* Proponents of allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain limited drivers licenses thought Monday night that they were short of passage by a vote or two. Others thought it wasn’t even that close. So, why did the bill get 66 House votes yesterday? Well, some support came from unlikely quarters. And some folks were turned off by the debate. A sample…
Other opponents, including several South Side Democrats, pointed out the unfairness in depriving someone in the U.S. legally of driving privileges for not paying child support but allowing those here illegally a pathway to a drivers license.
“I believe that all of these provisions in the state of Illinois denying an Illinois citizen from a drivers license should darn well be considered, whose background we know, before we give a drivers license to those we don’t know,” said Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago), who voted against the bill.
Three South Siders voted against the bill. Rep. Bill Cunningham stuck with the cops, who opposed it. Reps. Monique Davis and Mary Flowers voted “No” as well. Both ended up losing bids for leadership.
Debate in the House lasted nearly 90 minutes, with critics arguing the new immigrant drivers licenses put the state on record as condoning illegal entry into the country, set up a system that can be exploited by fraud and ignore the fact immigration policy is a federal responsibility, not a state one.
“There will be fraud, abuse. All I have to say is people have called me a hater, a racist,” said Rep. Randy Ramey (R-Carol Stream), who voted against the plan. “All I’m doing is standing by what the Constitution of the United States of America says. If the fed government wants to change the rules, I’d stand by that.”
But, if it’s supposedly “in the Constitution,” then how can the feds “change the rules”?
As I noted yesterday on the live blog, Ramey also made a fruitless attempt to stall the bill by asking for some pretty ridiculous impact notes. That likely didn’t go over well, either.
A dormant gambling expansion bill that would bring a casino to Chicago moved to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk Tuesday after the state Senate’s top Democrat quietly lifted a parliamentary paperweight that he’d placed on the plan nearly two years ago.
The likelihood that the governor would affix his signature to the package seemed remote since Quinn once belittled the effort as “top heavy” and “excessive,” and the top state gambling regulator whom the governor appointed called it a “pile of garbage.”
Before the close of the lame-duck legislative session Tuesday, Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) removed a parliamentary hold he’d put on the bill immediately after it passed the Senate in May 2011.
By releasing the hold, Cullerton now puts Quinn in a position where he could, should he choose to, use the legislation as a bargaining chip in his stalled pursuit of cuts to state pension benefits. The Senate president has been an active supporter of gambling expansion, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has pushed hard for a city casino.
The state Constitution gives Quinn 60 calendar days to act on the gambling bill - two months into the spring legislative session when presumably finding a way to solve the state’s $95 billion pension crisis will remain on the frontburner after lawmakers whiffed at efforts to pass a pension bill this week.
I don’t see how the governor has any leverage, though; with Democratic supermajorities in the new legislature, he’s not really at the table anymore. Why would legislative leaders and/or Rahm - who really, really, really, really wants a casino - give up anything to Quinn to get pension reform in exchange for getting a gambling bill signed when they can now pass a veto-proof gambling bill on their own?
Quinn is now about as relevant as Squeezy.
I suppose it could be used as a chip, but it would be pretty darned irresponsible to do that and I don’t see Cullerton making that sort of move. I hope I’m right.
* More…
* Feds say expanding Medicaid in Illinois could bring in billions, but lawmakers are wary
* Editorial: Don’t trim at-risk kids out of state budgets
* Oswego Willy displayed his Golden Horseshoe Award chops in comments today…
Quinn becomes more and more the “deer in headlights” because the levers of the Executive are too complicated to wield, and not because Madigan and Cullerton want to be so difficult, but because Quinn puts the Two true Leaders in position to HAVE to take on more of a role than the 1/3 that the Constitution describes.
This is the absolute heart of the problem. We have a basically well-intentioned governor who simply cannot govern.
There are plenty of other aspects, of course. Madigan has yet to truly get behind a pension fix, for example. But Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar and George Ryan all found ways to work with Madigan to get big things done and move this state forward. Pat Quinn has shown over and over and over again that he just can’t. And, as a citizen, I’m really getting tired of it.
* Senate President Pro Tempore Don Harmon withdrew his motion to reconsider last night, meaning that the so-called “management bill” is heading to the governor’s desk. Harmon released a statement yesterday about his decision and what preceded it, calling the years-long process “one of the most difficult and frustrating negotiations of my career.” An excerpt…
The bill itself is not the draconian “Scott-Walker-esque” horror show that some opponents describe. If the bill were signed into law, it would not affect “thousands” of union employees, though it may affect hundreds of state employees who probably never should have been unionized in the first place. Still, no one will lose a job—they will just be removed from the collective bargaining unit.
Immediately after the Senate approved the bill, I filed a motion to reconsider the vote. This was a procedural means to keep the bill in the Senate’s control while we tried one last time to negotiate a fair rebalancing of the State’s workforce, giving the Governor the tools he needs to govern, and protecting the right of rank-and-file workers to organize and bargain collectively.
