mostly silent on the Senate’s work until now. But 17 Democrats and 13 Republicans signed on to this letter. An excerpt…
We believe a solution that can pass the House and Senate and be signed by the Governor needs to include a package of bills that fundamentally addresses the needs of the state, and most importantly provides a normal, full-year budget for our state agencies, schools, and social service providers.
Let’s be clear; we aren’t looking at a simple all or nothing vote on a package sent from the Senate. We understand that a package sent from the Senate will not be complete or perfect, and it will change. Our legislative process allows hearings and amendments from both chambers, and we think that’s the best way to negotiate a deal that serves our constituents and the state as a whole.
Keep in mind that the letter came out hours after Speaker Madigan appointed four of his top members to negotiate with Rauner. The rank-and-file signers don’t appear to want that, however. Instead, they want to take up the Senate’s package and go from there.
* Meanwhile, some rank-and-file House Republicans prefer to focus on process arguments…
According to State Representative David S. Olsen (R-Downers Grove), nothing is more important in Springfield right now than the adoption of a full and balanced budget. To that end, this week the freshman lawmaker signed on as a co-sponsor of three pieces of legislation that provide revenue estimates that can be used as the starting point for the creation of a full budget.
“The implementation of a budget is a multi-step process, and step one involves lawmakers coming to agreement on a revenue estimate,” said Olsen. “The Illinois Constitution is clear; the responsibility for crafting and adopting a budget rests solely with the General Assembly. That process begins with the approval of a revenue estimate that tells us how much money we have to spend.”
I happen to like Olsen, but it’s silly to say that this is the GA’s sole responsibility. Also, we won’t know what revenue levels to estimate until they agree on the taxes they’re going to raise.
State Rep. Avery Bourne today released the following statement on school funding reform upon the House’s return to Springfield for the final month of the spring legislative session:
“For years, multiple legislative commissions and committees have studied the obvious inequities of Illinois’ school funding system. As it stands now, Illinois has the most inequitable school funding system in the nation. That means students are essentially forced to play a zip code lottery that will determine whether they learn in classrooms equipped with an iPad per student or one where students share decades old textbooks. This is a challenge we need to tackle as the legislature, and there is bipartisan agreement that it must happen soon. […]
“There have been countless hours spent in the last year around this bipartisan solution to our school funding problem. We cannot, however, take our eyes off of the goal. Our goal is a system that works for every student in this state. Getting this crucial reform passed is within sight. However, as often happens - this is when special deals are added or fairness is tossed out the window in exchange for what is politically expedient.
“When talking about state policies, I hear often from constituents that the money flows straight to Chicago while the rest of Illinois is forgotten about. We cannot let this happen again. The children of Illinois are too important. Understand though, I agree - the children of Chicago deserve a high quality education. Many of them are not afforded that opportunity under the current system. However, the children outside of Chicago, in central and southern Illinois deserve the opportunity to get a great education too.
The House Democrats have been working on a school funding reform bill, but haven’t yet convinced any Republicans to sign on. Gov. Rauner won’t go along with giving more money to Chicago’s schools without his pension reform deal, so this seems like a preemptive strike on Rauner’s behalf by Rep. Bourne.
*** UPDATE *** Remember that these are Sen. Bill Brady’s proposals. The Senate Democrats have yet to sign off on them. Greg Hinz…
Brady calls the plan “five for five”: The core is $5 billion in tax increases for what Brady says are $5 billion in spending cuts. […]
On the other side of the ledger, total spending would be capped at roughly $36 billion for each of the next five years.
To get to that figure, Brady would trim $435 million a year from employee group health insurance, save $700 million a year via accounting changes in the state’s pension systems and save another $500 million a year on pensions by moving new workers to 401(k)-style defined contribution plans.
Higher education would get a 15 percent across-the-board reduction, and most other programs outside of grade and high school support a 5 percent cut. Local units of government also would see a reduction in the the cut of state income taxes they now receive.
“This state needs a champion that’s going to stand up for our kids, that’s going to stand up for creating job, that’s going to fund education and stand up for health care,” he said.
Heather and Jackie have heard those promises before.
“Bruce Rauner said the same thing and we still have no budget yet,” said Grissom.
They say they want someone who’s going to fight for Southern Illinois.
Ortiz: I’d be remiss to not ask you about the rest of the Democratic field. Obviously there are some who see you and J.B. Pritzker and they’re a little concerned about all the money in politics these days in general. What do you say to those people who have those concerns about all this money being thrown around?
Kennedy: I think they should be concerned. You look what’s happening to the Republican Party in the state. It’s a disaster. What Gov. Rauner has done to our economy, what he’s done to the million people who he’s thrown out of the government programs, that’s unforgivable. But what he’s done to the Republican Party is shameful, the party of Lincoln. There is no one left who will speak up for the future of that party, who will offer any form of dissent. He’s bullied his own state reps with his money. He’s scared his own state senators with his wealth. He, his wife, and three friends supplied maybe 80 percent or more of the funding for state reps, state senators and constitutional officers in the last election. No one can afford to take the risk and object to anything that he’s done. We can’t let that happen to the Democratic Party. That’s wrong. We can’t say to our people, you know, let’s find another billionaire. Let’s find someone to fight our fights so that we don’t have to and make him our kind. If we do that, if we’re not willing to make the sacrifices to win an election, sacrifices such as taking time to go door-to-door, signing a petition, giving five or 10 or 15 dollars to a candidate, if we’re not willing to do that, we don’t deserve the freedom that comes with being an American.
Illinois owes a group of women whose police officer and firefighter husbands died in the line of duty more than $351,000 apiece for their losses, but the state’s chronic inability to pass a budget has left all of them unpaid like thousands of state vendors.
The widows’ plight in a state with a $12.7 billion unpaid bill backlog represents yet another frustrating byproduct of lllinois’ 22-month budget stalemate, a span of fiscal ineptitude unmatched by any other U.S. state.
Illinois has limped along without a full operating budget during that time because the state’s Democratic-led legislature and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner have clashed over a list of nonbudgetary demands he has insisted be part of any budget deal.
All told, seven Illinois women have been waiting as long as a year for their shares of more than $2.7 million in awards and interest owed under the state’s Line of Duty Compensation Act, which mandates one-time payments and burial reimbursements to the families of fallen first responders.
The pending allotments are part of a $45 million pile of unpaid awards through the Illinois Court of Claims, a body that adjudicates litigation directed at the state and approves line-of-duty awards. That overall amount also includes unpaid awards owed to a group of exonerated, wrongfully imprisoned ex-inmates and others who sustained injuries on state roads or in state facilities.
Students, faculty and staff gathered at Illinois Valley Community College on Monday to assure their voices were heard by legislators.
State Rep. Jerry Long, R-Streator, was the sole legislator in attendance at a legislators forum created for college officials and students to share concerns about higher education funding during the ongoing budget impasse. All of the 14 legislators in IVCC’s district as well as Gov. Bruce Rauner were invited to the event. […]
The college used to expect around $3 to $4 million from the state, but that amount fell to $611,000 in 2016. This leads to the college requiring more from students and taxpayers. […]
“I guarantee you I will fight tooth and nail to make sure we have the general fund that you need and also the MAP grants,” Long said. “Those are extremely important and I make you the promise that I will do what I can to fight for that.” […]
The representative said he was dedicated to finding funding for the school, but also said a stopgap budget would only “keep digging a hole” that would make the future financial situation even more difficult for the state.
Good on Long for being the only legislator to show up, but he’s a Tier One freshman target in a district that’s been represented by a Democrat since about forever. The Democrats already have a candidate against him. So, while he may “fight tooth and nail” for more state revenues, I’ll be the most surprised human in the world if he votes for a tax hike (or the second most, after Leader Durkin).
Also, the House’s stopgap isn’t really a stopgap. It’s a supplemental approp that spends money which is just sitting in two state accounts gathering dust. Even if they wait until they get a real budget to spend the money, it’s pretty much guaranteed that the cash will be used for its intended purposes anyway. So, why wait?
Cuts and deferred maintenance at Northern Illinois University will be necessary to keep reserves adequate, President Doug Baker said.
Without a state budget, Baker has said the university is facing a projected $35 million funding gap, and must prepare for a worst-case scenario until the next fiscal year – lack of funding and no Monetary Award Program grants, which about 5,000 students rely on.
Baker said in an email April 28 that to offset lack of funding, spending reductions must be made – including cuts. He added that attrition will not be enough to support the burden of personnel costs, and some staff members have been notified about how their employment may be affected, while others will hear about the status of their jobs this month.
Baker said other keys to closing the gap will be increased support from donors and other revenue generators.
* Hmm. But maybe spending $685 an hour for a total so far of $189K to defend the president during an OEIG probe might be looked at…
NIU has paid thousands of dollars in legal fees to outside counsel for President Doug Baker as a result of an Office of Executive Inspector General investigation.
The OEIG, a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct, received a complaint about Baker’s administration and subsequently began an investigation. Because the agency does not generally comment on investigations, it is unclear when the complaint was made, though correspondence obtained on April 17 from NIU through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Northern Star shows that outside counsel for an OEIG investigation was retained on Feb. 20, 2015.
The nature of the investigation is unclear. There has only been one OEIG investigation that Baker is aware of, and he is not sure if it is ongoing or not. Lisa Miner, senior director of institutional communications, also confirmed that there was only one OEIG investigation into Baker and his administration.
There is also an ongoing civil lawsuit filed by former Controller Keith Jackson against NIU, the Board of Trustees, President Doug Baker and Nancy Suttenfield, former interim chief financial officer.
While lawmakers in Springfield struggle to agree upon a full budget for the third consecutive year and NIU employees are in danger of losing their jobs, a four-month $468,050.39 investigation conducted in 2014 provided only an oral report of recommendations for improved reliability of financial reporting and compliance with laws, regulations and policies.
This investigation into internal control seems to be referenced in a Dec. 22 Baker Report. Investigations concluded that in 2013 and 2014 there were “weaknesses in internal controls, some limited compliance violations, and lack of clarity of policies across multiple units,” according to the report.
