* Gov. Pritzker’s campaign has spent more than $400,000 to run these ads on Facebook since July 6. Click here to see the buy details. Click here to see the landing page…
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Thoughts? Also, are you seeing any Pritzker ads on Facebook or other platforms?
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Caption contest!
Friday, Jul 16, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Workers excavated one of the Statehouse’s underground vaults yesterday…
I’m told that, at one point, the building shook.
Pics are from John Patterson and Giovanni Randazzo.
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Question of the day
Friday, Jul 16, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From IRMA, the IMA, Illinois Chamber, NFIB, AGCI, Chicagoland Chamber, NFIB and numerous other business groups…
Dear Governor Pritzker:
During the pandemic, states suspended their work search requirements for those who were unemployed and the federal government supplied an extra $300 per week in unemployment insurance benefits. This was an understandable reaction given the pandemic. Recognizing that the worst of the pandemic is behind us and at least 56% of Illinoisans 18 years of age or older are fully vaccinated and 72% having received at least one shot, the Illinois economy is now re-opened.
However, Illinois employers of all types and sizes are struggling to attract needed employees resulting in reduced hours and lost sales. Those lost sales directly impact the budgets of the state and units of local government. Before we lose any more economic ground, now is the time to reinstate normal unemployment insurance operations, including work search requirements, and benefit levels.
In Illinois alone, there are tens of thousands of unfilled jobs. Employers are offering substantially higher wages, employment bonuses and taking other steps to encourage people to return to work. The problem is employers cannot compete with the approximate $35 per hour unemployed workers have received over the last four months as a result of enhanced UI benefits, tax credits, and stimulus payments. Most employers cannot compete with those benefits, which equate to $35 per hour, no matter how much wishful thinking is applied.
In order to remove the artificial brakes being applied to Illinois’ economy, the members of the respective organizations listed below respectfully request the following actions be taken without delay:
1. Re-start work search requirement. Normally, unemployed workers are required to seek employment while receiving unemployment insurance benefits. This was suspended during the pandemic when jobs were not readily available and there was a greater risk of hospitalization or death from the virus. By any measure, that is no longer the case. More than 100,000 jobs are currently listed on the state’s own job site and that is far from inclusive of all the jobs available. UI benefits were never intended to be a permanent replacement for gainful employment. Even President Biden stated this should be the case in remarks he made on May 10th and subsequently directed USDOL to work with states to re-start the work search requirement. To-date, 47 states have taken this common-sense step. Now is the time for Illinois to do likewise.
2. End the PUA benefit. The $300 federal supplement made sense during the pandemic when jobs were not widely available. As previously noted, tens of thousands of jobs are now widely available.
3. Restore the UI Trust Fund to solvency. With $4.5 - $5 billion of ARPA funds remaining, Illinois should utilize those funds to return the Illinois Trust Fund to solvency. Without such an action, employers face yet another substantial tax increase and employees a substantial benefit cut. Neither can afford it. It has been estimated that as much as half of all UI benefits nationally were paid fraudulently. We know Illinois was a primary target. Employers and employees should not be required to pay for that fraud and utilization of the ARPA monies is an appropriate and responsible use as it pays down debt, saves the state tens of millions in annual interest payments, and protects employers and employees. Guidance from the U.S Department of the Treasury clearly allows and encourages the use of ARPA monies for this purpose stating as follows “… recipients may make deposits into the state account of the Unemployment Trust Fund up to the level needed to restore the pre-pandemic balances of such account as of January 1, 2020, or to pay back advances received for the payment of benefits between January 27, 2020 and the date that the Interim Final Rule is published”. Importantly, S&P signaled they would look favorably upon Illinois if they utilized the remaining ARPA monies to repay part of the monies borrowed from the federal government for unemployment insurance. Finally, state revenues continue to exceed all expectations. Assuming spending restraint, the combination of ARPA monies and state revenues provide more than enough resources to meaningfully address the UI Trust Fund as well as other debt reductions.
