Tribune: FBI raids Kevin Quinn’s house
Wednesday, Jun 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Big scoop…
Federal agents have raided the Far South Side home of Kevin Quinn, a former top political operative for House Speaker Michael Madigan and brother of the 13th Ward alderman, the Tribune has learned.
The FBI executed a search warrant in mid-May at Quinn’s home in the 10300 block of South California Avenue in the West Beverly neighborhood, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.
It’s unclear what information the agents were seeking or whether the raid stemmed from Quinn’s past work with Madigan’s powerful political organization. One source, however, told the Tribune federal agents had shown interest in computers and electronic equipment.
No charges have been filed against Quinn, 43, who could not be reached Wednesday. Messages left for Madigan’s spokesman and lawyer were not returned.
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Jun 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We talked the other day about the advice various folks gave new Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot via the Center for Illinois Politics. They were also asked about their own personal “mantras” while they were serving in public office. Here’s DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin’s mantra…
I try to figure out how we can advance a cause every day, and so I try to put aside the politics and the pettiness and the personalities which can be very hard. I try to keep my eye on the ball and make sure we’re moving down the field.
* Former AG Lisa Madigan…
Use your power for good. And always remember that you are a public servant.
* Former Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan…
What would my mother think?
* The Question: What’s your personal “mantra”?
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How the expungement/pardon process will work
Wednesday, Jun 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
He emphasized that the law provides for automatic expungement of arrests for marijuana possession under 30 grams, and that he will pardon those with convictions for possession up to 30 grams.
Individuals and prosecutors may go to court to seek expungement of cases involving up to 500 grams.
“Today we are giving hundreds of thousands of people the chance at a better life,” Pritzker said.
The governor noted that no one with a violent crime conviction will be eligible for expungement or pardon.
* Excellent story from Hannah Meisel…
Expungements and pardons will available under the new law for approximately 700,000 arrest and conviction records belonging to approximately 315,000 people. […]
In the next 180 days, the state police will identify all eligible convictions based on criminal history records within the state police’s database and provide the convictions to the Prisoner Review Board, which will review the records for eligibility to ensure that the convictions in the dataset are indeed eligible for pardon and not associated with a violent crime.
After that, the board will notify local state’s attorneys of felony convictions being considered for clemency, and those county prosecutors will get 60 days to file a written objection to a pardon based on evidence that the conviction record is ineligible for clemency. The board will then provide the group of convictions eligible for clemency to the governor, who will then be able to pardon them all at once.
From there, Attorney General Kwame Raoul will file petitions with each individual circuit court around the state to expunge the records of those who were pardoned.
“We wrote in the law an expedited process,” [Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell] said of the Prison Review Board’s role in expungement. “I’m circumspect to give you a date now because I just don’t know. This is a new thing, it’s a rather large-scale thing. It’s going to take time, but it’s going to take much less time than it was otherwise.”
The Prison Review Board, a 15-member board responsible for hearing the pleas fromr incarcerated people to get out of prison earlier than their sentence dictates either on parole or for good behavior, usually takes time with their decisions. Mitchell compared that intensive fact-finding mission with the board’s responsibility in marijuana clemency, and said board’s role here will take much less time.
* Background…
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* NBC 5…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has made four out-of-state trips for official business since taking office in January. Each time, he has traveled on private chartered jets but he has not charged taxpayers, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
On Feb. 21, Pritzker, a Democrat, headed to the National Governor’s conference and a black-tie dinner at the White House. At Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, he and his wife M.K. boarded a private jet en route to Washington’s Dulles Airport. Four staffers plus a member of the governor’s security detail also boarded a G200 private jet along with a three person flight crew for the two-and-a-half hour flight, according to travel documents obtained in a public records request.
In all, Pritzker has made three official trips to Washington and one to New York.
