* There are 34 lame duck lawmakers coming back for the January lame duck session, unless some resign between now and then. Getting those lame ducks to vote for pension reform won’t be as easy as convincing them to vote for an income tax hike was two years ago - mainly because many of those lame ducks are about to collect pensions.
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, who chairs the House Personnel and Pensions Committee, said that when the legislature does approve pension reform, the plan won’t go into effect right away. She said legislators have until the end of the fiscal year at the end of June to act and they don’t necessarily have to pass reforms when they meet in January.
“The pension systems themselves don’t want anything implemented in the middle of a fiscal year. And legislatures don’t like to act too early, so I still think that spring is a very likely time for us to be doing this as well,” Nekritz said.
Nekritz, however, told me last week that she believes she’s the only one who feels that the pension reform bill can wait until the spring.
Quinn also reiterated his support for the so-called ‘cost shift’ proposal, which would require local school districts to help pay for the cost of teachers’ pensions. Republican leaders have criticized the idea, saying school districts couldn’t afford to take on the added costs without raising property taxes. Last week, Republican House leader Tom Cross said he and Quinn share a lot of common interests on the pension issue.
“It’s not confusing. I favor that (the cost shift),” Quinn said Friday at a separate news conference. “I think it should be done that everybody who is involved in government when they negotiate a contract should have a stake in having to pay for the pensions that are part of the contract.”
In the House, only 24 of the 71 Democrats elected this year are white guys. There are 31 women, 18 African-Americans and six Latinos. (Some of these categories overlap, obviously.) Of the 47 Republicans, 36 are white guys, and 11 are white women.
In the Senate, white guys do a lot better. They make up half the 40 Democratic senators elected this year. The Democrats have 10 African-Americans, four Latinos and 11 women.
Of the 19 Republican senators, 15 are white men and four are white women.
So overall, white men make up 39.6 percent of the Democratic legislators in Springfield — almost exactly their proportion in the state as a whole — and 77.2 percent of the Republicans.
“If you want to see how Democracy works, see that movie … You will appreciate the battle to get pension reform if you see the movie and see how hard it was to abolish slavery and get that amendment for the people. And they went to great lengths to use the Democratic process properly.”
So, he’s a pension abolitionist? Or something?
* The We Are One Coalition’s response was furious…
“We are also shocked and disturbed by the Governor’s recent comments to the Associated Press that compared his efforts to enact unfair and unconstitutional pension legislation to one of the greatest moral crusades in our nation’s history, the struggle to abolish slavery.
“Governor Quinn’s continued use of over-the-top rhetoric is not helpful to the effort develop a comprehensive fix to our pension shortfall. His careless comparison of slavery to the policy debate over pensions is insensitive, offensive and wrong.
“The We Are One Illinois coalition calls on Gov. Quinn to apologize for his remarks and then start showing true leadership on the pension issue. We hope the governor will join us in developing a plan that is fair to the workers and retirees who paid into the system and ensures adequate funding for state services going forward.”
* The governor talked about how Lincoln “went to great lengths to use the Democratic process properly” to abolish slavery. From the Illinois Times’ review of the movie…
However, the most pressing concern is making sure that there are enough votes to pass the amendment [to abolish slavery] if it comes to a vote. What ensues is a display of real politics in action as promises are made, arms are twisted and patronage jobs are given as well many other backroom deals that’s “the end justifying the means” in vivid action. James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson and John Hawkes provide welcome comic relief as “skulky men,” charged with getting the final 10 votes needed by hook or by crook.
After months of promising a major grass-roots effort to win public support for reforming the state’s government worker pension system, Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday unveiled a plan that featured an incomplete online strategy, children wearing red plastic megaphones and an animated “Squeezy the Pension Python” mascot.
There were, however, no solutions offered on how to fix the nation’s most underfunded retirement system.
The Democratic governor, known for a style that sometimes veers into the corny, attempted to jump-start the pension overhaul push by lauding the power of “the people of Illinois, good and true” through what he called the “electronic democracy” of Twitter and Facebook. Quinn went so far as to encourage families gathering at the Thanksgiving dinner table to “speak to each other” about the pension crisis.
The approach left some lawmakers questioning whether the governor demeaned the severity of one of the most pressing unresolved problems facing state government in Illinois. State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, called Quinn’s strategy “juvenile.”
The video is too long (it is the longest 3:44 of my life, do it in 90 seconds with a different host). Do not explain what a pension is in your intro video, have a different video for that.
Have some ways to illustrate the problem from a local perspective…
Enter your address and see how much the pension hole is for your school district(s) for example… How big is your family’s cut of the pension hole.
Have immediate next steps defined. There should be no ’stay tuned’, there should be we are having a meet-up/tweet-up/google+ meetup thing on X at Y and again at Z on A
Start taking names for an e-mail list… Gee, this is obvious.
* As ArchPundit points out, the hashtag they’re trying to push (#thanksinadvance) is already in widespread use and won’t stick out. For example…
If someone could kindly go and remove the sand from formby beach before tomorrow morning i would be very greatful. #thanksinadvance
* Finding the accompanying Facebook page ain’t easy, but here it is. Check out some of the comments…
#Peggy Glatz: How about politicians work for minimum wage FOR ONE YEAR. That would fix a lot.
#John C. Gallagher: What about the grants given to the families of large campaign funders? Maybe some of that money could have gone to funding the pensions in prior years. Always easy to say this caused that, Governor Quinn, but how does it feel coming the other way?
