* Rep. Greg Harris talks for about the first four minutes, then Speaker Madigan takes questions. Many thanks again to Greg Bishop for the video…
Madigan expressed his disappointment that this morning’s scheduled meeting with the other three legislative leaders was canceled and said he would still try to make it happen. He said he would meet with the governor if asked.
We met once a few days ago. Once a few days ago. He was scheduled to join the other leaders this morning, he should’ve done that.
* Madigan was then asked if, when he meets with Leader Durkin, is he meeting with Durkin or is he meeting with Durkin on behalf of the governor. Madigan laughed and said..
* In case you’ve been wondering, the ol’ blog is staying open every day of special session.
I may close comments during the weekend evenings, however. Back in the day, when I couldn’t shut down comments, some commenters would have a few cocktails on a Saturday night and write some things that they normally wouldn’t have said during the sober light of a weekday. I’d rather avoid that.
I’m not quite sure yet how much I’ll be posting this weekend. But the House just announced two more committees of the whole…
House Speaker Michael J. Madigan is offering stakeholders an opportunity to take part in the discussion on education funding reform and pension reform at two committee of the whole hearings this Saturday and Sunday.
Educators and advocates will address legislators at the committee hearing on Saturday about Senate Bill 1—an education funding reform measure that provides fair funding for all schools—which passed the General Assembly in May, and a recently introduced Republican funding bill which creates winning districts and losing districts.
Legislators will discuss pension legislation currently before the House with stakeholders at a committee hearing on Sunday.
Both hearings will convene at 2 p.m. in the House chamber.
Committee of the Whole on Education Funding Reform
When: Saturday, May 24
When: 2 p.m.
Where: Illinois House of Representatives
Springfield, Ill.
Committee of the Whole on Pension Reform
When: Sunday, May 25
When: 2 p.m.
Where: Illinois House of Representatives
Springfield, Ill.
Emphasis added because if the Democrats can prove that, it’s gonna leave a mark.
* There will also be a Capitol Fax published every day for subscribers, although it might not be posted until later in the morning because, well, I’d like to get a little rest, too. Dragging myself out of bed at 6 o’clock on Saturday and Sunday mornings is not my idea of “rest.”
[Gubernatorial candidate Tio Hardiman] said he blames both sides in the state’s two-year budget dispute. The Democrat said he blames House Speaker Michael Madigan for the budget impasse as much as Republican Governor Bruce Rauner.
“You have a clash of the titans right now, Bruce Rauner and Mike Madigan must take the blame for not passing the budget. Everybody points fingers at Bruce Rauner and I do believe Bruce Rauner is one of the worst governors that state of Illinois has ever witnessed; but at the same time Mike Madigan is really the unofficial governor. People don’t want to say that, he’s like the Godfather down there in Springfield and both those guys are stepping on the poor and working class people.”
But, what would he do in Rauner’s shoes?
He said the Govenor should just sit down with Madigan and work out a compromise, because “people are hurting out here.”
If it was that easy, they would’ve already done it.
WJBC: Well we have taken some calls in the last couple of days, actually over the weeks. But in the last couple of days, one of the calls that came in was one that you know, might be, it’s tough for me to ask and it’s probably going to be tough for you to hear. That maybe there’s an answer to it is someone had asked ‘Why do you think that our speaker, who has worked with other governors, Gov. Thompson, Edgar, Gov. Ryan, what is it about you that he has not wanted to work with you?”
Despite the gentle nature of the question, it took the governor a beat or two to get back onto his talking points…
RAUNER: Um, I really don’t know the answer to that.
Um, he has been very very focused on avoiding a balanced budget. If, if you look back over the years, uh, you can see that this isn’t inconsistent with, uh, the behavior with his majority.
He’s been in power for 35 years and when I’ve looked at the numbers Illinois has never had a true balanced budget during those 35 years. We have always just delayed pension payments, or not paid our bills, or borrowed in the bond markets to come up with what was then called about. The reality is the budgets have not been balanced for decades and it’s the reason that we have over $200 billion in debt today. This didn’t get accrued in the last year or two. This, this has been accrued for decades. And unfortunately, we’ve had failure within the government in multiple ways by multiple parties led by the speaker. He had control of the spending through the General Assembly majority for 35 of the years and there’s never been a balanced budget. And I have said, it’s critical for the people of Illinois that we have balanced budgets, that we stop the deficit spending, that we stop the borrowing. There’s a reason that we have fewer jobs today than we had 17 years ago in Illinois. Businesses see the deficit spending and it scares them away. There’s a reason that we have a brutally high unemployment rate, one of the highest in America. And there’s a reason we have the highest unemployment in America for African American families it’s because our jobs are leaving the state. Businesses won’t stay where they don’t have confidence in the fiscal responsibility of a government.
He went on and on for a while longer. There was no follow-up to try to get him to actually answer the question.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday accused Gov. Bruce Rauner of government by anger for opposing a 28.2 percent telephone tax hike that will free up money the city hopes to use to shore up the Laborers Pension Fund “well into the next decade.”
The mayor noted that the tax was tucked into a statewide telecommunications bill that got 51 votes in the Illinois Senate and 81 votes in the House.
“It affects downstate communities [and] the whole state. That’s why it received overwhelming, bi-partisan votes across urban, suburban [and] rural areas,” the mayor said.
“Somebody needs to give the governor crib notes on how that works. But he clearly, as a rookie governor, doesn’t get it….Even when something that is essential for downstate, for every community as it relates to public safety and an overwhelming bi-partisan vote, he’s gonna veto it.” […]
“This is a person [who] has to understand that you do not negotiate with people who agree with you, as Shimon Peres used to say. You negotiate and work with people who don’t agree with you. And he has to understand, as a leader, he should actually start governing on building and pushing Illinois forward—not through his anger at everybody else….It’s hard to make somebody happy who will never take ‘yes’ for an answer.”
* Senate President John Cullerton just told reporters that the four legislative leaders were supposed to meet today without the governor. Cullerton claimed all of them agreed to show up.
“The governor pulled the plug on that,” Cullerton said. “He told the Republicans not to go.”
Cullerton said he would “urge the governor to get serious about a compromise, and at minimum don’t prevent your Republican leaders from joining the negotiations.”
* Moments later, Speaker Madigan issued this statement…
“President Cullerton and I met earlier this morning to discuss a way to end the Rauner budget crisis. We were scheduled to meet together with Leaders Radogno and Durkin. We were deeply disappointed that both Republican leaders chose to cancel their participation in our meeting, rather than sit down with us and work to advance a balanced budget. It is difficult to move forward on a bipartisan budget when both Republican leaders refuse to meet.”
* But Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno’s office issued this statement…
“In deference to Leader Durkin, he needs the opportunity to negotiate with Speaker Madigan in the House chamber, just as Leader Radogno and the Senate President do in the Senate. We continue to focus on making progress toward a comprehensive solution. We hope we see progress in the House. Leader Radogno has always believed engagement from the House Speaker is what’s been missing all along.”