We thank you for the attention we know you will give this request and the timely actions we believe you will take to re-ignite the Illinois economy for the benefit of all.
The governor has repeatedly said that a big part of the problem right now is that parents can’t find child care. He seemed open to the concept of paying bonuses to nudge people back to work, but the Illinois Chamber voiced staunch opposition…
“Paying people to return to the productive workforce is something that is not only going to create perverse incentives, but second, it’s really going to undermine small business confidence in their government,” he said. “Basic question: ‘I’ve got a job at a good wage. Why should I be paying higher taxes to pay someone to take my job?’ It’s just the wrong approach and we hope that the governor doesn’t go that route.”
* The Question: Do you think Illinois should re-start its work search requirement for unemployed residents and end the PUA benefit, and/or pay workers bonuses to go back to work, or just let it be as-is? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
free polls
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Weekly COVID update
Friday, Jul 16, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We haven’t checked in on this in a while. Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 4,449 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 62 additional deaths since reporting last Friday, July 9, 2021. 73% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 57% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,399,946 cases, including 23,357 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since reporting on Friday, July 9, 2021, laboratories have reported 228,430 specimens for a total of 26,292,979. As of last night, 476 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 94 patients were in the ICU and 28 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 9-15, 2021 is 1.9%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from July 9-15, 2021 is 2.3%.
A total of 12,917,362 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 21,217 doses. Since reporting on Friday, July 9, 2021, 148,520 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
Last week, it was 2,945 new confirmed and probable cases, 430 in the hospital, 91 in ICU and a 1.5 percent test positivity rate.
* Meanwhile, a dozen counties are in the warning zone…
That’s up from eight a week ago. But St. Clair has reversed its trend.
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Um, Kwame?
Friday, Jul 16, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As I told subscribers earlier today, this is the second quarter in a row that AG Raoul hasn’t raised any cash…
Statewide incumbents are all on different fundraising paths. Comptroller Susana Mendoza raised $311,000 and has $446,000 cash on hand. Treasurer Mike Frerichs has raised $340,000 and has $1.7 million in the bank. Illinois Attorney Gen. Kwame Raoul raised $10 (as in an Alexander Hamilton) and has $193,000 cash on hand. We’re told not to read into the low fund-raising number. It’s still a pandemic after all.
People have been holding Zoom fundraisers for over a year now and have raised decent bucks. No excuses.
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* Wirepoints…
Polls have long showed that few things in Illinois have more bipartisan support than term limits, with 80% of voters in support. Springfield, however, will have none of it. “A lot of hay was made,” as Politico said this week, about the Illinois House passing term limits earlier this year, though the bill was only for the speaker, Senate President and minority leaders of both chambers.
But Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Lawn) has shelved even that watered-down bill in that chamber, so nothing will happen. Harmon’s excuse? He said the legislation isn’t necessary given that the Senate in 2017 passed 10-year term limits for Senate leadership posts, according to Politico. He also questioned whether the bill would be constitutional.
That’s bunk. That change was just a rule change, not statutory, so the politicians themselves can change the rule at will. And a constitutional challenge in court just wouldn’t be a workable solution for a candidate for those positions. Harmon learned the ropes as former Senate President John Cullerton’s sidekick. He learned well.
“The politicians themselves” can change state statutes, too.
But, yeah, there are huge differences between a rule change and a statute change. Rules are voted on by each chamber every two years. Individual rules can be changed or even omitted when that happens (which is how the House Republicans under their previous Leader quietly dumped their own term limit language from their caucus rules). Statutory change requires both chambers being on board as well as the governor. It’s much more difficult to change a statute than it is to change a rule.
But this is particularly ironic since the Senate Democrats made such a big deal about their new rule. And the SDems under John Cullerton got into a massive fight with Speaker Madigan and organized labor over 2018 campaign TV ads that pushed leadership term limits. Madigan’s state party also refused to process mailers for the SDems which mentioned the topic.