#Bob Madura: Posts are being deleted from this forum !
* But most of the comments are focused on the thing that Quinn’s new website completely ignores…
#Jim Johanson: Don’t Penalize The Employees Who Made Their Contributions…While The Politicians Underpaid The Pension Funds For Decades!!!!
For the past few years, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago has been one of the most feared participants in the state’s pension reform debate.
Ty Fahner, a former Illinois attorney general who heads the Civic Committee, managed to convince both political parties of the need to compete for a position of favor with him and his influential group.
When Fahner and the committee ended up siding with the House Democrats in May and endorsing their pension reform plan, including the controversial cost shift from the state to school districts, the House Republicans were furious.
They had been assiduously courting Fahner and figured that because the Civic Committee consists of top Chicago business leaders, they’d be the natural ally of choice.
Not to mention that Fahner also formed a political action committee (“We Mean Business”) to back up his word. Everybody wanted that money, so the PAC gave his position additional strength.
But those days appear to be behind us, at least for now. Fahner’s histrionics last week over what he claimed was an “unfixable” pension problem have all but cut him out of the statehouse mix.
“He’s made himself irrelevant,” said one top Democratic official who’s intimately involved with pension reform.
In a memo to Civic Committee members, Fahner wrote that “the pension crisis has grown so severe that it is now unfixable. There simply won’t be enough money” to pay pensions for young teachers just starting out.
But then Fahner constructed a bizarre dichotomy by both claiming the problem to be completely unfixable while simultaneously demanding specific changes to the state’s pension systems. He said four things had to be done “just to slow the bleeding and reduce the size of the financial burden Illinois taxpayers must bear.”
Those four items included eliminating annual cost-of-living raises for pensioners, instituting a pension salary cap, increasing the retirement age to 67 and shifting the teachers’ pension costs to school districts and universities.
Because he said there was no real fix, there’s little to no use in negotiating with Fahner now because any solution the General Assembly comes up with will be dismissed by him as wholly inadequate.
Legislative thinking goes like this: Why bend over backward to accommodate someone who will never admit that you did the right thing? There’s absolutely no political or legislative advantage to dealing with the guy.
Making matters worse, Fahner refused to disclose the actuarial data upon which he based his dire projection. That has led to more than one suggestion behind the scenes that Fahner may have cooked the books to arrive at his striking conclusion.
The Teachers’ Retirement System released a statement last week, saying that Fahner’s conclusions were wrong based on its actuarial data. That statement just fueled the flames of suspicion.
So it’s little wonder that neither of the Republican legislative leaders have jumped to Fahner’s defense. House Minority Leader Tom Cross’ office was silent, and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno continued to call for a balanced, comprehensive pension solution.
Fahner wasn’t with them before and can’t be placated now, so he’s off the invite list.
The Senate Democrats were even harsher, issuing a statement from their attorney that ripped Fahner’s arguments into tiny shreds.
Fahner had earlier backed a “comprehensive reform” plan introduced by Republicans that would cut the state’s unfunded pension liabilities by $3 billion to $5 billion. It was so severe that just about everybody considered it unconstitutional.
The Senate Democrats’ attorney, Eric Madiar, noted in his response to Fahner that the Democratic proposal now on the table cuts the same amount from the unfunded liabilities — a plan that Fahner now calls “insufficient” and “token.”
Only the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, whose often ill-informed catcalls about pension reform make Fahner look downright moderate, attempted to come to his defense. The editorial page claimed that Fahner didn’t really mean that the problem was “mathematically” unfixable, but that it was unfixable because of a lack of political will.
That’s a misreading. Fahner clearly stated in his memo to the Civic Committee membership that even the reform measure he demanded would merely “slow the bleeding” and “minimize the long-term damage” to the system.
Either way, few at the statehouse will listen much to the Tribune editorial board in light of the election outcomes. The paper’s endorsed candidates and positions were almost thumped harder than the GOP.
TRS in its piece toughened its bargaining position. While the head of the agency a few weeks ago had seemed to suggest that some reductions in benefits are inevitable, the article by TRS chief Dick Ingram emphasizes that all changes must follow a clause in the state Constitution that TRS believes bans any reduction in benefits once a teacher is hired and, beyond that, says lesser benefits that lawmakers enacted a couple of years ago create “inequity” and “penalize” the newbies.
* SJ-R Editorial: The Civic Committee’s pension meltdown: Unfortunately, Fahner provided no proof or actuarial study to back up his statements. Regardless, those suggestions are both unconstitutional and politically dead on arrival.
* Sun-Times Editorial: Excellent time for a state pension storm: But we part company, vociferously so, on Fahner’s proposal to eliminate COLAs altogether. This would mean a $30,000 pension for a retired 70-year-old today — a retiree who gets no social security — would never change. Instead, we favor scaling back the compounding and overly generous COLA that retirees currently receive. We also support the strongest language possible to force the state to make its annual pension payments.
Monday, Nov 19, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Unlike most other financial institutions, credit unions do not issue stock or pay dividends to outside stockholders. Instead, earnings are returned to members in the form of lower loan rates, higher interest on deposits, and lower fees. Board members serve voluntarily. Speaking of volunteering, the credit union “People Helping People” philosophy motivates credit unions to get involved in countless community charitable activities and worthwhile causes.