* And this is from House Republican Leader Jim Durkin…
“The focus on the budget is rightfully before the House. I believe the model initiated by the Senate leaders was positive and where we need to be. A four leaders meeting is premature in light of progress being made in the House.”
That’s fine and all, but the question I asked was “did the governor ask/tell the GOP leaders not to attend a meeting with Cullerton and Madigan?”
*** UPDATE 1 *** In a follow up chat, Durkin’s spokesperson made it clear that Durkin chose to opt out of the meeting on his own.
Also, notice in Radogno’s release that she said she deferred to Durkin.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Statement provided on background from “a top GOP official”…
This is an absolute fabrication, an obvious attempt to create an alternative universe to deflect from doing nothing with seven days left to get a budget to the governor’s desk. Leader Durkin is meeting with Speaker Madigan now to negotiate on his compromise — perhaps the Democratic leaders are afraid that the Speaker is finally in the hot seat to do a deal or let the state collapse.
Let’s hope this isn’t the start of a March 1 repeat.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
Illinois will never lift itself out of the state budget crisis if the governor and legislative leaders can’t get in a room and talk to each other about their differences, Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) said Friday.
“Gov. Rauner has made it clear that he is the only one with the authority to convene meetings of the governor and the four legislative leaders. He has not called one since Dec. 6,” Manar said. “These five leaders who control the budget negotiations have not been in a room together in nearly 200 days. It’s no wonder we haven’t resolved the budget crisis.”
Manar called on Gov. Rauner to meet with the four leaders every day for the remaining days of the legislative session until a budget deal is complete. He added that the best place to start discussions is with the balanced budget and reform package the Senate already passed. Those bills all are in the House awaiting action.
Rauner called a 10-day special session of the General Assembly, which costs taxpayers roughly $48,000 per day. The special session began Wednesday and ends June 30, the final day of the current fiscal year.
“Gov. Rauner used his power to get lawmakers back to Springfield to work on a budget. With seven days left until June 30, the best way to finalize a budget now is to work with the balanced budget and reform package that the Senate passed and sent to the House in May,” Manar said. “I’m urging the governor convene leaders’ meetings – every day for as long as it takes for the next week – so that they can begin negotiations and together steer our state out of this mess.”
Cullerton told reporters Friday that special sessions are a “political stunt” to offer the governor political cover. Cullerton says the budget the Democrat-controlled Senate approved draws on Rauner’s ideas.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Gov. Rauner was asked by reporters about Cullerton’s claim that he pulled Republicans out of the scheduled leaders’ meeting. “That’s not true,” Rauner said.
Leader Durkin then chimed in and said it was his idea not to attend the meeting, claiming he and Speaker Madigan have achieved a “break-through” on workers’ comp reform.
A live Asian carp has been discovered in a Chicago waterway about nine miles from Lake Michigan — well beyond an electric barrier network designed to prevent the invasive fish that have infested the Mississippi River system from reaching the Great Lakes, officials said Friday.
The silver carp was 28 inches long and weighed about 8 pounds, officials with the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee told The Associated Press. It was caught by a commercial fisherman below the T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam.
* From Henry Henderson, Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Midwest Program…
“Asian carp are like cockroaches, when you see one, you know it’s accompanied by many more you don’t see. This is a nightmare scenario for anyone concerned about the health of the Great Lakes and its economy.”
“We have had fifteen years to deal with this slow motion tragedy. Perhaps this finding, along with the discovery of another species of Asian carp in the Illinois River, will convey the urgency of threat to the Great Lakes.
The Trump Administration cannot delay for one minute more the release of a taxpayer funded study detailing how to deter the carp invasion. Illinois and Indiana, which have been blamed for obstructing action to address the issue, must join Great Lakes states to push for faster, stronger and more aggressive action. Giant jumping fish at Oak Street Beach will not help Illinois’ tourism economy.”
Just this week, members of Congress introduced legislation to force the Trump administration to release a plan outlining technologies to be employed at a key choke point in the Asian carps’ path towards Lake Michigan and the entire Great Lakes ecosystem. That plan would likely take decades to deploy, while Great Lakes conservation groups have called for faster solutions that would address movement of invasive species from both the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system through Chicago’s waterways.
* The Question: Do you think JB Pritzker could be independent of Speaker Madigan if he’s elected? Click here to take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
We’ve compromised relentlessly for two years. And we’ve backed off on so many things.
Right now there’s a proposal put forth by lawmakers. It’s a reasonable compromise. It moves on every regard. None of it is exactly where I think it should be. But it’s a good step in the right direction. It’s being criticized by the left, it’s being criticized by the right. That’s by definition a compromise. By definition it’s somewhere in the middle.
And what we’ve gotta do is get a balanced budget to my desk. These guys have gotta do their jobs. A balanced budget proposal is on the table. If somebody doesn’t like that, so be it. Put a balanced budget on my desk so I can sign it.
He’s obviously still having trouble with the concept of “compromise.” Backing off demands like “right to work” that can in no way ever become reality isn’t compromising, it’s recognizing harsh reality. And a Republican budget plan isn’t “by definition” a compromise.
Also, putting a balanced budget on his desk is about the easiest thing the House could do. It’s all the other stuff he wants before he’ll sign the budget that is the main holdup here.
The “Get Along” Shirt is an oversized t-shirt that is meant to be worn by bickering children as a disciplinary method. The humorous concept gained much of its momentum after a photograph of two children strapped together by a t-shirt reading “The ‘We Will Get Along’ Shirt” was posted to Reddit in November 2012.
Yesterday, JB joined protests against the GOP Senate health care bill that would strip insurance coverage from millions of Illinoisans. The protest was organized by Indivisible Chicago, a grassroots movement that formed after the 2016 election to resist Donald Trump.
While a handful of U.S. senators were huddling in secret this week in Washington to draft legislation repealing Obamacare, grassroots activists across the Chicago region and Illinois were working hard to bring as much public attention – and public outrage – to the issue as possible.
That includes shining a light on the inaction of Governor Bruce Rauner – who has not spoken out as other Republican governors have – and on Republican members of Congress who have avoided public engagement on the issue.
The Senate Republicans released their health care insurance draft bill on Thursday — the House version to overhaul Obamacare passed in May — and once again, GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner isn’t doing much to make sure the final measure is good for Illinois. […]
Rauner is abdicating his responsibilities to the people of the State of Illinois by his silence…
“Bruce Rauner has no principles and no courage in his spineless failure to protect Illinoisans from TrumpCare,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “In maintaining his cowardly silence, Rauner is siding with Trump and radical Republican Senators over the people of Illinois. Millions of Illinoisans could lose their health care if this bill passes. It is imperative that the governor of this state stand up for them, but Bruce Rauner is once again nowhere to be found.”
A core element to GOP proposals is to shift to states the authority to reshape health insurance rules: for those who get it through employers; via Medicaid, the state/public plan for the low-income medically needy; or through the exchanges established under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Governors become far more important in the GOP vision of how health insurance should be delivered in this nation.
