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The hostage schtick

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Illinois

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

Gov. Pat Quinn refused to say for several days whether he’d support a $1.2 million a year tax break for Archer Daniels Midland to move 100 jobs out of Decatur and open up a world headquarters and new tech center in Chicago. But last week he made it clear that without pension reform, the ADM proposal would be a nonstarter and he would veto it.

“He won’t even consider the ADM bill much less get on board when pension reform has not been done,” said a Quinn spokesperson told me.

“The best way to help jobs in Illinois is to do pension reform,” Quinn himself told the Associated Press. “To distract legislators in any way from this issue of a lifetime is just plain wrong.”

Quinn didn’t say, probably because he wasn’t asked, whether he thought a vote on gay marriage during the upcoming fall veto session would also “distract legislators.” But a spokesperson later explained that pension reform was vital to the state’s economic interests, and gay marriage, while important, was not driving the state’s fiscal crisis.

And so the governor has seized yet another political hostage in his quest to ease Illinois’ enormous budget problems by reducing pension benefits for public employees and retirees.

Gaming expansion, including a new Chicago casino that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is practically slobbering over, was put on hold last spring because the governor threatened to veto it until pension reform was approved.

Then came his veto of state legislative salaries, which was recently struck down as unconstitutional by a Cook County judge. Quinn said he vetoed the salaries out of the state budget to prod legislators into passing a pension reform bill. It didn’t work. If coming up with a pension reform plan was that easy, it would’ve been accomplished long ago. Quinn is currently attempting to appeal the judge’s ruling directly to the Illinois Supreme Court.

And now comes ADM, one of the oldest companies in Illinois and one of the largest companies in the nation.

Quinn suggested to reporters last week that the company ought to help lobby for pension reform if it wanted its tax break.

Politically speaking, these are all no-brainers. Polls have shown that Illinoisans aren’t in love with the idea of more casinos. So, holding up gaming expansion has few political risks.

The General Assembly’s job approval rating is below Quinn’s, and that’s saying something because Quinn is one of the least liked governors in America. Vetoing legislators’ paychecks could rank right up there with the most popular thing Quinn has ever done, whether its constitutional or not.

And Republicans and Democrats alike have long had a strong distaste for “corporate welfare.” It just rubs people the wrong way to provide tax breaks to gigantic, profitable corporations while Illinois government has trouble paying its own bills.

The ADM tax break proposal hasn’t proved to be all that popular so far in the General Assembly, either. A company officer admitted to a House committee last week that it often pays less than $1.2 million a year in corporate income taxes, even though it made $1.2 billion in profits last year and $2 billion the year before. That was a startling admission, and didn’t please the committee’s liberal Democrats.

The subject was broached when some conservatives on the committee said they’d rather lower the corporate income tax rate than give out a special deal for one company. But lowering the tax rate - even eliminating it entirely - wouldn’t do the company any good. It wants that tax break.

However, ADM has hired some influential Statehouse lobbyists close to House Speaker Michael Madigan, Chicago Mayor Emanuel appears fully on board, and word is that an omnibus corporate tax break bill is being prepared. Despite the public resistance by legislators, the national embarrassment of losing ADM’s world headquarters to another state is probably enough to assume that this will eventually get done.

The political hostage phenomenon should be familiar if you watched the shutdown of the federal government over Republican opposition to Obamacare. The difference with Quinn is that the federal shutdown proved to be wildly unpopular with the American public, while the “hostages” Quinn is taking are prized mainly by people within the Illinois Statehouse, not by the public at large.

But, even if you don’t care, I’m here to tell you that this schtick of Quinn’s is really getting old. It’s juvenile when they do it in Washington, DC, and it’s juvenile when our own governor does it.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:17 am

Comments

Another great column.

Will we ever see Quinn grow up and become a leader? Unfortunately, I don’t believe he can.

Comment by Norseman Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:22 am
THIS-
“But, even if you don’t care, I’m here to tell you that this schtick of Quinn’s is really getting old. It’s juvenile when they do it in Washington, DC, and it’s juvenile when our own governor does it.”

Yup. its getting old. Don’t hear many people calling him on it in the media though, saying its a silly political ploy.

As for caring… Gambling, meh. I dont care if folks want to gamble. i don’t unless I do it for entertain value. Personally I think reaching for gambling as a savior is silly. Detroit put in casinos… Big help it did them.

