In Illinois, roadwork won’t grind to a halt, prisons won’t run out of food and schools will reopen on time. But the six-month stopgap budget that averts a government shutdown is only digging the state deeper into the hole.
With no agreement between Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democrat-led legislature over how to raise revenue, the state is on track to spend $5.5 billion more than it brings in by the end of June, according to initial estimates from the Civic Federation, a watchdog group. And the appropriations make no dent in the $111 billion debt to the state’s pensions, one of the biggest drags on Illinois, whose credit rating has fallen lower than any U.S. state in over a decade.
“This is a political gimmick to bring to resolution the state of Illinois’s inability to deal with its major issues,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Chicago-based federation, which tracks the state’s finances. “It does not end the fiscal crisis.”
Human services, higher education and government agency operations, which have had little or no funding in FY2016, received appropriations to pay for FY2016 expenses and for the first half of FY2017. Besides education spending, most of the appropriations end by December 31, 2016.
Although the stopgap budget authorizes funding for many struggling areas of State government, it is far from a complete budget. Human services grants and programs receive $667 million, which represents 65% of the total funding needed to complete the FY2016 budget and fund the first half of FY2017, according to legislative reports.
Illinois has been sued for breach of contract by a group of 82 social service providers who are allegedly owed more than $130 million for work that has been performed but not paid for on State contracts dating back to July 1, 2015. Other agencies have provided services without contracts.
No General Funds payments have been made for group health insurance in FY2016 and those appropriations are not included in the FY2017 stopgap budget. As a result, the backlog of unpaid health insurance claims stood at $3.3 billion at the end of May 2016. Without the addition of considerable resources this backlog will grow substantially in FY2017. The Governor’s recommended FY2017 budget estimated the General Funds cost at $1.81 billion, which the Governor hoped to reduce to $1.37 billion through labor negotiations. However, those talks have not yet resulted in an agreement with the State’s largest union. Group health insurance costs must be paid eventually due to State law and existing collective bargaining agreements.
Most of the State’s General Funds spending for FY2017 is not accounted for in the appropriations but will continue to be provided through consent decrees, court orders and existing statutory requirement. This includes Medicaid, employee salaries, State pension contributions and debt service. All of the appropriations in the stopgap budget are in addition to the State’s compelled spending.
To help fund the spending plan without passing a substantial tax increase, the State approved several one-time revenue measures. As proposed in the Governor’s FY2017 budget, the State will forgo repayment of approximately $450 million of interfund borrowing and spend down the entire balance of $276 million in the Budget Stabilization Fund, Illinois’ only rainy day fund.
The State hopes to reduce its debt service by $20 million through a $2 billion refinancing of its outstanding debt. To achieve these savings several provisions of the current General Obligation Bond Act were suspended for FY2017 including the level principal repayment rule and the prohibition on extending the life of principal debt beyond its original maturity. Details on the structure of the refinancing or how the savings are generated were not specified in the refunding bond authorization, which also included $2 billion of bonds for capital purposes.
General Funds resources were increased in FY2017 by approximately $150 million through a new assessment on hospitals that will pay for Medicaid costs that would have otherwise relied on the State’s operating resources.
To fund part of the higher education budget, the State appropriated $97.1 million from Personal Property Replacement Tax (PPRT) proceeds. This fund allocation will reduce the amount that would otherwise be distributed via formula to local governments, which usually totals roughly $1.4 billion annually. With the addition of the PPRT resources higher education spending will receive approximately $1.0 billion in funding compared to $600 million provided at the end of FY2016. This is still significantly less than the $1.9 billion spent on higher education in FY2015 and the $1.7 billion proposed in the Governor’s recommended FY2017 budget. The funding is also available to pay for FY2016 costs.
As previously discussed here, education funding was a major sticking point in the budget negotiations. The enacted budget legislation, Public Act 0524, includes a full-year FY2017 appropriation of $5.1 billion for General State Aid (GSA), the State’s main spending program for elementary and secondary education. That amount is $361.4 million above the $4.7 billion appropriated in FY2016 and $306.1 million higher than the $4.8 billion in the Governor’s recommended FY2017 budget.
The enacted GSA funding is intended to ensure that no school district receives less money in FY2017 than in the previous year. It also includes $250 million for schools with high concentrations of low-income students. The cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools will receive an additional $102.5 million in GSA in FY2017, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Another component of the budget package requires the State to pay the normal cost (current service cost) of $215.2 million for Chicago teachers’ pensions in FY2017. However, that amount is not due until June 1, 2017, and the payment will only be made if the Governor and legislature reach agreement on pension reform legislation. In FY2016 the State is scheduled to make total contributions of $3.7 billion to the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), which covers teachers outside of Chicago, while paying $12.1 million for Chicago teachers’ pensions.
The Governor and legislature also agreed on a measure that would allow CPS to levy a special property tax to pay pension costs. That tax, at a rate of 0.383%, would generate about $250 million per year.
George works for the state of Illinois. He has a clerical job. Nothing fancy.
But it pays the bills. […]
On Wednesday, George has trouble showing up to work on time. He arrives almost an hour late. Luckily, his contract with the state says there “should be no general policy of docking for late arrival.” George gets paid for his tardiness.
* This is essentially a retread of a column penned over two years ago by Diana Sroka Rickert of the Illinois Policy Institute…
Say you’re scheduled to work at 8 a.m. Instead, you mosey in around 8:50 a.m.. Would you expect to be paid for those first 50 minutes?
Moreover, would you expect to still have a job if you regularly showed up late?
For most people, the answer to both questions is “no.” But allow me to introduce you to the world of Illinois state government — where not only is such behavior permissible, it’s incentivized.
Most state government workers are covered by a union contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Tucked away in this contract is an expensive gift: state employees can be up to one hour late for work before their pay is docked. And while workers may be asked to be more adherent to the schedule, there’s no limit to how many days state workers can show up late and still be paid for the time they’re not there. […]
“They can be up to an hour late with no consequences, but if they work a minute later after check-out time, it’s overtime, and taxpayers are stuck paying for that,” said Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan. While flexible schedules can be beneficial for the employer and the employee, that flexibility has to be a two-way street, Vernuccio said.
* I asked an AFSCME spokesman for a comment on the most recent version and he pointed me to their response to the earlier version…
An April 15 opinion column by Diana Sroka Rickert, an employee of the Illinois Policy Institute, wrongly claimed that in “the world of Illinois state government,” showing up late for work is not only “permissible, it’s incentivized.”
The column went on to quote an employee of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, another right-wing group, as saying that Illinois state workers “can be up to an hour late with no consequences.”
This, too, is false.
Rickert repeatedly blamed our union contract for this supposed scandal.
Unfortunately, it seems she never bothered to read that contract.
Here is the relevant passage:
“Employees who are repeatedly late may be disciplined until the problem has been corrected over a reasonable period. However, this shall not limit the employer’s right to dock for unauthorized absence and/or resort to the disciplinary procedure of this agreement.”
Our contract acknowledges that management has the right to discipline for tardiness and provides latitude for agencies or facilities to establish policies in a manner tailored to their needs.
It’s too much to expect the Illinois Policy Institute to be honest.
Its real aim is not informed debate but stirring animosity against government, public services and the workers who provide them.
— Anders Lindall, director of public affairs, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, Chicago
There shall be no general policy of docking for late arrival. Employees who are repeatedly late may be docked until the problem has been corrected over a reasonable period. However, this shall not limit the Employer’s right to dock for unauthorized absence and/or resort to the disciplinary procedure of this Agreement for excessive late arrival and/or unauthorized absence. The threshold between late arrival and unauthorized absence is one hour after the starting time.
Monday, Jul 11, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The Independent Map Amendment has received editorial support from news outlets across Illinois:
“A fair redistricting process is the single most important reform that could come to Illinois. Voters will have more choices and better candidates.” -Chicago Tribune; June 17, 2014
“The stakes could not be higher in this fight between entrenched political power brokers who profit from the status quo and reformers who believe changing the way state lawmakers are elected will help jump-start the legislative election process in Illinois.” -Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette; July 7, 2016
“Illinois residents want a chance to change their dysfunctional government, but that won’t happen until the map-drawing process is changed.” -Bloomington Pantagraph and Decatur Herald & Review; June 14, 2016
“If legislative districts are no longer drawn by politicians, they would be more likely to serve the public better through elected officials who are more accountable for their actions, or lack thereof.” -Shaw Media; June 8, 2016
“The single biggest reason so many races now are not even races — just that one lone candidate — is that the politicians draw up district boundaries in cockeyed ways to eliminate competition.” -Chicago Sun-Times; June 1, 2016
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s radio network…
An Illinois business group wants Gov. Bruce Rauner to veto a bill that would allow workers to use sick leave for family members’ illnesses.
