* WGN TV…
The embattled Sterigenics plant in suburban Willowbrook will stay closed until at least Sept. 6.
That’s the ruling from a judge Thursday on a controversial tentative deal that had been reached between the state of Illinois and Sterigenics for it to reopen its doors. […]
Now, the judge ordered four towns affected by the plant—Willowbrook, Darien, Hinsdale and Burr Ridge—to have a voice.
“We are looking at all possibilities,” Willowbrook mayor Frank Trilla said. “We would like to introduce a 100% ban on ethylene oxide.” […]
The judge also stated Thursday that the public has the right to intervene in the matter, so several nearby towns will file a brief by August 30.
If they want to ban ethylene oxide, then they’re going to need to introduce a new bill in the General Assembly. That’s not up to the judge.
* Response…
Attorney General Kwame Raoul and DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin today release the following statement regarding the proposed consent order with Sterigenics U.S., LLC (Sterigenics).
“We have never opposed the villages’ motions to intervene because we recognize the need for the impacted communities to be heard, and we welcome their input in this process. Throughout this litigation, we have regularly communicated with the leadership of the affected communities, and we are committed to using all legal authority to protect the residents of Willowbrook and the surrounding communities.
“Our authority is defined by the laws passed by the General Assembly, which we are obligated to enforce. Although the new law does not authorize the permanent closure of Sterigenics if it can comply with the stringent requirements imposed by the General Assembly, the proposed consent order ensures that Sterigenics can operate only if it complies with those requirements. If the General Assembly passes additional legislation regarding ethylene oxide, our offices would be duty bound and prepared to enforce that legislation.”
* Meanwhile in Georgia…
* Cancer-causing chemical in 2 Georgia communities leads to more cases of cancer, experts say
* Residents, Officials In Metro Atlanta Voice Concern About Ethylene Oxide Pollution
* Residents, officials outraged over toxic emissions from Cobb plant
…Adding… Rep. Deanne Mazzochi…
DuPage County Circuit Judge Fullerton recognized the “well written and informative” Amicus Brief submitted by State Representative Mazzochi, Leader Jim Durkin, and State Senator John Curran, contesting the Illinois Attorney General’s Consent Order that counsel for Sterigenics touted as its pathway to reopening. Mazzochi argued that the Consent Order agreement involving the Illinois Attorney General, the Governor and Sterigenics fails to comply with both the spirit and letter of the Matt Haller Act regulating the use of ethylene oxide statewide. Judge Fullerton issued a favorable ruling for parties challenging this Consent Order today, staying its entry and allowing various municipalities to jump into the fray.
“I commend Judge Fullerton for putting the brakes on the Consent Order today. Sterigenics has not shown that it can or will ever be able to comply with the law. The Illinois Attorney General needs to do his job and not let the company circumvent the will of the communities it has crushed with its behavior. I am pleased that the Court will not let the Attorney General force through an agreement sprung on the affected communities at the last minute, including the public servants who represent those communities.”
As Mazzochi explained, “these communities feel betrayed. The Attorney General gave our communities an ultimatum that essentially tells them, ‘This is the deal you’re going to live with’ as ordained by the Governor, the AG, and Sterigenics. That is simply unacceptable.”
She added, “Federal legislators, state legislators, local leaders and the community rightfully objected to the Consent Order, and they’re outraged. Our community has heard a lot of excuses about it, including one from the Governor who opined that we three legislators who represent the surrounding area don’t understand the law we worked tirelessly to write and pass. On September 6, our communities can finally have their day in court, which they should have had all along before the Attorney General decided it to strip that power away from them for a paltry $300,000 penalty and an admonition to sin no more.”
“We believe our brief helped Judge Fullerton target precisely where the proposed Consent Order is too weak. As it stands, this Consent Order is not only wrong on the politics, but more importantly wrong on the law. Sterigenics broke the covenant with the community where they do business. When it comes to the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of our residents, this company has turned into a community wrecking crew.” Mazzochi noted that even the Illinois Attorney General seemed to have started to walk back some statements about the Consent Order and the Matt Haller Act.
“This Consent Order was premature; and deserved to be rejected. Let us do what the Matt Haller Act said to do: get everyone in a court of law, hear the merits of the case, and then hopefully, finally, our community can gain some peace of mind.
Mazzochi, who is an attorney, stated, “I will continue to fight for what is right for the community, under the dome in Springfield, in a courthouse in DuPage, or wherever else this case takes us.”
Judge Fullerton will allow the surrounding municipalities to intervene in the lawsuit, participate in the consent order, and advise if it complies with the Matt Haller Act. The next hearing is scheduled for September 6.
…Adding… Sterigenics…
We are confident that the Consent Order will be approved in due course. Our Willowbrook operations have consistently complied with and outperformed the State’s requirements and we are committed to abiding by the new requirements established by the State. Sterigenics will continue to take the necessary steps to resume operations at Willowbrook and remains committed to acting in the interest of the community, our employees, our customers and the patients and hospitals we serve every day.
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“I’m sorry that I said it out loud”
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WGN TV…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was caught on an open microphone belittling the number two man in the local Fraternal Order of Police during Wednesday’s city council meeting.
As a clerk called on FOP Lodge 7 First Vice President Patrick Murray to speak during a public comment section of the meeting, Lightfoot is heard saying “Oh, back again. This is this FOP clown.”
The comment was recorded and archived during a live stream of the meeting on the Chicago mayor’s official Facebook page. Murray was commenting on the FOP’s anger over a recent police board decision recommending the firing of officers accused of making misleading statements in the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald shooting.
* Chicago FOP’s response…
Mayor Lightfoot’s contemptuous remark is a misguided and dangerous thing to say to a 30-year veteran police officer and FOP representative, particularly at a time when the city is facing such chronic violent crime. It is also telling that the Mayor would not even apologize. The red noses, however, belong on the members of the Chicago Police Board, her former agency, for their despicable decision to fire three police officers and a sergeant last week for no good reason whatsoever.
No good reason? Right.
* Tribune…
At her post-meeting news conference, reporters asked Lightfoot about the comment and she said, “It was not appropriate for me to say that out loud.”
Asked if she’d apologize, Lightfoot said, “I think I just did. I think I said I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”
She was asked a third time about an apology and replied, “I’m sorry that I said it out loud.”
* I confess to chuckling while reading those stories, but then she went off on someone else…
Murray wasn’t the only one who got a mouthful from the mayor during Wednesday’s public comment section.
So did a speaker who showed up on behalf of 75 murdered South Side women whose deaths, the man claimed, have never been investigated by the Chicago Police Department.
“I need your undivided attention, Mayor Lightfoot. I need your undivided attention,” the man said.
The mayor was livid.
“Sir, proceed with your statement. You don’t stand there as a man and tell me what to do when I was actually getting my notebook to take some notes,” Lightfoot said.
“If you want to talk, talk. You’re wasting your [three minutes of] time. But, don’t ever, EVER tell me what to do when I’m standing here conducting the business of the people. Do you understand that, sir?”
Click here to see how he responded. He gave as good as he got.
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill requiring large Chicago employers to give workers at least two weeks’ advance notice of their schedules and compensate them for last-minute changes.
In development for more than two years, the “fair workweek” ordinance reflects a compromise between representatives from labor and business, who have been working with the city on what kinds of employers and employees would be covered by the scheduling rules.
The final version of the workweek legislation limits protections to just those workers earning less than $26 an hour.
The ordinance, which covers eight industries ranging from restaurants to manufacturing, is the first in the country to include health care employers in predictable scheduling legislation. The potential impact on hospitals and other health care facilities, which have said they need flexibility to make abrupt changes in staffing levels as the need arises, was among the bigger industry concerns.
