The clock’s ticking, but the hands aren’t moving

BY BETHANY CARSON AND DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
About two hours before the midnight deadline for the regularly scheduled spring session, Republicans called a caucus just as the Senate was about to vote on a multi-billion proposal to create four Chicago-area casinos. Stay tuned.

About three hours before the midnight deadline, the House left for the night without acting on a legislative motion filed to stall the budget that won approval last night. The budget is just sitting there as a leveraging point for downstate lawmakers who don’t want to adjourn for the summer without addressing high electricity rates.

The House inaction spoiled Senate plans to vote on that minimum-growth budget in committee tonight. With no budget to vote on, Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, committee chairman and Evanston Democrat, couldn’t help cracking a few jokes about presenting and debating a bill that didn’t exist in his chamber yet. “This is all conceptual,” he said motioning his hands around an imaginary ball.

On a more serious note, Sen. Donne Trotter, a Chicago Democrat and budget negotiator, said the House budget is a “great start,” but it’s not balanced. And he’s disappointed the Democratic-controlled House, Senate and governor’s office missed opportunities — such as leasing the Illinois Lottery or expanding gaming — to make a dent in the drastically under-funded state employee pension system while also bolstering education and health care funding. “What this is lacking is a real revenue stream to pay for the needs of this state,” Trotter said. “I’m always disappointed that we weren’t able to finish the work when we felt that it was supposed to be done. But we also know that by constitution, we have 30 more days to get that job done.” They have all of June before the next state budget kicks in July 1.

Gaming is the answer for some Senate Democrats. “We have to have revenue before we can start putting a budget together,” said Sen. James Clayborne of Belleville earlier Thursday night. He’s sponsoring the legislation to create the new casinos that’s about to be voted on in his chamber, and although he said he expects the expansion of gaming to be difficult for some legislators to vote on, he said, “When we call it, we will have the votes to pass the bill.”

As for the electricity rates that caused the House budget to stall in the first place, Democratic Rep. John Bradley of Marion said it’s a good sign because it shows lawmakers aren’t leaving for the summer without addressing the sky-high rates. After the House finished business about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, he showed up at the Capitol at 7 a.m. for more negotiations with Ameren Illinois and ComEd utilities and a group of lawmakers from both chambers. Then again, they’ve been negotiating since last September.

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Overtime

Plan to work into June, said House Speaker Michael Madigan at 7:20 p.m., less than five hours before the constitutional deadline to wrap up the regular spring session. He just told lawmakers that the House would work Friday, leave for an early weekend and pick up Tuesday, June 5. Gov. Rod Blagojevich could still call a special session any minute given that neither chamber has advanced a state budget to his desk. I had an idea lawmakers conceded to an overtime session because no one seemed pressured by a deadline Thursday. While late committees are scheduled and could bring up gaming, shoulders are shrugging about what could happen before the midnight deadline. We’ll keep you posted.

Video competition?
The telecommunications measure allowing cable and phone companies to compete in providing video services slid through the House Thursday night without the controversy that held it in limbo all session. Months of negotiations paid off for Rep. James Brosnahan, the Evergreen Park Democrat whose measure won unanimous support with two lawmakers voting present.

The proposal would allow phone companies, AT&T and Verizon being two of the major forces, to get Illinois Commerce Commission approval to offer video services anywhere throughout the state without having to go to each individual municipality as cable companies have to do right now.

The bill started with lots of opposition from the cable industry, municipalities, public access channels and consumer advocate groups that feared loss of local control, erosion of customer service standards and “cherry picking” in affluent communities rather than offering the video services to low-income areas. Stalled for months in a House committee, the bill was rewritten by the Illinois attorney general’s office. It now requires the video service providers to extend a certain percentage of their services to low-income communities within three years of earning the so-called statewide video franchise. It also empowers local governments to decide where the video provider could construct rather large utility boxes around neighborhoods, a former point of contention. And the state attorney general would have the power to enforce consumer protection standards and investigate violations.

At risk of sounding too good to be true, Brosnahan said on the House floor that the measure would lay the policy needed to spur competition that would drive down prices. And AT&T has committed to investing $750 million and creating 2,000 union jobs in spreading its video services around the state.

One of the concerns left unaddressed, according to lawmakers who spoke on the floor, was that constituents needed to know that even if Brosnahan’s bill became law, it wouldn’t guarantee competition or availability of the high-tech video services in their areas. If approved by the Senate as expected and if signed by the governor, the plan would be immediately effective and sunset six years later. That would allow the General Assembly could reevaluate if the policy succeeded in creating competition, Brosnahan said. We’ll include more reaction from the cable industry as we get it.

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Time for Pigeons to Fly Away?

Now, some people might look at this picture of two pigeons and think that it is of pigeons on a grate.

And, it is.

But, with the Illinois General Assembly moving to wrap up its session this last day of May so the Republicans won’t gain more power, one might think of the grate as the bottom of a cage that the Democrats are building around my proposed state bird.

Such a cage would keep the pigeon from flying to another state.

Will the birds be killed, plucked and served for dinner?

Of is some more dire ending in store for them?

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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A Matter of Life and Death

Eric Zorn, capital punishment opponent and blog-father at your Chicago Tribune, presents the hard facts about life-without-parole sentences to death penalty opponents in today's column:

If you want to wage a fight against the death penalty that has any chance of success, you have to accept life-without-parole sentences as the trade-off.

But if you want to fight for earned release or other formal programs to reduce life sentences, you have to accept the death penalty, at least for the foreseeable future.

It's your choice, activists, but you've got to make it.

I agree whole-heartedly with EZ's dichotomy. And for that reason, I believe there is an equity argument to be made for life-without-parole sentences.

First, we know that people in Illinois have been wrongly convicted of murder.

Some of those wrongly convicted persons have been wrongly sentenced to life-without-parole and some have been sentenced to the death penalty.

In the case of the unjust l-w-p, the worst-case injustice is that a person wrongly convicted of murder must face the prospect of never again being free. This is unjust and inhumane and under any other circumstances, I would find it intolerable.

But it pales in comparison to the case of an unjust conviction coupled with the death penalty. In this case, the person wrongly convicted is put to death by the state. Game over.

The wrongly convicted l-w-p prisoner can hold out hope that new evidence -- or new technology that can illuminate old evidence -- will emerge that will exonorate him or her. The wrongly convicted prisoner who is put to death will never get an opportunity to clear his or her name, never get an opportunity to walk free, never get an opportunity to breath.

Both unjust outcomes are bad.

But one is much, much worse.

Illinois citizens concerned with maximizing the justice in our criminal justice system should work to eliminate the worse -- infinitely worse -- outcome.

-- SCAM

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Posible site issues with a Dolton casino.

Rich had a post about the Dolton Casino....

OneMan grew up in Dolton, from birth to my 18th birthday the area that would most likely get a casino was about 2 miles from my house.

However there is a real problem, first 142nd street (the most likely access route from the Bishop Ford) is not a full interchange. So getting to 142nd from the south is a bit of a challenge.

Secondly, there is a 4 track railroad line between 142nd and the river, this track has a lot of rail traffic (there are two rail yards at least partially in town). So at the best, it is going to get in the way of road traffic or will require a bridge over it.

If you look at this map you can get an idea of what is area near the river in Dolton looks like, I am fairly sure that the space to the west of the marina is at least in part a landfill, I am not 100% sure about that but I seem to recall that. That small lake you see may now be in private hands.

So you have a railroad to deal with as well as some other serious infrastructure stuff to get any site in Dolton to be easy to access from the Bishop Ford.

Also it's a river used for shipping so unless you buy the marina (now likely the most valuable real estate in town) you will likely have to build your own since I doubt you could put a boat in the river and leave enough space for barge traffic.

OneMan

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What's left?

The news Wednesday night seemed to be when the House approved a limited-growth budget that mirrors this year’s fiscal budget with some changes, but that’s predictable. It was approved along partisan lines with one Democrat, Rep. Jack Franks of Woodstock, voting against it. And earlier in the night, a Senate committee approved a three-year freeze on electricity rates and approved four new casinos as a revenue source for education, construction projects and higher education.

But as the night got weirder, it became clear the real story was whether the two chambers would come together to agree on all this “major” legislation bouncing around the Capitol.

By 9:30 p.m., the Sen. Debbie Halvorson said the full Senate has enough votes to approve the three-year rate freeze that’s already been approved by the House. If it gained approval by the full Senate Thursday, it would land on the governor’s desk. But, Halvorson pointed out in debate, there’s no guarantee it would actually spell relief for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison customers. “You know how easy it will be to go back home and say, ‘I voted for a freeze. You may never see anything, but I voted for that freeze,’” Halvorson said. “I’m not sure if I can sleep at night if I go home and say, ‘I voted for a freeze, but now they’re going to get a temporary restraining order. They’re going to get an injunction. You’re not going to get a freeze ever.’ How can I sleep at night knowing full well that our responsibility is to maintain our promise?”

In the House, floor action lasted until 1:15 a.m. Democrats approved a) $300 million in revenue by ending some corporate tax breaks, b) a supplemental budget to finally clear a four-year waiting list of school construction projects and implement the second year of a federal program to reimburse hospitals caring for Medicaid patients and c) the so-called “7 percent” rule to relieve Cook County property taxpayers.

What’s left for the House to do before adjourning this week? The House plans to advance a telecommunications bill I mentioned May 29. It would allow AT&T and Verizon telephone giants to compete with cable companies in the race to provide high-tech video services anywhere in the state. Stem cell research still hasn’t been addressed. And a group of lawmakers from both chambers is still trying to relieve constituents’ electricity rates. They joined heads late, and I mean late, Wednesday night. We’ll wait to find out if they agreed on similar language that has a chance in both chambers or if they’re efforts are going to fizzle once again.

Until we can get more details and reaction Thursday, here’s a simple breakdown of the limited-growth budget approved by the House:
A few highlights
- The minimum amount spent per student increases by $387, which is an 8 percent increase over FY07 and puts the minimum at $5,721 per student.
- Early childhood education would receive $30 million.
- Each school district would receive at least as much as it did in FY07.
- State universities would get a 2 percent increase.
“While it may not be as much as some had hoped for, it’s certainly a healthy increase,” said Rep. Gary Hannig, the Litchfield Democrat sponsoring the budget proposal. “It’s certainly something that will allow our K-through-12 institutions to move forward.” He later added, ‘We’ve seen the difficulty we’ve had this year in trying to find additional revenues. I would argue that this is the best that we can do at this revenue level.”

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Identity Theft?

In the midst of all of the end of session activity whirling around right now, I happened to come across what strikes me as a very important story that has appeared to slip under the radar screen.

The state's professional-regulation department is notifying roughly 300,000 licensees and applicants that a computer server with some of their personal data was breached early this year, a spokeswoman for the agency said Friday. (Emphasis added)

Potentially at risk for identity theft are banking and real estate professionals whose licensing information - including addresses, tax numbers and Social Security numbers - were kept on the storage server, said Sue Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Making a bad situation worse is this:

Hofer said investigators have determined that the breach "looks like criminal conduct." She said the hacking appears to have come from a source outside state government.

Department officials notified the Illinois State Police and FBI after they determined on May 3 that the computerized information had been compromised, probably in January, Hofer said.

She said authorities initially asked Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration not to tell licensees about the breach so that the investigation would not be compromised. The administration also did not immediately inform members of the General Assembly at the request of authorities, Hofer said.

State law is somewhat open-ended about how soon a public or private body must notify individuals when their personal data has been stolen, said Deborah Hagan, the chief of consumer protection for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The law allows investigators to delay disclosure, she said.

"I think there has to be a balance in terms of getting this information out to affected persons as quickly as possible - versus not interfering with an investigation which may result in catching the perpetrator," Hagan said.If you ask me, that balance should be tilted in favor of protecting the 300,000 licensees potentially affected by the incident, which include mortgage brokers, pawn shop operators and real-estate agents.

I'm in no way saying that the Department acted improperly, provided that the statement that they held back the information was at the request of the authorities. But there are 300,000 Illinoisans right now that might not be sleeping too easily.

To read or post comments, visit Open House

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Doomed from the start?

BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS AND BETHANY CARSON
House Speaker Michael Madigan is expected to answer the governor’s call by introducing his own budget tonight. It’s a limited-growth budget proposal that includes closing corporate loopholes to the tune of $300 million dollars, said Chicago Democratic Rep. Jay Hoffman after House Democrats finished their caucus Wednesday afternoon. “There’s many more that should be on the table,” he said. “But this is a start.”

Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat, said on the House floor no business groups voiced opposition to the closing of the selected tax breaks, including state income tax exemptions for corporations engaged in real estate investment trusts (she cited Wal-Mart). And car rental companies that don’t pay sales taxes on cars that they buy and then rent would no longer get that exemption. The measure hasn’t been called for a final vote, yet.

Madigan’s limited-growth budget also would rely on natural revenue growth, estimated to be less than $800 million.

Not everyone is happy. “There’s a consensus about $300 million [in revenue], and there’s consensus about $800 million in spending,” said Rep. Robert Molaro, another Chicago Democrat. “Consensus. I didn’t say 60 votes.”

Rep. Marlow Colvin, a Chicago Democrat and head of the Black Caucus, said he would vote against the budget on the House floor. He wasn’t happy that the RTA and the CTA aren’t slated to receive much-needed money in Madigan’s short-term budget. Molaro said legislators would have to return in the summer to do more work.

Legislators are certain the budget bill will be called tonight. They’re not so sure it will be approved.

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Power politics

In the midst of all the budget talk, high electricity rates finally emerged in legislative action Wednesday. The House advanced last-minute changes to legislation this morning. The Senate is expected to move a different measure tonight. Whether either chamber is interested in working to approve the same language in the same piece of legislation is yet to be seen.

Under the House measure, not only would consumers pay cheaper electricity rates and get a refund for the higher ones they’ve been paying since January, the state also would create a new Illinois Power Authority to buy electricity and eventually generate its own. A House committee advanced the proposal along partisan lines. The same House committee approved an earlier version of the measure that I wrote about May 25 (scroll down). But Rep. George Scully, a Flossmoor Democrat, changed the bill to do a lot more. Here’s a recap of what’s already been approved:
- Roll back electricity rates to their 2006 levels for one year (consumers would see a credit on their monthly bills);
- Refund customers for the higher rates they’ve paid since January (consumers would get a check in the mail from the utilities);
- Tax power generators to reimburse utilities for the mandated refunds;
- Prohibit utilities from shutting off the power of delinquent payers until March 2008;
- Change condos to be charged residential rates rather than more expensive commercial rates.

Here’s what Scully’s changes would add:
- The tax on power generators would expire once all the refunds and the new efficiency initiatives were paid for (the initiatives would aim to reduce the amount of power in demand at "peak" times when electricity is most expensive);
- Separate electric utilities from their parent companies and prevent utilities from joining regional transmission organizations that are federally regulated;
- Abolish the current Illinois Commerce Commission and appoint five new members with specific qualifications to avoid conflicts of interest with the electric industry;
- Create the Illinois Power Authority to procure the cheapest possible power and eventually generate its own power using Illinois coal;
- Require utilities to disclose whether they’re behind advertising campaigns and prohibit utilities from passing those advertising costs on to consumers.

Utilities obviously hate the plan. Commonwealth Edison CEO Frank Clark had the most colorful interpretation, saying the legislation is “blatantly unconstitutional,” “socializes the electricity industry,” and the equivalent of “going to Los Vegas and throwing dice.” More specifically, he said the Illinois Power Authority would buy and sell power but have no responsibility for the outcome, leaving utilities to deal with customers if something goes wrong or if rates are sky high.

A Midwest Generation representative added this assessment, saying it would take the industry a long, long time to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. “In two days, we’re being asked to turn this industry on its head,” said Becky Lauer of Midwest Generation, adding the measure would ruin competition and incentives to keep costs down, risking unreliable power supplies for customers. Ultimately, she said consumers would pay the price.

Rep. Karolyn Krause, a Mount Prospect Republican, said this doesn’t give immediate rate relief and will be tied up in lawsuits for more delayed relief.

