In the coming months, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce will embark upon a change in leadership. Doug Whitley, our talented and energetic President and CEO, has informed the Chamber Board of Directors that he plans to retire next June. We thank Doug for the long advance notice, which will allow the Board to work with him through a well-planned transition period that will launch the Chamber’s next chapter of strong advocacy for Illinois employers.
Doug has served the Illinois Chamber since September 2001, guiding the organization through one of the most turbulent periods for business in the Chamber’s more than 90-year history, meanwhile restoring the leadership status of the Illinois Chamber as the unifying statewide voice of business in Illinois.
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Looking ahead, the timing of Doug’s retirement offers the Illinois Chamber an opportunity to establish new leadership and set its agenda prior to the 2014 gubernatorial election. Additionally, my term as board chairman ends next June, which means the incoming Illinois Chamber Board Chair and the new CEO will be able to begin their terms together.
Here’s good news for all you expatriates of Qo’noS.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security exists to help all of its residents, not just the human ones. Which is why, on their website, if you want to ask a question regarding a claim, you may, in fact, sign into the website in Klingon. So you may read the site, ask questions and get answers, even if your foreign language happens to be foreign enough to be from another planet.
Question: What else should the state consider implementing from science fiction?
I mean, I can’t be the only one slightly concerned about our lack of Sharknado preparedness.
Garman would be the second woman to head the Illinois Supreme Court — and in fact, only the second woman to lead one of Illinois’ three branches of government.
Based in Danville, Garman has been a lawyer since 1968, a judge since 1974, and on the Supreme Court since 2002.
Unlike on the U.S. Supreme Court, the chief justice of Illinois serves a three-year term. The position usually rotates among the justices based on seniority.
In the fiscal year that just ended, the state let $135 million worth of no-bid, “emergency” contracts. That’s $34 million more than the year before, and 300 times the amount spent the last year of former governor Rod Blagojevich…A member of the state’s Procurement Policy Board suggests all the no-bid contracts could be the result of worker indifference or personnel shortages or “general incompetence.” Those are the most positive possibilities. This could also be corruption — a sly way to give contracts to friends, family and political cronies.
Whatever the explanation, it means that the taxpayers likely are overpaying for goods and services.
More than 700 pages of emails the Tribune obtained through an open records request provide new insight into Scott’s recommendation and business dealings with Ahmad.
Before he arrived at City Hall, Ahmad served as Ohio deputy treasurer and awarded Scott’s firm $165,000 in bond business. After Scott joined the Emanuel administration, she selected a firm that employed Ahmad’s onetime boss, former Ohio treasurer Kevin Boyce, for hundreds of thousands of dollars in city bond work.
Boyce, too, recommended that Emanuel hire Ahmad. That backing came more than five months after he learned that federal authorities in Ohio were investigating his office, records show. A subpoena sought, among other things, the cellphone records of Boyce and Ahmad.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has reversed course and will reappoint Inspector General Joseph Ferguson as City Hall’s top watchdog oversees a lengthy audit of work done by the mayor’s former comptroller, who abruptly resigned amid a federal bribery probe related to a previous government job in Ohio.
The mayor’s office confirmed Tuesday that Emanuel plans to reappoint Ferguson to a second four-year term. The decision comes after Emanuel earlier had suggested that Ferguson, who often criticizes the administration, would have to reapply for his job with his current term set to expire in November.
Emanuel aides maintain that Ferguson plans to serve only one more year, and in a statement, Ferguson suggested that’s about right. But once the inspector general’s appointment is approved by the City Council, the mayor would be at a loss to enforce a one-year limit if Ferguson decides there’s reason to stick around.
In its endorsement of the move, the Tribune editorial board said the episode was a distraction from “raising the bar on public schools, repairing the city’s disastrous finances, stemming the bloodshed in its streets.”
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has fired a top county ethics official who was trying to punish Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios for putting relatives on his payroll.
