Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

* UPDATED x1 * A closer look at the governor’s off-shoring claims

Posted in:

Illinois
Updated Posts

* As we’ve already discussed, Gov. Rauner signed the comptroller’s “off-shoring” bill this week. From his press release…

Gov. Bruce Rauner today signed legislation to bring greater transparency to state government finances, limiting the use of intergovernmental agreements to end the longtime practice of paying employees from one office out of other State agencies’ appropriated funds. At the same time, the Governor called for the provisions of the legislation to be applicable to the offices of all Constitutional officers.

“Transparent governing has been a hallmark of this administration and I support efforts to challenge status quo policies and practices, particularly those that are perceived to undermine the public’s confidence in their government,” Rauner said.

“Unlike previous administrations, we have been transparent in reporting headcount and salaries of all Governor’s Office employees,” Rauner said, “and our administration is spending less on total agency-wide payroll than the previous administration.”

“The same level of transparent accounting ought to apply to all State Constitutional Offices as a necessity for accomplishing their work for taxpayers,” the Governor said urging the General Assembly to extend the truth-in-budgeting principle to the Offices of the Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer.”

“The taxpayers of Illinois need to know how their money is being spent,” Rauner said. “The state’s constitutional offices have an obligation to be accountable for their spending and this would be a major step toward achieving that goal.”

* Notice how he spends much of the release insisting that other statewide electeds should now be subjected to the same rules? From the comptroller’s spokesman…

We looked into all that and found it was not necessary because no other constitutional office has the authority over another office that the Governor’s office has over its agencies. The Comptroller can’t say to the Attorney General, “Hey, I’m hiring a $150,000-a-year staffer and taking her salary out of your budget.” Or vice-versa. That imbalance of power does not exist elsewhere. The governor can and does do that to all the agencies whose directors he appoints and who therefore are in no position to argue with him. It’s not an issue for any other constitutional office.

That makes sense.

I suppose, say, it’s conceivable that the comptroller might seek an intergovernmental agreement to pay executive salaries in the future out of the State Lottery Fund. The latest omnibus appropriations bill gave her $50,300 from that fund “for expenses in connection with the State Lottery.” But that seems a stretch. The governor’s office would have to approve such an IGA, for one.

* And how transparent has this administration actually been? From 2015…

Gov. Bruce Rauner promised a leaner, more transparent administration than his predecessors, yet he’s rigorously following their time-honored practice of asking other departments to sign paychecks for his staff.

Among employees doing significant work for Rauner, half their combined salaries — about $4 million — comes from separate agency budgets and isn’t listed on his office payroll, according to a review of documents by The Associated Press.

That figure is about $1 million more than Rauner’s staff reported in June during a contentious hearing over use of the strategy before a House committee headed by Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat.

So, the answer is: “Not very.”

* And has he really spent “less on total agency-wide payroll than the previous administration”? From that same article…

Based on a publicly available online directory of governor’s staff, Rauner is asking other agencies to cover about $4 million — more than Quinn, the AP’s analysis found.

* Back to the comptroller’s office…

We count about $5 million in Rauner off-shoring on the current payrolls.

So, the answer is: “No.”

* Meanwhile, it appears that Comptroller Mendoza’s Republican opponent opposed the bill during the spring session…

Interesting concept, but I don’t buy it.

*** UPDATE *** OK, here’s something I didn’t know. The governor’s office just called and pointed to numerous intergovernmental agreements that the administration has with the attorney general’s office.

For example, Revenue has an IGA for seven criminal enforcement tax attorneys. Those lawyers work for and are controlled by the attorney general, not the department.

DHS has an IGA with the attorney general for collections. These are the IGA’s (along with others) that the governor wants addressed in future legislation.

Also, the governor’s office says a state statute requires DCFS to pay for child welfare attorneys general.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:25 am

Comments

===“Unlike previous administrations, we have been transparent in reporting headcount and salaries of all Governor’s Office employees,” Rauner said, “and our administration is spending less on total agency-wide payroll than the previous administration.”===

I bet he was laughing pretty hard when he dictated that line to his press staff.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:31 am
–So, the answer is: “No.”–

Lying is a way of life for Rauner.

What’s weird is that he must know, deep down, that much of what he does is wrong, but he does it anyway.

Otherwise, why lie about it?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:31 am
Another false spin from Rauner. I’m shocked, shocked.

Comment by Norseman Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:39 am
Rauner and Trump both lie all the time. Multiple times a day.

Equally amazing is that a majority of Republicans have no problem with it.

Comment by don the legend Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:40 am
I didn’t not off-shore says Rauner, taking a page straight from the Trump handbook.

Comment by Flynn's Mom Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:42 am
===. It’s not an issue for any other constitutional office===
I’m pretty sure at the Sec of State office an issue could be made.

Comment by Been There Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:44 am
Didn’t Dan Rutherford put a bunch of patronage staffers under the unclaimed property funds payroll? But they didn’t do anything related to UP?

Don’t know if Frerichs does but there’s a loophole there I think.

Comment by Hold on Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:48 am
Did he really think the D statewide electeds had payroll, actual staff, funding coming from his agencies? It’s no wonder he hasn’t managed to put together an actual budget in four tries. If this four year Rauner lifelong learning experience was being graded he would have flunked out.

Comment by Sonny Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:49 am
Rauner got caught up in his own phoniness, and others were watching.

Off-shoring happened well before Rauner, and he continued the practice.

Rauner wanted shake up and bring back.