Scully could call the legislation any time, but he said he feels no pressure to get it on the House floor before Republicans gain legislative power after May 31, the constitutional deadline. “I don’t see [Thursday] as a deadline at all,” he said. “I think we’ll go into overtime.” He said he’d rather that the House approve the measure on its merits than on party lines. Yet, Republicans have repeatedly voted against his bill.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, filed a lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court against AmerenIP and AmerenCIPS for allegedly deceiving customers shortly before a 10-year rate freeze came off the books January 2. According to a release, Madigan said the Ameren Illinois companies enticed customers to sign up for all-electric services by promising a discount, but they knew months before that they would end the discount as soon as the electricity rate freeze was lifted. “Ameren IP and AmerenCIPS took unfair advantage of their customers,” Madigan said in the release. “Many of these families invested in all-electric power or installed new electric appliances as part of home construction or remodeling because they were looking at the long-term savings that the all-electric discount program would provide. Now their investment means nothing but additional hardship and incredible additional expense.”

Ameren Illinois spokesman Leigh Morris responded in an e-mail: “AmerenIP and AmerenCIPS have not been formally served with the lawsuit. We understand the nature of the allegations which are under review and take them very seriously. The Ameren Illinois utilities expect to prevail in this lawsuit because the companies have not improperly promoted all-electric rates.”

“The rates that are in effect are lawful and have been approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. The power prices associated with these rates were not known until the September 2006 auction, and the delivery service components of the rates were not known until November 2006. Ameren Illinois utilities’ rates now are approximately at the national average. The change in rates comes after a 10-year rate freeze and a legislatively mandated rate reduction.”

Later tonight, we’ll follow the Senate’s action on a different electricity rate freeze bill. Who knows if any electricity legislation will land on the governor’s desk any time soon.

Also later tonight, we’ll follow House action to find out whether House Speaker Michael Madigan moves a no-growth budget that would propose a short-term solution. If so, lawmakers would have to come up with a longer-term revenue and spending plan during an expected overtime or special session.

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Rep. Dave Leitch has something he'd like to say ... although no one is sure who he's speaking FOR exactly

The Illinois House voted 98-15 yersterday to ban the state's five pension systems from making any future investments in companies that do business in Sudan.

State Rep. David Leitch stood up after the vote and complained that he was not given an opportunity to speak in opposition to the measure.

Perhaps he has a point.

But I recall the last time I head him speak. It was at last week's meeting of the Peoria City Council. Leitch stood up and urged the council to help guarantee a $6 million loan that National City Bank was wanting to make to Firefly Energy.

Dave Leitch is a vice president of National City Bank.

I kept wanting one of the council members to loook Leitch in the eye and ask him, in fron of God and the public access television cameras, whether he was speaking as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives or as an employee of the bank that would financially benefit from this loan. That never happened, because that's not how the game is played, in Illinois or in City Hall. And if any did, there's a good chance that Leitch's former employee, the Peoria Journal Star, would have printed an editorial lecturing that council member about the necessity of intergovernmental cooperation.

So, perhaps it's just as well Leitch wasn't allowed to speak before the Sudan investment bill was approved. I doubt that any of his colleagues would have been so crass as to ask if he was speaking as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives or as an employee of a financial institution.



Cross posted to Peoria Pundit.

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Michigan Speaker: Ask voters to replace flat income tax with progressive income tax

Good news out of Michigan that might inspire our elected officials here: the Speaker of the Michigan House is pushing for a constitutional amendment to replace that state's flat income tax (currently set at 3.9%) with a graduated or progressive income tax where higher incomes are taxed at a higher rate and lower incomes are taxed at a lower rate.

This article in the Livingston Press and Argus explains the dynamic:

Top House Democrats also made clear that they want to go to Michigan voters in November 2008 to ask for a constitutional change to dump the state's flat-rate personal income tax, now at 3.9%, in favor of a graduated income tax with higher rates for taxpayers who earn more.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, said he and Senate Republicans were negotiating to raise the personal income tax, expand the state's sales tax to include entertainment, such as tickets to concerts and games, or combine both tax options.

Dillon gave 50-50 odds that the House would vote on the tax increase this week, as he and fellow Democrats continued to woo Republicans, partly by showing a willingness to support new laws designed to rein in government costs.

[snip]

Dillon said a graduated income tax should give lower-income taxpayers a tax cut. "It's progressive. Those who have the means can pay," he said.

Michigan's constitution prohibits a graduated tax, and voters have rejected attempts to adopt one several times. Putting it on the ballot requires a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate. Most states have a graduated tax.

Senate Republicans would consider a graduated tax only if a solution to the current budget deficit could be found without a tax increase, said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

We should put on the November 2008 ballot a constitutional amendment that asks the voters whether we should continue to outlaw a progressive income tax.

Bills to do so are HJRCA 23 (Will Davis and Barbara Flynn Currie) and SJRCA 7 (Martin Sandoval and Michael Frerichs).

Thanks to the Citizens for Tax Justice newsletter for the tip on Michigan.

Cross-posted on djwinfo where I've also posted the median family income of each Legislative District and listed them from poorest to wealthiest.

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RTA Wants To Double Suburban County Sales Tax

It’s “Hold on to you hats” or more appropriately “pocket book” time in Springfield.

The latest to want to filch some of our money is the Regional Transportation Authority.

It only wants to double our current one-quarter of cent on every dollar sales tax.

Eric Krol and John Patterson of the Daily Herald raise the alarm that CTA-centric Chicago papers won’t. The Daily Herald’s story is headlined,

Why suburban residents could be bailing out CTA

They report the picking of suburban Cook and collar county pockets could be “$280 million a year.”

Although it is always possible that Downstate Republicans will cut a deal with Chicago Democrats to take money out of suburban pockets, there probably would be a resurrection of the 1974 coalition of suburban Republicans and Democrats.

Even if that happens, however, guess who the Daily Herald reporters say would ride to the rescue.

That’s right.

Governor Rod Blagojevich.

"I don't support sales tax increases on people and that's consistent with where I've been for the last four years," Blagojevich told the Daily Herald when asked about the RTA plan.

On May 5th, Dennis Byrne, a reporter who covered the RTA fight for the Chicago Daily News wrote an insightful Chicago Tribune column.

It was entitled,

Transit ‘reform,’ yet again

He points out that “duplicate, contracting and administrative functions didn’t end” with the RTA’s creation.

“Mass transit was underfunded, thanks in part to the reluctance to charge riders what they should be paying (more than what they are now), generous CTA labor contracts and high CTA absenteeism, among other systemic problems…

“There is no one willing to crack down on the CTA—the main source of the RTA’s problems—because no one dares take on the city’s power, meaning Richard M. Daley’s power.

“…will a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature really be willing to step over the line and crack down on the CTA, especially in light of Daley’s landslide re-election?

“Or will the legislature again just reshuffle the organization chart to make it look like something has happened, while continuing business as usual?”

He has many more details, of course.

And, this was posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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Poll Shows Fitzgerald Has Strong Voter Support

Alberto Gonzales may not give Patrick Fitzgerald high job approval ratings, but the people who pay his salary sure do.

We asked the voters of Illinois if they approve or disapprove of the job Patrick Fitzgerald is doing as U.S. Attorney. Let's start with one number -- 73.7%.

That's the number of people in Illinois who had an opinion about the job Patrick Fitzgerald was doing. When was the last time that 73.7% of voters in Illinois had an opinion of the job their U.S. Attorney was doing?

So what do the numbers show? 62.4% of Illinois voters approve of the job Patrick Fitzgerald is doing while only 11.4% disapprove of the job he is doing. Here's the breakdown:

31.2% Strongly Approve
31.2% Somewhat Approve
7.2% Somewhat Disapprove
4.2% Strongly Disapprove
26.2% Couldn't Offer an Opinion

His highest approval came from non-Chicago, Cook County voters at 73.6% approve and 9.1% disapprove. The collar counties were second at 67.6% approve and 7.2% disapprove. Read the crosstabs here.

And here's the irony. His highest approval comes from Democrats.

65.2% - 11.2% Democrats
58.5% - 11.9% Republicans
62.1% - 10.7% Independents

The bottom line? Illinois voters support the job Patrick Fitzgerald is doing by a very wide and very strong margin.

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Illinois Internet Poker?

OneMan looks at the gaming bill

Page 30

1 (230 ILCS 5/3.24 new)2 Sec. 3.24. Electronic poker. "Electronic poker" means 3 poker by use of electronic aids, including via the Internet or 4 by other electronic means. "Electronic poker" does not include 5 slot machines.

Will someone explain to me how this would be allowed under federal law? If the feds can regulate interstate and extrastate gaming how can Illinois do this unless it is limited to state residents or locations within Illinois.

More at OneMan's Thoughts

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Leader Cross and hanging tough on Taxes

An ILGOP Press Release,

"Two weeks ago, Republicans stood together and helped defeat Rod Blagojevich's massive tax and spending plan. Leader Tom Cross and his caucus are continuing the fight by opposing any new taxes in the budget - this includes fighting any hidden taxes against Illinois families and business.

Rod Blagojevich has done nothing but borrow and spend during his time as Governor and it's about time for Democrats in Springfield to live within their means.

By standing up against new taxes, Leader Tom Cross and his caucus send a message that Republicans are ready to move Illinois forward with an agenda for reform that puts an end to Governor Blagojevich's business as usual."

Agenda for reform, an agenda for revolution to drive the grafters away is what's needed but hooray for Cross for not providing any GOP cover for the mess in Springfield.

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Teacher Compensation: Illinois Ranks 3rd in Nation

via Cinny Agnew

When adjusted for cost of living, pension contribution, and experience, teacher compensation in Illinois ranks 3rd in the nation

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Two days to go

Democrats have Wednesday and Thursday to agree on a state budget before Republicans gain more legislative power, but it doesn’t look good. Democratic leaders aren’t changing their tunes. I’d have to check my tape, but it’s almost as if they all repeated Monday’s speeches after breaking from budget negotiations. The only thing that changed is that Gov. Rod Blagojevich sent his Deputy Gov. Sheila Nix to give a speech to the media, and she repeated, and I mean repeated multiple times, the governor’s finger-pointing: House Democrats need to propose their own budget or risk pushing the legislature into overtime session and empowering Republicans who want to cut social services.

Republicans want a state budget that doesn’t rely on tax increases and that avoids spending more than last year, but House Minority Leader Tom Cross said his caucus isn’t interested in cutting services. “We believe the best way out of here, if we ever have an opportunity to be at the table, is you live within your means and you don’t raise taxes,” he said shortly after the Democratic leaders left the budget meeting in the governor’s Statehouse office.

House Speaker Michael Madigan came out of the budget meeting to say he didn’t get answers about his concerns, and his caucus still prioritizes new money for education and school and road construction. And, as before, he said closing corporate loopholes and limited gaming expansion has more support in the House. But we could find out which tax breaks the House Dems are willing to close after their Wednesday morning caucus. The only other glimpse of compromise is that Madigan said he’s not ruling anything out in regards to health care, which the governor demands in a state budget. But, Madigan closed with, “Obviously there’s two different views as to how much money might be available to pay for the budget.”

Senate President Emil Jones Jr. did his best to dodge reporters’ questions by heading straight from the governor’s office to the elevator, but he had time to slip in one dig of the House speaker: “There’s no votes in my caucus for [only expanding positions at existing casinos], so we don’t have anything. I wish the speaker had brought in a proposal. We did last week, but all he brings in is surveys.”

If Democrats can’t agree and Republicans do get a say, there will be a lot of pressure for lawmakers to scale back their wish lists and expand gaming positions within existing casinos to pay for a construction bill. Cross is ready to go with the House GOP proposal, which has Madigan’s approval. “In the past, all of these bills have gotten too heavy, they’ve gotten weighted down, people have wanted too much,” Cross said. “This is a bill we think can pass both chambers, and I would hope that the governor would sign it.”

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Stay tuned on cable bill

A measure posing AT&T against local cable and telephone companies could come to light soon in a House committee, where it’s been stalled for more than a month. The House Telecommunications Committee met Tuesday morning but recessed to “the call of the chair,” allowing sponsor Rep. James Brosnahan, an Evergreen Park Democrat, to reconvene the committee as soon as the compromise language is ready to go. He said he hopes that would happen in the next two days.

Then again, the urgency of state budget negotiations between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the top Democratic leaders could delay Brosnahan’s proposal into the fall veto session, says Gary Mack, lobbyist for the Cable Television and Communications Association that opposes the measure.

The proposal would basically allow such telephone companies as AT&T and Verizon to compete with cable providers that have enjoyed a monopoly in providing high-tech video services. AT&T wants to change the way video providers get authorization to build a video franchise using broadband, fiber optics and Internet protocol technology to supply those services. AT&T can do that right now, but it would have to do the same as cable companies and go through individual municipalities to get approval to provide the service. Brosnahan’s measure would allow providers to get a statewide video franchise through the Illinois Commerce Commission instead. But the original language in his measure limits the commission’s power to approving or denying applications to provide the service, so it stops short of giving the commission the ability to regulate what happens after that, says Jim Zolnierek of the commerce commission.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan wants the commission to have more regulatory power. Her office joins other opponents — cable providers, public access channels and consumer advocates — in arguing that the legislation opens the door for a deregulated industry and doesn’t adequately protect local control, public access channels or customer service standards.

Supporters say the proposal would boost competition and benefit consumers by giving them more choice. Stay tuned. A revised telecom bill could drop back into committee at any time.

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Josh Hancock and Illinois Senate Bill 1296

by Ed Murnane

There was a convergence of news stories last week - extending into this week - that has to make reasonable and honest people wonder and speculate. That should include Illinois legislators.

The two stories intertwine - not perfectly - but enough to prompt comparison, or at least analysis.

One is the oft-heard (in these quarters) description of Illinois Senate Bill 1296 that allows plaintiffs (and their attorneys) in personal injury cases to go after the defendant with the most resources, rather than the defendant with the most responsibility.

If the defendant with most responsibility, but least resources, settles before trial, he/she is out of the equation when a jury assigns fault and compensation. The plaintiffs' attorneys -- the trial lawyers -- decide who will be "remaining" in the case when it goes to trial as the proposed law states (from the synopsis):

"Provides that the apportionment of fault under the joint liability Section only applies to the parties still remaining in the case at the time that a final determination is made by the trier of fact and does not apply to the defendants or third party defendants that have been dismissed for any reason, including settlement.

That verbiage is from the Illinois General Assembly description of SB 1296. You can find that description here, on the Illinois General Assembly web site.

We won't get into a lengthy description of SB 1296 -- we've written a lot about it but you should read this commentary by the president of the Illinois Association of Defense Counsel, Steve Puiszis, in response to an advertisement by the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the drafters and proponents of SB 1296:

"Even more disturbing is that Senate Bill 1296 allows the truth-seeking process in a courtroom to be manipulated by not allowing the jury to consider the fault of the drunken driver simply because he settled with the injured party.

"The fairness of our system of justice is called into question when one party can preclude another from obtaining a fair apportionment of fault between all parties who may have been involved in an accident. Senate Bill 1296 will actually require responsible citizens, businesses and local units of government in Illinois to foot the bill for damages caused by those persons who have no insurance or assets. That is why groups like the Illinois Chamber of Commerce have called it one of the most onerous bills considered by the General Assembly this session.

"Senate Bill 1296 is bad public policy and should not be passed into law."

Puiszis refers to a "drunken driver," using an example of the way the trial lawyers' proposed law would apply.

In fact, the "drunken driver" has been used on both sides of the argument, and that's where the convergence occurs.

This was the headline in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last Friday:

Hancock's Family Sues Shannon's, Others

The story referred to St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Josh Hancock who died in an automobile accident characterized by authorities as a drunk driving incident. Hancock had a blood alcohol content of 0.157, almost twice the legal limit.

Any sudden, unexpected death is tragic and it becomes even more so when it affects so many people, the Cardinal fans, for example, who become members of the family ... members of the "Cardinal Nation."

But we wonder if Josh Hancock's grieving father in Mississippi really intended to blame Justin Tolar of Collinsville, Illinois, for a share in his son's death. Tolar's car had broken down and was the reason a tow truck was present.

Or did he really think that Jacob E. Hargrove, the tow truck driver who stopped to help Tolar, had something to do with his son's death?