A credit union’s goal is to serve all members well, including those of modest means - every member counts. Credit unions exist solely for this reason, not to make a profit. Members know their credit union will be there for them in challenging times, as well as good – which is the reason why members are so fiercely loyal.
Friday, Nov 16, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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That’s smarter power today. Go to ANGA.US to learn more about our safe and responsible development practices.
Equality Illinois is also trying to sway and count votes in the General Assembly. Since Gov. Pat Quinn has already announced his support for gay marriage, all that’s needed are simple majorities in both legislative chambers, where Democrats hold the upper hand.
A tough vote? Perhaps. But 25 members of the House and 16 members of the Senate are lame ducks, free to vote their consciences or to listen to voices from the future congratulating them on their timely abandonment of ancient prejudices.
Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, a chief sponsor of the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, told me Thursday that he’s not sure, given the magnitude of other issues facing lawmakers, that there’ll be time to revive the bill before the next General Assembly is sworn in Jan. 9. And if there is time, he said, he’s not yet sure he has the votes to pass it.
“We still have some education to do,” he said. “My strategy for this is the same as my strategy was for civil unions,” which passed in the lame-duck session two years ago. “I’m not going to rush things unless I’m sure I’m going to win.”
He will win. For sure.
* The Question: Should the Illinois General Assembly legalize same-sex marriage? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Friday, Nov 16, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The cable industry is asking lawmakers to place a NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. HB 5440 is not about fairness, equity or parity – it’s a tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV. They cannot afford another NEW tax – not now and not in this economy!
HB 5440 Will Hurt Illinois Families and Small Businesses
• Satellite TV subscribers will see their monthly bills go up 5%.
• This tax will impact every bar, restaurant and hotel that subscribes to satellite TV service, which will translate into higher prices, decreased revenues, and fewer jobs.
• Rural Illinois has no choice: In many parts of Illinois, cable refuses to provide TV service to rural communities. Satellite TV is their only option.
HB 5440 Is Not About Parity or Fairness
• Cable’s claim that this discriminatory tax is justified because satellite TV doesn’t pay local franchise fees could not be further from the truth. Cable pays those fees to local towns and cities in exchange for the right to bury cables in the public rights of way—a right that Comcast and Charter value in the tens of billions of dollars in their SEC filings.
• Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: We use satellites—unlike cable, we don’t need to dig up streets and sidewalks to deliver our TV service.
• Making satellite subscribers pay franchise fees—or, in this case, an equivalent amount in taxes—would be like taxing the air It’s no different than making airline passengers pay a fee for laying railroad tracks.
* Either the Tribune editorial board is ignorant or it is lying. Heck, maybe both…
Quinn’s budget director, Jerry Stermer, told a legislative committee Thursday that Illinois entered this fiscal year with $8 billion in unpaid bills — and will exit this fiscal year with $8 billion in unpaid bills. That’s almost as troubling as Stermer’s implication that the state with the nation’s worst credit rating ought to pay those bills by borrowing more billions:
“The governor’s interested in working with the General Assembly on a structured refinancing of this huge amount of unpaid bills, payables, and we plan to come to the General Assembly with a proposal in the next number of weeks to consider a refinancing of some of that.”
Quinn’s office later stepped that back, saying the governor has no borrowing plan now, has always seen more borrowing as a possibility and is focused on pension reform. Too late: Several House members had nodded appreciatively when Stermer evoked the spirit of new borrowing — a spirit we hoped had died in 2011 when Quinn last floated the idea. Somewhere in his makeup, though, lies a diabolical gene that makes him see bonded debt as an acceptable way to pay for operating expenses, old bills included. As if it’s OK to take out a mortgage to cover groceries. […]
Never forget what Democratic leaders promised the night of 1/11/11, when they jammed that temporary, 2-percentage-point income tax increase through the General Assembly: The point, they assured, was to pay for pensions without borrowing, to pay down debt, to pay old bills.
A “diabolical gene.” Sheesh. These guys are the biggest drama queens in the entire state. Take a breath, already.
* But, let’s get to the lies/ignorance…
1) Borrowing to pay old bills is not akin to taking out a mortgage “to cover groceries.” Illinois is so far behind on its bills that it’ll take years to pay off vendors. Bonding will do three things: Pay off those much-needed vendors; Inject a ton of cash into the economy; Force legitimate state spending cuts of about a billion dollars a year to pay for the bonds.
2) The tax hike law includes language that sets aside a portion of the proceeds to help fund bonding for old bills. That’s what the legislative leaders were talking about. The Tribune should read its own archives, for crying out loud.
Bonding is not an ideal solution. No doubt about it. I don’t even expect the Tribune to support it. But they ought to at least be honest about their opposition.
We as a state are already borrowing from vendors. And those vendors - which are mainly small businesses and not-for-profits - shouldn’t be used as banks. Unless the Tribune can come up with $7-9 billion in real state budget cuts to free up the money to pay off all the vendors next fiscal year, it ought to shut the heck up.
* Other stuff…
* Fiscal cliff could cost Illinois more than $1 billion: But it’s possible the backlog could grow even larger if the fiscal cliff is reached, according to revenue officials, who say the state could lose $1 billion. That’s because federal tax increases that would automatically go into effect would send a ripple through the state’s economy, leaving less money for people to spend and resulting in less tax revenue for the state.
* Illinois takes another step toward health exchange: The exchange, which will be run by the federal government in 2014, is an electronic marketplace to buy insurance. Gelder describes one example of how he saw it work recently in Massachusetts. “An individual knowing her zip code, whether she was a smoker or not, and what sort of health insurance she was interested in could actually go through the options available to her and select the one she could afford and be enrolled with insurance in 20 minutes,” he said.
