Illinois Review, other media win appeal
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Thomas More Society…
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its decision to dismiss the appeal brought by Satkar Hospitality Inc. against Illinois Review, a conservative news blog. In 2011, Satkar sued Illinois Review for defamation. The U.S. District Court dismissed the lawsuit, but Satkar appealed the decision, and in May, 2013, Thomas More Society brought oral arguments in defense of Illinois Review before the Seventh Circuit.
“We’re very pleased that this blatant attempt to silence aggressive political reporting has been finally rejected by the courts,” said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society vice president and senior counsel. “Illinois Review has a First Amendment right to speak out on controversial issues, and frivolous lawsuits should not be permitted to shut down their free speech.”
In April, 2009, Illinois Review published documents of public record showing that former Illinois State Rep. Paul Froehlich sought campaign contributions from individuals who won property tax relief with his assistance. After the story ran, the Cook County Board of Review reversed the tax breaks. Satkar Hospitality, Inc., was one of the companies that Illinois Review reported as having donated to Froehlich’s campaign and later winning a property-tax appeal.
Satkar then sued Illinois Review, along with its editor, Fran Eaton, and publisher, Dennis LaComb, for defamation. After extensive briefing, the District Court dismissed the lawsuit against Illinois Review, Eaton, and LaComb on the basis of the Illinois Citizen Participation Act, which protects those engaged in First Amendment-protected speech from frivolous lawsuits. Satkar filed a late notice of appeal, with permission of the District Court.
Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected the appeal and ended the case, holding that Satkar had no good reason to file a late appeal and should not have been given permission to do so by the District Court.
Satkar Hospitality, Inc., and co-plaintiffs Sharad K. Dani, and Harish Dani, had also sued the Cook County Board of Review, Fox Television Stations, Inc., Fox Chicago News, News Corp., and Fox Television Holdings, Inc., along with multiple individuals from those entities.
“We have laws in this country that protect journalists and affirm the public’s ‘right to know’,” Breen added. “Our courts don’t want to waste time or taxpayer money on whiplash action that is thrown as a cover-up for practices of questionable legality.”
The decision is here. Good job by the lawyers, and good on the IR folks for standing their ground.
And, by the way, that Illinois Citizen Participation Act is a great thing.
…Adding… I probably shouldn’t have said the law was “great.” I’d like to see punitive damage awards here. Frivolous, SLAPP lawsuits are in essence libelous. There should be much steeper penalties for this stuff.
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YouGov poll has Rauner ahead by 3 points
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* An online poll from YouGov conducted for the New York Times and CBS News has Bruce Rauner leading Gov. Pat Quinn 44-41. Without “leaners” it’s a 41-37 Rauner lead.
Quinn is getting 77 percent of Democrats compared to Rauner’s 84 percent of Republicans. Independents go Rauner’s way 55-26, which ain’t good at all for the guv.
Just 66 percent of African-Americans (who tend to break late) say they’re with Quinn, compared to 14 percent who are with (12 percent) or leaning toward Rauner. That’s good news for Rauner, of course.
I dunno about these YouGov polls, but the NYT seems to dig them, so there you go.
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Quinn one for eight
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Thursday afternoon, Gov. Pat Quinn attended practice for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky.
While there, he participated in a short shootaround, where he tried to show off his basketball skills. It didn’t go very well.
* Video…
…Adding… He does make a couple in a row on a Facebook video, however.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Doug Finke reports that two state lawmakers want police to wear “body cams”…
Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, and Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, said that developments in Ferguson, Missouri, have given new impetus to the legislation that Gordon-Booth said has been in the works for months.
Under the bill, people convicted of criminal or traffic offenses would pay an extra $6 surcharge.
The estimated $4 million to $6 million a year the surcharge would raise would be split between grants for police cameras and funding for the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board.
* AP…
Sen. Bill Haine, an Alton Democrat who also is sponsoring the bill, said the legislation will “remove controversies and remove doubt on what’s going on with a lawful arrest.”
Several law enforcement groups attended the news conference in support of the bill, including the Illinois Sherriff’s Association, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police and the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association. So did the NAACP.
Brian Towne, president of the state’s attorney’s association, said the bill would help in the review of evidence in issuing charges and in avoiding frivolous lawsuits.
…Adding… Our good friends at BlueRoomStream.com have posted the video from today’s presser here.
* The Question: Do you support this concept? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
online survey
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* Sen. Jason Barickman sent a letter yesterday to the attorney general requesting that a Legislative Audit Commission subpoena be enforced against a potential witness…
Dear Attorney General Madigan,
It is with appreciation that we begin the next phase of your representation of the Legislative Audit Commission and its audit of the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI.)
I appreciate your staff’s research, professionalism and participation in multiple, lengthy conference calls with Representative Mautino and myself, and our Chief Counsels. Your assistance has already been helpful to our efforts to fulfill our statutory obligation under the Legislative Audit Commission Act and ensure the timely production of documents related to the NRI audit, especially in light of our upcoming hearing(s).
As you are aware, the Legislative Audit Commission unanimously approved using subpoena powers, as provided by law, to obtain information related to the NRI audit. In accordance with a specific request from the United States Attorney investigating the program, the Commission has delayed hearing from individual witnesses until October 8, 2014.
However, the U.S. Attorney specifically did not request any delay in information gathering and we have proceeded appropriately.
As of today, Dr. Toni Irving has not complied with the subpoena issued by the Legislative Audit Commission and served upon her attorney John King on June 27, 2014. Despite a show of significant patience by the Legislative Audit Commission, only a small portion of the information requested of Dr. Irving has been produced, and broad-based claims of attorney-client privilege claims have been raised by the Office of the Governor through Dr. Irving’s attorney.
I would like to begin the process of enforcing the subpoena and respectfully request that your office immediately take the necessary steps to compel enforcement of the subpoena in a court of law. It is critical that the court consider this action in an expeditious manner, so as to ensure the LAC an opportunity to review any documents prior to our scheduled October 8, 2014 hearing. Further, this enforcement action is necessary to preserve the integrity of the LAC’s subpoena request and in support of the legal obligation’s LAC members have in reviewing the NRI audit. It is worth noting that our initial subpoena was issued well over two months ago. While we have made multiple and reasonable accommodations of Ms. Irving’s continued request of more time to comply with our subpoena as it relates to her production of documents, there are legitimate concerns that any further delays will significantly jeopardize the LAC’s ability to fulfill our legal obligation to review the NRI audit.
In order to assist you and to expedite this process, Jane Stricklin, Executive Director of the LAC, and the Chief Counsels for the four caucuses are preparing to deliver you a detailed timeline of the facts leading up to this request. A summarized timeline is as follows:
· On May 6, 2014, the LAC adopted a motion to utilize subpoena powers by a vote of 10 -1.
· On June 23, 2014, the subcommittee created by the May 6 motion, by unanimous vote, agreed to issue subpoenas to compel testimony and production of documents by the following individuals: Ms. Barbara Shaw, Dr. Toni Irving, Mr. Jack Lavin, Mr. Malcolm Weems, Mr. Warren Ribley, Mr. Andy Ross, and Mr. William (“Billy”) Ocasio.
· On July 16, 2014, the LAC convened a hearing where the subpoenaed individuals were to testify and produce documents. Due to a request from the US Attorneys’ Office, no testimony was taken. As to production of documents, all of the subpoenaed individuals except for Dr. Toni Irving and Barbara Shaw, either provided documents in his/her possession or written confirmation that he/she has no documents in his/her possession within a few days after the hearing. The attorneys for Dr. Irving and Barbara Shaw indicated that they needed some time to properly respond to the subpoena and were given 21 days to comply. Barbara Shaw’s attorney provided the subpoenaed documents on August 8, 2014. Dr. Irving’s attorney, Jon King, indicated that Dr. Irving is in possession of over 100,000 emails from her time in state service that would need to be reviewed for responsiveness.
· On August 6, 2014, Dr. Irving’s attorney, Jon King, requested an extension of time. After a conference call with the Co-Chairs of the LAC, Mr. King agreed to provide a letter of explanation of the steps taken with regard to reviewing the emails. As a result of this conversation, the time frame for compliance was extended to August 29, 2014.
· On August 14, 2014, attorney Jon King provided the letter of explanation requested in the August 6, 2014 conference call. That letter summarized that Ms. Irving had 107,892 emails and attachments. Of those, Mr. King believes at least 7,366 were potentially responsive, although as many as 1,394 may be protected by attorney-client privilege claims being made by the Office of the Governor.
· On August 27, 2014, Mr. King communicated that he would need additional time and requested an extension until September 9, 2014. That request was discussed in a conference call with Mr. King and the Co-Chairs on August 28, 2014. Mr. King was admonished that he needed to produce at least some documents immediately and that the Co-Chairs did not agree to any further extensions.
· On September 2, 2014, 177 documents were received by the LAC.
· On September 9, 2014, Mr. King sent a communication to Ms. Stricklin indicating that roughly 2,000 emails had been reviewed and that approximately 951 emails were responsive to the subpoena and were immediately being transmitted to the LAC. We have confidence that those emails have been (or will be promptly) received by the LAC.
Throughout the process, Mr. King has indicated that he has been communicating with Mr. John Schomberg, counsel for the Governor, who is asserting attorney-client privilege on a subset of these documents. It is my understanding that Ms. Stricklin and the Chief Counsels will coordinate any efforts with you to solicit unknown information related to these attorney-client privilege claims.
From the communications we have already had with your staff, it is my understanding that no further action must be taken by the LAC to initiate this enforcement action. In fact, the May 6, 2014, subpoena motion specifically authorized the Commission to “summon and compel” the “production of documents”. Further, Ms. Irving’s subpoena instructed her as follows: “You are commanded also to bring all relevant documents in your possession or control…” to the hearings held on July 16, 2014 and July 17, 2014, or be subjected “to punishment as provided by the Illinois Constitution and Section 4 of the Legislative Audit Commission Act”. Regardless, if necessary, I will request a special meeting of the LAC to consider whether to enforce the subpoena. Ms. Stricklin has informed us that such a meeting could be convened on 24 hours’ notice.
Our next hearing is scheduled for October 8, 2014. Obtaining non-privileged documents promptly is crucial to our ability to prepare for this hearing. Therefore, we need to expeditiously take the steps necessary to obtain these documents from Dr. Irving and to resolve any claims of privilege by the Governor’s Office.
Your immediate assistance in this process is requested.
Very Truly Yours,
Jason A. Barickman
State Senator
Co-Chairman, Legislative Audit Commission
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* I’ve been asking the Rauner campaign the past few days for a copy of this ad, which is being targeted to suburban women on cable TV. They never sent it.
Illinois Review recorded it off a TV, and the conservatives over there ain’t happy with Rauner for so openly “being pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage”…
The ad, airing on [cable] television only, is titled “Why Are You Voting for Bruce Rauner for Governor.” It opens with Marjorie Shapiro, who is identified in other videos on the Rauner website as a “pro-choice independent.”
Shapiro states:
“Bruce doesn’t have a social agenda. He’s pro-choice and will leave the marriage equality law alone.”
Rauner has been recorded on several occasions saying he’s personally pro-life, but believes in a “woman’s right to choose.” He has also been quoted as saying he would repeal the same-sex marriage law if he were governor. The conflicting statements, coupled with the ambiguous and situational definition of “no social agenda” has many conservative Republicans questioning their support for Rauner.
* Watch…
* Script…
Male announcer: Why are you voting for Bruce Rauner for governor?