Or is it more likely that Josh Hancock's father, Dean Hancock of Tupelo, Mississippi, was encouraged by the St. Louis lawfirm of Newman Bronson & Wallis, who filed the suit in the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit, City of St. Louis, Missouri Circuit Court?

Newman Bronson & Wallis is a prominent St. Louis personal injury trial lawyer firm. Their website introduces them this way:

"We are experienced trial lawyers who are committed to the aggressive and passionate representation of injured victims and their families. We believe that if you or a family member have been injured by the negligence, wrongful act, or fault of someone else, you and your family are entitled to experienced and high quality legal representation."

News media around the U.S. -- and internationally, too -- have been harshly critical of Josh Hancock's family and father for the lawsuit. I had intended to include a few negative -- some outwardly hostile -- reactions but there have been so many that it would take too long to select the best.

But I have a feeling that Josh Hancock's father and family are not to blame.

I'd guess that the decision to sue Mike Shannon's restaurant, the manager of Shannon's restaurant, the driver of the stalled car, the tow truck operator, and whomever else came from the personal injury trial lawyers who wanted to make sure that ever possible defendant was listed before the suit was filed.

According to the lawsuit, Newman Bronson & Wallis is partnered with a Mississippi firm, Clayton O'Donnell Walsh & Davis, also a firm that does personal injury work in a state that has been more hostile to fairness than Missouri, perhaps on a level plain with Illinois.

It's not hard to imagine the Mississippi firm and the Missouri firm (we haven't taken the time (but might) to see if they've worked together before) comparing notes, figuring out WHOM can be sued so that when settlements are finished, WHO has the most money to pay the plaintiff and, of course, the plaintiff's attorneys.

Here are a few questions that come to mind, and should be asked:

Is this lawsuit going to bring Hancock back? Or is it just about the money?

Would they have sued the driver of the broken down car if he was killed in the accident caused by Josh Hancock?

Are they going to sue the person Hancock was talking to on the cellphone at the time of the accident - or is that next?

Are the going to sue the Chicago Cubs players who may have caused him mental anguish in the game Saturday?

Are they going to sue the Cardinals' players who probably knew about his drinking habits but apparently did nothing, or not enough, to help him?

Trial lawyers in Illinois are certain to be watching this case. Some of them need only look across the Mississippi River.

Legislators in Illinois ought to be looking at this case too -- not as one that will have an impact on Illinois law, but as one that reveals the extent to which the trial lawyers in all states -- including Illinois -- will go to search out sources of settlement/award money.

The "drunk driver" scenario that's been portrayed in connection with SB 1296 can happen -- it does happen. The Hancock case -- the accident actually took place in Illinois -- is an example of how the personal injury trial lawyers in Missouri, in Mississippi, and in Illinois, will work to manipulate the system.

Here's The Hancock Lawsuit.

Here's the Steve Puiszis Commentary.

Here's the St. Louis Post Dispatch Story On Hancock Suit.

Cross-posted from the Illinois Justice Blog.

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New State Bird

As our Illinois state representatives and senators return to Springfield this supposedly last week of the spring session, I have a nomination for a new state bird:

The Pigeon

This pigeon was found fat, dumb and happy on top of a building in a Springfield alley, where its cheap photographer was saving a $2 parking fee during the Old Capitol Art Fair earlier this month.

Don’t you think the pigeon is more representative of Illinois that the Cardinal?

See also new state seal.

You can bet there is more at McHenry County Blog.

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Memorial Day

Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day was first commemorated after the Civil War as a way to honor fallen Union soldiers. After World War I it was expanded to honor all men and women who died in a US war or military action. It was originally observed on May 30, but since becoming a federal holiday, is now always observed on the last Monday in May, effectively creating a national three-day weekend.

For many, today marks the unofficial start of summer. Along with picnics and the Indianapolis 500, today is also a day to honor those who gave their lives for our country. Most government offices are closed today, as are many businesses. There is no mail today, and if you are the academic type (or have little ones) schools are closed as well. With flags flying at half-staff and politicians giving speeches, there is also a national moment of remembrance, held at 3PM Eastern time.

Chicagoist always feels a little conflicted at this time of year. We remember our grandfather, who fought in World War II, enlisting at the age of 17, and serving through the European occupation. Although he never really spoke of his time in the military, the significance of the American opposition to global fascism and the fight against genocide was impressed upon us at an early age. At the same time, however, we often find ourselves wondering what he really fought for. We'd like to believe that grandpa was a thoughtful man - a fellow disposed to reflection and reason on the experiences he had in his long life. Certainly we get at least a portion of our progressive tendencies from the Bulgarian steelworker and union leader that opposed the Korean War and Vietnam. In fact, we are certain that his silence on his war experiences was more about his desire to not glorify war, rather than some deeper, more traumatic experience.

As we head out to enjoy a day free of the worries of work and filled with friends and sunshine, we are cognizant of the images in the media of American families at tributes and gravestones, mourning the loss of yet more loved ones in recent conflict. We hope that we live to see the day when Memorial Day will truly be just that - a day not just to commemorate fallen countrymen, but also the end of war and conflict. Perhaps one day our grandchildren will look up at as and ask us why there was ever such a thing as war, why there was ever a need to fight and die in the name of one's country.

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Gov: It's your turn, House Democrats

Is a state budget possible by May 31? That’s still a mystery, but the ball may be in the House Speaker Michael Madigan’s court. His Democratic caucus spent nearly three hours meeting with Gov. Rod Blagojevich Monday evening, but members don’t feel any closer to an agreement than they did last week.

“I’m not as optimistic walking out of caucus as I was walking into caucus,” said Rep. John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat. “There’s a large difference between where the governor would like to see this be and where we believe is realistic for us to get. It’s not to say that either one of those positions is wrong, but they are not close to each other.”

Specifically, the governor isn’t budging from his proposal to expand state-subsidized health insurance for adults, but House Democrats are skeptical that the state can or should cover a new demographic when it’s unknown whether lawmakers could approve a revenue source that would support the life of the program. Some members also said the state could take on a smaller health-care expansion by filling in some gaps of Blagojevich’s first-term All Kids program.

“There’s a willingness to do some things in health care, and we may be just a little bit off in terms of that, but I think most the members think the spending is probably too high,” said Chicago Democratic Rep. Marlow Colvin of the governor’s Illinois Covered plan. “[The governor] did challenge the Democrats in the House to put a plan on the table that we could support. I will say that’s something we have not yet done, and I guess we have to as House Democrats think about a funding solution that we can all support.”

Discussed as revenue ideas were the closing of “corporate loopholes” (a.k.a. getting rid of some tax breaks) and adding an alternative minimum tax on businesses, which could generate up to $2.4 billion, according to Sen. James Meeks, a Chicago Democrat who met with other members of the Latino and Black caucuses in the governor’s office earlier Monday. They talked about ways to raise money for school construction and to increase the minimum amount spent per student.

As we said last week, the governor still opposes an income and sales tax increase that gained early support from the Black and Latino caucus members, but Blagojevich said again Monday night that he supports Senate President Emil Jones’ gaming proposal to add four new casinos in the Chicago area. But neither House Republicans nor some Democrats want four new casinos.

The one thing Blagojevich and House Democrats agree on is that they still want to approve a state budget before May 31 so they don't empower Republicans, who advocate for a no-growth budget. But logistically, a state budget would be hard to craft and approve in three days.

“To be honest with you, I don’t think it looks very good for the adjournment date this Thursday,” Colvin said. “Unless he’s playing a great game of chicken, but right now, it looks unlikely.”

Side note Electricity rates were not discussed.

Legislative roundup
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
As we start the last week of regular spring session, here’s a legislative roundup of recent floor action.

Teen driving safety
New driving curfews would be set at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends if the governor signs a measure on his desk that was called for by Secretary of State Jesse White. Exemptions would be made for emergency situations and for school or job activities. Teens also would be required to carry a driver’s permit for nine months instead of six months and be restricted to one unrelated passenger in the car. Those caught street racing would be in danger of losing their licenses and their cars. If approved by the governor, the new rules will go into effect next July.

Under a separate measure approved by both chambers, teens younger than 19 wouldn’t be allowed to drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time other than in cases of emergencies. The measure now moves to the governor’s desk.

Horsemeat ban
The governor signed a measure banning slaughter of horses for human consumption in the state. Selling horsemeat for food is illegal in the United States; however, it was shipped and sold overseas for dining. The nation’s last slaughtering plant, which is in DeKalb, will have to close its doors or switch to another farm animal. But lawmakers were considering exceptions to the law as late as the end of May. One measure would allow the slaughtering of horses to make animal feed.

Breast exams
Doctors would have to conduct regular breast exams, and insurance companies would have to pay for them under a measure approved by both chambers. If the governor signs, women between 20 and 39 would receive the required exam every three years. Women older than 40 would receive an exam every year. The exam would have to last six to 10 minutes.

Mortgage fraud
Victims of mortgage fraud and identity theft would have more time to file a complaint against people they accuse of scamming them out of home equity and using their identities. Both chambers approved an earlier version of the measure; however, it’s since changed to make the legislation immediately effective, and scam artists would be on the hook for seven years instead of three. The House must approve the measure before it goes to the governor.

Criminal code
The state’s criminal code would shrink by one-third under a measure approved by the Senate. For the first time in 40 years, redundant and unconstitutional language would be eliminated from the code. If approved by the House and signed by the governor, supporters say the measure would ease the backlog of cases in the state’s judicial system.

Dining with dogs
Dog owners would be able to take their furry friends to outdoor seating areas at restaurants if the governor signs a measure approved by both chambers.

Ban on some ammunition clips
A proposed ban on ammunition clips that shoot off more than 10 rounds won approval by a House committee. Supporters say the ban would ease the emotional and social costs of losing innocent victims of gun violence, while opponents say it would worsen economic loses when gun manufacturers move to other states. The emotional issue has continued to come up in Illinois since a 1994 federal ban on assault weapons and the high-capacity magazine clips expired. Such opponents as the National Rifle Association and downstate lawmakers trying to protect sport say the legislation is too broad and would ban some firearms without stopping plotted crimes like those at Virginia Tech this spring.

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Felony Charges for Fake High School Bomb, for Handing Out Pamphlets

I’m still trying to figure out how proposed punishments fit high school crimes.

Saturday, the Northwest Herald reported that a St. Charles North High School boy was arrested for felony disorderly conduct.

“About 11:30 a.m., a teacher found a box that was ticking and had protruding wires in a courtyard on the south side of the school grounds,” the article reads.

The Kane County bomb squad was called.

Now, that sounds like a felony.

Just as making a bathroom wall threat at Crystal Lake Central High School sounds like a felony, even though three teens at Winnebago High School were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct for making a similar threat.

Handing out pamphlets, even ones you and I might consider hateful ones, does not sound like a felony hate crime. (See comments by Champaign County blogger John Bambenek.)

The girl with the hate crime felony charge will be in court Tuesday.

And, then there is Cary-Grove High School student Allen Lee, whom McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi decided did not merit misdemeanor disorderly conduct prosecution for threatening creative writing class essay that disturbed his teacher.

The Chicago Tribune's Dennis Bryne also weighs in on the subject referencing the ACLU-abetted Nazi march in Skokie.

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Todd Stroger: All but Tony P will be confident?

Tony Peraica comments over at IR on Zorn's column on Peraica's proposed vote of no confidence in Stroger. Zorn wrote

Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica announced Thursday that he will call for a vote of "no confidence" in Board President Todd Stroger at the next board meeting.

The motion makes sense. Stroger's brazen continuation of crony politics has broken faith with those who believed the reform platitudes he issued during his successful campaign against Peraica last fall.

It won't pass, of course. It probably won't even get a second. Cooler heads on the board realize there's no advantage in firing at Stroger now, when he's so capable of repeatedly shooting himself in the foot.

Periaca responded back,

Zorn may be correct that I won't get a second ... and that's a shame, especially from my fellow Republican commissioners. These are the same Republican commissioners, after all, who wouldn't even support my resolution opposing Blagojevich's devastating "Gross Receipts Tax" proposal.

Well, if I have to go it alone again, I'm prepared to do it. But my fellow commissioners better realize their failure to support this resolution clearly shows that they support the failed Stroger administration - rather than the taxpayers and residents they purport to represent.

If the Illinois GOP can't pick up Stroger as poster child of much of what's wrong with Illinois politics, maybe the party should just fold it up now. Is there a way state GOP can excommunicate the GOP county members who can't line up here?

Also, Periaca blogging on the County's contract with Siemens,

Although it's been almost seven years since Siemens Medical Solutions and Faustech pulled a fast one on Cook County officials to get a huge radiology contract, county leaders seem reluctant to get to the bottom of just how they were fooled - or at least reluctant to talk publicly about it.

In fact, it was only after another contractor, GE Medical Systems, sued that the scam came to light.

And, even though two federal judges ruled the contract was a scam and overturned the deal in 2001, Cook County didn't put its inspector general on the case until 2005, just after subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's office began arriving.

Even today, county leaders decline to say what their investigation turned up.

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Mellisa Bean's "Kerry-esque" War Votes Draw Primary and General Election Opponents with the Same Last Name - Scheurer

Last night as I was listening to reactions to the Defense appropriations bill votes, I sent 2006 8th congressional district candidate for Congress Bill Scheurer an email asking if he had put out a press release.

Come to find out, he and his wife Randi have, complete with snappy new logo for he "Honk for Peace" web site. It follows:

In a series of Kerry-esque moves, IL-8th Congressional District Democratic Incumbent Melissa Bean has now “voted for” the surge in Iraq, after she “voted against” it.

This week, Bean joined a small minority of Democrats, and all but two Republicans, in voting to give the Bush administration another “blank check” for the war -- which includes, and fully funds, the escalation of hostilities -- having previously joined a solid Democratic majority in a symbolic vote opposing this same surge.

In the words of Sue Udry, Legislative Coordinator for the national coalition United for Peace & Justice,

"People have been dismayed to realize that Democrats and Republicans who have opposed the escalation of the number of troops in Iraq will still fund that escalation. Those who have decried the president's mismanagement of the war, are now willing to fund that mismanagement, with absolutely no accountability."

Bean also voted against another Democratic measure earlier this month that called for a binding timetable to end the war and bring our troops home.

This constant capitulation on the war has led the Scheurer family of Lake County to prepare another electoral challenge to Bean in 2008, only this time with a twist.

In 2006, Bill Scheurer ran as the independent Moderate Party candidate in the general election, getting over 5% of the vote and earning that party a guaranteed ballot slot for 2008. He intends to run again as an independent in the November 2008 election.

However, this time, his wife Randi Scheurer, a strong antiwar activist herself and a key force in her husband’s 2006 campaign, plans to run in the Democratic primary.

“I want to give Democratic voters a chance for something better,” she says. “If they are against the war, now they have a candidate to choose instead of the incumbent.”

The couple will spend Saturday May 26, with their Military Families Speak Out group attending the “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit at Grant Park in Chicago. Their son is an Iraq War veteran, and their daughter was a Captain in the U.S. Army.

This stirring, silent memorial displays a pair of combat boots for every American soldier who died in the war, numbering nearly 3,500 sets of boots by now.

Interested people can reach both campaigns at the www.honk4peace.org website.

= = = = =

Honk for Peace demonstrators are seen on Route 31 last fall in McHenry. Photograph supplied by the Bill Scheurer campaign.

Told you there would be stuff of interest on McHenry County Blog this weekend. You can even see what Randi Scheurer looks like.

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Lying Gambling Sponsors

The Sun-Times reports Saturday that Senate President Emil Jones snuck a section in the bill to expand gambling to four new Illinois cities, including Chicago, as I read the article.

Dave McKinney reports,

"it would divert 2 percent of revenues from the four casinos to Chicago State University, potentially handing the school a $40 million windfall that would double its take from the state…

"In committee, Jones initially said Chicago State wasn't in the legislation."

When Senate Republicans pointed him to the specific section, Emil backed down

Boy, does that remind me of the original riverboat gambling bill.

There was Rockford’s State Rep. Zeke Giorgi presenting the bill.

It was night and I had finished my work for Central Management Services and was playing GOP House staffer.

The casino bill arrived. It was a long bill, just like today's 218-page one.

