* Press release…
Today, State Representative Lindsay Parkhurst (R – Kankakee) is excited to announce major road and bridge projects for the 79th District stemming from the Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan.
“I voted against raising taxes for the capital bill because Illinois families are already overtaxed. The people deserve more than two days to consider and vote on such an astronomical spending plan with money the state did not have to spend, but wanted to generate through a myriad of tax increases. However, this vote did not stop me from fighting to get capital projects for the taxpayers of the 79th District in the Rebuild Illinois Plan. I have, and will continue, to advocate strongly for local infrastructure projects to improve the safety of our roads and bridges, and to accommodate for growth in the area. I am happy to report many of these projects are included in IDOT’s Multiyear Plan,” Rep. Parkhurst stated.
The $8.5 million project to improve the efficiency at the intersection of Route 50 and Armour Road has been included in the Capital Plan. The project will span from the Bridge at I-57, down Armour Road, through Route 50, to the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge. The project includes adding turn lanes, removing the 4-way stop sign at CSL Behring and replacing it with a stoplight, and coordinating stoplights on Armour Road and Route 50 to increase the efficiency of the flow of traffic. The first part of this project is slated for 2020.
There is also an $11.5 million project to reconstruct the bridge and improve the geometrics including changing the alignment of the ramps to improve safety at the I-57 Exit 308 interchange. The first part of this project is slated for 2020.
In Grundy County, there will be a $22 million project on I-55 to improve the road and bridges from Gardner Road to the Will County Line. The first part of this project is slated for 2020. […]
The MYP for District 79 includes $447,195,000 for 77 state highway projects in the 79th District covering 113.59 miles.
Well, that’s one way of doing it.
Thoughts?
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IDOT ups the ante on Peotone airport
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz…
Tucked into the $23.5 billion five-year transportation program Pritzker unveiled yesterday (see pages 10-11) was a whopping $205.5 million for road construction work on Eagle Lake Road and Interstate 57. The proposed airport site is just to the east, and even though not one spade of dirt had been turned for runways or one airline has signed up, the road work is slated to go ahead.
Included: $150 million for a new interchange on I-57 at Eagle Lake Road, between 2021 and 2025; $19.5 million for construction engineering, and $10 million for land acquisition. Add it all up and it comes to $205.5 million, enough to build a couple of new high schools on the South Side of Chicago or speed western access to O’Hare International Airport, enough to begin work on extending the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line to the south city limits, or to fund the state’s annual hike in payments to its pension funds. […]
A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation confirmed the road plan increases that figure but deferred other questions to Pritzker’s media office, which said in a statement: “This funding represents an investment to promote critical economic development in the south suburbs, and the administration looks forward to continuing to discuss next steps with stakeholders.”
Maybe so. But how about guaranteeing that someone actually is going to use the proposed airfield before spending more than $200 million on roads through what now are just farm fields? As the Environmental Law & Policy Center’s Howard Learner put it in an email: “Illinois has a huge backlog of vital transit, rail, highway and bridge projects that improve community mobility. . . .Unfortunately, IDOT is allocating even more public funds than the Legislature appropriated in order to support the Peotone airport project that is opposed by the leading commercial airlines and doesn’t have a viable financial plan. Illinois has higher priorities.”
The state cannot constitutionally use Motor Fuel Tax revenues to build schools or fund the pension systems. But the caution urged here is legit. There is literally nothing at that proposed Eagle Lake Road interchange. If the airport is never built, it’ll be an exit to nowhere. And our other transportation needs are, indeed, very large.
Your thoughts?
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WBEZ…
Jose Alvarez, the tollway’s executive director, withdrew from his [Tuesday] speaking role at a planned City Club luncheon late Monday. That’s after WBEZ first reported on the City Club raid, and that federal investigators subpoenaed the organization for records about Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago.
“Executive Director Alvarez cancelled his appearance at the City Club while there are questions about the federal investigation involving the organization,” tollway spokesman Dan Rozek said in a statement released Tuesday. […]
In response to Alvarez’s sudden cancellation, the City Club issued a short statement Tuesday that said it “looks forward to welcoming Executive Director Jose Alvarez in the near future” and that it regretted any inconvenience associated with the cancelled program.
I give an annual speech for the City Club called “Christmas with Rich Miller.” It’s a fun event and we raise money for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. People also bring toys for kids under LSSI’s care. Tickets always sell out very fast. Last year, the City Club was kind enough to donate a table and we raised even more money for LSSI by auctioning off the seats.
The City Club and I usually set a date in the summer and then they sell tickets well in advance. I never heard from them this summer and made some travel plans for December. They reached out to me several days ago and I put them off while I tried to figure out logistics and whether to even do it. And then WBEZ reported that Jay Doherty’s office at the City Club had been raided and the City Club itself had been subpoenaed.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul didn’t cancel his City Club address yesterday, but he also didn’t take any customary questions from the media, saying he had an early afternoon meeting with other attorneys general.
My speech has become something of a tradition, and even though it’ll be a little bit of a hassle I could still make it to the venue. Or I could just hold an online fundraiser here for LSSI.
So, I’m gonna put it to a non-binding, advisory referendum. I reserve the right to make the final decision.
* The Question: Do the City Club speech or hold an online fundraiser? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
survey tool
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Pick a lane, please
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It looks like the CTU may have been “pulling a Madigan” at the bargaining table. Whenever the House Speaker wants to slow talks down or sabotage them, he sends lots of people into the room…
Lightfoot also complained that a 40-person CTU bargaining team is “unwieldy” and means CTU cannot “get back to us more quickly” on city proposals.
“I applaud them for their democracy, but that’s coming at a real cost, and the pace of this thing has to be accelerated,” Lightfoot said.
The mayor may have received her wish, because the union said Monday night that it wouldn’t have its whole bargaining team show up Tuesday if no progress would be made. Instead, the union said only its four officers would be at the table until things started moving in the right direction again.
That could be a positive sign.
* But then the mayor said this today…
She was also critical of CTU’s decision to not bring their full bargaining team to the table Tuesday.
“It’s unfortunate that the larger bargaining team has decided that they’re going to take the day off,” said Lightfoot. “There should be a sense of urgency all the way around.”
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also, no mention in the piece that this was a complete flip-flop from yesterday.
One thing’s for sure, I do not believe Mayor Lightfoot wants this strike to spill over into the veto session. The Democratic super-majority generally favors teachers unions and she has some big asks.
* Related…
* What are CPS and the CTU fighting over?
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* Lori Lightfoot campaign press release from November 2, 2018…
Lightfoot will seek referendum approval to replace the regressive real estate transfer tax with a graduated real estate transfer tax. This change is estimated to generate between $80 million and $150 million in additional revenue that can be used to address homelessness and support housing that is affordable. Under the new graduated rate structure, nearly 95% of property transactions citywide would receive a tax cut on the sale of properties. For example, a transaction for a $250,000 home would result in $1,000 savings.