While we were not able to negotiate a comprehensive solution before my motion expired, I did secure several key promises from the Governor. Most importantly, the Governor committed to the following four points:
1. He will negotiate with the unions a fair and equitable process for implementing the bill, which will permit, whenever possible, employees to transfer into union positions rather than be removed from the union;
2. He will not sign the bill before the deadline so that negotiations of the implementation process and clarifying legislation can unfold;
3. He will not use the full measure of authority granted to him, and will designate fewer employees than allowed by law for exclusion from collective bargaining; and
4. He will not reduce the salary of any employee whose position is excluded from collective bargaining.
The anti-climatic end to the 97th General Assembly had even the powerful leader of the House, Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago), at a loss for words as he contemplated starting the whole process of pension reform from scratch this spring.
“You know, it’s kinda hard to have thoughts, isn’t it?” Madigan said as he left the Capitol.
Cullerton, meanwhile, defended the governor’s work on pensions, though in a backhanded fashion.
“I think the guy’s done a good job. Now, it’s not his strength passing legislation in the General Assembly. You know that. So, he’s never really been in the General Assembly,” Cullerton said. “But the four leaders have been here. We know how to pass bills.”
One ally of Quinn’s allies said he “put everything out there on the field today” with his press secretary refusing to take the bait on any suggestion the governor played a role in the inaction.
After their stunning failure, legislative leaders said all the right things about getting back to work. The two main pension bills will be refiled immediately, one by Rep. Elaine Nekritz and Sen. Daniel Biss and another by Sen. President John Cullerton. This time around, notably, Cullerton’s bill will cover four pension systems rather than just two.
Cullerton believes only his approach is allowed under the state Constitution, which protects benefits from being diminished, and we believe his argument has merit.
He proposes passing both bills and letting the Illinois Supreme Court decide which is constitutional. Nekritz said she is open to the idea, so long as it’s cleared by constitutional lawyers. That’s a big if, but at this point it’s hard to see another path forward. More input from the state’s unions also would be helpful.
The only good news is that the hard work is mostly done. The broad contours of a painful but desperately needed pension overhaul are at hand.
All that’s missing is courage.
I think what Cullerton said was that he’d let the Nekritz/Cross plan have a shot at the courts first before his plan could be enacted.
But the hard work is definitely not “mostly done.” The Senate passed its bill, but the House’s bill is way short of clearing that chamber right now. And neither bill has majority support in the other chamber at the moment. What’s required here is leadership, and there’s precious little of that in these parts.
* Speaking of leadership, or the lack thereof, I couldn’t agree more with Mark Brown’s assessment of Gov. Pat Quinn’s last minute gambit to create a commission that could force pension changes into law…
I imagine Quinn’s idea sounds good to some people, taking the power away from the Legislature, and maybe it will sound better to me after a few more months or years of inaction. But springing it at the last minute just looked desperate and weak.
So the dead-duck session has ended, and the next General Assembly will be sworn into service at noon Wednesday. There is, at this writing, absolutely no reason to think the next Legislature will be more committed than the last to solving this problem.
That’s not really true. As I’ve pointed out before, many of the newly elected legislators are bringing a fresh approach to pension reform, which was an issue in every one of their races. Also, a significant credit ratings downgrade could panic people into taking action. And then there’s the impact this is having on the budget.
Rep. David Leitch, a Peoria Republican and former banker, said it was a “gross mistake” to end the session without calling the Nekritz plan for a House vote and added that it might be more difficult to advance the measure in the new General Assembly.
Leitch said the lame-duck session would have been the “ideal time” to move the bill because lawmakers who had one foot out the door could have been persuaded to take difficult votes because they won’t have to face voters again.
“Typically, that’s when you do tough things,” Leitch said. “This is a tough thing. Unfortunately, we didn’t do it.”
Lame duck Democrats are free to vote like Democrats. That’s what happened with the income tax hike, civil unions and death penalty repeal two years ago. This time around, we’re talking about getting lame duck Democrats to vote more like Republicans. Not easy at all, particularly when some retirees are counting on their pensions, and others don’t want to vote for something that could hurt them in any future careers as lobbyists. This was always a super tall order, to say the least.
* Let’s all hope that the new General Assembly can accomplish what the old General Assembly could not. Blackberry users click here, everybody else can just watch right here…
The Commission shall determine the changes to law necessary to ensure that the State Employee Retirement System, the General Assembly Retirement System, the State University Retirement System, and the Teacher’s Retirement System will reach 100% actuarial funding for all then-existing liabilities not later than December 31, 2045, calculated and defined in full accordance with the applicable standards and guidelines of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. […]
General Assembly Disapproval of the Report. The General Assembly may disapprove the report of the Commission in whole within thirty legislative days after the report is filed by adoption of a joint resolution by a record vote of the majority of the members elected in each house. If the General Assembly does not adopt a joint resolution disapproving of the report, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate shall certify the bill and it shall be presented to the Governor in accordance with Article 4, Section 9(a) of the Illinois Constitution. The Governor shall sign the bill and it shall become law. The bill shall not be certified if the General Assembly adopts a joint resolution disapproving of the report.
This looks like the federal base-closing commission.
The General Assembly shall enact laws only by bill. Bills may originate in either house, but may be amended or rejected by the other.
No bill shall become a law without the concurrence of a majority of the members elected to each house. Final passage of a bill shall be by record vote. In the Senate at the request of two members, and in the House at the request of five members, a record vote may be taken on any other occasion. A record vote is a vote by yeas and nays entered on the journal.
…Adding More… This looks a bit like the old and now defunct pay raise commission. Back then, legislators in both chambers had to vote to reject the commission’s pay raise recommendations or they’d take effect.
