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* UPDATED x1 * Campaign 2010 roundup

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* State Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady says fundraising is going well…

When the state GOP holds its annual fundraising dinner tonight, there just may be a little more bubbly in their toasts than usual.

“We’ve raised more in the first quarter than the party did all last year. I think there is a lot enthusiasm,” [Brady said]. “The Democrats keep giving us opportunities every day - bringing in lot of new donors.”

* Bill Brady’s campaign sent out a notice today that Brady’s tax returns will be “made available to the media Friday, April 23rd between 1p.m.-4p.m. in the Citizens for Bill Brady Springfield office.” No word yet on whether Brady will allow copies to be made or if it’s just gonna be a lookie-look. I’ve asked, but haven’t heard back. I’ll let you know when I do.

*** UPDATE *** From the Brady campaign…

Those who go to the office in Springfield will be able to look at 5 years worth the returns, and talk to Bill’s attorney. Everyone will get a summary to take with them.

[ *** End of Update *** ]

* Speaking of taxes, Greg Hinz noticed something about some recent camapaign finance disclosures…

Almost across the board in major races for governor, U.S. senator and Congress, Democratic candidates have put their campaign workers — at least some of them — on the payroll and have been paying FICA and other taxes on them.

But not Republicans. Though some now say they’re changing, they’ve followed a different approach, treating all of their campaign managers, press aides and the like as independent contractors, which makes the individual and not the “employer” responsible for any tax liability. […]

In the race for Illinois governor, during the last six months of 2009 — the latest for which figures are available — Mr. Quinn’s campaign reported paying $52,000 to the IRS and another $5,200 to the Illinois Department of Revenue for payroll taxes. That’s money Mr. Quinn surely could have used for other purposes, like TV ads.

The GOP nominee, state Sen. Bill Brady, reported no such payments. Which means that folks who made as much as $12,500 in the last half of the year worked for his campaign on “consulting” or “contractual services,” as Mr. Brady’s state disclosure put it.

Mark Kirk was the only Republican Hinz could find who paid payroll taxes. Sen. Brady’s campaign has recently put its employees on the regular payroll and is paying payroll taxes.

Gov. Quinn’s campaign responded a few minutes ago via press release…

“Senator Brady talks about lowering taxes. Who realized he was really talking about his own? […]

“By shifting the tax burden to his employees, Bill Brady has once again demonstrated his core belief that the upper class should exploit every opportunity to avoid paying their fair share, leaving hard-working Illinois residents to carry the load. Bill Brady’s actions undermine the safety net of Medicare and Social Security and once again demonstrate his disdain for average Illinois residents. From opposing the minimum wage and equal pay for equal work to allowing discrimination in the workplace, Brady would rather protect his own interests than those of the working class. Illinois residents deserve better.”

…Adding… Thanks to a commenter, here’s the Dan Seals campaign commenting on the Bob Dold campaign’s failure to pay payroll taxes…

“Avoiding taxes is illegal and it is wrong. As a small business owner, Bob Dold should know better.”

According to IllinoisBusinessAttorney.com: “A worker is generally an employee when the business has the right to direct and control his work, even if the business does not actually exercise the right to direct or control how the work is done.” Furthermore, according to the Internal Revenue Service, the burden of proof is on the employer to demonstrate that the workers are independent contractors and not employees, which require business tax payments.

* Speaking of class warfare, a class-action suit has been filed against Gov. Quinn. From a press release…

With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, a group of home-based personal care providers today filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against Governor Pat Quinn and union officials for their efforts to force Illinois personal care providers under unwanted union boss control.

The suit stems from an executive order issued by disgraced former-Governor Rod Blagojevich shortly after his election, later codified, in which over 20,000 personal care providers who care for individuals with disabilities were designated as “public employees” of the state of Illinois for the purpose of granting Service Employees International Union (SEIU) bosses monopoly “representation” and forced dues privileges over them.

Following the Rod Blagojevich blueprint of forced unionism, Quinn signed an executive order last June that made an additional 4,500 home-based personal care providers susceptible to unwanted union boss bargaining and political “representation.” Not coincidentally, Quinn received the SEIU union bosses’ political endorsement and support during his recent closely-contested primary campaign for the Democratic nomination for Governor.