Once elected, all talk of a referendum disappeared and she has instead asked the General Assembly to pass a bill to implement the tax change (which is why I’m doing a post about it). And she decided she needed to use the vast majority of that revenue to help balance the city’s budget.
* Mayor Lightfoot press release…
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot announced today that the City of Chicago will increase funding for homelessness prevention by 36 percent, along with a commitment to increase the number of affordable units for Chicago’s lowest-income renters by 19 percent. This new package of investments and supports includes an increase in funding for the Flexible Housing Pool by $5 million to house more than 200 youth experiencing housing instability or homelessness, along with a commitment of $5 million from the corporate fund to the Low-Income Housing Trust Fund (LIHTF) for 520 new affordable housing units.
Together these investments will provide affordable housing to more than 700 new households through corporate fund contributions geared toward reducing homelessness and stably housing Chicago’s most vulnerable residents.
There’s no mention in the release about how that small increase would be funded.
* Bring Chicago Home Coalition…
Despite campaigning on a promise to dramatically increase funding for Chicagoans experiencing homelessness, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s inaugural budget proposal would perpetuate a severe shortage of aid for the more than 86,000 city residents who lack housing.
Chicago’s current spending to reduce homelessness ranks near the bottom of major U.S. cities, and Mayor Lightfoot’s budget proposal would do nothing to alter that dismal status, even though she promised revolutionary change through a dedicated new revenue stream. As Chicago’s massive homeless population braces for another winter, this is no time to leave them out in the cold financially.
Lightfoot would assign only an additional $5 million to programs specifically dedicated to relieving homelessness. The new funding would represent only a small fraction of the revenue that the city would generate from the proposed increase in Chicago’s Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT), breaking Lightfoot’s campaign promise to make support for the homeless a principal beneficiary of the tax increase.
Fortunately, she still has an opportunity to uphold her word by asking state lawmakers to approve a RETT increase that dedicates a much larger portion of the proceeds to alleviating homelessness.
A 2018 poll conducted on behalf of CCH found that 66 percent of Chicago voters approved a RETT increase on property sales worth more than $1 million to fund programs that mitigate homelessness, and the BCH coalition introduced legislation in City Council that would authorize a referendum on this proposal on the March, 2020 ballot.
Lightfoot has said she plans to ask the Illinois Legislature for permission to institute a RETT increase without direct voter approval through a referendum – but her proposal excludes money for homelessness.
* Related…
* As hope for new source of city money fades, Chicago youth homeless programs at risk of losing federal funding too
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* Thomas More Society press release…
On October 21, 2019 the Thomas More Society filed a complaint against Illinois’ Reproductive Health Act with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. The new Illinois law requires health insurance policies to cover elective chemical and surgical abortions. According to the complaint, this mandate — which compels businesses and individuals to pay for even late term abortion coverage and offers no religious exemptions — violates the federal Weldon Amendment and Affordable Care Act
“This abortion-coverage mandate is a blatant violation of the religious and conscience rights of many who live or work in Illinois,” explained Thomas More Society attorney Michael McHale. “While the secular forces behind this mandate often erroneously object to any influence of religion on the state, here they had no hesitation in wielding state power against our sincerely held, common-sense religious beliefs to avoid paying for health insurance coverage of abortion.
The law, now known as Illinois Public Act 101-13, mandates every health insurance policy in Illinois that provides pregnancy-related benefits to provide coverage of elective abortions, and to do so without cost-sharing beyond that required for pregnancy-related benefits. It does not include any exemptions for religious individuals, religious organizations, or even churches.
The Thomas More Society, a national nonprofit public interest law firm and major force in the Constitutional defense of religious liberty, filed the complaint on its own behalf and on behalf of Flossmoor dentist, Dr. Richard Mantoan and his dental practice, Southland Smiles, Ltd. Both companies sponsor small group health insurance plans for their employees and offer a number of policy options purchased through BlueCross Blue Shield of Illinois. The new mandate requires both businesses to purchase health insurance policies that cover abortions.
The complaint details how the Illinois abortion-coverage mandate violates the federal Weldon Amendment, putting Illinois in jeopardy of losing billions of dollars of federal funding. The Weldon Amendment ensures that federal appropriations to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education may not be issued to any government that discriminates against a “health care entity,” including an insurance plan sponsor, on the basis that it does not provide health insurance coverage of abortion.
“This is exactly what the Weldon Amendment prohibits,” McHale said. “Illinois cannot force those of us who do not believe in paying for abortions to either pay for abortion coverage or drop our insurance. Doing so will require Illinois to forfeit federal funding for essential programs such as Medicaid.”
“Additional provisions of this radical abortion policy will force Illinois taxpayers to foot the bill,” added McHale, referring to the federal Affordable Care Act’s provision requiring a separation of abortion costs from other health care expenses. “It’s a direct violation of federal law. We should expect better from our lawmakers.”
“We are confident that the Office for Civil Rights will take our complaint seriously,” declared McHale. “Federal law clearly prohibits this brazen attempt to encroach upon our rights conscience. We urge immediate intervention to halt this illegal mandate.”
The complaint is here.
* React from Brigid Leahy, Senior Director of Public Policy, Planned Parenthood of Illinois…
The Thomas More Society’s complaint against the Reproductive Health Act is the latest tactic in an ongoing campaign to end access to safe and legal abortion. The Thomas Moore Society couldn’t stop the Reproductive Health Act in the state legislature, so they are desperately turning to the Trump Administration for help in cutting off access to abortion in Illinois.
The Reproductive Health Act ensures that everyone can make a personal decision when it comes to reproductive health care, including birth control, pregnancy-related care, and abortion. Having adequate coverage for care means people have the ability to make the decision that is best for them. Everyone should have coverage for a full range of reproductive health care, including abortion with access to safe medical care. Providing insurance coverage helps ensure that they will be able to see a licensed, quality health provider. Ten years ago, insurance plans routinely covered abortion just like other health care services. But, in recent years, it has become harder for Illinoisans to get insurance that covers abortion. The Reproductive Health Act addresses this issue by requiring state regulated insurance plans that cover pregnancy-related care to include coverage for abortion. This requirement is similar to a Maine law that passed earlier this year. In addition, California, New York, Oregon, and Washington require all state-regulated private health plans to include coverage for abortion.
* Personal PAC’s Terry Cosgrove…
It’s no surprise that extremists aligned with President Trump, such as Peter Breen and the Thomas More Society, who want to make abortion and birth control illegal for all women, are doing everything imaginable to enforce their right-wing religious views on everyone in Illinois.
* The RHA’s chief House sponsor, Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago)…
Once again exhibiting their complete disconnect from reality and the truth, the Thomas More Society has found a special ally in their efforts to limit access to reproductive health care in Illinois – the Trump Administration. Having been soundly defeated in the legislature – even after engaging in misrepresentations and exaggerations about the impact of the RHA, it was inevitable that they would turn to their friends in the Trump-Pence Administration, still using the tired lies we rejected this session. While we advanced access to care in Illinois, Trump appointees in Washington have attempted block people from accessing the reproductive health care, including abortion care, they need. This is just a speed bump. It will not succeed.