Caucasian woman: Bruce doesn’t have a social agenda. He’s pro-choice and he’ll leave the marriage equality law alone.
African-American woman: Bruce will fight for good schools for all of our children, no matter where they live, no matter what the power brokers say.
Latina: We need a clean break from the Blagojevich-Quinn machine.
African-American woman: It’s time for a change.
Female announcer: Bruce Rauner, shake up Springfield, bring back Illinois.
It’s actually a pretty well crafted ad, but, needless to say, it ain’t gonna be running in Downstate markets.
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* An e-mail from Rep. Dave McSweeney…
I just filed House Resolution 1267 (attached below) with 34 total sponsors. The resolution strongly opposes the local pension cost shift. The proposal has broad bipartisan support and is supported by the IEA. You can contact Will Lovett from the IEA if you want to get a comment from them.
The sponsors believe that a cost shift is unfair and would result in a massive increase in property taxes and damaging cuts to education.
Last year, Speaker Madigan made it clear that the pension cost shift is a top priority. Some of us have heard rumblings that the cost shift could come back as part of a modified education formula (eg, SB 16) comprehensive bill. Also, if SB 1 is declared unconstitutional, I believe that it’s likely that the Speaker will push the cost shift again.
We just began discussions on this effort last Friday afternoon and expect to get a meaningful number of additional members to go on record against the cost shift by signing on to the resolution.
Below is the current sponsorship team.
McSweeney (Chief Sponsor)
Lead Co-sponsors - Kay, Hoffman, Rosenthal, and Costello
Co-sponsors - Franks, Sullivan, Phelps, Hatcher, Brauer, Moffitt, Meier, Poe, Tryon, Cabello, Davidsmeyer, Hays, Mitchell, Reis, Halbrook, Sosnowski, Tracy, Bost, Hammond, Brown, Harms, Reboletti, Sandack, Wheeler, Verschoore, Demmer, McAuliffe, Pritchard, Cavaletto
* The “therefore, be it resolved” line…
(W)e state our belief that an educational pension cost shift is financially wrong and would only serve to shift pension burdens from the State to the status of an unfunded mandate
Discuss.
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I find this difficult to believe
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* For the past ten days or so, the DCCC has been trying to get reporters to write about the fact that the NRCC hasn’t yet reserved any TV time in the 10th Congressional District on behalf of their candidate Bob Dold.
The following is a backgrounder from a Dem operative that I received on September 5th, after the DCCC finally convinced WaPo to slip this factoid into a story. The e-mail has been reformatted to match this blog’s posting style…
* Washington Post: The 10 most vulnerable members of the House…
9. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.): Schneider faces former congressman Bob Dold (R), whom he defeated in an extremely tight 2012 race (51-49). It’s expensive to buy air time in this suburban Chicago district. The NRCC has not yet reserved advertising time here, but it says it still intends to spend money.
* What the NRCC said in May about what they were going to reserve…
IL-10: $800,000 (Chicago broadcast and cable) Brad Schneider
* Boehner in August…
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, predicted Monday that come November, Illinois Republicans will have the most successful year they’ve had in the Land of Lincoln in more than two decades.
* NRCC last week…
AP: “Prill singled out the Dold-Schneider race as a “huge pickup opportunity” for Republicans. Dold lost to Schneider in the independent-leaning district by about one percentage point in 2012.”
* What they have actually reserved…
* After growing weary of this line of pursuit, I eventually reached out to Katie Prill at the NRCC. Here’s her response…
Hey Rich -
You are about the 10th reporter who has reached out about this. I am guessing [redacted staff name because it’s incorrect] is still pushing this ridiculous story.
Anyway, our ad buy is coming. The DCCC doesn’t even go up here until the end of October. We will be playing in this race and a buy will be placed soon.
Our executive director was Mark Kirks’ chief when he was in this district so obviously this race and our investment here is top priority. Are you planning on posting on this or just curious?
The Dems are trying to make something out of nothing. Kind of like Brad’s “small business career.”
Katie
* Indeed, the DCCC isn’t planning to go up until October 21st…
Illinois’ 10th District: $800,000 on Chicago broadcast and cable from Oct. 21 to Oct. 27 to defend Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider.
So, I let it drop.
* Yesterday, the same Dem operative sent me another e-mail…
Saw you posted about the new poll out in IL-10 showing Brad leading Bob Dold by 5 points. A few additional points.
· The NRCC said in May it would place an $800,000 ad reservation for Mr. Dold, but the Washington Post reported Friday they have not followed through.
· As was reported in the article you cited, outside groups have already spent some $1.6 million on TV for Mr. Dold, and have not moved the needle.
· Now, there signs another outside group is getting cold feet about Mr Dold. Just recently the Congressional Leadership Fund previously said that it would spend on behalf of Mr. Dold, but their newly released spending plans, do not list Dold at all.
* I sent the operative Ms. Prill’s e-mail. His response…
The longer they wait the harder it is to buy in Chicago.
That’s true, too, particularly with the governor’s race we’re having.
But I just can’t believe that the national Republicans are gonna take a pass on this race. Schneider won by a mere 3,326 votes two years ago during a huge Democratic wave. There isn’t going to be a Democratic wave this year.
In other words, I’m posting this to get the DCCC off my back.
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Today’s number: 9 percent
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Ugh…
Only 9 percent of chief financial officers surveyed in Chicago say they plan to add new jobs to their companies in the next 6 months, according to a report released Thursday by staffing firm Robert Half.
That means most — 79 percent of area finance executives surveyed — will only be adding staff to fill vacated positions, according to the firm’s “Chicago Professional Employment Forecast” report.
This market for new jobs falls short of cities such as Houston, where 24 percent of CFOs said their companies planned to fill new positions over the next half year. In Denver, 19 percent of CFOs said they have plans to create new jobs over the fall and into the winter months of 2015. Other cities, such as Salt Lake City, Ut. Des Moines, Ia., and the San Francisco Bay area also reported plans to ramp up job creation by more than 10 percent.
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Nothing, nothing, nothing… huh?
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rauner hasn’t wanted many debates, so no surprise here…
Republican Bruce Rauner’s campaign said Wednesday that the candidate for governor would not accept an invitation from The State Journal-Register and WICS-TV Channel 20 for a live debate in Springfield with Gov. Pat Quinn.
Quinn’s campaign had said last week that the Democratic governor would participate if Rauner agreed to take part.
* No way were the firefighters gonna sit this one out or be with Rauner…
Gov. Pat Quinn [this week] visited a downtown fire station to receive the endorsement of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, which has 15,000 members across the state, including 5,000 in Chicago.
Union President Pat Devaney said it was an “easy” choice between Quinn and Rauner, saying it’s clear the Democratic governor would fight for working people while Rauner takes stances that would hurt them, such as previous statements that he would support eliminating the minimum wage.
* The only surprise about this is that the state police commanders had never endorsed in a governor’s race before…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner announced today that he received the endorsement of the Illinois State Police Command Officers Association (ISPCOA).
“I have tremendous admiration for every member of our state police force. They are heroes who are willing to risk their safety for all of us, and they deserve the best in return,” Rauner said. “I’m humbled and grateful to have the support of the State Police’s top leaders with the endorsement of Illinois’ Police Command Officers.”
“Our Association strongly supports your effort to establish term limits for elected leaders in our state and sincerely appreciates your support of law enforcement and public safety,” ISCPOA President James Alexander wrote in the endorsement letter. “We enthusiastically support your candidacy.”
* But check out this headline…
Could State Rep. Jeanne Ives be the first IL female Governor? Watch Rep. Ives w/Berkowitz on Cable/Web and you decide
Watch…
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* You would think that US Sen. Rob Portman, the vice chairman for finance of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, would have at least passing knowledge of a race involving the Senate’s second highest ranking Democrat…
Portman was asked whether the committee would give Oberweis financial help or other assistance in his race. He also was asked to gauge Oberweis’ chances.
He said: “I don’t know what the NRSC decision will be there. I have been told that that (Illinois) race has closed somewhat. It’s a single-digit race based on some polling, but I just don’t know enough about it.”
Does he expect the committee to help Oberweis?
“I don’t know,” Portman replied. “I mean, frankly the playing field (for Republicans) is already very broad. I don’t think people would have been expected to be talking about Minnesota and New Hampshire and Virginia and Oregon, and we are, so the playing field is already quite broad.”
Thoughts?
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Rauner, Quinn both refuse to take the bait
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner refused to throw Jim Bruner under the bus yesterday. As you’ll recall, a union-backed group tried to claim earlier yesterday - without proof - that Bruner was somehow involved in pay to play with Bill Cellini. But it was a major stretch, and to his credit, Rauner refused to back off…
Rauner and Christie later Wednesday appeared at the Brickhouse Grill & Pub in downtown Springfield. Asked about Bruner’s involvement in the Republican Governors Association event, Rauner said, “I don’t know the facts of what you’re describing. We have come from several fundraisers here in Springfield, and (I) was honored to have Jim Bruner be part-leader of that process.”
* Also yesterday. Rauner demanded that Gov. Pat Quinn order his staff not to have any contact with Jack Lavin, who hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing and made it through the Blagojevich administration untainted by that train wreck. Quinn refused to take the bait…
Quinn’s campaign said the governor has no reason to distance himself or his administration from Lavin.
“There is no disassociation necessary,” Quinn campaign spokeswoman Izabela Miltko said. “Mr. Lavin has not worked for the state for more than a year.
“And we don’t agree with Mr. Rauner’s ‘demonizing’ approach when it comes to campaigning. Whether it’s teachers, public employees or former state workers who have not been accused of any wrongdoing, Rauner will bully and smear anyone in his way,” she said.
Good for both candidates.
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* The Democratic Governors Association is touting a new poll showing Gov. Quinn actually leading Bruce Rauner. Here’s the polling memo from Global Strategy Group, which handled the polling for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign…
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn Leads in Re-election Race
Bruce Rauner’s lack of appeal to Democratic and Independent voters sinks his prospects
Incumbent Pat Quinn leads Republican challenger Bruce Rauner in the race for Illinois Governor, according to a recent statewide survey of likely voters conducted by Global Strategy Group. Democratic voters are consolidating behind Quinn and forming increasingly negative views of Rauner, severely limiting the Republican’s chances of victory in the Democratic-leaning state.
Key findings include:
• Quinn has taken the lead over Rauner. Quinn leads the race with 43% of the vote compared to 40% for Rauner and 5% for Libertarian Chad Grimm.
• Rauner’s popularity is sinking. Rauner is 13 points better known now (72% familiar) than in June (59%), but his favorability has held steady while his negative ratings have shot up by 13 points (34% fav/26% unfav to 33% fav/39% unfav). Rauner has become an unpalatable choice for the state’s Democrats and an increasingly divisive figure among Independents over the course of the campaign. As he has become better known, Rauner’s negative ratings have increased by 20 points among Democrats (16% fav/43% unfav to 9% fav/63% unfav) and by 13 among Independents (35% fav/21% unfav to 35% fav/34% unfav) with no increase in his positive ratings.
• Democratic support for Quinn leaves Rauner with no clear path to victory. In an electorate where nearly half of voters (48%) identify as Democrats and just over one-third are self-described Republicans (35%), Quinn has strong odds of holding on to the seat as long as he can consolidate his party’s voters. Quinn enjoys the support of 81% of Democrats, matching Republican consolidation behind Rauner (83%). Self-described conservatives are the only ideological segment of the electorate that afford Rauner an advantage in the race, while Quinn leads among moderate voters (40% Quinn/37% Rauner) and by a double-digit margin among non-conservative Independents (42% Quinn/31% Rauner).