But during a hearing on the final bill Tuesday before the workforce development committee, David Gross, senior vice president of government relations at the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, said the group was withdrawing its opposition thanks to efforts to find middle ground. In addition to the wage threshold, which exempts most clinical staff like nurses and technicians, the final legislation includes exceptions for health care employers in the event of an unexpected increase in demand due to severe weather, violence, large public events or other events beyond their control.
* From the mayor’s press release…
This ordinance requires employers to schedule employees 10 days in advance, rising to 14 days in 2022, and directs employers to ban scheduling practices which prevent workers from attending to their families, health, education and other obligations.
By requiring predictive scheduling, employees covered by this ordinance will now receive:
• Predictability of pay: Employees are entitled to compensation for changes an employer makes to a work schedule after the deadline.
• The right to decline when schedules change: Employees may decline additional hours not previously scheduled.
• Choice of additional work hours when available: First offer of additional shifts of work will be reserved for qualified existing employees.
• The right to rest and request a flexible working arrangement: Employees are not required to work hours scheduled for less than 10 hours after the end of the previous day’s shift and are paid a higher differential for those shifts.
[…] To qualify for the requirements of the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance, a business must have over 100 employees globally, 50 of which must be covered employees, with the threshold for non-profits and restaurants raised to 250. Additionally, restaurants must have at least 30 locations globally, meaning that most small restaurants are exempt. Small businesses are largely exempt from these regulations, and to account for the unique needs and populations served, Chicago’s safety net hospitals will be given a six-month extension to meet the requirements of the ordinance.
* The Question: Should the state adopt a similar “fair workweek” law? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
web polls
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Old habits die hard
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Chicago police have for years compiled profiles on every citizen who spoke at public meetings of the city’s police disciplinary panel, a process that included running criminal background checks and internet searches on activists, a police union official and even relatives of an innocent woman killed in a high-profile police shooting, the Chicago Tribune has learned.
Documents obtained by the Tribune under a public records request show the Police Department gathered the details on nearly 60 people in advance of their speaking at monthly meetings of the Chicago Police Board since at least January 2018. A police spokesman said the background checks go back further, to at least 2013.
The checks appear to be extensive, with police searching at least one internal department database to determine if speakers have arrest or prison records, warrants outstanding for their arrest, investigative alerts issued for them by the department and even if they’re registered sex offenders or missing persons. Police also searched comments that speakers had previously made on YouTube or on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, among other internet sites, the documents show.
Among those subjected to background checks were a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted decades ago by a Chicago police officer, a community activist who gained prominence after the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by a police officer and a 77-year-old man known for his frequent, flamboyant rants on a variety of topics at public meetings across the city. […]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois said the practice harks back to the Police Department’s shameful Red Squad history of spying on political and other groups engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment, a practice that ended with a landmark court settlement in 1982 but stretched back in one form or another to the 1920s.
ACLU spokesman Edwin Yohnka noted how for years before the settlement was dissolved in 2009, Chicago officials had argued in court that the surveillance tactics were a thing of the past.
“This suggests that that’s not true,” Yohnka said.
With all the problems in the city, they’re using police time to run background checks on citizens who testify at an open meeting in front of a public body. Not only is it authoritarian, it’s wasteful.
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* Northern Public Radio…
The law allowing recreational marijuana in Illinois takes effect next year, and those in enforcement are getting ready. This includes a special category of police. Sergeant Nick Cunningham leads the Canine Unit in the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. Guy Stephens spoke with Cunningham recently. Guy began by asking what effect the new law will have on his work.
NC: One of the major impacts for the Canine Unit is that all the patrol dogs that we currently have are trained to locate marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. Once marijuana is legalized, as far as any searches that we would do — on the street, on vehicles — we will not be able to use those patrol dogs. So in order to compensate for that we’ve just purchased two brand new dogs, two labs, that are going to be starting training next week. And those dogs will be training for narcotics, but they will only be trained for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Myself and every other trainer in the nation will tell you that we cannot retrain those dogs that we already have. If they’ve already been trained on marijuana, it’s not something that we can reliably take out of them.
GS: How many dogs are affected?
NC: It’s a major impact for the canine community. There’s approximately 420 narcotics dogs in Illinois right now. All of those dogs, up until just very recently, were trained on marijuana. So you’ve got 420 dogs that can’t be retrained.
OK, first of all, there are 420 drug dogs in Illinois? How ironic.
But, to the point, Rep. Kelly Cassidy, the legalization bill’s chief sponsor, pointed to the floor debate where members went out of their way to establish “significant legislative intent” that searches with existing dogs would remain admissible for probable cause.
Possessing large amounts of cannabis will still be illegal after January 1st. If somebody has ten pounds of weed in their car, for instance, they can still go to jail. So there is no reason to retire those canines and spend money on new ones.
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“A policy paper masquerading as a complaint”
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yvette Shields at the Bond Buyer…
A lawsuit that seeks to void $14.3 billion of Illinois’ outstanding general obligation debt amounts to nothing more than a policy statement masked under a legal guise that lacks any merit, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office argues in the state’s first official legal response.
The complaint seeking taxpayer action status from the court claims the state violated its constitution when it sold $10 billion of GO pension obligation bonds in 2003 and again in 2017 with a $6 billion borrowing to pay down its unpaid bill backlog.
About $14.3 billion is still owed on the two issues, according to the complaint filed by the Illinois Policy Institute’s leader John Tillman, acting as a taxpayer, and the New York-based hedge fund Warlander Asset Management LP, a state bondholder. […]
Market analysts have voiced skepticism about the case’s legal merits, based on the approval granted by bond lawyers and the state attorney general and their read of state debt rules that give the state broad issuance powers as long as it names a general purpose for the bonds, method of repayment, and approval by a three-fifths legislative majority. […]
Those beliefs didn’t stop the market from driving state yield penalties up in trading and there’s an expectation now that the state may get stuck paying more to borrow during the course of the lawsuit if not resolved quickly.
* AG Raoul’s filing is brutal…
Nearly two decades after the State issued General Obligation bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the State and applied their proceeds to the Illinois retirement systems, Petitioner seeks leave to institute an action requesting the Court declare the State a profiteering purveyor of worthless bonds and order it to default on billions of future bond payments after cashing the proceeds from selling the bonds. Petitioner similarly seeks to invalidate billions of already applied bonds issued in 2017 to pay an extraordinary backlog of unpaid vouchers, which were then accruing interest at rates greater than the subsequently issued bonds. Petitioner did not bring his suit to enjoin the issuance of the allegedly unlawful bonds before they were issued. Instead, Petitioner seeks to call back ships put to sea years ago, many of which are nearing their decommission date, to maximum detrimental effect. Petitioner does so without naming any holder of the bonds for a proper adjudication of their rights, instead advancing the interests of one noncitizen investor in different bonds against other bondholders, and attempting to elevate certain appropriations over others.
This extraordinary request for relief rests entirely on a single, erroneous premise that the General Assembly may incur State debt only for “projects in the nature of capital improvements,” subject to only narrow exceptions. Fused with this incorrect statement of law is a policy paper masquerading as a complaint, positing that Illinois has not been wise in its fiscal decisions. The wisdom of that fiscal philosophy is a matter for the People of Illinois to determine. The Court has no role to play in that debate.
Because there is no cause of action stated in the proposed complaint and no judicial work for the Court to do in relation to the remaining allegations, and because equity firmly stands against granting the extraordinary relief requested therein, the Petition should be denied as an unjustified interference in the application of public funds.