I asked for some examples of the group recycling “tired lies” and she sent me these two…
- The health care right of conscience act remains intact and religious objections are respected.
- The preposterous fear-mongering over abortion late in pregnancy. This is the biggest red herring of all and completely disrespects both pregnant people and health care professionals in their suggestions that it is anything but a medical tragedy when there is no other option but to end the pregnancy. Nobody does this on a whim. No doctor and no parent. It’s infuriating.
…Adding… Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake)…
This complaint is just one more ineffective attempt to deprive women of their right to quality health care.
Illinois expanded access to care with the Reproductive Health Act despite opposition from anti-women groups like the Thomas More Society, who seek to force their extremist politics onto others and limit access to safe and legal abortion.
As we proved when we passed the RHA, Illinois will not let the Thomas More Society or the Trump Administration get in the way of women’s health. Reproductive care is health care.
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* Lansing State Journal…
Dozens of websites branded as local news outlets launched throughout Michigan this fall, with monikers like Lansing Sun, Ann Arbor Times, Thumb Reporter and UP Gazette, promising local news but also offering political messaging. […]
[Metric Media CEO Bradley Cameron’s] biography also says he has worked for pharmaceutical manufacturers, technology companies, and is retained by national conservative leaders to respond to “government targeting of their operations and initiatives.”
According to the sites’ privacy policy pages, they are operated by Locality Labs LLC, a Delaware company that similarly affiliated with a network of local sites in Illinois and Maryland, and business sites in nearly every U.S. state.
The publications Locality Labs operates in Illinois, which include both websites and printed papers, provide different descriptions of their editorial direction.
West Cook News, for example, says its “core belief” is in “limited government, in the constructive role of the free market and in the rights of citizens to choose the size and scope of their government and the role it should play in their society.” It is funded in part by advocacy groups who believe the same.
Messages left with Locality Labs’ various Illinois publications were not returned. Locality Labs CEO, Brian Timpone, could not be reached for comment.
* I’ve been calling these publications “Dan Proft papers,” but Timpone runs the show. He’s a former Statehouse reporter and House Republican spokesperson. I’ve reached out to Brian for comment and will post it if/when I get it.
Check out this list of business publications operated by Locality Labs…
Again, that’s only the business publications. From the West Cook News page, here’s a list of their community publications in Illinois…
They also run several legal news sites, including the Madison-St. Clair Record in the Metro East…
Dude’s got some reach. (Headline explained here.)
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* I’m not certain I follow this argument. Which specific freedoms are being encroached upon by a camera that is programmed to snap a pic of your car if you run a red light?…
Illinois state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) argues that the use of red-light cameras to enforce speeding and other driving infractions sends the wrong message to the public.
“They need to go because they’re the epitome of a police state,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “If you gotta have law enforcement from cameras, there’s a real problem. Think about it, if you have an officer out there doing the job, he’s doing much more than just standing around to write tickets. By sticking a red-light camera someplace, it’s our freedoms that are being encroached upon.”
But this is a good point…
Chicago has 309 red-light cameras spread out across the city, compared to an average of just under 69 in New York, Philadelphia and Phoenix, the three cities with the next highest amount of cameras.
“All that money with no accountability for it just breeds a culture of corruption,” Bailey said. “With this system, you’ve got the ability to choose who and what company you’re going to work with and no one knows nothing about that process.” […]
“It seems there’s very little oversight,” he said.
Yep. Their business model involves recruiting politically connected sales persons to convince mayors to install cameras and then those sales persons make a commission every time the cams ding a motorist.
I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
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* Background is here. Let’s take a look at the new IDOT plan…
Acting IDOT Secretary Omer Osman, a Pritzker appointee, said slightly more than $9 billion of the $23.5 billion that will be spent from fiscal years 2020-2025 will come from the federal government, about 39 percent of the total funding. He said the passage of the so-called horizontal infrastructure bill — dealing with roads and bridges rather than buildings —this May upped the state’s contribution to the multi-year plan from 12 percent to 58 percent.
The money will go toward maintaining 4,212 miles of roadways and 9.2 million square feet of bridges, according to the governor’s office. The projects on the list were identified “based on the principles of asset management” to “maximize system performance and minimize lifecycle costs.” […]
According to the governor’s office, 75 percent of the funds are allocated to reconstructing and preserving roadways and bridges, while 16 percent is dedicated “to strategically expanding the system in areas where data have shown the investment will be highly effective.” The rest will go to “necessary traffic and safety improvements.”
In total, $7.58 billion will go toward roadway reconstruction and preservation, $4.99 billion to bridge replacements and repairs, $1.59 billion to “safety and system modernizations,” $3.08 billion to strategic expansion of the system and $2.11 billion for system support such as engineering and land acquisition, according to the governor’s office.
* Tribune…
Republican Sen. Don DeWitte, of St. Charles, said for years state leaders have allowed “critical infrastructure to crumble.”
“This capital plan is going to do exactly what its name promises to do — it will rebuild Illinois,” DeWitte said.
The infrastructure spending plan is being fueled in part by gas and cigarette tax hikes, as well as increased license plate fees. The motor fuel tax doubled to 38 cents per gallon and will be indexed to future inflation increases. Municipalities in Cook County were authorized to levy a separate 3-cents-per-gallon motor fuel tax, while the collar counties were permitted to raise their taxes on motor fuel up to 8 cents per gallon.
Rather than using a “worst-first” approach, the plan aims to “determine interim repairs to extend the life cycles of the state’s key roads and bridges.” Among the factors IDOT used in evaluating the projects to be included in the plan are pavement condition, crash history, average daily traffic and bridge condition.
* SJ-R…
“There is no acceptance in anyway whatsoever, in fact a full-throated rejection by my administration, by this IDOT, of any of the deception, the corruption that has been uncovered or has yet to be uncovered,” Pritzker said. “We are being extremely focused and careful to make sure that every dollar that gets spent in this capital plan is done completely above board and done the right way and with taxpayers in mind. Every bit of this is receiving an extra focus, an extra lens, to make sure it is done above board and everything is on the up and up.”
Comptroller Susana Mendoza attended the news conference and said her office “will aim to break out as many of these payments as possible so that we can confirm that normal state spending is occurring.”
Acting Transportation Secretary Omer Osman said the road plan is twice the size it would have been without the new capital plan passed last spring. The plan covers $23.5 billion of spending on road, bridges and other transportation projects over a six-year period. The total includes federal matching funds, but Osmon said the state will now be picking up a larger part of a project’s cost.
“That will give us the flexibility of matching any federal fund,” he said.
* Center Square…
Pritzker said the state is also using a federal Transportation Asset Management Plan standard.
“Many other states have been working toward that standard, we are for the first time working toward that standard,” Pritzker said. “What does that mean? It means we’re saving a lot of money for taxpayers as we’re focusing on our roads and bridges.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation said TAMP is “a strategic and systematic process of operating, maintaining, and improving physical assets, with a focus on engineering and economic analysis based upon quality information, to identify a structured sequence of maintenance, preservation, repair, rehabilitation, and replacement actions that will achieve and sustain a desired state of good repair over the lifecycle of the assets at minimum practicable cost.”