The bottom line is this: The more Democratic and Independent voters hear about Bruce Rauner, the less appealing he becomes to them. Rauner’s sinking popularity among these voters demonstrates that advertising from Democratic groups is successfully defining Rauner negatively and making Rauner’s uphill task to overcome the state’s Democratic lean all the more difficult. Pat Quinn’s position has been strengthened significantly two months out from the election as Rauner has become an unappealing choice to all but the furthest-right voters in the electorate and Democrats are consolidating solidly behind Quinn.
That’s a large number for self-identified Democrats, but not outside the realm of possibility (Rasmussen had it at 44 in July, as did 2010 exit polling). This is a “D” state. Also, keep in mind that “non-conservative Independents” is a much smaller group than conservative independents.
* Democratic-sponsored polls have lately shown this to be a much closer race than all other polls done in Illinois. For instance…
Sneed hears that Gov. Pat Quinn just received his latest internal poll, which has the gubernatorial election locked in a virtual tie.
The poll of 600 people, taken by Quinn’s pollster Mark Mellman of the Mellman Group from July 27 to 29, shows Quinn at 38 percent, GOP candidate Bruce Rauner at 39 percent and 23 percent of voters undecided. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.
…Adding… Assuming for the moment that these two polls are within reasonable distance of accuracy, then it truly repudiates Rauner’s summertime strategy of spending little money on TV and not responding to either the union-backed ads or Quinn’s ads.
If Rauner ends up losing this race, his post-primary “go light” strategy will be to blame. Most figured he’d spend a fortune early on in an attempt to bury Quinn with a double-digit lead by Labor Day and dry up the governor’s money heading into the fall. That didn’t happen. And whatever poll you choose to believe now, the race has undoubtedly tightened to single digits. That one’s on Rauner.
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DCCC poll: Schneider up by 5
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Despite spending by outside interests approaching $1.6 million in the 10th CD, freshman Democrat Brad Schneider is still apparently leading former Congressman Bob Dold. Lynn Sweet shares details…
An automated poll by the Democratic House political operation shows Rep. Brad Schneider D-Ill., ahead of former Rep. Bob Dold Ill., by five points.The survey of the north suburban 10th congressional district in Illinois was conducted in-house by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and found 11 percent undecided. […]
In the head-to-head, Schneider was outpacing Dold by 47 percent to 42 per cent.
From a DCCC polling memo…
“Schneider performs especially well among women voters, where he leads by 7 points (47% to 40%) and maintains especially strong personal favorabilities (+20 net positive, 38% favorable, 18% unfavorable). By comparison, women voters’ opinions of Dold are almost evenly divided (36% favorable, 31% unfavorable, 33% unsure).”
The DCCC is doing in-house automated polls, eh? Interesting.
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The race to the bottom accelerates
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oh, for goodness sake…
Pay to Play Insiders Reward One of Their Own: Rauner
Rauner receives campaign cash at fundraiser hosted by man who voted with convicted fixer Stu Levine to give Rauner’s firm $50 million in state pension business
This morning, billionaire gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner was the beneficiary of a campaign fundraiser hosted by Jim Bruner, who along with convicted political fixer Stu Levine voted to give Rauner’s GTCR $50 million in state pension business in 2003. The fundraiser was held at the Sangamon County Republican Headquarters, the location where convicted felon William Cellini endorsed Rauner in April.
Um, wait. Is the Illinois Freedom PAC actually claiming that Jim Bruner was in on the alleged scam?
* We continue…
Rauner was joined at the fundraiser by scandal plagued New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is under fire for allegedly mixing public pension business with political fundraising.
“Bruce Rauner is the clear choice of pay-to-play insiders because he’s one of them,” said Neal Waltmire. “Rauner won’t shake up Springfield, he’ll shake down taxpayers.”
So, again, are they saying that Bruner was in on the scam? Let’s continue to find out…
According to federal prosecutors, there was an “illegal deal” involving Stu Levine, William Cellini, and then-Governor George Ryan to re-appoint Bruner to the Teachers Retirement System (TRS).
Actually, according to the US Attorney’s office: “The government notes that it does not have evidence that Bruner was aware of the deal that Cellini struck with Governor Ryan on Bruner’s behalf.” And Bruner forcefully denied any such knowledge.
* Back to the press release…
Bruner became chair of the TRS board and helped approved the deal for Rauner’s firm. Bruner also later donated $10,000 to Ryan’s legal defense fund. Ryan, Levine, and Cellini were eventually convicted on corruption charges.
Man, is that ever a stretch.
* This is truly getting ridiculous. First we have Rauner demanding that the governor sever all ties to somebody whose e-mails were subpoenaed (and who made it through the entire Blagojevich administration without suffering so much as a single, solitary scratch), and now this.
Do you know who else hosted that fundraiser? Jim Edgar. Yeah, man, that was a really corrupt little crowd.
…Adding… From commenter Arthur Andersen…
The President of the IEA made the motion to approve the TRS money for GTCR in 2003 and voted for the motion.
Quinnsters, is she corrupt, too? #SitUpStraight
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* Press release…
Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner today called on Governor Pat Quinn to direct his staff and agencies to cease communications with Quinn’s former chief of staff and lobbyist Jack Lavin.
“Jack Lavin is the poster boy for cronyism and corruption in Pat Quinn’s administration,” Rauner said.
“Governor Quinn should direct his staff and agency directors to cease communication with Lavin and urge legislators to do the same.”
Just today it was reported that Lavin is a lobbyist for a medical marijuana company that is part of a selection process that is neither open nor transparent. Lavin is now at the center of the criminal investigation into Quinn’s NRI slush fund but yesterday Quinn named him as the key player in the illegal hiring scandal at IDOT as well. Despite his central role in two ongoing investigations, Lavin is allowed to continue making money off his political connections and ties to Quinn.
“He is Pat Quinn’s best friend, and Quinn not only kept him on after Blagojevich went to jail, he gave Lavin a promotion and made him his chief of staff,” Rauner added. “Pat Quinn should do everything in his power to keep his closest associate away from taxpayer money. Cleaning up Springfield begins with sending the message that if you are involved in patronage or under federal investigation, you can’t profit off your connections, even when your best friend is the governor.”
Lavin previously worked for Tony Rezko, and it was Rezko who got Lavin his job with Blagojevich.
Thoughts?
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Caption contest!
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Chris Christie is in Springfield today campaigning for Bruce Rauner…
…Adding… Cullerton has his own caption via press release…
CULLERTON OFFERS TO CHAUFFEUR GOV. CHRISTIE IN EFFORT TO AVOID PARTISAN TRAFFIC JAMS
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton offered Wednesday to drive New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie around during his visit here in hopes of avoiding any partisan traffic jams like the ones Christie’s top aides created back in the Garden State a year ago.
“Governor Christie, of all people, knows how bad and unexpected traffic can be. I want to make sure he gets around safely and isn’t subjected to any politically motivated traffic shenanigans during his visit,” Cullerton said.
Cullerton, a Democrat representing part of Chicago, was also in Springfield on Wednesday working with staff on ways Illinois can continue to make its full pension payment and not short the retirement funds like the governor of New Jersey proposed while also keeping Illinois’ income taxes lower than New Jersey’s.
“I’m hoping we can learn from New Jersey’s mistakes,” Cullerton said.
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New Quinn TV ad lampoons Rauner’s van
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Have a look…
…Adding… Script…
Bruce Rauner: “Had this thing twenty years”
Voiceover: So what’s Billionaire Bruce Rauner been up to for the last 20 years?
He raked in millions outsourcing jobs to China and Mexico.
He stashed millions in the Cayman Islands, perhaps to avoid paying U.S. taxes
Now we find out he spent $140,000 to join an elite wine club.
Does all that wine fit in the van?
So the next time Bruce Rauner tells you he’s just a regular guy…
maybe, not so much.
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* From the 46:07 mark of yesterday’s debate…
QUINN: I want to say one thing. When he was at this Editorial Board, he has given money, I know, he says, to schools and education—including Payton, Walter Payton. Last time he was before this Editorial Board, he lied to you. He lied to you. The Inspector General of the Chicago Public Schools determined that his daughter did not qualify. Was not on a principal’s list. He told a falsehood. As he has today, one falsehood after another, his whole operation is based on deception, includes his education budget. You cannot have excellent schools if you cut the budget of Illinois, the state budget, for education, in half. That’s savage cuts that will hurt people who don’t have a lot of money like Mr. Rauner and who aren’t getting a million dollar tax cut because of these policies that he’s advocating.
QUESTION: Did you lie to us?
RAUNER: No. We went through the process, we followed it appropriately. It’s just like hundreds—
QUINN: [Interrupting] That’s not what the Inspector General said.
RAUNER: Just as hundreds of other families did.
Really? He did nothing different than “hundreds of families”?
* Here’s part of a long exchange with the Tribune editorial board before the primary which the governor referenced yesterday…
Rauner: At no time did we ask for a special treatment, or special deal, or special favor for our daughter. We got her name on the list just like hundreds of other families got their children’s name on the list for this Principal’s list.
Tribune: Why did you mention your daughter to Duncan?
Rauner: Oh we talk about getting his advice on what’s the process, I heard about the principal’s list, what do you do, how does it work?
* From a June 26, 2014 AP story…
Rauner has said that his daughter’s attendance record was marred by illness and hurt her overall admission score, which was the reason for the rejection. He said the family appealed through a principals’ discretionary process.
However, [outgoing Chicago Public Schools Inspector James Sullivan] told The Associated Press on Thursday that Rauner didn’t use the formalized principals’ process. CPS policy says that principals of selective high schools can use discretion for up to 5 percent of incoming freshmen.
Sullivan said Rauner contacted then-CEO Arne Duncan’s office, had at least two conversations with a chief aide, and the admission status was changed after the aide called the principal.
“She’s a very bright kid. She was close and just didn’t make it,” Sullivan said of the initial rejection.
So, he didn’t do what “hundreds of other families” did. At all.
It’s amazing to me that the edit board didn’t fully call him out on this.
* Let’s refresh ourselves on how this tale has evolved. Bernie’s column from Feb. 19, 2014…
It had been back on Sept. 3, when I spoke with Rauner by phone, that I asked about this controversy. He told me then what a good student his daughter was, and how only illness had caused her to be denied regular admission. But, he said, there was at the time a special “principal’s list” then available in such cases, and she was admitted through that process.
And when I asked in September, he said “I did not” talk to [Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan] about it.
After his round of TV interviews in January, I asked Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf about the discrepancy. Schrimpf told me Rauner and his wife, Dianna, both spoke often with Duncan, and one of them had asked about the process.
* From a January 13, 2014 CBS2 story…
Rauner admits making a call to former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan to see how he could get his daughter into Payton, despite what he calls a middle school attendance record marred by illness. He says principals have some discretion in admitting a small percentage of students, and parents have a right to make an appeal like he did.
“There’s nothing to apologize for that, there’s nothing wrong with it, and I would do it again and again,” he tells CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine in a one-on-one interview.
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* Gov. Pat Quinn tried to simplify the fairly complicated Lason Inc. story during the debate yesterday…
[Quinn said] Rauner should be held responsible for whatever has gone wrong at businesses affiliated with his former investment firm. “You have to be accountable,” Quinn said. “You just can’t run out the door, collect the money, and leave vulnerable people suffering because of your neglect.”