MaryNic Foster was quietly dumped from her $110,355-a-year post in May after five years as executive director of the county’s Board of Ethics…Foster said top aides to Preckwinkle didn’t give her a reason for removing her from the post she’s held since 2008 — a job that’s exempt from rules that ban political considerations from influencing county hiring or firing decisions….Maribeth Vander Weele, one of five ethics board commissioners, said she agreed with Preckwinkle’s decision because “the office needed to be professionalized. It has no investigative procedures. Case notes are hand-written. There are no standards for professional conduct. As aggressive as this office is, we need to make sure every investigation is thorough and objective.”
People who are appointed to any one of the more than 70 units of government by the chairman of the Lake County Board will now have to sign a “Standards of Conduct” saying they agree to follow ethical standards.
Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor announced the plan last week for the 300 appointees that sit on various boards and commissions and it will be voted on Sept. 10 by the full County Board.
A longtime Springfield power broker went to prison in Kansas after being convicted in a shakedown scheme at the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, but that very pension fund still cuts him a tiny check because he briefly taught at a public school decades ago.
The taxpayer-supported retirement checks keep flowing to ex-Rep. Roger Stanley and insider William Cellini because their crimes were not tied to the public jobs in which they earned the pension credit.
An anonymous website is hosting numerous documents related to the St. Clair County Board, including minutes from a closed session discussing drug testing of county employees….The unknown publisher hopes the website enhances “government transparency and inform the residents of St. Clair County about what their representatives are doing.”
It’s too soon to tell if Reboletti will face a Republican opponent during the March primary. One person considering a bid is former state Rep. Chris Nybo, who was Dillard’s opponent for Senate in the 2012 primary.
“I have not decided,” Nybo said on Wednesday. “I will begin the process of collecting signatures to get on the ballot. I’m giving it a lot of thought, but I haven’t made a final decision yet.”
Nybo’s most recent quarterly report shows he did not raise any money this spring. In fact, his campaign fund appears to still owe just over $39k to family members. He reported a $1,500 donation a couple of weeks ago, but that still only puts him at roughly $3k in the bank.
Reboletti has been looking to move up for some time now. Subscribers know more.
Much of the start-up work has been done with the help of Decatur Mayor Mike McElroy, who ran for the state Senate in 2012 against current state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill. While McElroy is not an official member of his campaign team, Bell said the mayor helped identify people to know and put on committees, how to set up campaign structure and personal advice from the 2012 Senate run.
Support has also come from local Republicans, including state Rep. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth, who said he is firmly behind Bell’s campaign.
Bell has reportedly raised $5k in the last few weeks while Scherer has almost $40k in the bank.
Round Lake attorney Gerald Dietz has announced he intends to seek the Republican nomination for a state representative seat in the March primary.
Dietz, 44, said he plans to run in the 62nd House District currently represented by Democrat Sam Yingling of Round Lake Beach. Yingling and Dietz previously worked together for Avon Township.
Yingling posted some strong poll numbers when he beat incumbent Sandy Cole in November 2012. Dietz has roughly $7k on hand but still owes himself $5k. Yingling has more than $25k in the war chest.
* The first time I ever heard tourism used in a pro-same sex marriage argument was more than five years ago. Since then, other Midwestern states, such as Iowa and Minnesota, have legalized same sex marriage. So if there is any part of this story that is surprising to me, then it is that something like this did not happen sooner…
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who recently married 46 same-sex couples following his state’s passage of a law legalizing gay weddings, will appear in a predominantly gay Chicago neighborhood Thursday to launch a campaign called “Marry Me in Minneapolis.” He plans to follow with campaigns in Colorado and Wisconsin, two other states that haven’t approved same-sex marriage.
Rybak is trying to convince Chicagoans that rather than take a long — and expensive — plane trip to one of the coasts, just drive six hours to his city.
One has to wonder if this will ignite similar campaigns by officials from cities even closer to Illinois than Minneapolis, like Des Moines or even Davenport.
I suppose some were expecting the Governor to be more upset with this campaign, and treat it like a Scott Walker or Rick Perry poaching blitz. But the Governor has lobbied for SSM since he signed the civil unions bill, and this campaign isn’t trying to pry dollars out of the Illinois economy like Walker/Perry. These are dollars, as the Governor and Mayor Emanuel stated, that Illinois is simply missing out on…
The mayor, governor and Chicago tourism advocates cited the potential economic impact of legalizing same-sex marriage in Illinois, singling out a UCLA School of Law Williams Institute study.