Mark Denzler, vice president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, said the Employee Sick Leave Act would allow the state to tell businesses what to do.
“These decisions are best left in the hands of employers who can make choices for their employees about the best type of way to administer leave programs,” he said.
The bill would impact collective bargaining agreements and violate some provisions of federal law, Denzler added. “So we think that very clearly this violates some provisions of federal law, we think it is going to probably have to be litigated.”
* The IMA sent me a list of bills that fall under this heading…
HB 4036 (Lilly/Hutchinson) amends the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA) by requiring that small employers with 14 or fewer employees provide at least four weeks of unpaid leave in cases of domestic violence impacting the employee or a member of their household.
HB 6162 (Skoog/Collins) provides an employee may use personal sick leave benefits voluntarily provided by the employer to care for extended family members. This new state mandate creates a one-size-fits-all approach and does not allow employers the opportunity to craft policies that make sense for their individual businesses. The IMA and individual companies have noted that HB 6162 supersedes collective bargaining agreements and could violate the Illinois Constitution that prohibits any law impairing the obligations of private contracts.
SB 2613 (Bertino-Tarrant/Manley) creates the Child Bereavement Leave Act and mandates that employers must provide at least two weeks of unpaid leave to employees who have lost a child. In the unfortunate situation where an employee loses more than one child in a twelve-month period, an employer must provide six weeks of unpaid leave.
* HB 6162 is the bill referenced in the story above and it passed the House with a veto-proof, bipartisan majority of 78-35 and the Senate 38-19 with two Republicans voting for it (Rezin and McCann).
HB 4036 passed the House 73-42 and passed the Senate 40-14.
We need workers’ compensation reform. It is the number one regulation that is pushing manufacturing jobs out of the state, and it is also costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars because workers’ compensation inside government is also very expensive.
* Mark Denzler of the Illinois Manufacturers Association sent this to me a while back about tackling workers’ comp medical costs. He was reacting to a pro-doctor article I sent him which I can no longer find…
It’s a very interesting piece written by medical professionals who may be worried about whether they will buy a new Ferrari or have to settle for the Mercedes or Lexus but it doesn’t reflect the reality of the recent Workers Compensation Research Institute that found:
“Illinois’ ranking did not change materially for major surgery, major and minor radiology, pain management injections, and emergency services, remaining among the highest of the fee schedules states during the same time period.”
Major surgery rates are 339 percent above Medicare rates.
Illinois fee schedule rates for hospital outpatient facility services associates with common knee surgeries were on average 157 percent higher than Medicare rates.
In 2015, the Illinois fee schedule rates for ASC facility services associated with common keen and shoulder surgeries were on average 242 percent and 172 percent higher than Medicare rates for similar knee and shoulder surgeries.
Major and minor radiology rates are 238 percent and 252 percent higher than average.
For example, according to WCRI, an Illinois doctor performing an arthroscopy for a rotator cuff repair will be paid $2,574 under Medicare but that same doctor will receive $7,856. Perhaps, these doctors can explain why they should receive $5,282 more for the same procedure when it’s funded by Workers’ Compensation. Perhaps, its needed to get the luxury package on the new car.
Can they explain why they get paid $14,215 for a simple hand or wrist procedure under the WC system but only receive $6,676 under Medicare. Why is the same identical procedure worth $7,539 more when it’s paid by employers under WC? Maybe this is for the new boat?
There is absolutely NO limit on the number of chiropractor or OT/PT visits under Workers’ Compensation while nearly every private health insurance coverage limits the number of visits. Are they willing to limit the number of visits by a patient unless they can prove that the employee is progressing? If not, then they are simply running up the costs of the system.
In 2011, Illinois did enact a 30 percent across the board cut in the medical fee schedule and our medical costs dropped from 2nd to 3rd highest in the United States. Today, Illinois workers’ compensation costs are 7th highest nationally and NCCI has recommended no further reduction in costs this year.
“What we’ve got to do is what Indiana has already done. The balance of power between taxpayers and special interest groups inside government needs to get balanced,” Gov. Rauner said. “Workers comp costs in Illinois are some of the highest in America. We’re right next door to Indiana which has the lowest workers comp costs in America and manufacturers can compete in Indiana. They can’t compete in Illinois.”
Starting decades ago, as Indiana’s leaders sought out factory jobs to supplant the state’s mostly rural economy, they embraced a low-cost, employer-friendly workers’ compensation system. And it has stuck, as the state’s Senate has largely stayed under control of the GOP.
Workers in Indiana must wait seven days before receiving benefits (as opposed to three in Illinois). While permanently disabled workers in Illinois can receive benefits for life, Indiana caps benefits at 500 weeks, just under 10 years.
To qualify for permanent total disability in Indiana, workers must meet a “pretty high bench.” as Terry Coriden, a former chairman of the Worker’s Compensation Board of Indiana, describes it. “If you can be a greeter at any type of store, then that type of employment could be deemed to be reasonable, which would preclude you from total permanent disability,” he says.
Only 45 workers out of 597,058 who filed claims between 2005 and 2014 received permanent total disability status in Indiana, according to statistics from the Worker’s Compensation Board of Indiana. The rate was twice as high in Illinois, according to data from the National Council on Compensation Insurance provided by Burton. Only 13 percent of the Indiana workers who filed claims over those years qualified even for permanent partial impairment.
And the system simply pays out less.
Consider the case of a steelworker in northwest Indiana who suffered third- and fourth-degree burns over two-thirds of his body after being hit by hot metal and slag from a blast furnace.
In the nine years since, he has undergone 38 surgeries and still has no feeling in parts of his arms and legs.
Before the injury, he was earning as much as $130,000 year because of extensive overtime. Today, he gets $600 a week in workers’ compensation as a totally disabled individual, as well as $2,200 monthly in Social Security Disability income. In order to stay afloat, he has dipped heavily into his savings and his wife has picked up low-wage part-time jobs. […]
Asked for evidence that workers’ compensation costs may be driving firms out of state, officials from the Illinois Governor’s office cited their contacts with employers and site selectors and suggested contacting business groups for more information.
But when In These Times posed that question to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which has been outspoken about the need to drive down workers’ compensation costs in order to remain competitive, Jay Shattuck, a contract lobbyist for the group, said he was not aware of any studies specifying that workers’ compensation alone made Illinois noncompetitive. (He also notes that the Chamber, while supporting most of Rauner’s plan, doesn’t see Indiana’s low payout system as the ideal.)
* The Cook Political Report has compiled a list of where Republican congresscritters stand on Donald Trump. I’ve added Illinois names in brackets after each category…
1 True Believers (14) - endorsed Trump by name before the Indiana primary [N/A]
2 Eager Unifiers (66) - endorsed Trump by name after the Indiana primary [Shimkus]
3 Reluctant Endorsers (59) - has endorsed Trump by name, with reservations [Bost, LaHood]
4 Non-Namers (48) - has stated support for the “nominee,” but not by name [R. Davis]
5 Quiet Observers (27) - hasn’t made a definitive public statement regarding Trump [Roskam]
6 Hesitant Holdouts (20) - publicly undecided on whether to support Trump [Hultgren, Kinzinger]
7 True Skeptics (13) - has stated he/she will not vote for or endorse Trump [Dold]
…Adding… Related…
Bernard Schoenburg: Rep. Davis says Trump meeting went well: “I don’t agree with everything Donald Trump says and the stances he puts out, and I don’t agree with everything Mark Kirk says and the stances that he puts out. But they’re both the Republican candidates on the ballot, and … I’m going to support them both,” Davis said. In early June, Davis called “racist and unacceptable” Trump’s initial criticism of a federal judge, born in Indiana but of Mexican descent, presiding over a case involving Trump University. But Davis didn’t withdraw support for Trump at the time. And in the interview Friday, when asked about a tweet Trump’s campaign disseminated in early July featuring a picture of HILLARY CLINTON, $100 bills and a six-pointed star many took to be the Jewish Star of David, Davis said, “I don’t think I can comment on his intent” or reaction. “I don’t agree with everything that any candidate at any level of office says 100 percent of the time,” Davis said.