I started reading it.

Before I could finish, the debate began.

State Rep. Margie Parcells took the floor to oppose the bill.

She asked Zeke about the promised $500 betting limit per cruise that was supposed to be in the bill.

As Zeke always did when he wanted to confuse people, he mumbled something about it’s being in the bill.

“Ask him what page,” I suggested to Margie.

She did, as I kept searching for the language.

Neither Zeke nor his staff could come up with a page or a section, but Zeke continued to insist that the $500 limit on losses each time a person went on a riverboat cruise was in the bill.

It wasn’t.

Zeke lied.

Just as Emil Jones lied about Chicago State University’s big payday should this year’s huge expansion of gambling be enacted.

No House Republican voted for the original gambling bill.

Now the GOP has been co-opted, dare I suggest, by campaign contributions from gambling interests.

There is more than one lesson in the how gambling has taken center stage in Illinois politics.

Lie and buy come to mind for starters.

And, of course, there is more at McHenry County Blog this weekend. You can even find out two who are running against Melissa Bean in the primary and the general election.

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"Valid university business" and "The ass that goes pow"

Today's ST on the audit of Chicago State University.

Two ''leadership seminars'' on Caribbean cruises for the university president, just a year apart. Two plane tickets upgraded to first class for an extra $1,500. A $995 meal tab covering $139 worth of alcohol and a 28 percent tip.
[***]
Robyn Wheeler, spokeswoman for the 6,600-student school, refused to answer specific questions about Daniel's travel, the audit, or the $10,000 in family travel perks.

''The substance of the transactions represent valid university business,'' Wheeler said.

And then this gem on Michelle "The ass that goes pow!" L’amour playing the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health's 3rd Annual Spring Affair.

Burlesque joints had a gritty realism that seems lost in a do gooder's venue. This is too fake. Shame on Miss L'amour.

Only in Illinois...

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Ex-School Board Pres Wants Tax Hike

I really had a hard time believing this comment from former Carpentersville School District 300 Board President Mary Fioretti, which I found posted under a letter to the editor from the Huntley teachers union president in the Northwest Herald:

mary fioretti wrote on May 25, 2007 6:35 AM:

" The legislature, as it always does, tears apart a bill to "fit" their desires. So it's a big guess on what they would glean out of HB750. If it's a 2% increase in income tax multiply that by what you make each year. An income tax credit is available in the legislation for certain income levels."

Let’s see.

We have a three percent income tax on individuals right now.

A 2% increase would make the rate 3.06%.

Think that’s what Fioretti really means?

Or might she mean a two-percentage point income tax increase, which would, of course, be almost a 67% increase in income tax.

The comment above was right below this one:

mary fioretti wrote on May 25, 2007 6:33 AM:

"Dave, to your statements. This is not at all difficult to understand. Just like in any profession or owning a home, you have to acquire basic understanding. Don't let people make you crazy it's about the forumula. Look at the dollar portion of your school tax bill. Multiply that by 20% then do another calculation of 25%. That will be your potential abatement. Remember, not everyone owns a home."

Too bad that Fioretti and her allies at Advance 300 don't understand how to do a cost-benefit study. If the state income tax is increased, this area will not be among the "winners."

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He spoke!

BY BETHANY CARSON AND DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Not about the subpoenas received by his campaign, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich did address the media outside of his Statehouse office about budget negotiations (it's rare, if at all). While the governor said he’s not giving up on his gross receipts tax, the majority of the legislature has. And while he’s accepting gaming as a revenue idea, he’s not accepting a budget without health care.

“Like anything else, if you’re willing to compromise, you’ve got to [accept some] things that you’re really not in love with,” he said in his nearly three minute appearance. “The idea of more gaming is not something that I like, but I’m prepared to accept it if it means every citizen in our state can get access to affordable, quality, comprehensive health care.”

He said he and Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and House Speaker Michael Madigan have made progress. They do seem to be in the same page, but they’re not exactly agreeing on vexing details about where new revenue would go. Still, he said they want to adjourn by the May 31 constitutional deadline. “I feel good about the fact that Senate President Jones, House Speaker Madigan and I agreed [with] one another that we’re going to work in good faith and provide our best efforts to try and finish the budget on time, be willing to compromise and make adjustments so we don’t empower the Republican minority and allow [House Minority Leader Tom Cross and Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson] to cut programs that help people.”

Cross and the House Republicans proposed their own, no-growth budget that doesn't include four new casinos currently being pushed by Democrats. They draw the line at selling 6,000 new positions to existing casinos, a proposal introduced earlier this session. The revenue would be used for a capital program for roads and mass transit, school construction and higher education.

Cross said it’s time for the state to live within its means and use the nearly $1 billion in natural revenue growth to pay compounding state obligations. He proposed fully funding the state pensions out of those funds, eliminating the need to borrow more money. More than $200 million would put into education, and per pupil spending would be raised by $250.

The GOP budget also wouldn't fund $60 million in what Cross called "Democrat pork projects" for the 2008 fiscal year. He couldn't pinpoint the special projects but said some were tacked onto the budget of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

If Senate Democrats had their way, four new casinos would be built around Chicago. Their plan would generate $2.1 billion in the first year and $1.4 billion each year after. Early childhood education, road and school construction projects, depressed areas needing economic development and a fund for horseracing workers would get the money, although the language is fluid and expected to change. An item to give $40 million to Chicago State University, for instance, didn’t bode well with Republicans, and even Democratic Sen. Ira Silverstein of Chicago suggested divvying the money to all state universities. Chicago State University has close ties to the Senate president, whom it calls a “patron saint” (scroll down to the last line of the document).

Right before they left town for the weekend, the Senate easily approved the authority to distribute $1.2 billion, part of which will enact the delayed second year of a federal program that reimburses hospitals for caring for Medicaid patients (we wrote about it in our April 26 blog). The extra spending also will give money to families of soldiers killed in the line of duty.

Both chambers will return for session Monday afternoon.

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AP: Senate Democrats advance massive gambling expansion proposal

The AP:

Senate Democrats are pushing ahead with a massive gambling expansion proposal that they acknowledge is a work in progress toward a budget agreement.

A Senate committee today voted 8 to 5 along partisan lines for the plan designed to raise two billion dollars next year.

It would authorize four new casinos, including a 4,000 slot land-based casino in Chicago, and allow all casinos to have at least 2,000 slots.

I thought this was Topinka's plan.

Republican governor candidate Judy Baar Topinka unveiled a four-year revenue plan for the state Wednesday that hinges upon the controversial creation of a land-based Chicago casino to help raise billions of dollars for public schools and property-tax relief.

After criticizing Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich for "four years of gimmicks" to manage the state budget, Topinka turned to the politically volatile issue of gambling to anchor what she called her $15 billion "budget recovery plan."

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Going after the big guys

Customers would get a rebate and pay cheaper electricity rates under a proposal approved along party lines in a House Committee late Thursday night. A $2 billion tax on power generators would allow utilities to start doling out reimbursements in January, a full year after most Illinois customers were hit with higher utility bills. Last January, a decade-long rate freeze was lifted. Under the measure, electricity rates would be rolled back and frozen at their 1997 levels for one year.

The major power companies subject to the tax — mainlny Exelon Generation, Ameren Generation, Midwest Generation, Dynegy and Dominion — predictably opposed the idea and threatened financial disaster. They also said Thursday night that the tax would be passed on to consumers (they would be taxed on their capacity for producing electricity, not on the actual amount of electricity they produced).

“Are you trying to run out … profitable business in Illinois?” asked Rep. Dave Winters, a Shirland Republican. “Because that’s what the message of this bill is, is you’re trying to destroy jobs, destroy industry that needs electricity. And believe me, if this goes through, you might as well shut the doors, blow up the bridges because nobody’s going to want to live in Illinois if there’s no power available. And this will do it.” He pointed out that the measure has no sunset, and his Republican peers on the committee didn’t like that the measure fails to specify what the state could do with the revenue once customers received their rebates.

The House sponsor, Democratic Rep. George Scully of Flossmoor, said he knows this would only yield a short-term solution, but it would buy time for lawmakers to come up with a longer-term idea for procuring power (read: getting rid of the Illinois Commerce Commission’s auction process that set electricity prices for distribution companies this year). Scully said, again, he doesn’t believe the power companies’ threats. “The hyperbole that the sky was going to fall that I heard tonight was over the top. The only thing that didn’t really disturb me is I’ve heard the same thing so many times before. That’s the exact same rhetoric. I don’t believe it this time. I didn’t believe the last time.”

Other changes in the measure include prohibiting utilities from shutting off power until March 2008, and condominiums would be charged residential rates rather than commercial rates they’ve been paying since January. Scully said he could call the bill today, Friday, but he hasn’t talked to anyone in the Senate about whether it has a chance in that chamber. The Citizens Utility Board executive director, David Kolata, said one good sign is that Sen. James Clayborne, a Bellville Democrat, first proposed a similar idea in his chamber. (Clayborne later said he sponsored the bill to tax power generators as a way to get them to the bargaining table, not because he thought it would solve any problems.) It’s also the chamber that hijacked Sen. Gary Forby’s original proposal to freeze rates for the Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison utilities. Only Ameren was left in the one-year rate freeze measure approved by the Senate.

Earlier Thursday, House Speaker Michael Madigan surveyed his members about offering property tax relief for Cook County residents and about which income-tax breaks they’d end for businesses. Members received a list of some 20 “corporate loophole” ideas they would close to raise revenue. Next to the possibilities were the names of groups that would be against it.

We’ll blog again later today about legislative action, including whether the Senate acts on the governor’s Illinois Covered insurance program and the gaming proposal that we talked about yesterday that would create up to four new casinos in the Chicago area.

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An Unnamed Public Official

Chicagoist woke up to the headline "Feds subpoena governor's campaign fund records" in the Tribune. Oh no, we thought, this can't be good for ol' G-Rod. For a governor that has seen friends indicted, had a public feud with his father in-law that has resulted in charges of gross misconduct and confirmation by prosecutors that they are looking close and hard at very real accusations of wrong doing, this news certainly can't bode well.

At the heart of the subpoenas is the question of whether or not top aides and advisors traded state business and jobs for political support, part of an investigation US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has been conducting for over a year now. While Blagojevich has not been directly accused of any wrongdoing, he has refused to answer questions regarding the ongoing investigation, often deflecting the constant questions that seem follow him around with a blanket "we do things right."

On top of the subpoenas for campaign records, federal prosecutors have also subpoenaed hiring records, looking hard at charges of "pay-to-play" that surfaced early in Blago's first term. With his already crippled budget proposal being publicly ripped, and his poll numbers in the toilet, we have to wonder what Blago is thinking right now. What's left of his administration has become fodder for cocktail hour jokes and speculation ("If Obama wins the presidency, who does Blaogjevich pick to replace him?") With Tony Rezko already under indictment, and state hiring practices under intense scrutiny, all that's left is for Fitz to connect the dots and follow the lines to the top. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about all the indictments and investigations of late is seeing these pols go donw not for money, but for power. .

It's been said that even if you are acquitted, being put on trial in federal court usually means you did something wrong; the only issue is whether or not they can make the charges stick. About the only irony left in this state is the fact that it took a corrupt president, hell-bent on erasing the 22 electoral votes of a generally blue state, to put a dent in the crooked politics of a midwestern prairie state that was all but built on back-room deals. Let's hope that each step the feds take closer to a pol in Chicago, they get closer to the truth. We imagine that Daley's sweating a little harder on the fifth floor right now.

To comment on this post, please click here.

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Blagojevich signs anti-horse slaughter bill

On the day I called him "Gov. Do Nothing," Illinois' reclusive governor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, did something. He signed a bill banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

That effectively ends horse-slaughtering in the United States. Belgian firm Cavel operated a horse slaughterhouse in DeKalb, Illinois, the last such meat processing plant in the country. Two Texas slaughterhouses closed earlier this year.

The meat from those plants was shipped overseas.

It's hard to believe, but one of my most active posts on Marathon Pundit was my first horse slaughter entry.

To comment on this or other Marathon Pundit posts, please click here.

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Periaca in the Kitchen

I'm a convert. Tony P. doesn't need to convince me of a thing. What I love about this is he broadcasts from his kitchen.

All from Join Periaca dot com.

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Tony Peraica: Stroger's 'Friends and Family' Hiring Plan

It's got a nice beat and easy to dance too. Just sad it's so true.

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Pam Althoff on ERA

Pam Althoff 's ERA Answer

An opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment, which Democrats are still trying to pass even though the deadline has long since passed, wrote McHenry County Republican State Senator Pam Althoff.

Here’s Althoff’s answer:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the Equal Rights Amendment or ERA as it is commonly referenced. I always appreciate hearing comments and concerns from my constituents.

ERA proposals have been circulating in the state of Illinois since, well, since I was in college back in 1972. Since that time misinformation, misconceptions and untruths have become the accepted “norm”. According to some of the finest legal minds in the nation ERA alone would not legalize same sex marriage, require women to register for the Selective Service or cause many of the other untruths that have come to be associated with it. Additionally, the ERA will not cause a wife or widow to lose their social security benefits. Existing federal law prohibits this possibility.

While I understand your concerns I respectfully request you continue to research the ERA proposal and its implications.

If you have any other questions, or need further guidance as to where to turn to obtain more information, please do not hesitate to call my office at 815/455-6330 or email at palthoff@mc.net.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me about this important issue.

Warm regards,

Senator Pamela J. Althoff

Back in the 1970’s I read the equal rights language in the Illinois State Constitution and compared it with the words in the federal Equal Rights Amendment. I could not see a substantive difference.

I sent a survey to every registered household in my five-county legislative district about ERA. A majority supported it, leading to my “Yes” vote.

Subsequently, I figured out that there was an implementation clause. It says that Federal judges will interpret the constitutional amendment.

With my distrust of the federal government, including the judicial system, I have no idea how I could have missed this “little” thing.

I would respectfully suggest that neither Senator Althoff nor I really have any idea what rulings federal judges will rule should the Equal Rights Amendment be ratified and become part of the United States Constitution.

We surely know some state judges have handed down some really flaky rulings, e.g., forcing homosexual and lesbian “marriage” in Massachusetts.

More at McHenry County Blog, even on Memorial Day Weekend.

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New boats?

While House Speaker Michael Madigan has said he would consider expanding gaming to generate money for road and school construction, the Senate is working on two significant gaming measures potentially for education, construction projects and health care. Sen. James Clayborne, a Belleville Democrat, says he’s in negotiations to draft legislation that could create three or four new casinos in the Chicago area, although he didn’t know whether they would be land-based or riverboats. “I think that we should look long-term to make the industry competitive, and we should consider all options,” he said Thursday morning. “So that’s still being worked out.”

Clayborne also said negotiations include discussion about such ways to help racetracks remain competitive by allowing slot machines or charging boats “impact fees” that would offset some racetrack losses.

His proposals resemble a measure introduced by Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, that also would create four new casinos and add slot machines at racetracks. But Madigan announced Wednesday that the House would need Republican support to approve an expansion of gaming, which is significant because the chamber’s Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego said again Thursday he doesn’t want to add new casinos. At the start of this session, he led House Republicans in proposing a $5 billion capital plan ($3 billion for roads and mass transit, $1.5 billion for schools and $500 million for higher education) paid for by allowing existing casinos to add gambling positions.

Senate President Emil Jones Jr. wouldn’t say, however, how he felt about new casinos when he walked out of budget negotiations in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office today. All he said was, “I’ve been here long enough to know that nothing’s ever dead,” referring to the governor’s gross receipts tax. Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rauch said the governor is willing to consider gaming as a way to help advance his priorities: health care, education and making businesses pay “their fair share.”

Meanwhile, Clayborne also is revising a second measure that would exempt all Illinois casinos from the statewide smoking ban for five years. He recently tried to exempt only casinos operating near state borders as a way to help East St. Louis. He said the city estimates it would lose $2 million in revenue because people wouldn’t be able to smoke in its casinos. He expanded the scope to heighten the chance of his measure winning approval. “We’re looking to exempt all the boats because obviously we need the support of those legislators from [districts with casinos].”