That organization’s study estimated that Illinois’ wedding business would grow by $74 million during the first three years of legalized same-sex marriages. It also would generate $29 million in tourism dollars from out-of-town guests and boost state and local tax revenues by $8.5 million.
The Governor also blamed Republicans for not putting enough votes on the SSM bill in the House this spring. But as you know, and as subscribers know a little bit better, the HGOP not putting up votes was not the only reason that bill was not called for a vote.
*Bruce Rauner stood by his previous statements about same sex marriage during a radio interview yesterday…
Rauner: I will never…I have not supported gay marriage, and I will never advocate for it. What I’ve said is this should be decided through a voter referendum, and I will support what the voters decide through a referendum. If the majority of voters want to accept gay marriage, I will support them in that decision. If the voters through a referendum decide they don’t want to accept gay marriage, that’s what I will support.
* Speaking of which, Both Gov. Quinn and Kirk Dillard came out against the Rauner term limit proposal yesterday. First from the Governor…
“The Illinois Constitution was adopted by the people of Illinois in a referendum, and they decided — in their wisdom — that to override a veto it takes three-fifths of the members of the General Assembly,” Quinn says. “So I think that’s a pretty important provision … (and) I don’t think there’s a need to change that.”
Quinn says he also doesn’t see the need for another aspect of the plan, which would increase the number of representatives in the Illinois House, while decreasing the number of state senators.
“I think it’s a real slap in the face to downstate Illinois to downsize the state Senate because the districts become so geographically large, your chances of having input face to face to your state senator are greatly diminished,” Dillard says.
Rich is still out, but rest assured he shall return early next week from…
He may be looking for a new “intern emeritus.”
Hey, I’m all for new members to the Capitol Fax Intern Caucus.
* We’re going to get off to a slower start today. I have a class on Wednesday nights that runs into the early morning hours. I have a couple posts lined up that I’ll try to push out by this afternoon. Until then, here’s a rundown on some of today’s headlines…
* Biss: UPDATE: Pension conference committee: This process has been lengthy, partly due to the difficult and contentious nature of the issue — even as we hone in on a recommendation, conference committee members are hashing out every aspect of the topic carefully, and many components require significant compromise from all participants. Perhaps even more importantly, we are taking very seriously the need for a robust, credible actuarial evaluation of our final product. Consequently, we are requesting very thorough — and, yes, time-consuming — studies of our ideas.
* Pension fund buys River North apartment tower: The pension fund acquired a majority stake in Kingsbury Plaza, a 47-story tower just north of the East Bank Club in River North, according to people familiar with the transaction. TRS acquired its interest from GE Asset Management, which built the 420-unit high-rise in 2007 in a joint venture with Chicago-based apartment landlord Habitat Co.
* Study: Poverty increases fast in Chicago suburbs: The number of suburbanites living in poverty had grown to 629,564 by 2011, according to a review of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Heartland Alliance, a nonprofit group that fights poverty. That’s 95 percent higher than the 1990 number, the report said. That increase was faster than the 29 percent overall suburban population growth during the period.
* ‘I’m the guy you’re looking for’: Escaped prisoner with Glen Carbon ties recaptured: Carter was spotted by local police in Palestine, Ill., on Tuesday afternoon walking down the street about seven miles from the prison. When stopped, Carter told police, “I’m the guy you’re looking for” and surrendered without confrontation, then asked for water. Carter was part of a mowing detail at the minimum-security prison, located about 110 miles southeast of Champaign near the Indiana border. While assigned to the work crew cutting grass on the prison grounds, he walked away.