…Adding More… Cheri Bustos’ GOP opponent backs Trump. It’s not yet clear where Bill Foster’s opponent stands.
* The Southern’s editorial board asked Rauner what he would have done differently if he could do it all over again…
The Southern: The past 18 months have been tough on everybody, especially those in human services. What do you think you could have done differently looking back?
Rauner: “The simple fact is that we need to change, and the General Assembly is controlled by a super-majority that doesn’t want to change. They have controlled the system — Speaker Madigan and all the folks who have been loyal to him, and keep him in office and the legislators that do what he tells them to do — they are in the super majority and they’ve never had to compromise. They’ve never had to negotiate and they have never had to change. But they have created a system that is broken. We are losing our jobs. Our taxes are too high. Our family incomes are too low, and we have cronyism and corruption. The system needs to change. We should have had this done in a couple months. This has taken us 18 months. Finally, members of the General Assembly are saying we support reform and we will vote on it after the November election. It took too long, but we are getting there.
The Southern: What about you specifically? Do you think you could have done anything different?
Rauner: That one thing we should somehow figure out how to do is let the people of Illinois know what is really at stake and is really going on.
Your average person in Illinois doesn’t really know what workman’s compensation is, but it is a big deal that we have to change. Your average person doesn’t know much unfunded mandates are coming out of Springfield dictating how much they have to spend of their property taxes.
We have to do a better job. That is reason I meeting with you and other leaders to get the message out about what is really at stake here and what has to change, and make sure the people of Illinois get involved in the process. That will bring about the change.”
Again, it’s better messaging not a better approach to governing.
* A relative of mine saw this ad on TV and told me it looked like a family and a school bus were run over by a tank. Not quite, but it comes awfully close. Press release…
Gary Forby, John Bradley and Brandon Phelps claim to represent Southern Illinois, but they have backed Mike Madigan’s tax-and-spend agenda for more than a decade, supporting higher taxes, reckless spending and a bailout of Chicago Public Schools. Today, the House Republican Organization released a new ad to underscore their years of service to Mike Madigan. The broadcast TV ad will be backed by substantial resources.
* This rumor was raging all day yesterday. No official confirmation yet, but here’s Michael Sneed…
Top tip!
Sneed is told Hillary Clinton just penned in a morning rally in Springfield on Wednesday, before she heads to Chicago for a fundraiser at the North Shore home of Laura Ricketts.
Police sources say they’ve been told to expect the visit. And word was that it’ll be at the Old State Capitol. But, again, nobody has yet confirmed that it’s actually happening.
…Adding… I just got a message from the Clinton campaign confirming the visit. However, “Details are still coming together,” I was told.
…Adding More… From the campaign…
Hillary Clinton will travel to Springfield, Illinois on Wednesday, July 13 for an event to discuss building an America that is stronger together and an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.
Additional details on the event will be released soon.
* Eric Madiar, one of the best pension reform analysts this state has, recently penned an article for the Chicago Kent College of Law. Here’s the summary…
Mark Twain once said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” For quite some time, the “ain’t so” in Illinois has been its enormously underfunded pension system and its obligation to pay pension benefits when they become due. Indeed, as a 2009 legislative report explained, underfunding of the pension system occurred because the State’s fiscal system failed to generate sufficient revenue to both maintain public services, such as education, healthcare, and public safety, as well as cover the State’s actuarially required pension contributions. As a result, the pension system was used for decades as a proverbial credit card to fund public services and stave off the need for tax increases or service cuts.
To tackle its mounting unfunded pension liabilities, the General Assembly passed legislation in 2010 that cut the pension benefits provided to future public employees and officials entering service after January 1, 2011. The legislature also enacted a temporary income tax increase in 2011 to help retire unpaid bills and make timely pension contributions. And in 2013, the legislature passed two pension reform bills that unilaterally cut the pension benefits of retirees and current employees. The first bill applied to participants in four of the State’s five pension systems, while the second bill applied to participants in two of the City of Chicago’s four pension systems.
While passing these bills was heralded as a bipartisan political success, it was shortlived. In the last twelve months, the Illinois Supreme Court issued two unanimous decisions invalidating both bills as violative of the Pension Clause of the Illinois Constitution. In both decisions, as explained below, the court held that the Clause bars the legislature from unilaterally reducing the pension benefits of current public employees and retirees. Given this outcome and the State’s wider fiscal challenges, this Article assesses the legal options the Illinois General Assembly may pursue to mitigate the fiscal impact of funding its public pension obligations.
This Article is organized as follows: Part II begins with a primer on the Pension Clause of the Illinois Constitution (Article XIII, Section 5). Part III reviews the Illinois Supreme Court’s May 2015 decision, which found that the 2013 Pension Reform bill—Public Act 980599—violated the Clause. Part IV reviews the court’s March 2016 decision, which similarly found that Chicago’s 2013 Pension Reform Bill—Public Act 980641—violated the Clause. Part V assesses the options that the General Assembly may pursue to mitigate its financial burden of funding the pension system based on the Clause’s background and the two recent court decisions. The Article concludes that the use of ordinary contract principles—as suggested by this author five years ago—provides a means to reduce pension benefits of current employees and thereby mitigate this financial burden. The proposal offered by Senate President John J. Cullerton, in particular, provides one viable means of mitigation, as does forging an agreement with public sector labor unions through the collective bargaining process. Municipal bankruptcy and amending the Pension Clause, however, are not plausible options.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has been touring Illinois to talk about his new “messaging.” He’s quite excited about his “messaging” plans, telling one reporter that if he could do anything differently about his tenure so far it would be to improve the way he gets his message out to voters. Yep. That’s really what he said.
One of the things that the governor was apparently counting on during his downstate tour is few, if any follow-up questions from reporters. For instance, after he completely dodged a question from a Peoria TV reporter about whether he deserves any blame for a year without a budget, the subject was changed and the governor was let off the hook.
Despite this, Rauner actually complained in Champaign last week about how “There’s no substance in the reporting,” before saying he was in the process of creating his own communication platforms to push his messaging directly to Illinoisans.
He’s not wrong about the lack of substance in the media’s coverage. A recent survey of social service providers by the highly respected United Way of Illinois was almost completely ignored by media outlets, despite an eye-grabbing finding that about a million Illinoisans had lost services during the impasse.
And the governor’s contention that he himself had cut $800 million in “wasteful spending” from the budget made it into print and on the air without a single question being asked about what those cuts were.
As it turns out, there are multiple problems with the governor’s list of cuts, which I asked to see (you can read the list below). Some of the saved money is due to action by his predecessor, a chunk of the cash is from special state funds with their own dedicated revenue sources, a bunch of the spending was put into the six-month stopgap budget that Rauner signed into law on June 30th and Rauner himself requested some of the “cut” items be appropriated in his own budget proposal last spring.
Let’s start at the very top of the governor’s list: “Medicaid Eligibility Redeterminations,” which he claims saved $53 million. OK, but that was initiated in 2012 with Medicaid reforms signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn. Rauner’s budget office says Quinn may have signed it, but he fully implemented it.
Rauner’s touted savings from cutting $21 million subsidies for disabled mass transit users is illusory because that money comes from the state’s Road Fund, which is funded with motor fuel taxes, license fees, etc. The same goes for his $4 million cut to Amtrak.
Several other programs on the governor’s list also get their money from Other State Funds (OSF), including tourism ($13 million claimed cut), recycling ($6 million), renewable and energy efficiency programs ($8 million), ICC vacancies and transfers ($6 million) and coal programs ($15 million).
The governor’s budget office claims that saving OSF money can help patch holes in the rest of the budget. But these funds (like the Road Fund, which was swept last year for a fortune) are set up and funded for particular purposes.
The governor claims in his list that he cut “Assorted DHS Programs not covered by Court Orders or Consent Decrees” for a total of $91 million. But several of those programs are funded in the stopgap budget that the governor signed into law on June 30th, including The Autism Program, ARC of Illinois, Teen Reach, homeless prevention, addiction prevention, the Emergency Food Program, funeral and burial expenses, immigrant integration services, welcoming centers, epilepsy services, etc.