* From a January 20, 2014 Tribune story…
A few months after praising its performance [as a great example of how his venture capital firm built businesses], Rauner resigned from its board of directors just as the company’s high-flying stock began to crater. Lason imploded amid allegations by investors and criminal investigators that top executives cooked the books to boost the company’s value.
Neither Rauner nor his partners at the venture firm GTCR were accused of any wrongdoing. The firm netted at least $32 million from its investment by selling almost all of its stock before the earnings scandal became public. However, records show, other investors and lenders lost about $285 million as a result of the systematic accounting fraud, and three top executives went to prison.
Mike Schrimpf, a spokesman for the first-time candidate, said Rauner and GTCR had cooperated with authorities years ago in the criminal investigation of Lason. Neither Schrimpf nor Rauner would discuss in detail the nature of Rauner’s interactions with investigators or what he did at Lason.
“I don’t know, that was a long time ago,” Rauner said Thursday in a brief encounter with a Tribune reporter. “Sounds like the stuff you want to ask about is stuff that Mike’s told you about, and I probably don’t have that much to add.”
* Lason Inc. was indeed a disastrous fraud. But, as noted above, Rauner got himself off the board and profitably cashed his firm out of the company just before it crashed and burned. Here is a timeline distributed by the Quinn campaign…
1995: GTCRauner buys 54 percent of Lason a record management services for the Big Three American automakers, for $10 million. With Rauner at the helm. Lason3nitiates a spree of acquisitions of more than 60 competitors. (SEC Filing, 1996)
1996: Just months after he was fined $200,000 by the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a case involving insider trading, William Rauwerdink is hand-picked by Bruce Rauner as Lason’s Chief Financial Officer. [Chicago Tribune 1/20/2014]
1997: Under Rauner’s oversight, Rauwerdink initiates “Tailwind,” an accounting fraud scheme so vast it would be compared to Enron. As part of the fraud, financial data from newly-acquired companies would be used to vastly inflate earnings by up to 65 percent. [SEC Release, March, 2008]
1999: Rauner is still serving on the executive committee of Lason, alongside two of the three executives who eventually were convicted. That committee was responsible for its accounting policies, including Tailwind. [Chicago Tribune 1/20/2014]
August 1999: Rauner praises Lason, and is quoted in The Wall Street Transcript, saying, “We spend a lot of time living with our companies on a week-to-week basis, understanding what’s going on, and being in the flow of information, so we can be helpful and knowledgeable about the operation.” Of Lason, Rauner says: “They represent the essence of what many of our companies do.” [The Wall Street Transcript,8/09/1999]
October 1999: Lason fabricates $13 million in earnings in a press release. [Chicago Tribune 1/20/2014]
Nov. 12, 1999: Rauner abruptly departs the Lason board, 6 months before Rauner’s term is set to expire. [Chicago Tribune 1/20/2014]
Dec. 17, 1999: Lason finally acknowledges that earnings were off, after a precipitous stock drop that was blamed on “unfounded rumors.” The reality: it was fraud. [SEC Release, March, 2008]
2001: Lason files for bankruptcy. [SEC Archives, 2002]
2003: Three Lason executives, including Rauwerdink, are federally charged with the crimes. [SEC, 5/13/2003]
2007: Rauwerdink is sentenced to four years and is ordered to pay $285 million in restitution. [Crain’s Detroit Business6/07/2007] In sentencing Rauwerdink, a federal judge said that “greed and avarice” prevailed at Lason “at the expense of Lason’s shareholder’s, banks, employees and customers.” [CFO, 6/11/2007]
Primary 2014: Rauner deflects questions about Lason and his culpability in the massive fraud, saying, “I don’t know. That was a long time ago.” [Chicago Tribune 1/20/2014]
* Rauner said before he ran for governor that his firm’s chief strategy was finding the right CEO before moving into a new industry. They usually wouldn’t make the move if their preferred candidate wouldn’t agree to do it. And Rauner served on that company’s executive committee. This is as close to a “Rauner’s personal fingerprints” story as we may get.
But finding a way to make it easy to understand and turn it into an effective slam is quite another matter. We’ll see if the Quinnsters are up to the task.
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune editorialized on yesterday’s Tribune editorial board appearance by the two gubernatorial candidates…
Our hunch is that incumbent Quinn sees challenger Rauner as the smug kid who grew up to be a robber baron. Quinn swung early and hard at Rauner, so much so that he looked gassed and slumped into his chair. An aide repeatedly advised him to sit up straight; she got intermittent obedience. What did rouse Quinn was his desire to have the last words, often focused on Rauner’s alleged “deception.” Watch the video, at chicagotribune.com/tribgov, and keep track of how many times Quinn looks as if he just wants to take a whack at Rauner. […]
Our companion hunch is that Rauner sees Quinn as an undisciplined payroller who couldn’t manage a pop stand. Watch Rauner sit as erect as an admiral addressing members of Congress and judge for yourself: Is he rigorous or rigid? Rauner, too, likes to have the last words, often wrapping Quinn in “cronyism, patronage and corruption.” As for wanting to take a whack at Quinn — keep track of how many times an unflinching Rauner looks dismissively toward Quinn, as if he wouldn’t go to the trouble of making it physical.
* The Question: Who won yesterday’s debate? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
web surveys
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Rate Dick Durbin’s first TV ad
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Dick Durbin campaign…
Senator Durbin’s re-election campaign has its first commercial on the air and it’s a touching testimonial of how Sen. Durbin has delivered for the people of Illinois.
The ad, entitled Captain Simone, tells the story of just one of over 17 thousand families who are caring for our wounded warriors thanks to the assistance of the Veterans Affairs’ Family Caregiver Program. The Family Caregiver Program was created by a Durbin-authored provision in the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009, which was enacted May 5, 2010. This program, which is helping families across the nation, provides technical, financial, and practical support to the caregivers of those injured in the line of duty.
The ad, that will run in the Chicago and Springfield markets, can be viewed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugdwmRETIcs&feature=youtu.be
“We’re proud to go up with a strong, positive ad that tells the story of how Sen. Durbin has delivered for the people of Illinois – specifically our veterans,” said Anna Valencia who serves as the Campaign Manager for Senator Durbin’s re-election effort.
* The ad is definitely a tear-jerker…
* Script…
Andrea Simone: “I was actually watching the news that day, and I heard a report about the Taliban claiming responsibility for the helicopter getting shot down in Afghanistan. My husband and his gunner were the only survivors. Tony suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. There’s really not much about our life that is the same.
“Senator Durbin passed a law that provided me with the resources and the training, so that I am able to take care of Tony at home. I believe that for Dick Durbin it’s not about politics’ he cares for veterans and their families.
“I believe it’s absolutely a blessing that I am able to take care of Tony in our home with our children where he feels loved. And um, that has meant the world to us.”
Senator Durbin: I’m Dick Durbin, and I’m proud to approve this message.
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A different sort of “out of touch”
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Illinois Leaks…
With all the class warfare going in with the Governor’s race and millions being spent on attacking success (as if that’s a bad thing), I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of success the current governor has had in the private sector.
Turns out- Quinn’s private sector success is… ZERO! That’s pretty scary.
* The blogger took a look at the governor’s economic disclosure reports (which can be viewed here) and found…
* Governor Quinn claimed no business ownership in any entity doing business in the State of Illinois in excess of $5,000 or dividends in excess of $1,200
* Claimed he has no business ties to professional organizations in which he was an officer, director, associate, partner or proprietor or served in any advisory capacity which derived in excess of $1,200 during the previous year […]
* Claimed he had no capital gain of $5,000 or more in the past year […]
* Claimed he has no ties to any business entity that did business in Illinois that earned income in excess of $1,200 […]
Having absolutely no private sector experience, the contrast for governor is stark. From humble beginnings, Rauner is highly successful. Gov. Quinn has no concept of wealth creation, job creation or the fundamental principles of how capitalism has made America into the greatest nation in the history of the world.
It’s definitely an interesting twist on the current debate.
…Adding… Quinn does have some private sector business. He ran a property tax law firm for several years in between government stints.
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This needs to be changed
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oh, this is not good…
It’s unclear if Illinois officials will release complete information about companies seeking to grow or sell medical marijuana in Illinois because the state law that legalized medical marijuana exempts prospective companies’ applications from open records laws. […]
The lack of transparency will make it difficult to determine whether state regulators will show favoritism for companies with strong political connections, former state Sen. Susan Garrett, who oversees the Chicago-based Campaign for Political Reform, told the Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers. Nobody should be denied this information, she said.
“There should be reason to prevent the public from having access to these applicants,” Garrett said. “If this process is clout-driven, taxpayers have the right to see it.”
Lobbyists and former government officials have already begun to team up to compete for the 22 growing center licenses or 60 dispensary licenses.
* I can see why companies might want to protect trade secrets or whatever, but as Kurt Erickson points out, the politically connected are all over this thing…
Lobbyists and former top government officials have joined forces to compete for the 22 growing center licenses or 60 dispensary licenses.
Some companies have approached former lawmakers about sitting on their boards of directors as a way to curry favor with local and state regulators.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s former chief of staff, Jack Lavin, lists a medical marijuana company as one of his lobbying clients.
* From the Rauner campaign…
1) Lavin, Quinn’s long-time friend and former Deputy Treasurer, was a Tony Rezko associate who leveraged his Rezko ties to enter Rod Blagojevich’s cabinet. After Blagojevich’s impeachment, Quinn promoted him to be his chief of staff.
2) Lavin is the same ex-Quinn Chief of Staff whose emails were recently subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in connection with the ongoing federal criminal probe of Pat Quinn’s Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. […]
Key Questions for Pat Quinn
1) Why is Jack Lavin allowed to lobby the governor and state agencies that control our tax dollars?
2) Why is Jack Lavin allowed to lobby the General Assembly where our tax dollars are appropriated?
3) Why is Jack Lavin allowed to lobby the state for state contracts and franchises?
4) If Pat Quinn was serious about dumping his best friend and state lobbyist, wouldn’t he issue a statewide order not to communicate with him?
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Anti-fracker dirty tricks?
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Several landowners in Johnson County who had oil and gas leases received a letter recently which appeared to terminate their leases with Woolsey Energy Corp…
“We are writing to inform you that the Oil and Gas Lease you have signed with our company, Woolsey Energy Corp., has been terminated” the letter to the oil and gas leaseholder began. “We offer our sincere apologies for this severance of our business relationship.”
The letter, which can be read here, is a fake. But it looks real at first. It has the company’s letterhead and the hoaxters even used an official-looking envelope.
But the reasons given for terminating the leases are pretty obviously not from an oil and gas company perspective. It cites the potential for fracking-induced earthquakes, possible contamination of water supplies and even birth defects.
* The energy company’s owner was not amused…
The company was alerted to the letter after receiving a copy from one of the mineral owners, he said.
“It is outrageous and very disturbing that whoever sent the letter would be using this tactic,” Sooter said.
* And the leading anti-fracking group in the region denies responsibility…
“I have no knowledge of anyone even loosely affiliated with SAFE doing something like that,” [Annette McMichael of Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment] said. “We absolutely condemn the letters. Any deceitful tactic is harmful to the movement.”
* Meanwhile, fracking proponents are holding a press conference today…
COALITION FOR HYDRAULIC FRACTURING SAYS PROPOSED RULES FAIL TO MATCH CAREFULLY NEGOTIATED LEGISLATION
WHO: Mark Denzler, vice president and COO, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association
Brad Richards, executive VP, Illinois Oil and Gas Association
Jason Keller, legislative director, AFL-CIO
Tom Wolf, executive director, Energy Council, Illinois Chamber of Commerce
WHAT: Conference call with reporters and members of the GROW-IL coalition to detail their concerns with the hydraulic fracturing rules drafted by the IDNR. GROW-IL is asking the state’s JCAR committee to direct IDNR to redraft the rules guided by statute.