* Report: Farmers Could Do More To Lessen Impact Of Drought: The Natural Resources Defense Council says farmers could have greatly reduced losses, if they had been working to improve soil health. The NRDC suggests that planting certain grasses and legumes, and implementing a set of soil conservation practices, could nearly drought-proof fields. That would save farmers a lot of headache and taxpayers a lot of money
* Illiana expressway gets red light from planning group: “The current plan for the Illiana does not demonstrate significant transportation or economic benefits in exchange for high and uncertain costs,” the council said in a statement. “MPC opposes the Illiana.”
* Whole Foods developer gets $10 million city subsidy: (Walter) Robb promised to “learn and listen” to Englewood residents, serve “what the community wants, so long as it meets our quality standards” and offer “affordable” prices. “I don’t yet know exactly how we’re gonna do that . . . But, we’ve had some experience in the last year in Detroit,” he said of the 21,000-square-foot store now exceeding expectations in Midtown, one of that bankrupt city’s more vibrant communities.
* Houston: I’ll Start Thinking About Re-Election Next Spring: But half-way through a term he had said would be his last, Mike Houston is now hinting at the possibility of re-election.
Rauner contended Tuesday that backers of the new initiative had learned from that experience, and hence joined the term-limit proposal with the other proposed reforms. While cutting the size of the Senate from 59 members to 41, it would expand the House to 123 from 118 members, which Rauner argued would make races more competitive.
Rauner also proposes changing the number of votes needed to override a governor’s veto to two-thirds from three-fifths. He said that would give the governor a stronger role and bring Illinois in line with Congress’ checks on the presidency.
Voters are disgusted with entrenched politics here. The Paul Simon poll found 79 percent favored term limits, a number consistent with previous polls.
Asked what they believed would be the best way to curb corruption in state government, voters responding to a Tribune poll in 2010 put term limits at the top of the list.
They do want to take back their state. First step: Find a petition. Second step: Sign it.
Illinois already has one of the more powerful chief executives thanks primarily to the amendatory veto. Critics have suggested this would make the Governor even more powerful. They may easily be right. Also…
University of Illinois Professor Chris Mooney says Bruce Rauner’s petition drive to limit lawmakers to eight years in office is savvy in its three-pronged approach. The Winnetka venture capitalist’s proposal would not only limit the length of terms but also cut the size of the Senate and make it harder to override a governor’s veto.
I’ll let you discuss in comments whether that is the correct way to go or not.
Last month, Rauner launched the Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits, a ballot initiative PAC that operates differently from a campaign committee in that it has no limit on contributions. Rauner has not yet put any of his own money into the endeavor, but already secured more than $200,000 from investors — including $100,000 from Howard Rich and another $100,000 from former Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell. Rauner said the initiative would operate completely independently from his campaign with its own staff. Asked whether he would appear in commercials promoting it: “We’ve never even discussed that,” he said, adding that he believes there’s so much public support that ads may not even be needed.
And that just might put opponents Bill Brady, Dan Rutherford, and Kirk Dillard in a tough spot given their tenures in the Legislature exceed the 8-year limit in Rauner’s proposal.It also makes the situation interesting for Gov. Quinn…
Brady says he would support 10-year term limits and has proposed term limits previously. He suggests that Madigan might be more inclined to support the measure now given that the 71-year-old Madigan won’t likely serve more than 10 more years.
Brady has been serving in the legislature for 20 years, the last 11 in the Senate.
Candidate Bruce Rauner’s political action committee plans to ask voters to impose term limits in a November 2014 referendum. Governor Quinn pushed for term limits when he was state treasurer, until the Illinois Supreme Court stopped a ballot initiative.
Gov. Pat Quinn appointed the 15-member group after weeks of controversy at Metra over the $871,000 severance package awarded to ousted CEO Alex Clifford and the allegations Clifford raised of political interference at the agency….Quinn asked the group to develop ways to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse at the CTA, Metra and Pace, as well as the oversight agency, the Regional Transportation Authority, and to streamline overall system operations.
The meeting was awkward because the elephant in the room was not in the room at all. Metra officials were not invited to attend, and Acting Executive Director Don Orseno spent most of the session standing in a hallway outside. When he finally entered and took a seat in the back, no one on the commission took public note that anyone from Metra was even in attendance.
I find the best parties are the ones where the guest of honor isn’t included, too.