Rauner also claims reductions to Criminal Justice Information Authority programs including CeaseFire, but that’s in the stopgap as well.
And despite claiming credit for making cuts, the governor actually requested spending for the programs in his own budget proposal from earlier this year, including paratransit and Amtrak. His budget also increased funding for tourism programs.
The governor also claimed $100 million in savings for not constructing the Illiana Expressway, which was in doubt anyway. And his touted $145 million cut to child care programs was reversed when Rauner cut a deal with the Democrats.
And then there’s the claimed savings of $4 million due to a delay in the opening of a veterans home in Chicago. But that delay actually ended up increasing the cost of the project and no money was appropriated by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly last fiscal year anyway, so it’s not really a Rauner savings.
Also, is a veterans home really “wasteful” spending? I doubt many politicians would make that claim. Much the same could be said of several other programs on the list.
* Brian Brueggemann of the Belleville News Democrat asked Rauner about this very topic…
Q. You’ve boasted that your administration has cut $800 million in “wasteful spending.” Those cuts include Medicaid, child care, State Police vehicles, coal programs and agriculture programs. Do you consider those wasteful?
A. Well, we’ve got even another $700 million that we can cut. We have got to make government balanced and working for the people again, and we’ve been spending beyond what we can afford for decades. It’s just not sustainable. No family in Illinois could keep spending what they don’t have, like Illinois’ government. Government’s got to work for the people. We have cut $800 million out of unnecessary spending.
Two things I’m very proud of: We are now modernizing our IT system. We in Illinois, many of the departments don’t even have computers. We’re living in the stone age. I walked into one department in my first week — second week in office actually. Two-hundred people were in a room with paper applications on their desks, and no computers. I said, this doesn’t look efficient. I found out, we could spend half a million dollars on a computer system —half a million — and save $7 million per year. That’s going on all over the government. We are saving hundreds of millions of dollars by modernizing our IT. We’ve either got to move away from paper, or, in some departments we have computers but we’re running software from 1974. I mean, that was a great year, that’s when I got out of high school, but software changed a lot in the last 40-50 years. We can have productivity changes by modernizing.
And the other thing I’m very proud of…we have put in new labor contracts with 18 of the unions that work in state government. That’s transformative. We have the highest-paid state employes in America, which, you know, we can debate. I’m proud, we’ve got great workers, and I want them to be well-paid, but they want $3 billion more than what they’re receiving now, based on seniority. We said no, that’s not affordable, that’s not fair to our taxpayers. But we said we’ll pay bonuses, we will pay you more. We’ll leave salaries flat, but we’ll pay bonuses, but let’s do it based on productivity. Let’s have a bonus based on a percentage of what you save taxpayers. Save a taxpayer a dollar, we’ll give you 10 cents of that dollar. And you know what? A lot of employees have said, ‘Yeah, I know how to save money.’ That’s a win-win for the employees and the taxpayers. Eighteen unions have signed up for that deal. That’s transformative for Illinois, it’s saving us a lot of money. The bad news is, the largest union, so far, the leaders have said no to that. Their members, I think, they would ratify that new proposal if it could get to a vote. The leaders so far have said no. But we’ve got to stay strong. That’s going to help transform state government and save taxpayers a lot of money.
So, now it’s “unnecessary” spending. Some, I think, would disagree.
Sen. Mark Kirk’s campaign released an ad attacking challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s lawsuit settlement. The ad charges that Duckworth ‘humiliated and bullied’ employees and spent $26,000 of taxpayers’ money to fight the suit.
A preliminary review of federal television station records show what appears to be a limited buy for the ad, with only $35,000 being spent alone on Chicago stations ABC-7 and NBC-5.
Unless they up the buy, this is essentially a press release ad.
Those numbers are just through this Tuesday and the ad was just trafficked so it isn’t showing up on all the stations. It will have sufficient points behind it to drive the message.
Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, widely considered to be the most vulnerable Republican senator up for re-election this year, raised only $1 million in the second quarter of 2016, his campaign announced, a modest sum for a highly competitive race.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Mr. Kirk’s Democratic opponent, raised $2.7 million. She ended the second quarter with $5.5 million cash on hand, compared with Mr. Kirk’s $3.1 million.
Though the race is considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, Mr. Kirk has all but lost the financial backing of national Republicans, with groups like the National Republican Senatorial Committee and One Nation sitting the race out entirely.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
In response to Mark Kirk’s desperate new attack ad — which is in reality a $35,000 press release that won’t be widely seen by Illinois voters — Duckworth deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath issued the following statement:
“Tammy Duckworth served 23 years in the National Guard and nearly lost her life in service of her country, and she has made fighting for Veterans her life’s work, with tangible results. Mark Kirk, on the other hand, lies with such ease and frequency, both about his own military record and his political opponents, it’s hard to keep up. Here he is once again overhyping a civil case that a federal judge called a ‘garden variety workplace case’ before dismissing it, and which was eventually settled at ‘nuisance value,’ saving taxpayer dollars.
“This dishonest attack is also plainly an attempt to distract from his abysmal fundraising, which he released Friday night, and which indicates that even though Kirk always does the bidding of Wall Street and the corporate special interests that have funded his campaigns for 16 years, the gravy train is running dry.” — Matt McGrath, campaign spokesman
Friday, Jul 8, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Television ads condemning Republican Congressional candidates, linking them to the party’s presumptive nominee Donald Trump, will begin airing nationwide this week. More specifically, the ads will be aired in Illinois’ 10th congressional District.
This is a cable buy with an online component. According to Comcast, the buy is $153,680, and will run July 11-17. They’ve purchased spots on: AMC, BRVO, CNN, CSNC, ENT, FOOD, HALL, HGTV, LIF, MNBC, TBSC, TLC, TNT, USA. More info is below.
“Everyone realizes that the DCCC can’t actually attack Bob Dold on his record of effective, independent leadership that’s been endorsed across the political spectrum and in every corner of the 10th district, so they’re now falsely hoping voters aren’t smart enough to see through this laughably dishonest ad as they desperately try to prop-up their embarrassingly incompetent and hyper-partisan candidate Brad Schneider,” Dold campaign spokesperson Danielle Hagan said.
In May, Dold told Big John Howell that he wouldn’t support the divisive Trump.
How would it feel to find out your child was the school bully? Would you feel much better to learn they were only the bully’s sidekick? Well we’ve got bad news for you. Because as Donald Trump runs a campaign pitting Americans against each other. And pushing ideas that threaten our country’s security Republicans in Congress are just standing by him. But shouldn’t they really be standing up to the bully?
I want to say something to my Congressman. I’ve been a Republican all my life. I get Party loyalty. But there’s loyalty to your country. And the things Donald Trump says. About immigrants and women… Veterans… I mean, how can we put up with that? How can Republican members of Congress support that? If he’s our standard bearer, what the heck happened to our standards?
* Background from the DCCC…
SCOPE: This is a national cable television and digital ad campaign, with an additional emphasis in 10 targeted House districts
COST: Seven figures
DURATION: This will run starting Monday, through the Republican National Convention
TARGETED DEMOGRAPHICS:
* Advertisements will target independent women, 25+ years in age
PROGRAMING DETAILS:
* National Cable buy focused on CNN, MSNBC and sister networks. This will be highly targeted to key demographics and will appear in homes across the country, anywhere that the specified news programs are shown.
* Additional local Cable spot buys in specific districts on lifestyle and entertainment networks, such as HGTV, Hallmark, Food Network, TNT, USA and Bravo. This will be customized and targeted based on sophisticated targeting of persuadable voters. These specific districts will see additional spots of the ad throughout their cable network.
Logic Behind Local Cable Spot Buys:
The goal is to set the stage early and define the connection between the House Republicans and Donald Trump, leading up to Convention and before House races have engaged.
Particularly focused in districts where:
* There are well-funded Republican incumbents […]
Messaging behind ads:
* Over the last year and a half, House Republicans have repeatedly failed to stand up to Donald Trump at times that it mattered most.
* Now, he is the Republican Party’s standard bearer and every House Republican owns that, whether they support him, endorse him, or continue to hide from him when he visits their districts.
Additional Information on Timing:
* This is a nationalized election environment where voters are focused on one person, and one person only– Donald Trump. Certainly all presidential races have a top-down impact on House races, but rarely is it so lopsided to the advantage of one party.