Ain’t nobody happy.
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* From yesterday’s Tribune debate…
Tribune - Why should people, if you are being so vague on so many issues, not assume maybe there’s another agenda there?
Rauner - I’ve been crystal clear on my agenda, crystal clear.
Tribune - Where are you on the Illinana Expressway?
Rauner - That’s one project out of many we need to do.
Tribune - Where are you on same-sex marriage?
Rauner - It’s the law. I’m comfortable with the law. I do not support advocating a change in the law.
Tribune - Two key issues you wouldn’t tell us a position on.
* Despite saying he’s now “comfortable” with the gay marriage law and doesn’t support changing it, Equality Illinois today blasted away…
Bruce Rauner again refuses to change his position on the new Illinois marriage equality law, trying to gloss over his stated preference to veto it, prompting the Chicago Tribune Editorial Page Editor R. Bruce Dold to tell him it is one of the “key issues you wouldn’t tell us a position on.”
Rauner, the Republican nominee for governor, appeared before the editorial board in a debate with his opponent, Gov. Pat Quinn, who campaigned for the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act and signed it into law last year.
Sitting beside Rauner was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, Evelyn Sanguinetti, an avowed opponent of the freedom to marry, who said she and Rauner are “like-minded” on issues. Stating that his agenda is “crystal clear,” Bruce Rauner refused to take back his position expressed as recently as June that he would be open to repealing the marriage equality law.
“Bruce Rauner is again trying to have it both ways, acknowledging that the freedom to marry is now the law in Illinois but not taking back his well-established and repeated opposition to it or explaining why he chose an apparently “like-minded” running mate who ardently opposes it,” said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, the state’s oldest and largest advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Illinoisans.
“Once again he refused the opportunity to take back his opposition to the right of loving same-sex couples to be recognized equally under the marriage laws of Illinois and give their families the same access to the rights and benefits of marriage,” Cherkasov said. “That’s not the leadership that Illinoisans deserve.”
Tuesdays exchange on the marriage issue began when the Tribune’s Dold challenged Rauner why he would not answer directly on another issue, whether the Illiana Expressway should be built
Fair hit or not?
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A Rickey Hendon special
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This ad for aldermanic candidate Gabe Beukinga that slams Ald. Walter Burnett is appearing on African-American radio. As the title of this piece suggests, it’s a familiar style for longtime blog readers. And, of course, it’s a must-listen, even if an actor actually portrays the former state Senator in the spot…
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Point and counterpoint on corruption
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From today’s debate we have this coverage in the Sun-Times…
Rauner repeatedly worked to link Quinn and imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accusing Quinn of doing little to curb patronage and cronyism under his administration:
“The only difference between Pat and Rod is the hair,” Rauner said.
“[Quinn] is part of the same system that’s failed for decades…He, Blagojevich and Madigan, that got us into this mess. I’m gonna get us out.”
Rauner accused Quinn of expanding patronage under his administration, accusing the state’s Central Management Services agency of being a haven for political hires.
“He’s taken no action on it, Why? Because Central Management Services is a cesspool of cronyism and patronage,” Rauner said. “That’s where the machine, Springfield, Democratic patronage workers go. That organization, that bureaucracy is designed to maximize the number of people workin’ in it and the pay of the people workin’ in it. Pat Quinn won’t go after that because that’s the core of his campaign troops…that’s incredibly wasteful.”
* In response, Quinn mainly repeated what he’s already said about IDOT. It wasn’t his fault. It was the IDOT Secretary’s fault. And he mainly counter-attacked Rauner’s business dealings. Tribune…
Quinn maintained Rauner “made a fortune out of the misfortune” of everyday people in companies and nursing homes the challenger’s venture capitalist firm took over. […]
Quinn argued Rauner engaged in “pay to play” as his former firm GTCR got pension business in Pennsylvania and gave political contributions to Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who said earlier this year he once put in a good word to help Rauner’s private equity firm win pension business following Rauner’s $300,000 donation to Rendell’s campaign fund.
* More on that angle from the SJ-R…
Quinn said Rauner dodged responsibility with companies in which his former investment firm, GTCR, was involved. A criminal investigation found executives at a Michigan-based company falsified financial information to make the company appear more valuable. Rauner stepped down from the board and his firm sold most of its stock — making at least $32 million — shortly before the stock’s value plummeted, the Tribune reported. Investors lost about $285 million.
“This is a classic example of what was said to be one of the biggest accounting frauds in American history. … He ran out the door, took the profits and left all the shareholders and customers and workers holding the bag,” Quinn said.
Thoughts?
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan [yesterday] announced a legislative proposal that will allow nursing home residents and their families to provide video or audio monitoring devices in their rooms to ensure their safety and well-being.
The initiative stems from recent complaints Madigan has received from residents and their families who are concerned for their relatives’ care and security. Madigan’s proposal would allow residents of nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities or their family members to purchase and install video or audio monitoring devices in their rooms.
The Attorney General cited an increasing need for additional safety measures at Illinois nursing homes as the state’s population continues to age. Currently, Illinois has over 1,200 nursing home facilities with over 100,000 residents. The U.S. Census Bureau also estimates that by 2030, 22.3 percent of Illinois’ population will be aged 60 and older, an increase of more than 28 percent from 2012.
“At some point, we are all likely to face having a family member in a nursing home,” Attorney General Madigan said. “Providing residents and their families the option to install monitoring devices in their rooms will provide peace of mind that our loved ones are being cared for in the best possible manner.”
* React…
In a statement, Health Care Council of Illinois, which lobbies on behalf of the nursing home industry, did not indicate whether the group was for or against the proposal.
“We look forward to working with our elected officials in reviewing data on this issue and making sure our residents are protected,” Pat Comstock, the executive director of the group, was quoted as saying. “The safety of all our residents is of the highest priority.” Comstock added that privacy of residents is also a serious concern.
* The Question: Do you support this concept? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
survey tool
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Ignoring undeniable realities
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From today’s debate…
Rauner was asked whether he was asking voters to take his budget and educations plans on faith since his plans to freeze property taxes and reduce income taxes so far don’t appear to add up.
“We have the money for our schools, if we put it in the schools,” Rauner began, before he was asked to come off of talking points and make his promises add up.
“We close corporate welfare loopholes, we reform our tax code, we cut wasteful spending, we put in regulatory changes to grow the economy,” Rauner offered as ways to balance the budget.
* Um, no. Unless he wants to raise taxes even higher than they are now. From the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability…
On July 17, 2014, Bruce Rauner, the Republican nominee for Governor, released his long anticipated position paper on fiscal policy, dubbed the “Bring Back Blueprint: Jobs and Growth Agenda” (the “Blueprint”). The Blueprint represents candidate Rauner’s most complete policy statement on how to resolve the very real and serious fiscal problems that have plagued Illinois state government for decades.
In summary, those fiscal problems start with a projected deficit of $6.5 billion in the General Fund budget that was enacted for the state’s current fiscal year, FY2015, which began on July 1, 2014 and will end on June 30, 2015. (CTBA’s analysis of the FY2015 budget that passed into law is at available at CTBA’s website www.ctbaonline.org or by clicking here and CTBA’s analysis of the FY2015 budget proposed by Governor Quinn which did not pass the General Assembly is available by clicking here). For context, the projected FY2015 General Fund deficit of $6.5 billion represents 26.4 percent of all spending scheduled for public services this year.1 Unfortunately, running a General Fund deficit is nothing new in Illinois. According to the state Comptroller, this is the 25th consecutive year the state has run a General Fund deficit. That is a problem because $9 out of every $10 of General Fund spending goes to education (Pre-K through higher education, 34 percent), healthcare (29 percent), human services (19 percent), and public safety (7 percent).
Moreover, without a change in law, the General Fund deficit will worsen materially in FY2016. That is because the temporary state income tax rate increases passed as part of the Taxpayer Accountability and Budget Stabilization Act of 2011 (TABSA) are scheduled to phase-down, from 5 percent to 3.75 percent for the personal income tax, and from 7 percent to 5.25 percent for the corporate. Both state income tax rates will phase-down commencing on January 1, 2015, which is halfway through the state’s current fiscal year. This means the revenue loss from the rate phase-down is somewhat mitigated this year, as it will only pertain for six months. In FY2016, however, the lower income tax rates will be fully in effect for the whole year, causing significantly greater revenue loss. The net result will be that in FY2016, the state will realize a loss of revenue of around $3 billion from FY2015 levels—on top of the extant $6.5 billion deficit. [Emphasis added.]
But there’s plenty of money to go around.
Right.
* The CTBA also analyzed Rauner’s plan to cut nearly a billion dollars out of the budget and concluded that it would save a tenth of that.
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* During today’s debate, Gov. Pat Quinn claimed that House Republican Leader Jim Durkin told him that Bruce Rauner was trying to “buy” legislative votes against the pension reform bill. Rauner adamantly denied that he had offered anyone money or campaign contributions for a “No” vote.
Well, Leader Durkin and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno just issued this joint response to Quinn’s “outrageous and false statements”…
“Governor Quinn has reached a new low and is so desperate to deflect from the fact he’s under federal investigation that he is now making up outrageous and unfounded claims about Bruce Rauner. The only person who bribes legislators for votes is Pat Quinn. The only candidate in this race under federal investigation for corruption is Pat Quinn.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** The governor is standing by his statement.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Last December, Leaders Durkin and Radogno talked to the media about the vote on the pension reform bill and the lack of Republican support.
“Did the Rauner campaign or his allies make this more complicated among your caucuses?” they were asked. Leader Radogno responded “Absolutely, that made it more complicated.”
Radogno was asked why…
“It’s the political influence. And obviously he’s very wealthy, and so that’s a piece of it, too. I mean, people think about campaign funding. They think about what support they’ll get when they’re running. They think about their own political futures. They think about the people that are around Bruce Rauner and how they relate to them and their campaigns.”
Listen…
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* From the Rauner campaign…
In case you weren’t watching this morning’s Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Debate, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn was unable to complete the debate without multiple incidents of staff passing him notes and whispering in his ear. Here’s one example caught on camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sai06pWsWMg&feature=youtu.be#aid=P3NZURdtn4A.
Some of you may remember a similar incident in the Florida gubernatorial race back in 2010:
Aide fired over Florida debate foul
By the CNN Political Unit
October 26, 2010 1:36 p.m. EDT
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/26/florida.debate.foul/index.html
Tampa, Florida (CNN) — A campaign aide to Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink has been removed after the Democratic nominee was sent a text message during a televised debate — in violation of the rules that the candidates agreed to.
Sink’s campaign did not name the advisor. But a campaign spokesman confirmed it was Brian May, who signed the rules agreement before the Monday evening debate.
The incident took place at the CNN/St. Petersburg Times Florida gubernatorial debate when Sink’s make-up artist delivered a two-sentence message on a cell phone during a break.
Republican nominee Rick Scott, who was sitting next to Sink in the nationally televised debate, noticed the violation and notified a CNN official. The CNN official approached the make-up artist and Sink, and confiscated the cell phone.
The message read: “The attorney who [w]on the Sykes suit said alex sink did nothing wrong. Tell not to let him keep talking about her.”
* There were no such rules during today’s debate, but here’s the video…
He’s the governor, so he ought to be able to debate his opponent without any help.