* Editorial: A last straw? Billboards to balance budget
* Charters not immune from closings, CPS says - Chicago Public Schools officials say they plan to get tough with privately run charter schools that are failing academically this year and could shut down those that aren’t making the grade.
In the latest sign of Americans’ obsession with Abraham Lincoln, AT&T has awarded a $97,500 grant to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum to digitize part of its collection.
On Thursday, representatives from both organizations announced the project at AT&T’s flagship store on Michigan Avenue. A Lincoln impersonator greeted shoppers as they peered at a collection of original artifacts — the president’s quill pen, inaugural inkwell and a telegram to his wife — sealed in a glass case.
Visitors to the online database, “Under His Hat,” http://www.underhishat.org, can view three-dimensional photographs of some of the 16th president’s most iconic possessions. About 60 of the collection’s 52,000 historical materials are viewable online, including Lincoln’s stovepipe hat and the bloodstained gloves he carried the night he was assassinated. A homework assignment provides a glimpse of his childhood while campaign memorabilia retraces his life as a budding politician.
James Cornelius, the collection’s curator, said the digital portal was designed as an educational tool for teachers. The website includes suggested lesson plans under five different themes. Cornelius said it would eventually feature three more.
Federal authorities investigating U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. continue to “peel back layers of the onion” in the case, according to a source close to the financial probe who described it as an ongoing investigation.
The source said Thursday that federal investigators are “going down every rat hole,” and that the FBI crew investigating “is not yet finished digging.”
The federal probe, which began before Jackson took medical leave from Congress on June 10, first looked at activity in the congressman’s campaign fund. But it has since gone into other areas, said the source, who would not elaborate.
Broad, sweeping subpoenas were issued in the Jackson investigation, including on financial institutions that controlled Jackson accounts both in and out of Washington, D.C., the source said.
Once they start, they never stop. It’s darned near impossible to beat a federal rap.
Jackson’s most recent federal election disclosures show that his campaign committee paid $3,000 to Whitney Burns, a consultant sometimes described as a “political campaign bean counter” who specializes in federal election campaign compliance.
Reached Wednesday, Burns refused to talk about Jackson.
“The work I do is confidential. I just generally don’t discuss my work with reporters unless my client asks me to discuss (something),” Burns told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I have a policy going back 30 years not to discuss my clients.”
A new report from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services shows a 5.4 percent increase in reports of abused and neglected children across downstate Illinois. According to the Child Abuse and Neglect Statistical Report, the state’s Child Abuse Hotline received 25,348 reports of suspected abuse or neglect involving downstate children from July through October of this year, compared to 24,053 children during the same period last year.
According to data compiled by Northwestern University from DCFS and the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 91 indicated cases of abuse or neglect statewide last year for every 10,000 Illinois children. 35 downstate counties showed abuse and neglect rates more than double the statewide average:
Cook County had an abuse and neglect rate of 69 indicated child victims per 10,000 children during the same time period, slightly below the state’s average.
The increasing number of abused and neglected children in downstate Illinois follows a decade long trend. Ten years ago (FY 2003), the department received reports of suspected abuse of 61,930 kids across downstate. Last year’s total (FY 2012) of 74,102 represents a 20 percent increase. During the same period, reports of suspected child abuse declined in Cook County by 9 percent.
The challenges facing the Republican Party in this state are simply enormous.
For the first time in 20 years, more Illinoisans identified themselves to exit pollsters as independents than Republicans. Latinos made up 12 percent of the Election Day voting population this year, a 50 percent increase from 2010, and 81 percent of Latinos voted for President Barack Obama. Just 35 percent of Illinois women voted for Mitt Romney.
The new district maps played a significant role in the defeat of Republicans, but the party’s perceived hostility to women and minorities and the less fortunate is just killing them. They are so inept that they couldn’t elect a governor or gain majorities in either legislative chamber two years ago during the greatest Republican landslide since maybe 1946.
There’s a real temptation to just write off the GOP and be done with it. But politics can change. Illinois had a Republican governor for 26 years. The party didn’t used to scare suburban women by screaming about abortion and rape, nor did it completely alienate minorities and the poor by deeming them subhuman parasites.
Aside from class, gender and race, the GOP also faces a real dilemma of what to do about governing.
Do they boycott the Illinois legislative process, as the Tea Party-friendly Illinois Policy Institute is demanding? Or do they join in and try to make the best of a very bad situation?
The recent warning issued to Republican legislative leaders by John Tillman, who runs the IL Policy Institute, was clear: “If leaders continue the pattern of seeking a seat at the table rather than providing a clear party-in-exile alternative, the rank-and-file members, investors and grass-roots activists must demand changes.”
But the Senate Republicans did just that when they unveiled what they called a “Reality Check” budget plan. The proposal included unrealistically steep cuts in state spending on education and many other areas. The Senate Democrats took that plan and bashed the Republicans repeatedly during the recent campaign. It turns out, voters were far more upset about proposed budget cuts than actual tax hikes and the Democrats now have a historic 40-seat super-majority in that chamber. It’ll take just 10 votes to elect the next Senate minority leader.
Tillman has proposed a budget every year for the past several years, and I’ve commended him for it. He does have some good ideas. But not once has a state legislator ever introduced Tillman’s plan as an actual piece of legislation. Even the most hardcore conservative knows it’s political death.