And these are the same Senate Democrats who pushed for a clearly unconstitutional budget provision to zero-out funding for midterm legislator pay raises. So, yeah, spare me the constitutional argument, please.
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* I told subscribers about this development early this morning in more detail. Here’s Politico…
[The Democratic Party of Illinois] logged an astonishingly low $5,000 in the second quarter amid uncertainty about party Chair Robin Kelly’s ability to raise soft money — funds for state and local candidates — as someone who holds federal office. The quarterly numbers were revealed the same day the Federal Election Commission issued an opinion saying Kelly can’t be involved in raising or spending soft money.
A committee will be created to oversee that non-federal fundraising. We don’t know who will be on the panel but a source close to House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch says he won’t be on it. This all adds to the concern about how the party will learn to raise big money after former House Speaker Michael Madigan pulled the strings on the fundraising juggernaut for so long.
It’s still too early to know if Senate President Don Harmon will join the committee. Or will the party hope to rely on the largess of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire who famously funded his own campaign and that of others in 2018?
I’m about a thousand percent sure there’s no way the party is even thinking about relying on the governor’s personal stash at the moment. Things ain’t great between the two camps, to say the least.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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* Sun-Times…
Pritzker had more than $32 million in his war chest at the end of last month, thanks to a personal contribution he made in March. With a fortune estimated at $3.5 billion, the Democrat can replenish his political fund whenever he feels like it just by taking out his checkbook.
Among Pritzker’s current Republican rivals, suburban businessman Gary Rabine raised the most, pulling in $344,921.74 during the quarter, twice the $165,455.92 that GOP rival Darren Bailey raised. But Bailey, a state senator from Xenia in southern Illinois, had $490,700.75 left in his fund on June 30, while his Bull Valley rival had $287,325.29.
The third GOP challenger, former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, raised just $83,235.00 during the quarter and had $116,280.47 left in the bank at the end of last month.
The paper also reported that Alexi Giannoulias’ cash on hand is “nearly three times the size of three secretary of state rivals combined.”
* Not a lot of cash on hand…
* He does pretty well with small contributions…
* More stuff…
*** UPDATE *** ILGOP…
After filing its second quarter state and federal fundraising report last night, the Illinois Republican Party is proud to announce it has raised $459,775 ($131k state / $328k federal) during Don Tracy’s first full quarter as ILGOP Chairman - the state party’s best quarter in over 10 years outside of a large contribution from former Governor Bruce Rauner in 2015.
“I made clear from the beginning that raising the necessary funds to combat the entrenched and corrupt Democrat machine would be one of my main objectives as Chairman,” said Tracy. “I believe our team at the state party, including our newly formed finance committee, rose to the occasion and delivered results Republicans across Illinois can be proud of. I cannot thank our finance team enough for the work they have done these last few months.”
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* Chris Marquette at Roll Call…
Patrice Campbell, a Black staffer for Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, is suing Schneider’s office, alleging that her supervisor, Karyn Davidman, made lynching references directed at her, among other hostile work environment and retaliation allegations in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Davidman created a hostile work environment aimed at Campbell because of her race and that the office did not properly discipline Davidman after being made aware of those actions.
On a March 3 phone call, Davidman, who is white, allegedly was relaying a story to Campbell about lanyards that secure face masks to protect against COVID-19. At one point, Davidman told Campbell, “Patrice — you are going to have to get a rope and put it around your neck!”
The complaint says Campbell was “taken aback by Davidman’s obvious reference to lynching” and told Davidman her words were inappropriate and inflammatory.
In addition to the hostile work environment allegation, Campbell also alleges that she was retaliated against for reporting Davidman’s behavior and subsequently was assigned a smaller work portfolio.
There’s more, so go read the rest.
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Open thread
Friday, Jul 16, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Anything on your mind you’d like to share?
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*** LIVE COVERAGE ***
Friday, Jul 16, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Today’s post is sponsored by the Association Of Illinois Electric Cooperatives. Follow along with ScribbleLive…
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