The additional 4,500 home-care providers who are not yet under union control soundly rejected union membership by a two-to-one margin in a mail-in vote. However, per Quinn’s executive order, the home-care providers may again be subject to out-of-state SEIU and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union organizers making “home visits” attempting to organize the home-care providers through coercive “card check” unionization tactics.

The complaint can be downloaded by clicking here.

* Quinn’s campaign also issued a press release today touting the governor’s environmental record and blasting Sen. Brady’s…

…Senator Brady has displayed a hostile attitude toward environmental protection and sustainability. He claims that human activity doesn’t contribute to global warming, no matter what scientists say. His outdated thinking matches his 17-year record, which includes votes against reducing Illinois’ greenhouse gasses, emissions testing for diesel trucks, and the prohibition of sludge treatment plants near Lake Michigan.

That’s an environmental vision from 1910 — not for 2010.

Nice line at the end.

* Related…

* Broadway Bank Looms Over Illinois U.S. Senate Race: A big deadline is just a few days away for Chicago-based Broadway Bank. The family of U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias owns the bank, which has been ordered by regulators to raise millions in capital.

* Hare Refuses to Release Poll Results

* Houlihan’s office responds to Berrios’ “blatant falsehood”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:11 am

Comments

Rich, check out the release the Seals campaign sent out. It seems like this payroll tax thing might even be illegal based on the way you determine who is a contractor.
www.dansealsforcongress.com

Comment by J Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:14 am
seals has been unemployed for 6 years except for the income he got from paying himself from his campaign treasury, he needs to explain how he can afford to live in a town where the average home costs over 1 million dollars without holding any form of employment during that time.

Comment by shore Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:23 am
How much do does a home-based personal care provider get paid and how much will union member ship cost?

Comment by zatoichi Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:34 am
You still pay taxes when you get a 1099, trust me.

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:37 am
I know that Oneman, I’m saying that the Republican campaigns which have done this might have illegally classified staffers as contractors in violation of the test proscribed by the IRS and the state of Illinois. The burden of proof is on the employer, and as best as I can tell, it seems as though these campaigns just sort of wrote down that these staffers were contractors. The IRS actually just launched a crackdown on businesses doing exactly this.

Comment by J Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:40 am
Why can’t an employer direct a contractor?

I’ve worked as a 1099 contractor and believe me the employer was directing their 1099 contractors.

Comment by Brennan Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:53 am
==From opposing the minimum wage and equal pay for equal work to allowing discrimination in the workplace, Brady would rather protect his own interests than those of the working class==

This should not surprise anyone. Anyone who really knows Bill Brady knows he cares …. about Bill Brady.

Comment by ShadyBillBrady Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:05 pm
Brady employees have to pay the entirety of their Medicare and Social Security? Yikes! So much for caring about working-class families…first Brady prioritizing his business interests over public interests by not immediately releasing his tax returns, and now this.

Also, up until now I just thought Quinn was a better candidate on the environment. After all, his efforts to promote wind power in the state have made us a leader in the field and are generating jobs, plus his Earth Month will improve education on sustainability. Now, based on today’s reporting, it appears he’s EXPONENTIALLY BETTER. No logical human being thinks human activity has ZERO effect on warming,

Comment by jonbtuba Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:06 pm
== Brady employees have to pay the entirety of their Medicare and Social Security? Yikes! So much for caring about working-class families…first Brady prioritizing his business interests over public interests by not immediately releasing his tax returns, and now this. ==

I doubt folks who work for Brady’s companies are all independent contractors, nice rhetoric there.

I would talk about Pat Quinn employees, but wait he isn’t a small business owner. Folks who work for him are paid by me and ironically many of them do not pay Social Security (where is your outrage with that)

As for the earth friendly thing. I just hope flip-flopping doesn’t increase global warming, because if thats the case, he’s killin us.

Lets tax grocery bags… ummm on second thought….

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:16 pm
The new Quinn ad:

Bill Brady want to gas your puppy, let the polar bears drown, and put sludge in your drinking water. (Background is a B&W picture of Bill Brady through a red filter color images of polar bears & puppies morph into B&W images of belching smokestacks and pipes of goo pouring into a river).