Tuesday, Jan 8, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
HB 5440 calls for a new tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV. A recent statewide poll conducted by We Ask America confirms there is universal opposition to the cable industry’s push to place this NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. The poll was conducted on November 14, 2012 yielding 1,288 responses with a margin of error of +/- 3%.
Key findings:
* 84% of all respondents oppose a new satellite tax
* 81% of cable subscribers even oppose this concept
* Opposition is strong among both Democrats & Republicans – 83% (D) and 87% (R)
* Regional Opposition
o Chicago 81%
o Suburban Cook 77%
o Collar Counties 84%
o Downstate 89%
Cable pays rent in the form of franchise fees. Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: our technology orbits the earth. Why should satellite customers pay for a service they do not utilize?
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today announced she has filed a petition for rehearing before the full U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in lawsuits challenging the Illinois laws that prevent the carrying of ready-to-use firearms in public.
The Attorney General’s petition for a rehearing “en banc” is a request for all of the judges on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case after a December decision by a three-judge panel of the court held that the state laws barring carrying ready-to-use firearms in public are unconstitutional.
Madigan’s petition was filed in lawsuits brought against the State of Illinois by Michael Moore, Mary E. Shepard and the Illinois State Rifle Association, which allege that Illinois’ restrictions on the carrying of ready-to-use weapons in public violates their Second Amendment rights. The laws had previously been upheld by two separate federal district courts in Illinois.
In its December decision, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals set a 180-day deadline for the Illinois legislature to draft and enact new laws relating to carrying ready-to-use firearms in public. Today’s petition for rehearing by the Attorney General does not affect that deadline.
Madigan issued the following statement regarding her decision to seek a rehearing:
“In ruling that Illinois must allow individuals to carry ready-to-use firearms in public, the 7th Circuit Court’s decision goes beyond what the U.S. Supreme Court has held and conflicts with decisions by two other federal appellate courts. Based on those decisions, it is appropriate to ask the full 7th Circuit to review this case and consider adopting an approach that is consistent with the other appellate courts that have addressed these issues after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Heller and McDonald decisions.”
* Seventeen Democrats and five Republicans filed to run for former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s seat yesterday. Sun-Times…
Longtime political analyst Don Rose said not only will money be important in the race to replace Jackson but how a candidate spends it will be critical.
“There’s no question that fund-raising is important,” he said. “Nobody has a district-wide reputation so they simply [have] to get their message out. Money is a substantial part of the ballgame.”
Rose qualified that, however, pointing out that U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley was far outspent when he ran in a special election in 2009, and he won with about 22 percent of the vote.
Rose said Halvorson is the only candidate to have a district-wide name, having run in the primary and agreed she probably didn’t need to fund raise as much as other candidates.
On the Republican side, Beverly Reid of Chicago joined the previously announced Lenny McAllister of Maywood. Paul McKinley of Bronzeville, Freedom’s Journal Magazine publisher Eric Wallace of Flossmoor and James Taylor Sr. of downstate Bradley also entered the contest Monday.
* Meanwhile, Robin Kelly has a new campaign Internet promo video. Rate it…
The Illinois Board of Elections holds a lottery on Tuesday to determine ballot positions for the Feb. 26 primaries to fill the seat left vacant with the resignation of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.)
Tuesday, Jan 8, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
At a time when Illinois is facing another budget crisis, our state continues to fall behind in modernizing its revenue laws to adapt to the current marketplace. For example, cable and other video providers are paying industry standard state and local taxes and fees, while satellite providers – who represent a third of the market and make hundreds of millions in revenue – exploit a corporate loophole to minimize taxes and fees.
The reality is there is a price of doing business in a market where you use a public good, like our roads and infrastructure. House Bill 5440 closes the satellite TV corporate tax loophole and raises up to $75 million for education.
HB 5440 is being championed by individuals and groups statewide who recognize this crisis and want it addressed.
Close the satellite loophole and support our students. Vote YES on HB 5440! To learn more and make your voice heard, visit www.YesOn5440.com.
* Here’s the hard, simple truth about pension reform, or anything for that matter: Nothing difficult ever gets done unless House Speaker Michael J. Madigan pushes his members to vote for it. Period. End of story. And, so far, MJM is not working his members.
Many in the House did not want to take up a controversial issue when the Senate isn’t even around to consider it. Some Democrats refused to commit to voting for the plan when they didn’t know how many Republicans also were willing to stick out their necks.
Others stood against any pension changes. Some who were willing to entertain a new approach criticized the proposal as too harsh on public employees and retirees. Still others contended the proposal violates a state constitutional prohibition on diminishing or impairing public employee pensions, as union officials have maintained. […]
And then there are the outgoing lame-duck lawmakers. While those who lost in November or are retiring are politically insulated from facing the voters again, they aren’t eager to use their last minutes in public office to vote for a proposal that would reduce their own retirement benefits.
But the easiest blame was cast upon absent state senators and their leader, Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.
“There are a number of people who are talking about the Senate,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, a sponsor of the pension measure, which advanced earlier Monday from a House committee on a 6-3 vote. “But those are some of the people who, if not the Senate, also would have found another excuse.”
* And I’m not sure that this interpretation is correct…
If lawmakers don’t meet their deadline Wednesday, the General Assembly can start again. About three dozen new lawmakers will be sworn in Wednesday for the new session.