In Illinois, the politically explosive issue of rising premiums will become the fault of the governor and Illinois General Assembly — not Washington, if the GOP state-centric Obamacare overhaul plans become law. […]
Obamacare requires coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, with caps on how much they could be charged. The Senate bill would allow a state to limit the benefits allowed for someone with a pre-existing condition.
Would Rauner want to change current rules concerning capping coverage costs and for people with pre-existing conditions? Should any benefits be reduced?
At present, Obamacare mandates coverage for 10 essential benefits. The Senate bill allows for states to apply for a waiver so an insurance plan could offer less. That may impact the price.
What is the Rauner view when it comes to the essential benefit current package? Should it be cut? Stay the same?
* From Adam Collins in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s press office…
Five simple questions for Gov. No
As near as I can tell it’s been about two weeks since the Governor has taken a single question from the press. With the state of Illinois now one week away from entering a third consecutive year without a budget there are, of course, many questions for the Governor. In that spirit, here are five fairly fundamental questions the Governor has not answered - and perhaps cannot answer.
2) Your office said yesterday the Mayor’s offer - to meet your original request on the Thompson Center as long as you agreed to sign the city’s pension reform plan - wasn’t a fair deal. While you might not favor the City of Chicago’s plan, it would have no cost - $0 - to the state of Illinois. Given that the state could desperately use $300 million, why would you say no to that offer?
3) You previously said that in order to get the most money from selling the Thompson Center, you needed the city to guarantee maximum density for the site - something they were reluctant to do. Their offer meets your original request. How can anyone believe you have the ability to reach a budget agreement when you can’t even say “yes” to your own plan?
This certainly appears designed to gin up Chicago reporters ahead of the governor’s 3 o’clock bill signing, where he’s expected to take some questions.
Republican lawmakers Thursday put forward a new plan to overhaul the state’s education funding system and send less money to Chicago Public Schools than a competing proposal from Democrats, who are unlikely to approve it. […]
Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, on Thursday laid out what Rauner’s side would consider a satisfying compromise on the education funding issue. The proposal would provide about $323 million less to Chicago Public Schools compared to a competing proposal that was passed by Democrats in late May and has yet to be sent to Rauner’s desk.
Barickman said the Republicans had picked up where negotiations had stalled in late May.
“We looked at where we were then and we asked ourselves, how can we close the gap here to reach a meaningful compromise with the Democrat majority that allows us to produce a fair and equitable funding formula,” Barickman said.
But the proposal eliminates hundreds of millions of dollars that Democrats had insisted on providing for CPS, including $215 million for the district’s teacher pension fund — CPS is the only district in the state that pays for its own teacher pension system — and $202 million in special grants that the district has historically received from the state.
All Chicago Democrats are needed for any tax hike floor vote, and this school funding reform bill will require new revenues, meaning a tax hike is necessary. You can’t ask Chicago legislators to raise taxes and whack their public schools and expect them to merrily comply.
* One of the easiest gotcha stories to do during high-profile legislative sessions is to cruise around town looking for legislative license plates outside of taverns, golf courses, etc…
Badge of Honor: "I just heard the Sen Dem chief of staff sent out blast email warning sens to avoid golf courses becuz Chic media looking"
During a debate on a resolution, which called for Congress not to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, State Rep. Peter Breen, R-Lombard, stood up and shared his frustration.
“We are 700 days without a budget. What the hell are we doing voting on these resolutions? Why are we not doing the budget?” Breen yelled, before sitting down so the resolution votes could continue.
David Daleiden, the antiabortion activist who mounted a hidden-camera investigation targeting Planned Parenthood, turned himself in to authorities in Texas on Thursday morning, a week after he was indicted by a Harris County grand jury.
Allow me to give you one example of where the Illinois Act helped small business. A few years back, disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich, our fourth governor in prison, issued a rule that every pharmacy in the state had to give out pills that may cause early abortions. This was considered by some people of faith as a direct participation in abortion, ordered by the governor.
* So, yeah, while Rep. Breen made a very good point about doing non-budget stuff yesterday (and, in my own opinion, he’s turned out to be a pretty good legislator), it was likely no accident that the gentleman spoke up during that particular resolution about Planned Parenthood.
* The Sun-Times’ Tina Sfondeles is reporting this morning that Gov. Rauner will sign the Chicago-backed gun crimes bill today at 3 o’clock. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson will attend the signing ceremony in Springfield.
The bill got caught in the middle of the ongoing war between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Rauner, which spiked up yesterday over the sale of the Thompson Center in exchange for the governor signing some city-backed pension bills. From Crain’s yesterday…
Rauner aides are now actively pushing the argument that Emanuel ought to lean on Democrats to send to him a bill boosting penalties for certain repeat gun offenders if he wants a Thompson Center deal. But the measure was one of Emanuel’s top priorities, and Springfield sources say it’s a case of needed paperwork still being done and that no one has a hold on the bill.
“The mayor doesn’t want the gun crimes bill sent to the governor because it would disprove his argument that the governor can’t get bipartisan deals done,” Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said.
The Senate tends to wait the full 30 days it has after approval before sending the bill. Sponsoring Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, said he wasn’t asked by the governor’s office to make an exception, but he’ll speed up the process now.
Rauner aides had argued Thursday evening that Emanuel didn’t want the gun bill sent to the governor because it would disprove the mayor’s argument that the governor can’t get bipartisan deals done.
State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, sent the bill to the governor’s office Thursday, saying he wasn’t interested in having it caught up in a political game.
“I want it done not for politics sake, not for anybody claiming a win, not even for me,” Raoul said. “Because, as far as the crime is concerned, this is only a piece of the puzzle. And so I don’t even claim it as a win. We have a lot more work to do on that front.”
…Adding… Media advisory…
What: Governor Rauner Signs Compromise Legislation to Increase Penalties for Repeat Gun Offenders
Who: Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and State Sen. Kwame Raoul
If Madigan calls [Rauner’s] bluff, he’s in a real trick back. Because if he signs what Republicans have proposed as their compromise budget with those massive tax increases, he’s done and so are Republicans for another generation. […]
Rauner’s focus is wrong, it continues to be wrong. He’s playing the inside game with the political ruling class and the elites which prop them up… The play is for the 95 percent of families that are not in the public sector, that are financing all of this… and receiving very little in return. That is his universe. He should speak to that universe. Yesterday he spoke to the political class.
My goal is to stop this massive tax hike and I’m going to try to get as many Republicans to come along with me as possible. It depends on what Speaker Madigan wants to do. I’m gonna argue that he needs to put every single Democrat vote on this budget before any Republican should get on it. If he takes his targets and says, ‘Oh, I don’t want them voting for a tax hike,’ I don’t think any Republican should vote for it.
Yeah, that’ll be the structured roll call split. Right.
Madigan, Cullerton Continue to Stall
When will they debate, vote on compromise budget and reform plan?
It’s day three, and all signs point to another day of stalling from Mike Madigan and John Cullerton.
With the eyes of the state on them, Madigan and Cullerton have so far let down the public, choosing to hold sham hearings and barely show up.