The governor’s office in a written response noted “The Governor does not charge his travel expenses to the state of Illinois” and said personal and campaign funds were used to rent the jets. […]
When asked about the privately funded trips, Susan Garrett, a co-founder of the Center for Illinois Politics, said “it’s never been done before in Illinois.”
A former Democratic state senator, Garrett acknowledges the unusual move saves taxpayers money, but she said, “There’s something to be said for public servants who have to work within budgets and rules and guidelines.”
It’s never been done before? Really?…
Gov. Bruce Rauner used a helicopter, apparently owned by a campaign donor, to get him to a public event on Friday.
“He covered the cost personally, so it would not be at the taxpayers’ expense,” said Rauner spokeswoman Laurel Patrick.
The helicopter landed at Aurora University so Rauner could go to an assessment of flood damaged areas in nearby Lake County. Federal and state emergency management agencies and the Small Business Administration were involved.
That took all of three seconds to find on Google.
…Adding… As noted by commenters, using campaign money to pay governmental and public policy travel is perfectly legal in this state…
10 ILCS 5/9-8.10)
Sec. 9-8.10. Use of political committee and other reporting organization funds.
(a) A political committee shall not make expenditures:
(6) For the travel expenses of any person unless the travel is necessary for fulfillment of political, governmental, or public policy duties, activities, or purposes.
That was done to help cut down on governmental travel expenditures. It was, in other words, a reform.
*** UPDATE *** Back in 2003, then Sen. Susan Garrett was the chief sponsor of a bill that, in part, did this…
Nothing in this Section prohibits the expenditure of funds of (i) a political committee controlled by an officeholder or by a candidate or (ii) an organization subject to Section 9-7.5 to defray the ordinary and necessary expenses of an officeholder in connection with the performance of governmental duties.
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Our sorry state
Wednesday, Jun 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Right of Center Square…
Illinois is the only state in America that has yet to release its official report from fiscal year 2018 and state officials don’t yet know when it will be released.
Every state, most cities, and other forms of government must have a comprehensive annual financial report, or CAFR, done as a way for not only citizens to better understand their local government finances, but also to give officials a better idea on the baseline costs for upcoming budgets.
Illinois is often one of the last states to finish its report and this year, state officials have yet to do it, making it the latest since 2011 when Comptroller-turned Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes released it on June 30, 2012, a full year after the fiscal year ended. […]
A 2011 report from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, which dictates best practices for many functions in public governance, found the average amount of time it took for a state to release a CAFR was less than 7 months.
In surveys, GASB found that the information released via these reports “diminishes quickly” in value after six months. Bondholders often use the information found in CAFRs to gauge the creditworthiness of a unit of government before bidding on an offering, which Illinois plans to do soon.
According to the Auditor General’s office, the latest a CAFR was ever released was August 24, 2006, for the previous fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005. The CAFR for fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010 were all issued in July of the following years. So, as mentioned above, this isn’t new.
* Comptroller Mendoza…
State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza Wednesday declared her continued displeasure with the pace of release of the State’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). Monday marks the beginning of a new fiscal year, and we are still without the fiscal year 2018 CAFR.
The Illinois Office of Comptroller compiles the CAFR from reports submitted to the Office from individual state agencies that are required to be audited by the Illinois Auditor General. If any of those audits are not complete, the Comptroller cannot publish the CAFR.
The timeliness of the issuance of the CAFR has been an issue that spans back since fiscal year 1999, marking the last time the report met its reporting date. In six of the last 12 years, the CAFR has come out in June or later, a year after the end of the fiscal year. In 2009, it came out in July. The state appears on-track to match or beat that dubious record this year.
The lateness this year does not fall on the Comptroller’s Office, the Auditor General or the current leadership of the state agencies. It appears there are issues from this audit period dating from the previous administration’s management. The current administration and leadership of those agencies are working to resolve them and account for them in their reports to the Auditor General.
The Comptroller’s Office stands ready, as it has been since December, to publish the CAFR as soon as the remaining audits are completed.