Illinois’ TAMP was accepted by the federal government in August.
* WICS TV…
Sangamon County will see seven projects, including adding new lanes on interstates, bridge replacements and a new pedestrian overpass. […]
“I wasn’t excited about the 19 cents, I was hoping for a little bit less than that,” Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Springfield, said. “But we have neglected the roads and bridges for so many years, something like this had to be done and I really do think it’s going to be a game changer for the state of Illinois.”
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Watch the Dems dance
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
A new report reveals federal agents sought information about longtime Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Michael Madigan as part of a broader probe into ComEd’s lobbying practices. […]
State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said the latest revelations seem to “continue a long-standing tradition in Illinois of what looks like public corruption.”
“This is disturbing especially when coming on the heels of the capital bill, which a lot of us supported, which we all think is a good thing for the state of Illinois, coming on negotiations when it comes out of the energy bill when we see the largest utility in the state of Illinois is named in this,” Butler said. “I think it’s troubling.” […]
“I hope my Democrat colleagues are asking some serious questions to the Speaker as to what’s going on,” Butler said. “We’re going to have an opportunity to see if there are any answers come veto session.”
State Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, said she doesn’t spend much time with party leadership.
“I don’t get into the fray with all that,” Scherer said. “I come here, I do my job, I go home and I don’t get into all those upper levels and I’m fine not being up there, quite frankly.”
Asked if she still has confidence in Madigan, she said “for right now, I’m just going with the flow and we’ll see how everything pans out.”
“I believe in following the law. I follow the law and I like to see that everyone does,” she said.
Watching the House and Senate Democrats dance around these questions could be a full-time job during veto session, which starts in six days.
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* These were, I think, the second and third posts by the genius behind the @ChicagoBars Twitter account about the American flag flying outside the Thompson Center…
* The Pritzker administration took notice…
* But, like @ChicagoBars said, nothing is ever easy…
* All’s well that ends well…
Hat tip to Hannah Meisel. I am a loyal @ChicagoBars follower, but I had somehow missed this entire thing until she tweeted about it.
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Question of the day
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The governor’s office told me today that 40 percent of IDOT’s six-year $23.5 billion roads and bridges plan will be spent in District 1, which includes Chicago, suburban Cook and DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
That means 60 percent goes to what’s traditionally known as “Downstate,” which has less than 35 percent of the state’s population but a whole lot of its roads and bridges.
According to the governor’s office, District 1-Downstate split in Pat Quinn’s Illinois Jobs Now was 43-57.
Back in the day, there was a handshake agreement to split the IDOT spending 45-55 between District 1 and Downstate every year…
Experts we spoke with confirmed the historic 55/45 funding split Pritzker’s office used to defend his claim, noting it’s been common practice for decades even though it isn’t prescribed by state law.
It “has always been kind of a gentleman’s agreement more than any hard-and-fast rule,” according to Jeremy Glover, a transportation expert at the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago.
So, Downstate will do much better in the future than it has in the past, including slightly better than the very recent past…
Our analysis of last year’s IDOT report bears out that trend. Estimated funds for projects in Cook County and its five collars comprised 41% of the department’s allocations for state roads and bridges over the six-year period.
* This 40-60 split could help the governor and others counter arguments like this one from the leader of the Eastern Bloc…
Illinois state Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) says taxpayers should feel a certain sense of discomfort every time they fill up their vehicles’ gas tanks.
“Every time you fill up your tank straight to the corruption, waste and power of the Chicago Democrats,” Halbrook recently posted on Facebook amid reports that motorists in Illinois paid $100 million more at the pumps than last year during the first month of the state’s new motor-fuel tax.
Halbrook lives in IDOT District 7, which includes these (mostly) smallish counties…
Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Lawrence, Macon, Moultrie, Richland, Shelby, Wabash, Wayne
And yet District 7 is slated to receive about 19.5 percent of what the massive District 1 will get ($1.29 billion vs. $6.63 billion) over six years.
* The Question: Can you craft Rep. Halbrook’s response to these numbers?
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* Washington Post on Friday…
A growing number of congressional Republicans expressed exasperation Friday over what they view as President Trump’s indefensible behavior, a sign that the president’s stranglehold on his party is starting to weaken as Congress hurtles toward a historic impeachment vote. […]
“I don’t see what the big deal is, frankly,” Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) said of Trump’s decision to host the G-7 at Doral.
* New York Times…
He knew he was inviting criticism by choosing his own luxury golf club in Miami for the site of a gathering of world leaders at the Group of 7 summit in June, President Trump told his aides opposed to the choice, and he was prepared for the inevitable attack from Democrats.
But what Mr. Trump was not prepared for was the reaction of fellow Republicans who said his choice of the club, the Trump National Doral, had crossed a line, and they couldn’t defend it.
So Mr. Trump did something that might not have been a surprise for a president facing impeachment but that was unusual for him: He reversed himself Saturday night, abruptly ending the uproar touched off two days earlier by the announcement of his decision by Mick Mulvaney, his acting chief of staff.
And with that, the president pulled the rug out from under people like Rodney Davis.
We’ll see if Congressman Davis changes his tune when the candidate petition filing process ends and he doesn’t pick up an even more pro-Trump Republican opponent than he is.
The president won Davis’ district by about 5.5 percentage points, but Gov. Pritzker won it by 3.4. President Obama lost the district by 0.3 percent in 2012. It’s a swingy, slightly GOP-leaning district. Next year’s election is shaping up to look more like 2018 here than 2016 or 2012 and Rodney only won by 0.76 percent last year.
Stay tuned.
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* WCIA’s Mark Maxwell last month…
A recent report published by the conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute skewered local school districts for “administrative bloat” and claimed they “waste millions” in taxpayer money on “unnecessary layers of administration.”
However, according to school administrators who submit the expenses, and the State Board of Education that transmits the data to the National Center for Education Statistics, the report is based on misleading data and paints an inaccurate contrast between Illinois and neighboring states.
“Our per-student spending on education is a few thousand dollars higher than the national average, between two and five thousand dollars higher than neighboring states,” Adam Schuster, the Illinois Policy Institute’s Budget and Tax Research Director, said Friday in an interview with WCIA. […]
Dr. Brent Clark, the Executive Director of the Illinois Association of School Administrators, said the overall dollar amount cited by the think tank could be up to 30 percent too high, because unlike other states, Illinois includes risk management expenses in the category of “general administrative costs.”
* WCIA’s Mark Maxwell last week…
During Wednesday’s hearing, [State Board of Education] officials proposed a rule change to allow school districts more flexibility in how they code or count their expenses so they can accurately distinguish risk management or liability costs and keep them separate from the administrative expense column. […]
“We took a look at that [Illinois Policy Institute] report and those numbers, and it turns out that Illinois is not reporting data that is comparable to other states,” Mathews confirmed on Wednesday.