Madigan’s House convened special session for just minutes yesterday, while Cullerton’s Senate adjourned in 10.
Instead of working on a budget, Madigan’s House voted on a series of “trivial matters”, and rehashed a well-worn workers compensation debate.
And in the Senate, lawmakers barely showed up.
The Chicago Tribune editorial board called it a “sorry little spectacle”.
It’s time Madigan and Cullerton get to work and hold votes on a detailed compromise budget and reform plan.
Otherwise, Madigan and Cullerton will continue to receive headlines like these:
Chicago Tribune: Editorial: Madigan and the Do-Littles
Here’s the remarkable part: Madigan’s Democratic members — all of whom, unless they retire to Pensionville, have to ask voters to re-elect them next year — don’t seem to mind.
You would think if they genuinely were frustrated by the lack of a state budget, as they ceaselessly pretend, they would protest. You would think these lawmakers, whose role as public servants is to put the interests of the state ahead of their own and their party’s, would confront Madigan for snubbing every budget proposal out there, including the one from their Senate colleagues. You’d think they would be staging a coup, determined to put a stop to the nonsense and the inaction that threatens their political futures and, more important, Illinois’ future.
They’re not. No urgency. They go along with the silliness and the cynicism. They went along, again, on Thursday.
… What a sorry little spectacle in Springfield.
WSIL: Instead of budget, Illinois lawmakers vote on trivial matters
Instead of voting on a budget, lawmakers in the Illinois House renamed a road, talked about the importance of the upcoming bicentennial and designated June as “Immigrant Heritage Month.”
The series of votes on resolutions, which are ceremonial, caused tempers to flare.
During a debate on a resolution, which called for Congress not to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, State Rep. Peter Breen, R-Lombard, stood up and shared his frustration.
“We are 700 days without a budget. What the hell are we doing voting on these resolutions? Why are we not doing the budget?” Breen yelled, before sitting down so the resolution votes could continue.
The Illinois Senate seemed even less productive than the House.
Fewer than 20 of the 59 state senators even bothered to show up to the chamber on Thursday.
The Senate adjourned after just 10 minutes.
The complaint, in part, requested (1) defendant, Lisa Madigan, in her official capacity as Attorney General of the State of Illinois, be enjoined from representing CMS before the Workers’ Compensation Commission (Commission) on cases involving “personal assistants,” based on her refusal to defend CMS’s determination that a personal assistant was not a State employee for purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act, and (2) a special assistant Attorney General be appointed to represent CMS. That same month, the Attorney General filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to section 2-615 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code), alleging the complaint failed to state a legally valid cause of action. In May 2016, the trial court granted the motion to dismiss with prejudice.
CMS appeals, arguing the trial court erred by dismissing its complaint for failure to state a cause of action. We affirm. […]
The motion to dismiss alleged (1) the Attorney General had the exclusive constitutional authority to represent the State, including its officers, employees, and agencies, when the State is the real party in interest in litigation and allowing CMS to choose private counsel would cause “chaos”; (2) the Attorney General was “vigorously defending” these workers’ compensation cases; and (3) the Commission had repeatedly rejected the very argument CMS sought to raise and ruled that personal assistants are employed by the State.
Like it or not, and the Rauner administration clearly does not, the attorney general is the state’s chief legal officer.
Is there room for another heel in the Illinois governor’s race?
Former pro wrestler Jon “The Illustrious One” Stewart says yes — and he’s looking to put his rivals for the Libertarian Party nomination in a half nelson, then body-slam Bruce Rauner and whoever the Democrats select in the general election.
“Politics is wrestling with suits and ties on,” Stewart, 50, told Chicago Inc. “I’m comfortable on a mic, and I’m not afraid to tell the truth.”
It isn’t The Illustrious One’s first run for elected office. Back in 1997, he unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for the state House on the North Shore — with a little help from President Donald Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway.
“I was her first political client,” said Stewart, who lives in Deerfield and now runs his family’s used-car dealership. “She’s probably one of the smartest people I’ve ever met so I’m not surprised she has got to where she is.
* Let’s welcome him to the race with a caption contest, shall we?…
Also, click here for a wrestling promo video where he describes himself as a “son of a millionaire.”
Stewart is pro-Trump. The governor has spent the better part of two years running as far away from Trump as he possibly can. So, it’s possible that Stewart could give him some troubles with the base. Remember how some trade unions (particularly Local 150) backed the 2014 Libertarian Party candidate? Hmm.
Chris Kennedy on Thursday asked Cook County Democratic leaders not to endorse a candidate for the party’s governor nomination, a plea made as J.B. Pritzker urged city ward and suburban township committeemen to side with him and against contenders who attack their rivals. […]
“We need to install in everyone that notion that government is a good thing. And in order to do that, we need to make sure that government is squeaky clean, that it is free from conflict, that elected officials do not have an incentive to use their office for personal gain. We need to reaffirm with the electorate that we work for them, that we are servant leaders and not leaders of servants,” Kennedy said in a meeting at the county party’s Loop headquarters.
“I don’t think there would be anything that we could do that would signal that more powerfully than to say to the electorate, ‘We’re going to have an open primary in the governor’s race and allow you to make the decision for the Democratic Party as to who will be the Democratic nominee for governor,’ and I’m asking you all for support in that today,” he said.
In light of Kennedy’s criticism of the party establishment, ward committeeman and Ald. Ray Lopez, 15th, asked the candidate why he showed up if he did not want to “be endorsed by insiders.”
I’m here because I love the Democratic Party, I love Illinois and I think for Illinois to be saved the Democratic Party has to save it. We believe differently than the Republicans do. We believe government can be an agent of change, it can be helpful to people. But we need to ask the entire population of Illinois to make sacrifices, every taxpayer to make a sacrifice. I think they’re willing to do that. I think they’re willing to pay more for great government that will educate their children and keep their communities safe, but they’re only going to do that if the government is squeaky clean.
And I think calling for reforms like preventing elected officials from having a conflict of interest, mirroring the very laws that our United States Congressmen serve under, I don’t think that’s a big ask. I don’t think electing people who are banned from have a conflict of interest should be something that we’re stumbling over, that we’re wrestling with, that people think is a product of ‘aw, wow’ why would you ever think that would be OK. Because it’s OK everywhere else. Because it’s OK at the federal level. Because we need to return the faith people have in government and if we don’t we will never get the funding necessary to save the next generation.
A bit on the long side, but not a bad argument. It’s just not an argument that will work with party insiders, and you gotta figure Kennedy knew that going in.
According to the Tribune, powerful Thornton Township Democratic Committeeman Frank Zuccarelli told his fellow county Democrats that they need to endorse Pritzker “right away.”
I emphasized to Mr. Durkin that I am prepared to do a budget and am prepared to do revenue to pay for that budget. I’m prepared to work with every member of the Legislature on all issues before the Legislature.