The investigation was completed by the forensic audit firm Alvarez & Marsal, the same firm that former NIU Controller Keith Jackson’s lawsuit against NIU, the Board of Trustees, President Doug Baker and Nancy Suttenfield, former interim chief financial officer, alleges was hired to “dredge for evidence of wrongdoing” committed by Jackson and other individuals Baker and Suttenfield had targeted for termination.
* And check out this reasoning for stopping work on a program that’s supposed to, in part, find ways to save money…
“Between [Fiscal Year 2018] budget development on our campus, Springfield and an incredibly large number of ridiculous, I’ll say, legislative requests that we’ve had to respond to, we’ve just not have not had the human resources to devote to doing the assessment of Program Prioritization at the level we really want to communicate it,” Freeman said. “This is not an attempt to be opaque.”
“It’s almost like they’ve completely abdicated any responsibility on this issue,” said Deborah Hersman, CEO of the National Safety Council, an Itasca-based nonprofit.
Hersman said the drop in enforcement in Chicago is part of a national trend of police issuing fewer tickets for traffic violations, even as the number of traffic fatalities has jumped 14 percent nationwide in the past two years. But Hersman said she has seen nothing like the enforcement drop in Chicago anywhere else in the country.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that in 2015, Chicago police amended its cellphone citation policy to conform to a change in state law that mandated that cellphone violations follow the same process as other traffic violations. This means they would have to go to traffic court and require the presence of the citing officer to be upheld, requiring more police time. Previously, the municipal citations could be upheld before an administrative law judge without the citing officer being present. […]
Illinois State Police also reported a drop in enforcement of the state distracted driving law. Tickets dropped from 11,282 in 2014 to 8,229 in 2016, a 27 percent decline, said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Mike Link. The downward trend continued this year, with just 2,502 tickets issued as of May 3.
The Illinois Senate has helped move state farmers one step closer to a return to production of industrial hemp, unanimously approving legislation sponsored by Sen. Toi Hutchinson, whose district includes parts of Kankakee, Will, Grundy and Cook counties.
Hemp was a key American farm crop, primarily its fiber to produce rope and cloth, from the founding of the nation until it was banned in the 20th century war on marijuana.
Its production was legalized during World War II, after the war in the Pacific cut off supplies of jute and other fiber plants for production of rope and other products vital to the war effort. It was banned again in 1957.
The legislation, Senate Bill 1294, now goes to the House, where approval is expected, the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, an agricultural group, announced Monday.
Statewide, 14 gun stores were burglarized last year, with a total of 280 guns stolen, according to ATF figures. That was up from five such burglaries in 2015 and three the year before that.
Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, says gun stores across Illinois already are beefing up security in response to the rise in burglaries.
“The gangs are becoming bolder because not much happens to them,” Pearson says. “I think everyone is upgrading their security.”
But he says subjecting gun stores to state requirements for security is a bad idea: “Whenever you get the state involved, you add costs for everyone, with no results.”
A couple proposals before the state Legislature would cut some slack for those who run afoul of the law early in life and those who already have spent time in prison and are heading toward senior citizen status.
State Sen. Michael Hastings, a Tinley Park Democrat who chairs the Senate’s criminal law committee, said he will take up a plan this week that was shepherded through the House by state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, to broaden the expungement of nonviolent juvenile records, bringing Illinois up to par with American Bar Association guidelines. […]
In the 10-year span from 2004 to 2014, an overwhelming majority — 87 percent — of Illinois counties averaged less than one expungement of a juvenile record per year.
If you’re a juvenile child molester, arsonist, murderer or violent offender, Hastings said, your criminal record will remain on the books, but if you got into trouble for drinking or drugs or petty theft as a minor, your interaction with the law should be sealed and can be automatically erased after a certain period of time.
Comments from one of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s agency directors have one state lawmaker concerned that the recent progress to reduce the state’s prison population could suddenly be undone.
“Forgive me for being suspicious, but we’ve got a governor saying he wants to reduce the prison population while at the same time his prison director is holding onto empty prisons just in case they’re needed? Something doesn’t add up,” said State Senator Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat.
Hunter’s comments came in response to recent testimony from Illinois Department of Corrections Acting Director John Baldwin before a key Senate budgeting committee. Senator Hunter, a member of that committee, asked what the Department of Corrections’ plans were for unused prisons in Dwight and Tamms that once combined to house more than 1,000 inmates but have been shuttered for nearly four years.
With the prison agency seeking a funding increase in the next budget, Hunter suggested selling the property so the state could make some money in the midst of a budget crisis.
Acting Director Baldwin said there are no plans to sell off the prisons.
“You never know when you’re going to all of a sudden need it,” Baldwin said.
That set off warning bells for Hunter.
“When you have President Trump talking about the National Guard rounding up people in Chicago, I’m on high alert for the rights of our people,” Hunter said after the hearing.
Up until now, the Rauner administration has worked with lawmakers to cut the prison population. Rauner came into office vowing to reduce the inmate population by 25 percent. Hunter, also a member of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, shared that goal, concerned that too many productive lives are being lost in prisons.
Adding to Hunter’s concerns was that Rauner-backed Republicans recent opposition to a Senate plan that would have reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenses. The general idea was to reduce prison costs by focusing available prison space for longer sentences for violent, gun-related crimes. The idea grew out of a task force the governor created.
But that provision was doomed in the Senate after Republicans backed out.
That turnabout, combined with the prison director’s desire to hold onto surplus prison space, has Hunter worried there’s a dramatic shift in direction within the Rauner administration on criminal justice policies.
“Those prisons were built for one thing: to be prisons. They’ve been closed for years. The Rauner administration should pursue ideas for selling off the land or tell the public what’s really going on,” Hunter said.
* IDOC’s response…
It is a stretch for Senator Hunter to insinuate that Governor Rauner’s efforts to reduce the prison population are disingenuous. The reality is, the prison population is down approximately 11% since Governor Rauner took office. This administration has worked diligently to restore real second chance opportunities for people who return to society – such as giving former offenders the ability to get professional licenses.
As opposed to selling several shuttered facilities, the Department of Corrections has repurposed them in recent years – the former IYC Joliet will be used to treat offenders who are on the mental health caseload; the former IYC in Kewanee is now being used as a Life Skills Re-Entry Center, where offenders are learning skills that will be critical to their success upon release; and the former IYC in Murphysboro, which will also be a Life Skills Re-Entry Center.
So, Director Baldwin is right in saying you never know when the Department may need to utilize a vacant building – and that in no way means for the purpose of rounding people up for incarceration.
A hearing officer has recommended former state Rep. Frank Mautino’s campaign committee be fined for “willfully” violating the state elections board’s order to provide it with more information on spending.
Hearing Officer Philip Krasny released his 18-page report Friday, saying Mautino, now the state’s auditor general, failed to amend his reports in response to a Board of Elections request in May 2016. […]
In its May 2016 order, the board asked Mautino, who chairs the committee, to accurately break down expenditures for gas and car repairs at Happy’s Super Service in Spring Valley, identify the actual recipients of each itemized expenditure made to the gas station and identify the specific purposes of any expenditures made to Spring Valley City Bank.
Krasny said his report was limited to the board’s request to determine whether Mautino willfully violated the May 2016 order.
Go read the whole thing. Mautino’s lawyers used some pretty tortured logic to explain why Mautino couldn’t amend his filing.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown denied those [GOP] claims, saying the speaker’s offer is an effort to “move along.”
“All we did today was appoint senior leaders of our caucus to go work with the governor on the off-budget issues. We have [state Rep.] Greg Harris, a whole team working on an FY [fiscal year] appropriation proposal and these other people kind of take the governor’s off-budget issues. It’s trying to recognize the calendar and move along.”
Brown said House Democrats are “recognizing what has transpired” with “grand bargain” talks — alluding to the package’s plug having been pulled in March. […]
[House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie] said no reform items are “off limits.”
“It’s up to the governor to define those. His agenda does seem to change from time to time, and I’m not ever sure what’s on it today, but our point is he seems to have off-budget issues. We are happy to meet with him and try to figure out how to resolve those issues.”
* Former Gov. Pat Quinn didn’t hold a press conference after unveiling his official portrait yesterday, but the Tribune was able to get a moment of his time to ask him about the IDOT hiring investigation…
The portrait unveiling came weeks after a report from a court-appointed watchdog charged with looking into patronage hiring at the Illinois Department of Transportation detailed how top Democrats clouted relatives and friends into positions during Quinn’s administration.
“As governor, I had nothing to do with hiring. I told all staff that the only thing we should deal with is double exempt jobs and that was the rule,” Quinn told the Tribune in an interview. Quinn repeated that he “took action” once learning about the improper hiring from the state’s ethics watchdog by replacing the head of IDOT.
* Republican Jeremy Wynes launched his congressional campaign today against 10th District incumbent Democrat Brad Schneider. He’s hired two consultants connected to Gov. Bruce Rauner: Mike Schrimpf and Chip Englander.
Press release…
Jeremy Wynes today launched a campaign to bring new leadership and fresh ideas to Congress for the people of Illinois’ 10th District.
It’s clear that Jeremy has the right background and vision to bring bipartisan balance back to the district. Last year, incumbent Brad Schneider was one of the most underperforming Democrats in the country, running nearly 10 points behind the top of the ticket. Additionally, a Republican has won Illinois-10 in every mid-term election since 1978, and the district has changed political parties every election since post-2010 redistricting. In 2018, Illinois-10 is poised to again show its independence by rejecting Brad Schneider’s partisan politics in favor of the bipartisan leadership exhibited by Jeremy Wynes.
About Jeremy:
Jeremy understands what it means to take risks and sacrifice to set the foundation for the next generation’s success. He grew up in Illinois learning the meaning of hard work and understanding the value of a dollar. His father ran the family’s farm and worked as a laborer to help make ends meet. His mother has worked three decades as a pre-school teacher.
When he wasn’t busy captaining his high school football and basketball teams, Jeremy spent his youth on the farm and working a variety of jobs to help his family. During the summers, he worked in his father’s small pool installation business and roofed houses and barns for neighboring farmers. During the winters, he helped his uncles chop and deliver firewood to local homeowners.
He took out student loans and worked his way through Illinois State University. In 2002, Jeremy became the first in his family to graduate from college with a four-year degree. Originally intending to pursue a career in law enforcement, Jeremy was inspired by an internship at the public defender’s office to attend DePaul University College of Law, where he graduated with a J.D. in 2006.