* As we’ve discussed before, the plaintiffs rely on a provision in the Illinois Constitution which does not actually exist. From the AG’s filing…
As explained above, Petitioner’s theory of bond invalidity turns entirely on his unfounded assertion, contained in paragraph 27 of his proposed complaint, that the term “specific purposes” in the State Debt Clause means “projects in the nature of capital improvements.” But Petitioner does not cite any authority for this conclusion, and he does not even draw the Court’s attention to the single, controlling case interpreting “specific purposes” in the context of article IX, section 9
* Ah, but there’s more…
In this case, Petitioner seeks to unscramble eggs that were cracked, cooked, and eaten sixteen and two years ago, with no explanation as to why he did not bring suit before breakfast hit the pan. Had Petitioner timely sought and obtained an injunction against issuance of the bonds, the State could have made different arrangements to fund its obligations, and bondholders 12 of 22 19-CH-235 would not now be needlessly placed in peril. Petitioner’s inexplicable delay in bringing this challenge maximizes the potential fallout, creating an “unjustified interference[]” in the application of public funds that warrants denying the Petition.
Raoul’s office also claims the statute of limitations has passed and that the hedge fund has no legal standing.
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Pot, meet kettle
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sounds reasonable…
[US Rep. Rodney Davis] said everyone should stop posting online and start going door-to-door to champion Republican principles instead of hammering it out on a keyboard.
“Let’s actually make sure to do what we can to bring civility into the political debate but it seems there are many that want to bring incivility, especially on social media, and that’s what’s frustrating to folks like us,” Davis said.
* Rodney Davis’ most recent fundraising email…
Betsy Londrigan would have you believe she’s a real downstate Illinoisan who represents real downstate values and real downstaters. She’d also have you believe that the majority of her campaign money doesn’t come from out of state.
Unfortunately, none of those things are true. Betsy Londrigan is Chicago’s puppet, propped up by out-of-state financiers and JB Pritzker’s cronies. Chicago money is being parachuted into our district to make sure us downstaters stay subservient to Chicago.
Rodney’s not standing for it. Chicago came for us once; they failed. Let’s make sure they fail again.
Chip in $250 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $150 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $100 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $50 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $25 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in ANY AMOUNT to help win for downstate>>>
Downstate isn’t Chicago, and we like it that way. Let’s make sure Leftwing Betsy Londrigan gets the message.
This is what passes for standard campaigning nowadays. It is what it is. But the “Aw, shucks, can’t we all be civil?” act is getting old.
* Tribune editorial board…
Political satire is nothing new. It aims to shock. But play the game, own the consequences. When a would-be satirist crosses the line from edgy commentary to offensive race-baiting, from tough criticism of political ideas to attacks based on personal identity, public outcry is deserved. Anyone who deliberately fans the flames of racism is reprehensible, period.
Agreed. But I wonder sometimes if they read their own newspaper.
* Finke…
Pritzker also noted a posting by the Kankakee County Democratic Party that contained a red Ku Klux Klan-style hood with “Make America Hate Again” printed on it. The posting also said “What’s the difference between a Klan hood and a MAGA hat? The Klan hood was made in America.”
“The Kankakee County Democratic Party posted something and removed it nearly immediately, or at least as (the chairman) said,” Pritzker said. “It was not actually up at the time anybody paid any attention to it. It was the Republicans who brought it back to life, I guess.”
As we discussed yesterday, that K3 thing was fomented by Dan Proft. But the local Democrats did what they did and it shouldn’t matter to the governor who “brought it back to life.”
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It’s just a bill
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
State senators gathered Thursday in Chicago for a hearing to discuss Senate President John Cullerton’s Senate Bill 2259. It would put caps on how much assessments on apartment complexes could rise if the owner commits at least 20 percent of the building’s units to be reserved for families that make less than a set income depending on the area. The caps would gradually be reduced over the course of ten years.
New construction is typically assessed for a higher dollar value once it’s finished because it’s worth more than it was as an open lot. […]
State Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorne Woods, said he worried that the incentive would push the cost of government services onto other property owners.
“Whenever we create another tax credit, we end up shifting that tax burden to others,” he said. “We do it for veterans, we do it for senior citizens, we do it for other groups.”
Normally, I’m against narrowing a tax base. But doing so in a limited way to achieve a specific policy objective is an interesting idea.
* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line…
Curt Bailey, the president of real estate development firm Related Midwest, praised the bill during testimony Thursday, telling the Senate’s Subcommittee on Special Issues that the program had worked in “many markets for many developers.” including his firm in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“So there’s evidence out there that this works,” Bailey said. “These are beautiful buildings, they’re tremendous places to live…In New York City, they have delivered 38,000 affordable units with this program mostly in the ‘90s through now. Talk about closing that gap of 120,000 units. this is a way to do it and do it fairly quickly.”
Bailey identified “hot” real estate markets like the West Loop and Fulton Market as ideal places for developers to build these so-called “80-20” projects, in which wealthier renters subsidize those not paying market value. For example, he said some renters may be paying $4,000 for their units next to renters who pay $400 for identical units.
But after Bailey mentioned those rapidly developing neighborhoods several times, Cullerton asked if the focus could be shifted to struggling neighborhoods, and if developers like Related Midwest would take advantage of a tax program like the one provided for under SB 2259 in poorer areas.
“What about the Lawndales and Englewoods?” Cullerton asked.
Bailey said it wasn’t out of the question, but said developers “need the 80 to support the 20,” referring to the 80 percent of renters in a development that would pay market price to subsidize the units set aside for affordable housing.
* This appears to be Bailey’s brainchild. He’s quoted in all the stories I’ve seen so far, including this one by Greg Hinz…
As now written, the bill would entitle any developer who builds or substantially rehabs a structure with at least six units to enter a program in which taxes on the new structure would be held at the pre-construction rate for two years. The break would drop an additional 20 percent every two years until hitting zero after 10 years.
In exchange, the developer would have to offer rents on at least 20 percent of the building’s units at rates affordable to tenants with a household income no more than 60 percent of the area median. That’s roughly $41,242 in metropolitan Chicago, according to U.S. Census data. […]
Cullerton said he got the idea from developers, including Related Midwest’s Curt Bailey, who ordinarily are more willing to pay for building off-site affordable units than creating them in high-rent towers. […]
“Look at it this way, it’s not a TIF,” [Cullerton] said, referring to tax-increment financing subsidies that sometimes are used to push affordable housing. “Eighty percent of the units in a building are subsidizing 20 percent.
But the numbers work only if you don’t have to pay the full property tax increase” immediately.
If this is about one guy funding one development, then I’m a hard pass. If there is a significant number of developers out there, then maybe.
But it’ll still slightly raise taxes for everyone else.
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Foster gets progressive primary opponent
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Another Dem primary…
[US Rep. Bill Foster] is getting a primary challenger from the left for the suburban 11th Congressional District Seat. Will County Board Rachel Ventura, a progressive from Joliet, jumped in the March primary against Foster, who lives in Naperville. As of June 30, Foster has $3,104,802.93 cash-on-hand in his political war chest.
* More…
On Saturday, Will County Board member Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, officially launched her campaign to challenge U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, in the 2020 primary election.
Ventura emphasized a list of progressive policies on health care, the environment and immigration in an attempt to contrast herself with the incumbent.
“America does not need nor want transactional politics, nor pay-to-play politicians,” Ventura said. “We want our voices to be heard and represented.”
Ventura decried a “broken” political system and endorsed a $15 minimum wage indexed to inflation, the Green New Deal and comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. She also specifically criticized Foster for not supporting a Medicare-for-All health care system, and even said it was one of the reasons she thought to launch a primary challenge against him.
* From June…
A group of about 15 people protested outside U.S. Rep. Bill Foster’s office to pressure him to support a single-payer health insurance proposal called “Medicare for All” on Friday.
Leaders of the local chapter of Our Revolution, a progressive organization created by supporters of Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, led the demonstration. […]
Other local officials such as Will County Board members Herbert Brooks Jr. and Rachel Ventura participated in the demonstration. Ventura shared her personal story of her fear in leaving her previous marriage with an abusive husband and losing health insurance in the process.