I think that, again, the Legislature, especially the Democrats in the Legislature, have taken great steps to be responsive to requests from the governor in areas like governmental consolidation, procurement, sale of the Thompson Center, reorganization of the Lincoln Library. And unfortunately, we haven’t seen a comparable response from the governor.
We would feel that if we’re being responsive to the governor’s requests, he ought to engage with us on the budget-making and on raising the money to pay for the budget. And I haven’t seen that yet.
* Speaker Madigan was asked today what a House Democratic revenue bill will look like…
“A House Democratic revenue plan would be items that you’ve seen before and you’ve probably written about and others in the Legislature have talked about.”
*** UPDATE *** Governor’s office lawyers say that if the governor waits to take action on this bill until after June 30th, then an override won’t matter because the bill renews the Telecommunications Act and the Cable and Video statute. Those acts are set to automatically expire on June 30th. So, the GA couldn’t technically renew an act that had already expired with an override. And that’s why the governor is now demanding a “clean” bill.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* This bill passed the Senate 53-3 and cleared the House 81-27, way more than enough for an override if the Republicans stick to their guns…
From: Jason Heffley, Policy Advisor for Energy and Environment
To: Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Statewide 9-1-1 Administrator
Date: June 22, 2017
Re: Update on SB 1839
As you know, the House and Senate passed SB 1839 on May 31, 2017. The legislation combined several provisions including carrier of last resort (COLR) obligation relief for AT&T, Illinois State Police’s package of technical changes to the Emergency Telephone System Act, sunset extensions to Article XIII (Telecommunications) and Article XXI (Cable and Video) of the Public Utilities Act as well Emergency Telephone System Act, and 9-1-1 surcharge increases for the city of Chicago (from $3.90 to $5) and the rest of the state (from $.87 to $1.50).
While the Governor has yet to receive SB 1839 from the Senate for consideration, he has been very clear that the surcharge increases would be unacceptable. The city of Chicago has already received two significant increases in the last four years – from $1.25 to $2.50 in 2013 and from $2.50 to $3.90 in 2014. In fact, the Chicago Sun-Times ran a story the day after passage of the bill that touted the legislation as a 28% phone tax to bailout pensions. Additionally, the increase for the remainder of the state is significantly higher than the $1.05 that was recommended by the 9-1-1 Advisory Board that studied the issue for two years. The increase is especially concerning given the fact that the State’s consultant has not yet completed its assessment and made a recommendation, including cost projections, for moving the State towards a Next Generation 9-1-1 network solution, which would also include Chicago.
Since it is clear that the Governor will not sign this legislation as passed, I wanted to make sure you are aware of the potential impacts to other key provisions of the bill – specifically, the sunset provision for the Emergency Telephone System Act, which will repeal on July 1. Without an extension of the ETSA, carriers will no longer be able to collect surcharges from their customers and the State Police will no longer be able to distribute those surcharge monies to local 9-1-1 systems.
While there is nothing that will prohibit carriers from providing the 9-1-1 service if the Act sunsets and the State Police will be able to continue to disperse monies to the local operators through the lapse period in August, no new surcharge money may be collected as of July 1. It would be a decision of the local 9-1-1 service providers to continue to provide service without an extension, and the lack of monies being collected could have impacts in the long run on some local operators.
To be clear: the Governor absolutely supports 9-1-1 services across the state and strongly supports extension of the ETSA without delay. He supported a clean extension of the Act at the end of May and he continues to support one today. It is imperative that the General Assembly immediately take up and pass a clean bill to extend the sunset provision of the ETSA before June 30 to ensure there is no long term harm to Illinois’ 9-1-1 services.
The General Assembly should not put the 9-1-1 system at risk by sending the Governor legislation with poison pills knowing full well he will not sign them into law. There is time left to send the Governor a clean 9-1-1 bill prior to July 1. Please inform all local 9-1-1 operators of this potential danger and highlight the importance of passing a clean sunset extension by June 30.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has rejected a new offer from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to clear the way for construction of an enormous, 2 million-square-foot office tower where the aging Thompson Center now stands, sources close to the matter in both Chicago and Springfield are reporting.
Insiders say Rauner had two reasons: He wanted a free hand to sell the state-owned property for an even larger building, one approaching the size of the Willis Tower. And he was unwilling to grant Emanuel’s requests to, in exchange, sign a bill dealing with city pensions, arguing that the mayor instead needs to lean on House Speaker Michael Madigan to make concessions on broader statewide matters. […]
The deal would have allowed Rauner to dispose of the Thompson site, perhaps netting the $300 million the governor wants to shore up his budget, putting the Loop site back on the taxable property rolls. Emanuel would have won final approval of a plan designed to refinance and put on stronger footing two city pension funds that cover municipal workers and laborers.
But the deal didn’t get done—even though House GOP Leader Jim Durkin personally intervened in recent days in an effort to reach a compromise. And now, “not much is going to pass until” a broader deal on the budget, taxes and other structural changes Rauner wants is agreed upon, says one top state government insider.
The Rauner administration said Thursday the city’s offer wasn’t a “fair trade,” and they issued a counter-offer to instead encourage Senate Democrats to send over a gun bill that has been held since it was passed by both chambers last month.
The administration said sending over the gun bill would be a show of “good faith” and would benefit the city. The city said they’d get back to the Rauner administration about their offer.
So, why wouldn’t the city agree to release the gun bill that the mayor fought so hard to pass? Something doesn’t seem quite right here.
Madigan has stared down Gov. Bruce Rauner for more than 700 days while the state has sputtered along without a budget, daring him to “make a deal” as the House refuses to pass a budget.
Rauner just blinked.
His administration gave its blessing to a GOP budget plan that includes the $5.4 billion tax hike Illinoisans first saw in the Senate’s failed “grand bargain.” Dubbed the “capitol compromise,” the plan starts with a 33 percent income tax increase, and contains new taxes on services such as Netflix, laundry services and more. Each Illinois household would eventually have to pay $1,125 in additional taxes annually under this plan.
What the GOP budget proposal lacks in spending restraint it makes up for in fake reforms: A four-year property tax freeze time bomb that doesn’t address bloated local contract costs; a four-year spending cap that does nothing to rein in core spending drivers; and unconstitutional changes to government-worker pensions that keep in place the failed defined-benefit system.
The trap worked.
Madigan got his tax hike without any real medicine for Illinois’ fiscal sickness.
Congressional Republicans from Illinois have recommended four lawyers to the Trump White House for the U.S. Attorney post in Chicago, with one of them, Maggie Hickey, likely out of the running because Democrats don’t want Hickey — now a top official for GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner — in the spot, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
The other top potential nominees to replace former U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon in the Northern District of Illinois are attorneys John Lausch, Michael Scudder and Andrew Porter, sources said. In all, a pool of about a dozen names for the Chicago slot were sent to the White House, with Hickey, Lausch, Scudder and Porter flagged as frontrunners. […]
Hickey’s present position as a Rauner political appointee makes her viability as a contender to replace Fardon problematic: She has been Rauner’s Executive Inspector General since July 2015, winning confirmation for her post on May 23, 2016, on a 52-0 state Senate vote.