After two years in private legal practice, Jeremy began his public-policy career as a director in the Chicago office of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), an internationally-respected advocacy organization dedicated to the bipartisan pursuit of a strong relationship between our country and our ally Israel.
Jeremy spent 7 years traveling across Illinois and other Midwestern states advising and working with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers for bipartisan U.S. foreign policy outcomes — like crippling sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran — while educating and inspiring hardworking Americans of all races, religions and political affiliations to engage in shaping United States foreign policy.
Concerned with the lack of U.S. international leadership, sluggish economic growth and lagging wage gains, in 2014 Jeremy launched a Chicago office for the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), a non-profit organization committed to a strong national security and fiscally conservative economic policies. During his time at AIPAC and the RJC, Jeremy helped lead the fight in Illinois against the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, efforts to isolate our allies and empower our adversaries, and the dangerous foreign policy of an America that leads from behind on the world stage.
Lesley, Jeremy’s wife of 9 years, was raised in Highland Park to parents who ran small family businesses. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School, Lesley currently serves as an assistant dean at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University while also managing her own small legal-education consulting business and the demands of raising a family. At the heart of the Wynes household are Lesley and Jeremy’s three young children – Jaclyn, 7; Isaac, 5; and Noah, 2.
The St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee voted to endorse JB Pritzker for governor. JB met with dozens of Democratic leaders across southwestern Illinois to listen and discuss the issues most important to their communities. The endorsement comes after JB’s several visits to Metro East.
“I am thrilled to have the support of Democrats across the state of Illinois, and St. Clair County is critical to Democrats’ chances of winning the governor’s race,” said JB Pritzker. “As governor, I will work to unify people to pass a budget, restore our social safety net, and stand up for working families. Unlike Bruce Rauner, I know pitting Illinoisans against each other won’t help us solve our state’s big problems. I’m ready to fight for all of our people, in every corner of Illinois.”
“We met with JB and discussed his vision for Illinois,” said Bob Sprague, St. Clair County Democratic Party Chairman. “He’s the right candidate to take on Bruce Rauner to create jobs, protect workers’ rights and fix the budget mess. We will support JB every step of the way in order to take back our state.”
The end-of-spring-session jockeying to avoid blame for the lack of a budget began in earnest Monday, but the efforts resembled summer rerun season.
The Senate resurrected an attempt at a grand bargain that eluded the chamber earlier this year. Talks are revolving around an income tax increase coupled with spending cuts in an effort to bring the state out of the red. Both parties also are working to see if they can reach an agreement on several changes that Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has made a condition of a larger deal, such as a property tax freeze and overhaul of the workers’ compensation system to cut costs for businesses after an employee is hurt on the job.
Over in the House, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan announced he would appoint some of his top lieutenants to work with Rauner “to identify areas of his agenda where compromise can be reached.” […]
If nothing ends up getting accomplished, the two approaches afford a small measure of political cover. The Senate can say it tried to work out a budget deal, and Madigan can say he attempted once again to negotiate with Rauner. Last year, lawmakers and the governor went into overtime, agreeing on a stopgap spending plan at the end of June, just before the start of the state’s budget year. […]
“I am trying to stay hopeful, but we have been down this path before,” said Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago.
[Sen. Toi Hutchinson] noted talk of the expansion of taxes on services is still ongoing, which she called one of the most difficult parts.
“Illinois is not accustomed to taxing services, so politically speaking that’s a very, very heavy lift,” Hutchinson said. “So far I’ve been taken all the hits but that’s par for the course because whatever ends up happening they’re going to be a part of the negotiated package. … Not that we hope to raise taxes or like to do that.”
Still, she called talks “fluid” and urged senators to keep plugging along.
“This is a really fluid situation but it requires people to not pull the plug on it,” Hutchinson said. “You have to stay in it until it’s done.”
Sen. Hutchinson is carrying the Senate’s revenue bill. Several items in that bill were requested by Republicans, some of whom probably won’t even vote for it. Indeed, Sen. Bill Brady’s own legislation relies on the passage of Hutchinson’s revenue bill. He isn’t sponsoring a tax hike proposal himself.
* The Civic Federation carefully analyzes state budget proposals every year. So, while you may think this is a bit late to the game, it’s actually about right on time, considering the ongoing budget talks in the Senate…
The Civic Federation on Tuesday blasted Gov. Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget in a report that say it relies on “uncertain savings, one-time revenues” and the passage of the always in flux Illinois Senate “grand bargain” plan — while also blaming lawmakers for a “spectacular failure” for not enacting a budget.
The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability on Tuesday said it can’t support Rauner’s budget because it has an operating deficit of $4.6 billion and doesn’t address the state’s backlog of bills. The group also cites concern over the reduction of pension contributions by $1.25 billion and the reduction of group insurance payments and nursing home placements caused by a new at-home care program for seniors not eligible for Medicaid.
The group also warns that “one-time resources” from the sale of the James R. Thompson Center may do nothing for next year’s budget and shouldn’t be used to help balance the budget. The governor last week said he hoped the sale would provide “long-term” help for the state — saying he supports Republican-sponsored measured to send property tax revenue from the site to Chicago Public Schools.
Rauner in February presented his proposal that presses for revenue, reforms and cuts to fill a gaping hole. But it was deemed “balanced” by the state’s budget director because it was reliant on the Senate plan passing. Within the budget proposal is a mixture of spending cuts, revenue and projected economic growth to try to reach a magic number of nearly $4.6 billion. The administration said in February it was seeking to fill the remaining $2.7 billion plus by getting legislative authority to make cuts. In terms of the state’s massive debt, state budget director Scott Harry said “the governor would be open to financing” to get the backlog down.
Declaring that budget to be balanced when it obviously was not was one of the biggest tactical mistakes the governor’s office made this year.
* With emphasis added, here is the Civic Federation’s press release…
For nearly two years, Illinois has operated without a comprehensive budget, during which time the State’s credit rating has fallen to near-junk status and unpaid bills have continued to climb. Judicial mandates, full-year appropriations for elementary and secondary education and the questionable payment of State employees without appropriations have removed pressure on lawmakers to compromise on a full spending plan.
“Operating Illinois on autopilot is not a solution, nor is it sustainable. Rather, it represents an abdication of the most basic constitutional responsibilities of proposing and passing a balanced budget,” said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall. “The Governor and General Assembly need to end this unacceptable stalemate by passing and enacting a comprehensive plan. Cherry-picking certain areas of government to fund while pledging to work toward a complete budget sometime in the abstract future has not and will not end the crisis and in fact is making it worse.”
Unfortunately, Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget for FY2018 does not offer a sufficiently detailed plan to address the State’s immense financial problems. To close the deficit of $4.6 billion, it relies on uncertain savings, one-time revenues and a bipartisan agreement in the Illinois Senate, the provisions of which are in flux and likelihood of passage is unclear.
Further, the Federation cannot support a budget proposal that would allow the backlog of unpaid bills to increase to $19.7 billion if the gap is not closed. Because of the backlog, the State begins each fiscal year in a hole, using revenues from the current year to pay off the previous year’s obligations. A $19.7 billion backlog at the end of FY2018 would represent more than half (58.1%) of estimated FY2019 General Funds revenues.
The Civic Federation continues to recommend a comprehensive plan including spending restraints and increased revenues. Spending controls are at the center of the Federation’s plan, but significantly more revenue is needed to help reduce the deficit in FY2017 and close the gap in FY2018 without drastically changing the scope of State government.
In fact, [Msall] continued, the situation has gotten so bad that the state now has to spend the first six months’ worth of revenues paying off bills that accumulated in the prior year.
Let that sink in a bit.
*** UPDATE *** From the Pritzker campaign…
“Illinois needs a leader who can bring people together to put an end to this budget crisis,” said JB Pritzker. “While Bruce Rauner has decided to hold the state hostage for his teardown agenda, millions are suffering the consequences and future generations will inherit the mess he’s created. As governor, I will propose a balanced budget to protect middle class families and get Illinois back on track.”
“This announcement strikes a very familiar tone, one that should bring great caution to the public especially as we enter the final weeks of the legislative session. Two years ago, these same Democrats ‘engaged’ in working group discussions on these very issues only to walk away from the table to pass a budget that was more than $4 billion out of balance. Last year they once again ‘engaged’ with Republicans on these issues only to walk away and pass a budget that was $7 billion out of balance. The fact is, Democrats have a history of creating these working groups in an attempt to waste time and obfuscate from their record of more than 20 years of reckless spending and failed policies. As I’ve said repeatedly, we are willing to negotiate with Democrats to bring an end to this impasse, but that only works when both sides respect the priorities of the other side. We remain willing and ready to negotiate and compromise, but time is running out.”
From what I’ve been told, I don’t think the governor’s office will directly respond to Madigan’s offer, but one never knows for sure about such things.
*** UPDATE *** From Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno…
“I see Speaker Madigan’s comments today as a ploy, typical of his pattern of behavior. It is clearly a political reaction to the progress being made in the Senate and our good faith efforts to reach a comprehensive solution. We continue to work on significant reforms coupled with a balanced budget. I’m still hopeful we can be successful with legislation in the Senate that can be sent to the House for consideration. The problem is solvable if there is the political will to do it.”
Democratic candidates running for governor turned out for the first forum in Hillside this weekend and none other than former Senate President Emil Jones Jr. surfaced. Jones acted as a surrogate to Chris Kennedy, who had a scheduling conflict.
Jones talked about how a governor (and others in power) can help bring jobs to African Americans. He talks about getting more minority firms in the asset management business.
“They have a great opportunity if they take those dollars, hire asset managers … I found out that the City of Chicago in particular with all that money they have, have very few minority money managers. That minority firm is going to hire a lot of minority people.”
“If you are not given the opportunity, then you are not going to be able to sustain your business. Many minority firms suffer because they don’t have access to capital. That’s one of the things that the governor can do, state treasurer can do, city of Chicago treasurer. Open the doors of opportunity.
There were ripples of laughter over this comparison: “You go to an Italian restaurant, there’s a lot of Italians working. There’s a lot of Chinese working in a Chinese restaurant. There’s a lot of Hispanics working in a Hispanic restaurants. I know Chris’ record. I know what he stands for.”
Um, OK.