“My first year in office, we got the CAFR out in February. Last year, the CAFR was issued in early March,” Mendoza said. “I am highly concerned and disappointed that this process is taking so long. My hands are tied until we get the final audited reports from the Auditor General.” [Emphasis added.]
CAFRs are hugely important, but Illinois, as usual, is so backwards that we lag behind the rest of the country. We are the only state that doesn’t have a single financial reporting system. And despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent on new systems, way too many agency systems are one-offs that can’t communicate with anyone else.
The auditor general has to put together an audited financial report by going through each individual agency, and if some big agencies are found not to be in compliance, that can really mess things up.
Auditor General Frank Mautino told me today that these problems are especially acute “when you have dysfunctional government, dysfunctional agencies.” He couldn’t be more specific because the audit process is confidential.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Fun with numbers
Wednesday, Jun 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* John Tillman on the Fox News website…
Many public-sector workers in Illinois have indicated they don’t want to continue paying dues. In fact, more than 8,000 public employees stopped sending money to AFSCME Council 31 – that’s at least 12 percent of employees represented by AFSCME, the largest and most powerful government union in the state.
Each of those 8,000 workers had their own reasons for choosing to stop paying the union. Maybe they wanted to keep more of their hard-earned money to spend on their family. Maybe they didn’t like the union’s demands on taxpayers. Or maybe they didn’t like the union’s politics.
Notice that clever use of the phrase “stopped sending money to AFSCME Council 31.” He didn’t claim that 8,000 union members had dropped out. What he’s mainly talking about here are former fair share fee payers who are no longer required to pay their, um, fair share.
The union suspects Tillman’s 8,000 figure was derived from a January federal filing about December union membership which was incomplete due to a paperwork snafu with one of its largest employers. That filing made its membership look about 3,000 smaller than it actually was at the time. AFSCME says it had about 5,000 fair share fee payers at the time of the Janus ruling.
“Despite IPI’s direct-mail and paid advertising campaigns, only a relative handful of former members has dropped out,” a union official said.
And, according to AFSCME, the union has added 1,100 members since the Janus ruling and another 800 new signups are in the pipeline.
Keep in mind that former Gov. Bruce Rauner believed union members would leave AFSCME in droves after Janus. That apparently hasn’t happened even though the Policy Institute has been mailing members urging them to drop out of the union.
I asked the Policy Institute for a response an hour ago and didn’t hear back.
*** UPDATE *** From the Institute…
The number is based on the 2018 and 2017 LM-2s (comparing membership numbers between the two years). The 2018 LM-2 covers the preceding fiscal year (which runs Jan 1 - Dec 31 for AFSCME Council 31) and was filed with the federal government on April 1, 2019. That was the second filing for 2018 (AFSCME also filed one on March 27, then re-filed this on on April 1 with the same membership numbers).
I can’t speak to the ’snafu’, but AFSCME didn’t correct it in its April 1 re-filing of its LM-2 (attached).
The 2017 LM-2 showed AFSCME had 57,995 members. The latest 2018 form showed 57,000 members.
* And here’s a bit of news I missed…
The U. S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a petition from Illinois home health workers seeking to recover “fair share fees” they once paid to cover the costs of collective bargaining. That leaves in place a Seventh Circuit decision not to certify the proposed class of more than 80,000 health workers who want the roughly $32 million they’ve paid in fair share fees to the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois & Indiana since 2008 to be repaid in full.
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What’s next for cannabis?
Wednesday, Jun 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tom Schuba takes a look at the future of cannabis legalization here. As the sponsors noted yesterday, the General Assembly has passed new laws related to alcohol just about every year since Prohibition ended and cannabis will likely be the same…
Anyone over the age of 21 can already order up pot products for delivery in California, Nevada and Oregon, according to O’Keefe.