Success in taming gang violence?
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
A program aimed at decreasing gang violence is working wonders in some areas of the state but not others. State legislators discussed potential problems hindering the success of the CeaseFire project during a House committee Thursday. Under the program, ex-offenders and community activists are deployed into communities to mediate problems that may lead to gang violence.

Rep. Annazette Collins cited workers not getting paid on time and some getting fired in her district representing the East and West Garfield neighborhoods of Chicago. Program director Dr. Gary Slutkin has yet to look into those allegations, he said. Rep. La Shawn Ford said outreach workers in the Chicago Austin neighborhood don’t have a chance to work with probation and parole officers to help other ex-offenders stay out of prison.

Other lawmakers were very pleased with the difference the program has made in their districts. Rep. Robert Flider, a Mount Zion Democrat, spoke highly of the project and the work of outreach worker Brandy Brown, who turned her life around as an ex-offender. She works with school principals, church pastors, social agencies, probation officers and law enforcement to create strategies to prevent gang violence in Decatur. “I walk the streets from 7 a.m. to midnight helping ex-offenders, gang members and children stay out of jail,” she said.

A few legislators asked to work with the director to assimilate some of the things that are being done in Flider’s district. Rep. Esther Golar, who represents Chicago’s Englewood area, was interested in some of the Decatur strategies as she described recent gang violence as being “explosive.”

Statewide, the program since 2004 has mediated more than 900 gang conflicts and saved between $100 to $200 million that would have been spent on medical care for shooting victims and on incarcerating offenders.

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THE QUALITY BEHIND QUALITY FLOAT WORKS, INC.

Did you ever wonder how a gas pump turns off just at the right moment?

It’s called a metal float and the northwest suburbs of Chicago are home to the nation’s premier metal float ball manufacturer in the country. Quality Float Works, Inc. serves customers throughout the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe who rely specifically on floats to operate their equipment. Though many giants in the United States manufacturing industry have struggled to maintain export profits with increasing competition from international competitors, Quality Float Works, Inc. has grown by using innovation to break into new markets, meeting customer demands and placing a premium on quality prooducts.

So how did they do it?

Under the leadership of its Vice President and General Manager, Jason Speer, the company looked abroad for new customers to expand their business. And, they found them. In his lifetime, Jason has traveled to more than 80 countries and witnessed how developing countries were lacking basic infrastructure needs, especially when it came to drinking water. When he returned to home, the company started manufacturing float valve assemblies and now many of their float assemblies are used to purify drinking water throughout the world. Due to that innovation, the company has grown by 50 percent with international sales accounting for 16 percent of total revenue. And, this past year the company has achieved record sales.

As the company has grown, Jason has also become a leading voice in shaping public policy since government policies can impact small businesses and the manufacturing industry dramatically. Jason serves in leadership positions with several state and federal business associations and has been a sought after voice on how current issues affect businesses. He broke the mold as the first representative of a small company on the National Association of Manufacturers Public Affairs Committee and serves in leadership capacities with the National Federation of Independent Business, Illinois Manufacturing Association, Schaumburg Business Association and the Streamwood Chamber of Commerce. He has also been tapped to comment on how public policy affects small businesses and manufacturers. In April, Fortune Small Business featured Jason’s comments on how recent federal tax policies and new attitudes might impact small businesses. Just this month, Recently, The New York Times asked Jason to provide his expertise on international trade and exports due to a weakened dollar.

It takes an open mind and an active imagination to provide customers with not only what they need, but what they never knew they could have. With quality leadership like Jason Speer propelling its growth, the future is bright for Quality Float Works, Inc.

Ryan McLaughlin
Zapwater Communications, Inc.
VP/Group Director, Public Affairs

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Illinois doctors wary on Wal-Mart clinics

Add some doctors to the people who have a problem with Wal-Mart. According to the Financial Times, Illinois may impose restrictions on "walk-in" clinics being planned not just by Wal-Mart, but CVS, and Walgreens.

Advocates say the clinics will improve access to healthcare and reduce costs; that they will reduce more expensive visits to hospital emergency rooms; and that they will catch some illnesses before they become serious and costly. As a result, physicians will have more time for complex cases.

But the clinics also have a direct impact on doctors, who see themselves as the gatekeepers of common, everyday healthcare.

Dr Rodney Osborn, president of the Illinois State Medical Society, said: "This is a brand new animal. That’s why we believe legislation is important to guarantee patient safety ... They’re not putting these things in to provide healthcare; these people are businessmen."

What a bunch of crap. Doctors are businessmen and businesswomen too. But they're not the best at delivering good business services.

Most doctor's offices, those not in hospitals, usually are in bad locations, with minimal parking available, and cramped waiting rooms stocked with magazines from the Bill Clinton era.

The Illinois State Medical Society and its doctors only want to preserve its near-monopoly of heatlh care services

Dr. Arnold Millstein told Financial Times:

[Doctors] wrap themselves in the holy garb of quality ... completely ignoring the facts that all the research shows current care stinks. The weaknesses that are endemic in the current healthcare system are being trotted out to block innovation and change.

The retail walk-in clinics are a good idea. Many people are afraid of visiting doctors, and a medical office in a store like Wal-Mart might assuage those fears. And for those who don't have health insurance, paying out of pocket will be less expensive than visiting those offices with all those old magazines.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Yet another op-ed opposing the trial lawyers' 'deep pockets' bill ...

Steven Puiszis, president of the Illinois Association of Defense Counsel and a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, writes a great op-ed in this morning's Springfield State Journal-Register:

The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association have been wielding its political influence to push Senate Bill 1296.

Tuesday, they went so far as to run an advertisement in The State Journal-Register claiming that Senate Bill 1296 is intended to “protect Illinois families” and to “make sure guilty parties are held accountable.” In fact, Senate Bill 1296 will have the exact opposite effect.

How exactly does the trial lawyers’ plan work in Senate Bill 1296? Imagine you are driving home from work and approaching you in the oncoming lane of traffic is a drunken driver. He crosses into your lane of traffic and plows into the car ahead of you. Unable to stop in time, you skid into the same car from behind. There is minimal damage to your car because the impact was minor and you were not hurt. But the driver of the car hit by the drunken driver is badly injured and he sues both you and the drunken driver. The drunken driver has no money and no insurance, so the injured party settles with him for little or nothing.

Under current Illinois law, the jury will determine your percentage of fault for the accident by taking into consideration the fault of the drunken driver. If the jury determines that the fault of the drunken driver is 90 percent, your fault is only 10 percent. Allowing the jury to consider the fault of all parties makes common sense and provides for a fair outcome.

Click here to read the full commentary.

We also invite you to visit http://www.deeppocketsillinois.com/ to learn more about how you can stop this trial lawyer money grab.

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No dice for taxes, but good hand for gaming

Something may be brewing, but it’s not a tax increase. The House doesn’t have enough votes to support an increase in the income or sales tax, and that basically defeats the core of the HB 750 “tax swap” proposal, House Speaker Michael Madigan said in a rare Statehouse press conference Wednesday afternoon. He blamed the lack of support on Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s repeated threats to veto any income or sales tax increases.

Madigan said a survey of his 65 House Democrats (Madigan makes the 66th) revealed his caucus’ priorities remain education and a capital plan for road and school construction projects. Health care didn’t rank so well, he said. But to fund the caucus priorities, only 38 members would support some level of increase in the income tax. Only 10 would be OK with an expansion of the sales tax. There’s slightly more support for closing “loopholes” in the corporate income tax code and for expanding gaming in some way. But as Madigan said, “They’re still somewhat short of the 60 votes required to pass.”

If the speaker got his way, he would like to expand gaming — but he wouldn’t specify whether that would mean opening new casinos, allow existing casinos to add more employees or add slot machines at racetracks. He said he has spoken to House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego about the possibility of gaming, and both “have an interest” in using any new gaming revenue to fund a capital plan. Madigan also said he met with Senate President Emil Jones Jr. to share the survey results with him, and he said their meeting was “fruitful.” Again, no details. Jones’ office said he has no comment.

In terms of the “alternative minimum tax” for businesses we talked about in Tuesday’s blog, Madigan said he was still attempting to fully understand how it would work. The sale of the Illinois Lottery got minimal interest in the caucus. He would not comment about the possibility of a “zero-growth” budget that doesn’t include any new revenue or new programs.

Madigan said it was unusual that the legislators differ this greatly from the priorities by the governor. And while he said he hopes the legislature can wrap up business by the May 31 constitutional deadline, he would oblige if the governor called a special session this summer. Madigan expects to meet with the governor Thursday. We’re still waiting for a response from the governor’s office.

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IL District 300 Leads Way for Bloggers

A school district that has had bad publicity for discussions that its board held behind closed doors is now poised to lead the way in treating bloggers like print and electronic reporters.

Northwest Herald reporter David Fitzgerald reporter tipped me off in an interview on Monday afternoon.

Some of those commenting under his Tuesday article were less than kind about McHenry County Blog’s having been at least part of the inspiration for the rule change.

I can only remember filing one or two Freedom of Information requests with District 300, so I asked District Communications Supervisor Allison Smith if there were any other bloggers who had filed FOI requests.

Smith wrote me back, “…no one has filed FOIAs with D300 but you that I KNOW is a blogger.”

Fitzgerald wrote that the proposal

got enthusiastic approval from board President Joe Stevens and member Anne Miller.

The reporter concluded,

The changes would put the district in the vanguard of Web-based information distribution among the state’s school districts.

The draft proposal, which was discussed by the board’s Education Policy Committee, points out the following information is already on the district web site:

• Board meeting packets
• Bills payable listings
• Press releases
• Staff Presentations to the school board
• Projection of staffing needs, enrollment, etc.
• Slideshows of construction projects
• Faculty / staff directory

Compare that to what your school district posts online and I’ll bet District 300 provides more information.

Now, District 300’s administration is proposing to post all information released as a result of Freedom of Information requests, certainly not required by law.

Providing electronic copies would make District 300 “an Illinois leader in FOIA ‘customer service’,” the memo being considered says. It would also save money for those making the FOI requests, not to mention the trip to pick up the documents. Governments charge for making paper copies in FOIA requests.

Another benefit mentioned is that it would prevent “misinformation in the community on what information was/was not provided in response to a FOIA request.”

And the part about blogs, accurately labeled “a peripheral issue.”

Please consider what you would like the Board’s stand to be about blogs, specifically in terms of bloggers’ requests to be afforded the rights of the media in areas of

• Waiving FOIA copy fees
• Notifying the blogger of public meetings
• Conveyance of press releases,

the latter two being “beyond their already being posted online.”

I do remember asking to be emailed copies of District 300 press releases.

Other articles on McHenry County Blog.

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Blagojevich: The Great Divider

Six months after a hot election campaign, elected officials tend to ease back into a period of positive job approval with the voters as they work to win back some of those voters they lost as a result of a tough campaign.

Not so with Rod Blagojevich who seems to be picking up right where he left off on Election Day. And given his latest job approval ratings from voters, perhaps we should refer to the Governor as "The Great Divider."

Six months after a big re-election victory, Gov. Blagojevich is barely hanging on to a majority of voters at 50.6% who say they approve of the job he is doing. 42.1% of voters disapprove of his performance -- and it is the ferocity of that disapproval that is surprising with more people 'strongly disapproving' of his performance than those that 'strongly approve'.

22.8% Strongly Approve
27.8% Somewhat Approve
14.8% Somewhat Disapprove
27.3% Strongly Disapprove

The Governor's job approval clearly continues where his 'positive/negative' perception left off on Election Day. And his 42.1% negatives almost identically match those 43% of voters that disapprove of his Gross Receipts Tax proposal. Six months after Election Day, Gov. Blagojevich's job performance is clearly dividing the state of Illinois in substantial ways.

Blagojevich's 50% approval is being driven by an 81% job approval among African American voters -- higher than he ever polled among that constituency during the month of October 2006. And the City of Chicago gives him a 75% job approval rating -- again, driven by African American voters.

But he's bombing among white voters who now disapprove of his performance 42.2% - 50.7%. And look at his job performance by region:
75% - 20% Chicago
57% - 33% Non Chicago, Cook County
44% - 47% Collar Counties
33% - 58% West/ Northwest
35% - 62% Central
37% - 59% Southern

Take a look at the crosstabs here. Today's headlines in the Chicago Tribune cannot be good news for a Governor clearly struggling to get his footing with voters who are not letting go of the negative feelings they built up during last fall's slash and burn re-election campaign.

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Something's brewing

It’s no secret that House Democrats reject the governor’s gross receipts tax, but they’re coming up with a new mix of tax increases and other revenue ideas that they think would be easier for lawmakers to support — considering the GRT has been painted by the opposition as mysterious, catastrophic for businesses and sure to trickle down to consumers.

Rep. Edward Acevedo, a Chicago Democrat and an assistant majority leader in the House, dropped this one before noon today: “There were other ideas that were going to be brought to the table probably by the end of the day today — something that you haven’t heard of yet.”

Their priorities? More money for education and more ways to make the state and the schools accountable for what’s done with that new money. Their other priorities: Medicaid payments, road and school construction and higher education, for instance. In sum, the House Dems’ priorities would cost about $1.2 billion in new revenue. To raise that, they’re looking at closing corporate loopholes or reforming the state’s corporate income tax.

From GRT to AMT? One of the revenue ideas would still target businesses. The alternative minimum tax is becoming more common nationwide, but it applies to individuals. It basically taxes high-income individuals that could otherwise skirt the federal personal income tax. That falls in line with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's justification for a gross receipts tax — that corporations are allowed by law to skirt the state's corporate income tax — but Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said Monday night that the alternative minimum tax hasn’t been talked about by the governor’s office as an option.

What it AMT? It’s currently a flat tax on individuals. The federal government uses a different formula that excludes some tax breaks or deductions allowed by personal income tax. If it were applied to Illinois businesses, some would have a higher tax liability under the alternative minimum tax than they would under the state corporate income tax. Some would have less liability, but they’d pay whichever amount was higher.

The alternative minimum tax at the federal level wasn’t widely used before 2001, but Congress keeps approving tax cuts that change taxpayers’ liabilities. By 2010, the tax is expected to affect one-fifth of all taxpayers, according the Internal Revenue Service’s 2003 annual report to Congress.

Opponents call the alternative minimum tax problematic because it’s not adjusted for inflation, requiring Congress to increase the income levels each year. And opponents say it complicates the tax filing system. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has some more FAQs here.

House Dems aren’t sold, however. They have questions about it just like they had questions about the governor’s gross receipts tax. Rep. Gary Hannig, a Litchfield Democrat and deputy majority leader, says it’s easy to look at tax stats and see who’s not paying their “fair share,” but then you realize that the way the law would be written might subject a hog farmer in Macoupin County to bear a high tax burden. The Devil’s in the details of how an alternative minimum tax would be written into law, he says.

Why would House Dems support it? Rep. John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat, says, “It is easier to apply, easier to understand, easier to ascertain the impact. Additionally, you don’t have the pyramiding problems that you have with GRT. And it is not a tax that is as readily passed on to the consumer.”

Could Republicans support an AMT in the tax mix? “It would not be well received,” says House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego. “I’m not buying into the premise that we need a tax increase.”

The House and Senate GOP members have said all along that they oppose tax increases because they don’t believe the state needs to spend more than it already is, especially with such ballooning costs as Medicaid bills and state employee health care and pension benefits. But could the House GOP support a plan that would override the governor’s veto of any income or sales tax increases? “Depends what the situation is,” Cross says, adding they want to improve education funding, build new roads and take care of Medicaid payments just as much House Dems. “We’re for less spending and less growth. We know the reality is people aren’t talking, and we could get out of here with a minimal-growth budget. And we’re certainly willing to look at that.”

Hannig, however, says the state’s obligations by law (eg. pensions) and by contracts (eg. AFSCME and SIUE contacts for state employees) add up to about $1.3 billion, which exceeds the nearly $900 million natural revenue growth expected in fiscal year 2008.

What about Senate support? Few if any House members would vote for an income tax increase if it were known to be dead on arrival in the other chamber. Senate President Emil Jones Jr., however, “ran faster than the speed of light into the chamber, avoiding the press” before the Senate started session at noon today, according to Deanese. We’ll get back to you with Senate reaction.

We’ll also post more revenue ideas as they shape up in legislation this week.