But that bi-partisan vote does not translate when it comes to the selection of Fardon’s replacement, with an entirely different set of politics for the high-stakes job.
According to the article, Hickey was recommended by the governor. But giving a Raunerite full federal prosecutorial powers is probably not something the Democrats in this state relish, to say the least. That’s nightmare city for them.
*** UPDATE *** From a senior GOP source…
We didn’t put Maggie forward… The article wasn’t right.
Cook County in 2016 again recorded the largest black population of any county in the U.S., but it carries that title with less conviction than previous years as more African-Americans move to outlying suburbs or warmer states in the South and West, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Between 2015 and 2016, more than 12,000 black residents left Cook County, an increase from the previous year when about 9,000 residents left. […]
Some of those who left Chicago and Cook County relocated to other parts of the state, but Illinois still recorded a population drop of about 10,000 black residents between 2015 and 2016, more than any other state. Experts say it is an indication that the majority of the state’s black flight is occurring in Chicago. […]
Africans-Americans are leaving in search of stability, experts say, hoping to find stable incomes and safe neighborhoods, something they feel Chicago isn’t offering them. The city of Chicago lost 181,000 black residents between 2000 and 2010, according to census data. […]
William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, said he thinks the trend points to conditions beyond just crime.
“People move from the city to the suburbs for a host of things, crime being one of them. But I wouldn’t expect those people to move from a whole metropolitan area. Something bigger’s going on,” he said, referencing the region and state’s general population loss.
Cook County saw a 13.3 percent increase in residents over age 65, but in the collar counties the growth was much steeper.
The over-65 population rose 24.6 percent in DuPage County, 34.2 percent in Kane County, 24.5 percent in Lake County, 28.5 percent in McHenry County and 31.4 percent in Will County.
The number of Hispanic residents, the fastest-growing group, rose 5.6 percent in Cook County, 8.7 percent in DuPage County, 6.5 percent in Kane County, 7.3 percent in Lake County, 11.4 percent in McHenry County and 10.5 percent in Will County since the decade began.
The total population in the suburbs is relatively flat. Kane County shows the largest population increase with 3 percent growth to 1.06 million residents.
The Census Bureau reported that the median age of Americans — the age at which half are older and half are younger — rose nationally from just over 35 years to nearly 38 years in the years between 2000 and 2016, driven by the aging of the “baby boom” generation.
The number of residents age 65 and older grew from 35 million to 49.2 million during those 16 years, jumping from 12 percent of the total population to 15 percent. […]
The Asian population and those who identified as being of two or more races grew by 3 percent each, to 21 million and 8.5 million, respectively. Hispanics grew by 2 percent to 57.5 million. The black population grew by 1.2 percent to nearly 47 million.
The number of non-Hispanic whites grew by only 5,000, leaving that population relatively steady at 198 million of the nation’s 325 million people.
No state in the nation has gone this long without a budget or has a bigger backlog of unpaid bills.
One bill – among thousands – was submitted by Autumn Country Club. It’s a an affectionate name for a family-run Joliet adult day care facility. It’s a facility whose owners are contemplating closing because its biggest client is a deadbeat.
The State of Illinois confirms it owes Autumn Adult Day Care $162,000. That represents five months of operating expenses.
“I’m a nervous wreck,” said owner Cassie Waterman. “I don’t know how next month I’m going to continue to run my facility.”
Autumn welcomes 60 senior citizens each day. Some are veterans. Many have special needs. All are under the watchful eye of a registered nurse and a dedicated team of caregivers who lead the group in activities, meals and entertainment.
“We are their safety net,” said registered nurse Christine Doyle. “We try to be their family during the day but they all know they’re going home at the end of the day… and that’s a good thing.”
The Illinois Department on Aging and other state entities contract with Autumn to provide day care for these seniors during the day. The rate, according to Autumn Adult Day Care officials, is $9.02 per hour per person.
The biggest key to breaking through the political fog shrouding the capital city is for our leaders to declare a moratorium on politics, then stick to it, no matter the temptation to score political points.
Yes, Rauner’s television ads aimed at Madigan and Democrats are “campaigning.” And yes, it’s early.
But lots of pols are campaigning. Let’s not clutch our pearls, aghast.
Rauner’s Democratic opponents for the 2018 gubernatorial campaign so far are on the air, on the Web and at news conference podiums bashing Rauner. State Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, spent Tuesday at a campaign event touting his proposals for property tax reform. Then he put out a news release Tuesday night criticizing Rauner for campaigning too much.
During the last six months, including when lawmakers should have been in Springfield working on a budget, Madigan raised at least $122,314 for his campaign fund. During the first three months of the year, that fund spent more than $330,000 on office rent, cellphones, workers and meals. Madigan is … campaigning.
Senate President John Cullerton has raised at least $104,500, and hosted and attended several fundraisers. Between January and March 31, he spent at least $150,000 on campaign activity, according to his financial disclosure reports.
Not one mention of Rauner’s $70 million in contributions raised since December, or the bigtime money he’s given to the ILGOP and the House GOP.
People should sheath their swords and do their jobs. We shouldn’t be encouraging this nonsense.
Democrats held a private meeting to review a Republican proposal that calls for spending $36 billion next year and not increasing that amount for four years. Rauner and Republican lawmakers have touted the plan as a compromise that should be acceptable to everyone.
“There are some things in it I think we could be in agreement with. There are some things in it we could be in opposition to,” said Rep. Greg Harris of Chicago, the House Democrats’ top budget negotiator. “I think we looked at the Senate Democratic plan the same way.” […]
During Wednesday’s news conference, Durkin reiterated that the House Republicans aren’t interested in another stopgap measure if agreement can’t be reached on full-year budget. Cullerton has also said he will not consider another stopgap spending plan since the Senate has approved a budget. And Rauner has said he won’t sign a stopgap without approval of the other reforms he’s been demanding.
Still, Harris said the House Democrats “have not ruled anything in or out” when it comes to a stopgap budget.
Chicago Rep. Greg Harris, who is acting as chief budget negotiator for Madigan, said House Democrats continue to review both of those plans and are likely to consider changes. Harris said neither plan is balanced, as they count on savings from an overhaul of the state employee pension system that is likely to face legal challenges and reduced health care costs from a union contract change that is already winding its way through the courts.
House Republican leader Jim Durkin said it was hypocritical of his Democratic colleagues to question whether the GOP budget plan was balanced, noting their history of passing budgets that spend more than the state has on hand.
“They couldn’t balance their way out of a wet paper bag,” Durkin said.
He didn’t actually answer the question, however.
Republicans say the employee healthcare issue is taken care of with BIMP language.
“In Rauner’s first year in office, the House passed a budget. In his second year in office, we passed a budget,” Madigan said. “We’re now in the third year in office, and we’re fully engaged.”
Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, had a different take on history and responded to critics who said the GOP plan isn’t balanced either.
He remembers “last year that the House Democrats passed a $7 billion unbalanced budget. The year before, $4.5 billion; and the year before that, $1.5 billion.”