So, I was heartened to see House Republican Leader Tom Cross hold a joint press conference with Gov. Pat Quinn the week after the election. The two talked about the importance of cooperation as the government moves forward.
Bending Democratic policy even a little by participating in the process is far more responsible and politically sensible than just sitting on the sidelines and screaming about suicidal position papers.
Republicans need to show that they can help govern Illinois before voters will hand them the keys to the governor’s mansion.
Some say the party’s problem is messaging. Sen. Kyle McCarter, who is considering challenging Radogno for her leadership seat, said his caucus should have taken a stronger stand on controversial issues such as budget cuts and pension reform. “As Republicans, we can’t just say, ‘No.’ We’ve got to put some detailed plans on the table that really show how we as a state can get out of this fiscal mess.” Senate Republicans have come together to back a budget plan that they put down on paper, but McCarter said they should have introduced the plan as legislation. “I think it’s something that we should have done in this last session. We should have put that in bill form on the table,” he said. “Since I’ve been here, the leadership of the Republican Party has been much too risk-averse.” […]
“The Republican caucuses have been too focused on trying to make bad Democrat policies marginally better rather than having a clear brand-distinguishing alternative vision that they promote vigorously.” He was critical of Republican legislative leaders for their compromises with Democrats. “In terms of the Republican caucuses, with the Democrats having a supermajority, if leaders continue the pattern of seeking a seat at the table rather than providing a clear party-in-exile alternative, the rank and file members, investors and grassroots activists must demand changes. Regardless, the status quo is untenable,” Tillman wrote in his opinion piece.
As I wrote above, the Senate GOP did propose an alternative, and it proved toxic to voters.
* Indicted and ousted state Representative-elect Derrick Smith received almost 62 percent of the vote in Secretary of State Jesse White’s 27th Ward. White had Smith appointed to the House, but has since turned completely against him and backed third party candidate Lance Tyson in the general election. White is the 27th Ward’s Democratic Committeeman, but he failed miserably.
* I was at the Prairietown “World’s Fair” over the summer and ran into Republican congressional candidate Rodney Davis and Democratic state Senate candidate Andy Manar. I’ve known both men for years and asked them to pose together for a bipartisan photo, on the condition that it not be published until after the election…
Thursday, Nov 15, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives. They were first exempted from federal income taxes in 1917 to fulfill a special mission as valuable and affordable cooperative alternatives to for-profit banks. Even though credit unions are exempt from income tax, they still are subject to, and pay, property, payroll, and sales taxes, and a host of governmental regulatory supervision fees. Since their inception, credit unions have more than fulfilled their mission, as evidenced by Congressional codification of the credit union tax exemption in 1951 and 1998.
Though the range of services has evolved to effectively serve their members in an increasingly competitive financial marketplace, the cooperative structure, which is the reason for their tax exempt status, has remained constant. Nationally, consumers benefit to the tune of $10 billion annually because credit unions are tax-exempt.
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Quinn budget head Jerry Stermer said governor will soon present another”refinancing” plan to pay down $8 billion bill backlog.
That’s not a surprise, considering that both chambers now have Democratic super-majorities. The Republicans in both chambers have been dead-set against a borrowing proposal and it requires a three-fifths vote to borrow money, so nothing has been done.
The Senate came one vote shy of passing a borrowing bill when it had 37 members, so it’s probably a good bet that the chamber will be able to pass it if it comes up again. The House may be a different story. Lots of conservative Dems oppose borrowing, so even with 71 votes they’ll probably need at least a small handful of Republicans.
We are focused on comprehensive pension reform to rescue the system, ensure public employees have access to benefits and prevent out of control pension costs from eating up core services like education and healthcare.
While the governor has always been interested in refinancing as an option to help pay down old bills, there is no new plan on this issue right now. The budget director today reiterated our interest in working with the General Assembly on this issue, which is not new.
*** UPDATE *** Senate President John Cullerton’s response to the Civic Committee’s over the top rant from yesterday…
Democratic leaders were poised to pass Civic Committee approved pension fixes in May. In fact the Senate passed significant reforms to the State Employees’ Retirement System and their own pensions. And while the Civic Committee endorsed reforms that included asking local school districts and universities to pay their fair share of pension costs, Republican leaders still haven’t offered their support. The Civic Committee’s post election condemnation on political courage would be more appropriate if it were directed to those leaders.
Bipartisan pension reform is still my top priority. I invite the Civic Committee to work with me to encourage rather than discourage reform.
Cullerton’s chief legal counsel also sent a letter to Ty Fahner saying the Civic Committee’s statements yesterday “generated more heat than light.” Read it here.
The health of Illinois’ pension system continued its downward spiral in the last fiscal year when unfunded liabilities rose by more than $11 billion and the funded ratio deteriorated to 40.4% from 43.4%, according to a review conducted by the Civic Federation of Chicago.
The state’s unfunded liabilities rose to $94.6 billion in fiscal 2012 which ended June 30, 2012 from $82.9 billion in fiscal 2011, according to the federation which tracks local government and state tax and spending policies. […]
The figures are based on a smoothing of assets over a five-year period. The state shifted to the method in fiscal 2009 to ease the impact of extreme market fluctuations on investment gains and losses in any given year. […]
Applying a market-based review, the state’s unfunded obligations rose to $96.8 billion in fiscal 2012 from $83.1 billion a year earlier while the funded ratio declined to 39% from 43.3%.