*** UPDATE 1 *** I just spoke with Brooke Anderson, who’s the person above whispering in Quinn’s ear. Anderson said all of her notes she passed, all of her whispers were to tell the governor one thing and one thing only: “Sit up straight.”
Apparently, the governor has a bad habit of slouching, which doesn’t look good on TV.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Rauner campaign…
Yikes.
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In retrospect…
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We talked about this TV ad yesterday, but here’s something I didn’t catch at first…
Rauner’s campaign is running an ad that features Rauner talking to Ditka in Ditka’s Near North Side Restaurant in Chicago. Ditka tells Rauner how to treat special interests. “You attack…Bam… Hit ‘em right in the mouth.”
The aggressive advice from the former NFL player and Super Bowl-winning coach (currently an on-air personality) is hitting some people the wrong way just now. The NFL is currently taking a massive public relations hit itself for its initially lax punishment of Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was seen on video punching his fiancee right in the mouth in an Atlantic City elevator.
* That “Hit ‘em right in the mouth” quote got even worse when Ditka talked about that disgusting Ray Rice video on ESPN…
“I don’t know Ray at all,” Ditka said before, for some reason, feeling the need to continue. “I’m sure he’s not a bad guy, but he made a bad mistake.
“Hey, two lives, are ruined,” Ditka said. “These two lives are ruined. His earning power is destroyed. That’s an important thing.”
* Sports radio went batty on Ditka yesterday, but he also said this…
“If nothing comes out of this, if nothing ever comes out of this, except as a lesson to the players and the league today, understand, this cannot be tolerated and cannot happen, then you’ve accomplished something.”
Even so, it’s probably not a good idea to run that ad again.
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Rauner distances himself from Tillman remarks
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner was asked yesterday about our post on controversial, possibly racial remarks made by the Illinois Policy Institute’s John Tillman in 2011 while Rauner sat at the same dais. From the Tribune…
Tillman argued that youths on the South and West Sides are hurt by a high minimum wage that keep employers from being able to offer them jobs.
“So those kids keep walking, and they walk, and they get to the corner. And what do they find on the corner? They find a member of the gang offering them a job to be a drug runner. Is that the choice we want to make?” said Tillman, whose group advocates eliminating the minimum wage.
Quinn’s campaign sent out Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle on the governor’s behalf, and she called the comments “100 percent wrong and offensive to those of us who have worked to stem the tide of violence and drugs in our communities.”
Rauner refused to answer questions about Tillman’s comments during his education event. A spokesman later said Rauner “does not believe the minimum wage leads to gang membership.” The policy institute said criticism was a desperate political attack.
Right under the bus.
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Chicago media finally catches on
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Notice a pattern here? Tribune…
Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner on Monday promised to pump more money into education from preschool through college should he be elected, but failed to say how he’d pay for it and keep his earlier pledges to lower the income tax rate and freeze property taxes.
The so-called “blueprint” for education follows the pattern of similar proposals the first-time candidate has released in recent months about how he’d govern, containing broad themes but few specifics. Rauner previously has called for an overhaul of business tax credits, said he’d phase out the 2011 income tax increase over four years while broadening sales taxes to include some services and talked about cutting the state budget.
* ABC 7…
Republican candidate for governor Bruce released his education plan for Illinois on Monday and it calls for more spending, but fails to say where the money would come from.
Despite promises to roll back the state income tax rate and freeze property taxes, Rauner vows to increase, not cut, education spending.
* Sun-Times…
Rauner was pressed on how he could increase education money while freezing property taxes, which right now make up the bulk of funding for local schools. Rauner vowed he would increase money in his first year in office — something at least one expert called “fantasy.”
“We will increase education funding in year one, yes, absolutely,” Rauner said. “Other programs will need to be cut,” he said, without specifying which ones. […]
“There’s no way to make the numbers work in the short term without either massive cuts or to shift to broad-based consumption taxes,” said University of Illinois at Springfield Political Science professor emeritus Kent Redfield.
“If you’ve got a deficit situation and you take out a huge source of revenue, then you can’t increase funding in one area without massive cuts to social services, higher education, mental health institutions … It’s just a fantasy to believe that this can be done and still maintain the basic level of services that we have.”
Rauner said he has pointed to ways to cut government waste in the past and to tax services. But Redfield said Rauner’s proposal to tax services was not broad enough to do all that he’s promising, in part because it excludes financial services.
* AP Chicago Bureau…
Rauner’s 26-page education plan, laced with statistics and graphs, was short on specifics of how the venture capitalist would proceed with his ideas or what exactly he wanted to do. He called for an overhaul of how the state doles out money to school districts — a contentious issue in Illinois — but didn’t say what should be in the funding formula. His plan called for changing the way Illinois schools grant tenure and cited a Florida practice allowing annual contracts, but Rauner said he wouldn’t do away with tenure completely. […]
Rauner’s campaign didn’t provide a cost estimate on the plan, saying some ideas such as the tax credits were “revenue neutral.” However, Rauner vowed to increase education spending, even in the first year of office, without extending the temporary tax increase or raising property taxes.
He said his policies would help Illinois’ economy grow so much that additional revenue would come in from new jobs and, combined with other steps such as eliminating waste in state government, Illinois would be able to close a budget hole.
* Our beloved commenter and experienced budget hand Steve Schnorf will get the final word on this aspect of the Rauner proposal…
I like it that Bruce Rauner is becoming increasingly specific with the newer position papers he is putting out. To his paper:
>much of it is simply facts about our current education system, both K-12 and Higher Ed. Many of those facts are quite damning, that is undebateable.
>many of those nasty facts can’t be blamed on Governor Quinn since they have been bad for a long time before he became Governor. However, the significant reduction in education funding over the past 6 years is owned by the person who is Governor.
>some new (to Illinois) ideas are included, and some of them are probably worth trying.
>increasing both K-12 and Higher Ed funding is, in my opinion, a good and necessary idea. Inadequate K-12 funding does drive up property taxes, and inadequate Higher Ed funding has imposed a very large hidden middle class tax increase in the past 10 years.
>most of those new ideas will cost new money.
Aye, and now we come to the rub, don’t we? Bruce Rauner simply HAS to tell us how he’s going to pay for these things. Governor Quinn can’t pay for them in FY15 (and perhaps beyond), because the legislature has chosen to reduce our state tax revenues considerably. Candidate Rauner has told us he wants to reduce our income tax rate below even what it will become Jan 1. Fine, but cognitive dissonance is starting to kill me, since I can fairly quickly back of the envelope round number what our state tax revenues will be 5 years from now, giving Rauner credit for his policies increasing tax revenue growth at rates above what I believe they will actually be, and adding in his new proposed tax on services (which I think is a good idea, just not taken far enough). So far it just doesn’t add up. I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
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Rauner, Quinn to spar at 10 this morning
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The live video stream link is here. From the Tribune…
The contentious Illinois governor campaign will be coming to the Tribune editorial board today, as Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, Republican challenger Bruce Rauner and their running mates will appear to answer questions about their platforms and certainly take shots at one another as the race enters its final months.
The candidates will appear at 10 a.m., and the debate will be streamed on chicagotribune.com.
* Follow along with ScribbleLive…
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NRCC slams Enyart for raising debt ceiling
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the NRCC…
“Congressman Bill Enyart has sided with Nancy Pelosi over Southern Illinois families at every turn in Washington. Instead of fighting for the folks of the 12th District, Enyart has voted alongside the most liberal in Congress to raise the debt ceiling and give President Obama a blank check. Southern Illinois families have a better choice this November and that’s proven leader Mike Bost.” – Katie Prill, NRCC Spokeswoman
* The new TV ad…
* The script…
ANNCR: Bill Enyart promised to lead, but in Washington, he fell right in line.
On almost 90% of his votes, Enyart took Nancy Pelosi’s orders.
Voting 3 times to increase the debt ceiling.
Bill Enyart’s just not who we thought.
There is a better choice: Mike Bost. Will cut the debt and balance the budget.
A firefighter, former Marine.
Mike Bost won’t back down to party leaders.
A fighter for Southern Illinois.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.
Since one of the few item on Congress’ fall plate is raising the debt ceiling, I suppose the obvious question created by this new ad is where Rep. Bost stands on a potential government shutdown.
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* It’s about the minimum wage. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. From a press release…
Republican Bruce Rauner’s belief that the minimum wage should be eliminated completely is highlighted in a new 30-second television ad released today by the Quinn for Illinois campaign.
Earlier this year, Rauner publicly advocated for lowering the Illinois minimum wage and said he was “adamantly, adamantly” opposed to Gov. Quinn’s efforts to raise the minimum wage.
Then, just last week, new video surfaced showing Rauner - THIS YEAR - admitting that he advocated for eliminating the minimum wage completely.
Bruce Rauner has put his money where his mouth is, outsourcing American jobs to countries where child labor is prevalent and wages are low. He also is bankrolling a Tea Party organization that is working to eliminate the minimum wage in Illinois.
Said Quinn for Illinois Deputy Press Secretary Izabela Miltko:
“Billionaire Bruce Rauner’s true position, that there should be no minimum wage in Illinois, illustrates exactly how out-of-touch he is with Illinois values and how his policies would hurt working families.
“Mr. Rauner does not get ‘do-overs’ when it comes to his true belief that there should be no minimum wage in Illinois. His attempts to paper over his hostility to workers are as shameful as his position itself.”
* The ad…
* The script…
Narrator: “Bruce Rauner in his own words:”
Bruce Rauner: “I am adamantly, adamantly against raising the minimum wage.”
Narrator: “Now billionaire Bruce Rauner was caught saying he wants to eliminate the minimum wage completely.
“Eliminate the minimum wage? Taking thousands of dollars out of the pockets of hard-working families.
“Did Bruce Rauner really think no one would find out?”
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Rauner campaign…
It should come as no surprise that Pat Quinn is lying about Bruce’s position on the minimum wage as he continues lying to the people of Illinois about corruption on his watch. The fact remains Bruce is the only candidate who has a real plan to raise the minimum wage.
*** UPDATE 2 *** McKinney reports this is a $750,000 buy…
Quinn’s campaign is putting roughly $750,000 behind the ad, which is running in television markets in Chicago, Champaign, Peoria and Paducah, Ky., a source familiar with the ad buy told Early & Often, the Chicago Sun-Times’ political portal.
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Question of the day
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Bobby Schilling press release…
It has been more than two weeks since audio surfaced where then-candidate Cheri Bustos (D-East Moline) promised to give back 10 percent of her pay if elected. She still refuses to answer whether she will follow through on that promise. That refusal continued Friday in an interview with reporters in Peoria—the same group of reporters she ran away from two weeks ago.
And honestly, we wish we could stop banging the drum on this, but she just won’t answer the question:
Reporter: Congresswoman Bustos, will you follow through on your promise to give up 10 percent of your pay?
Bustos: “You know, it’s a diversion from what I want to be talking about.”
Jon Schweppe, communications director at Bobby Schilling for Congress, released the following statement:
“Congresswoman Bustos continues to dodge simple ‘yes or no’ questions about whether she will give up ten percent of her pay like she promised—that’s $34,800 she owes us. Now she is dictating to the media what they will and won’t be covering.
“Congresswoman Bustos can end this controversy quickly with a ‘yes or no’ response—the people deserve an answer. Will Congresswoman Bustos follow through on her promise to give up ten percent of her pay? Or is she going to break her promise to voters? Yes or no?”