* Jones was also asked where Kennedy stood on marijuana. He said he wouldn’t answer the question because he didn’t know what Kennedy’s position was. This tracker video doesn’t show Jones, but you can hear him…
* The former Senate President also talked about guns. Well, actually, he kinda rambled for several minutes. About two minutes in, you’ll hear him say he doesn’t know where Kennedy is on the topic because “We never talked about this”…
Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn unveiled his official portrait at a ceremony Monday in the Illinois State Capitol, revealing images that will bring unprecedented diversity, cutting-edge technology, and a new focus on civics education to the historic Hall of Governors.
“As we look at all these portraits of men who were elected to lead the State of Illinois, it’s important to remember all the women and men whose votes brought them into office,” Quinn said during the unveiling ceremony. “With this latest portrait, we hope to remind visitors that, in a democracy, the highest office is the office of citizen, and that all of us have a responsibility to participate in our government.”
The portrait, painted by renowned Illinois artist William T. Chambers, depicts Quinn standing before a background that features 44 interactive “found items” representing people, issues, and events from Governor Quinn’s long career in public service.
Most notably, the background includes a photograph of Quinn signing a bill that put an advisory referendum on the November 2014 ballot, asking voters whether the state’s minimum wage should be increased. In the photograph, Quinn is surrounded by a diverse group of supporters. This ‘portrait in a portrait’ depicts the first images of people of color ever included in the Hall of Governors.
“When people look at this portrait, we want to remind them that every person in the Land of Lincoln has the right to stand up, speak out, and start taking action to improve our government and change the world,” Quinn said.
A few of the “found items” in the portrait are deeply personal, such as the wedding day photograph of his parents, Eileen and Patrick J. Quinn, and photographs of his brothers, Tom and John, and his sons, Patrick and David.
But the majority of items relate to Quinn’s achievements in public life, including his passage of the $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now! Program, his advocacy for Illinois military families, his expansion of the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit, his leadership in expanding healthcare coverage, and his signing of the Marriage Equality bill.
“We hope this interactive portrait will educate and activate visitors to learn about civics, pursue careers in public service, and support the causes they believe in,” Quinn said. “When you understand your rights as a citizen and learn about the history of your state and your nation, you have all the tools you need to make the will of the people the law of the land.”
The portrait also includes a link to a Bible verse, Isaiah 6:8: “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
“For me, that brief verse sums up the whole spirit of public service and democracy,” Quinn said. “Democracy isn’t about standing around and waiting for someone else to take action. It’s about hearing that call to service and responding swiftly and eagerly, with everything you have in your heart.”
In addition to unveiling the formal portrait, Quinn also announced the creation of the GovernorQuinnPortrait.org website. By clicking on the found items in a high-resolution digital image of the portrait, website visitors can follow links to historical documents, videos, and other information about the issues the items represent.
Another way to experience the interactive nature of the portrait is to download the Thyng app on a smartphone or tablet. Using the app to view and scan the found items brings the portrait to life, displaying video associated with the item.
* If they’d just adopt the California statute I don’t think there would be much opposition. And despite what it says in the article, the burden on small companies won’t be light…
The state Senate on Thursday approved the groundbreaking Right to Know Act, a measure that would require online companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon to disclose to consumers what data about them has been collected and shared with third parties. […]
Major internet companies have been pushing back against the Illinois initiative, ramping up lobbying efforts as the privacy legislation advanced through the Senate, Hastings said. Online trade associations, including CompTIA, the Internet Association and NetChoice, also met with Hastings to voice opposition to the measure. […]
Sen. Chris Nybo, R-Elmhurst, questioned the value to consumers, and the potential burden it might place on e-commerce businesses in Illinois, if it passes into law.
“Every technology company that I’ve spoken to, from Microsoft down to Uber, Lyft … is opposed to this bill,” Nybo said. “People are watching across the country what happens on this bill. I think it sends the wrong message.”
The question of how to fund Illinois schools has become one of the most urgent — yet complicated —issues facing lawmakers.
Last night, as a panel discussed the two proposals pending in the Senate, those two facts were reiterated again and again. The meeting adjourned around 9 pm, after almost three hours of discussion of the bills sponsored by Senators Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) and Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington). They agree on the same basic plan, but disagree on how to ensure that no district loses money.
Manar’s plan aims to hold all districts “harmless,” ensuring they get at least as much state funding next year as they received in fiscal year 2017. Barickman’s plan mirrors that concept, with the exception of Chicago Public Schools.
But testimony at the hearing revealed a mistake in the spreadsheet Barickman distributed last week showing outcomes for each district. Jennifer Garrison, superintendent of Sandoval schools, shared a letter from North Berwyn schools superintendent Carmen Ayala, stating that Barickman’s plan (Senate Bill 1124) would cost North Berwyn more than $500,000. That result appears to run counter to the overall goal of both plans — to replace the state’s infamously inequitable school funding structure with a formula that helps poorer districts. The student body at North Berwyn is 87 percent low-income, and more than a quarter of the students are English language learners.
Protesters chained themselves together on the Illinois Capitol steps. Some on hunger strikes, having gone a month without food, sat inside under the dome. Others staged a House-floor sit-in, forming their hands into illuminati pyramids signifying the few at the top commanding the many at the bottom.
And when the civil disobedience dissolved on June 30, 1982, without legislative action, the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was presumed dead.
But 45 years after Congress approved the ERA and sent it to the states for ratification, Illinois is back at the center of a national movement to revive the issue. An Illinois Senate committee approved the ERA this month, setting up a floor vote not yet scheduled.
Despite threats from the Trump Administration to cut federal law enforcement funding to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials, Illinois is moving towards becoming the nation’s fifth sanctuary state after California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado.
With one vote to spare, the Illinois Senate passed a SB 031 Thursday, which would set Illinois state-funded schools, health care centers and secretary of state facilities as “safe zones” for undocumented immigrants to find protection from federal law enforcement.
In those locations throughout the state, state and local police would be prohibited from arresting persons based on their immigration status - the same practice now in place in the city of Chicago and Cook County.
Two state lawmakers said Friday that Illinois’ budget crisis and Gov. Bruce Rauner share in the blame for the death of 1-year-old Semaj Crosby.
State Reps. LaShawn Ford and Mary Flowers, both Democrats representing Chicago, said that investigating DCFS for its role is not enough and predicted that without a budget compromise, more children will fall through the cracks.
The state’s budget crisis has forced cuts at social service agencies that once were available to families in crisis. As the two lawmakers see it, Rauner needs to find a budget solution, while a spokesman for the governor said the lawmakers are politicizing a horrible tragedy.
“It’s the governor’s responsibility,” said Ford. “It’s his department and if the governor really cared as much about the children as he cares about selling the Thompson Center—DCFS would get the help that it needs.” […]
The governor’s office refuted the accusations.
“This has nothing to do with the budget, and it’s sad that anyone would try to politicize this horrible tragedy. Like everyone across the state, the governor wants answers on how such a horrific tragedy could happen,” a spokesperson for Rauner said Friday. “The Will County Sheriff, DCFS and other agencies are actively investigating and we are anxiously awaiting their findings. Something like this should never happen – and we need to find out exactly why it did. As an administration, we will remain committed to do anything and everything possible to protect the children of Illinois and improve the Department of Children and Family Services.”
It most certainly does have something to do with the lack of a state budget, but I, myself, wouldn’t directly blame the governor for the death of that little girl.
…Adding… It should be noted that DCFS basically runs without a budget because it’s under a federal consent decree. However, a budget could increase funding for various tasks. Or, the administration could go back to the judge and ask for more money.
Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner today said he blames Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn for the deaths of child-abuse victims whose families previously had contact with the state’s child-welfare agency.
“Yes,” Rauner said when asked by reporters if the deaths of 95 children with past contact with the Department of Children and Family Services from 2011-2013 were attributable to Quinn.
“Pat Quinn is, in the end, responsible for the failings at the Department of Children and Family Services. If it was a one-year problem or a temporary problem you could say, ‘OK, maybe, there was, it’s not really his responsibility.’ But he’s been governor for six years. He’s had a revolving door of failure at Department of Children and Family Services for years and years,” Rauner said.
Rauner’s remarks came as he stepped up his attacks over Quinn’s DCFS oversight with a new TV ad today with a similar message to a radio ad that began airing a day earlier.
Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson has called the ad campaign a “false and malicious attempt to smear the governor.” She contended Rauner was cynically using for political purposes an agency that “intervenes in emergency life and death situations” involving at-risk children.
“To imply the governor is somehow responsible for the deaths of children in the horrific circumstances that this agency enters into while trying to save lives is despicable and a new low,” she said.
Since 1980, Chicago has lost about a third of its black population. […]
“The white population is not falling, and the Latino and Asian populations are slightly growing,” says [Rob Paral, a public policy analyst]. “The big factor that is altering Chicago’s population is the change among blacks.”
Since the early ’80s, blacks in South and West Side neighborhoods have been steadily leaving the city, resettling at first largely in the Cook County suburbs. But over the past 15 years, more and more have been leaving the area entirely for northwest Indiana, Iowa’s Quad Cities, and Sun Belt states, says Alden Loury, the director of research and evaluation at the Metropolitan Planning Council. Today there are roughly 850,000 blacks in Chicago, down from 1.2 million in 1980.
The reasons for this are varied: The foreclosure crisis saw blacks evicted disproportionately from their rental apartments and houses; the Chicago Housing Authority leveled high-rises like the Robert Taylor Homes, scattering public housing residents; the lack of stable employment in South and West Side neighborhoods continues to force residents to look elsewhere for jobs; and school closures further disenfranchise communities. “There are not a lot of messages that Chicago cares about its black residents,” says Mary Pattillo, a sociology and African American studies professor at Northwestern University and author of the book Black Picket Fences. “When you lose the institutions that cultivate attachment, it makes it a lot easier to pick up and leave.”
More than two years after leaving office, former Gov. Pat Quinn plans to return to the Illinois Capitol on Monday to unveil his official portrait — a painting that is designed to not only capture his likeness but also offer a detailed history lesson about his life and time as the state’s 41st chief executive.