* Donald Trump is House Republicans’ biggest negative, and through this national cable buy, with an additional emphasis and impressions in key districts, we are taking advantage of that, leaning in and not allowing House Republicans to draw any daylight between them and Trump.
* We are also ensuring that these Republican incumbents are unable to try and define themselves first.
I am writing to draw to your attention a very important charity event taking place in my district this Saturday that I believe some of you may be interested in attending or contributing to in some way. Many of you will be familiar with Peoria Journal Star Reporter Chris Kaergard and his “Budget Beard.” The typically clean-shaven Chris began growing a beard when the state budget impasse began, in an effort to illustrate the length of time it had been at any given moment since Illinois had last operated under a comprehensive annual budget. As his beard grew, so too did the public’s awareness of just how dysfunctional our statehouse had become in the wake of this conflict. His experiment has even gained quite a bit of media attention throughout the entire state.
Chris has long been ready to rid himself of his now unwieldy and unsightly Budget Beard, and now that the General Assembly has passed a stop-gap measure to keep our state’s basic services operational until January, he is taking advantage of the opportunity to do so while also raising funds for select local charities that have been devastated by the absence of a state budget throughout the past year. One of these charities is Lutheran Social Services, a state-wide agency that was hit hard early on in the fiscal year.
I approached Chris about this concept a few months ago, and could not be more pleased to see that he is putting the plan into action. This event—which will take place at a local East Peoria barber shop—will allow legislators, community leaders, and members of the public to each take their own snip off the Budget Beard in exchange for a charitable donation in the amount of their choosing. This will carry on until the Budget Beard is finally gone and Chris is back to his old self.
If you cannot attend the event but are interested in donating, you may do so using the links below.
It is truly devastating for our state what has been allowed to take place throughout this past year, and I am extremely hopeful that this effort will provide some degree of comfort and relief to these agencies—though admittedly insufficient—as they continue their respective missions to serve some of our most vulnerable fellow citizens.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Mike Unes
State Representative, 91st District
The invite is here. And here are the above-mentioned links…
I talked to a buddy of mine today who used to be a reporter about this. He said the Peoria newspaper would’ve done a much greater service by, perhaps, regularly reporting on a family dealing with the loss of a crucial service over the past year.
I dunno. To each his own, I suppose. And LSSI is a charity I’ve raised money for, so I hope they can benefit.
* As anyone who has ever interviewed Gov. Rauner already knows, it ain’t an easy task. He sticks to his talking points like super glue. For instance…
Reporter: “It seems like some people almost became collateral damage with social services being cut, agencies not able to help those who need it most. What do you say to those families who are looking at this situation and saying, ‘Why couldn’t they have done this sooner?’”
Rauner: “I say the system needs to change. Our government has not been working for the people of Illinois. We have the biggest unfunded pension liability in America. We have the biggest deficit in America and we just don’t pay our bills. A lot of those bills go to human service agencies. They’ve been hanging on by their fingernails for years. This is not a recent thing. This has been going on a long time.”
The problem with the interview is that the reporter didn’t follow up. We talked about this exact same thing yesterday when a reporter asked the governor if he accepted any responsibility for the impasse. He dodged the question and the subject was dropped.
* He’s not the only one who does this, of course. I tried to get Speaker Madigan to move beyond his well-worn talking points on workers’ comp reform by asking if he’d be open to rolling back part of the 2005 legislative changes, which drove up costs. He stuck to his talking points. I pointed out that he didn’t answer the question, and he still refused to respond. And then he did it again. I asked him at the next presser if he had any thoughts about the 2005 law, and he wouldn’t answer then, either.
The difference is that Rauner talks to reporters far more often than Madigan. So reporters get more opportunities. One of the better questions he’s been asked this year was by, I think, a PAR intern who asked him to name a Chicago school which qualified as a “crumbling prison.” He wouldn’t answer the question, but that alone said quite a lot about his original remarks.
* The Question: What one question do you think the governor and/or Speaker Madigan should be asked until they finally answer it? And then explain why you believe it’s an all-important question.
* The discourse in this country and in this state is simply out of hand. And our leaders ought to know better than to say things like this…
Rauner claimed his political opponents “have so many voices. You’ve got agencies. You’ve got unions. You’ve got elected officials. You’ve got patronage folks inside my administration. And I’m fighting some of the legacy of the old Republican Party, who are bombing me. I’ve got the Democratic Party bombing me. I’ve got the media bombing me.
“I’ve got World War III on seven levels.”
Bombing you? Seriously, dude?
The comments were made yesterday before the horrific Dallas ambush, but I’ve been worrying for a while now that Illinoisans’ anger, while certainly at least partially justified, is being irresponsibly stoked by all sides for their own political purposes. I’m truly and sincerely frightened that we’re gonna end up with a Jo Cox situation here. During the Memorial Day weekend session, there were times when nobody was in the guardhouse at the entrance to the Statehouse’s southern parking lot and it made me more nervous than I ever expected.
State lawmakers received their first paycheck in more than three months this week after Republican Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger delayed the payments amid a cash crunch due to the record-setting budget impasse.
Munger’s office said Thursday that lawmakers’ April paychecks went out this week. That should be welcome news to some lawmakers, who argued their work on a stopgap budget bill that was signed into law last week should clear the way for the payments to be released. […]
But the timing had nothing to do with the stopgap budget agreement reached last week by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly. Rather, the monthly payments finally reached the top of the state’s nearly $8 billion pile of IOUs — the same queue in which contractors who provide everything from care for the elderly to food for prisoners must wait before they get paid.
It’s unclear when legislators will receive their checks for May and June. Comptroller spokesman Rich Carter said that will “depend on incoming revenues and availability of funds.”
The governor believes they shouldn’t be paid until the budget crisis is resolved but he says that’s not the law right now, and changing it would likely never come up for a vote.
Indeed, some might contend that legislators, having made such a mess of Illinois’ finances, ought to be paid last — maybe even not paid at all.
It’s our opinion that Munger made exactly the right decision in treating legislators just like she treats everyone else. Why should they be exempt from the pain of having to cope with the inevitable financial complications?
Who knows? The inconvenience might serve as an incentive for them to get serious about cleaning up the state’s financial mess.
After all, they — at least theoretically — are the masters of their fate. That’s why no one should begrudge legislators getting what they deserve — whether it’s timely salary payments for doing their jobs or the same financial complications for not doing so that they are visiting upon others.
One legislator cracked to me yesterday that many of his constituents think legislators ought to pay the state to keep their jobs.
There was a total of $2.7 million in political contributions this week, which is more than double last week’s total of $1.2 million. $1 million of this week’s total was a transfer from the Illinois Republican Party to the House Republican Organization on July 1st. While transfers between candidate committees are capped at $53,900, political party committees are able to transfer unlimited funds to other political party committees at any time.
Susana Mendoza, the Democratic candidate for Illinois State Comptroller, was a top earner this week with $326,200 in reported contributions. A large chunk of her contributions this week came from organized labor. The International Union of Operating Engineers, The Construction & General Laborers’ District Council, and the Laborers’ Political League Education Fund all maxed out their contribution limits at $53,900 each.
The Senate Democratic Victory Fund was the third highest top earner for this week, bringing in a total of $217,400. Labor was also a major contributor to this committee, with the UA Political Education Committee and the Finishing Trades of Chicago donating $53,900 and $50,000 respectively.
Illinois State Board of Elections data shows that labor unions and union-related PACs transferred and contributed over $826,000 to Illinois political committees this week.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth of Illinois hauled in $2.7 million during the second quarter as she tries to unseat Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, her campaign said Thursday.
Duckworth’s campaign also said the two-term Hoffman Estates congresswoman had $5.5 million in the bank to start July.
Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl said he did not have comparable information to release Thursday. The latest campaign-finance reports must be filed by July 15, and Duckworth’s campaign released only highlights, not the full report. […]
In the 10th Congressional District, the campaign of Republican Rep. Bob Dold of Kenilworth said it took in more than $850,000 between April and June and started the month with more than $2.3 million.
The Old State Capitol, Dana-Thomas House and Lincoln’s New Salem state historic sites will soon expand hours to seven days a week, the Illinois Historical Preservation Agency announced Thursday.
Because of budget cuts, the three sites had been operating four or five days a week.
Justin Blandford, superintendent of state historic sites in Springfield, called it “a really big deal.” Blandford said he has a staff of 10 people who manage the local sites.