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:20 pm
Brady’s belief that human activity doesn’t contribute to global warming is further proof of how delusional he actually is. His clear lack of common sense would be comical if it was not so frightening. Quinn is a true green governor. Happy Earth Day.

Comment by The Dude Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:25 pm
Brennan,

An employer can direct their contractors under a 1099, but when a worker works at the contractor’s office with hours set by the contractor it looks and smells like an illegal accounting trick by the contractor to skimp on paying into payroll taxes/unemployment and they can face IRS/legal liability for doing it.

Comment by Hisgirlfriday Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:26 pm
OK I worded that really horribly I think, but what I meant to say is when a worker works at the employer’s office with set hours it looks like an accounting trick by the employer. Not an accounting trick by the contractor. Because the contractor most certainly pays taxes… I agree with OneMan on that.

But good for the IRS cracking down on this though because there are companies whose way of weathering the recession has been to lay off their full-time W2 workers and replace some of them with 1099 “contractors.” It’s not right.

Comment by Hisgirlfriday Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:30 pm
Pat Brady is doing a good job as Chairman, but I’m tired of politicians always exaggerating their fundraising takes, especially when the MSM never bothers to verify their claims. In 2009, the IL GOP raised just over $2 million according to ISBE and FEC reports. Has Brady really raised THAT much in just the last four months??

Comment by Whatever Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:37 pm
==Why can’t an employer direct a contractor?==

They can. “Direction” is not the test used. See:
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html

Comment by Squideshi Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:41 pm
=An employer can direct their contractors under a 1099, but when a worker works at the contractor’s office with hours set by the contractor it looks and smells like an illegal accounting trick by the contractor to skimp on paying into payroll taxes/unemployment and they can face IRS/legal liability for doing it.=

How is that illegal? Aren’t campaign workers temporary? I guess I should expand. Aren’t campaigns temporary?

Comment by Brennan Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 1:26 pm
==How is that illegal? Aren’t campaign workers temporary?==

It matters not how long the position lasts, an employee is an employee and payroll taxes are due.

Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 1:51 pm
Brennan, my understanding is that these are permanent workers for a temporary entity.

Comment by J Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 2:06 pm
also campaign committees exist until they are explicitly dissolved, so you could technically be employed by a campaign committee after the campaign is done

Comment by J Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 2:08 pm
“By shifting the tax burden to his employees, Bill Brady has once again demonstrated his core belief that the upper class should exploit every opportunity to avoid paying their fair share, leaving hard-working Illinois residents to carry the load. Bill Brady’s actions undermine the safety net of Medicare and Social Security and once again demonstrate his disdain for average Illinois residents. From opposing the minimum wage and equal pay for equal work to allowing discrimination in the workplace, Brady would rather protect his own interests than those of the working class. Illinois residents deserve better.”

Quinn’s charges are the charges of a man who only understands politics - not reality, and definately not business.

By shifting the tax burden…
ALL taxes are shifted. Businesses don’t pay taxes - we do. The myth that taxes can be targeted to a specific class of people, is a myth. If Brady kept his prices where they were before taxes, then he’d be out of business and employ no one. If Brady wasn’t taxed, but kept for himself what he would have been taxed, then his prices would be too high and he would lose market share, forcing him to take less. Quinn’s argument is utter economic nonsense.

Bill Brady’s actions undermine the safety net of Medicare and Social Security… Nonsense. If Brady was guilty of this, then he would end up in court. Where is Quinn’s evidence of this charge?

From opposing the minimum wage and equal pay for equal work to allowing discrimination in the workplace… Quinn wants you to believe that regardless of ability or experience, age or gender, skilled or novice, everyone should be paid the same. Well, that might sound great to an idiot who hammers his thumb, but it isn’t fair to the reliable veteran who knows what they are doing. This isn’t Animal Farm or 1922 Soviet Union, is it? This is economic jibberish.

Brady would rather protect his own interests than those of the working class. Who hires the working class, Mr. Quinn? Who pays them? Who trains them? Who is really helping the working class, Mr. Quinn, by providing work? Making a profit justifies a business, without it, there would be no incentive to start a business. There is still no crime on the books for generating a profit for your business since it is a profit that creates the business originally. That said, as a businessperson, shouldn’t your interest be focused on what Quinn is calling Brady’s business? Of course!