The festivities are set to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Hall of Governors on the second floor of the statehouse. The hall features portraits of previous Illinois governors, and after Quinn’s painting goes up, only one will be missing: impeached and imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
* One can’t help but wonder, however, whether the festivities could be dampened by columns like this one…
A top-ranking official a the University of Illinois’ Springfield campus was identified as among the wrongdoers in a court-ordered investigation of the illegal state patronage hiring scandal that occurred from 2009-14 under former Gov. Pat Quinn.
The voluminous report, prepared by independent monitor Noelle Brennan, identified Ryan Croke, a former Quinn chief and assistant chief of staff, as being among a handful of top people in the governor’s office who pressured officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation to hire clouted job applicants “with little to no regard for actual hiring need or whether the candidate was qualified to fill the stated duties of the job.”
When interviewed by lawyers Aug. 11, 2016, Croke, a 2005 University of Illinois graduate, denied any wrongdoing.
The report states that he acknowledged making recommendations for favored job-seekers but said he never “applied pressure or forced a specific candidate upon an agency.”
You are a government worker making $11,000 as a clerk in Washington Park. You want to make more.
You could go to school and improve your job skills, or you could call your political patron, state Sen. James Clayborne, and demand a state job.
When the $55,000 state offer comes, even though you have none of the qualifications, you double down on your weak hand and ask for $75,000. The Illinois Department of Transportation guy doing the hiring writes: “I don’t trust this guy at all.”
Unqualified. Demanding. Untrustworthy. The political juice is so strong with this one you’d think he was one of Clayborne’s female friends getting a state job. Plus Mr. Untrustworthy is hired to buy land for the state — no possibility of corruption there, right?
Former state Rep. Frank Mautino used his influence in state government to get people white-collar jobs at the state Department of Transportation, a federal court monitor revealed this week.
In two cases, employees Mautino sponsored didn’t meet the qualifications for their positions, according to the monitor’s report.
More than 40 deaths in Cook County so far in 2017 have been linked to an overdose of a powerful new opioid.
Between January and early April, at least 44 deaths were attributed to acrylfentanyl, a new fentanyl analog, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. In 2016, only seven deaths were attributed to acrylfentanyl.
There may be more deaths linked to the new opioid, because toxicology tests can take several weeks, according to the medical examiner’s office. […]
Of 1,091 people in Cook County who died at least in part because of an opiate-related overdose in 2016, 562 died after using fentanyl or fentanyl analogs, according to the medical examiner’s office.
* This is what’s known as a “bootleg” drug. A bit of background…
According to the DEA, Acryl fentanyl is being manufactured overseas, smuggled into the U.S., and sold mainly on the dark web.
“We suspect China as one of the manufacturers, Canada, Mexico and the like,” said Battiste.
It’s also resistant to Narcan, which is used to revive heroin overdose patients.
Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order Wednesday declaring a public health emergency in Florida due to the opioid epidemic, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated the epidemic was nationwide.
The emergency order will allow the state to immediately receive more than $27 million in federal funding awarded Florida April 21 under the 21st Century Cures Act to fight the epidemic.
The announcement comes a day after state officials met with local leaders in Palmetto as part of a series of state-directed workshops to discuss the needs of Manatee, Palm Beach, Orange and Duval counties.
[State Sen. Andy Manar] blasted Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for his budget proposal not to restore funding in the upcoming fiscal year to addiction-prevention programs.
“In Springfield, the approach lately from Governor Rauner has been to fight the heroin and prescription drug epidemic by slashing programs that deal with this problem directly. That is the opposite approach that we should be taking,” Manar said.
A Rauner spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
The 22-month state budget impasse is about to claim another victim - and it’s one that could have a devastating domino effect on the ability to treat people battling drug addictions.
The Jacksonville-based Wells Center, which provides drug abuse treatment, announced Friday it anticipates closing for good the first week of May. It serves about 500 people a year though its 32 inpatient beds and outpatient programs. It also employs 69 people.
“Having explored alternatives that may have allowed Wells Center to remain open, the Center administration and board have made the difficult decision that the Center will have to close and cease operations,” the Wells Center said in a statement.
It was an abrupt change from last month, when the center signaled its intent to stay open for another three to six months, even though it was receiving chronically late payments from the state. That decision came after Comptroller Susana Mendoza pledged to do what she could to expedite payments; her office said Friday it had provided the available state payments, about $400,000, during the last few weeks.
The Wells Center funding provided fodder for the ongoing battle between Mendoza, a Democrat, and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who have repeatedly traded barbs over who is responsible for the state’s budget woes. This is a situation where who is at fault seems almost secondary, as the impending closure of the Wells Center is a heartbreaking illustration of how lawmakers have created a state where assisting those most in need of help is not as important as chalking up a partisan win under the Capitol dome.
Former Gov. Jim Edgar put the Illinois political world on alert the other night by using the words “somewhat incompetent governor” in what most of his listeners took as a dig at fellow Republican Bruce Rauner.
Edgar told me Friday he wasn’t referring to Rauner at all, but rather to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
“Bruce Rauner might be a lot of things. He’s not incompetent,” the former governor said after I called him to clarify remarks he made the previous evening at an event Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. We’ll get to the actual remarks later.
I believe Edgar, just as I believe he really was referring to Rauner when he also noted in the same talk that House Speaker Mike Madigan is “not the big problem here.”
I was glad Edgar saved me the trouble of defending Rauner’s competency, although a little disappointed he wouldn’t help me elucidate the “lot of things” that might better describe our current governor’s shortcomings.
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs will urge Governor Bruce Rauner [today] to focus on budget negotiations to avoid junk bond status. During Rauner’s tenure, Illinois has incurred six credit downgrades due to two years without a state budget.
Frerichs will outline the financial consequences and address the negative impact Illinois faces if credit agencies move forward with public warnings to downgrade Illinois to junk bond status.
* Treasurer Frerichs has been mostly quiet about Gov. Rauner and the impasse. “I prefer to play my part and do my job rather than to complain about others,” he told reporters today, then explained why he was speaking out: “The future of our state is too important.”
Gov. Rauner “paid big money” to win his election, “but he refuses to do his job,” Frerichs said. “The buck always stops somewhere else.”
“It is embarrassing and downright shameful that Illinois is in this deep of a hole,” he said, pointing to the six state credit downgrades and the recent warning from Moody’s that Illinois “is on a path to junk bond status.”
“Gov. Rauner needs to stop campaigning and start governing,” he said. “You can’t negotiate a budget when you’re out on the campaign trail. You can’t negotiate a budget through press conferences and television commercials,” the treasurer said at his press conference. “You have to be present here, present in Springfield calling the leaders together to work out his deal.”
“I don’t listen when someone says something is a priority, I look at their budget, I look at their actions. And then you can see clearly what is not a priority with this administration,” Frerichs said of the lack of funding for higher education and social services. He later said he was in favor of the House’s “lifeline” budget for those two areas as budget negotiations proceeded in the Senate.
Frerichs also said the lack of a budget would impact upcoming bond sales. “The added interest we’re paying will be ripped out of the wallets of Illinois citizens,” he said, claiming that another credit downgrade could “terminate interest rate swap contracts,” which would trigger some big payouts.
“This is not the Illinois we want it to be,” Frerichs said. “We need a budget and I call upon the governor to do his job now.”
* Frerichs also criticized Rauner for focusing solely on K-12 funding, noting that Rauner constantly crows about increasing education funding while slashing higher education dollars. “Education in this state does not end in the 12th grade,” he said.
I’ll post the Rauner administration’s response if I get one. Frerichs’ press release is here.
*** UPDATE *** From Deputy Governor Leslie Munger…
The fact is that the Treasurer spent years in Springfield voting for the very tax hikes and borrowing that landed us in this place. Instead of playing politics, the Treasurer should encourage members of his party to work with the Governor on real change to get our state back on track to long-term economic growth and balanced budgets.
Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Monday:
“For nearly two years, families in our communities have lost critical services as a result of the budget impasse. Educators, social service agencies and countless others have warned that Illinois will be dealing with the consequences of this impasse for many years to come. In the years preceding this impasse, we were paying down the backlog of unpaid old bills and had the bill backlog down to $4.5 billion. The bill backlog today stands at over $13 billion due to the lack of a state budget. The state’s backlog has tripled, and bond rating agencies have made it clear that the lack of a state budget weighs foremost in their minds when evaluating Illinois’ financial standing. For these reasons and due to the impact this impasse is having on every Illinoisan, House Democrats have been resolute in our belief that all legislators and the governor must recognize the budget as the most important issue facing our state.
“While we stand firm that the budget – and the budget alone – must be our top priority, it is also our desire to work cooperatively with the governor. To this end, I am appointing Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie, Lou Lang, Arthur Turner and Jay Hoffman to work with the governor to identify areas of his agenda where compromise can be reached. The House has taken action on several of the governor’s requests, and this group will be able to discuss his further proposals and consider how they would affect the state.
“It is our strong desire that Governor Rauner join us in putting the budget first. By showing the governor that House Democrats stand ready to work with him in good faith, it is my hope that he will return to the negotiating table and work with us to end the budget crisis.”
Looks to me like he’s trying to get out in front of something. Maybe it’s the Senate’s progress. Maybe it’s internal caucus pressure. Maybe both.
“Daniel Biss’ actions don’t match his hollow words. Public records reveal that Biss is loyal to Madigan’s Chicago Machine, taking Madigan money, voting for his unbalanced budgets, backing him for Speaker, and even running his super PAC. Daniel Biss is just another unprincipled career politician who would sell out to Madigan as Governor.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
In an interview with WCIA, longtime Madigan confidant and Democratic candidate for governor Daniel Biss revealed himself as just another unprincipled career politician. Watch the interview HERE.
Biss claims to be running against “money and the machine,” yet his campaign cash and votes show he is a loyal soldier of Mike Madigan’s Chicago Machine.
In 2011, one of Biss’ very first votes as a new State Representative was to make Madigan Speaker of the Illinois House.
Public records reveal Madigan is Biss’ largest campaign contributor. Since first running for office in 2008, Biss has personally taken over $300,000 in campaign cash from Madigan.
Biss even supported Madigan’s rigged legislative district maps, disenfranchising voters across Illinois.
In 2013, Biss moved from the House to the Senate, but that didn’t stop him from doing Madigan’s bidding.