“If we do not have health care as a right, there are millions of people in relationships, abusive relationships, and they fear leaving,” Ventura said. “And they stay in a horrible situation because they’re too afraid. That is not a government that works for everyone.”
* Last week…
Although she’s readily admitted this will be an “uphill battle” opposing Foster, who has retained that seat since 2012 on a moderate voting record, Ventura is convinced “the time is right” for a more progressive candidate to help fix what she sees as “signs of a crumbling society.”
Ventura became even more convinced in June, she told me, when she said Foster “blew off” her and a group of protesters who’d gathered at his district office to discuss a single payer healthcare system, after telling the media he’d meet with them.
* Her top priorities if elected…
The Green New Deal has to be the first priority. We have to start addressing climate justice. When I say climate-justice I mean for it everybody, not just the wealthy few at the top, but everyone is being affected. We are all in this together. We need to make sure we are taking care of one another. The Green New Deal is about infrastructure, jobs, emissions, cleaning up pollutants, and then I would say Medicare for All is my second priority. They are both equally important and investing in people telling them they are valued. Healthcare is a human right. We have the money for it now. We are wasting so much money on having insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies profit off of the suffering of others, and enough is enough.
* More…
She said in the release she recognizes the national significance of the race as the divide spreads wider between the Progressive Democrats and the New Democrat Coalition, a conservative caucus that Foster belongs to.
“We are living through a tumultuous period of upheaval and crisis and I feel like our current representative is in a state of stasis,” Ventura said.
* Greg Hinz…
Foster responded with a big list of endorsements, including eight Democrats who serve on the Will County Board with Ventura, Will County Executive Larry Walsh and several state legislators.
Foster also put out a statement strongly defending his stances on some of the issues highlighted by Ventura. For instance, according to Foster, with the middle class “overtaxed,” the better solution to health insurance woes is to create competition and lower costs by strengthening Obamacare and creating a public-option health insurance plan.
On the environment, Foster said that despite opposition from the Trump White House, “I’ve been successful in securing additional funding every year for research into clean energy technologies that will ensure we have the methods we need to actually combat climate change at an acceptable cost to the global economy.”
Perhaps more important, Foster reported $3.1 million in his campaign war chest as of June 30, while Ventura has had to start from scratch. Foster also has hired the same campaign team he used to challenge then-GOP incumbent Denny Hastert in 2008, including strategists Pete Giangreco, Jef Pollock and Tom Bowen.
* Foster’s endorsements…
Will County Board Members Speaker Denise Winfrey (District  , Majority Leader Mark Ferry (District 13), Majority Whip Tyler Marcum (District 10), Reverend Herb Brooks (District , Mimi Cowan (District 11), Jacqueline Traynere (District 4), Margaret Tyson (District 3), and Joe Van Duyne (District 6), all endorsed Foster’s campaign.
Local elected leaders are also standing will Bill Foster, including State Senator Laura Ellman (IL-21), State Senator Linda Holmes (IL-42), State Representative Barbara Hernandez (IL-83), State Representative Natalie Manley (IL-98), State Representative Larry Walsh Jr. (IL-86), Illinois 11th Congressional District Democratic State Central Committeewoman Julia Beckman, Illinois 11th Congressional District Democratic State Central Committeeman Duffy Blackburn, Will County Executive Larry Walsh Sr., Bolingbrook Village Trustee Bob Jaskiewicz, and Fox Valley Park District Commissioner Mavis Bates. […]
(L)ocal Democratic Party leaders are also standing with Foster. Jeff Boetto (Chairman, Troy Township Democrats), Kevin Clancy (Chairman, Plainfield Township Democratic Organization), Greg Elsbree (Chairman, Aurora Township Democrats), Ken Griffin (Chairman, Lockport Township Democrats), Nora Gruenberg (Chairwoman, New Lenox Township Democrats), Nick Palmer (Chairman, Wheatland Township Democrats), Kim Savage (Chairwoman, Downers Grove Township Democrats), and Bill Thoman (Chairman, Will County Democratic Central Committee)
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BGA looks at O’Hare
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* BGA press release…
As Chicago embarks on an $8.5 billion expansion project at O’Hare, the Better Government Association looked at the airport’s history of failed predictions, broken promises and costly disappointments.
We reviewed decades of financial records, contracts and planning documents that revealed billions of dollars in spending to expand O’Hare, reduce delays and improve the passenger experience. Yet O’Hare continues to lag. And along the way, the BGA found a history of machine politics, bid-rigging, fraud and even an assassination.
Don’t miss this first-of-its-kind, multimedia, three-part investigation published in partnership with Chicago Magazine.
* From the article…
In the last 15 years alone, City Hall has saddled the airport with more than $18 billion in debt and pledged nearly $7 billion more — enough to build two nuclear aircraft carriers — in an attempt to make flying through O’Hare a little more bearable. […]
No other major airport has borrowed so much, and accomplished so little, records show. A BGA analysis of debt at the five busiest airports in the nation — including those in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Denver — put O’Hare at the highest debt and the lowest in on-time performance. […]
Tens of billions of dollars later, O’Hare still languishes near the bottom of the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ airport rankings for flight delays.
So why is O’Hare lagging behind? The Great Recession didn’t help, nor did expensive security upgrades following September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It’s also faced a near-constant stream of litigation over everything from having to displace graveyards to insider deals. […]
To date, expansions at O’Hare have put more than a dozen people in prison, including the late Ald. Thomas Keane, 31st, and runway paving contractor George B. Krug Sr., whose children’s business decades later remains a major O’Hare contractor.
Numerous probes have unveiled sweetheart deals that benefited the businesses of elected officials and cronies, illegal payments to secure contracts, and the gaming of programs meant to increase the hiring of businesses owned by minorities and women.
* My “favorite” passage…
Under Emanuel’s O’Hare 21 plan, which is packed with new gates, concourses, and amenities, the terminal will move to a new structure at the site of Terminal 2, which is set to be demolished. The idea is to have a mixed-use terminal where domestic and international travelers can transfer between flights. The estimated cost: $2.2 billion.
To execute the expansion, the city recently selected a design team helmed by renowned Chicago architect Jeanne Gang. Along the way, a key member of Gang’s team was represented by lobbyist Gery Chico, a longtime City Hall powerbroker, two-time mayoral candidate and political ally of indicted Ald. Ed Burke, 14th. Chico’s law firm, Chico & Nunes, also did legal work on a recent bond deal to fund airport projects. He did not return telephone messages.
The selection, under a process in which even the identities of Emanuel’s hand-picked selection committee remain cloaked in secrecy, was announced days after Lightfoot took office.
* Related…
* What was promised vs. what O’Hare got
* History of connections, corruption at O’Hare
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* Sun-Times…
Responding to President Donald Trump border policies he dubbed “wrong for America” and “wrong for Illinois,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday moved to strengthen Illinois’ immigration laws — signing bills designed to protect the children of undocumented residents.
The new laws would create a pathway for citizenship for undocumented children who have experienced trauma and extend legal guardianship for children whose parents have been detained.
They are the latest in a series of immigration bills the Democratic governor has signed, prompting Pritzker to vow “the state of Illinois stands as a firewall against Donald Trump’s attacks on our immigrant communities.”
Pritzker signed the measures the same day that protesters lined the Marriott Marquis Chicago in Chicago as the hotel hosted a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conference.
It was also Day One of a new Trump Administration policy that will fast-track deportation regulations to include the removal of undocumented immigrants who can’t prove they have been in the country for two years or more.
* ABC 7…
“In our state, parents will decide who will take care of their children if they are detained or deported, not ICE, customs or border patrol,” said State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz D-Glenview.
The Gad Hill Center in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood provides services for immigrant families.
Months ago, it began collecting information from parents about their chosen guardian for their children in case families were separated.
“We have in our records the name, driver’s license and every identification necessary in order to make sure that the children have somebody safe to go to in case families are separated by deportation,” said the center’s CEO, Maricela Garcia.