“I don’t think we need to start over from scratch,” Nekritz said. “This is a piece of legislation that has had the most bipartisan support and the most momentum behind it.”
The Senate has actually passed a pension reform bill - twice. However, it has little support in the House, so far.
We have said the Nekritz bill is constitutionally suspect, though its sponsors can muster some compelling arguments. Despite that, it gets our backing because it is the only comprehensive bill in play. Cullerton’s bill, which passed the Senate in May, only covers two of the five state pension systems, generating only about one-third of the needed savings. Though a better bet constitutionally speaking, any bill is a gamble given protections in the state Constitution.
But the Senate Democrats contend that a bill as unconstitutional as the Nekrtiz/Cross proposal would upset ratings agencies even more. Check the bottom of Page 1 of this document, for example.
Certainly, the newspaper has lost its status since 2000, when Tribune Co. bought the Los Angeles Times. Still, its sale to an out-of-town owner could end Tribune’s run as the most influential media outlet in Chicago. There are a couple of reasons to avoid that.
As a stand-alone entity, the paper would surely lose resources and staff, jeopardizing the sort of important journalism it still does.
First, it’s clearly better for Chicago to be home to one of the largest private companies in the U.S. Big corporations with engaged CEOs and headquarters here are part of the stew that makes us a great city. Think of St. Louis, where Belgium’s InBev bought locally owned Anheuser-Busch Cos. Next time the town needs a new stadium, it’s doubtful the brewer’s execs would pick up the phone.
Second, Chicago Tribune unmoored from a corporate parent is diminished. As a stand-alone entity, the paper would surely lose resources and staff, jeopardizing the sort of important journalism it still does, such as recent series on flame retardants, pension scams and debt problems in the suburbs. Who will pick up the torch? Certainly not thinly staffed “hyper-local” news sites or ambulance-chasing TV stations.
What’s more, Tribune is the only media outlet in Chicago willing to maintain the civic responsibility of vetting every candidate for public office, now that the Chicago Sun-Times has renounced that duty.
* The Question: Do you care if the Tribune is sold to an out-of-towner? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* 11:44 am - House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown just announced there will be no floor vote on pensions after today’s committee hearing.
Probably more credible, though, is persistent buzz that Mr. Walsh will focus on regaining his congressional seat — not against Ms. Duckworth, whose district now is reliably Democratic, but by running in a primary against Republican Randy Hultgren in the adjoining 14th District.
Whatever happens, I don’t expect him to go away.
* Meanwhile, Rep. Mell told me essentially the same thing yesterday after session ended…
State Rep. Deborah Mell, the daughter of Chicago Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), soft-pedaled the possibility of assuming her father’s seat on the City Council but stopped well short of ruling out that possibility Sunday.
In her first extended public statements on the issue, the two-term state representative insisted that “nothing is going on”surrounding a potential move to the City Council and said she would weigh her options when — and if — her father decides to step down.
“When the time comes, we’ll deal with it then. But I love my community. I would love to represent it either way,” Mell told the Chicago Sun-Times after the Illinois House adjourned for the day Sunday. […]
Emanuel acknowledged that he had talked to the alderman about his plan to retire, but they haven’t yet discussed his apparent political plan for his daughter. […]
“I think the mayor said it really correctly where my dad’s been retiring for quite awhile now,” she said. “I don’t know what he would do, you know, if he wasn’t an alderman. I mean, I think he loves it. So I don’t know. And about me, I don’t know.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s departing top political hand has landed himself a new gig — with a GOP-leaning firm that’s looking to widen its reach and become one of the city’s top public affairs shops.
Tom Bowen is joining Mac Strategies Group Inc. as a senior adviser. He served as deputy campaign manager for Mr. Emanuel and ran the mayor’s Chicago Committee leadership PAC. He’s also worked for former U.S. Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias and Barack Obama — the latter both as a state senator and as a candidate for president.
In an interview, Mr. Bowen said his new job will be to help interest groups and companies tell their story in an effective manner.
“In the business world, you’re not electing someone but looking to get a bill passed in Chicago or Springfield or Washington,” he said. “You need to get your message out.”
I introduced Bowen to Ryan McLaughlin at a party. This is not your usual pairing, but I think they’ll be a good fit, and both of them are top notch dudes.
* I talked to an African-American House member about this development last night. He was very concerned and indicated that it might change his vote to “No.” From a press release…
CHICAGOLAND BLACK CLERGY TO SEND CLEAR MESSAGE TO ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE
DON’T PASS GAY MARRIAGE BILL
Monday, January 7th, 2013 @ 11:00 A.M.
Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, 5729 W. Chicago Ave, Chicago IL
Chicago, IL—Reverend Kenneth Giles-Senior Pastor of the Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church- will lead a mass group of Chicagoland African American Clergymen in sending a clear message to the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, the four Legislative Leaders and the entire Illinois Legislaturein demanding that the General Assembly NOT pass the upcoming Gay Marriage Bill.
The Clergymen will express their disappointment in various Illinois Legislators who frequent many black churches for votes but often have deaf ears to serious issues such as the pending Gay Marriage bill in which the mainstream black church strongly opposes. The group will also share their plan to lobby the General Assembly, particularly the Illinois House of Representatives, who are considering having the bill called for a vote on this week.
There won’t be a vote on gay marriage in the House this week, but a message will surely be sent.