The task force’s deadline for initial recommendations is before the Oct. 22 fall Legislature’ session , with a final report due Jan. 31. Finding a politically viable solution that’s eluded us until now is tall order for a panel just beginning its work.
However, the board is encouraged by a reform proposal that would combine Metra with the RTA, CTA, and Pace into one entity. The theory is doing so would save administrative costs and improve the intergovernmental cooperation to address capital needs. There’s also this…
Quinn said Tuesday during the task force’s first meeting that the four agencies use 16 different appointing authorities to name 47 board members who are paid $10,000 to $50,000 each.
Task force background materials go even further, saying “the rationale for payments to multiple board members should be examined.’’
The materials also note that transit board members are not required to have “background checks, experience or knowledge of transit systems.’’ Once appointed, “it can be difficult to remove a board member even when there is just cause,’’ the informational packet for task force members says.
* Meanwhile, Greg Hinz was on the ball when it came to a ruling in the RTA’s lawsuit against businesses opening satellite offices in an attempt to dodge paying sales taxes…
A Cook County Circuit Court judge dismissed large portions of a suit by the Regional Transportation Authority against exurban Channahon and Kankakee Aug. 30 in a dispute over sales tax collection. But other counts in the $100-million damage suit remain alive, pending a decision in a related case before the Illinois Supreme Court.
In hjs decision, Judge Peter Flynn said the suit, which also includes Chicago and Cook County as plaintiffs, is incorrect as a matter of law in some instances, but said other charges can be refiled with more substantiation of specific incidents.
A former top aide to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has accepted the role of campaign manager to Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Bill Daley.
Thomas Bowen said in an exclusive interview with Capitol Fax he officially took the reigns of the Daley campaign on Tuesday after meeting with the candidate on multiple occasions in the previous weeks. Bowen, who left the Mayor’s Office in January to accept a partnership at Mac Strategies Group, previously served as deputy campaign manager to Emanuel’s mayoral bid. He has also served as campaign manager to CTA director Forrest Claypoole’s independent campaign against Democrat Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor, former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’s bid for a vacant U.S. Senate seat in 2010, and Mike Quigley’s successful attempt to fill Emanuel’s Congressional seat by special election in 2009. He has also held positions within President Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate and White House campaigns.
“Illinois needs a strong leader to solve our state’s chronic problems. Bill Daley is someone who will make the tough decisions we need to get our economy moving, reform our government, and educate our children. I’m thrilled to be joining his campaign,” Bowen said.
Bowen would not immediately say if the move means Emanuel intends to put his weight behind the former Commerce Secretary and his White House Chief of Staff successor in the 2014 Democratic primary. However the Mayor and incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn have been at odds over many issues, primarily the development of a casino in Chicago, which Emanuel has said would raise the city millions of new dollars. All Bowen would say at the time of the interview was that he and Daley have already begun mapping a fundraising strategy that would hopefully involve many people.
More to come as it’s available.
…Adding… Ryan McLaughlin at Mac Strategies said Bowen would be taking a leave of absence to accept the position.
The Dillard campaign did a media swing yesterday to formally announce state Rep. Jil Tracy as their lieutenant governor nominee. Part of that roll out included a video to introduce the Quincy-based legislator. Rate it in comments below…
For those of you just joining us after the long weekend, the master of the house is taking some time off in order to, according to commenter “Calhoun Native…”
He is following the state fair food vendors home.
He should be relieving you of my company on Tuesday.
* After nearly 5 years in office Gov. Quinn has no long-term plan for Illinois prisons On the Afternoon Shift, Quinn said he couldn’t remember the last time he was in an Illinois prison but nonetheless insisted the facilities are not overcrowded despite complaints of overcrowding from inmates, correctional officers and the non-partisan prison watchdog John Howard Association.
* Chicago’s top cop: Slight drop in homicides ‘progress’ but ‘not success’ And through the first eight months of the year, there were 85 fewer murders, 374 fewer shooting incidents and approximately 500 fewer victims of gun violence than during the same period last year, McCarthy said.