* Public Radio…
“We have an obligation to protect children regardless of their immigration status,” said state Sen. Cristina Castro, a Democrat from Elgin.
State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, a Glenview Democrat, said it’s a response to the Trump Administration’s immigration policies.
“This is about giving families peace of mind. And while it may not stop the deportation and detention of every parent, it’s certainly a better option for children than a mylar blanket on a concrete floor,” she said. […]
Earlier this year, Pritzker signed off on laws banning private immigrant detention facilities in Illinois, and prohibiting state and local police from assisting federal immigration agents in removing undocumented people.
* Center Square…
“As long as Washington [D.C.] is dominated by a philosophy that threatens Illinois families, we can and we will give parents the dignity of knowing their children are in trusted hands,” Pritzker said.
HB 836 ensures a parent in the country illegally can entrust a guardian to make medical decisions and enroll a child in school, among other activities, the governor’s office said. The measure would also give the courts discretion to grant guardianship of a minor whose parent can’t be reached due to an administrative separation.
State Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, said Illinois can’t even manage its current caseload at the Department of Children and Family Services.
“We can’t even get our foster care situation under control and we’re going to sit here and pretend that we’re going to take care of these children until these things get straightened out with their parents,” Bailey said.
DCFS isn’t even mentioned in the new law. Neither is foster care.
…Adding… From comments…
Rep Bailey has it backwards. If the parents cannot name a guardian, the case defaults to DCFS.
* SJ-R…
Pritzker also denied that Trump is helping his re-election chances by fomenting racial divisions.
“It’s not working for his re-election,” Pritzker said. “I have called him out as a xenophobe, as a racist. I believe that he is. He’s going to continue to do this. This. This is the world that we live in. We’re fighting hard to hold back the efforts of his government of his White House to foment this kind of racism around the nation.”
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* Tribune…
Federal investigators are looking into $10,000 in payments from current and former ComEd lobbyists to an ousted political operative for House Speaker Michael Madigan, sources have told the Chicago Tribune.
Records obtained by the Tribune reveal that the checks went to Kevin Quinn, a former top Madigan lieutenant and brother of 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, after he was dismissed from the speaker’s political operation in early 2018 amid a sexual harassment scandal.
The checks came from accounts linked to five current or former lobbyists for utility giant ComEd, including Madigan’s close confidant Michael McClain, records showed. McClain’s home in downstate Quincy was raided by the FBI two months ago.
The FBI is looking at the checks as part of an ongoing investigation, a source with knowledge of the probe told the Tribune.
Other than McClain, the story claims the current and former lobbyists are former Rep. John Bradley, Cornerstone Government Affairs (Will Cousineau), Tom Cullen and Michael Alvarez. An unidentified businessman who has “worked with Madigan’s property tax appeals law firm” gave a grand and the name “McClain” appears in the memo area.
…Adding… Either Kevin Quinn’s ex got the number wrong or there’s more out there…
…Adding… Steve Daniels in Crain’s…
It remains unclear precisely what the feds are probing with regard to Madigan himself. But a picture is emerging of his political operation turning to ComEd to secretly aid a long-trusted lieutenant whose personal conduct made it politically impossible to continue employing him.
ComEd and its parent company, Exelon, are perhaps the most politically potent business interests in Illinois. Both donate substantial sums to political campaigns and have employed many former lawmakers and others close to Madigan as lobbyists and consultants.
In recent years, Madigan has provided immense help to Exelon, first by shepherding through ComEd’s $2.6 billion smart-grid law in 2011 over the veto of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. That act has led to substantial rate hikes to finance ComEd’s grid modernization program and a regulatory rate-setting system that enables the utility to change rates annually via a formula with limited regulatory oversight.
In 2016 Madigan helped usher through a ratepayer-funded bailout for two nuclear plants Exelon had threatened to close. That was one of the only measures Madigan and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner agreed on during Rauner’s single term. The bailout provides Exelon with more than $200 million in additional revenue each year and costs the average Illinoisan an extra $2 or so per month on their electric bill.
*** UPDATE *** Alaina Hampton…
It is deeply troublesome that various powerful lobbyists, per the Tribune article, provided financial aid to Speaker Madigan’s former political operative, Kevin Quinn, after he was let go in the wake of my disclosure of his sexual harassment of me. In contrast, I was shunned and lost out on career opportunities for speaking out. This is further evidence of a culture of sexism and corruption that has silenced victims and protected men. And it starts at the top.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Jul 23, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* While residential property taxes are relatively low in Chicago, the city nickels and dimes you to death with fees and fines, partly designed to keep those property taxes relatively low…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday made no apologies for her methodical approach to an intractable problem: Chicago’s “addiction” to balancing its budget on the backs of those who can least afford it.
Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to bring equity to an overly punitive ticketing, towing and booting policy that has unfairly targeted minorities and forced thousands into bankruptcy.
She promised to raise the boot threshold, stop booting for non-moving violations and eliminate a hefty chunk of red light cameras at 149 intersections if those cameras were placed there to raise revenue — not increase safety.
She even promised to abolish city stickers that are the source of so many compliance tickets and replace them with higher fees on ride-hailing vehicles.
Compared to those lofty promises, the solutions Lightfoot is delivering seem somewhat timid. She’s ending driver’s license suspensions for non-moving violations, reducing exorbitant city sticker penalties, creating a six-month, universal payment plan and empowering booted scofflaws to request a 24-hour extension to pay their fines in full or get on a payment plan.
* From her new plan…
* Ending the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for non-moving violations.
* Reinstating the 15-day grace period to renew a city vehicle sticker before issuing a ticket.
* No longer doubling the $200 fine for not renewing a city vehicle sticker; the city currently doubles fines after 83 days.
* Halting the practice of issuing multiple tickets on the same day or consecutive days for vehicle sticker violations.
* Creating a six-month ticket payment plan open to every driver with unpaid fines, and granting more time to motorists facing financial hardship.
* Allowing drivers whose cars have been booted for unpaid fines a 24-hour extension to either pay their fines in full or enter into a payment plan before their car is towed to the pound.
* The Question: What’s the most annoying local fine or fee you’ve had to pay? Explain.
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June home sales plunged 11.2 percent
Tuesday, Jul 23, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Statewide sales dropped 11.2 percent in June…
Home sales prices across the state and in the greater Peoria and Bloomington areas plunged in June. That’s according to Illinois Realtors.
The trade group says the Peoria metropolitan area recorded 504 sales in June, 14 percent less than a year ago. The median sales price jumped nearly five-percent from May to $133,450. The Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Peoria, Woodford, Tazewell and Marshall counties.
The Bloomington metropolitan statistical area’s June sales dropped 21.2 percent to 268. The month-over-month median sales price pushed 3.4 percent higher to $164,250. […]
Only a third of Illinois counties recorded June sales gains. The Moline-Rock Island and Springfield areas posted the strongest numbers. The Decatur and Bloomington regions were among the worst performers.
* Crain’s…
With a double-digit plunge in home sales in June, the Chicago area’s housing market reached its 12 consecutive month of declines.
In Chicago, 2,766 homes sold in June, 13.3 percent below June 2018, according to data released by Illinois Realtors, the statewide trade group.
In the nine-county metropolitan area, 12,002 homes sold, down 11.6 percent from a year earlier.
The local declines were far steeper than the national dip. Nationwide, home sales fell 2.2 percent in June from a year ago, according to data released separately by the National Association of Realtors.
Speaking of the national dip, NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said in comments released with the national data that “Either a strong pent-up demand will show in the upcoming months, or there is a lack of confidence that is keeping buyers from this major expenditure.” He said it’s “too soon to know how much of a pullback” is related to the reduction of homeowners’ property tax deductions in last year’s tax reform package.