* She doesn’t come off great in the video…
* From what I gather, Bustos doesn’t want it to look like she returned or donated her salary because Schilling demanded it. There are some Democrats who believe she can win without dealing with this issue, so they’ve counseled her to ignore the whole thing. On the other hand, this isn’t going away anytime soon. Sooo…
* The Question: What should Bustos do about her 2012 promise? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
surveys & polls
And, yes, some of you will see a typo. I tried to fix it, but can’t get the fix to immediately appear. Sorry.
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* Bruce Rauner is holding a press conference on education reform. Click here to read it. From the twitters…
‘’
* This one also caught my eye…
* I was told early this morning that Rauner would not be calling for the end of teacher tenure. Well, according to NPR, Florida’s law essentially ends tenure for all new hires and teachers who move to new districts..
Rating teacher performance. The law requires districts to rate teachers and administrators annually, according to a legislative analysis, with half of their score based on student Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test Performance over a three-year period.
How teachers are paid. New hires will no longer have to climb the decades-long seniority ladder to earn the highest salaries. Now, the highest-rated teachers can earn the top salaries just a few years out of college. Highly-rated teachers already working can opt out of the merit pay system — but if they switch districts they would be paid on their performance, according to a United Teachers of Dade Q & A. Teachers will also no longer be guaranteed additional pay for advanced degrees.
Job security. New hires will no longer enjoy long-term contracts, but instead must be rehired on an annual basis. Those already teaching are again exempted from the new law, but teachers who switch districts would then move to annual contracts.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the IFT…
“Bruce Rauner’s blueprint reads like a Greatest Hits of failed education experiments that penalize good teachers instead of addressing the fact that Illinois schools are some of the worst funded in the nation,” said Dan Montgomery, President of the IFT and a high school English teacher for eighteen years.
“When it comes to what ails us, teacher tenure and merit pay are red herrings. There is no evidence that giving teachers due process negatively impacts student achievement, but research overwhelmingly shows the devastating effects of poverty and under funding schools. As a teacher, I saw firsthand the heartbreaking impact on a student when a parent lost a job or struggled to pay the bills.
“If Rauner was really interested in our students, he wouldn’t advocate eliminating the minimum wage.
“If Rauner was really interested in our students, he wouldn’t propose budget ideas that would cut billions out of public education resulting in teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, and higher property taxes.
“We want great teachers for all of our students, and if the goal is to improve education, we don’t need to pit teachers and parents against each other. We need the resources to make success possible.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Paul Vallas…
“Bruce Rauner’s education blueprint includes a lot of promises, but predictably fails to pay for any of them. In reality, Rauner’s plan will put an additional one million dollars in his own pocket while laying off 1 in 6 teachers by blowing a $4 billion hole in Illinois’ education budget.
“This is reckless and irresponsible. The outcome of Rauner’s plan - larger classroom sizes, higher property taxes and cuts up and down the line to education - will represent disaster for our public schools.
“Education is for everyone - not just the elite.
“This is just another example of Mr. Rauner looking out for people like himself at the expense of the working families of Illinois.”
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The minimum wage and an upscale biker club
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Natasha Korecki is absolutely right when she wrote that the key ingredient missing from Gov. Pat Quinn’s minimum wage challenge last week was “stress”…
It’s not really something you can put a dollar amount on. Quinn gobbled his banana and presumably stepped right back into a car driven by his security detail. At night he rested his head at his Galewood home.
People like Dollie Brewer, who works with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, see the stress first-hand.
“Anytime you don’t have enough money, you go to bed thinking: ‘Where am I going to sleep?’ You think: ‘What am I going to eat? I would like to eat quality food, but I have to eat what’s left over,’ ” Brewer said. […]
“We’re working and can’t even afford to pay the parking if we work downtown. And we’ve got parking meters in the parks, parking meters are in the schools, parking meters are everywhere. And where’s the money coming from?” Brewer said. “Raising the minimum wage and trying to have the minimum wage keep up with inflation will at least give us the opportunity to try to have a quality lifestyle, to pay a few bills. No, you won’t have enough to pay all your bills, but at least you won’t have to be on public assistance. You will get your dignity back.”
Quinn kept the issue on the front burner last week, but it could have been handled so much better. Then again, it’s not every day that Dollie Brewer is quoted in a big city newspaper.
* On the other side of the spectrum, Kurt Erickson writes that Bruce Rauner’s $140,000 wine club isn’t the only organization he belongs to. He’s also a member of a “motorcycle club”…
Rather than go on poker runs and cruise through the corridors of corn and beans in Illinois, this club takes its members to places like Spain, Italy, Croatia and Turkey.
According to the website for the American Flyers Motorcycle Club, Rauner has gone on three tours with the group since 2009, including one in West Virginia and two in Utah.
Photos on the club website show members relaxing after a day in the saddle, drinking wine and smoking cigars. None of the photos show members crumpling cans of Natty Light on their foreheads.
On the West Virginia trip, club members stayed at least one day just over the border in Pennsylvania at the Bedford Springs Resort. Safe to say it is not the Super 8. A basic room at the inn starts at $455 a night.
* Rauner also explained to reporters on Friday about why he used his $18 watch in his early TV ads…
“My watch, it is what it is. The campaign wanted to make sure the voters knew who I am. That’s who I am.”
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* Click here for the A-1. That’ll get some city tongues wagging.
*** UPDATE *** Lewis says it’s a loan. Sun-Times…
“It’s a sign that I’m trying to raise money,” Lewis tells Early & Often. “People have to see that we’re trying to raise money now. We have to do all kinds of other things.”
That includes getting a campaign office to operate out of.
The money comes as petition circulators have begun their work on her behalf.
“We had petition training on Saturday. It was a big drive — 500 people showed up, it was amazing,” she said.
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IFT launches fall mail program
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Illinois Federation of Teachers says this mailer will be sent to all member households in the state (about 100,000) this week. This is the “first of many, and in addition to an unprecedented ground game and member-to-member program.”
Keep in mind that the IFT polled its members and this is only going to member households. It’s not designed for mass consumption, so rate it for what it is, please. You can click the pics for a larger, pdf version…
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Checkbook campaigning
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner drove his 1993 van to a South Side credit union on Friday where he made a $1 million deposit aimed at helping to provide small business loans for the African-American community.
Rauner spent about 10 minutes talking to the South Side Community Federal Credit Union’s president, before depositing the money via a wire transfer. Rauner said he contributed $200,000 as a donation to the institution, and deposited $800,000 into an interest-bearing account.
Rauner pledged his support to the credit union near 54th and Wentworth in July. […]
But the Republican multimillionaire told reporters that his decision to contribute to the credit union was not political. He called accusations he’s buying African-American votes by donating the money “baloney” and “political spin.”
* Yeah, right. This is all about making an investment. The Tribune blows up that notion pretty handily…
Rauner said he would be receiving interest on his $800,000 credit union deposit at a rate he said was “small” but did not specify. “We’ll get our money back with an interest return,” Rauner said.
While Rauner described his deposit as an investment, he acknowledged the credit union had a 25 percent default rate on its loans. Records of the National Credit Union Administration, the federal agency that monitors credit unions, showed that as of June 30, the organization managed $3 million in deposits for 1,550 members.
On its website, the credit union advertises personal, auto and business loans for its members, including payroll advance loans at an interest rate of 16 percent and payday alternative loans at interest rates of up to 28 percent.
Yikes.
* Meanwhile, Phil Kadner got a tip that Rauner was meeting with African-American ministers in Harvey the other day, but he arrived too late to hear what Rauner had to say…
Rauner said he would use his contacts in the business community to encourage them to create a program that would make more jobs available to ex-cons, [David Gethers, minister of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Harvey] said. […]
[J.R.] Jordan and Gethers said Rauner also spoke about his interest in improving public education. They came away with the impression that Rauner, as governor, would increase school funding.
I asked if he said how he planned to do that. Rauner has said he would cut the state income tax, meaning Illinois would have less money for education, among other things.
I was told Rauner had implied that he might dip into his personal wealth to fund some programs.
“He would use his own money?” I asked.
“That’s what he said,” Jordan replied. “He said he had been investing his own money in education for years. He said one thing he would do is make sure every teacher in Illinois is certified, and he has funded programs in the past to make sure teachers are properly trained.’
…Adding… This explains a lot…
“As my wife will say all the time, I’m pretty cheap. I don’t like to spend money I don’t have to. I invest in assets. I’ve done very well with my investments,” said Rauner, an equity investor from Winnetka.
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Tillman: “False charge of racism”
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Let’s start the coverage of this story with the react from John Tillman at the Illinois Policy Institute…
One of the most harmful actions one can take with respect to racial issues is the false charge of racism. Today we have seen Gov. Quinn do just that in his desperate bid for re-election. It is a failure of leadership of the highest order.
We stand by every word I said in the video that Gov. Quinn’s campaign office released today. Those remarks from October of 2011 convey what we have long believed: that the free enterprise system and the founding principles of this country are the best way to help all of our people, but especially the poor, disadvantaged and minorities. That is what the Illinois Policy Institute fights for every day.
Any fair viewer of that video will see the falseness of Gov. Quinn’s press release from this morning.
We will have more to say on this later in the day.
John Tillman
* Now, let’s move back a step and hear what the Quinn campaign had to say a bit earlier this morning…
Quinn for Illinois spokesman Izabela Miltko issued the below statement regarding new video showing one of Rauner’s top allies making the case that cutting the minimum wage is the best way to help “minority people.” After the comments, Rauner donated more than half a million dollars to the organization, which is currently pushing to eliminate the minimum wage in Illinois.
“Bruce Rauner is not only bankrolling an organization that is currently pushing to eliminate the minimum wage - he is closely aligned with a tycoon who has said that the minimum wage turns ‘minority people’ into gang members.
“Such extreme, bizarre policies and racial stereotypes have no place in Illinois.
“It’s extremely disturbing that Mr. Rauner surrounds himself with these out-of-touch individuals and Tea Party organizations.
“Bruce Rauner owes the people of Illinois an apology. He should immediately renounce these ugly, racist remarks and disassociate himself from the Illinois Policy Institute and its CEO, John Tillman.”
* OK, now here’s the video which started it all. Bruce Rauner was on the podium with Tillman for this 2011 event. Tillman’s remarks in question start at the one hour, 27 minute mark, but you probably should start just a little earlier…
* Transcript provided by the Quinn campaign…
John Tillman: “Think about the minimum wage: they love to talk about how the minimum wage helps poor, disadvantaged, and minority people.
“Think about that video we saw of Jack Roeser’s life earlier and those children walking to St. Elizabeth’s school. You saw those kids on that video. You remember them walking in, some of them were 7, 8, or 9 years old. Imagine those kids when they’re 17, 18, 19 years old walking down the street on the south side of Chicago or the west side of Chicago.
“If we have a low minimum wage so employers can afford to bring in a new employee who’s just learning how to work, developing their skills, trying to get a leg up in life- help wanted signs go out.
“When we raise the minimum wage to $8.25, those kids when they’re 17, or 18 and grown up out of St. Elizabeth’s walk down that same street when they walk by those stores, the help wanted signs are taken away because that employer can’t afford $8.25 an hour.
“So those kids keep walking and they walk and they get to the corner, and what do they find at the corner? They find a member of the gang offering them a job to be a drug runner. Is that the choice we want to make?
“Those kids are our heroes on why a lower minimum wage is better, not a higher minimum wage because it changes those kids’ lives for the worse if you raise it, it improves their life if you lower it.”
* The Rauner campaign wants to remind you of this story from earlier this year…
An outspoken Chicago pastor connected Republicans to the Ku Klux Klan and suggested that GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner stands for “evil,” as he appeared next to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday to give the Democrat his endorsement.