Though I will say (not being a Emanuel fan) he was left a crap deal. Daley sold off huge assets for huge dollars and spent it all (or too much of) and left this city in a bad spot. Too bad the media didn’t think that was bad enough to roast him over.

Comment by RonOglesby Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:24 am
When is this going to end ? Should we just shut down the state until pension “reform” is passed ? Should we stop paying bills until “pension reform” is passed ? Should we forlough all state workers until “pension reform” is passed ? Are we just going to ignore everything ? The ADM issue has nothing to do with pensions and should not be tied to them. If the Governor was a good & competent leader, he would recognize that part of the pension solution could be tying additional casino revenue to solving the pension dilema. Instead, he says no “pension reform”, no casinos either. Stupid stupid stupid.

Comment by AFSCME Steward Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:31 am
“The best way to help jobs in Illinois is to do pension reform.”

Does the man have any intelligence? To cut the incomes of many workers and retirees in this state means those people will not be buying as much and contributing to this stale economy. That practice, believe me, has already started out of fear of what’s coming. Don’t know how that practice will stimulate any growth.

Secondly, tax payers should be outraged at these corporate tax breaks. Everyone knows that executives of these treasures are raking in more than ever BUT some of that tax break is to provide goodies out the whazoo for their employees. Amazing what is offered to regular workers when state employees basically get a paycheck and nothing more than that. Tax payers are subsidizing the cost of these corporate giants’ on site free fitness centers, daycare facilities offered to employees’ kids, no-cost of very low-cost health insurance,in some cases for life…..and so on ad nauseum. Well-kept secrets. Taxpayers have a heckuva lot more to be outraged about than 40K pensions.

Comment by Anonymous One Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:33 am
Well put.

The hostage phenomenon isn’t driven by ideology or principle but political narcissism. It’s undemocratic on its face. Give in to it once, and it will keep on coming, again and again, issue after issue.

The pay vetoes and linkages to casino gambling and ADM are absurd. So is throwing 800,000 federal employees out of work to please your paymasters (although the workers will probably get their back pay; so, in effect, the feds will have paid 800,000 employees not to work. How conservative and fiscally responsible).

Not so lucky are the thousands of defense contractor workers who will start getting layed off today. They don’t work, they don’t get paid, and they won’t get that money back.

Are they “the people” this irresponsible stunt is for, too?

http://www.nationaljournal.com/national-security/defense-contractors-casualty-of-shutdown-20131004

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:33 am
It’s easier to Campaign then to Govern.

It’s easier to Pander than to Campaign.

If you are governor of the 5th largest state, you can not take the easier route of Pandering, then even to Campaigning.

If you are the governor, and you find yourself choosing to Pander over Campaigning and over Governing…

Using even “the algebra”, you can’t substitute Pander for Campaingn and tell us all you are doing something equal to governing.

Can’t.

===If coming up with a pension reform plan was that easy, it would’ve been accomplished long ago.===

This is also my biggest gripe with all who say, “Don’t pay the Legislature”, “Shake up Springfield”, “The legislature just needs to …”

No. “If coming up with a pension reform plan was that easy, it would’ve been accomplished long ago.”

What is easy?

It’s easier to Pander than to Campaign.

It’s easier to Campaign then to Govern.

Polling shows, it’s also a great way to look engaged, while disengaged, all the while not doing the heaving lifting needed …when you Govern.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:35 am
Sending corporate welfare to new heights. :^)

Comment by Rufus Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:36 am
The difference between Quinn and the Congressional Republicans is Quinn “leads” the majority party. Quinn seems to get away with his actions without being accused of hurting people.

Comment by Liberty First Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:48 am
As I’ve said here before, pension reform is easy to accomplish. What makes it hard is that the same legistators who voted to skip pension payments in order to fund new programs, or expand those that already existed, don’t want to be held accountable for their actions. The solution is a simple one, increase revenue while reducing spending. Increasing revenue loses the next election. Blaming state workers & pandering to voters so far has been a winning formula.

“===If coming up with a pension reform plan was that easy, it would’ve been accomplished long ago.===”

Comment by AFSCME Steward Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:52 am
We wont see people out in the streets complaining about ADM not getting their tax break any more than we saw people out in the streets complaining people that legislators weren’t getting their salaries. All these moves don’t hurt Quinn with public at large, if anything they help him.