Rauner got it. But also got burned being the last.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 10:51 am
===Didn’t Dan Rutherford put a bunch of patronage staffers under the unclaimed property funds payroll? ===

I don’t think that’s correct http://www.sj-r.com/article/20141220/NEWS/141229934

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 11:01 am
Rauner also pushed the envelope by saying he was going to run the Governor’s office for less, and did it by offshoring, not better management.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 11:10 am
Off-shoring is pointless and achieves nothing other than subterfuge. It’s long past time for the practice to end. And yea, I said the same thing when Quinn did it. Spend what you need to spend to get the job done. Defend it. Let the chips fall where they may.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 11:17 am
I just hope that next year when the budget is discussed, that there aren’t stories about the Governor increasing his staff’s payroll by $5 million or whatever the figure is, regardless of who the Governor is. But I imagine I’ll be disappointed…

Comment by My Button is Broke... Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 11:38 am
Chicago Cynic is right- spend what you think you need to run the office. People will criticize either way, that is politics unfortunately. But lying or trying to hide people/costs makes the Rauner claim of transparency a total canard as usual.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 12:00 pm
Comptroller should be taking that 18B she is so transparently boasting she took in the 1st month of the new year - July-and paying vendors down that 8B she shows so transparently on her web site.
I wonder why she sets on it and racks up all those interest fees to the tax payers. So transparently.
Fact is it’s her job to execute the payable, not make the decision

Comment by sharkette Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 12:39 pm
==I wonder why she sets on it==

Probably because she can only spend what’s in the “checkbook?”

== it’s her job to execute the payable, not make the decision==

That’s exactly what her job is - to triage. Every Comptroller has had to do it.

Don’t pick the Comptroller category if you’re ever on Jeopardy.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 12:59 pm
===Revenue has an IGA for seven criminal enforcement tax attorneys===

Are these attorneys working primarily on enforcing tax cases, or are they doing environmental enforcement or some other legal work unrelated to Revenue? Because that’s what we’re talking about with the Governor’s office.

IIRC, wasn’t Rauner’s superstar higher education person paid out of HHS’s budget?

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 1:05 pm
The Governor said he spends less on **total agency wide payroll** not that he has less offshored payroll.

“The answer is no” to a question nobody asked.

Comment by Phil King Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 1:15 pm
The Revenue attorneys litigate tax cases and have more than enough Revenue related work to do.

Comment by Pelonski Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 1:25 pm
Seems the gov doesn’t understand the difference. If Revenue is paying AG’s to do revenue work, thats different than revenue paying someone in the gov’s office to do non-revenue work

Comment by Ihatepolitics Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 1:31 pm
“IIRC, wasn’t Rauner’s superstar higher education person paid out of HHS’s budget? ”

Yes, she was paid out of HHS’s budget. Not sure what she did for HHS or the Board of Education ISBE or IBHE.

Comment by Mama Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 1:50 pm
Way, way back (1977-1983), when I was in the AG’s office, I was initially on the Dept. of Revenue payroll as a Tech Advisor III. I litigated Dept. of Revenue criminal cases, as well as criminal appeals. I believe that I moved to the AG’s payroll around 1980, when I stopped litigating the DOR cases.

Comment by Retired SURS Employee Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 2:30 pm
Those IGA’s are easy to solve, Governor.

Get rid of the IGA’s, move the money to the AG’s budget to pay for positions.

Comment by Thomas Paine Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 2:41 pm
Whats amazing is how my agencies “Govenor Position” (offshored from governors office) was let go on Tuesday.

I guess he had his little run but it caught up. We still have no idea what the guy did except use the state car and never report the mileage.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 3:17 pm
=Get rid of the IGA’s, move the money to the AG’s budget to pay for positions.=

Maybe not. Some of the IGA’s facilitate the use of federal grant funds.
For example, if DCFS is provided federal grant money to go to court on behalf of children under its care, then it would make sense to have a means to track and charge the money to pay AG attorneys assigned to represent DCFS for grant-eligible activities.
In those situations its transparent and leverages resources for the benefit of the state.

Comment by Duopoly (Blocked Yet?) Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 3:20 pm
Rauner refuses to take responsibility, blames madigan for his actions

Comment by Rabid Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 3:25 pm
The executive branch thinks the attorney general is the four branch

Comment by Rabid Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 3:36 pm
==pointed to numerous intergovernmental agreements that the administration has with the attorney general’s office==

The key words in there are Intergovernmental Agreements. Those are two party agreements and can be cancelled by either party. The Governor can end the practice of agency’s paying for AG representation any time he wants. But, I suppose that would take someone who is in charge.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 3:37 pm
As others have noted, the Governor’s Office has been offshoring as far back as I can remember. I know for a fact that CMS, DCFS, and IDOT were all used for that purpose.

And it wasn’t just people; physical equipment like the Governor’s vehicles were sometimes purchased out of IDOT funds and later carried on DGS motor pool books.

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 4:02 pm
Off shoring began with Dan Walker, when both parties tried to strangle his effectiveness by giving him a mini-budget for his Governor’s Office. Others followed, to look like they were spending little on their own staffs.

Comment by capitol view Thursday, Aug 2, 18 @ 5:00 pm
Rauner finds corruption in madigans office, won’t take action

Comment by Rabid Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 6:49 am
Is Rauners off shoring intergovernmental agreements or appointments

Comment by Rabid Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 6:56 am
Darlene has no problem being deceptive

Comment by Rabid Friday, Aug 3, 18 @ 7:13 am