* Union president to cops: Sorry for errors that may cost you back pay The Chicago Police contract expired on June 30, 2012. Shields missed an earlier deadline to notify the city he intended to terminate the old contract and negotiate a new one. So the contract automatically rolled over for another year — and unionized officers won’t automatically receive a retroactive pay raise for the first year after the contract expired.
* Emanuel Opponents Want CTU’s Lewis To Run For Mayor Newsradio reached out to the creators of the Facebook page, and was told the founders are people who are “sick, angry, and ****ed off about the way things are in Chicago, and have been for a long time.
The proposed rule changes, for example, would require day care providers to offer children at least two occasions per day of age-appropriate outdoor time, depending on the weather.
Children would be prevented from remaining still for more than 30 minutes, outside of scheduled nap times.
The rules would ban children younger than 2 from watching television and limit children age 2 and older to watching one hour per day of TV.
The new nutrition rules include a prohibition on serving snacks with high sugar or fat content and on using trans fats or saturated fats as butter substitutes.
Current rules forbid serving desserts with high sugar and fat content but don’t mention serving those items as snacks.
In addition, infants may not have bottles in their cribs, and older children may not carry no-spill cups throughout the day or night unless the cups contain only water.
All of this, according to the Erickson report, is being done to circumvent childhood obesity.
QUESTION: Should these proposed restrictions on unhealthy snacks and amount of down time be enacted? Please answer in comments below and explain your answer. For example, if “Yes,” then should there be other items on this list? If “No, then would you approve of any of these recommendations?
Rank-and-file members emerged from Thursday’s king-making session saying they want to gain seats and become more relevant under the Statehouse dome.
But that leads to another one of Durkin’s problems. He inherits a campaign warchest that is lagging behind the money House Speaker Michael Madigan has at his disposal.
It probably was smart of Durkin to not make any pronouncements about how many seats Republicans might have a shot at picking up in the 2014 election.
On pension reform, Durkin has voted for a sweeping package of benefit cuts backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, while Rep. Raymond Poe of Springfield, a downstate favorite for House GOP leader, voted against each of the pension reform bills that came to the House floor this year.
Durkin is like Cross in that respect and might be expected to follow the same path on an issue that has not only split the two parties but also has caused internal fights among both Republicans and Democrats.
Cross, the current leader, is also a strong supporter of SB 1. So what happened when the bill got a vote in the House in May? It passed, but only 22 Republicans voted for it, despite the leader’s support. Another 24 voted against it. Cross’ position was no guarantee the rest of his members were in lock step.
Moreover, if the business community wants to retaliate against Republicans they think are on the wrong side of pension reform, they already have their list of targets. Threatening Poe supporters seemed rather pointless.
The Champaign News-Gazette in an editorial said Durkin was “clearly the best choice.” But given the information here, which shows division among Republicans on pension reform, does that statement still hold up?
Last session, the House Republican Organization, a fund-raising arm for members, closed out with a paltry $21,000. Though now there’s fund-raising hope with the Reform PAC that’s called on big-name donors, including gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, to pump money into Republicans running for the Illinois House. There’s $100,000 and counting since the PAC’s Monday filing. Durkin officially takes the helm on Sept. 20.
* A Political Action Committee chaired by Bruce Rauner is also planning to put legislative term limits on the November 2014 ballot. As Kerry Lester says in her report, this is not the first time this issue has come up, and it’s generally a populist issue. Gov. Pat Quinn has also said he favor term limits.
But history shows that it will be an uphill battle in Illinois, the biggest hurdle being a 1994 state Supreme Court ruling that stopped the initiative by Quinn, now the Democratic governor Rauner is aiming to unseat.
“How are you going to get around that decision?” asked Charlie Wheeler, who teaches public affairs reporting at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “A precedent is a precedent.”
…
To get the term-limits question on the 2014 ballot, proponents would need to gather signatures totaling 8 percent of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election, in this case roughly 288,000.
Rauner campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf would not reveal details of the new campaign or what maximum term it would seek to impose. If elected, Rauner pledges to serve a maximum of two terms in the governor’s mansion, but the state constitution would restrict any term-limit initiatives to legislators.