* Analysis from the Illinois Realtors…
“The market choppiness that we have seen throughout the year continued in June, with home sales once again lagging previous-year numbers and sellers struggling to provide the number of homes consumers want,” said Ed Neaves, president-elect of Illinois REALTORS® and managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington. “The good news for consumers is that median prices are not appreciating nearly as fast as they have in years past, so for the truly dedicated house-hunter there is opportunity.”
The time it took to sell a home in June averaged 45 days, the same as a year ago. Available inventory totaled 58,376 homes for sale, a 4.1 percent decline from 60,898 homes in June 2018. […]
“Housing affordability is being discussed once again as a contributor to sales declines that are once again lower than those recorded last year for the same month,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “Price increases in Chicago and Illinois last month were barely positive and the increase in apartment rentals and declines in consumer sentiment indices suggest that many potential home buyers are sitting on the sidelines, no doubt influenced by concerns about trade conflicts and the future growth of the economy.” […]
“We can’t escape the topic of tax increases right now, and prospective buyers are paying attention,” said Tommy Choi, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and broker at Keller Williams Chicago – Lincoln Park. “High assessments in the north, and tax increases expected in 2021, has made some leery. Still, the summer proves to be an active time for the Chicago housing market. For buyers, rates remain low and market time and inventory has increased, meaning there is more choice and more time to make key decisions. For sellers, prices remain relatively steady, and pricing appropriately is key.”
* But this is from their May analysis, so take everything with a grain of salt…
Statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in May totaled 17,034 homes sold, down 1.3 percent from 17,256 in May 2018. […]
“The housing market is showing clear signs of strengthening as we enter the summer months,” said Ed Neaves, president-elect of Illinois REALTORS® and managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington. “The data suggest healthy buyer demand remains a fixture this year, while at the same time home sellers are still poised to make a modest profit.”
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* Let’s return to December of 2017…
Both of Illinois’ Democratic senators on Wednesday joined the list of lawmakers calling on U.S. Sen. Al Franken to quit.
In a tweet Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, said, “Senator Franken’s behavior was wrong. He has admitted to what he did. He should resign from the Senate.”
As we discussed yesterday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth now regrets calling for Franken’s resignation.
* I asked Sen. Durbin’s office for comment yesterday and again today and didn’t hear back until they sent me this link to a Washington Post story…
“I certainly would have said that we should turn to due process,” Durbin told The Washington Post. “He deserved his day before the Ethics Committee, and his accuser the same. I think that would’ve been a more thoughtful outcome.”
When asked whether he would not have called for Franken to resign that day, Durbin responded: “With the assurance that there would’ve been a timely hearing and due process, I would’ve held back.” […]
Now, Durbin said Senate Democrats rushed to judgment on Franken, saying senators were “pressed to make a quick decision and unfortunately did it at the expense of due process.”
He also acknowledged that a controversy involving then-Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls in the 1970s, was one factor in the Democrats’ swift decision to push out Franken.
“You’ve got to put it in that context,” Durbin said. “I mean, it was a political context of Roy Moore. The accusations were very, very serious against him, much more so than the serious allegations against Al. But I think that was definitely part of the context.”
* Back to the New Yorker article…
Franken asked to meet with [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer], who suggested talking at his apartment in downtown D.C., in order to avoid the press. “It was like a scene out of a movie,” Franken recalled. Schumer sat on the edge of his bed while Franken and his wife, who had come to lend moral support, pleaded for more time. According to Franken, Schumer told him to quit by 5 p.m.; otherwise, he would instruct the entire Democratic caucus to demand Franken’s resignation. Schumer’s spokesperson denied that Schumer had threatened to organize the rest of the caucus against Franken. But he confirmed that Schumer told Franken that he needed to announce his resignation by five o’clock. Schumer also said that if Franken stayed he could be censured and stripped of committee assignments.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Franken told me. “I asked him for due process and he said no.”
By the end of the day, thirty-six Democratic senators had publicly demanded Franken’s resignation, including Schumer, who had known Franken since they had overlapped at Harvard.
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* Press release…
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst), and state Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove) today filed an amicus brief in the Circuit Court of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in response to the proposed consent order that will allow for the re-opening of the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook.
“Sterigenics has lost the right to operate in our community,” said Durkin. “This brief lays out the steps taken by the General Assembly, through The Matt Haller Act, to ensure corporate polluters like Sterigenics can’t harm any more of our state’s residents.”
“The Matt Haller Act’s language was specifically crafted to allow Illinois EPA to keep Sterigenics shut down based on its prior Seal Order findings, and the Illinois Attorney General’s assumption Sterigenics can meet the narrow limited exceptions given the added new compliance standards is premature and unfounded,” said Mazzochi. “At this time neither Sterigenics nor the Illinois EPA have shown Sterigenics can or will meet The Matt Haller Act standards, and until they do, they should remain shut down.”
The brief provides the court with additional background regarding the language in, and the intent of, The Matt Haller Act to show that the legislature appropriately addressed the issue of ethylene oxide in Illinois and that any attempts to circumvent the law are misguided and a misinterpretation of the law.
The amicus brief is here. I’ve asked the governor’s and the attorney general’s people for comment.
* From the brief…
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
In light of recent developments regarding the potential re-opening of the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook, Illinois, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Sean Casten (D-IL-06), Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), and Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) today urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set new, strict national standards for facilities emitting ethylene oxide (EtO) as soon as possible. The members also requested that a timeline of events, along with a status of progress, be shared publicly to reassure neighboring communities that the EPA is working to mitigate the cancer risk associated with prolonged EtO exposure. They also pushed EPA to conduct ambient air monitoring in Lake County where two EtO emitting facilities operate.
“The EPA is taking too long to move forward with an action to protect communities surrounding ethylene oxide facilities,” the members wrote in a letter to EPA Administrator Wheeler. “Even after elevated levels of EtO emissions have been found around the facilities in Willowbrook and Lake County, the EPA has been slow to respond to this public health crisis.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Governor’s office…
The Legislators’ amicus brief reflects a fundamental misstatement of the new state law which they drafted and sponsored. The consent order not only explicitly requires the company to comply with the new law but actually includes provisions that are more stringent than the law by imposing additional conditions on Sterigenics to protect the community. Without the consent order, Sterigenics would fight to reopen even before the strongest ethylene oxide sterilization regulations in the nation take effect.
From the consent order…
This Consent Order in no way affects the responsibilities of Defendant to comply with any other federal, state or local laws or regulations, including but not limited to the Act and the Board regulations.
And, I’m told, the judge in the case and the attorney for Willowbrook and Burr Ridge acknowledged in court last week that the statute allows Sterigenics to operate if they comply with the state’s new law.
…Adding… The transcript of that proceeding is here.
*** UPDATE 3 *** AG Raoul…
When my office partnered with DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin to file a lawsuit against Sterigenics, we called on the state’s lawmaking body – the General Assembly – to pass legislation to ban or greatly restrict the use of ethylene oxide in Illinois.
The Illinois EPA issued a seal order that our office has vigorously defended, ensuring the order remained in place to prevent operations while the General Assembly enacted stricter standards for ethylene oxide facilities in Illinois. The Legislature passed, and Gov. Pritzker signed, stringent regulations requiring facilities that generate ethylene oxide emissions to reduce emissions from each exhaust point by 99.9 percent. Under the law, facilities – including Sterigenics – that comply with the new law can operate in the state of Illinois.
The law passed just this spring by Leader Durkin, Sen. Curran and Rep. Mazzochi does include the strongest regulations of ethylene oxide emissions in the nation. However, it does not ban the use of ethylene oxide in Illinois.
Nothing in the proposed consent order filed last week allows Sterigenics to reopen unless and until Sterigenics can demonstrate compliance with the law, as recently passed by the Legislature.
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* Tribune…
The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed tightening automatic eligibility requirements for the food stamp program, a change that could affect about 3.1 million people.