“We’re not getting any more funding,” he said, noting that the move is independent of the six-month state budget agreement that was reached by the governor and legislature last week. “It’s about management of our cultural resources and efficiency.”
Just because Illinois lawmakers approved a stopgap budget doesn’t necessarily mean that drivers again will receive reminders in the mail that it’s time to renew their license-plate registrations.
The budget approved last week provides $35 million to cover the Secretary of State’s operations through December, but the office hasn’t determined yet whether some of that money should be used to start sending the notices again.
A spokesman said Secretary of State Jesse White’s staff will study other office expenses before making a decision about resuming the renewal reminders.
* It seems to me that drivers will eventually figure this out on their own, so discontinuing the process could save some real cash. But, maybe I’m wrong. Your thoughts?
* I have been suggesting for months that Chicago’s violence problem is a public health emergency. So, when Crain’s Chicago Business ran this op-ed by Karen Teitelbaum, the president and CEO of Sinai Health System in Chicago, I decided to share it all with you today…
About the numbers, there is no dispute. Deaths and injuries from gun violence in Chicago are our modern-day version of the plague. We have surpassed 300 homicides already this year, with 13 people killed by guns on Father’s Day alone. On the heels of another summer holiday, reports count 2,021 shooting victims so far this year, moving rapidly to overtake the 2,988 victims in all of 2015.
If we continue at this pace, we can expect to see 30,000 Chicagoans killed or wounded from gunshots in the next 10 years. Morbidity and mortality from such violence are two of the most dramatic examples of health disparities in our city, profoundly impacting communities of color.
Another vigil, moment of silence or chanting in the streets will not change this awful trajectory. We need answers that lead to solutions, and we need them now.
Answers that work—that provide real and sustainable change for the better—cannot come without research. Without the research that tells us the root causes of gun violence, how toddlers and children find guns in the house, why 60 percent of gun deaths are by suicide and what interventions can curb it, we are just guessing, feeling our way in the dark.
It is an outrage that Congress has specifically prohibited the Centers for Disease Control from funding gun violence research. Following the massacre in Orlando, the American Medical Association House of Delegates last month did the right thing and resolved to lobby Congress actively to overturn this policy.
We can hope for change in Congress, and we must support efforts to move policy, but last month’s Senate votes demonstrated once again how hard it will be to get that change. And with a presidential election looming large, it is unlikely major issues will be addressed until after January.
Chicago cannot wait. To find those answers, we have to come together as researchers, as funders, as leaders, as policy makers, as parents and as people who value life.
As Dr. Leslie Zun, the chairman of the Mount Sinai Hospital Emergency Department states, “We can save lives and continue patching people up who have been shot, but we would much rather be seeing less trauma and more ways to curb the escalating volume of violence that sends these critically wounded patients our way.”
If Chicago is rich in anything, it is rich in intellectual capital and civic commitment. We need to bring together those of us in Chicago who have the research expertise, experience and commitment to health care disparities to identify the causes and solutions to Chicago’s plague. We need to tap those in the streets who fight this violence daily to share their thoughts and strategies. We need our civic leaders and corporate community to support those efforts. We need our university researchers to share their skills. And we need the active participation of our city policy makers to launch this effort.
Every day we see the devastation of gun violence in our emergency room. Every. Single. Day.
There are great examples of public health research saving lives, from rear-facing infant car seats, to earlier cancer detection, to smoking cessation. Now is the time to use these same scientific approaches and Chicago’s considerable resources to find the solutions to reduce gun violence.
Sinai Urban Health Institute has been reaching out to fellow researchers, civic leaders, academic resources, public health experts and others who share our urgency to find a solution to disrupt the violence in Chicago.
We believe in our collective power to bring some of the finest research minds together, and we will have a real impact on this epidemic. This is not an idea; it’s an imperative.
As noted above, the federal government won’t be any help, so my only addition would be that the state needs to get directly and actively involved in this endeavor as well. This crisis cannot be solved solely by the police, prosecutors and the judiciary.
I could have snarked it up on the blog yesterday, but at a core level I care about this state and the role of state government. It’s what made Blagojevich and then Quinn and now Rauner so infuriating. Blagojevich saw state government solely as a way to promote himself and to get political money. Quinn always wanted to be governor and appeared to have no idea how to run a state. And now we have Rauner who wanted the Captain’s chair to start a revolution and seems to have only recently learned that the job comes with actual responsibilities. Like daily responsibilities.
My advice.
Right now, identify five key issues or problems. Then put his administration on alert to identify five doable things to address those issues. As you solve those problems, let people know. Create the image of competent, professional management of our state. That’s what we need: someone who can identify real problems and solve them, not complain about them. We’ve got 11,999,999 people to complain. We need 1 to step up and solve. He wanted to be that 1.
Yes, workers comp is an issue. But you’re not going to solve that today. The Rauner administration can solve all kinds of real world problems without ever needing the General Assembly. Zika Virus. What’s his Public Health director doing? What information can he provide to average Illinoisans who only see media, or worse, social media reports that make it seem like the end is near. What is the state doing? Offer an expert assessment of the issue. Boom. Relevant issue. Creates headlines. Look professional.
Next …
State government – and the real world — is filled with stuff like that. Governor’s shouldn’t need to run to the General Assembly to solve every problem.
Look, you and I both know the Edgar administration wasn’t run by saints. But it gave off the impression of competent management.
I mean, this guy is a near billionaire businessman. Stop worrying about beating Madigan and start showing people that you are a great governor (unless you aren’t and can’t).
* Sorry for the delay this morning. Like many of you, I was up late last night watching the horror unfold in Dallas and had trouble getting going today. Use this as an open thread while I pull some posts together, but do your best to keep your anger to a minimum, please.
…Adding… From the governor…
“The ambush attack on Dallas police officers is outrageous. The men and women who work every day to protect everyone, including those exercising their right to free speech, deserve our respect and support. The shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota that led to last night’s protests, are deeply distressing. All of these events speak to the lack of unity and trust in many of our communities and underscores the urgency in addressing that lack of trust. Diana and I pray that the victims, their families, and our entire country find strength, healing and peace to rebuild trust among our neighbors and communities.”
* Apparently, the ad they bought here is just part of the strategy. According to our pals at Comcast, the group pushing the remap reform constitutional amendment just bought $209,350 in cable and satellite for its new TV ad. All but $16,489 (which was placed in Champaign) was spent on Chicago TV.
All the ads were purchased for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
I’ll try to get the Independent Maps folks to send it to me and post it here today if possible.
“I underestimated how much most of the standard media just doesn’t care about this and doesn’t understand and won’t send our message out. We’ve been too slow in creating our own media channels through social media and other outlets. We’re doing that now.”
This from a guy whose Twitter feed is jam packed with pics of him at restaurants. Like just today, for instance…
* Also, “other outlets”? I wonder if he’s referring to outlets like this one.
* Also, too, getting his message out is not our job. Although as Wordslinger regularly points out in comments, the media mainly focuses on the personality conflict between Rauner and Madigan, or Rauner and Emanuel, or Rauner and whoever else he happens to be teeing off on whatever day it might be. They’re definitely getting that message out.
Anyway…
* The Question: What new and inventive ways do you think the governor will use to get his message out?
* From AFSCME Council 31’s Facebook page earlier today…
IMPASSE UPDATE: The Illinois Labor Relations Board is holding a special meeting in Chicago TODAY at 1pm. The board is considering Gov. Rauner’s unprecedented request to bypass the recommendation of the Administrative Law Judge who heard the case in which Rauner seeks approval for his refusal to negotiate a new contract with the union and a green light to impose his own terms on state employees.
* A text from the union’s spokesman Anders Lindall a few minutes ago…
The board voted unanimously to reject the administration’s request.
Updates are assured.
Also, I’m guessing this means that Rauner doesn’t have an iron grip on the ILRB after all.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Jason Barclay, General Counsel to Governor Rauner…
“While we are disappointed in the result, we voluntarily agreed to these impasse proceedings with AFSCME and will continue to respect and follow the Labor Board’s decisions throughout. This will hopefully also put an end to the reprehensible attacks that AFSCME has made against the independence and integrity of the administrative law judge and the Board.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** From AFSCME…
The Illinois Labor Relations Board voted unanimously today to deny the Rauner Administration’s motion to bypass a recommended decision from the Administrative Law Judge who presided over hearings into the Unfair Labor Practice charges filed by Rauner and by AFSCME. This means that the board will now follow its established procedures of awaiting a recommended decision from the judge before making its final ruling. The Administration is asking the Board to affirm its refusal to negotiate with the union and to allow it to impose its own terms on state employees, while the union is asking the board to direct the parties to return to bargaining.