“Illinois uses an accounting protocol that we implemented in 2009 that has school districts report anything related to risk management or liability — it’s called the tort fund — into a single line item,” she explained. “That is part of the administrative bucket of costs. The rule that we’re proposing today would help bring us in line and our reporting here in Illinois in line with other states, and that would allow school districts to report different expenses that are related to that category into different lines.”
Mathews did not predict whether or not the total administrative spending would drop to similar totals as nearby states, but said “the accounting would be on par,” under a new rule change, which could take up to six months or longer to implement.
“But this will fix and bring us, make our data comparable to other states,” she said.
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* Press release…
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot today announced the City’s plans to refinance existing debt, which are expected to generate $200 million in savings, representing nearly 25 percent of the $838 million Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 gap. The City will issue General Obligation (GO) and Sales Tax Securitization Corporation (STSC) bonds to refinance $1.3 billion in outstanding callable City GO and Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) bonds for savings.
To address the City’s growing cost of debt and other liabilities, the FY 2020 budget proposal, presented later this week, will prioritize sustainable solutions for the long-term. Importantly, the budget will not include any of the following one-time solutions: borrowing for settlements and judgments, scoop and toss restructuring, a significant draw down of reserves, or pension obligation bonds.
OK, but as Greg Hinz points out, this refinancing thing is itself a one-time savings with all of the proceeds booked in the first year…
The old debt will be replaced with new bonds that carry a lower interest rate and with new sales-tax-securitization bonds, in which the city pledges motor fuel tax receipts to this purpose and this purpose only. The city says it will not be extending the maturity dates of the new debt beyond those specified in the old bonds.
Such a securitization was first begun by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel but is somewhat controversial because the funds involved will not be available for other use in the event of a recession or other unexpected development.
By booking all of the projected savings now, Lightfoot will be making up almost a quarter of the projected $838 million gap in her next budget. General interest rates have been running at near-record lows, even with the city’s so-so overall credit rating.
Not to say this is necessarily a bad idea. But this is a one-off dealio. Most of that $200 million in patched deficit will be back again next fiscal year. This just puts off the inevitable. As I’ve been saying, kicking the can is our official state pastime.
The plan will also divert motor fuel tax proceeds to bond payments. The bonded MFT revenue cannot then be used to fix roads and bridges or for new projects until those bonds are paid off.
*** UPDATE *** OK, maybe this is actually a bad idea. Greg updates…
$200 million is the entire projected savings over the next two decades—the difference in debt service between the roughly 4.9 percent the city is paying on the current bonds that expire in 2040 and the 3 to 3.5 percent it hopes to pay by refinancing that debt, city Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett said in a phone call.
But instead of taking those savings each year, as annual debt service comes due, the city will book the entire $200 million in projected savings in 2020, reducing the budget hole from $838 million to $638 million. That means debt service will rise in 2021 and thereafter, since the $200 million has already been “spent.”
Emphasis added. He also compares this to Rod Blagojevich booking his pension bond savings up front.
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Casino roundup and a semantics nitpick
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
It’s now a full house looking to land a south suburban casino jackpot.
Officials from Calumet City and Crestwood announced proposals Thursday for the new suburban gambling den authorized under Illinois’ massive gaming expansion, bringing the number of competing bids to five.
* Sun-Times…
Four remaining developers are jockeying for position as Waukegan city officials prepare to lay their chips behind preferred proposals for the north suburb’s long-sought Lake County casino.
With aldermen in Waukegan poised to vote Thursday on advancing at least one of those bids to the Illinois Gaming Board for final consideration, an independent consultant’s ranking of the competing plans has two major casino developers up in arms ahead of the crucial city council decision. […]
In third, Johnson Consulting ranked the venture by Churchill Downs Inc. and Rush Street Gaming, the group that already runs Illinois’ most lucrative gambling den: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.
* Sun-Times…
The Waukegan City Council on Thursday decided against betting the pot on a single choice for the long sought Lake County casino, instead sending the competing applications of three developers to state regulators and rejecting a fourth.
The aldermen voted 6 to 3 to send the proposals from Full House Resorts and North Point Casino to the Illinois Gaming Board for consideration. North Point is led by former Grayslake state Sen. Michael Bond, who recently used his video gambling firm Tap Room Gaming to spend thousands of dollars on Waukegan elections.
Officials also voted 5 to 4 to advance the Rivers Casino Waukegan bid from Chicago casino magnate Neil Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming and the Louisville-based corporate gambling Giant Churchill Downs Inc. They already own the most lucrative gambling den in the state, Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.
* Sun-Times…
Up in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scrambling to salvage plans for a megacasino.
North and south of Illinois’ big-city economic engine, a host of developers are fighting to claim gambling dens in coveted suburban markets.
And all the while, a small-town vineyard owner 300 miles south of Chicago quietly has been powering forward with her long-held vision for a new Downstate casino.
Tucked into one sentence of the state’s massive gambling expansion law is a new casino license for the “unincorporated area of Williamson County adjacent to the Big Muddy River” — a narrow stretch of land already home to the winery Walker’s Bluff.
* Definition of “gambling den” from MacMillan Dictionary…
a place where people gamble illegally
* Example sentences containing ‘gambling den’ from Collins Dictionary…
He eventually rejoined his father, who was working in a gambling den. Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Or that dodgy fellow who runs an illicit gambling den?
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Officials said that they had received a tip-off that the apartment was used as a gambling den.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
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Get it together, IDOC
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Injustice Watch…
At least 25 Illinois Department of Corrections employees have taken part in online conversations that mocked, demeaned, or disclosed personal and medical information about transgender inmates — including calling transgender women “it” and “he” — in two private Facebook groups, an Injustice Watch review has found.
The posts were written by low-level officers, sergeants, lieutenants, and other correctional staffers — including a counselor and a parole officer — from across the state. The posts included comments degrading transgender women and outing other LGBTQ prisoners. They openly discussed private information about inmates, including alleged sexual acts and medical treatments they received.
The degrading comments are coming to light as the department is embroiled in a series of pending lawsuits, including a class-action claim brought by six transgender women contending they received inadequate medical treatment while in prison.
“I’ve seen this mother f****r with a beard,” correctional officer James Schaefer, who appears on Facebook under the name James Schaef, wrote in one group, after a post was shared last December about the transfer of a then-incarcerated transgender woman, Strawberry Hampton, to a women’s facility. “The state is stupid I’d chop his p****r off for him than he can be ‘female.’” […]
Injustice Watch learned of the two Facebook groups — which explicitly say in their descriptions that they are for current and former Illinois corrections staffers or department-connected people — as part of its continuing examination of troubling posts by current and former law enforcement officers on the social network. The groups — both named “Behind the Walls” and followed by different spellings of “Illinois Department of Corrections” — are private, meaning that a moderator must grant access before a Facebook user can view or comment on the posts. Each group has more than 4,000 members.