Deliveries of recreational marijuana will also kick off when sales start next year in Michigan, the first state in the midwest to legalize recreational pot, as well as the following year in Colorado, O’Keefe said. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission delayed voting last month on regulations related to the delivery and social consumption of weed, according to The Republican.
While home cannabis deliveries came up during Illinois’ last legislative session, Cassidy said she and fellow lawmakers wanted to wait until the initial legalization bill had passed to address those types of sales.
“That opens up a layer of issues that I don’t think we were prepared to address,” said Cassidy, who was deterred by reports of medical marijuana delivery drivers being robbed in Michigan. “That’s something that is likely another bill for another time.”
Dan Linn, executive director of the Illinois chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, echoed some of Cassidy’s safety concerns but also noted that the delivery business would likely be easier to crack into than other aspects of the legal pot industry that require hefty, non-refundable application fees and other barriers to entry.
They have smart phone apps for weed delivery service in California. You can be sitting at an outdoor cafe sipping on a pink lemonade and, poof, just like that, the delivery person arrives with your order.
…Adding… I somehow forgot to include this…
* Related…
* Pot to be legal here in 2020: On Tuesday, Rep. David Welter, a Morris Republican, applauded legalization. “Today is an affirmation of individual liberty. Adult use of cannabis should be a personal choice,” he said. “Beyond that, I am proud of our commitment that 20 percent of the revenue generated by legalization will go toward funding for mental health and substance-abuse services in Illinois. An additional 10 percent will go to pay down the state’s backlog of unpaid bills, which directly benefits hospitals, health care, and social-service providers in every community across the state.”
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President Preckwinkle wants another term
Wednesday, Jun 26, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rachel Hinton …
Nearly three months after a blowout loss to Lori Lightfoot in the April mayoral election, Preckwinkle on Tuesday kicked wide open the door to seeking another term as Cook County Board president.
“Yes, she’s running again,” Scott Kastrup, Preckwinkle’s political director, said at a fundraiser held at the Chicago Cultural Center. “We’re pleased to be doing this [fundraiser] again, and she’s definitely running for re-election for the County Board.”
Tuesday’s event left little doubt that that was the plan.
A jazz band played tunes such as Dave Brubeck’s classic “Take Five” as supporters filed into the room. At the sign-in tables, donors were encouraged to take buttons emblazoned with Preckwinkle’s face.
The messaging was simple: Re-elect Toni Preckwinkle President of Cook County Board.”
* Tribune…
Preckwinkle, who is chair of the Cook County Democratic Party, previously said this would be her last term.
But she backed off the idea in an April interview with the Tribune, saying she was thinking about running for re-election in 2022.
“I think there’s a lot to do,” she said at the time, “and in particular, frankly, we’ve got to do something about what’s happening in the south suburbs.”
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Jun 25, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* SJ-R…
The Illinois State Fair on Monday announced it has added a free concert to its Grandstand lineup. It’ll be another two weeks before we know for sure who is performing, however.
The concert will happen on Thursday, Aug. 8, after the Twilight Parade, a night when the Grandstand is normally dark.
Fair officials did not reveal the name of the performer(s) — other than to say it is a “big-name act that everyone will recognize” — and instead set up a contest for people to guess the artist in an effort to win backstage passes to meet the performer.
Hope it isn’t Confederate Railroad. Just sayin…
* The Question: Your guesses?
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Cannabis roundup
Tuesday, Jun 25, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed into law a bill that will legalize marijuana in Illinois next year, marking a momentous shift in how the state treats drug use.
The bill will allow the licensed growth, sales, possession and consumption of cannabis for adults 21 and older.
The signing ceremony, attended by several lawmakers, officeholders and marijuana supporters, took place at the Sankofa Cultural Arts & Business Center in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood.
Pritzker called the legislation a “sea change” for Illinois, saying that the war on drugs has destroyed families and disproportionately affected minorities.
“Illinoisans have had enough,” he said. “… The time for change has long since passed.”
A press release and fact sheet are here.