Some Senate comments update
BY DEANESE WILLIAMS-HARRIS
Sen. Donne Trotter, a Chicago Democrat and budget point person, says the Senate members he’s heard from want some sort of revenue growth in the next state budget. On the other hand, he said, “There’s no consensus at this point. We’ve had no discussions.” Instead, he says they’ve been studying the proposals on the table before debating the issue.

Sen. Christine Radogno, a Lemont Republican and GOP budget negotiator, said the House’s departure from the governor’s health care and tax proposals reflect public opinion. While Radogno says health care for the uninsured is definitely an issue legislators are interested in, she also says the governor’s Illinois Covered plan is “way too big and has way too many unintended consequences.”

At this point in the session, Radogno says she sees two choices before the legislature: It could either approve a maintenance budget, which Republicans in both chambers favor, or consider a tax swap package that would increase the state’s income tax and expand the state sales tax in return for property tax relief. The likelihood of both chambers approving a tax swap is slim, she said. And because the existing language in HB 750 is vague, she doesn’t see it winning legislative approval in just nine days. “My guess is that we’ll get called back in the summer to address education funding and health care.”

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As Gas Prices Skyrocket, Will the Consumer Mindset Change?

We asked Illinois residents how gas prices were impacting their driving habits.

59.8% said they were driving less
38.2% said they were driving the same
0.5% said they were driving more

So while gas prices are skyrocketing, 4 in 10 Illinois residents still haven't changed their driving behavior.

We then asked residents if rising gas prices had caused them to postpone spending for other purchases they wanted to make. This is where it gets really interesting.

52% of Illinois resident said they had to postpone spending on other purchases they wanted to make, while 46% said they did not. More than half of Illinois residents have changed their spending patterns based on this latest surge in gas prices. Hardest hit appear to be minority communities with 76% of Hispanic residents altering their spending habits and 61% of African American resident altering their spending habits.

What impact will high gas prices have on summer travel?We asked residents if they would be driving more or less this summer than they had driven in past summers.

60% of residents said they would be driving less while 35% said they would be driving the same amount.

Again, at this point 35% of Illinois residents will keep doing what they've been doing for their summers despite high gas prices. It seems that if you have the means, gas prices are simply a nuisance. But if you're strapped for cash, you are changing both your summer travel plans and your spending habits to keep up.

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RELEASE HB 1

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The Decatur Herald and Review today editorializes in support of HB 1, the ban on pay to play contracting that passed the House unanimously and now sits in the Senate Rules Committee. The paper writes, "Illinois government has a terrible - and deserved - reputation for corruption in state government. House Bill 1 … deserves a hearing and a vote in the Senate. "

The H&R is the latest in a very long line of newspapers who have taken note of the Senate President's refusal to give this bill a vote. Yesterday the Daily Herald wrote "Jones should allow vote on contract bill." The Tribune urged passage, as did the Sun-Times, the State Journal Register, the Post Dispatch, the Southern Illinoisan, and the list goes on.

It's impossible to argue that the state gets better services by allowing contractors to give unlimited donations to the public official who oversees their contract. Perhaps that's why the Senate President's spokesperson suggested that they were holding the bill while working on language to make it even better.

This bill, however, has been sitting in the Senate for a month. The time for secret revisions is past. HB 1 is positioned to be voted out of the Senate and on to the Governor, and we call on the Senate President to let that happen.

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CDC Blackmail Working in Illinois

Recommended in the late 1980’s by President Ronald Reagan’s AIDS/HIV Commission--on which Illinois State Rep. Penny Pullen (R-Park Ridge) served--the Illinois General Assembly finally seems to be following the advice that she and to-be-Clinton AIDS Czarina Christine Gebbe agreed upon.

The Daily Herald’s Amber Ellis wrote the story on Friday.

The legislation was “overwhelmingly approved” by the Illinois House, the article says.

It doesn’t say that the AIDS Foundation of Chicago opposed the bill.

Now, patients have to give written consent to get an HIV test.

It has not been a routine test like it will be when this legislation becomes law. Even then, people can opt out, if they wish, but that's the case with any test.

The virus has its own civil rights protection. No other disease has been treated like HIV.

And, if you were a germ, wouldn’t you want to make it hard to be found?

Why would you want to let your host know he was sick?

So, why did an Illinois House dominated by Democrats change its mind?

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (sic) finally decided to require it- -almost 20 years after the recommendation was made by the Presidential Commission- -if states were to continue to get subsidies from the federal government.

Nothing like money as a motivator.

More stuff at McHenry County Blog.

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John Laesch Running In Congressional 14th - Announcing At Firedoglake Saturday

[Cross-posted at WurfWhile.com]

I recently suggested that 2006 Democratic nominee for the 14th Congressional District John Laesch did not seem likely to run in 2008. I based that partly on what I was hearing in early March, but things have gotten more definite since then. In the last couple of days I heard from two independent sources (one of them here) that John Laesch may be throwing his hat in the ring again - so I called John tonight and he confirmed that he will run for congress in the 14th district in 2008 (Laesch's 2008 campaign website is here).

John Laesch told me he will announce his entry into the congressional race Saturday, May 26 on the Firedoglake blog. He also plans to be at the DeKalb Democrats meeting this Thursday, and believes there may be other 14th Congressional candidates there too. Through the end of June, in addition to getting married (congratulations John!) he plans to fundraise. Campaign appearances will follow.

John Laesch will face Geneva attorney Jotham Stein in the Democratic primary and possibly Aurora State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia and Geneva businessman Joe Serra. While this may be the whole field, it's early enough that other Illinois Democrats may join the fray in the fourteenth.

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Youth Voting

Cross Posted from: http://politicalpolling.blogspot.com

To: Interested Parties
From: Fako & Associates, Inc.
Re: Youth Voting

Harvard University's Institute of Politics (IOP) was established in 1966 as a memorial to President John Kennedy and has engaging young people in politics and public service as its mission. I attended a conference at the IOP in March 2007 to discuss the preliminary findings of the Institute's youth survey and to listen to top campaign managers and consultants discuss their successful tactics for engaging the youth vote.

I have compiled notes from the conference and a few other sources related to youth voting in this report and have added my own commentary, as a campaign professional in the field of political polling, to elaborate on the topics covered by the various speakers at the conference.

Understanding the Youth Voter

At least half of all young people under the age of 24 do not have access to a land line telephone. In the polling industry, we have come to accept that it is difficult to reach the 18-24 year demographic with traditional RDD or voter file driven surveys. Traditional surveys average about 5% or less of this demographic. It is unfeasible to weight such a small sample. The current way to discover what young voters think and believe is to conduct surveys online, and even this method has its perils.

It’s important to realize that the youth vote is about new voters. Young voters who where 18 in November of 2004 are going to be 22 in 2008, but those who were 14 in 2004 are going to be 18 in 2008. Progressive Policy Institute's "Trade Fact of the Week" highlighted that the youngest voters in the next presidential election were born a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall; turned three as the World Wide Web went public in 1993; entered elementary school as the dot-com bubble took off; watched the 9/11 attacks at age 11; and the beginning of the Iraqi occupation at 13.

The institute's pollster, John Della Volpe, discussed the four pillars of political socialization for youth voters (families, school, churches or religious communities and friends) and how the breakdown of two pillars has created a vacuum of non-voters and concentrated the importance of the remaining pillars. According to Della Volpe, leading up to the 2004 election, a majority of America's young people, up until the age of 18, lived in homes in which no parent present in that home had ever voted. The family transfer habit of voting has broken down. He continued by discussing how schools are not teaching about civics because of two waves, first, after Vietnam, it was seen as a form of propaganda and second, with the emphasis on testing in the 1980s and 1990s, it was squeezed out.

Without the family transfer habit of voting and the teaching of civics, that leaves churches, communities and friends. While churches were the go to location when describing GOP strategy in the media during the 2004 cycle, the Institute's study revealed that ideology drives only a rough 25% of young people. They refer to them as “religious centrist” and determined them to also be “Swing Voters.” Demographically they tend to be more African American and Hispanic, conservative on some issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, while more liberal on other issues.

Approval of the United Nations is sometimes used in polling to gauge the philosophical outlook of voters. According to the survey's findings, youth voters, by a measure of three to one, believe the U.N. and other countries, and not the U.S., ought to take the lead in solving international crises and conflicts. This is an important view into the lives and the world view of young people and may help explain why Kerry did so well among the youth demographic in 2004. As we shall see, issues related to the Iraqi occupation and the war in general are the top concern (at 43%) of young voters.

Top Dozen Issue Concerns among All Youth Voters ([1])

Issue	Percent (%)
Iraq	29
War (General)	14
Economy	6
Environment / Global Warming	5
Foreign Policy	4
War on Terror / Terrorism	4
Health Care	4
Education	4
Immigration	3
Abortion	3
Poverty / Welfare Issues	3
Domestic Security	3

According to Della Volpe, despite the difficulties inherent in reaching and messaging to youth voters, in 2004 there were more votes cast among young people under 30 than seniors over 65. Seniors are typically the first demographic group that campaigns target, but by about a million, there were more votes cast between voters between the ages of 18 and 29 than over 65. We have been speaking about a highly engaged, presidential election. What about state-level and local elections on off-year elections?

Campaign Tactics to Engage the Youth Vote

Campaigns, especially down-ballot and local campaigns are not in the business of promoting the long-term viability of democracy. Youth voters are new voters and more expensive to contact than any other group. The majority of youth voters come from households without strong voting histories. How do campaigns decipher what young voters care about and how to get them involved without breaking the budget or burning campaign time?

Della Volpe suggested bringing your candidate to Starbucks, or some other places where the youth vote meets, and find out firsthand what these voters are concerned about. Depending on the campaign’s location, this could be feasible, but unlikely to be the best use of campaign resources and candidate time in finding out what young voters care about. Other campaign professionals suggested finding out what the youth voters are concerned about through youth staff.

Several panelists suggested using technology to bring youth people into the campaign, but not simply relegating them to canvassing, phone banking and youth coordinator positions. Campaign managers like Greg McNeilly, who ran the DeVos gubernatorial campaign in Michigan, suggested placing some young people in leadership rolls, such as community chairs. McNeilly said this tactic has a significant impact on other young people, seeing their peers in leadership rolls and dramatically helped the campaign to recruit other young people.

Location-based volunteer recruitment is also an important factor. A couple of the successful campaigns actually located their offices near college campuses so students could walk over or have a very short drive to volunteer. This makes a difference in the ability campaigns had to attract volunteers to come send e-mails, make calls or lick envelopes.

Campaigns in college areas organized students to do “dorm storms” where they would do massive amounts of voter registration. Again, the youth vote is about new voters. Many young people come from families without a transferred habit of voting. College students move frequently, even during the timeframe of an election, so voter registration or petitioning is accompanied by e-mail and cell-phone gathering. Some campaigns created detachable contact information forms on their petitions.

Summer interns shouldn’t be forgotten just because they went back to school in the fall. Some campaigns had a specific way to keep those people involved, keep them talking to their friends, keep them sending emails. Organizing and simple campaign functions don’t need to stop just because someone isn’t physically able to get to the campaign office.

Cutting-edge campaigns are riding the open source movement in politics. “Macaca Gate” opened the eyes of campaign professionals to the distributed power structure of the internet. Anyone with a cell phone camera or a WIFI enabled laptop can change the dynamics of a campaign. People are now capable of participating in campaign dialogues like never before. User generated videos, text messages, social networks, blog, vlogs and their comments and virtual precinct captains are dramatically changing the brick and mortar mentality of political campaigning.

Virtual precinct captains are a vital source for any campaign, but especially lower budget campaigns. Serving the roll of a traditional precinct captain, someone interested in working for the campaign can get trained and download all the materials they need to start organizing their precinct without ever having stepped foot in a campaign office. This is an ideal approach for getting young people involved because of the low hurdles associated with communicating over the internet.

Some campaigns found that text messaging was most successful in giving people action alerts, participate in radio call-ins, online surveys, and checking out something uploaded to their website. Turnout for regional events can be bolstered by SMSing supporters by zip code. As technology progresses, campaigns can send a Get Out the Vote streaming video message to video enabled phones. Campaigns can even fundraise via SMS, but currently are limited to contributions under ten dollars. As time progresses the cost of setting up such a system will decrease and the contribution amounts will rise.

Along with open source campaigning, campaigns need to learn to give up some (but not all) control and let people have some autonomy. Some campaigners allowed individuals to set up their own fund raising sites for the campaign and set up their own pro-candidate sites, created their own videos, and develop their own social networks for the campaign. This sort of organic campaigning is becoming ever more prevalent with fundraising sites like ActBlue and social network (Web 2.0) communities like Myspace and Facebook. Anyone can set up a blog on a service like Blogger and start fundraising in less than a half hour.

Technology can only go so far. Face to face contact is the most persuasive element of campaigning, regardless of the demographic. A 2001 study found that youth to youth canvassing, direct contact, knocking on their doors, increases impact eight to ten percent, the phone bank three to five percent, versus a targeted mailing to youth which had a neutral impact.

Down ballot campaigns don’t need to be technology aficionados, they just have to do better with the youth vote than their opponent. Get the youth in the office and involved, creed them some control, especially with new media, to be creative and give them the tools to build your campaign.

---

[1] Harvard IOP Study Topline: http://www.iop.harvard.edu/pdfs/survey_s2007_topline.pdf

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More on Urinals

Who would have thought McHenry County Blog would write twice about urinals within a week?

Last week I touched on how McHenry County Board members were poised to relieve themselves in public on me for taking flash pictures of them the day they considered the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax.

What a coincidence, the main part of the meeting last week was about a $700,000 increase in the cost of a new Animal Control Facility. And how was it to be financed, according to the Animal Control folks?

With the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax.

The other part of the meeting was about new camera rules. To the back of the room and no flashes. You’ll have to read this article to find out the results.

But, back to now.

Sunday the Chicago Sun-Times put a urinal on its front page.

I know most of you won’t believe that, so I’ve posted a copy of it here.

A 13-person contingent, a bunny and a cat, drove down to Springfield for the Old Capitol Art Fair this weekend and on the way home some of us stopped at the Belvidere Oasis on the Tollway to, well, relieve ourselves.

Here’s what the urinals look like.

My, my.

They look a lot like the ones being installed for legislators, except the automatic flusher laser is on the wall above the urinal, instead of part of the urinal itself.

You can enlarge the images, including that of Keely cat being quite bored by the almost four-hour trip home from Springfield, by clicking on them. Keely had to hold it until he got home, but we did let him use his litter box in the Burger King parking lot across from Cozy Dog after we discovered out first choice for eating was closed.

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How Much Legitimacy Does the Illinois Judicial System Have?

The Glengariff Group recently released it's latest statewide survey. One of the questions we asked Illinois voters was:


"Generally speaking how would you describe your level of faith in the justice system of Illinois. Would you say the justice system always gets it right, usually gets it right, usually gets it wrong, or always gets it wrong?"

3.0% said it always gets it right
64.8% said it usually gets it right
24.0% said it usually gets it wrong
3.3% said they always get it wrong
4.8% just didn't know

So more than one in four Illinois voters does not have faith that the judicial system of their state will get the answer right.


More staggering is that while 72.2% of white voters say the judicial system will get it right, only 47.6% of our state's African American voters say the system always or usually gets it right. That's right. As many African American voters say our state's judicial system gets it wrong as those that say the judicial system gets it right.

Read the cross-tabs here.

Some say our judicial system is in trouble. That's hard to dispute when one in four of our voters have no faith in the answer they will get. But for African American voters, the legitimacy of the Illinois judicial system is an all-out crisis.


(The survey was a 600 sample live operator telephone survey stratified by region, gender, ethnicity, and age. The survey has a margin of error of +/-4%.)

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High School Felonies and Misdemeanors

Two District 155 Crystal Lake South High School girls were arrested on felony charges for handing out defamatory leaflets about an alleged homosexual school mate. (Read the comments under these linked Northwest Herald articles for more of the story.)

In Rockford, three Winnebago High School teens who made a bomb threat were arrested on charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Reporter Bridget Tharp wrote,

Three Winnebago High School students face charges in juvenile court of misdemeanor disorderly conduct after threatening to blow up the high school April 30.