Granted, but the governor has never proposed a balanced budget and has more than tripled the bill backlog since he took office because he can’t pass a budget. It’s now $15.2 billion.
But the source of the problem continues to be disputed by state democrats and republicans – who have been pointing fingers at each other for years.
“The fact is when the Governor decides to walk into a room, with the four legistlative leaders, and say I am ready to do a budget, we will have a budget in two days, it’s not that hard,” said Lou Lang. […]
House minority leader Jim Durkin is backing a budget proposal crafted last week that includes some of the items democrats say they want, like an increases in the personal and corporate income tax. Madigan is mum about whether he supports any or all of it.
“My message is to the rank and file democrats, ask your leader on whether or not he wants to find a resolution, to help me find votes to bring this to a conclusion,” Durkin said.
Um, the governor says he “wants” an income tax hike, too, Dana.
Though Republicans’ budget is predicated on higher taxes, such as the income tax hike approved by Senate Democrats, no GOP legislator has actually introduced or formally signed on to a tax hike.
Democratic Sens. Heather Steans and Toi Hutchinson held a press conference today and dinged the Republicans on that very issue. “The hardest part of working on a budget is the revenue side,” Hutchinson rightly said. At the end of the press conference, Hutchinson pointed out that a GOP press conference on education funding reform was about to begin and that their plan would require more state revenues. So she placed a form on the lectern that the Republicans could fill out to sign on as tax hike co-sponsors.
Plagued by the state’s budget impasse, the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois will shut down for the second time on July 1. Contractors have received written notifications from the Capital Development Board to prepare the site for demobilization.
Officials at U of I report that the budget for IBRL increased by nearly 30 percent after the previous yearlong stoppage. They are concerned that an extended delay at the present state of construction will result in much more extensive rework with unknown cost escalation to the $32-million project.
According to IBRL Director Vijay Singh, the building was scheduled to open for business in spring 2018.
“We’ve made great progress after recovering from the first shutdown. That momentum will be lost, as attention shifts to protecting the building rather than foundational project scoping,” Singh says. “Relationships that we’ve built with industrial partners will undoubtedly suffer major setbacks and exciting prospects for economic development related to bioprocessing and bio-products in Illinois and along the I-72 biocorridor will be delayed.”
Singh adds that federal and industrial research projects that were expected to begin in 2018 will be postponed or cancelled. Companies, which had set aside monies for projects, will likely look elsewhere for scale-up work.
The remaining days of June will be unproductive toward completion of the building as the work focus becomes securing it against weather and vandalism. Singh also notes that delays like this are compounded because contractors move on to other projects, disrupting the restart of the project.
IRBL is a part of the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. ACES Dean Kim Kidwell says this second halt on construction could have serious long-term consequences.
“It’s not just about a building,” Kidwell says. “Obviously, we’ll need to postpone hiring staff to operate the facility, but there is also the potential for the loss of very talented faculty and scientists as they consider other opportunities. Illinois will be challenged to retain and recruit talent working in the industrial biotech space. Enrollment in the Professional Science Masters (PSM) program in bioprocessing and other related majors may suffer from the lack of available facilities and faculty.”
Kidwell adds, “It is an ironic twist that the construction on this building, which is to be a catalyst for innovation, is stalled not once, but twice. It’s disappointing, not just for the College of ACES, but also for the state of Illinois’ efforts to be a leader in renewable bioprocessing technologies.”
An announcement during the week that the state is investing $26 million in the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Lab (IBRL) at the University of Illinois underscored the importance of pursuing projects that will make Illinois a destination for employers as a way to help the state grow its way out of the current budget mess. Funding for the IBRL, which will help Illinois compete for nearly 20,000 jobs in a new job sector, was secured by the stopgap budget signed into law on June 30.
Except now we’re finding out that, at least in this instance, we can’t grow our way out of this mess without a budget.
20,000 high-paying jobs could fly right out the window. Heckuva job, everybody.
Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that if a bipartisan budget agreement can’t be reached by the end of May, he’d be willing to pay for a special legislative session out of his own pocket to continue negotiations.
During a visit to Auburn High School to discuss education funding, the Republican governor said he remains cautiously optimistic that he can reach a “grand compromise” with lawmakers in negotiating a budget for the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years by the end of the spring session.
Two things. 1) Whatever happened to that idea of paying for a special session out of his own pocket? 2) I forgot about the “grand compromise” branding. It morphed into “grand bargain” when the Senate took over and now the Republicans are calling their plan the “Capitol Compromise.”
State Rep. Scott Drury of Highwood, a Democratic candidate for governor, said Illinois has been “hijacked” by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and is no longer a “democracy.”
“The state has been hijacked by a billionaire governor, Bruce Rauner, and by an all-too powerful speaker of the House, Mike Madigan, who continuously put their self-interest against the public interest and that is going to stop once I’m the governor,” Drury said in an interview Tuesday evening on WTTW Ch-11’s “Chicago Tonight.” […]
Drury said Madigan should call for a House vote on a Senate Democrat-passed budget package that includes higher taxes and spending cuts.
But Drury wouldn’t commit to vote for it. Instead, he called it “a good start” but warned the cuts it contains are “too much of a hatchet.”
If he thinks the Senate’s cuts are “too much of a hatchet,” wait until he sees what actually has to happen to balance the budget with the Senate’s proposed revenues that the governor has apparently agreed to.
The experts? Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, who has been arguing for more state taxes for what seems like decades. And Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy for the Illinois Policy Institute, which believes the budget can be balanced without a single penny in new tax hikes.
How do you see the next 10 days playing out in the legislature?
Dabrowski: “We believe a balanced budget without tax hikes is the way to go. The next 10 days will be a debate about that. It will be a debate about how much taxes should go up. There will be a debate about a compromise between the political elite ignoring what Illinoisans want and need… I want to talk a little bit about the polls that have been done showing that Illinoisans don’t want tax hikes, they want spending reforms.”
Martire: “What is our basic problem? I think it’s been a lack of political will for generations to deal with tax policy honestly. Tax is one of two, three-letter words ending in ‘X’ in the English language that really gets people excited. And generally, not in a good way. So, most elected officials want to avoid dealing with tax policy. Our chosen method for avoiding dealing with tax policy in Illinois has been, and everyone knows this, is to underfund what the state owed to its five pension systems and divert the revenue that should have gone to normal costs to instead fund current services.”
From their lofty perch in Midtown Manhattan, the editors of the Wall Street Journal opined on the years-long budget stalemate here in Illinois. The deadlock has naturally drawn the notice of investors who happen to hold state of Illinois bonds—bonds that could soon be downgraded to junk if Gov. Bruce Rauner and his archnemesis, House Speaker Michael Madigan, don’t come to terms on a budget by the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1.
If the Journal’s editors intended to help resolve the Springfield deadlock for the good of bondholders—not to mention the people who live and work in Illinois—then they missed the mark. In fact, they made matters much, much worse.