* CBS News…
“Studies have shown time and time again that black and white people tend to use cannabis at the same rates, but black people are far more likely to be arrested for possession,” [Pritzker] said. “Criminalization offers nothing but pain, disruption, and injustice. The legislators and activists standing with me today have heard you.”
In addition to providing criminal-record scrubbing for past low-level offenders, the law gives preference to would-be marijuana vendors in areas of high poverty and records of large numbers of convictions. And portions of tax proceeds must be reinvested in impoverished communities.
* CBS 2…
In addition to standard state and local taxes, the state would impose a 10% tax on all marijuana products with up to 35% THC, the chemical that gets marijuana users high. Marijuana products with THC concentrations of more than 35% would be taxed at 25%. Cannabis-infused products like edibles would be taxed at 20%.
Counties can add up to 3.75% for unincoprated areas and municipalities can add special taxes up to 3%.
The legislation also will effectively wipe clean previous small-time marijuana convictions.
The governor also will pardon all misdemeanor marijuana convictions involving less than 30 grams. Prosecutors or convicts could seek court orders to pardon and expunge records of convictions involving up to 500 grams.
* Sun-Times…
“Change is hard, but an essential tenet of good governance is recognizing the need to change the laws that have failed,” Pritzker said before signing the bill at the Sankofa Cultural Arts and Business Center on the West Side. “In the past 50 years, the war on cannabis has destroyed families, filled prisons with nonviolent offenders and disproportionately disrupted black and brown communities.” […]
New conflict of interest provisions were also added, which ban lawmakers and their family members, as well as state employees, from being able to get a cannabis business license for two years. New changes also included strengthening language to ensure employers can maintain a zero tolerance drug policy.
Designed to address concerns about impaired driving, the bill also includes the addition of a DUI Task Force led by Illinois State Police to examine best practices. That includes examining emergency technology and roadside testing.
* Capitol News Illinois…
The equity measures direct 25 percent of legalization revenues to a newly-established Restore, Reinvest and Renew Grant Program to “address the impact of economic disinvestment, violence, and the historical overuse of the criminal justice system,” according to a press release.
Legalization is expected to generate $57 million in the upcoming fiscal year and as much as $500 million a year when the industry is fully mature.
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Open thread
Tuesday, Jun 25, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m heading to a bill-signing, so you’re on your own for a while. Please keep it Illinois-centric and be nice to each other. I’m not quite sure when I’ll be back, so keep an eye on our live coverage post for updates.
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* We’ve had a spate of legislative retirements, so this is worth a look…
According to Ballotpedia, Illinois is one of just four states — along with Indiana, North Dakota and Colorado — in which party officials fill legislative vacancies. In seven other states, county boards fill those jobs. In 10 states, it’s the governor’s responsibility to make an appointment. And in three states, a hybrid system is used.
One state, Ohio, allows a vote by the legislative chamber to make appointments. But a full 25 states hold special elections when a vacancy occurs.
In Connecticut, the governor must call for a special election within 10 days of a vacancy occurring and the balloting must take place within the next 46 days. If a vacancy occurs with fewer than 125 days before the next general election, then the special election coincides with that general election.
In Cook County, ward and township committeemen fill legislative vacancies. Outside Cook, party chairs play that role.
Thoughts?
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6,700 more students will receive MAP grants
Tuesday, Jun 25, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Dusty Rhodes…
Low-income college students in Illinois got some good news [yesterday]. The state’s Monetary Award Program — which provides MAP grants to help pay for tuition — will be able to give more grants with more money, thanks to the largest appropriation in the fund’s history.
Lynne Baker, with the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, says the agency approved a new formula that will boost grants by an average of $220 and cover at least 6,700 more students.