Quinn’s budget spokesman Abdon Pallasch said the latest pension figures “further illustrates the need for reforms called for by the governor.”
Please, don’t confuse the Civic Federation with the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, which went wildly over the top yesterday in its projections of imminent demise without revealing its actual data. Despite that refusal, its angry howls of doom were taken quite seriously by the AP…
Illinois’ public-employee pensions system is so far in debt that it is “unfixable,” an influential business group said Wednesday.
The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago told its members in a memo that even current retirees’ benefits must be cut and other drastic action taken to prevent pension-program bankruptcy, the memo said.
“The pension crisis has grown so severe that it is now unfixable,” former state attorney general Tyrone Fahner, the committee’s president, wrote. “We do not make that statement lightly. It is an honest statement that no one — not our legislators, nor our governor, nor labor leaders — is willing to say publicly.”
The memo said workers putting money into the retirement accounts will never see the payback they were promised.
“It’s not melodrama, it’s fraud,” Fahner said in an interview with The Associated Press. “They’re paying under false pretenses.”
I’m not saying they’re wrong. I’m just saying I’d like to see their homework first.
Thursday, Nov 15, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The cable industry is asking lawmakers to place a NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. HB 5440 is not about fairness, equity or parity – it’s a tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV. They cannot afford another NEW tax – not now and not in this economy!
HB 5440 Will Hurt Illinois Families and Small Businesses
• Satellite TV subscribers will see their monthly bills go up 5%.
• This tax will impact every bar, restaurant and hotel that subscribes to satellite TV service, which will translate into higher prices, decreased revenues, and fewer jobs.
• Rural Illinois has no choice: In many parts of Illinois, cable refuses to provide TV service to rural communities. Satellite TV is their only option.
HB 5440 Is Not About Parity or Fairness
• Cable’s claim that this discriminatory tax is justified because satellite TV doesn’t pay local franchise fees could not be further from the truth. Cable pays those fees to local towns and cities in exchange for the right to bury cables in the public rights of way—a right that Comcast and Charter value in the tens of billions of dollars in their SEC filings.
• Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: We use satellites—unlike cable, we don’t need to dig up streets and sidewalks to deliver our TV service.
• Making satellite subscribers pay franchise fees—or, in this case, an equivalent amount in taxes—would be like taxing the air It’s no different than making airline passengers pay a fee for laying railroad tracks.
Sources tell FOX 32 News that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is willing to give up his 2nd Congressional District seat if he’s given disability when he steps down.
Jackson Jr. was re-elected to his tenth term but last month, sources say, he applied for a disability package–what could be his only income if he resigns. It is expected to take a couple of weeks for Congress to approve or deny the request.
His house on 72nd Street in Chicago is part of the federal government’s investigation into allegations that Jackson Jr. misused campaign funds. Sources say Jackson allegedly spent $20,000 to renovate and buy furniture for the family’s home in Chicago, not their 5-bedroom Victorian home in Washington D.C.
The basement in the Chicago home has five televisions and a number of printers and copying machines, sources say. Most of the equipment was purchased in the mid-90’s when Jackson was first elected, but because of flooding a couple of years ago, most, if not all, was replaced.
Sources close to the family tell FOX 32’s Darlene Hill that the congressman may be reporting the use of the space in the basement as his campaign headquarters.
FOX 32 called the House Ethics Committee in D.C. and while they would not comment specifically on Jackson’s case, the federal campaign finance law states, “a campaign committee may not rent space in the candidate’s home.”
* Related…
* Mark Brown: Jesse Jackson Jr. needs a deadline to fish or cut bait
* Durbin: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. needs to surface, speak to public
* Quinn: Congressman Jackson should address public about his condition, now that election over
*** UPDATE *** The committee has recessed to the call of the chair without taking a vote. They’ll return Monday, November 26.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* We’re coming a little late to this, but the House Revenue Committee is holding a hearing this morning on HJR 45…
Declares that the State shall appropriate for no more than an X% increase for wage increases associated with any and all collectively bargained contracts throughout State government. States the policy of the State of Illinois that the size of, or a reduction in, the State employee workforce shall not be a topic of collective bargaining.
The measure is sponsored by House Speaker Michael Madigan.
* Sorry, kids. I’ve been a bit under the weather this morning. Have fun with this while I get myself together. Former Gov. Jim Edgar and my former intern Barton Lorimor posed for a pic at my election night party last week…
Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The State of Illinois is in a budget crisis. Yet, satellite TV operators – who represent a third of the video provider market – pay no franchise or video service fees to support our communities and state. By exploiting this corporate tax loophole, satellite operators are taking their profits out of Illinois instead of paying the industry standard in franchise or video service fees.
When customers watch television through a satellite or cable provider, what they get is largely the same experience. There is no reason why satellite providers should be permitted to exploit this corporate loophole.
Twelve other states have successfully closed similar tax loopholes on satellite companies and in turn have worked towards more balanced government budgets. Here in Illinois, closing this loophole would bring much needed funding to Illinois education, including support for early childhood education, local K-12 school districts, and financial assistance for Illinois college students.
Let’s ensure that everyone pays a fair share. There should be a level playing field for everybody to compete fairly – particularly when closing such loopholes will directly help Illinois students.
Now is the Time to Support our Students and Communities. Vote Yes on HB 5440!