In a nod to Madigan, Biss dropped his bid for Illinois Comptroller as Madigan endorsed his primary opponent, Susana Mendoza, clearing the primary field for the Chicago Machine.
Last May, Biss voted for Madigan’s out-of-balance budget that overspent by $7 billion, even as the budget vote failed and other Senate Democrats voted no. The Madigan-Biss budget was so unbalanced, it would’ve forced a $1,000 tax hike on every Illinois family.
And during last year’s election, Biss embraced both money and the machine as he ran a super PAC for Mike Madigan designed to block Governor Rauner’s reform efforts in Springfield. Biss’ super PAC received $650,000 from the Madigan Family. One Illinois Democrat operative called Biss’ super PAC a “Madigan joint.”
Is there anything Daniel Biss won’t do for money and the machine?
During his 2008 campaign, Biss warned against the “pernicious influence of money in politics.” Biss told the Chicago Jewish Star “I will not be beholden” to party politicians, highlighting that his campaign took no money from the Democratic Party. In that campaign, he took just $5,000 from three local Democratic organizations, and he lost.
Two years later, Biss altered course. He tapped into far greater sums of money which propelled him to his first election win, gaining himself a berth in Madigan’s House. Biss’ 2010 campaign took over $280,000 from Madigan’s Democratic Party and accepted more than $19,000 from Madigan’s personal campaign committee.
Biss claims Madigan opposed his 2010 primary campaign, but later backed his general election against the Republican opponent.
“[Madigan] worked very, very hard to stop me from being a legislator,” Biss said on Capitol Connection. He insisted, “Madigan tried very hard to bankroll a candidate against me in the primary.” That candidate never entered the race. Biss won the 2010 primary election unopposed.
Biss was also hit by the interviewer for taking money from “big pharma” and banks, but pointed to his voting record as proof that he wasn’t in the tank for them, either.
* Still, Biss is running as an independent and is pursuing the Bernie Sanders vote. He may not be pure enough for some of them. But, as far as the ILGOP is concerned, nobody is pure enough, including Ald. Ameya Pawar.
* Related…
* Bernard Schoenburg: Biss tells Sangamon Dems he’s inspired to run: Asked if he supports Madigan, Biss got applause when he said one thing the speaker has done “really well” is “said no” to Rauner. But he also said the Democratic Party led by Madigan “has not done what it needs to do” for decades — lay out “our own progressive agenda of how we solve the state’s problems in a way that lifts people up.” “I believe he’s been there too long,” Biss said of Madigan. “I believe he has too much power.” He said he has long backed 10-year term limits on legislative leaders… Madigan spokesman STEVE BROWN said later that while “everyone’s entitled to their own opinion … the Democrats in the legislature have supported, time and time again, progressive ideas,” from a tax on millionaires, to marriage equality and voter reforms. “The record’s there,” Brown said. “It speaks for itself.”
* This is a perfect metaphor for the last two-plus years. Decades of neglect led to the election of someone who promised major change and a can-do attitude, followed by a self-induced fiscal crisis that made fixing those problems impossible and then disaster ensued…
Restoring the Illinois State Fair Coliseum after years of neglect will take at least two years and millions of dollars — if the state had the money.
The assessment of the state Capital Development Board, the agency in charge of state buildings, is contained in an emergency, $600,000 contract for enclosure of a temporary facility to host horse shows and other indoor events disrupted by the Coliseum shutdown in October. Inspectors said the more-than-century-old Coliseum was no longer safe after years of neglect that resulted in significant structural deterioration. […]
While a formal engineering study has yet to be completed, CDB said extensive repairs ranging from a new roof to replacement of corroded steel support beams would cost between $3 million and $4 million.
The bigger immediate challenge is lack of money. Illinois has been without a permanent spending plan for nearly two years. Lawmakers and the governor also have been unable to agree on a capital spending bill for infrastructure updates and maintenance of state facilities.
“This is significant structural work that needs to be done,” said state Rep. Tim Butler, a Springfield Republican. “It’s not just fixing a piece that is out of place or fallen. The real answer is what do we do if we ever get to a capital bill. We’re talking about rebuilding the Coliseum.
Remember all those promises in the 2014 campaign and ever since about a big capital bill? You can’t do that without a budget.
* I’ve been updating subscribers about these Senate talks for several days now, including this morning. Here’s Mary Ann Ahern…
[State Sen. Bill Brady] has been meeting with Senate President John Cullerton, and while he said “we’re not there yet; we are closer to a comprehensive plan that lays it all out,” more lawmakers now believe a vote will be taken on the Senate’s so-called “Grand Bargain” before the May 31 deadline. After May 31, lawmakers would need a three-fifths majority to pass the bill, rather than a simple majority.
Brady is working closely with Governor Bruce Rauner’s staff, and while the GOP may have enough votes to accept the income tax hike, issues like a property tax freeze and workers compensation reforms – that have been Rauner’s “must-haves” – are not yet settled.
Why might there be a break in the impasse? The governor’s re-election is taking center stage, and his inability to reach a budget deal, according to several Springfield sources, has made Rauner “desperate for a deal.”
At the same time, sources also used the same “desperate” description when noting that Cullerton and House Speaker Mike Madigan are hearing from progressive Democrats who are frustrated by the nearly two-yearlong impasse.
Stay positive, but don’t hold your breath just yet.
Is it a Grand Bargain 2.0? Republican state Sen. Bill Brady didn’t want to call it that in an interview with POLITICO last night, but here’s a summary of where he says the GOP is right now: a five-year income tax increase and expansion of the services tax as long as they’re coupled in time with a five-year property tax freeze. “The hope here would be if Republicans would participate in a revenue increase, that the revenue increase would be associated in time with a property tax freeze,” Brady said Sunday. He said the proposal would call for a cap on spending and reforms with workers’ compensation. “In five years when the increase in the revenues falls off, spending will be in line with new revenues and things will not have the cliff that we were left with under Pat Quinn.”
Are casinos part of the package? “We talked about that. We believe it could be.”
Where is (Senate GOP Leader Christine) Radogno in all of this? Is Brady’s involvement pushing her to the side? “No. Sen. Radogno is the one who asked me to engage in the conversation with Sen. [President John] Cullerton. She has been very involved in everything we’ve done.”
What do Dems say? Cullerton spokesman John Patterson: “When Sen. Brady filed his proposals, we welcomed him to the discussions. The idea here is if people have ideas, let’s see if the numbers add up and if we can make them work,” Patterson said Sunday. “This isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, we’re all trying to work together to find a solution. The original (grand bargain) bills that were filed had Republican bills that were in there.”
None of this is particularly new. The Senate has been talking about a five-year tax hike coupled with a five-year property tax freeze for well over two months. And the Senate has already passed a gaming bill.
The first commercial from Illinois gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker smartly attempts to minimize what could be large issue for him.
Pritzker, a billionaire entrepreneur and one of a raft of Democrats hoping to face incumbent Bruce Rauner, the presumptive Republican nominee, in 2018, is a man of conspicuous size; girth of the sort that opponents might slyly try to use against him.
But unlike other hefty pols who wear concealing suit jackets and extra-long ties, Pritzker appears in the opening shot of the 60-second spot in button-straining shirtsleeves and an unflattering open collar.
“I’ve been thinking big since the very beginning,” Pritzker says, smiling to the camera next to superimposed photos of him as a chubby baby and husky boy.
The rest of the ad is well-executed boilerplate, but in that first 10 seconds Pritzker humorously deflates the potential overinflation issue by saying, in effect: Yes, I know I’m overweight, let’s get past that, shall we?
It is about as subtle as a playground taunt: a television ad for Gov. Jon S. Corzine shows his challenger, Christopher J. Christie, stepping out of an S.U.V. in extreme slow motion, his extra girth moving, just as slowly, in several different directions at once.
In case viewers missed the point, a narrator snidely intones that Mr. Christie “threw his weight around” to avoid getting traffic tickets.
In the ugly New Jersey contest for governor, Mr. Corzine and Mr. Christie have traded all sorts of shots, over mothers and mammograms, loans and lying. But now, Mr. Corzine’s campaign is calling attention to his rival’s corpulence in increasingly overt ways.
Mr. Corzine’s television commercials and Web videos feature unattractive images of Mr. Christie, sometimes shot from the side or backside, highlighting his heft, jowls and double chin.
Christie didn’t make an issue of his own girth like Pritzker has done. Instead, he waited for Corzine to make the first move and then ginned up a backlash. Here’s one of Christie’s responses…
“There’s a lot of people out in New Jersey who have the same kind of struggles, and I think that kind of stuff is just beneath the office that the governor holds,” Christie said.
Christie also confronted Corzine: “If you’re going to do it, at least man up and say I’m fat.”
* And now that Pritzker has opened the door, the online insults have begun. Here’s just one of them…
JB Pritzker Sumo match vs. Chris Christie. Loser's state gets kicked out of the Union. #fairfight#agoodstart
Ever since former Illinois Republican Gov. Jim Edgar started publicly criticizing current Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Edgar has been subjected to a steady drumbeat of criticism from the far right.
The focus of most of that criticism is what’s come to be known as the “Edgar ramp.” The phrase describes the ramping up of state pension payments to the current point, where pension expenses are consuming about a quarter of the state’s budget.
There is no doubt the Edgar ramp was flawed, as all compromises are. The annual pension payment increases were too gradual at the beginning, which made them steeper than they should have been years later.
But we don’t live in an ideal world, nor do we live in a dictatorship. You pass the legislation you can pass. And passing a bill that immediately required huge pension payments just wasn’t possible. After decades of not making adequate pension payments, the General Assembly wasn’t going to start doing the right thing right away.
But subsequent governors and General Assemblies could have fixed that problem. Instead, they did nothing. Worse yet, they didn’t prepare for the ramp’s higher payments by narrowing the state’s spending base and expanding its tax base. And even worse, they deliberately exacerbated the problem.
Illinois has elected just two wealthy people to major statewide office in the last 20 years: Former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Both candidates won because they ran as firm, anti-establishment outsiders.
Fitzgerald was best known as a state Senator in the 1990s for railing against the elders who ran his Republican Party, including many who had been supplying the GOP with loads of money over the years and who’d used their positions to handsomely profit off of state business.
Rauner also ran against his party’s insiders when he launched his campaign, dismissing them as bought and paid for by Springfield’s special interests.