For the past few years, while the state suffered through a budget impasse, her job has entailed delivering a steady stream of bad news to students, community colleges and universities schools that depend on MAP funds. But the new state budget includes $451.3 million for MAP. […]
To figure out exactly how to apportion the pie, ISAC gets advice from the Illinois Association of Financial Aid Administrators. The final formula was approved Monday. The average grant for a community college student will be $1,048 (an increase of $23); the average award for a student attending a public four-year university will be $4,394 (an increase of $375); and the average award for a student attending a private non-profit university will be $4,527 (an increase of $393). The maximum award will increase from $4,968 to $5,340.
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“Our worst fears have been realized”
Tuesday, Jun 25, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I just have no words…
Just two weeks ago, two teenagers were left with no choice but to sleep on the floor of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services office building in the South Loop.
That’s according to a letter written by the Cook County Public Guardian to a federal judge overseeing a consent decree.
“Our worst fears have been realized,” wrote public guardian Charles Golbert. “DCFS has to resort to forcing children to sleep on the hard cold floors of its offices because it doesn’t even have an adequate number of shelter beds.”
In an interview with WGN, Golbert said: “It’s a violation of the children’s civil rights. It’s a violation of their rights under a federal consent decree that governs DCFS and it’s a violation of basic human dignity for the children.”
Golbert said the kids were 16 and 17 years old. After spending the night on the floor, he said one of them ran away from DCFS and, at last word, had not been found.
This may not be an isolated incident.
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* Press release…
Illinois’ home health care workers will finally get their back pay this week.
“These frontline workers enrich the lives of Illinois’ elderly and save taxpayers money by keeping them in their homes instead of costlier nursing homes,” Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza said. “They have long since earned the raise they won years ago.”
Back in 2017 the Illinois General Assembly approved a 48-cent-an-hour raise for some 49,053 workers who have visited Illinois’ elderly, providing home health care.
Former Gov. Bruce Rauner illegally refused to pay it, even as courts ordered him to follow the law. That pushed some of those elderly Illinoisans into nursing homes at far higher costs to taxpayers. The new administration had to comb through Rauner-era records to determine how much was owed to each worker.
“Despite former Gov. Rauner’s resistance, I safeguarded these back wages in a special account since April, 2018, for home health care workers who were entitled to the 48-cent-an-hour raise promised to them,” Mendoza said. “Given that these funds were safeguarded, my office is able to process these payments immediately without any further delay to hard-working current and former workers.”
These payments are separate from some $300 million in backpay for employees of other departments who were due raises former Gov. Rauner refused to pay. The Illinois Office of Comptroller is working with the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget and state agencies on the process for those back wages owed to state employees in other departments. Once those vouchers arrive, my office will begin processing such payments.
The $30.7 million in back wages for the home health care workers will be released this week to the Department of Human Services with an issuance date of Friday, June 28, 2019.
…Adding… Hannah Meisel has some different numbers today…
The state budget for the 2018 fiscal year included 48-cent per hour raises for roughly 28,000 personal assistants employed under the Department of Human Services’ Home Services Program, who provide services to individuals with severe disabilities so they can remain in their own homes. The total cost of the wage raise was estimated at $12.7 million annually.
But Rauner’s administration refused to pay the raises, arguing that they were improper as they are usually part of collectively bargained-for contracts with public sector unions. Those personal assistants are represented by SEIU Healthcare Illinois. The union filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of its members, who earned $13 per hour before the 48-cent per hour raise.
After a months-long legal battle, a Cook County judge sided with SEIU in early 2018. Rauner appealed, but as part of the appeal, his administration started setting aside money for the raises in an escrow account, which has netted $32 million, according to the comptroller’s website. A First District Appellate Court panel affirmed the judge’s ruling earlier this year.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s office announced in March that the personal assistants would begin to receive the 48-cent per hour raise in their paychecks starting in April. The administration also began paying out raises provided for in the budget for the 2019 fiscal year to 14,000 child care workers represented by SEIU.
The back pay owed to the personal assistants will be going out to more than the 28,000 workers the raise had initially affected, as turnover in those jobs is high.
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