* CNN…
More than a dozen correctional employees in Illinois are under investigation after they were accused of mocking transgender inmates in private Facebook groups, state officials said. […]
A spokeswoman with the department of corrections confirmed Thursday that a number of staff members are undergoing the disciplinary review process. Under the department’s policies, employees who violate the code of conduct may face disciplinary action and some violations could lead to their firing.
The department is also working on a new social media policy, the spokeswoman said. […]
Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the union representing the corrections officers, said the group does not condone or tolerate bigotry, but every member “is entitled to fair representation and due process, which it’s our duty to ensure.”
* Meanwhile…
For those keeping track at home - pregnant inmates are being kept from programs designed to keep parents and babies…
Posted by Kelly Cassidy on Monday, October 21, 2019
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* Press release…
Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation released the department’s annual Multi-Year Plan of road and bridge projects across the state, which is the first to capture the historic impact of the Rebuild Illinois capital plan.
Using rigorous and objective criteria, IDOT evaluated the condition, frequency of use, and crash and fatalities across the state’s transportation system in planning the historic improvements. Over the next six years, $23.5 billion will be invested in maintaining, preserving and expanding 4,212 miles of roadway and 9.2 million square feet of bridge deck statewide.
A full list of road and bridge projects coming across the state can be found here.
“All together, these road and bridge projects will create and support hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next five years for hardworking Illinoisans in every part of our state,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Illinois has some of the most important roads in America – let’s make them outlast and outperform those across the nation.”
“In my nearly 30 years at this agency, today might be the most important day in our history,” said Omer Osman, Acting Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation. “This Multi-Year Plan gets us on the path to fixing our roads and bridges, putting policies into action that ensure our transportation system in Illinois is reliable, safe and provides economic opportunity for generations to come. It is the blueprint for how we Rebuild Illinois.”
This new Multi-Year Plan represents a shift in Illinois’ approach to its roadways and bridges. Previously, the state waited to rebuild until projects had deteriorated so much that they presented safety hazards; under guidance from the Federal Highway Administration, Illinois will now prioritize maintaining its system over time, which is also a more cost-effective way to manage long-term capital needs. To achieve that, this plan dedicates more than 75% of the funds to reconstructing and preserving roadways and bridges, 16% to strategically expanding the system in areas where data have shown the investment will be highly effective and the remainder for necessary traffic and safety improvements.
Of the major categories of state investments in the plan, $7.58 billion will go toward roadway reconstruction and preservation, $4.99 billion for bridge replacements and repairs, $1.59 billion for safety and system modernizations like interchange reconstructions, $3.08 billion for strategic expansion of the system and $2.11 billion for system support like engineering and land acquisition.
The additional state investment in Rebuild Illinois has also allowed the department to maximize federal dollars, bringing in tens of millions annually that would have otherwise been left on the table each year.
The FY20-25 Multi-Year Plan serves as a baseline plan in the Rebuild Illinois capital program. Updated plans, based on revenue and evaluation metrics, will be released each year and adjustments to projects will be made on an annual basis through the MYP.
Needless to say, they’ll need to focus on that “rigorous and objective criteria” a lot in the coming years. It certainly hasn’t started out on a great foot.
* District 1…
Highway District 1 encompasses six counties in northeastern Illinois and includes the city of Chicago, suburban Cook County, and the five collar counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. The state highway system in District 1 consists of 2,720 miles of highways and 1,448bridges, supporting more than 76million miles of travel daily.
The program for state and local highways will average $3.91 billion annually for the FY 2020-2025 period. Approximately $6.63 billion will be provided during FY 2020-2025 for improvements to state highways in District 1.
…Adding… Gov. Pritzker was asked about this today…
Illinois Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Maisch said state funding is there for five years under the Rebuild Illinois plan. However, he said the federal government, which sends tax dollars to Illinois for infrastructure, wants to see a ten-year infrastructure plan.
“We think there should be different options on the table other than just the gas tax,” Maisch said.
Pritzker joked that the reporter was announcing his bid for a second term while he was just in his first year in office. In other words, he didn’t answer the question. But the gas tax has now been indexed to inflation and not all of the money is being used to pay off bonds, so it does have some sustainability.
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CTU to Lightfoot: Nope
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office released her letter to the CTU asking for an end to the strike while bargaining continues. An excerpt…
What we’ve seen is that our students and families are sacrificing a great deal that cannot be recovered. While we have made progress at the bargaining table, it is unclear that we can reach an agreement today given the current pace. The students and families of Chicago cannot afford to be out of school for any longer, which is why we are asking you to end the strike and encourage your members to return to work while bargaining continues. As someone who is concerned about the success of our students, we hope you see how necessary it is to reopen schools at this time.
In recent days, parents have told us how they are struggling to arrange childcare or face missing work. The economic hardships to families will be difficult to ever calculate.
Seniors applying to college told us they are worried about their applications and letters of recommendation. In fact, a college fair at Whitney Young scheduled over the weekend had to be canceled.
The Simeon football team, one of the top programs in Illinois, will be ineligible for the state playoffs if the strike is not resolved by Tuesday. Our girls tennis teams were forced to forfeit every match in the state tournament this weekend. Our boys soccer teams, including Solorio High School, looking for its second championship in three years, were unable to participate in the state playoffs.
And perhaps most importantly, with school not in session, it is much more challenging to ensure the health and well-being of our students. Even with school buildings — as well as partner and delegate agencies — remaining open and providing meals and snacks, the fact remains that our students’ safety and access to healthy food are far more at risk without the structure of a full school day.
* The CTU’s response…
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It’s just a bill
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Chicago Public Schools and the city’s mayor were 100 percent behind the state education funding reform bill a couple of years ago. That bill, which became law, moved the state away from per-student funding toward an evidenced-based equity formula. Trouble is, CPS takes the funding based on equity and hands it to its own schools on a per-student formula. So, Rep. Kam Buckner has introduced this bill…
Amends the evidence-based funding provisions of the School Code. Provides that funds received by the Chicago school district for low-income, English learner, and special education resources must be distributed to every school of the district in the appropriate amount specified under the Essential Elements component of the funding formula.
* WCIA TV…
A newly filed bill at the capitol calls for all CBD products sold in Illinois to meet testing requirements developed by the state department of agriculture. Bill sponsor Bob Morgan said, “I wanted to create a mechanism that really pushed these products that are already being sold across the state of Illinois to thousands of people to make sure they are held to the same kind of standards we are holding all these other products to.”
The federal government really messed this up. Regulation is needed because the wild claims by some in the industry may have no basis in reality. Also, we don’t know what’s really in this stuff.
* And here’s a story about a bill that hasn’t even been introduced…
A Republican state lawmaker said Wednesday she plans to introduce legislation to establish a State Ethics Task Force to tighten ethics rules within Illinois government. […]
She indicated that she hopes to have the legislation considered in the upcoming veto session, which begins Oct. 28.
Maybe she could just use this bill introduced 7 years ago that went nowhere in the Senate…
Creates the Legislative Ethics Reform Task Force.