What establishment party support both men did receive mostly came at the end of their general election campaigns. Their personal finances, which allowed them to self-fund, kept them free of establishment taint, and that independence gave both of them credibility as outsiders.
As Election Day neared, some establishment GOP figures decided they’d better swallow their pride and get on board. The establishment needed the insurgents more than the insurgents needed the establishment.
Billionaire Democrat J.B. Pritzker isn’t following this pattern as he campaigns for governor. Insiders, elected officials and politically connected union leaders have been jumping on his bandwagon from the get-go, usually after being impressed with Pritzker during one-on-one meetings.
The game plan seems pretty obvious. Pritzker doesn’t want those folks and groups endorsing Chris Kennedy, whose last name is still immensely popular and whose own connections over the decades would’ve guaranteed him support from his party’s elders if Pritzker and his infinite bank account hadn’t stepped in.
Kennedy doesn’t have Pritzker’s kind of money, so Kennedy is perceived as needing support from the people and groups who fund and staff the party’s apparatus. At the moment, those folks are streaming toward Pritzker amid a cacophony of whispers (all denied) that House Speaker Michael Madigan is directing the traffic. Starve Kennedy of money and foot soldiers and maybe he’ll drop out.
Kennedy, whose personal wealth is substantial, but nothing like Pritzker’s, has made some half-hearted attempts to claim that endorsements don’t matter whenever he loses them. But he hasn’t yet embraced (or maybe doesn’t even recognize) the role that’s literally being thrust upon him. Kennedy’s originally preferred path of being the widely endorsed “inevitable” candidate is now owned by Pritzker.
By default, Kennedy’s now the most prominent “outsider” in the race.
After almost two and a half years of Rauner’s rule, the government is in shambles. Rauner’s first campaign video back in 2013 complained that the state had “the highest unemployment in the Midwest,” and that’s still true today. He pointed to the state’s “lowest credit rating in America,” and that’s only gotten worse.
“Springfield is broken; $8,000 in pension debt for every man, woman and child,” Rauner bemoaned in the video. That figure is now $10,000.
So, maybe Illinois voters will yearn for someone who can work with Springfield to solve our massive problems and get us back to a semblance of normalcy after three populist governors in a row couldn’t get anything done. That appears to be where both Pritzker and Kennedy are going.
If Rauner doesn’t obtain a budget deal, he will simply run against the establishment again, claiming the evil powers that be (Speaker Madigan) have blocked him at every turn, but that he is “very close” to breaking their self-serving logjam.
And, indeed, if he is re-elected after what could be four years of gridlock, the Democrats will have to start working with him. Democrats claim that Rauner hid his “real” agenda from voters in 2014. But that agenda is now crystal clear to everyone.
Almost half of Illinois Democrats voted for insurgent presidential candidate Bernie Sanders a year ago. A recent poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute showed that Gov. Rauner is slightly more popular than Speaker Madigan in Chicago, of all places.
So, an authentic, independent, populist message from the late Robert Kennedy’s sincere, accomplished and mild-mannered son could very well resonate.
One of the things you can’t help but notice in the press coverage of Kennedy’s downstate appearances is the reports on crowd size. His family name is packing halls all over the place as locals come out to witness a part of history.
The obvious question is whether Kennedy can sustain this. His name and the hints of his family’s famous accent in his speaking voice are working like a charm for him right now. But will it last?
If he embraces a different direction, I think the answer could be yes.
* The guy in the middle holding an American flag is US Ambassador Paul W. Jones. He represents us in Poland and attended Chicago’s Polish Constitution Parade over the weekend. He must be one heck of a diplomat…
Illinois’ financial mess is hurting almost every entity in the state, and school districts have felt the pain in their budgets as much as any.
Transportation or special education reimbursements have not been paid this year, for example, and when the Illinois State Board of Education’s annual financial rankings came out in mid-April, some districts pointed right back at the state.
Meridian’s ranking dropped to “early warning,” with a score of 2.8 out of 4. Rankings are based on revenue to fund balance, expenditure to revenue ratio, and days cash on hand.
“The way I look at it, of course we’d like to have (a score) somewhere in the 3s, but we’ve been using some of our reserves because the state has underfunded us,” Meridian Superintendent Dan Brue said. “It’s ironic they come out with these rankings when our rankings go down because we’re not getting the money from the state like they promised us.” […]
State revenue accounts for about 35.5 percent of Meridian’s budget, Brue said, and the state owes the district more than $412,000.
* Mayor Emanuel reacted today to the governor’s latest plan to sell the Thompson Center. Click here for background. Click here for raw audio…
This is a political stunt. He could have signed the pension parity bill. He could’ve, 22 months ago he could’ve introduced a balanced budget that fully funded education. And he’s spending more time on the Thompson Center in the last three days than he has spent in the last 22 months on the entire budget and funding education.
There’s that pension bill again.
* Mayor Emanuel had earlier released a statement about how Gov. Rauner should focus on passing a budget, and here’s the governor’s response…
The mayor’s correct. We should have a balanced budget. We should’ve had a balanced budget 18 months ago. He should ask the speaker why he’s held that up.
* Rauner also asked reporters why Emanuel was throwing up “artificial roadblocks” on the project and then said…
It seems to be a tag-team effort between the mayor and the speaker to come up with delaying tactics… It’s being held up by the mayor and the speaker for political reasons. This should not be tolerated.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said Friday that he was “not sure what today’s outburst was about.” The speaker’s staff has been meeting with staff from the mayor’s and governor’s offices “multiple times a week on trying to move this project along,” Brown said.
That the idea to sell the notoriously dilapidated office building, and the prime city block on which it sits, has become a sparring ground for the Republican governor and his Democratic adversaries is the latest sign of the deep political stalemate that’s overtaken Illinois.
Democrats agree with Rauner that the Thompson Center, which is used as office space for about 2,200 state employees, is a troubled building. Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton moved their offices and staffs to a nicer building across the street years ago.
“I don’t think there’s any disagreement by the speaker’s office or the staff that the state could do better than (the Thompson Center),” Brown said.
IL-06: Rep. Peter Roskam (R) - Chicago west suburbs: Wheaton, Palatine
Lean Republican. Roskam was first elected in the Democratic wave year of 2006 over current Sen. Tammy Duckworth, but hasn’t had a tough race since. Now, after Hillary Clinton carried this suburban Chicago seat by 7 points, there’s a deluge of Democratic interest. Local college trustee Amanda Howland, who took 41 percent last year, is running again, but most early buzz is about Iraq veteran and former Veterans Affairs official Maura Sullivan.
IL-13: Rep. Rodney Davis (R) - South central: Champaign, Decatur, Springfield
Likely Republican. Downstate Illinois has trended away from Democrats, and Davis appeared to have locked down this seat after taking 60 percent last year. But in a wave environment, this Democratic-drawn seat could still come into play. Democratic state Rep. Carol Ammons of Urbana is in, but she comes from the liberal corner of the district. Democrats’ preferred candidate would be state Sen. Andy Manar, who comes from the rural southern end of the seat.
IL-14: Rep. Randy Hultgren (R) - Chicago north and west exurbs: Batavia, McHenry
Likely Republican. In 2012, Democrats drew this district to pack GOP voters, but these outer Chicago suburbs only voted for President Trump 48 percent to 45 percent. Hultgren’s voting record has been reliably conservative. It’s still a long-shot for Democrats, but there’s some local interest in Navy veteran and high school teacher Victor Swanson, who just announced. This seat would only come into play if there’s a big anti-GOP wave. [Emphasis added.]
* The Question: Should Andy Manar run against Rodney Davis, even though the district is ranked “Likely Republican”? Click here to take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Illinois senators have overwhelmingly endorsed an automatic-voter registration plan two years in the making.
The measure would automatically register qualified voters when they visit Secretary of State’s offices and a handful of other state agencies unless they decide to opt out. It moves to the House after a 48-0 vote in the Senate on Friday. Democratic state Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill is sponsoring the measure. He says it would streamline voter registration and bolster participation.
A previous version passed both chambers last fall but Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed it over concerns it didn’t do enough to prevent voter fraud. Manar says this version addresses nearly all of the governor’s concerns.
When 14-year-old Susan Tatelli goes out to eat with her family, they usually stick to a handful of tried-and-true places – not for lack of wanting to explore but because Tatelli, who has a peanut allergy, knows she’ll be safe at the usual spots.
“You really have to grill the restaurant staff, and a lot of times you have to ask to talk to the chef to make sure there wasn’t going to be any cross-contamination issues,” she said. “There weren’t a lot of places I ever went out to eat. We had a short list of restaurants we knew were good with my allergies.”
On one occasion Tatelli said her family was told not to eat in a restaurant because they couldn’t “accommodate” her allergies. “We just left,” she said.
Proposed legislation requiring restaurants to provide food allergen training could make the dining experience more palatable to people who have food allergies, like Tatelli.
The bill would require restaurants to have managers undergo accredited food allergen awareness and safety training within 30 days of being hired (recertification would be required every three years). Restaurants would also be required to have at least one manager who’s received that training on site at all times while the restaurant is open.
Illinois customers stubbornly hanging on to your old landline telephone service, AT&T has a new plan for you: Switch to a modern alternative or face disconnection.
With traditional landline service dwindling to less than 10 percent of Illinois households in its territory, AT&T is pushing legislation in Springfield that, pending Federal Communications Commission approval, would allow it to unplug the aging voice-only network and focus on the wireless and internet-based phone offerings that have supplanted it.
“We’re investing in a technology that consumers have said they don’t want anymore and wasting precious hundreds of millions of dollars that could be going to the new technologies that would do a better job of serving customers,” said Paul La Schiazza, AT&T Illinois president.
AT&T has 1.2 million traditional landline customers in the state — 474,000 residential and 725,000 business — and is losing about 5,000 each week, La Schiazza said.
Senate Democrats pushed through a measure Thursday that would prevent state and local police from making arrests due to a person’s citizenship status, an effort supporters say is designed to build trust between law enforcement and communities living in fear following the immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump.
The bill would prohibit police from searching, arresting or detaining a person because of their immigration status absent a federal criminal warrant. It also would create so-called safe zones in state-funded schools, health care centers and secretary of state facilities, and block state and local law enforcement agencies from creating registries based on race, religion and national origin.