* Meanwhile, newspaper editorial boards are lining up in support. The most recent…
However, if you vote “Yes” to the proposed same-sex marriage bill, you will harm your constituents in two primary ways:
1) You will declare your constituents who believe that marriage is a union of one man and one woman to be bigots and discriminators. You will further ensure that this declaration is reinforced through official government policy. For instance, as in other states, you may see public schools in your district instruct children, beginning in kindergarten, that (a) same-sex couples and same-sex sexual activity are the same as opposite-sex married couples and opposite-sex marital sexual activity or that (b) kids do not need both a mom and a dad - two moms or two dads are just as good. Parents in your district who disagree have no right under law to opt their young children out of this kind of instruction.
2) You will strip away the meager religious liberty protections of the 2010 civil union law, as these protections are not included in the 2013 same-sex marriage bill. These religious liberty protections currently provide explicit shelter to Catholic Charities and other faith-based adoption agencies in providing private adoptions. These protections also shelter Evangelical, Catholic, and other faith-based organizations, including hospitals and schools, from being charged with Illinois Human Rights Act violations when they follow their beliefs on marriage in employment, facilities rental, and other decisions. Penalties for violating the Human Rights Act include fines, injunctions, and other penalties intended to force acceptance of same-sex unions.
What benefit would a “Yes” vote provide to same-sex couples? The mere changing of a title of a license - such that the license for most same-sex unions would now read “marriage license” instead of “civil union license.” And, if the example of other states holds true here, the words ‚”Husband” and “Wife” would be stricken from marriage licenses in favor of “Party A” and “Party B.” Again, a “yes” vote on same sex marriage would not grant a single additional substantive legal right to any homosexual couple in Illinois.
* I wasn’t able to attend yesterday’s House Judiciary I Committee meeting where it was announced that an assault weapons ban wouldn’t be called for a vote.
I did notice, however, that there was loud applause and shouting at the end of a video posted by Illinois Watchdog.
* It turns out that a group called Decatur Midwest Patriot Militia attended yesterday’s hearing. WAND TV’s Casey Lund interviewed Nathan Moyer, who is a member of the group…
* Transcript of Moyer’s remarks…
That sarcastic round of applause is saying that we know that we got some people running scared.
And if I have to stand alone, I don’t think I’ll be the only one. We’re not going to put up with any more gun laws from this country and from the state of Illinois.
I feel like the line has been drawn in the sand. There have been various things, conspiracies that have been happening in this country.
I’m not an alarmist, I’m not a nutball.
What I am is a patriotic American. I have a grandpa laying in Camp Butler Cemetery. I kneeled on his grave and said that I will defend freedom.
* So far, ten Democratic candidates have filed to run in the 2nd Congressional district special primary to replace former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. I’ve deleted addresses from the State Board of Elections’ website. Today is the last day to file, so this list isn’t yet complete…
BLYTH, JOHN
RAYBURN, CHARLES
HAYNES, GREGORY
JONATHAN, VICTOR formerly known as VICTOR ONAFUYE until name changed on Oct 18, 2010
REYNOLDS, MEL “MR”
HARRIS, NAPOLEON
BEALE, ANTHONY A.
KELLY, ROBIN
HUTCHINSON, TOI W.
EAGLETON, CLIFFORD J.
Notice that Debbie Halvorson hasn’t yet filed.
* Add another one. From a press release…
Who: Joyce Washington For Congress
What: Announcement of candidacy for 2nd Congressional District seat.
When: Sunday, January 6th, 2013 9 am.
Where: Grand Tradition Room
Chicago Hilton
720 S. Michigan Ave.
Washington ran for US Senate in 2004.
* Robin Kelly appears to be doing well with fundraising. From a press release…
Robin Kelly, candidate for Illinois’ second Congressional district, released her fundraising numbers for the month of December this morning. After entering the race on December 2, Kelly had 29 days to raise funds before the end of the filing period, which closed December 31.
Kelly amassed a warchest of $200,209 from 514 individual supporters in that short period, reinforcing her status as a frontrunner.
* So, we have three African-American women and eight African-American men and one white woman with high name recognition from her time in Congress and her bid against Jackson last year. If Halvorson can raise a few bucks and doesn’t run an awful campaign, you have to consider her the current frontrunner. Halvorson received 29 percent of the vote against Jackson last March. She probably doesn’t even need that much to win in such a crowded primary.
But, hey, it’s politics, baby, so anything can happen. Stay tuned.
Last week, state Sen. Toi Hutchinson announced raising more than $130,000
“While December is traditionally the most difficult fundraising month of the year, I’m so humbled by the outpouring of support I’ve received in the last four weeks,” Hutchinson said in a statement.
Thursday was not exactly a banner day for the Illinois Senate Democratic leadership. In high-profile moves, its attempts to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage stalled as did bills on gun control.
Even a much-needed spending bill was unable to move out of committee. Pension reform went nowhere. The biggest winners were cigarette makers, of all people.
The gay marriage bill turned out to be a dud. Opponents pointed out some serious issues with its drafting, which, for instance, appeared to mandate that facilities owned by churches or religious groups allow same-sex marriage ceremonies. Proponents denied that, but they seemed to be on some shaky ground.