Pat Quinn isn’t a businessperson. His criticisms of Bill Brady reflect more on the Governor’s ignorance than making Bill Brady look like Simon Legree. Bill Brady isn’t running a plantation with slaves, but if Quinn’s way of thinking spreads, we may all be enslaved to a government that has no respect for work, pay, profits, or economics.

As a Democrat, I am appalled at Quinn’s bloviating nonsensical display of economic stupidity in this political charge.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 3:08 pm
Hey how about the sleazy fundraising letter from Dan Duffy attacking Sen. Shoenberg’ wife. The GOPers are vevry classt guys

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 3:17 pm
“Shore” - what are you talking about? First, Seals has been employed, and second, his wife is a marketing executive. Are you so sexist or out of touch that you don’t realize that women work and women often support their families? Why are so many conservatives so obsessed with how Seals pays his bills? I’m much more concerned about having an honest congressman. At least Dan and his wife bought their own house. Dold’s house is owned by his parents.

Comment by NSDem Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 3:36 pm
Oneman, are you saying YOU personally pay Brady’s employees or Quinn’s employees? Your wording is confusing.

Also, your silly jokes can’t mask this: Brady is seriously behind when it comes to the environment.

Comment by jonbtuba Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 3:45 pm
Are they sub contractors for his home business or are they on his campaign?

Comment by conda67 Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 4:30 pm
The law on this and the IRS tests are pretty clear. Most Republicans broke the law. Most Dems complied. Why isn’t that surprising? And why doesn’t it surprise me that Greg Hinz completely missed the point and, in fact, gave crap to Quinn for complying with the law. Typical all around.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 4:58 pm
“Senator Brady talks about lowering taxes. Who realized he was really talking about his own? […]

“By shifting the tax burden to his employees, Bill Brady has once again demonstrated his core belief that the upper class should exploit every opportunity to avoid paying their fair share, leaving hard-working Illinois residents to carry the load. Bill Brady’s actions undermine the safety net of Medicare and Social Security

Quinn and the media can’t be that naive about how taxes are paid and the use of Campaign Consultant’s (or Sub-Contractor’s) which democrats do use. Brady doesn’t avoid paying his fair share because the Consultant just adds that cost into what he charges’s Brady. The Consultant then pay’s his own taxes so the Safety net of Medicare and Social Security isn’t undermined either. If Quinn is as incompetent as not to understand that simple tax issue it explains why the state budget is in such bad shape.

Comment by Yeahright Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 10:17 pm
Another reason Gags Brady and his crew do so well is their close relationship with Steele…..From the Plum Line….Greg Sargent’s blog…perhaps CommandoKirk can start sending back RNC $….

Michael Steele Acknowledges GOP Had “Southern Strategy” For Decades

A lot of people are pointing to a new set of remarks Michael Steele made about the Republican Party and race, in which Steele acknowledged that the GOP hasn’t given African Americans a reason to support the party.

But I think folks are missing the real news in what Steele said. The RNC chairman also appeared to acknowledge that the GOP has had a race-based “southern strategy” for four decades, which is decidedly not a historical interpretation many Republicans agree with.

Steele made his remarks at DePaul University on Tuesday night. He acknowledged that “we haven’t done a very good job” of giving African Americans a reason to vote Republican. That’s actually unremarkable. But here’s what he also said:

“We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans,” Steele said. “This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass. The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP, and yet we have mistreated that relationship. People don’t walk away from parties. Their parties walk away from them.

“For the last 40-plus years we had a ‘Southern Strategy’ that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, ‘Bubba’ went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton.”

I’m not sure this is an interpretation most Republicans would agree with. The standard line is that, yes, Nixon did employ a “southern strategy.” But most Republicans would strongly contest the idea that Reagan tried to use racial division for electoral gain, an idea advanced by liberals who point out that Reagan opened his 1980 presidential campaign in the town where Civil Rights workers were murdered.

Similarly, many Republicans would reject the claim that Republican candidates like George H.W. Bush engaged in a race-based strategy with the Willie Horton ads, or that Bush the Younger or John McCain engaged in subtle race-based appeals.

But here you have the chairman of the Republican National Committee saying, in effect, that liberals are right to have argued that Republicans have used race for political gain for the last four decades. Seems significant.

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Friday, Apr 23, 10 @ 8:55 am