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* A quick roundup to start your day…

Former Teamsters boss John Coli asks judge for home confinement, probation

* Lawmaker to IDPH at administrative committee: ‘The pandemic is over’: But at JCAR’s meeting in Chicago on Tuesday, state Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, objected, arguing that “the department has been issuing an awful lot of emergency rules lately.” […] “The pandemic is over,” he said. “It is time for us to get back to normal way of doing business, and the normal rulemaking process should be the one that is used instead of emergency rulemaking when the time is available to do that.”

* ‘We are absolutely on the right track’: Illinois’ top education official says student growth rebounded to pre-pandemic levels: Ayala says the quick growth in 2022 means that pandemic-response school interventions are working. It could look like tutoring, parent engagement, summer school and social emotional programs — depending on the school and student. More data on student growth and achievement can be found in the new 2022 Illinois Report Card, which officially launches next week.

* No, those Illinois tax rebate checks aren’t bouncing: WGN Investigates contacted Illinois comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office which issues the checks. A spokesperson said the check didn’t bounce due to lack of funds. Instead, the ink likely smeared on the routing numbers rendering the checks worthless.

* Tracking where Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Darren Bailey and their running mates have visited on the campaign trail: From July 1 through the end of last month, Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton had made 105 stops in 52 Illinois cities, making appearances at labor rallies, speaking with faith and equity leaders, and meeting with Democratic groups in various counties throughout the state. Bailey, a state senator from downstate Xenia, and his running mate, Stephanie Trussell, had made 208 stops in 124 cities since the start of July. The Bailey campaign has organized frequent bus tours, attended county fairs and fundraising events, and met with local chapters of law enforcement, as well as religious and conservative action groups.

* Illinois to take center stage in battle over union rights vote: Tim Drea, president of Illinois AFL-CIO, which is pushing for passage, said union counterparts from around the country have been calling him about the ballot measure. “They are watching this very, very closely,” he said

* Bailey Vows To Cut Billions From State Budget, Won’t Say How Government Jobs Would Be Affected: Bailey contends that through “zero-based budgeting,” where every dollar spent has to be justified, he can identify and eliminate $10 to 15 billion in wasteful spending. Speaking to reporters after a Springfield rally Wednesday, one day after his final debate with Governor JB Pritzker, Bailey did not answer when asked how many state jobs might be eliminated by cutting that much spending from the budget. Payroll is generally one of the largest expenditures each year for state government.

* Illinois elections: Big money funnels into lower-profiles state races: “State representative districts are not very big and those ads are very expensive,” ABC7 political analyst Laura Washington said. “They reach millions, but only a very small fraction of people you are targeting.”

* Mike Halpin talks workers’ rights, inflation, SAFE-T Act in News 8 roundtable: The Democratic candidate for Illinois’s 36th Legislative District sat with News 8’s Shelby Kluver to showcase his policies and values ahead of the midterm elections.

More to come!

posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 8:47 am

Comments

Is there any polling data on the workers rights amendment? I saw someone ask the other day but there weren’t any replies.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 8:52 am
Remember when news of Coli’s indictment and cooperation first broke and everyone thought he was gonna bring down half the political world? Best I can tell, Tom Cullerton was his only victim. Kind of a dud, no?

Comment by TR Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 9:00 am
The Bailey cutting “billions” from the budget is the silliness of a candidacy that has its candidate one who hasn’t voted for anything that would help his constituents during his time in BOTH chambers.

As a farmer, would Bailey find a need to repair machinery, upgrade for efficiency, is Bailey using a donkey and plow to farm or…

At least Ives tried to float that IPI budget once as a legislative… thing/bill/thought… and it was ripped to shreds

With the additional $2 million Bailey got from Uihlein, is this where Bailey wants to go.

Bailey Crew, you have the “waste, fraud, and abuse” voters already, lol

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 9:00 am
Bailey wants to cut almost 33% of the budget. I am guessing that he will cut pension payments as a preye-or-itee. That gets him halfway there. Just a guess though. He is a very complex guy,so it is just a guess.

Even Bill Brady only wanted to cut a dime out of every dollar.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 9:47 am
Here’s the ironic thing though. I doubt many jobs would be cut from a Bailey slashing. Pritzker has already done the quiet slashing of jobs already simply by not hiring.

We are down around 7k jobs.

If memory serves that’s nearly double the number during the worst of the Rauner years.

Remember Willy Wonka doesn’t make the chocolate
Oopa Loompas do.
At some point the candy is not gonna be made.
Already services are compromised

If you didn’t notice,

you’re privileged.

Just wait for the next economic downturn
When companies lay people off or go under.
And a whole swath of the privileged need help.
It won’t be there folks.

Maybe then CMS will start hiring.
But as we learned with Rauner, once gone
Some of these safety nets don’t come back.
When it’s gone
It’s gone

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 9:58 am
Zero based budgeting sounds good. Bu, as a former State middle manager, I know it would’ve consumed a lot of my time. The budgeting process could be improved (understatement), but if you want State government to accomplish even less, go for it.

Comment by Sir Reel Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 10:11 am
Coli should rot in prison.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 10:13 am
Zero-based budgeting, trickle-down economics, alchemy.

Which is the biggest farce?

Comment by Flying Elvis'-Utah Chapter Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 10:37 am
== Bailey contends that through “zero-based budgeting,” ==

I’m going to start with a disclaimer that I haven’t been involved on the inside with State budgeting for 20 years, so take this with a grain (or whole shaker) of salt. But I saw the following consistently over a 30+ year career.

The way State budgets used to be at the agency level was “use it or lose it”. Which led to sometimes unneeded spending, just so your budget request wasn’t reduced the following year. It wasn’t easy to get increased spending through the budget process, so you always made sure to spend all your current year’s budget. During my years, I thought it would be interesting to try a zero based budget … as opposed to just increasing the previous years numbers and adding for new programs / initiatives.

I don’t know if we could save the kind of money Bailey is throwing around, but I’d bet the State could save some money. I’d also bet the sausage making would be even uglier than it was (is today?).

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 11:08 am
It’s great to see Bailey embrace the economic philosophy (zero based budgeting) of fellow southern farmer Jimmy Carter. Hopefully when he loses he will similarly embrace Mr. Carter’s selfless humanitarian volunteerism.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Oct 20, 22 @ 12:53 pm