The Agriculture Department said the rule would close “a loophole” that enables people receiving only minimal benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to be eligible automatically for food stamps.
“For too long, this loophole has been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines. Too often, states have misused this flexibility without restraint,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement. […]
Under the proposal, to qualify for automatic eligibility, people would have to get at least $50 a month in benefits from TANF for a minimum of six months.
* I asked the governor’s office for a response. Here’s Jordan Abudayyeh…
The governor believes SNAP is an important tool that families across Illinois need to build better lives. The Trump administration is attempting to change rules around SNAP so less people will have access to the assistance they need and that’s just wrong. In Illinois, we believe in lifting up our neighbors so everyone has the opportunity to thrive. The Pritzker administration will tell the federal government that this rule change will hurt families across our state and urge them to reconsider the change.
* Meanwhile, from the Southern Illinoisan…
In Jackson County, nearly 12,000 people benefit from a federal anti-hunger program that helps families buy groceries.
Lauren Stoelzle is among them.
Without the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, Stoelzle said she’s not sure how she would be able to juggle completing her master’s thesis, raising two little girls as a single parent, part-time work as a bartender, job searching and helping her father, who has been diagnosed with colon cancer, make it to and from appointments at the Marion VA. […]
Almost 40% of Alexander County’s residents, and 30% of Pulaski County residents, receive SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps. In Jackson, Williamson, Union and Gallatin counties, about one in five people receive them. And in Saline, Franklin and Hardin, its about one in four, according to U.S. Census data analyzed by the Daily Yonder, a publication of the Center for Rural Strategies, a nonprofit with offices in Tennessee and Kentucky that is focused on rural issues.
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No, he can’t do that
Tuesday, Jul 23, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
A Muslim civil rights organization called on Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker to sign an executive order cracking down on hate speech by elected officials after a faux movie poster labeling four Democratic congresswomen “The Jihad Squad” was posted on the Facebook page of a statewide Republican organization.
“It’s not about one meme that brings us here today,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Monday at a news conferences at CAIR-Chicago’s Loop headquarters. “It’s about a culture that exists within the Republican Party, unfortunately, and really that exists in the political fabric in America today. And it is problematic and poisonous.” […]
CAIR-Chicago has not yet reached out to the Pritzker administration about its idea for an executive order, said Maaria Mozaffar, the organization’s legislative attorney. […]
The governor’s office declined to comment on CAIR’s request. It’s unclear whether it would be within Pritzker’s authority to issue an executive order addressing hate speech by elected officials.
Huh? There’s nothing “unclear” about it. The governor has no such power to issue an order about anything outside of his direct control. Read the Illinois Constitution, for crying out loud.
The governor can order agencies and state employees under his command to do certain things (like cancel a concert). But he most certainly can’t officially order a political party, or a candidate, or a legislator or another constitutional officer (like, for instance, the auditor general) to do anything. And the Illinois State Board of Elections is also beyond his direct reach. By the way, he also can’t shut down a manufacturing plant by fiat (no, not even Sterigenics). He has to follow the laws on the books.
And I doubt anyone who thought about it for more than a few seconds would ever want an executive - any executive - to have such massive authority.
* Racism has poisoned and divided our country for centuries. And instead of trying to work our way through it, far too many people today appear to prefer rejoicing in it. That’s just disgusting behavior, particularly when some of our supposed leaders either encourage it or turn a blind eye (which is just another form of encouragement).
But handing dictatorial powers to a governor would be disastrous.
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Gun dealers complain about new regulations
Tuesday, Jul 23, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The SJ-R has a story up about the new Firearm Dealer License Certification Act. I’m a gun owner, but I’ve never been to this particular shop because they have (or had) a “no reporters allowed” policy posted at their entrance…
Reached Thursday by phone, a representative from Birds ’N Brooks Army Navy Surplus in Springfield confirmed the store is “out of the gun business and it was due to the gun license law.”
* One reason for the new law was to require gun dealers to increase their security procedures. Birds ’N Brooks apparently had a problem with that issue back in the aughts…
Police arrested the prime suspect this morning in Monday’s fatal shooting of a statehouse security guard. […]
Law enforcement suspects the shooter may have attempted to steal a 12-gauge shotgun from Birds ‘N Brooks Army Navy Surplus on South 6th Street, one hour before the Statehouse killing.
The store owner identified Monday’s robber as the same man who stole a 12-gauge shotgun last week, Burton reported.
Lt. Doug Williamson of the Springfield Police Department confirmed that the shotgun found in Potts’ apartment was the one stolen from the surplus store.
Maybe the State Journal-Register could’ve searched its own archives before running today’s piece.
* Anyway, back to the SJ-R…
Bill Oglesby, a fourth-generation gunmaker and gun dealer in Springfield, had choice words last week for the Illinois State Police website that wouldn’t accept his application. Promised return phone calls haven’t materialized, he said.
“We tried to meet the deadline and (this happens),” Oglesby said. “What’s a guy supposed to do? We believe in obeying the law.
“There are no administrative rules.”
“Give us clear rules,” Dale said. “I’m a rule follower.”
That’s probably the most valid point. The ISP is definitely understaffed and overwhelmed and the compliance deadlines were very tight.
…Adding… I forgot to post this bit…
[Doug Schmidgall, the owner of Aim 2 Shoot in Springfield] said that gun sales there have doubled the past month.
…Adding… Stolen guns are not uncommon. Per a commenter, here’s a Springfield example from 2016…
Springfield police say they believe the theft of more than 50 guns from a local firearms dealer last weekend is gang-related.
Five people have been arrested, including three juveniles, in connection with the break-in Sunday night at Letz Hunt and Sport
There’s no excuse for something like that.
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Governing Mag claims Pritzker is “thriving”
Tuesday, Jul 23, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Governing Magazine rates the rookie governors. Ours came out on top…
THRIVING
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D)
Pritzker took over following the contentious single term of GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, which featured ideological warfare and budgetary paralysis. The Democrat has been able to make the most of his party’s solid majorities in the legislature and successfully work with Republicans to strike bipartisan deals.
Pritzker’s legislative achievements fall in two areas: progress toward fiscal stability and a shift to the left on social issues.
On fiscal policy, bipartisan negotiations produced a budget that provides full funding for a new K-12 school formula, increases money for early childhood education, and modestly boosts spending for higher education and public safety. Pritzker enacted a transportation capital plan funded by increased gas taxes, as well as an education and public facilities capital plan that is funded by higher taxes on gambling and cigarettes. And the legislature placed on the 2020 ballot a Pritzker-backed measure to move the state income tax from flat to graduated.
In addition, Pritzker reached a four-year contract agreement with the public employee labor union, AFSCME, ending a standoff that had begun four years earlier under Rauner.
On other issues, the Democrat enacted a broadly liberal agenda that included a $15 minimum wage, an assurance that abortion will remain legal, heightened oversight of gun shops and legalization of recreational marijuana.
He had quite the session, no doubt. We’ll see if he can make his agencies function properly. That’s still to be determined.
* For example…
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is facing new scrutiny.
The Cook County Public Guardian is accusing the agency of forcing children to sleep on the floor because of a shortage of beds. Charles Golbert says he knows of seven such children who have been forced to sleep on a cold floor, and after trying to go through the proper legal channels to get DCFS to open their records, he is taking his case to court.
It was a heartbreaking report as told by Golbert, who describes children as young as five being forced to sleep on an office room floor right after being removed from their homes.
He believes it is because of recent changes with DCFS, that they did a little restructuring of their space, reducing the number of shelter beds by 500 in the last five years.
“Just this year, DCFS converted one floor of its shelter for other purposes what formerly had been shelter beds,” Golbert said.