The measure was moved forward at the behest of some wealthy financial backers who appeared to dictate the timing, which is never a good thing in Springfield. The bill’s supporters said three senators who were supposed to vote for the bill were not at the statehouse and that kept them from passing it.
But even if that were true, the drafting questions likely would have doomed the measure in the House. And the millionaire-funded media blitz didn’t work. Media blitzes, no matter how impressive, aren’t effective in the Legislature if the bill is flawed and the votes aren’t there.
On the positive side for the proponents, Senate Republicans remained quite civil during a committee hearing on the gay marriage bill. And Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) said during the hearing that she believed a bipartisan compromise could be reached on the legislation.
Despite last week’s stumbling, it looks like legalizing gay marriage eventually could pass. But its initial failure was an avoidable embarrassment for its supporters.
Meanwhile, an intense lobbying effort by gun-rights groups and a serious overreach by proponents derailed two gun control bills. The pro-gun groups claimed the bills would result in a ban on a vast array of commonly used weapons and would unconstitutionally restrict gun owners’ rights.
The legislation clearly was doomed as written, and even some gun control lobbyists were less than enthused about the task they were handed.
A prominent gun control senator said privately that some aspects of the legislation were so broadly written that they would have to be removed if there were any hope of passage in the future. He said he was not involved in the bill drafting and didn’t know who was.
As a result, Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), a staunch gun opponent, said last week that he would “absolutely” work with gun-rights groups on a compromise, which includes a federal appeals court mandate to pass a concealed-carry law. But Cullerton could be negotiating from weakness, now that his attempts to ram through sweeping gun control provisions have failed.
A bill containing state spending authorization for construction, new caseworkers for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, workers compensation claims and education grants went nowhere after a revolt by some legislators, mainly members of the Black Caucus.
Caucus members withheld their votes because a bill by Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago) to set up a revolving loan program for minority road contractors has gone nowhere in the House.
Last year, when the state hiked its cigarette tax by almost $1 a pack, the tobacco industry cut a deal to pass a bill that limited appeal bonds. Now, state law mandates that bonds be posted equal to 11/2 times a judgment in certain civil cases before a ruling can be appealed.
That resulted in a required $12 billion appeal bond years ago when Philip Morris lost a case involving Marlboro Lights. That bond was lowered after negotiations, but the company has been fighting ever since to get into law a lower bond requirement.
The House passed a bill last year, but Cullerton, a visceral anti-tobacco legislator, bottled it up in the Senate. But it passed last week after the trial lawyers were given a neat little plum that guarantees them higher contingency fees in big medical malpractice cases.
Add gun-control legislation to the growing legislative scrap heap for what thus far has been a lame lame-duck session.
Citing a lack of support, the House sponsor of bans on military-style weapons — dubbed “assault weapons” by critics — and the high-powered ammunition that feeds them decided Sunday not to call either measure for a vote in his chamber. […]
State Rep. Brandon Phelps (D-Harrisburg), one of the House’s leading gun-rights advocates, said he was surprised the gun bills weren’t called even though he thinks a majority of House members were spooked by the expansive nature of the legislation, which he said could affect as up to 85 percent of all guns.
“It’s just too broad and covers way too many guns,” Phelps said. “The way I’ve heard from other people, they’re not sitting down negotiating this bill. They’re just throwing something out there to see if this sticks.”
* Sen. Jeff Schoenberg is very unhappy with being singled out for blame on the gay marriage bill’s defeat…
Retiring State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg says he’s surprised Democrats pushed a gay marriage proposal if they needed his vote because they knew he’d be out of the country.
And the Evanston Democrat told The Associated Press Sunday he had already resigned effective Monday so his replacement could get to work.
Schoenberg and his family spent nearly two weeks in Jerusalem for his son’s bar mitzvah. He says Senate President John Cullerton’s office was aware that he would be back this weekend in case his vote was needed.
Schoenberg is right. Blaming him is ridiculous since the bill came up so many votes short of passage. They knew he’d be gone. They could’ve just delayed the vote until the next General Assembly. Instead, they pushed forward and looked bad in the process.
‘Did we waste time by doing this exercise? Absolutely not,’ he said. Committee hearings ‘flushed out the opposition’ on where Democrats could improve the bills.
‘It’s not an admission we did something wrong,’ Cullerton said. ‘When they raise issues, we say, ‘OK, we’ll make this clear, maybe that would help you?’ And they say, ‘Sure.’ ‘
An Illinois House committee has voted down legislation requiring that some corporations make their income-tax bills public.
The revenue and finance committee rejected the proposal Sunday, keeping it in committee. Several Republicans called it anti-business and anti-employment.
* I gave subscribers details about this pension reform impasse yesterday…
The pension proposal’s fate is uncertain should it pass the House. The Senate went home Thursday but Cullerton left open the possibility of coming back. Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said senators would return to Springfield Tuesday “to review and hear” a significant pension reform bill if one is passed by the House.
“I can’t make any predictions beyond that,” she said.
When the governor and legislative leaders met Saturday, Cullerton said at various points he would lobby against the House plan, Cross said. But Cross also said Cullerton indicated that he would allow for a Senate vote if the pension measure passed the House.
Still, if Cullerton balks at the House pension plan, Springfield could devolve into an all-too-familiar political game: The House passes one version of legislation, the Senate passes another, lawmakers pat themselves on the back and then blame the other chamber for failing to achieve needed reform.