However he has become inimical with the government establishment (which makes up most of Rich’s constituency).

Quinn will never be beloved at this point by the springfield/Chicago insiders. His only hope for re-election is to create a populist persona.

I don’t think it will work for him, but he is trying.

Comment by skeptical spectacle Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:55 am
ADM might as well go ahead and make their plans for St. Louis. Pension reform will never be done … they can’t legally cut enough money to solve the revenue problem.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:57 am
Gripe all you want. Rich’s column is spot on. People in the state are connecting with him and his message of “get pension reform done”. They don’t care if it’s constitutional or not. They do believe that we have a legislature that cannot handle more than 1 important issue at any given time. Few, if any, were sad to see legislators losing pay (which they didn’t and never were going to. Let’s just call it an inconvenient delay) I don’t just see this in polls. I see it while I’m out getting petitions signed. Nearly everyone asks about pension reform and state finance. They’re holding the petition hostage until they know. I try to get 30 signatures for every GOPer running in my area. Some have proven to be a real challenge. It used to be very easy.

Comment by A guy... Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 9:59 am
What a joke. ADM wants to nickel and dime the state in order to move their executives to more comfortable living quarters, yet they’re somehow the hostages?

Perhaps the Governor didn’t go far enough, maybe we should start talking about cutting some of the endless subsidies ADM benefits from, starting with ethanol. I’m betting their hands would go back in their pockets pretty quickly once real money was involved.

For crying out loud, Brady is in the papers this morning saying we should just hand it over. Really? No questions asked, just give them what they want?

If more of these “people within the Illinois Statehouse” had the courage to do the right thing, like fund the pensions for the last four decades, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in.

But now we have a Governor forcing them to face the music, and he’s the juvenile?

Amazing.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 10:14 am
BIg difference: The US gov is shut down because the Koch Bros dont like Obamacare, which is law…Quinn has not shut down IL, just corporate welfare for the time being…he may be wrong to tie a sweetheart deal for ADM to pension reform, but there is not a big downside to his doing so…

Comment by Loop Lady Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 10:17 am
That this guy has even a remotely realistic chance of getting reelected is enormously disturbing.

Comment by Langhorne Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 10:26 am
This kind of dramatic statement might be getting old and tiresome to the insiders, but it is still playing well with the voting public.

Quinn is doing better with hostage-taking than the House Republicans because he picked even less-popular victims.

I hope ADM doesn’t take it too seriously, though. They will be healthiest when HQ’d in Chicago, and operating downstate.

Comment by walkinfool Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 10:27 am
==But now we have a Governor forcing them to face the music, and he’s the juvenile?==

Yeah, he is a juvenile. It has NOTHING to do with ADM and everything to do with the Governor’s asinine strategy on pension reform. First it was the veto of legislative salaries and now it’s this ADM thing. What’s next? I have zero tolerance for the idiotic foot stomping going on in Washington because some can’t get their way on the ACA and I have zero tolerance for the idiotic foot stomping going on by the governor because they aren’t voting on pension reform fast enough for him. This ISN’T governing. It’s throwing a temper tantrum.

So juvenile IS an appropriate word.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 10:30 am
==But now we have a Governor forcing them to face the music==

What happened to Pat Quinn? I thought he was still the Governor. Or do you mean he has actually come up with some proposals for “reform” and started working to get them enacted? I haven’t heard of that, either. Until he comes up with a proposal of his own or starts working constructively to back someone else’s proposal, or even offering constructive criticism and suggestions for an existing proposal, he’s a juvenile.

Comment by Anon. Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 10:36 am
Hubris married to imcompetance is the most dangerous combination of qualities for someone in power to have. STL, are you really saying that Quinn has made a good faith attempt to instill dicipline? At some point you have to understand that your credibility comes into question when you refuse to acknowledge even the most basic facts about the governor’s most blatent failures. In nearly every public sppech he gives it’s’ “I got the capitol construction plan for the state” (bad grammer included in his statements) But when it comes to pension reform “the legislature needs to do it’s job” and “They need to pass the bill” See the disconnect? Guess what, Edge credits REUIRE minimum standards for investiment and job creation in order for the applicant to qualify. Your “nickel and dime” argument holds no water when the company can easily move those jobs to another state and when the state stands to enjoy a net gain if the company stays in Illinois. Talk about amazing, the governor has shown no leadership, no focus, and no desire to craft a solution. Quinn cares about remaining governor Quinn and nothing else. It’s very simple. Or are you going to have the audacity to say that he has been effecitve, or that he bears no responsibility at all? It’s getting old STL.