That’s because partisan brinkmanship of the sort they’re dishing out is one of the biggest reasons Illinois is in the shape it’s in now. The Journal drubs Rauner for saying he’ll accept a four-year increase in the state income tax and expand the sales tax, labeling such concessions “capitulation” and “a political defeat by any definition.” Implying that Team Rauner’s tax hike talk is a sop to credit rating agencies that “never met a tax increase they didn’t like,” the Journal writes that Rauner “doesn’t want to run for re-election next year as Governor Junk.” […]
Given the long, hard battle that’s been fought over these very elements of Rauner’s “Turnaround Illinois” agenda, to cite such shortcomings now is essentially to cheer for both sides to harden their positions. But this state can’t afford more tantrums. Rhetoric like this only adds fuel to a partisan fire that’s threatening to immolate Illinois. We agree with the Journal that Madigan is the stumbling block that has prevented Rauner from realizing what he campaigned on, but campaigns are about vision; governing is about seeing clearly. Yes, Madigan is stubbornly in the way. But he cannot be wished away—nor can his constituents. Acting as if they are not there is to enter Fantasyland—and Illinoisans have no further need for fairy tales.
So here’s a thought inspired by a famous headline from another fine New York newspaper: “Illinois to Wall Street Journal: Drop Dead.
I agree with Crain’s. We need a practical solution here. And I’ve never been a fan of that WSJ editorial page.
But, on one specific level, I totally agree with the Wall St. Journal. Rauner did indeed pledge to roll back the income tax rate all the way down to 3 percent by the end of his first term. Instead, Rauner chose a 2-year impasse over tax reduction. That’s totally and completely on him. Period.
And, remember, the governor and his wholly owned state GOP subsidiary have repeatedly blasted Speaker Madigan for suggesting in late 2015 that a good place to start would be returning the tax rate to 5 percent…
The state GOP launched a Twitter campaign attacking Madigan by promoting the hashtag #taxhikemike. It includes a video publicizing Tax Hike Mike’s plan, building it around his comments at the City Club.
“Mike Madigan thinks raising your taxes is funny,” the narrator states.
Then the video shows Madigan being asked and answering the question, as audience members laugh at the delicacy of the issue and Madigan smiles broadly.
“Mike Madigan wants to raise your taxes by 33 percent … and thinks it’s funny,” the narrator concludes.
Doesn’t it make you just want to grab Tax Hike Mike by his tax-hiking neck and give it a good tax-hiking wringing? That’s the response the advertisement is designed to elicit.
If they had returned the rate to 5 percent (or even 4.95 percent, as the governor claims to favor now) in 2015, they could’ve lowered it over time with gradual cuts and other reforms. Instead, we’re stuck in a hopeless morass.
So, kindly spare me the hand-wringing over a little editorial. Rauner’s a big boy who promised to “take the arrows.” Let him deal with it for a while. It’ll build character. /s
Thousands of children in Illinois are at risk of not getting their immunizations this year amid the ongoing state budget crisis, officials said.
More than 100,000 kids on Medicaid in Illinois face potentially not getting their immunizations as the state nears its third year with no budget, according to local officials of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Under the current plans, vaccines for Medicaid Title 21 children are purchased by their doctors, who are supposed to be reimbursed by the state through Medicaid managed care organizations. MCO’s are state contractors.
“This spring, things came to a halt in getting compensated,” said Dr. Timothy Wall, Medical Director and President of Pediatric Health Associates. “We have had to cut back the ages of children we can give vaccines to.” […]
According to the AAP, the backlog is so burdensome for some doctors, they’ve had to stop providing immunizations altogether.
“That’s a perfect recipe for an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease,” said Dr. Edward Pont, who serves as the governmental affairs chair for the Illinois chapter of AAP.
The Rauner administration, of course, blamed the comptroller, which is just completely ridiculous on its face. Absolutely nothing is ever his fault. Her office’s response…
“Like the check bouncer who yells at his bank for bouncing a check from an account he himself emptied, the Governor disingenuously blames the Comptroller for not writing checks from state coffers that Governor Rauner emptied by failing his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget,” said Abdon Pallasch, Director of Communications for the Office of the Comptroller.
On Day 1 Madigan Stalls, On Day 2…?
Madigan Blasted for Stall Tactics
The ball’s in Madigan’s court.
On Day 2 of the Special Session, what will Mike Madigan do? Will he show up and get to work? Or will he stall because he has no plan to fix Illinois?
Yesterday, he chose stalling.
Instead of working yesterday on a solution, Politico is reporting that Madigan wasted the first day of the special session.
Politico reports, “As the state crumbles awaiting a budget, the House speaker plans to use the second and third days of special session - on more hearings. Maybe Madigan’s ultimate strategy is to waste so much time that when lawmakers finally emerge from the Capitol, the state’s remaining residents will have dwindled to zero.”
The Chicago Tribune reports that instead of working with Republicans on a compromise budget and reform plan, Madigan “provided no details” and “needled Rauner via a statement”.
The Peoria Journal-Star Editorial Board writes that Democrats “got things off to a confidence-draining start on the first day of the special session by adjourning the House after 30 minutes, with senators meeting outside the public eye. The House under Speaker Michael Madigan has yet to even vote on a budget.”
WYMG called Madigan’s stalling schemes “a familiar tactic out of his toolbox”.
And NBC Chicago notes that, “House Speaker Mike Madigan is sounding his familiar themes as the special session begins.”
The one meeting that really needs to take place is between the governor, the speaker and other top legislative leaders. And that hasn’t happened. And until then there’s just a whole lot of talk and not much action.
The governor, of course, is responsible for calling leaders’ meetings.
Now, as I explained to subscribers today, there’s more going on here. But every special session I’ve ever covered has involved leaders’ meetings. And the governor has been on a “unity” kick this week, so you’d think he’d at least give it a try.
…Adding… From the Pritzker campaign…
On Tuesday, instead of acting to alleviate the widespread distress among families across the state, Bruce Rauner provided Illinoisans with a 3-minute sham “unity” address. Rauner called on legislators to support the Republican “Capitol Compromise,” a partisan budget written behind closed doors. 722 days later and Illinoisans are still getting the same political games and no results from their failed governor.
“While Illinois has gone a record 722 days without a budget, Bruce Rauner would rather fake compromise than bring legislators together to pass a fair budget,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Rauner talks a big game, but he doesn’t have the courage to face the budget crisis he’s inflicted on our state. Illinois needs a leader, not a coward in Springfield, and Illinois families deserve a real budget, not sham speeches and fake compromises.”
…Adding More… From the ILGOP…
It’s Day 2 of the special session, and time is ticking for Mike Madigan to propose a balanced budget and path forward for the State of Illinois.
Mike Madigan has yet to put forward any solution to the budget stalemate or agree to reforms needed to fix our state.
That’s why today, the Illinois Republican Party has updated BossMadigan.com to feature a countdown clock to remind the Speaker just how much time he has left to compromise and pass a budget and reform plan.
Mr. Speaker – there isn’t much time left. Get to work.