* Bill Daley whacked Gov. Quinn this weekend for his amendatory veto of legislative salaries from the fiscal year 2014 budget…
“It’s an abuse of power and a disgrace that any governor and a democratic governor albeit will take such an outrageous step. Obviously it hasn’t produced anything,” Daley said.
Lawmakers have now missed two pay periods. You’ll recall the Governor vetoed the legislative salary appropriation from the budget until they pass pension reform. The Governor stood by prior statements that lawmakers should override his veto instead of filing a civil suit claiming the move was unconstitutional.
* Speaking of that lawsuit, attorneys for the Governor filed a motion to dismiss…
In a motion filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday, Quinn’s lawyers acknowledge such an override could be unpopular with Illinois voters. But they say as long as the option exists, the lawsuit filed by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton seeking to restore legislators’ pay is premature.
“When a veto rankles the General Assembly, the usual and constitutionally sanctioned response is to seek to override it,” the attorneys state. “They have declined to exercise that power.”
Quinn’s lawyers also argue he has the constitutional authority to veto money for lawmaker salaries.
* Rich reported on a list of items being discussed by a bi-partisan committee of House and Senate legislators a couple weeks ago. The AP picked up on the list a day later. This weekend a Lee Enterprises editorial board said the items are “a good start,” but that they lack in some areas…
First, it does not address increasing the retirement age of public sector employees. Many public sector employees can retire as early as age 55, a benefit that is unheard of in the private sector. Taxpayers are weary of footing the bill for early retirement of public sector employees.
The second area that the plan doesn’t address is relieving the pressure the pension system places on the rest of the state budget. From the years between 2020 and 2038, 20 percent of the state budget would go toward the pension system. That means that other state services — education, health, public safety and others — would continue to struggle for the funds that remain.
Last week, calls went out to voters elsewhere in the state inquiring about the support for Rep. Adam Kinzinger possibly making a bid for the governor’s mansion.
The Channahon Republican’s camp has been quiet about the calls — which, we’d stress, do not definitely come from them. In fact, a spokesperson with his campaign operation didn’t even return a phone call from us.
But, closed lips or not, it got us thinking here. The prospects of a Kinzinger bid would seem to be good just based on the evidence.
For those of you who got an early start to the weekend, rest assured I am not here because Rich was part of the White Sox rebuilding efforts. In fact, I’m told no other teams were biting when he was put on waivers. Rich is taking some time off and should be back this time next week. I’m filling in by tossing up a few posts and keeping the comments section up to code while Rich is, according to commenter “uncle sam…”
Training Oscar in one of two ways: (a) to be a ninja so that Oscar can secretly spy on legislators and lobbyists; or (b) how to go from “lightweight” to “super heavyweight” before veto session begins.
We’ve always hoped that the lawmakers who fill their pockets with gambling industry contributions, and who want the independent Gaming Board to be anything but the independent law enforcement agency it is, would make a frontal assault on nominees such as these three. We cannot wait to see which senators would speak or vote against Jaffe, Holewinski or Gould and their stellar record of insulating the Illinois gambling industry.
We’re hard-pressed to think of another agency in Illinois’ often dysfunctional state government that has kept its head so far above political pressure, bureaucratic inertia and threats of criminal influence. Four times in its history the Gaming Board, its investigators and regulators have confronted the sorts of wrongdoing or inappropriate associations that in other states have erupted into devastating scandals. Four times the Gaming Board acted firmly, without regard for politics, and as a result this industry hasn’t suffered long-term embarrassments.
The editorial implies that anyone against Jaffe’s appointment wants the mob to takeover gaming in Illinois and zero government oversight. But Jaffe has been criticized in the Statehouse by legislators for his position on the gaming bill…
During the most recent legislative session Jaffe opposed a measure to add five casinos in the state, saying it didn’t give the board enough regulatory authority. That led to heated exchanges, including one hearing where Jaffe called a state senator “atrocious” and the senator returned the jab.