Comment by Really? Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 10:59 am
I agree Pat Quinn is being juvenile and fake populist and all that . . .

But still, I’m trying to stifle a few giggles at how flummoxed Ty Fahner and the Civic Committee and the Trib Editorial Board must be to have Pat Quinn take over as the most prominent and vocal advocate for “their” position.

Comment by Bill White Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 11:07 am
@AFSCME steward, what about: stretching “the ramp”, going for 80% funding@35 or 40 years, issuing bonds @ lower 3% to pay down the 8% that is on the unpaid pension debt? If those two things were done no other changes would be needed.

Comment by Anon Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 11:23 am
Anon

I agree with your basic premise, however, the state’s track record at following through with the payments when due isn’t reliable. The problem is that the “ramp” is always way off in the future, so we’ll worry about it then. Well, it’s then now and we’re in a pickle now because of this thinking. There would need to be enforcable funding guarantees so that future payments aren’t skipped.

“@AFSCME steward, what about: stretching “the ramp”, going for 80% funding@35 or 40 years, issuing bonds @ lower 3% to pay down the 8% that is on the unpaid pension debt? If those two things were done no other changes would be needed.”

Comment by AFSCME Steward Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 11:32 am
@AFSCME steward, the reason I was thinking of those 2 items was because they created an unrealistic ramp to begin with, and proceeded to NOT fund it (as you noted). Along with that, they are proposing plans to do 100% funding when actuaries say 80% is more then adequate. This is so they can exaggerate the shortfall and use it as an excuse to cut the pensions when it is not needed. The issue of bonding at lower interest is a no-brainer. Even Topinka knows that, although her motto is “no more borrowing”. That translates to “no more borrowing (from the pensions), let’s just steal from them instead”.

Comment by Anon Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 11:52 am
Media: Governor Quinn, what is your solution to the pension problem?

Governor Quinn: Ask ADM.

Keyser Soze: Can it get any sillier than this?

Comment by Keyser Soze Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 11:58 am
==There would need to be enforceable funding guarantees so that future payments aren’t skipped. ==

They can put all of the guarantees in there that they want but they will never be binding. Putting things like that in the law are nice window dressing but have no real teeth.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 11:59 am
Actually a Judicial Order does have teeth. Sharp teeth.

Comment by A guy... Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 12:51 pm
==Actually a Judicial Order does have teeth. Sharp teeth. ==

Yeah, but I didn’t think that’s what they were talking about. And you aren’t going to get any judicial order on funding.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 1:07 pm
Please show us any pension plan the governor has advanced. Or, has he been just to busy trying to pretend to be the moral compass of the state (i.e)

Comment by roscoe tom Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 1:51 pm
Rich,
I agree with you completely that the schtick of Quinn is getting old and is continuing to hurt progress on the important budget issues facing Illinois. But given the Governor’s history expect it to continue.

Comment by downstate hack Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 1:56 pm
A guy… 12:51 pm:

As - Demoralized - pointed out, you’ll never get a judicial order. In fact, the lack of such an order in IFT v Lindberg is exactly what gave th epoliticans the right to skip pension fund payments and what got us into this mess.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 4:22 pm
Yep–it’s all about Politics, Power-Plays, and the Upcoming Election at this point (actually on the Federal Level, too)…yet another highly germane, insightful, and thought-provoking read…!

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Monday, Oct 7, 13 @ 7:39 pm
I think the comparison is apples and oranges. Quinn is linking his issues to everyone else’s. Rich left out the biggest: Rahm’s request for a pension holiday.

Governors have done this for decades. Legislative leaders do it every day.

Republicans in Congress, by contrast, are threatening the wellness of tens of millions of Americans through the shutdown and our economy’s foreseeable future on the debt ceiling.

They arent just taking hostages, theyre the guys who would walk into a bank with an explosive vest; having made it clear they are happy to blow up themselves and the GOP too, not just everyone else.

Normally Democrats would be gleeful, but even though the Tea Party appears intent on making Pelosi speaker again, Democrats are worried there won’t be a country left to run when the Tea Party gets through.

Maybe Anarchy was their plan all along.

Comment by Juvenal Tuesday, Oct 8, 13 @ 6:08 pm