Madigan also said he has not decided whether a vote will occur on the Cullerton-backed plan in the Senate, as Cullerton has insisted.
“Well, I don’t know about that, but I know that John has given a lot of time and effort and study to the pension question, and so he’s got some strong views on it, which he’s entitled to,” Madigan said. “I don’t think we should get hung up on details. I think we ought to be focused on getting something done.”
Pressed on what’s left to be done, Madigan said, “Well, to sit down and reconcile differences and do a little give and take and move a bill.”
A Cullerton spokeswoman late Sunday held to her boss’ earlier position that the House first take up the pension legislation that passed the Senate last May before anything else.
“He’s still insisting they take up HB1447. We need an opportunity to have an up-or-down vote,” Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said.
“It’s already passed one chamber, and it has a constitutional framework we feel will hold up in court. We believe those considerations are very important on any bill that’s passed,” she said.
* 2:13 pm - House Judiciary Committee Chair Elaine Nekritz just announced that there would be no vote on an assault weapons ban during the lame duck session.
* If you haven’t yet, you ought to read Bernie Schoenburg’s interview of retiring state Sen. Larry Bomke (R-Springfield). The last half of the story is about Bomke’s impressions of the four governors he’s worked with over the years. For example…
Bomke thinks that Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is “just a really nice guy.”
“When he does things … he honestly believes what he is doing is not in his selfish interest, but in the best interest of the state,” Bomke said. Still, Bomke said of Quinn, “I don’t think that he understands the process well enough to get things done.
“We almost need a Jim Edgar/George Ryan clone combination,” Bomke said, “George Ryan, who knew the politics, and Jim Edgar, who understood government.”
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan could be released from federal prison at any time, according to Federal Bureau of Prison spokesman Chris Burke, and it’s even possible he could go directly to his Kankakee home.
However, Burke said it is extremely rare for a federal inmate to go directly from federal prison to home.
“Almost every inmate released spends at least a short amount of time in a halfway house,” Burke said
Imprisoned Governor George Ryan has yet again been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
University of Illinois College of Law Professor Francis A. Boyle nominated the retired governor first in 2003, following Ryan’s landmark decision to commute all death sentences in Illinois to life in prison. The nominations have continued annually since then.
“We are extremely disappointed that Governor Quinn and legislative leaders have shut out the voices of workers and retirees in their latest talks on pension legislation. Instead, once again, Illinois politicians are preparing to use unconstitutional schemes to ruin the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans while ignoring the state’s revenue problem.
If the General Assembly rams through last-minute legislation that violates the Illinois Constitution, we are prepared to sue to protect the hard-earned benefits of teachers, caregivers, corrections officers, university employees, and others.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The coalition has put forth a real plan to fix the state’s pension funding problem and called to meet with lawmakers at a mid-January summit. Our plan — to create an ironclad guarantee, curtail corporate welfare by closing tax loopholes, and share in the sacrifice by asking employees to pay more into the pension systems — remains the only fair, constitutional, and sustainable proposal on the table.”
* Rep. Jim Durkin might wish this week that he’d kept quiet instead of talking to his local paper late last week…
At least one suburban legislator is rankled by last-ditch efforts to pass laws on controversial issues during the lame duck session in Springfield.
State Rep. Jim Durkin, R-82nd, Western Springs, said moves to rush through laws banning assault weapons and allowing same-sex marriage are unfair to voters.
“I’ve had it with the 11th hour passage of bills which do not get the thorough vetting before the public and members of the legislature,” Durkin said. […]
“I have been in the minority party for a great amount of time, and it’s sickening to watch this process play out,” he said. “It should disgust the voters in Illinois.”
Durkin said he intends to sponsor a bill insuring that a super majority vote, rather than a simple majority of 60, is required to pass bills in the House after May 31, to prevent lame-duck session abuses.
“This is just wrong. The fact that it’s being done in the dark of night at a speed, which is nearly impossible for a thoughtful debate and input from the public,” he said.
I happen to like Jim Durkin a lot and have a great deal of respect for the man. He’s a good state legislator, a decent man and is a reasonable voice in his caucus.
* But what the heck is Rep. Durkin gonna do if a pension reform bill suddenly pops up on the floor in the next day or two and an immediate vote has to be taken - without much deliberation and with little to no public input?
* On the surface, Durkin’s idea has plenty of merit. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Constitution’s lame duck loophole has been overused.
But the reality is that sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do when you’re in leadership. The hard truth is that being allowed to pass bills with a mere simple majority after January 1st helps stuff get done around here. Sometimes the Republicans don’t like that, as with the income tax hike (although they aren’t complaining about the new money). Sometimes, they do, like when they rammed through a bunch of stuff in the 1997 lame duck session - or now, with pension reform.
There’s no way they can pass pension reform with three-fifths majorities when they’re gonna have a whale of a time trying to find simple majorities this week.
When some House members crafted their own pension reform bill, Gov. Pat Quinn insisted it had to undergo a vigorous review by actuaries to see how much it would save.
It took a couple of weeks, but it was reviewed and the results were made public before Christmas, giving legislators time to digest them before coming back to Springfield.
Now Quinn is talking about yet another plan that he thinks should be approved by lawmakers in three days. The House returns Sunday, and the last day to do anything before new legislators are seated is Tuesday.
Hopefully, the actuaries were given this plan long enough ago that they can verify in the remaining three days that all of the savings are legitimate.