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* Proft got the ball rolling…
* About an hour later, legislators began receiving this inquiry from one of Proft’s papers…
Hello
This is Hoang again, assignment editor for LGIS. I’m reaching out regarding the controversial picture Kankakee County democrats posted this late last week:
https://twitter.com/DanProft/status/1153380391870455808/photo/1
We’d like to get your thoughts on this.
Questions:
1) Wha do you think about the image comparing MAGA to KKK?
2) What are your thoughts on the divisiveness of the current political landscape? Can we escape this toxic rhetoric?
3) Isn’t this an expression of free speech? how does it differ from other expression of speech?
Those are all the questions I have for you. If you would prefer to conduct a phone interview, we can set up a time for me or another reporter to call you.
The unique email address above - though it looks strange - directly relays your response to our editorial system. When you hit “reply” to this email, your message will be sent directly to me.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Thank you.
* Craig tweeted it out…
* Greg picked it up…
A day after a GOP group caught heat for a faux poster dubbing four Democratic congresswoman “The Jihad Squad,” the Kankakee County Democratic chairman conceded he posted a now-withdrawn image likening a support of President Donald Trump to membership in the Ku Klux Klan.
In a phone interview, Chairman John Willard defended the picture of someone wearing a Klan-style peaked hat—dyed red and with a spin on Trump’s patented slogan, but here reading “Make America hate again.” To the side of the image, the posts reads: “What’s the difference between a Klan hood and a MAGA hat? The Klan hood was made in America.” […]
A screenshot of the image was forwarded to me by a Republican operative. I phoned Willard to see if it was legit, and he said he had posted the image on July 19 but the post was taken down a day or two later by a member of his organization who works as a web administrator and “said it wasn’t in good taste.”
Willard said he posted the image because, “for me, it’s all about the hypocrisy of this president. He says he’s going to make America great, and then did what he did to these four congresswomen. . . .If he’s going to really make America great, don’t make your stuff overseas,” Willard added, referring to reports that some MAGA hats are produced in foreign countries.
In fact, official MAGA hats are made in a California factory by a mostly Latino workforce, though some knockoff hats reportedly come from China.
*Sigh*
People are so goofy. But, hey, at least they had enough sense to take it down before somebody demanded it.
* Or did they?…
The social media posts by the Democrats and Republicans represent the increasing political polarization over issues of race, immigration rights and ideology that have been fueled by Trump’s recent comments. The post by the Kankakee County Democratic organization, which appeared to have been posted after 5:30 p.m. on Monday based on the Twitter feed, followed a weekend Facebook controversy for the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association.
* The governor stepped in…
Missing a K, dude.
* And then the Sun-Times added to the story…
A representative from the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association did not respond to a request for comment Monday night. […]
Willard said he posted the image but deleted it July 19 — the same day that the Republican County Chairmen’s Association of Illinois shared a bogus movie poster on its Facebook page that depicted four Democratic congresswomen of color as “The Jihad Squad.”
I haven’t looked, but I’m betting lots of county party Facebook pages are nightmares just waiting to be discovered. Do better.
* Fox Chicago…
“Internet memes that’ve been posted by both parties on different partisan websites highlight something that I think most people in this state understand. Both political parties are run by a bunch of knuckleheads,” said Dan Proft, talk show host of AM-560 The Answer.
* Tribune…
Democratic state Sen. Toi Hutchinson of Olympia Fields who also is president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said “no one should be clutching their pearls” as if they haven’t seen such memes played out on both sides across the nation.
“It should make us all take a hard look at the power of social media to incite division and hate in our country,” Hutchinson said. “We should insist on doing better because I for one am tired of this.”
* Kankakee Daily Journal…
In a statement, Kankakee County Republican Chairman Jeff Keast said the local Democratic Party has become “a radical, left-wing, fringe party.”
“Comparing President Trump and his supporters to a white supremacist hate group that systemically engaged in terror and murder is absurd,” Keast said. “Democrat officials in our county must call out and reject such extreme rhetoric. While I appreciate that the county Democrats have since deleted their Facebook post, I believe they must apologize for their actions. They have gone too far.” […]
[John Willard, chairman of the Kankakee County Democratic Party] said his organization would not apologize for the local post, saying the demand for one is part of a political strategy.
“This whole thing was initiated by Trump, when he told four minorities to go back where they came from,” Willard said. “We are not in line with what the president instigated. It’s nonsense. It’s unbecoming of the United States.”
*** UPDATE *** Kankakee County Republican Central Committee Chairman Jeff Keast…
John Willard is so extreme and out of touch with his own county, that even far Left Democrats like JB Pritzker are saying he lacks ‘civility’ and are calling him out. It’s far past time for local elected Democrats to follow Pritzker’s lead and speak out against Willard. It’s clear that John Willard must resign as Chairman of the Kankakee Democrats. Our county deserves party leaders who are respectul in their disagreement. Willard has proven he is incapable of that.
…Adding… Wise advice…
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* Covering all their bases here…
The Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association today announced the organization’s final three 2019 Party Builder Award honorees: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Illinois Congressman Glenn Poshard, and Illinois House Deputy Leader Jehan Gordon-Booth.
“The IDCCA Party Builder Award is reserved for those who’ve influenced and activated grassroots Democrats in meaningful ways,” said IDCCA President Kristina Zahorik. “These honorees are reflective of the important work that is being done on the ground in every corner of our state.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who will be the special guest at the 2019 IDCCA Chairs’ Brunch on August 14th, will be the highest-serving elected official to ever receive the award. Pelosi has served in congress since 1987 and has served in the House Democratic leadership since 2003. She is the first woman to be elected as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and has advanced historic middle-class priorities including the Affordable Care Act. Last week, Pelosi and House Democrats passed a plan to incrementally increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
While he’s known all over Illinois as a fierce fighter for organized labor and worker fairness, former Congressman Glenn Poshard is a legend throughout Southern Illinois. A lifelong Illinoisan, Poshard began his public service career immediately out of college – first as a teacher, then as an Illinois State Senator (1984-1988). In 1989, Poshard was elected to represent a wide swath of Southern Illinois in congress. Congressman Poshard built a record of boosting rural health care access and advanced initiatives addressing abuse, neglect and abandonment of children. The Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, led by Congressman Poshard and his wife Jo, have been recognized throughout the state for their efforts to improve the lives of abused and neglected children.
In 2006, Poshard took on the role as President of the Southern Illinois University system. Upon his 2014 retirement he returned to the campaign trail, traversing the state advocating for the importance of electing Democrats. In 2016 & 2018, Poshard was an instrumental part of the IDCCA Get Out The Vote efforts traveling to over 60 counties to rally Democrats.
Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria) has a knack for making history. When she won her first election to the statehouse in 2008, Gordon-Booth was the first African American woman elected from central Illinois. In January, Gordon-Booth was appointed to leadership, becoming the youngest woman to become Deputy Majority Leader in Illinois state history.
Leader Gordon-Booth is known for tackling big issues in Springfield. She has made economic and social justice the cornerstone of her service. In 2018, she led the passage of the Neighborhood Safety Act, the most comprehensive criminal justice reform package in state history. In 2019, she was instrumental in passing several pieces of progressive legislation including the legalization of marijuana.
In total, there are six 2019 Party Builder honorees. In February, the IDCCA presented awards to Lucy Moog, Democratic Committeeperson for Chicago’s 43rd Ward; Ron Powell, longtime labor activist and former Local 881 UFCW President, and; posthumously honored, Public Relations trailblazer Desiree Tate, who was a longtime community organizer and public relations advisor for scores of elected Democrats, including Chicago mayors and President Barack Obama. Tate passed away unexpectedly in May 2018.
Pelosi, Poshard and Gordon-Booth will be honored at the 2019 IDCCA Chairs’ Brunch, held at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. The brunch is expected to have the largest attendance in IDCCA history, surpassing the more than 3,000 who attended in 2018.
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