* Democrat Kelly Mazeski picked a good day to launch her congressional bid: The same day GOP Congressman Peter Roskam voted for the Trumpcare bill. She got a bunch of coverage…
* ABC 7: Dem. Kelly Mazeski challenging Roskam with healthcare focus: One of the challengers is a cancer survivor. “If you told me I would be standing here running for Congress, I wouldn’t believe it,” said Democrat Kelly Mazeski. But Mazeski is believing it now. The 57-year-old mother of two is determined to win the Democratic primary in the 6th Congressional District and take on incumbent Roskam. “This is personal for me in this race,” said Mazeski. “He is out of touch, been in this too long, he doesn’t know what it’s like for American’s to walk this walk.”
* NBC 5: Roskam’s Health Care Vote Has Democrats Lining Up To Oppose Him: The healthcare vote has Democrat Kelly Mazeski announcing she’s running for Congress in the west suburban district. To her it’s a personal mission “as a mother who has lost her medical insurance twice, survived breast cancer, and have a daughter with a very serious medical condition, I think it’s time the voters in the Illinois 6th hold Peter Roskam accountable for making Americans pay more to get less in health care.”
* Fox 32: Trump touts House health care bill, questions linger: Kelly Mazeski is a former chemist who plans to use roskam’s vote against obamacare against him. “I think it’s time we hold Peter Roskam accountable for voting to make Americans pay more for less coverage in health care,” Mazeski said.
* CBS 2: Potential Roskam Challenger Vows To Make Health Care The Issue: On the very day U.S. House Republicans voted to throw out Obamacare, a suburban Democrat is launching her campaign against one of Illinois’ most prominent members of Congress. Her own health care journey is at the very heart of her campaign, says CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley. “I didn’t choose to get cancer. My daughter didn’t ask for a medical condition that was a huge burden on her life for several years. I can’t begin to tell you how personal this is for me,” Kelly Mazeski says. The 57-year-old survived breast cancer and had to find insurance for a daughter with pre-existing conditions. These are two keys to why she’s making health care the centerpiece of her campaign against Republican Congressman Peter Roskam.
I do not support any increases in income, sales or property taxes. I also do not support a graduated income tax as it would place an unfair burden on my district. Generally speaking, I do not support new taxes or tax increases of any kind. I do support a property tax freeze.
* Michael Hoffman, acting director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, writing in the Tribune…
Many have focused on the potential short-term financial windfall to the state, but the long-term benefits to the city of Chicago are even more striking. The state currently pays nothing in the way of property taxes for our space in the Thompson Center. That’s an entire city block currently devoid of value to the city’s coffers. If negotiated reasonably, the city would realize up to $45 million annually in property taxes. That’s $45 million a year — in perpetuity.
* Chicago’s budget director Alex Holt responds…
The Rauner administration’s argument that the city will collect $45M in property taxes from this land - “in perpetuity” - is inaccurate.
1) Only 20% of property tax revenues come to the city. So for the city to net $45M, the property’s total tax bill would have to be over $200M a year. That’s almost 10 times the annual property tax payments from the Willis Tower.
2) The city would see no additional property tax revenue, because the city’s property tax levy is a set figure. $45M in property taxes on this building wouldn’t mean $45M more for the city, it would mean that all other owners in Chicago would pay less. The city won’t see that money unless we increase our property levy.
* Today…
Gov to announce new bill that would give property taxes from sale of Thompson Center to CPS.
Suddenly he’s interested in funding CPS? That’s rich. This a fraction of the amount of funding the governor vetoed for our school children a few months ago. Don’t be fooled. The governor is using this as a shiny object to distract from his own failure to fund education fairly and his failure to propose a balanced budget the entire time he’s been in office.
Not to mention that the money wouldn’t even arrive for years because that new building isn’t gonna suddenly appear out of nowhere.
And not to mention that this bill is being handled by the two minority party leaders, meaning it may never see the light of day.
But, anyway, as I’ve said before this week, this Thompson Center fight likely has more to do with CPS than the CTA.
* OK, now on to another subtopic. From yesterday morning’s Tribune editorial about the Thompson Center sale…
So it was strange that Mayor Rahm Emanuel played obstructionist this week, raising the issue of the Chicago Transit Authority station in the building and implying the city had no intention of partnering up to redevelop it.
“We have one of the busiest ‘L’ stations in the entire network of 140-plus ‘L’ stations,” Emanuel said. “If you sell it and it has to come down, who builds it? Who takes the cost? I’m not going to stick that on Chicago taxpayers. The developer or the state has to do it.”
Rauner’s office responded with a question mark. While the CTA station in the building has been discussed as part of a broader redevelopment package, the issue has not loomed as a deal-breaker. Emanuel’s comments, a Rauner spokesman said, came “out of the blue.” [Emphasis added.]
Koch said the city would allow a new project there only if the state and developer agree to keep the station open and any new station would come at no expense to the city. Emanuel went public with that concern Tuesday, suggesting the state expected the city to cover the entire cost of a new station, which he said would “stick Chicago taxpayers with $100 million.”
Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis said the administration has advocated for the state, city and developer sharing the costs of any new station, adding that it was too early to specify what percentage would be covered by each. [Emphasis added.]
So, I guess that issue of the city not paying didn’t really come out of the blue?
* Today…
Rauner says state could pay for a "shell" over CTA construction should Thompson Center be redeveloped.
Candace Wanzo, a high-ranking official in the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, is under investigation by the office’s inspector general and has been placed on paid leave.
The nature of the investigation isn’t clear. Wanzo, an administrator in the office’s vehicles division, earned $87,238 last year.
Wanzo was hired in 1999 even though she pleaded guilty in 1991 to embezzling more than $230,000 from Southern Illinois University while she was employed by the university. Her sentence for the theft isn’t clear from online court records, but sentencing was delayed after her mother collapsed in court when a federal judge said that prosecutors’ recommendation for 15-month sentence sounded fair, according to a 1992 story published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The newspaper reported that Wanzo had testified that she spent the stolen money on cars, clothes, lingerie and vacations.
Henry Haupt, spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White, confirmed that Wanzo has been placed on administrative leave, but he provided no details on why she is on paid leave. […]
“Secretary White is troubled by these recent developments,” Haupt wrote. “She was put on administrative leave, and he applauds inspector general Jim Burns and the secretary of state’s inspector general’s office for their efforts in this matter and cannot comment further until the investigation is complete.”
According to the story, she was hired as a secretary in 1999.
Former Gov. Jim Edgar, speaking on the Southern Illinois Carbondale campus Thursday evening, said that House Speaker Michael Madigan is not the villain he’s often made out to be in the media and by his political opponents.
He should be “maligned a little bit” but the long serving speaker from Chicago has been “overly maligned,” Edgar said.
“He is not the problem,” said the former Republican governor who held Illinois’ highest office from 1991 to 1999, all but two years of which Madigan served as speaker. “He might be a little bit of the problem, but he is not the big problem.”
Edgar needs to spend more time in Springfield before he says that again. Speaker Madigan is no longer a very tough but fair negotiator like he was back in Edgar’s day. He never used to be such a staunch public employee union ally (the man fought Jim Thompson repeatedly to get some oversight of the governor’s AFSCME contract negotiations, and he passed Tier 2 and Tier 1 pension reform, for crying out loud). He was always a bigtime trial lawyer ally, but he also passed medical malpractice reform. Madigan is, in other words, a different person that he was back then.
Edgar went on to say that it’s a myth that Madigan is the most powerful person in Illinois government. “Even a weak governor has far more power than the speaker does,” Edgar said, altering his words mid-sentence. “Not weak — there is no weak governor. Illinois is a strong governor state. Even a somewhat incompetent governor has more power than Mike Madigan.”
As Edgar paused momentarily — and then settled on the word “incompetent” -— there was a brief yet boisterous eruption of applause and laughter among the crowd. Edgar provided this critique of the ongoing budget stalemate in response to a question from Jak Tichenor, the policy institute’s interim director, following Edgar’s prepared remarks.
The strongest governor can’t force the House Speaker to allow a bill to pass without the Speaker’s permission. But a good governor can, which is more to Edgar’s competency point.
The island, an American territory, is weighed down by $123 billion in bond and pension debt it cannot afford. Illinois, meanwhile, has about $130 billion in unfunded pension obligations alone, plus billions more in retiree health care and other liabilities. The circumstances are different, but no government can function properly — indefinitely — under ever-rising debt. Eventually something gives.
One of the different “circumstances” is that Puerto Rico’s population is just 29 percent of the Illinois Census number. So our debt would have to be much, much higher to match PR’s problem.
Another difference is that the vast majority of Illinois’ debt is tied up in long-term pension obligations, while, according to the Tribune editorial, 61 percent of PR’s outstanding debt is in bonds, which are likely much shorter term obligations.
And yet another difference is that Puerto Rico’s top income tax rate is vastly higher than ours: $8,430 on the first $61,500 (13.7 percent) plus 33 percent on any income over $61,500. They simply have much less room to raise their rates than we do at our current 3.75 percent.
…Adding… It has been duly noted in comments that PR residents don’t pay federal income taxes.
…Adding… As noted by a commenter, Illinois’ gross state product is about 7 times higher than Puerto Rico’s.
The right response for Illinois is to look at the ruin of Puerto Rico and take its fate as a dire warning: This state has an unsustainable debt load. Eventually it will overwhelm government and taxpayers. No plan to reform the economy to spur growth and create more taxpayers. A $12 billion backlog of unpaid bills. Only gridlock and infighting as the debt load grows. But it is not too late for Illinois to change its ways.
You won’t get any argument from me that we need some economic reforms in this state. But that’s more of a long-term issue. Our debt load is currently “unsustainable” because the politicians in charge won’t find the money to pay for it via revenues and budget cuts. What’s happening right now is a completely man-made crisis.
* Scream all you want about it, but Illinois can’t just walk away from that debt. It has to be paid unless Congress steps in. And that’s something that even the Tribune doesn’t like…
It’s a theoretical solution no one should wish for because of the pain and chaos it would create. If bankruptcy protection became an option, bondholders would charge punishing interest rates, or quit buying Illinois bonds, because of the increased risk that the state couldn’t make its interest payments.