This also appears to be an organized thing with House Republicans…
State Representative Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) is co-sponsoring legislation to bolster the state’s ethics laws. The legislation will create a State Ethics Task Force to tighten ethics rules within Illinois government. […]
The legislation will be introduced during Veto Session in the General Assembly, which begins on October 28th.
And…
In recognition of Global Ethics Day, State Representative Lindsay Parkhurst, along with several of her legislative colleagues, announced plans to introduce legislation to create a State Ethics Task Force to tighten ethics rules within Illinois government.
Some folks call that “Fixin’ to get ready.”
What we need is a bipartisan, ground-up effort here to force the leaders to act.
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College football open thread
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Sox and Cubs are finished for the year, the Bears’ prospects look increasingly glum and it’s only October. But this win was so sweet…
The Illini were 31-point underdogs against Wisconsin. 31-points! And yet, we still managed to pull off what is being called the biggest upset of the college football season. That is such a great feeling to know the media outlets are talking about Illinois football. As I type this, I can hear SportsCenter talking about the game. What a time to be alive.
A win like the one against the No. 6 team in the nation on Saturday does a lot for a program like Illinois. We haven’t been a winning team in a long time, so it is nice to get back on the map in some form or fashion. Taking down what was looked at as one of the favorites to get to the national title is great feeling and it has positive implications for the future of the Illini.
Let’s also not forget that this win makes us a legit contender to get back to a bowl game too. We now have three wins on the season and are looking for three more. There are five games left and four of them are against mediocre to below mediocre teams. That is an exciting thing to think about.
Been a long time since we could feel positive about that particular program.
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ISRA plans veto session lobby day
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
Gun owners from around the state plan to remind Illinois lawmakers about their opposition to a measure that would require those seeking a Firearm Owners Identification card to submit fingerprints on the first day of the fall legislative session.
Lawmakers return to Springfield on Oct. 28 for the first three days of the veto session. State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson said he expects it to be a busy session with a lot of different issues coming up. The association will focus on Senate Bill 1966, a measure that would increase fees for Firearm Owner Identification cards.
“Depending on where you are in the state, it drives up the cost between $200 to $300 for every five years so it becomes cost-prohibitive for the law-abiding firearm owner to do this,” Pearson said.
The measure would also require FOID applicants to provide fingerprints at the applicant’s expense.
“Remember the Second Amendment is a fundamental right,” Pearson said. “There’s no other fundamental right that requires fingerprinting or anything even close.”
Setting aside the merits and demerits of the bill and the fact that the concept of fingerprinting FOID card holders appears to have super-strong public support, Rich is a registered lobbyist so he knows the annual fees and other paperwork required to comply with state regulations on that particular fundamental First Amendment right. Rich also helps organize public demonstrations by gun rights activist, so he knows about the extensive local permitting process involved in that fundamental First Amendment right.
* Back to the story…
The association’s initial focus will be on state Senators to fight against Senate Bill 1966. Then Pearson said gun owners will visit with Representatives to weigh in on other gun measures.
State Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who supports banning certain types of firearms like long rifles with certain attachments, doesn’t see that coming together before the end of the year.
“I do have some confidence that we’re going to be talking about those things in the next few weeks,” Morgan said, “I just don’t know given how short of a period of time veto session is that it will get done before the Spring session.”
The House’s FOID bill stalled in the Senate. It’s unclear at the moment if it will get back on track or not.
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“Mr. Resilient” Dick Lockhart doing better
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A text message from the son of former Statehouse lobbyist Dick Lockhart…
Hi Rich, Dave Lockhart here with an update. This pic was taken Saturday right before we left Mercy Hospital. Mr. Resilient is back at his Chicago home doing better. Any of his fans that wish to reach him can call him [redacted], or just contact me at linksdave@gmail.com
He also sent a pic…
I’m thinking Dick may outlive me.
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* Last week…
The outcome of the case against former state Rep. Nick Sauer, charged with posting lewd images of two former girlfriends online without their consent, could be affected by a forthcoming Illinois Supreme Court ruling.
Daniel M. Locallo, who is leading the legal team representing Sauer, told Lake County Judge Patricia Fix during a status hearing Tuesday that the Illinois Supreme Court is expected to rule soon in the case of People v. Bethany Austin.
* Friday…
In a decision with implications for the case of a disgraced former state lawmaker from the suburbs and others like him, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that disseminating private sexual images without permission — better known as revenge porn — is not constitutionally protected free speech.
The 5-2 ruling handed down Friday stems from the case of a McHenry County woman who sent friends and family nude images of a woman she caught having an affair with her then-fiance. […]
“Viewed as a privacy regulation, (the law) is similar to laws prohibiting the unauthorized disclosure of other forms of private information, such as medical records, biometric data, or Social Security numbers,” [Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr.] writes. “The entire field of privacy law is based on the recognition that some types of information are more sensitive than others, the disclosure of which can and should be regulated.”
The opinion is here.
* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line…
However, Justice Rita Garman disagreed with her colleagues in a five-page dissent on that point, and was joined by Justice Mary Jane Theis in her dissent that on whether the law was truly content neutral.
“Contrary to the majority’s belief, the content of the image is precisely the focus of [the law],” Garman wrote. “It is not a crime under this statute to disseminate a picture of a fully clothed adult man or woman, even an unflattering image obtained by the offender under circumstances in which a reasonable person would know or understand the image was to remain private and he knows or should have known the person in the image had not consented to its dissemination. However, if the man or woman in the image is naked, the content of that photo makes it a possible crime.”
Garman also hearkened back to a hypothetical posed to attorneys arguing for the state during oral arguments in May. If two people go out on a date, and one later sends the other a text message containing an “unsolicited and unappreciated nude photo,” what happens if the recipient then shows a friend the photo.
“Has the recipient committed a felony?” Garman wrote. “The State conceded that the recipient had [during oral arguments], assuming the recipient knew or should have known that the photo was intended to remain a private communication.”
* Politico…
Steven Landis, who represents Sauer, was unavailable to talk Sunday about the Supreme Court’s ruling but Kate Kelly, who said she was one of Sauer’s victims, welcomed Friday’s court decision. “I am grateful to the justices who took their time to clearly and concisely lay out why the law as written is constitutional. I look forward to Nick being convicted at the criminal trial now that this had been decided,” she said in a statement this morning.
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WBEZ: Madigan named in City Club subpoena
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WBEZ…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was named in a federal subpoena to a prominent Chicago public affairs organization last spring as part of a sprawling FBI probe into political hiring and contracting at Commonwealth Edison, WBEZ has learned.
A source familiar with the subpoena confirms the FBI delivered that request for documents to the City Club of Chicago in May, at the same time the feds executed a search warrant on the group’s Michigan Avenue office downtown.
The subpoena listed the names of between 10 and 20 individuals and requested the group’s correspondence with those people, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
* Background is here if you need it. City Club press release…
In mid-May of 2019 the City Club of Chicago was served at its office with a subpoena and warrant issued by a federal grand jury. The City Club of Chicago has fully cooperated with the government’s request for information and documents. City Club is not the subject of an investigation; rather, it is one of many entities and individuals who have been served to provide information. The City Club of Chicago has not had any further requests since its last production in July.