The three “knowingly threatened to blow up Winnebago high school, causing assistant principal Bryon Houy to be alarmed and disturbed,” according to court documents. The three were arrested May 1.

So, threaten to blow up a school and you go to juvenile court.

Hand out a nasty broadside about a fellow student and you get arrested for a felony.

More, of course, at McHenry County Blog.

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Waiting for Lobbying Reforms

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The Feds are still talking about lobbying reforms. It seems the contours are changing, but the prospects for reforms that move forward are still good.

Here in Illinois, the problems continue, as these two AP stories point out. Lots of lobbyists -- many with recent experience as legislators or staffers -- are taking contracts to represent private interests.

In most states, the public could know what those contracts called for, and how the lobbyists work was valued. But here in Illinois, our lobbyist registration system ranks 45th in the nation. A bill to fix that, HB 8, has been sitting on 3rd Reading in the House for nearly 4 weeks. Yesterday it received its third final action extension, to next Friday, the 25th. But when is the House going to move on reform? Will the feds once again act before we do?

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Chicago's Open Book

Not exactly politics but I bet a lot of readers of this blog have libraries they think they should trim down,

Open Books will fund its literacy programs from the sale of used books in its store, and we're aiming to collect more than 50,000 of them by the time we open in spring 2008. Fiction, biography, plays, poetry, cookbooks, children's books...just about ANY book you may be willing or ready to part with will help! Here's how you can contribute books to our opening goal, one book (or one thousand) at a time.

Their site is here, and the write a blog too.

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Weekly round up

Budget no-no’s
After 15 senators signed a letter opposing a so-called no-growth budget, we’re left asking what the majority of lawmakers would support by the end of the scheduled session (May 31, less than 13 days away)? Their Senate President Senate Emil Jones Jr. reportedly says he also opposes a flat budget, but he hasn’t publicly backed down from his support of the governor’s $7.6 billion gross receipts tax, either. While we know 107 House members voted in opposition to the governor’s gross receipts tax concept, we still don’t know what their leader, House Speaker Michael Madigan, thinks is the most reliable, politically palatable way to bring in more revenue to the state. The House Democrats are expected to hash out their wish lists in a meeting next week. And the governor’s administration still sends daily e-mails about why his “Tax Fairness Plan” would solve the state’s “unfair” tax system.

College loans for immigrants
College-bound students who are immigrants from low- or middle-income families would be eligible for a state grant to help pay for college under a measure unanimously approved by the Senate Friday. The original version failed by one vote earlier this week. Sen. Martin Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat, says regardless of legal status, all students should have an opportunity to finance their educations. To be eligible for the annual $5,000 loans, students would have to be an Illinois resident and a citizen or a permanent resident, which requires them to have a visa. They’d also have to have a “B” average and come from a family with an income less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

Sandoval adds the state also should get back into the business of making loans directly to college students. He echoes presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s recent statement that all federal student loans should be under the government rather than through federally guaranteed bank loans, which have been under national scrutiny for potential conflicts of interest lately.

Statewide smoking ban exemption?
Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat and frequent sponsor of gaming legislation, said while he voted for the statewide smoking ban, he supports an effort to grant a five-year exemption for casinos that operate on Illinois’ borders. He said they’re at a severe disadvantage to casinos less than five miles over the Missouri or Indiana borders that allow people to smoke. He expects an uphill battle in pushing for the exemption. The effort is starting in the Senate, where it’s already being delayed by a bunch of procedural tactics to prevent the opening the crack to reversals before the actual ban is signed by the governor.

A call for fiscal restraint ignored
Despite Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson’s pleas with legislators to halt to state overspending, the Senate joined the House in approving a measure that would start a pilot project to provide health care for the uninsured in Kane County. The program is designed provide additional health services to people who don’t qualify for any other form of public aid. “We don’t have a revenue problem,” Watson said, urging his peers to reject the idea. “We have a spending problem.”

However, Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, said recent closing of clinics and the slashing of services used by the uninsured and the underinsured increase the need for drug assistance, diagnostic testing and extra state aid. A lot of Kane County residents use clinics in neighboring Cook County, but Cook County Board president Todd Stroger proposed closing more than a dozen medical clinics and cutting some health services provided by Cook County hospital earlier this year.

HIV testing gains momentum
HIV testing and counseling may soon become a routine part of prenatal care under a measure approved by both chambers. If the governor signs it, all expectant mothers would receive counseling prior to being tested. If she opted out of testing, her refusal would be documented in her medical records.

In another step for HIV testing, the House approved a measure that would make HIV testing a part of annual physicals. Doctors would offer the testing during routine blood tests. Patients would have to consent before being tested. However, refusals would be documented in their medical records. Earlier this session, Ford faced a lot of opposition from AIDS advocacy groups that were concerned that the measure would mandate testing, taking the choice away from patients. The Chicago Democrat compromised.

Prison time for Internet creeps
Sexual predators caught engaging in illicit chats with minors on the Internet would get sent to prison if the governor signs a TEXT
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2858&GAID=9&GA=95&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=31692&SessionID=51 measure now on his desk. Such predators would face felony charges for using the Internet to lure underage victims or anyone they believed to be a child. “Unfortunately, sexual predators are using this new technology as a means to gain access to children,” says Rep. Tom Cross in a press release. “This bill will help law enforcement to intervene and prevent meetings before they are arranged.”

Oprah Winfrey Week
Oprah Winfrey will get an entire week of observance in Illinois starting next February’s first week of Black History Month. Both chambers approved a measure to recognize her accomplishments in and contributions to media, publishing, film, philanthropy, education, health and fitness.

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Latest Township Scandal

A major township scandal seems to be coming to a boil in Burton Township.

These happen periodically throughout Illinois. The biggest I remember was in Elgin Township, where the supervisor made off with hundreds of thousands. There was also something about illegality with a past Dundee Township road commissioner.

Now, big trouble for McHenry County’s tiniest township.

$159,000 is missing.

Burton Township is located in far northeastern McHenry County. For those in the eastern part of McHenry County, think of turning the area east of the Fox River into a separate township. That will give you an idea of the size of Burton Township.

A friend of the blog was at the meeting Thursday night. I wish the friend had sent me photos, but she did have some flavor to add to Northwest Herald reporter Jullian Compton’s quite competent story.

“People were lining up to get a glimpse of the names on the checks written by (former township supervisor) Suzanne Regnier. (The NW Herald) story says that some were written to herself and her children. $75,937.53 to herself and $83,135.81 to ‘third parties’ for a total of $159,073.34.”

There is an auditor’s report covering multiple years

Supervisor Regnier was the wife of recently-retired Spring Grove Police Chief Don Regnier. The Northwest Herald said she committed suicide.

Boy, what a position the ex-chief would have been in if he discovered what his wife supposedly did.

Regnier is the chief whose job former Spring Grove Village President Tom Sanders recently assumed.

More this weekend on McHenry County Blog, including legislators having fun on Sunday.

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Bollywood Friday - "Chaiyya Chaiyya"

From the movie Dil Se, but originally written by Andrew Lloyd Webber for his musical Bombay Dreams.

This is one of the most popular Bollywood songs ever. And it was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber! Who knew he had it in him?

Happy Bollywood Friday!

xoxo,
Bridget

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Schakowsky: Let your moonbat flag fly

My congresscritter, Jan Schakowsky, made a little splash in the news recently by joining three of her colleagues in living on a "food stamp budget" this week.

Lost in the story is the that her activist-husband, Robert Creamer, ate on a similar budget while being incarcerated in a federal prison last year.

Her food stamp culinary adventure is mentioned on her political site, as well as her official congressional web site.

Earlier this month, Schakowsky was in the news when she agreed to sign on as a co-sponsor of fellow leftist Dennis Kucinich's resolution calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Nothing about the impeach-Cheney resolution can be found on either her House or political sites.

Why not, Jan? Does the self-proclaimed "Fighter for Families" not want her constituents know her moonbat beliefs?

Go for it, Jan, let your moonbat flag wave proudly. Show the people you represent in Congress your true self.

Kucinich isn't afraid to do it.

Related Marathon Pundit post: Leftist congresswoman wants to reinstate "Fairness Doctrine"

To comment on this post, or to read about the blogger who's been banned from an Indian reservation, click here.

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Peace, Man

In the minutes of a meeting of the McHenry County College Board of Trustees meeting on April 23rd that has not yet been released to the public comes this eyebrow raising item:

"Dr. (Frances) Glosson asked about peace classes at the College and information was given that we incorporate peace in other curriculum."

What’s that all about?

Has the college been teaching war classes?

The MCC Board was discussing the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

More substantive stuff on McHenry County Blog.

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There Are Still Long Term Revenue Problems to Fix

The Problems:

1) Because the economy has changed and the Illinois tax structure has not, we run into continual budget crises. Our taxes tend to fall on the manufacturing and retail goods sectors that are declining relative to the whole economy. Tax rates on those sectors are too high and revenue does not keep pace with budget requirements, while the expanding service, financial and information sectors largely escape the existing taxes.

2) The corporate income tax is no longer a tax that can be effectively collected by state revenue departments. Multi-national corporations have become so large and their financial inter-relationships so complicated that it is virtually impossible to monitor the allocation of income to individual states.

David Brunori writes in his 2005 “State Tax Policy”, published by the Urban Institute:

The percentage of total state tax revenue collected from levies on corporate income has declined steadily for more than two decades. … More important, in every year since 1959, the corporate tax base has failed to keep pace with company profits, either worldwide or domestic. In other words, in relative terms, state governments are collecting less in corporate income taxes while corporations are earning more.

Robert Tannenwald, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, writes:

“Multi-jurisdictional entities are so thoroughly integrated that formulas designed to allocate their income geographically are in large part arbitrary and therefore controversial.”

3) The result over time has been a shift in tax burden away from business onto individuals as the response to these changes by state policy makers has been to increase individual income taxes.

Tannenwald’s study showed that between 1986 and 2000 the ratio of state corporation income taxes collected to corporate income decreased by almost 50 percent, while the ratio of state and local personal taxes and charges to personal income increased by 25 percent.

The Solutions:

1) The Governor suggested a gross receipts tax to address all three of the above long term structural problems, make the tax system fairer, and put the state on a sound fiscal basis moving into the future.

2) The only other alternative that has been suggested, SB/HB 750, does not address problems 1 and 2, and makes problem 3 worse.

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Moving the Calendars

Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

HB426, which changes the date of Illinois' primary election, has received a bunch of press coverage. Most of this has focused on how the new primary date may help the presidential aspirations of US Sen. Barack Obama.

But the measure does far more than that, as this story in the Kane County Chronicle suggests. Petitioning for all offices will start sooner than normal, for instance.

The bill also affects disclosure reports for state PACs (since Obama is a federal candidate and office holder, he doesn't file state disclosure reports). The main disclosure reports, the semi-annuals, will be due on July 20 and January 20 rather than on the last days of the month. Because the bill has an immediate effective date, reports covering the first half of this year will be due on Friday, July 20 -- eleven days earlier than normal (about two months from today).

The measure also eliminates pre-election reports for the primary election. Under current law, candidates must file pres covering the period beginning the day after the last semi until 30 days before the election, listing all donations over $150 and aggregating smaller donations. During the last 30 days, they have to file A1s, listing donations over $500, within two days. Because the primary for state and federal elections is so close to the end of the semi, the new measure starts the A1 period on January 1, the day after the semi, and does away with the pre (again, for state and federal primaries, not the odd-year municipals). As a result, the public won't know aggregate totals for smaller donations, or about donors of donations between $150 and $500 more than one month before the primary, which would have been reported (though that's a small window). But we will know about larger donors sooner than under the current law.

The State Board of Elections plans an education effort to let PACs know about these changes to the disclosure calendar, assuming HB426 is signed into law in a timely manner (if the signing is late, the Board may not have much time to educate PACs). These changes will take some getting used to, but we might as well start now -- they're permanent, and will be in place long after the Obama 2008 campaign is over.

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A slap in the face at fairness

SB 1296 - the trial lawyers' 'Deep Pockets' bill - passed the House Judiciary Committee yesterday on a straight party line vote. According to this story, a full House floor vote is expected next week.

Here's ICJL's response:

"This bill is a slap in the face at fairness, it is a slap in the face of Illinois employers, and it is a slap in the face of common sense," said Ed Murnane, president of ICJL, who pointed out that, under SB 1296, a defendant could be held 100 percent liable in a lawsuit where he or she is only five percent at fault.

Added Murnane, "Fairness and common sense demand that people or institutions that cause injury and damage should be held accountable based on their degree of responsibility - not the deepness of their pocketbook."

Murnane noted that the legislation is opposed by a diverse coalition of groups, including many units of government, such as the City of Chicago, Illinois Municipal League, Illinois Association of Park Districts, the Park District Risk Management Association and the 77-member municipalities of the Illinois Risk Management Association.

"Cities, counties and other municipal bodies are considered 'deep pockets' because they can raise funds through taxation, and would be prime targets under this legislation," said Murnane.

Contact your legislators today to urge them to vote "No" on this disastrous bill.

Cross-posted at Illinois Justice Blog.

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Marzullo and the Golden Steer

via JG_TC online,

After a three-day bench trial, a Cook County judge granted a defense motion for a directed verdict of not guilty late Wednesday against Frank Marzullo, Berwyn's former public safety director; his son, former Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jerry Marzullo; Frank Marzullo's brother, Russell Marzullo;

Berwyn Police Officer Michael Fellows and friend Charles Baugh.All were charged with aggravated battery for allegedly beating Wayne Pesek in a Forest Park bar on April 5, 2005, the evening of the municipal elections. Pesek, a former village manager for North Riverside, allegedly made a comment about losses in the election. The 54-year-old suffered broken facial bones, cracked ribs and a concussion in the alleged brawl.

Maybe this verdict makes sense if you sat through court. Marzullo seemed sunk to me.

Attorneys for the men charged said the judge's decision was not surprising because both Pesek and the bartender at the Golden Steer Restaurant gave conflicting testimony.

Still a great place for steak.

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Incumbent Protection Act of 2007 Passes

The Illinois primary election will be held on February 5, 2008.

On February 7, 2007, I outlined some of the obvious results.

The most obvious is that it increases the chances of incumbents to win re-election in their own primary elections.

Senate Republicans Dale Righter (R-Charleston) and Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) made the same point in debate, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Except for liberal Republicans.

As in 1992 with Carol Mosley Braun, Republican women will gravitate to the Democratic Party primary.

That will make it easier for conservative Republicans to win primary elections.

Next most obvious is that it decreases the chances that incumbents will get credible general election challengers.

If the Chicago Bears are in the Super Bowl, there will be another great sucking sound as this sport draws a disproportionate amount of television airtime.

Challengers will have hard time getting on TV.

Will this embolden incumbent legislators to vote for tax increases?

And, if you are interested in First Amendment issues, there's an article about what the McHenry County Board did about banning flash photography on McHenry County Blog.

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Matt Labash: John Cox the Sane Fringe Candidate

The Weekly Standard on the Jay's chips guy's run to be the GOP's candidate for 2008,

Cox, 51, is a self-made man. He finished college in two and a half years "because I was paying for it," he says, adding, "My daughter finished in five years--because I was paying for it." He later went on to start several businesses: a law/accounting firm, an investment advisory firm, a real estate management company, and a venture capital firm. In the mid-'90s, he led a group that purchased the Jays Foods potato chip manufacturer, sparing more than 600 local jobs and taking it from a $17-million loss to a $3-million profit in less than a year.

As father of two at NIU Cox just scored a point with me.

HT Reverse Spin

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Crains: County prez must fix hospital system, Sen. Durbin warns

Something to chew on for those here who say our elected Federal reps have no business getting involved with CPD on Police Brutality. Crain's on Durbin, Emanuel, and Schakowsky's chit chat with Stroger about Cook County Hospital. They had no problem chewing out Stroger behind closed doors I guess. Wonder what happened to the rest of Cook County's delegation to Congress.

The meeting in Sen. Durbin's office "raised the expectation that Mr. Stroger show leadership and get a handle on the problems facing the health system," a spokesman for the senator says.

Among other key lawmakers present were U.S. Reps. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and Jan Schakowsky of Evanston. Neither they nor Sen. Durbin could be reached for comment.