The governor remained silent as the Rev. Walter “Slim” Coleman, a long-time left-wing activist, spoke at his side during a press event where Quinn accepted the endorsement of several mostly African-American clergy members.
But…
Shortly after speeches concluded, Quinn disappeared out the back door of the Chicago Lakeshore Hotel, where the endorsement event was held, without taking questions from reporters. Following inquiries from WBEZ, the governor’s re-election campaign sought to distance itself from Coleman’s comments on Thursday.
Spokeswoman Brooke Anderson told WBEZ that Coleman was invited to speak at the event by another minister, not by the campaign. In a statement Anderson said the governor does not support Coleman’s statements.
“We couldn’t disagree more strongly, and the Governor believes this rhetoric has no place in politics,” Anderson wrote in an email.
So, considering that the WBEZ story is being pushed by the Rauner campaign, it’s probably only fair that they react to Tillman’s video and his later response, right? Or am I missing something here?
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Callis goes on the attack
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Democratic congressional candidate Ann Callis has a new TV ad. Last week’s ad was positive. This one’s a negative, but it’s done in a humorous way.
UPDATE: Callis has now released the new ad on YouTube, so I deleted the other code from the NRCC video and added this one…
* Script…
(GENE, FARMER)
When I first heard that Congressman Rodney Davis had spent forty grand in D.C. steakhouses, I said “well done.”
(PETE, BUTCHER)
Me too. But then I found out Davis voted to chop Medicare…
(GENE, FARMER)
But not perks for himself, like first class flights, pensions, or healthcare for life.
(PETE, BUTCHER)
Hey, steak is great, Congressman, but it’s time to trim some fat in DC.
(GENE, FARMER)
Putting yourself ahead of the middle class is a load of bull.
Pretty good. We’ll see if it moves any needles.
* From the NRCC…
Ann Callis is up on TV with an ad attacking Rodney Davis. Callis must now realize that her friends at the DCCC aren’t coming in so she will have to do her own dirty work and go negative right out of the gate.
The problem with Callis’ new ad is that she attacks Rodney on first class travel and health care for life for members. Callis didn’t do her homework because Rodney actually voted to ban first class travel for members and also voted to end health care for life for members. See for yourself HERE.
Callis also didn’t mention the perks she will receive after retiring as a judge – both a pension and health care which are paid for by Illinois families. Seeing Callis doesn’t like elected officials receiving perks, will she refuse to accept her state pension and state health care for life?
NRCC Statement: “The latest attack ad from Ann Callis is dishonest and factually incorrect. Rodney Davis has voted to end congressional perks all while Ann Callis plans to collect a state pension and health care. The only one in this race who wants to milk Illinois families is Ann Callis and this latest attack ad is just plain bull.” – Katie Prill, NRCC Spokeswoman
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Rauner wants IDOT workers fired now
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The IDOT hiring scandal continues to brew. Sun-Times…
Rauner also called on Quinn to “take action” on alleged patronage jobs within the state Department of Transportation.
“Gov. Quinn does not need to do another review. He needs to take action and actually follow through on his word,” Rauner said. “Pat Quinn has not taken action. They are still inside the government, dozens and dozens of them. My question to the governor is ‘Why are these folks still on the payroll, illegally taking money from the taxpayers?’ Who is he protecting. What’s he hiding?”
A report by the state executive inspector general released last month questioned the hiring of hundreds of staff assistants with IDOT.
“Unlike Bruce Rauner who takes no responsibility for fraud and mismanagement happening right under his nose, Gov. Quinn has already acted to reform the agency, appoint a new secretary and make sure everything is being done right,” Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said. “Bruce Rauner takes the money from fraud happening at his own business and then goes home quietly.”
* Crain’s editorialized on it as well…
Lately, however, Mr. Quinn looks like just another standard-issue ward heeler, overseeing a department handing out jobs to cronies like candy to Halloween trick-or-treaters. The state’s top investigator reported late last month that IDOT improperly hired more than 250 people in the past decade, and the practice accelerated under Mr. Quinn.
Investigators found no evidence that Mr. Quinn or his staff members were aware of impropriety, but former IDOT Secretary Ann Schneider, whom Mr. Quinn appointed in 2011, said recommendations for agency hires came from the governor’s office.
Perhaps it was too much to hope that Springfield was ready to be cleaned up. But it was nice to think that if anybody was going to try, good ol’ Pat Quinn would.
Now he has handed another self-styled reformer, Bruce Rauner, a ready-made cudgel, which the Republican gubernatorial candidate has been swinging gleefully at Mr. Quinn on the campaign trail. And Illinoisans are left with just that much more reason to doubt that anyone who promises “reform” will ever deliver.
* From the Rauner campaign…
“Pat Quinn doesn’t need another review; he needs to fire those who were illegally hired. My question to the governor is this: who are you protecting and what are you hiding? We need a new governor who will follow through on his promises.” – Bruce Rauner
On Friday, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn was confronted about dozens of illegally hired patronage cronies who remain in state jobs. Instead of promising to fire them, Quinn said he would order another “review.”
When asked to respond on Friday, Bruce Rauner correctly pointed out that Quinn had already claimed he conducted a review and that the Inspector General presented his findings to the governor – a long with the list of 250 illegal hires – back in June. Watch the clip.
Who is Quinn trying to protect? The governor does not need to do another review – he needs to take action and keep his word.
Discuss.
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Durbin sends out red alert on Uihlein TV ad
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Dick Durbin campaign…
The man who has done more than any other in Illinois to fuel the Tea Party movement across America has quietly put down hundreds of thousands of dollars in television advertising this week in a stealth effort to smear Dick Durbin with ads that completely distort the truth. It’s an effort to advance Jim Oberweis’ extreme agenda and dangerous ideas that will do nothing but harm to Illinois’ middle-class.
Our America Fund, whose sole donor is Illinois Tea Party funder Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest, purchased television advertising on Chicago broadcast stations this week with an ad that takes quotes from Karl Rove and other conservative leaders and attributes them to respected news sources.
Uihlein recently moved 1,000 jobs from his company in Illinois and moved them to Wisconsin.
The attack ad claims that Dick Durbin pushed the IRS to investigate only conservative organizations, when in fact Durbin clearly was asking for an investigation of non-profit organizations whom use their tax-exempt status to do political work — which is against Federal law.
Sen. Durbin has posted all communication he had with the IRS on his Senate website — and it has been there for four years. It clearly shows that Sen. Durbin asked for an investigation of any C4 organization “that are directing millions of dollars into political advertising.”
“This ad is trying to fool the voters of Illinois,” said Ron Holmes, Communications Director for the Durbin Campaign. “And the true intent of Richard Uihlein is to elect Jim Oberweis, because his group shares with him ideas that are out of the mainstream and downright dangerous for Illinois’ middle-class.”
* Rate the ad…
* It appears that this group will also be playing in two other Senate races. One in Michigan and one in Iowa.
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
The Illinois Education Association has always leaned more Republican than its Illinois Federation of Teachers counterpart, but at least one of the IEA’s endorsements raised a few eyebrows this year.
Conservative state Rep. Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon) was endorsed by the IEA last month. The Illinois AFL-CIO assigns the Metro East legislator a rating of just 36 percent so far this session. The Illinois Federation of Teachers, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, endorsed Kay’s Democratic opponent Cullen L. Cullen. The IEA is not an AFL-CIO union.
The Kay endorsement is not what you’d call an everyday occurrence. Yes, the IEA endorses a fair amount of Republicans, but it’s pretty well documented that Kay was on friendly terms with the Tea Party when he was first elected in 2010. The IEA is not exactly enamored with that bunch.
According to a story published by the fiscally hard-right Illinois Policy Institute, Rep. Kay attended one of its press conferences last year with a handful of other Republican legislators who “showed their support” for the group’s budget legislation, including a proposal to move all current teachers and government workers into 401(k) style pension plans. Kay, however, did not co-sponsor that plan and it was never brought to the House floor for a vote. The IEA, of course, was and still is dead-set against the Illinois Policy Institute’s plan.
And according to a report in GOP Illinois USA, Kay and others “spoke very highly” of Rep. Jeanne Ives, who is perhaps unrivaled in the General Assembly for her harsh criticisms of government employee unions. Rep. Ives recently donated to Kay’s campaign.
And speaking of money, Chicago radio talk show host Dan Proft, who’s no friend of the teachers unions whatsoever, told me he and Kay have discussed whether Proft would contribute to Kay’s campaign. Proft has a huge campaign fund, so I suppose it’s possible that Kay might wind up receiving cash from both sides of the teachers union debate.
Kay and Cullen, I’m told, had identical answers to questions posed by the union. Kay voted against the state pension reform bill, which the teachers appreciated because they fought so hard against the bill’s passage. And, according to folks at the IEA, Kay clearly went out of his way to obtain their endorsement this year. So, after rejecting him three elections in a row, the union awarded it to the Republican.
But there are a couple of other important angles here.
The IEA is understandably worried about what could happen if Bruce Rauner is elected. Rauner has howled about the evils of teachers unions for years. The IEA will need allies in both parties to fend off Rauner’s expected attacks on their collective bargaining rights and tenure. A friendly voice in the House Republican caucus probably wouldn’t hurt when a Gov. Rauner is pushing those legislators to fall into lock step.
Also, I’m told, the IEA rank and file has quite a few members who really don’t care for House Speaker Michael Madigan, particularly Downstate, but also in some parts of suburbia.
Speaker Madigan went after teachers’ pensions a few years after he took tons of campaign money from Bruce Rauner’s anti-union education reform pals. Madigan used that cash to stave off a Republican onslaught and then led the charge on school reform.
Madigan, of course, has also been known to try and “flip” a member whenever he deems it necessary. So, a candidate beholden to Madigan might not always be considered trustworthy. Rep. Kay, on the other hand, could never be confused with being a Madigan ally, and also has an independent streak when it comes to his own party.
And, there are those under the Statehouse Dome who figure that Madigan, despite his anti-Rauner campaign rhetoric these days, might eventually decide to work with the Republican against the teachers unions just like he did a few years ago. So why give Madigan another “duckling” like Cullen when a Republican might very well turn out to be far more trustworthy?
In other words, the IEA’s endorsement of Rep. Kay makes perfect sense – at least as far as anything makes sense at the Illinois Statehouse.
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An instant classic: “Right on, Bruce Rauner”
Monday, Sep 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The IEA’s new YouTube video is the funniest political spot of the season so far…
* Script…
Woman in limo: “I’m not paying attention to all those negative ads, because I know the real Bruce Rauner will stand up for me.”
Man in upscale bar: “A tax system that favors the wealthy… for once. When are the poor and middle class gonna start paying their fair share? I’m with you, Bruce Rauner.”
Woman in tennis outfit: “I want my little princess to go to the best private schools around. And I want taxpayers to pay for it all. I know I can count on you, Bruce Rauner.”
Woman in limo: “We need a governor who knows how to create jobs… in China. Outsourcing, wage cuts, union busting. Bruce Rauner will help job creators like me boost that bottom line.”
Old man with young woman: “Pensions! Who cares about pensions? If you want to retire comfortably, marry rich. Right on, Bruce Rauner.”
Narrator: “Tax breaks for the rich. Attacks on public schools. Union busting. And more! They’re standing with Bruce Rauner because Bruce Rauner is standing with them.”
The first few times I heard “Attacks on public schools,” I thought the narrator was saying “A tax on public schools.” The video succeeds on multiple levels.
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