More context from the Tribune…
The mid-May timing matches that of several raids by federal agents, including the home of retired ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain, a longtime confidant of House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The City Club’s president, Jay Doherty, is a ComEd lobbyist. He has not returned calls for comment.
* Now, on to a Tribune story from late Friday…
A burgeoning federal investigation into ComEd’s lobbying activities centers on whether the utility giant hired politically connected lobbyists to curry favor with lawmakers in exchange for favorable action at the Illinois Capitol, a source familiar with the probe told the Tribune on Friday.
As part of the investigation, authorities are scrutinizing certain ComEd executives and have zeroed in on payments through the company’s vast network of consultants to some individuals to seemingly circumvent lobbying disclosure rules, the source said. Some of the people who wound up being paid seemed to have done little actual work, the source added.
Among the payments, authorities suspect, were thousands of dollars in checks written to Kevin Quinn, an ousted political operative of House Speaker Michael Madigan, according to the source. The Tribune first reported the checks were under scrutiny in July.
The first to paragraphs of that story are very similar to the language also used in the WBEZ story linked above.
If the feds are going after entities which hire “politically connected lobbyists to curry favor with lawmakers in exchange for favorable action” or (WBEZ version) “multiple politically connected employees and consultants in exchange for favorable government actions” then just about everyone is gonna get whacked.
But I don’t think that’s what it means. I think it means some “suggestions” may have been made to entities to hire or retain certain lobbyists, consultants, etc.
The Kevin Quinn thing is a bit puzzling, however, because all we know so far is that some individuals chipped in to ostensibly help him out. So, we’ll have to watch that play out.
* Back to the WBEZ story…
State records show Doherty has another client called Catalyst Consulting Group, Inc., a Chicago-based information technology firm. That firm lists only two lobbyists in its 2019 lobbyist registration: Doherty and Jordan Matyas, who is a former Regional Transportation Authority lobbyist and Madigan’s son-in-law.
Interesting.
A bit of the back-story on Matyas…
The son-in-law of powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan is leaving his job as a top administrator at the Regional Transportation Authority after a turbulent few years. […]
Matyas and former CEO Joe Costello were the subject of an internal investigation in 2012 by an outside attorney after complaints of inappropriate behavior surfaced. The report by attorney Renee Benjamin found that complaints of low morale, a “culture of fear” and “use of racial slurs and sexually explicit language” were credible.
Matyas vehemently denied using offensive language, saying it was “antithetical to my character, my history and everything I believe.” […]
Matyas, an attorney, was hired at the RTA in 2011 as a government affairs manager at a time when the Illinois legislature was contemplating a bill to eliminate the agency.
* One more…
The daughter of embattled state Sen. Martin Sandoval received more than $52,000 in political donations in late 2017 and 2018 from individuals and companies whose names have recently surfaced as part of an ongoing, wide-ranging federal investigation into public corruption. […]
As part of the sprawling probe, investigators are looking into allegations that Sen. Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat, used his official position to steer business to at least one company in exchange for kickbacks, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Tribune.
“Sprawling probe” is absolutely correct. This thing is going all over the place.
59 Comments
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Some of the ComEd back-story
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
The political muscle of ComEd/Exelon aced its last major test in 2016, when the energy companies finally passed what one Illinois House member referred to at the time as a “multibillion-dollar corporate bailout” by electricity ratepayers to keep two of its nuclear power plants open.
The vote came after that year’s election during the fall veto session, and it passed despite the fact that the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner had not agreed on a state budget for nearly a year and a half. It was one of only a tiny handful of bipartisan bills signed into law during Rauner’s term.
ComEd has had its shares of ups and downs in Springfield. It thrived under Gov. Jim Thompson, who strongly supported its push to build a large nuclear fleet. But most subsequent governors took a more populist position. And by the early 2000s, legislators felt ignored and even disrespected by the company.
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That all eventually turned around as ComEd started catering to legislators in order to improve its Statehouse standing. The company stopped trying to ram through previously unseen legislation at the last possible minute in 2011, but had earlier made it much easier for members to do things like call in to check on constituent power outages, for instance. But, more importantly, jobs, contracts and other favors, like keeping constituents’ electricity service on when they couldn’t afford to pay, soon proliferated.
Like many large bureaucracies, once the corporate giant finally changed course it kept following that new route and continued expanding and “perfecting” its mission long after it should’ve moderated itself. It appears that it may have gotten sloppy, or much worse.
The company had been gearing up earlier this year to pass another major bill, which included locking in its favorable rate system for another decade. But then all the energy bills were suddenly set aside until the fall veto session.
The federal investigation of the company has since killed its bill for the immediately foreseeable future. The probe began in earnest in May with search warrants served on Statehouse insider and House Speaker Michael Madigan confidante Mike McClain (a former ComEd lobbyist who played an instrumental role in the company’s many Springfield successes); and former Ald. Mike Zalewski over what the Chicago Tribune claimed at the time was a probe into how the former Chicago alderman with close political ties to Madigan received a ComEd contract.
ComEd and Exelon have since revealed that they’ve been subpoenaed twice by a federal grand jury, once over its “lobbying activities” and then for its “communications” with individuals including Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago). The search warrant of Sandoval’s Statehouse office listed four unnamed Exelon officials.
The probe hasn’t just toppled the company’s legislative agenda. Fidel Marquez, the company’s senior vice president of governmental and external affairs, and the CEO of Exelon Utilities Anne Pramaggiore, who had been ComEd’s president and then CEO during its successful legislative run, have both suddenly retired.
Pramaggiore was widely credited in 2011 for finally changing Speaker Madigan from an avowed opponent to an ally, partly by revamping the company’s lobbying strategies. In reality, she didn’t act alone. Pramaggiore worked very closely with McClain, who was ComEd’s top contract lobbyist, and John Hooker, who worked his way up the corporate ladder from the mailroom to become a company vice president and its chief in-house lobbyist and then became a contract lobbyist.
The thinking among some had been that federal investigators, who are in possession of all the company’s lobbying-related communications, were likely building a much bigger case than just hiring Sen. Sandoval’s daughter or handing former Ald. Zalewski a contract. The case could involve literally hundreds of favors over the years which combine to possibly form a pattern of corruption.
And then WBEZ reported that federal authorities are actually looking into whether ComEd hired “multiple politically connected employees and consultants in exchange for favorable government actions, including electricity rate increases.” Many did “little or no work” and some had ties to Speaker Madigan, according to the story authored by Dan Mihalopoulos, Dave McKinney and Tony Arnold.
The story also reported that as of October 18, Hooker is no longer working as a ComEd registered lobbyist through Mike Kasper, a major Statehouse lobbyist who also does a lot of legal work for Speaker Madigan.
But beyond whatever ComEd and Exelon may have done, what will be truly fascinating is if the feds ever publish a list of politicians who allegedly got sweet favors in return for their votes. That could be a long one.
I’ll have more on this topic in a bit.
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