Quinn on Friday appointed Joel Sambursky of Carbondale to a 5-year term at Southern Illinois University. The former quarterback was inducted into the Saluki Hall of Fame in 2012. Sambursky’s selection comes after the state Senate rejected previous Quinn appointments to the university board. That happened after a power struggle at SIU and a fight over the way the Senate provides advice and consent on appointments.
Former DFPR director Nikki Zollar was appointed to the Chicago State University Board of Trustees.
* This being Labor Day weekend, opinion pages were filled with commentary on organized labor issues. The AFL-CIO opined on the challenges immigrant and public sector workers face in today’s climate…
More than 11 million aspiring Americans attend school, work in our neighborhoods, raise families, own homes and dream of a better life. But their dreams will never be realized with the threat of deportation hanging over their heads and a path to citizenship so far out of reach.
While immigrant workers struggle to become part of a country that benefits from their labor but doesn’t protect their rights, unscrupulous employers abuse the system by exploiting workers with little to no protections — and pay them less.
The state raised personal and corporate income taxes just as other states moved to cut the tax burden.
Illinois borrowed and spent its way into massive government debt.
Think any employer doesn’t know Illinois has worst-in-the-nation credit ratings and unfunded pension obligations? Even as states from California to Rhode Island have dealt with similar financial crises, Illinois has stalled.
Many of our political leaders don’t welcome employers, they try to dictate terms to those who have the temerity to set up shop here. (Hello, Wal-Mart and Ford Motor Co.)
At the end, the editorial restates a campaign slogan the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago used in the mid-2000s.
* Other items for your review…
* Probe of contacts between Metra Board member and ex-CEO sought: Email and phone exchanges between Metra Board member Jack Schaffer and ex-CEO Alex Clifford should be investigated to see if Schaffer leaked confidential information that could have affected Clifford’s buyout, a Cook County commissioner has urged in a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn.
* Cicero state rep allegedly complained to Clifford about ‘mistreating’ of husband at Metra job
* West suburban fire board pumped up chiefs’ pensions, promoted trustee’s partner: State Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), whose legislative district includes the fire protection district, calls the pay-hikes-for-“pension spikes” deals “outrageous” and says they “should not be tolerated.”
* Reporter ordered to reveal source: Will County Circuit Court Judge Gerald Kinney on Friday ruled that patch.com reporter Joseph Hosey must hand over all of his documents relating to the January stranglings of Eric Glover and Terrance Rankins. If the documents do not reveal his source, then Hosey must provide Kinney with an affidavit telling him who provided him with the records, when and how, according to the ruling.
* Gay marriage push looking to unions, immigrants: “The immigration advocates, they really know how to get it done,” said Jim Bennett, a director for Lambda Legal, a gay rights group that’s part of the Illinois Unites for Marriage campaign. “We have a lot to learn from them.”
* Will County officials prepare for possible strike: A year of labor negotiations has failed to produce a contract for members of Local 1028 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 1,260 of the county’s 2,300 union and non-union employees. | Union members are concerned because the county is asking employees to pay more for health insurance while offering small pay raises, said Dave Delrose, president of Local 1028.
* SIU president: Lobbyists crucial to protect school interests: “I know it’s probably hard for the public to understand, but it’s like anything else: We have to keep the legislature alerted to the bills that are passing through, and how they affect us. If we don’t do that, and we miss a very important bill that adversely affects our university, I’m to blame for that,” Poshard said.
The Pontiac Republican made the announcement via Twitter, adding that a news conference is planned for Thursday morning in Chicago. Kim is an attorney from Northbrook, who ran for attorney general in 2010, losing to incumbent Lisa Madigan.
Rutherford added that the lieutenant governor would have a unique and substantive role in the Rutherford administration.
“(Kim) is someone that the public would feel comfortable with being governor if I was incapacitated,” Rutherford tweeted in an earlier hint of his runing mate choice.
Subscribers know more about some of the other candidates the Rutherford camp considered. Over the last 24 hours, Rutherford’s “clues” had been more direct…
Lt Gov Selection Clue: Received almost 1.2 million votes statewide in IL in 2010 as the GOP candidate for Attorney General #twill