In response to the Labor Board decision, AFSCME Executive Director Roberta Lynch issued the following statement:
“We’re very pleased with the Labor Board’ s ruling. It maintains a process designed to allow for full consideration of the complex issues in this case.
“However, if the Rauner Administration is truly concerned about a timely resolution of this dispute, it should not have squandered the past six months by refusing to meet with the union bargaining committee. We have been and remain ready to return to the bargaining table, to do the hard work of compromise, and to reach an agreement that is fair to all.”
…Adding… AFSCME has at least twice claimed that the ILRB was too cozy with Rauner. For instance…
However, on the final day of the hearing, the Rauner Administration moved to bypass the judge entirely and have the case go directly to the Labor Board. As an indication of its excessive deference to the Administration, the board immediately called a Special Meeting for July 7 to consider this motion.
FACT: Rauner appointed a majority of members of the Labor Board. There have been few disputes that have reached the Board since he took office, but in a recent case regarding an issue related to contract negotiations, the Board hastily rushed a decision and completely upheld the Administration’s position. Moreover, while Rauner says he will respect the decision of his Labor Board, he makes no mention of the Appellate Court which has review of any Labor Board decision and which is not appointed by him but elected by the voters.
The Illinois Student Assistance Commission sent a survey to nearly 100,000 students who received MAP grants last fall. More than 10,000 responded, and most took time to answer the open-ended questions about how they were coping with the state’s failure to fund the promised financial aid. One in seven said they might not return to school this fall, or would have “extreme difficulty” doing so. If that same percentage holds true for all MAP students, it would mean 18,000 current students might not re-enroll next fall.
Some said they had no choice but to drop out. “I don’t have the funds to attend school anymore,” one student wrote. “I’m 5 classes from completing my degree.”
The survey was taken before the state legislature agreed late last week to reimburse colleges for the spring’s MAP grants. But there’s still no MAP appropriation for the upcoming school year.
Donald Trump’s private meeting Thursday with Senate Republicans – designed to foster greater party unity ahead of the national convention in Cleveland — grew combative as the presumptive presidential nominee admonished three senators who have been critical of his candidacy and predicted they would lose their reelection bids, according to two Republican officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges. […]
Trump also called out Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who withdrew his endorsement of Trump last month citing the business mogul’s racially-based attacks on a federal judge, and said he did not approve of the senator’s action, said the officials.
Characterizing Kirk as a loser, Trump vowed that he would carry Illinois in the general election even though the state traditionally has been solidly Democratic in presidential contests. Kirk did not attend the meeting with Trump.
Unreal.
But it’s good for Kirk if you believe a spat with Trump will help.
…Adding… Sen. Kirk’s response…
“As I stated last month, I have come to the conclusion that Donald Trump lacks the judgment and temperament to lead our military and our nation.”
Asked about them later, Kirk told The Associated Press: “I’ve run for election six times in Illinois. Really tough races for the Congress and for the Senate and won every race. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
On why Trump would say Kirk would lose: “I guess the bully side of him. We haven’t seen a personality like his too much in the Midwest. Eastern, privileged, wealthy bully. Our bullies are made of better stuff in Illinois. We’re much more practical and polite.”
Kirk joked that he’s not on Trump’s Christmas card list anymore.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* And speaking of the presidential race, here’s the Democratic Party of Illinois…
This morning, Republican Mark Kirk took a peculiar detour from his partisan attack on Secretary Clinton by once again stating his intention to write in disgraced former CIA Director David Petraeus for President. Petraeus resigned in disgrace, had his security clearance revoked, hid classified material in his attic, and plead guilty to intentionally sharing classified information with his biographer, who was also his mistress. Kirk made the comments on a radio interview with WGN. In response, Democratic Party of Illinois spokesperson Sean Savett released the following statement:
“Is Mark Kirk serious with this? Immediately after leveling a partisan attack on Secretary Clinton, he encouraged others to join him in voting for an individual who isn’t running for President and did something the FBI said was ‘far worse’ by lying to investigators and knowingly leaking classified information, for which he plead guilty. It’s one thing for Kirk to reverse himself on supporting Donald Trump, the toxic presumptive Republican nominee who had Kirk’s support right up until his Illinois poll numbers went south — that’s just politics, and Kirk is nothing if not a typical politician. But to encourage others to throw away their votes on the disgraced former CIA director who isn’t seeking the office is absurd, and yet another reason it’s hard to take Mark Kirk seriously anymore.”
Here’s an abridged transcript of what Kirk said this morning. To listen to his full comments about Secretary Clinton and David Petraeus, click here.
COCHRAN: I share your concerns about Trump every day with people. And then I look at the alternative choice and I never thought I’d be in a position to even consider voting for Hillary Clinton. And yet here we are with those being our two main choices. I don’t know what to say to people when they say every day, ‘Well, what are we supposed to do?’
KIRK: Cochran, I got a way out for you. I’m gonna, I’m gonna write in Petraeus when I vote. And I encourage you too. I want to see Petraeus get a lot of votes so that just shows that there are thinking people out there that are really concerned about the security of the United States. Thinking that someone who has an outstanding potential as Commander-in-Chief and can be, should be, our new leader. With these two choices that you almost think it’s Tweedle-Dee Dumb and Tweedle-Dee bad.
Write-in votes aren’t counted in Illinois if the candidate isn’t registered in each county. It’s a complete waste of effort and Kirk undoubtedly knows it.
* On the Petraeus front, here’s FBI Director James Comey today…
But Petraeus clearly did show evidence of intentionally violating the law, Comey said.
Not only was Petraeus caught on tape telling his mistress and biographer that there was “code word stuff” in the “highly classified” material he slipped to her, the retired general also lied about a cache of classified material he had hidden in his attic, Comey said, comprising obstruction of justice and further evidence that he “knew what he was doing was a violation of the law.”
“We found [the classified materials] in a search warrant hidden under the insulation in his attic, and then he lied to us about it during the investigation.”
“That is the perfect illustration of the kind of cases that get prosecuted,” Comey said. “In my mind, it illustrates perfectly the distinction between this case.”
We’re doing big things and good things. For example, we’ve already transformed much of state government, but people don’t know it. We’ve cut more than $800 million out of wasteful spending inside state government already. Huge transformation.
DHS programs, child care, job training, transit assistance for people with disabilities, cop cars and cop equipment, and a delayed opening of a residence for veterans (construction of which, by the way, has started again, so is that wasteful?).
The Psychiatric Leadership Capacity Grant provides funding to community mental health centers in Illinois to help cover the cost of employing a psychiatrist. The money goes to most of the roughly 140 mental health centers in the state. Often, mental health centers do not have a full-time psychiatrist on staff but bring one in for a few days each week or month to meet with patients and prescribe medication. […]
“There was no explanation or notice from DHS and certainly no suggestion about how community mental health folks should proceed without that funding,” says David Cole, director of the Moultrie County Counseling Center in Sullivan. He says his center gets about $37,000 annually for psychiatric service. “It’s a big cut. The entire line was just crossed out.”
Man, this guy is really something.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
In an interview with reporter Chris Kaergard yesterday, Gov. Bruce Rauner said, “We’ve cut more than $800 million out of wasteful spending inside state government already.” When asked by The Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller to provide evidence of these cuts, the Rauner Administration responded with this document that details cuts to child care, healthcare, recycling programs, veterans housing, transportation funding for the disabled, state police funding, and other critical services provided by the state.
Illinois Working Together Campaign Director Jake Lewis released the following statement regarding Governor Rauner’s “wasteful spending” cuts:
“It is absolutely shameful that Governor Rauner would label child care, healthcare, recycling, transportation for the disabled, veterans housing and state police programs as ‘wasteful’. The very idea that Rauner could think of these programs as ‘wasteful’ clearly demonstrates his utter heartlessness when it comes to Illinois’ neediest. Not only does the governor not care about the most vulnerable in Illinois, he views programs to support them as ‘wasteful’.