* Ty Fahner and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago have sent a memo to their members claiming that the pension funding problem is “unfixable”…
The magnitude of the unfunded obligations, combined with a total lack of political courage to rectify the situation, leads us to believe that our pensions systems can no longer be salvaged sufficiently to meet their current obligations
It was the Commercial Club’s hope that the November elections would bring much-needed change to our legislature and remove those from office who have been roadblocks to pension reform. Instead, it appears we will soon have even more legislators who aren’t prepared, or willing, to make the tough decisions necessary to save our state.
* Greg Hinz rounds up the Civic Committee’s reform demands…
Eliminate all cost-of-living increases for retirees or future retirees, cap pensions to a maximum salary, increase the retirement age to 67 and shift the cost of teacher pensions to local school districts over a 12-year period. The state now pays all teacher pensions except in Chicago, where city taxpayers pick up the tab. […]
Implementing the four changes the committee wants would buy the pension systems about 10 to 12 years more of viable life, he said. But the State Employee Retirement System, now projected to run out of cash in 2029, still would be insolvent by around 2040, he said. The same would apply to the State University Retirement System and the Teacher Retirement System, now projected to be unable to pay full benefits in 2030 and 2033, respectively.
Why then should lawmakers take a tough vote that won’t solve the problem?
Because if they don’t, the state will have to boost the share of its operating budget that goes toward pensions from roughly 20 percent now to 30 percent, and/or raise taxes again by a huge amount, Mr. Fahner said. That would crowd out money needed for schools, roads, public safety, health care and other needs.
But, according to Hinz, the Civic Committee refuses to release its actuarial numbers that this scenario is based on until legislative leaders disclose theirs.
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** AFSCME…
Millionaire CEOs want to slash the modest retirement savings earned by middle-class public servants like teachers, police, nurses and caregivers. Regrettably, that’s not news. But it is disappointing that the Civic Committee’s letter to the governor is alarmingly fact-free: No mention that the pension debt was mostly caused by politicians who skipped required payments even as public employees always paid their share. No mention that retirees rely on an average pension of just $32,000 a year, with nearly 80% not eligible for Social Security.
But Illinois residents reject these false attacks. Last week they defeated a change to the Illinois Constitution meant to pin the blame for the pension problem on workers and retirees. And a recent statewide newspaper poll found that voters rightly fault politicians, not workers, by a margin of 51 to 2.
Like all public employees, AFSCME members are helpers and problem solvers by trade, and we remain ready to help solve the pension funding problem. But that’s going to require everyone to work together.
Along with our partners in the We Are One Illinois coalition of unions that represent public employees, we have proposed a pension funding framework that would guarantee politicians pay their share going forward, never repeating the mistakes of the past. It would protect retirees from changes while offering that active employees would make increased contributions to help pay down the debt. And crucially, it would end tax giveaways for big, profitable corporations, helping Illinois to end its practice of using public retirement systems as a credit card to fund vital public services. This last imperative explains the agenda of the CEO crowd: They want to protect their special treatment in the tax code at all costs—even if that means picking the pockets of retired teachers, fire fighters, child protection workers and other public servants.
Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
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But Edgar does see a possible bright spot in the future for the party. “The governor’s race in Illinois in two years is huge for the Republican Party. If we can win the governor’s office back, then we have a viable two party system in Illinois,” he said. “But we’ve got to make sure that we have a candidate who not only appeals to Republicans but who also appeals to independents and thoughtful Democrats because you’ve got to have those. There [are] not enough Republicans in the state to get elected dog catcher. You’ve got to go out and get people who don’t view themselves as Republican. That means that you’re going to have to make sure the candidate appeals to the center.”
Edgar warned that Republicans should not look at Quinn’s low public approval ratings and assume they have the governor’s race in the bag. “I think we have an opportunity, but it’s only an opportunity — no guarantee. We’ve got to get our act together.”
* The Question: Keeping in mind that the next gubernatorial campaign will be during President Obama’s second midterm election, which is generally not favorable to the party in power, how do you rate the Republican Party’s chances in 2014? Explain.
* My former intern Kevin Fanning fervently asked that I post this. So, here you go…
Last week I was informed that the university plans to eliminate the Civic Leadership Program. If not for this program I would never have had the opportunity to intern at Capitol Fax or had the multitude of experiences that came with it.
The Civic Leadership Program is a unique two-and-a-half-year undergraduate and graduate program for students interested in working in the public sector that culminates in an intensive internship. It is open to students of all majors, and was modeled off of the highly successful Illinois Legislative Studies Internship Program at UIS which boasts alumni such as Governor Jim Edgar, Sen. Kirk Dillard, and U.S. Judge Wayne R. Andersen.
The program has placed students in the General Assembly, Governor’s Office, Federal Reserve, Chicago Tribune, and even at the White House. The program has a budget of $150,000, a mere drop in the bucket of Illinois’ $1.5 billion budget. Approximately 90% of this budget is used to fund these internships. The time spent at these positions is invaluable, and provides a kind of education unparalleled by the classroom. While interning at Cap Fax I was able to learn how legislation actually gets passed, what role the media plays in the governing process, and how labor, lobbyists, and constituents influence their lawmakers. You simply can’t learn that sitting at a desk.
The University of Illinois’ mission statement aims to “transform lives and serve society by educating, creating knowledge and putting knowledge to work on a large scale and with excellence.” It’s time for the administration to put their money where their mouth is, and support students who are looking to make a difference in their communities, the state of Illinois, and our country. Please urge Chancellor Phyllis Wise and the Board of Trustees not to eliminate the Civic Leadership Program.