If so, they will have had more time to review it than the people who are expected to vote on it.
And remember the last time the Legislature quickly rammed through some pension reforms? Even some of the reformers now admit mistakes were made that will need to be corrected.
Anyone confident they’ll avoid that problem if a new reform plan is rushed through again?
* Mark Brown thinks that Speaker Madigan will either get a pension bill done, or do whatever he can and let the blame fall elsewhere…
There were no smiles on the faces of anyone emerging from Saturday’s closed-door summit of Gov. Pat Quinn and legislative leaders on how to solve the state’s pension funding woes.
That was the bad news for those hoping for an agreement.
The good news was that House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters afterward that he wants a pension bill passed by the time the Legislature finishes its lame-duck session Tuesday night.
Past performance tells us that when Madigan is of a mind to pass a piece of legislation, he will pass that piece of legislation. […]
When the speaker speaks, you can take him at his word. But you also have to look for the nuance.
My interpretation: He was a little frustrated by whatever transpired over the previous two hours but will apply himself to forging a deal. If things go south this time, we’ll have a hard time blaming him.
Gov. Pat Quinn and Illinois’ legislative leaders met Saturday but couldn’t reach a deal to resolve the state’s pension mess.
“Unfortunately, there are still differences among the participants, and my recommendation is we move beyond the differences and just find a bill that we can pass so there will be some action taken on the question of funding for these pension systems,” House Speaker Michael Madigan said.
He described the meeting among legislative leaders and the governor at the Thompson Center as “productive” and said he remains hopeful that a pension deal can be struck before the lame-duck legislative session’s scheduled conclusion Tuesday.
Asked what he meant by “productive,” Madigan (D-Chicago) joked, “Well, we weren’t throwing punches at each other.”
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) was less enthusiastic.
“It was a marginally productive meeting,” Radogno said. “We still obviously have a long ways to go.”
* Most every other pension story was covered yesterday, but the Trib’s piece had some important stuff again. For instance…
Cullerton’s position is that a change in public pensions must be accompanied by a choice for employees, such as opting between keeping the cost-of-living increase and giving up health care, or taking a smaller annual increase but keeping health benefits. Cullerton staunchly believes that his approach is the only way to work around the state Constitution’s guarantee that a person’s pension cannot be diminished once it is set. But not everyone agrees with his approach.
Following the meeting, Cullerton, in a statement from an aide, said he was “encouraged,” but still urged the House “to follow the Senate’s lead.” Radogno, however, called the meeting only “marginally productive” and noted Democratic leaders were at odds over whether any pension legislation should include changes being sought by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to deal with Chicago’s municipal pensions.
“We will vote on what Democrat leaders decide to put up on the board,” said Radogno, who did not take questions. “And some of the issues, they can’t even decide if Chicago is going to be in or out of this program. So they have thinking to do before we have an opportunity to vote.”
* The Tribune editorial board sounded almost reasonable on pensions, for a change, when it endorsed the new Nekritz/Cross reform proposal…
In sum, this plan provides a substantial and relatively swift restructuring of the pension systems. It is a strong proposal.
It will run into predictable resistance from organized labor. It might run into resistance from Sen. Cullerton, who has pressed the House to vote on a much more limited pension reform package approved last year by the Senate.
We respect that Senate effort, but we strongly encourage Cullerton to reach agreement with the other leaders and the governor on legislation along the lines of what has been negotiated by the House members.
One more encouraging sign: Republicans, who have been highly suspicious of Democratic efforts to shift future pension costs to local government, are warming to this compromise. They have helped to craft the product. It is likely that the shift of future pensions costs to local government will be separated and negotiated later, in the spring.
Will wonders never cease?
* Roundup…
* Pensions affect Illinois college scholarships: Augustana Vice President of Enrollment Kent Barnds said the uncertainty surrounding the MAP program had led the college to try and recruit more students from outside Illinois.
Officials locked down one of the state’s maximum-security prisons Friday morning, but not because of an outbreak of violence.
Rather, the movement of prisoners at the Stateville Correctional Center was limited from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. because a significant number of prison guards called in sick.
It was not clear Friday why there were so many absences, but Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano said it was “unusual” that 58 workers were unable to report for their shift. […]
The incident came a week after more than 100 Stateville prisoners were reportedly bed-ridden by norovirus, a highly contagious flu that apparently spread through the Crest Hill facility.
It also came a day after hundreds of correctional officers and state retirees had rallied in the Capitol against possible cuts to their pensions.
Practically everybody I know has been sick lately. Then again, practically every AFSCME member I know is supremely upset at the governor right now.
* The absences also came a day after this bill passed, but was held up by a parliamentary procedure…
A bill restricting the number of state employees who can join unions isn’t going to Gov. Pat Quinn right away.
Shortly after the Senate gave final approval to the bill Thursday night, Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, filed a motion to reconsider the vote, a technical step that keeps the bill from being sent to Quinn.
Quinn has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
“I still believe negotiating a fair compromise with all the stakeholders is preferable to forcing a legislative solution,” Harmon said. “I’m hoping the Senate action will reinvigorate the negotiations.”
* The leaders are meeting again today to discuss pension reform. The House convenes this afternoon at 5 o’clock, but committees start at 2, so we’re restarting the blog now. Blackberry users click here…