“Unfortunately, these callous comments are also completely unsurprising. In addition to his harmful cuts to children, veterans, and public safety, Governor Rauner created a devastating budget impasse that has caused untold damage to Illinois’ families, seniors, and economy. But in Governor Rauner’s world, a million Illinoisans losing access to critical services is just cutting ‘waste’. Meanwhile, the state racks up hundreds of millions of dollars in interest fees on its late bills due to the Rauner impasse. It may take years for the state to recover from the damage Rauner has caused.”
HILYARD: Would you say you’re proud of this stop- gap budget or are you disheartened it had to get to this point?”
RAUNER: Some of each of that. the reality is that it shows that the fact getting a stop-gap budget took so long, it shows how broken the system is. And plus, it’s only a six-month spending plan and it’s still not truly in balance. I can’t find a year when we’ve had a balanced budget in Illinois. this is our problem. We don’t have financial discipline or responsibility. We have been a one party state for 30 years. Speaker Madigan has controlled the majority and the General Assembly and controlled the spending, the deficits, the debt, the unfunded pensions for 30 years, and they’ve taken us into a crisis
HILYARD: A lot of finger pointing happening in the last, really two months and even here today. Do you take any responsibility for this stalemate up until last week?
RAUNER: Well, all of us have a job to do, we have a job to deliver results for the people of Illinois. you know, I’ve come in. I’m new in the job at 18 months. We’ve had a system that’s been broken for a long time. I’m trying my best to change it. We’ve got to change. We can’t just go with the status quo. There’s a lot on the line for November. The people of Illinois will be able to decide, do we want a continuation of the status quo, deficits, job loses, or are we going to get reform? [Emphasis added.]
The man knows how to stay on message. And he knows that if he talks long enough (there was a whole other paragraph after the one above), reporters will usually move on to something else because of time constraints. And she did.
“We stopped Speaker Madigan’s super majority from passing a $7 billion, out of balance, budget,” he said. “That was huge. We’re spending much less than what’s in that budget. That’s a big deal.”
The only reason they’re spending much less than Madigan’s budget is that he signed a mainly six-month stopgap budget, vs. MJM’s full-year budget. But, hey, all Madigan, all the time.
“I think it’s going to be a time for the people of Illinois to decide — do they want to support the status quo or do they want to support reform? I honestly hope they support reformers,” Rauner said.
“If Speaker Madigan gets more power and a greater supermajority, the odds of reform go way down and the chance of a much bigger tax hike without reforms go up.”
Rauner said two-thirds of candidates for the Illinois Legislature this fall are running unopposed. He sees that as proof that term limits and legislative mapping reforms are needed.
“We were able to stop Madigan’s supermajority’s $7 billion out-of-balance budget that passed the House; that would have been a disaster. We’ve kind of flattened off the cost curve on everything except pensions.
That’s an interesting way to describe “squeeze the beast.”
U.S. Rep. BILL FOSTER, D-Naperville, was apparently involved in an effort that could have changed the look of this year’s race in the 13th Congressional District.
But as it stands, U.S. Rep. RODNEY DAVIS, R-Taylorville, will still be facing Democrat MARK WICKLUND of Decatur on the Nov. 8 ballot in the district that includes part of Springfield. And the status of the independent candidate, Dr. DAVID GILL of Bloomington, is up in the air as his petitions have been challenged. Wicklund is one of those who filed an objection to the petitions this week.
Wicklund told me on Wednesday that he had received calls urging him to remove himself as the Democratic candidate, allowing Gill to be named to the spot.
Wicklund said one call came from Foster. Gill said Foster also called him.
Foster is a supporter of HILLARY CLINTON for president, but Gill said Foster “had had some talks with the BERNIE SANDERS campaign,” and “they just felt like the Democrats could have a much more effective campaign with me on board. I said I would give it some thought.”
Rodney Davis is a very hard worker, but it has amazed me that the DCCC and the state party did not find a viable candidate in that district, which has a ton of college campuses and leans “D” in presidential years.
Then again, I don’t know why I’ve been so amazed. It’s not like the DCCC has a great track record here, and the state party concerns itself with only one House of Representatives, and that one ain’t in DC.
* Chris Kaergard interviewed Gov. Rauner this week…
Q: It’s been a contentious last 18 months — and we’ve touched on this a couple times before on your past visits — but looking back on everything that’s happened, are there things that you can think of that perhaps you would’ve done differently or approached differently in that time to help you do your job better going forward?
A: Well, the one thing I probably, all of us should’ve done a better job of, I think, is communicate with you and others in the media as well as directly to the voters to get people to really understand what’s at stake and what’s going on. It’s hard to message, there’s a lot of complex issues. Your average person in Illinois doesn’t really even know what worker’s comp is. The average person doesn’t know really what’s going on in the pension system. They know their taxes are too high, they know we’ve got a deficit. But getting that message out and helping the people of Illinois really understand what’s going on, that’s hard. We probably should’ve done more of that, and come up with more creative ways to do it. We’ll try to get it better.
Labor unions are coming up big in Democrat Susana Mendoza’s bid for state comptroller against Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand-picked candidate.
Mendoza, the Chicago city clerk, this week reported $320,200 in campaign contributions from June 30, with more than $244,000 coming from unions. Leading the way by maxing out at $53,900 each were D.C.-based political funds of the Laborers’ union and the International Union of Operating Engineers. A Chicago Federation of Labor fund gave $15,000, and a south central Illinois laborers’ fund gave $10,000. […]
[Comptroller Leslie Munger], of Lincolnshire, so far has reported raising $82,600 from April through June. She started April with about $225,000 on hand. That’s likely to put her well behind Mendoza, who started the second quarter with $1.1 million on hand and has reported collecting $332,700 since then. It’s a low-profile contest, so both candidates are going to need to build up name recognition with voters. The comptroller’s office controls the state’s checkbook.
Rauner, of course, can make that financial disadvantage go away for Munger in a flash, given his propensity for writing large personal checks to his campaign fund and Illinois GOP accounts.
Yes, Rauner and his buddies most certainly can. And since everything they do is about Speaker Madigan (who may be even more unpopular in Illinois than Donald Trump), I would expect to see photos like this appearing in advertisements…
* And you gotta wonder whether they already have this robocall audio file…
@jasongonzo It's official. You are real. I just got a robocall from Susana Mendoza telling me to support Madigan!
The president of a Chicago-area university says passage of a stopgap Illinois budget has enabled her to do what she’s intended to do for a while, and that is retire.
A statement from Northeastern Illinois University says school president Sharon Hahs plans to retire on Sept. 30 after nearly a decade in the post.
Wednesday’s statement says Hahs delayed those plans as Illinois’ budget crisis worsened. But it says the stopgap budget last week restored stability. […]
The statement says Hahs will recommend that a national search for a permanent new president at the 10,000-student school be postponed until Illinois has at least one full regular budget cycle.
* They missed the real news. Here’s the e-mail she sent, with emphasis added…
TO: University Community
FROM: Sharon Hahs, President
DATE: July 6, 2016
RE: Retirement announcement
I want to share with you my decision to retire on September 30th of this year. It has been my joy and my honor to serve as President of Northeastern Illinois University for nearly a decade. Originally, I had intended to move toward retirement many months ago; Billy and I began making plans. That planning was put aside, however—delayed by the budget crisis. At this point, the University is stable, we have strong leadership, we have demonstrated our resilience, and we have stopgap funding.
In the coming academic year, Northeastern will have its site visit from the Higher Learning Commission for our 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation. In early spring, we will also be going public with our first fundraising campaign, Transforming Lives. It is best for Northeastern to have new leadership in place well ahead of these events. Now is a good time for that transition.
Given the fiscal realities and the reputational damage to the state of Illinois at this time, I have recommended to the Board of Trustees that a national search for president be postponed until Illinois has at least one full regular budget cycle. It is my sincere belief that a national search is not viable at this time. Further, I am recommending to the Board that Provost Richard Helldobler serve as Interim President. He has many significant accomplishments at Northeastern and is deeply committed to our University, our students, and our faculty and staff.
The Board of Trustees will be scheduling a special meeting to address this transition in the next two or three weeks.
Together we have accomplished a great deal over this last decade. I am confident that with continued hard work, the future is bright for Northeastern. Please know that I truly cherish our University and the people who make Northeastern the special place that it is today. I will always keep you in my thoughts and in my heart.
Thank you.