Kevin Fanning
Former Capitol Fax Intern
Civic Leadership Fellow, Class of 2009
I had a lot of very quality interns from that program. Budget cuts are what they are, but it would be a shame to see that one go. People actually got jobs when they left that program. Good jobs. It has been by any measure a rousing success.
* According to the Sun-Times, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was asked yesterday “whether he intends to go around Gov. Pat Quinn — by cutting deals with Democratic legislative leaders — now that both houses have veto-proof Democratic majorities.” Hizzoner sounded almost conciliatory toward his chief Democratic rival…
The mayor responded that it was time for Springfield to focus on “a number of subjects — and the governor has to be a part of that.”
There were loud rumblings from within Emanuel’s circle that the mayor was gonna tee off on Quinn yesterday. Didn’t happen. That’s kind of a relief. Illinois really needs to move forward, but it can’t if the mayor is constantly undercutting the governor.
* Instead, Emanuel simply laid out his legislative agenda, which included pension reform…
“My number one issue in the legislature is getting pension reform, we must get this done in a bi-partisan way,” Quinn said Tuesday. “I really feel that all the legislators who are in the General Assembly now have more work to do before their term is up. And we want to make sure the entire term is used in order to get big things done for the public, for the people.”
“I was advocating — as have other people for 25 years — a casino for the city of Chicago, but one in which I committed all the resources will go into school modernization, building new schools and modernizing our schools so our kids will have the best facilities to learn in,” Emanuel said while discussing his wish list for Springfield.
“Third, I will continue to advocate that we also pass marriage equality and end the discrimination on the books,” the mayor said.
“Although the state of Illinois now has civil unions, the time for marriage equality is now. The time is right, and the time is here.”
* The answer to that last question prompted questions of some openly gay House members about what they intend to do…
On Tuesday, Harris and Mell held open the possibility of trying again in January during a lame-duck session that will be the last for 35 lawmakers who either lost, are retiring or did not seek re-election.
“We’ll try when we have the votes. Hopefully, that will be sooner than later. But, we’re not gonna run a bill if we’re not gonna pass it,” Mell said.
Harris added, “We’re roll-calling folks to see where folks stand. If we have 60 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate and there’s time when the budgetary issues are resolved,” then they will push for a vote.
* For about a year now, the standard mantra from Chicago Democratic leaders has been that the “cost-shift” must happen. The idea is to move billions of dollars in employer pension payments from the state down to local school districts and colleges and universities. Senate President John Cullerton came up with the idea, but Gov. Pat Quinn jumped on board shortly thereafter.
“I don’t think we should let one particular segment of a reform bill hold up progress. So, uh, what we want to do is negotiate and figure out a good plan that saves taxpayers money and still maintains and rescues the pension system.”
* A high-level Republican responds to a post here yesterday…
I think your post on the Tribune mirrors the larger debate going on nationally for Republicans and that is that we tend to exist in a media cocoon. Nationally, too much emphasis/belief on Fox news and conservative commenters.
In Illinois, perhaps too much emphasis on the Trib. We, GoPers, do a rally cheer every time we get a positive editorial, not realizing we are probably the only ones focused on it.
Plus it gives us affirmation to our messaging, “fire Madigan,” etc and we think that since it exists in the mainstream media, it must be “catching on”. Brady says Fire Madigan, Trib writes Fire Madigan, therefore the message has cracked through to the mainstream media. Not quite, not even close.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** * Kristen McQueary of the Tribune editorial board tweets…
@capitolfax Uncle! Uncle! We’ve focused all on fiscal/pensions, like many edit brds. We’re not birthers. We’re social mods. FOXNews? C’mon.
All due respect, but that completely misses the point, which is that the GOP/Tribune relationship is a closed circle which doesn’t resonate much at all outside that circle. It also misses the point made above that the Republicans spend an inordinate amount of time and energy with the Tribune and get little if anything for it.
And the focus hasn’t solely been on “fiscal/pension” issues. It’s been on personalities. For the Tribune it’s constantly: Fire Madigan + ??? = Prosperity!!! They’ve never really explained how 71 loose House Democratic cannons will somehow make this state great again.
They’re overly simplistic, myopic and downright partisan, as their refusal to endorse Rep. Elaine Nekritz clearly showed. Here was a candidate with everything the Tribune wants in a legislator, except for the “D” behind her name. I don’t think you would be out of line if you posited that the “D” did her in with them.
…Adding… As pointed out yesterday, there’s also a tiring “Message from God” quality to far too many of the Tribune’s editorials about state government. They’re 100 percent right all the time and anyone who differs even slightly is a heretic. That’s very “Foxish.”
* The Southern Illinoisan reports that 147,318 presidential votes were cast in the state’s 15 “southern” counties. Those counties exclude the Metro East.
The totals from those 15 southern counties was about the same number of presidential votes cast in McHenry County alone, which is not exactly a huge population center. The southern Illinois total was about half the presidential votes cast in Will and Lake counties. It was 37 percent of the number of votes cast in DuPage County. And it was just 15 percent of the number of votes cast in suburban Cook County.
For whatever reason, some people still insist that counties matter during statewide elections. We’ve all seen it before. “Pat Quinn won only four counties!” But voters, not counties, matter in elections. Fifteen counties doesn’t mean a whole lot when very few people actually live there.