Update: Proviso Probe looked at the story and asked,

Is Stroger part of the problem because he wants to keep the perks of political power?

Is Stroger the victim, thrust into a situation where he has to commit "murder by spreadsheet" to deal with financial constraints he can't control?

I vote victim Carl 'cause I have a hard time seeing Stroger as a player but maybe that's just my old man's perspective of a Toddler.

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The Sound of Silence

The silence from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their front group, the Illinois Civil Justice League is deafening.

They often complain that our courts are clogged by frivolous lawsuits.

They often say these lawsuits are nothing more than an attempt to shake down deep-pocketed defendants.

They like to argue that these massive, multi-million dollar lawsuits are imposing a tax on every working family.

Then comes this case:

Lawsuit against Splenda settled

The makers of Splenda and Equal on Friday settled a lawsuit over Splenda's disputed advertising slogan -- "Made from sugar so it tastes like sugar."

The settlement came right after the jury in Philadelphia announced it had reached a verdict.

Chicago-based Merisant Co., which makes Equal, accused Splenda of confusing consumers into thinking its product was healthier and more natural than other artificial sweeteners. Splenda's marketer, McNeil Nutritionals, countered that it simply has a better product backed by superior advertising.

A McNeil spokeswoman said the amount of the settlement wouldn't be announced.

Merisant was seeking more than $200 million from McNeil -- at least $183 million for unfair profits since 2003 and compensation for at least $25 million in lost sales.

The active ingredient in Splenda starts as pure cane sugar but is chemically altered to create a compound that contains no calories, according to McNeil. The final product contains no sugar.

That’s right. Splenda is made from sugar. And no one is disputing that it tastes like sugar (as a user of Splenda, I can tell you it tastes alot more like sugar than Equal, which tastes like the rancid extract of dirty sweat socks to me).

But Equal didn’t like the fact that they were getting their butt kicked in the free market, with Splenda cornering 60% of the artificial sweetener market in just a few short years, so the makers of Equal filed a $208 million lawsuit.

Now, Splenda is also being sued by sugar makers.

To me, this case seems to fit the definition of a frivilous lawsuit. And the infamous McDonald's case is dwarfed by this $208 million lawsuit.

Where’s the t.v. ads and press releases from the Illinois Civil Justice League blasting corporate America for filing frivolous lawsuits? Where’s the think tank study showing how Equal’s frivolous lawsuit is driving up the cost of Splenda – now found in over 4,000 consumer products – for hard working families?

Meanwhile, the ICJL is running t.v. ads about how many lawsuits are filed in Illinois each year. I wonder how many of those lawsuits are by businesses suing each other, just like this case?

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What would you do?

TWO CHOICES

What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. Maybe this has something to say about how we all behave, how legislative and political players behave.

My question is: Would you have made the same choice? Would elected officials make the same choice? What about a governor and legislative leaders? Maybe you could speculate in a comment to this post.

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped, comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning." Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.

His father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!


AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats its least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices: 1. Delete 2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.



[Source unknown].

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Lobbyists as Campaign Fundraisers

Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

News comes from the national arena that Congress is considering lobbying reforms. The national lobbying regulation law is already stronger than Illinois, but the feds are now thinking about opening up the link between lobbying and campaign finance. According to the New York Times, the proposal would require lobbyists to disclose their role as bundlers -- people who collect checks for candidates and act as middlemen between donors and PACs.

Illinois' legislature is considering several reforms relating to lobbying. HB 8 would tighten disclosure requirements, bringing Illinois into line with most other states (not to mention Chicago and Cook County) by requiring lobbyists to disclose the terms of their contracts. The measure would also create a first-ever enforcement mechanism to make certain that lobbyists are registered properly. And it would shut the revolving door between most state employees and officials, barring them from lobbying their former colleagues until a cooling-off period had elapsed. HB 8 is on the House floor, waiting to be called for a final vote.

Language relating to bundling is also before the legislature. HB 3497 is generally seen as a limits bill, but it contains language to require disclosure of the role of bundlers in campaign finance. Bundlers would have to report which checks they collected, which would not count against their own limits. HB 3497 had a subject matter hearing, and we anticipate the conversation about limits will only intensify.

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81,000 Lawyers in Illinois; Who Speaks for Them?

Why do 81,000 lawyers in Illinois allow a small handful -- about 3% -- to brand them?Most of the lawyers in our state probably have not asked themselves that question -- but it is a valid question. The image of lawyers in Illinois is painted by the television advertising and media self-promotion of the personal injury trial lawyers -- the plaintiffs' lawyers who attract the big attention with their big lawsuits and big settlements or awards.

But 97 percent of the lawyers in Illinois don't deserve the tarnish that is applied to them by the plaintiffs' trial lawyers. The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) claims a membership of more than 2,000. According to the ITLA Web site:

"The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association is a statewide organization whose members specialize in representing injured consumers and workers. Founded in 1952, the organization currently has over 2,000 members."

And last month, the Illinois State Bar Association launched an advertising campaign costing nearly $300,000 to fix the image of all lawyers in Illinois -- an image tarnished primarily by the plaintiffs' lawyers of ITLA.

There is no doubt that ISBA is heavily dominated by ITLA. In Springfield, it's hard -- virtually impossible -- to tell them apart.

When Illinois businesses -- and Illinois citizens -- think of lawyers in Illinois they are reminded of the advertising they see on television, heavily dominated by personal injury lawyers. They are reminded of the hostile, anti-business and anti-doctor and anti-hospital messages conveyed by ITLA on it's Web site and in testimony in Springfield.

Nearly 800 new lawyers were sworn-in last week and if the percentages hold up, about three percent -- or 24 of them -- will become plaintiffs' lawyers. We suspect the number will be higher than that because that's where the money is but whatever the number, the vast majority will have to deal with the image of lawyers created by a small minority.

And the prospects for change don't seem promising when the other big lawyer story of the weekend is the election of ISBA's new third vice president is another ITLA member from Southern Illinois. Under ISBA's secession rules, Mark D. Hassakis will become president in 2010.

Cross-posted by Ed Murnane at Illinois Justice Blog.

Technorati Tags: Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois lawsuit abuse, trial lawyer, tort reform, Illinois Civil Justice League

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Urinals

These are not ordinary urinals.

They are urinals with a view.

First, the ones you might have seen in Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times in Zay N. Smith’s

QT ON THE BLOGS.

"They are at the headquarters (pun probably intended) of Frankfurt’s Commerzbank."

Smith starts his cut line with “Loo with a view.”

Second up are urinals closer to home.

About half of the patrons of Port Edward know what’s below this and another porthole on the north side of the building right off the parking spaces near the river.

Port Edward is the excellent restaurant at the intersection of Algonquin Road (Route 62) and Harrison Street, just west of the Fox River.

And why are there relieved men’s faces looking out across the parking lot at the Fox River?

Think any women ever wonder why?

It's the pause that refreshes.

In perhaps related news, McHenry County Board members are poised to relieve themselves on me in public at their board meeting tonight at 7 by banning flash photography and all cameras to the back two corners of the room where no decent pictures can be taken without a $3-5,000 camera with a huge lens. (Come to Woodstock at 6 if you want to hear how much overbudget the new Crystal Lake Animal Control Facility is.)

See "Skinner's a Pain, But Come On."

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Obama and the Illinois Guard

Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax intern, Paul Richardson, linked to an AP story (via the Grand Island, NE Independent) on the concerns of several Governors regarding their states' National Guard preparedness. For good measure, the AP also threw in a quote from Democratic Senator Barack Obama, who, they report, recently wrote a letter to President Bush regarding this issue.

Now, what AP fails to mention is that none of these Governors (including our very own Rod Blagojevich) ever denied the consent required by the Armed Forces Reserve Act of 1952 for federal mobilization and deployment of their states' guard units. Perhaps someone should remind Senator Obama that his fellow Chicago Democrat is, thus, at least partially responsible for the National Guard's equipment being “stretched thin in his home state of Illinois.”

If the Senator is really concerned about the readiness of our Guard - and not just scoring political points with his party's base - he would be writing letters to the Governor as well as the President.

Want to take bets as to whether or not he's doing that?

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Now is the time for the General Assembly to define and implement Tax Fairness

The debate on implementing tax fairness just opened up.

I think there's a fairly firm consensus in the General Assembly that our tax system is unfair. We tax people in poverty too much and we do not tax our state's largest corporations and wealthiest individuals nearly enough. Middle-class people probably are taxed a bit too much as well, particularly those in low-wealth communities.

The Governor has put tax fairness at the center of this year's session, rightfully pointing out that the corporate income tax is essentially broken as it lets the biggest corporations off the hook.

He hasn't pointed out that our 3% state income tax with a low personal exemption and a low earned income tax credit means that people who make six figures pay a smaller percent of their income in state and local taxes than people who make 40 grand or less. That's backwards and this is the month to change it.

The question before each Member of the General Assembly is how to change it.

The Governor's proposal to implement a tax on the gross receipts of the largest businesses in Illinois has largely been rejected as, in the Speaker's words, a “regressive” tax. The House, by the way, deserves credit for taking the Governor's proposal seriously with an eight-hour hearing before the entire House. That high-level policy debate is the crux of transparent governing and we should have more of it. Why can't the Governor appear before a joint session of the General Assembly every month for a British-style Question Time? That would be fun.

One of the most illuminating exchanges was between Representative David Miller and Governor Blagojevich, after the Governor said that any income tax increase – no matter how progressive -- is “off the table” as he would veto it, Representative Miller matter-of-factly reminded the Governor that the General Assembly could simply override the veto. The Governor's response: I'll campaign against any income tax increase next year! Why? Because “it's wrong.”

Here is the worst aspect of the Governor's position: he rejects, vilifies and obfuscates the existence of a progressive income tax. The absolute best way to reverse our regressive taxes is to raise income taxes on high incomes (personal and corporate) and lower taxes on low incomes. This is not difficult to do.

Our state Constitution does require a non-graduated income tax rate, which is why we have a flat rate of 3%. The Governor's position has been that this provision of the Constitution precludes any sort of progressive income tax – but that's just not true.

It would be great if we could have a federal-style income tax where the first $15,000 of income isn't taxed at all, and the next $40,000 of income is taxed at 15%, and the next $60,000 of income is taxed at 28% and then income above $250,000 is taxed at 35%. But, we don't.

What we can do, however, is raise the rate on all income to 5%. That would raise the revenue from the people who have it the most, won't miss it at all, benefit from the Bush tax cuts and (crucially) can write-off the higher state income tax they pay off of their federal returns so that the state as a whole will pay less in federal taxes.

What about people who make less than $50 grand – or people who make less than $15 grand? If we raise the income tax rate to 5%, they will pay more too, and that's the reason why the Governor thinks it is wrong to raise the income tax. There is an easy way, however, to make sure that the middle class and the poor do not pay more in income taxes in order to satisfy the Governor.

That's to raise the personal exemption to $10,000. It's current $2100. Or in other words, cut a $500 check per exemption to every taxpayer instead of what we do now which is cut a $63 check per exemption to every taxpayer (3% of $2100). That exemption is essentially meaningless.

For people with not a lot of money, $500 off of taxes is a lot. And it's probably enough to wipe out any tax they might owe: you have to earn $10,000 per person in order to owe anything (since 5% of $10,000 is $500). So a family of four wouldn't pay any state income tax at all if they earn less than $40,000. And lots of legislative districts have an median family income of less than $40,000. That is about the average family income in our state.

Compared to our current state income tax which hits people as soon as they earn $2100, a $10,000 personal exemption even with a 5% income tax would make most people better off, particularly as they have more exemptions to take (that is, kids).

Here's how it works with one exemption (look for the blue highlight to see the break-even point):

Gross family income	Number of exemptions	Deduction	Value of exemption	Adjusted income	Rate	Tax
$10,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	0.03	$240.00
$20,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$18,000.00	0.03	$540.00
$30,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$28,000.00	0.03	$840.00
$40,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$38,000.00	0.03	$1,140.00
$50,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$48,000.00	0.03	$1,440.00
$60,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$58,000.00	0.03	$1,740.00
$70,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$68,000.00	0.03	$2,040.00
$80,000.00	1	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	$78,000.00	0.03	$2,340.00

and now here is with a higher income tax rate (5%) and a $10,000 personal exemption.

Gross family income	Number of exemptions	Deduction	Value of exemption	Adjusted income	Rate	Tax
$10,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$0.00	0.05	$0.00
$20,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	0.05	$500.00
$30,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	0.05	$1,000.00
$40,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$30,000.00	0.05	$1,500.00
$50,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	0.05	$2,000.00
$60,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$50,000.00	0.05	$2,500.00
$70,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$60,000.00	0.05	$3,000.00
$80,000.00	1	$10,000.00	$10,000.00	$70,000.00	0.05	$3,500.00

For people who earn less than $20,000 – that's $10 an hour with a full-time job, and remember our state's minimum wage is only $6.50, and remember, about a fifth of the entire state's population earns less than $20,000 a year – they are better off under a 5% state income tax with a $10,000 exemption than they are under a 3% state income tax with a $2,000 exemption. This is about the break-even point, so anyone who makes more than $20,000 as a single filer would pay more under the change.

Let's skip ahead to people with two exemptions and watch the break-even point rise dramatically. People with two exemptions include married couples and single parents with one kid.

Here is the status quo:

Gross family income	Number of exemptions	Deduction	Value of exemption	Adjusted income	Rate	Tax
$10,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$6,000.00	0.03	$180.00
$20,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$16,000.00	0.03	$480.00
$30,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$26,000.00	0.03	$780.00
$40,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$36,000.00	0.03	$1,080.00
$50,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$46,000.00	0.03	$1,380.00
$60,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$56,000.00	0.03	$1,680.00
$70,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$66,000.00	0.03	$1,980.00
$80,000.00	2	$2,000.00	$4,000.00	$76,000.00	0.03	$2,280.00

And here is a more progressive income tax at a 5% rate and a $10,000 exemption.

Gross family income	Number of exemptions	Deduction	Value of exemption	Adjusted income	Rate	Tax
$10,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	-$10,000.00	0.05	$0.00
$20,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$0.00	0.05	$0.00
$30,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$10,000.00	0.05	$500.00
$40,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$20,000.00	0.05	$1,000.00
$50,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$30,000.00	0.05	$1,500.00
$60,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$40,000.00	0.05	$2,000.00
$70,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$50,000.00	0.05	$2,500.00
$80,000.00	2	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$60,000.00	0.05	$3,000.00

Now we're at $40,000 of family income for a family of two (where just under half the population lives). That's a $20/hour job. Not bad and getting tougher to find as our manufacturing jobs are disappearing and service jobs rarely pay that much.

Here everyone with two exemptions who makes less than $40,000 is better off with a higher
tax rate (raising taxes!) and a higher personal exemption than they are today. Anyone who makes more than that will pay more.

Let's skip to the comparison for four exemptions (a married couple with two kids or a single parent with three kids):

Gross family income	Number of exemptions	Deduction	Value of exemption	Adjusted income	Rate	Tax
$10,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$2,000.00	0.03	$60.00
$20,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$12,000.00	0.03	$360.00
$30,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$22,000.00	0.03	$660.00
$40,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$32,000.00	0.03	$960.00
$50,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$42,000.00	0.03	$1,260.00
$60,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$52,000.00	0.03	$1,560.00
$70,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$62,000.00	0.03	$1,860.00
$80,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$72,000.00	0.03	$2,160.00
$90,000.00	4	$2,000.00	$8,000.00	$82,000.00	0.03	$2,460.00

Now, with a more progressive income tax (even with the Constitutional flat rate)

Gross family income	Number of exemptions	Deduction	Value of exemption	Adjusted income	Rate	Tax
$10,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	-$30,000.00	0.05	$0.00
$20,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	-$20,000.00	0.05	$0.00
$30,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	-$10,000.00	0.05	$0.00
$40,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	$0.00	0.05	$0.00
$50,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	$10,000.00	0.05	$500.00
$60,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	$20,000.00	0.05	$1,000.00
$70,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	$30,000.00	0.05	$1,500.00
$80,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	$40,000.00	0.05	$2,000.00
$90,000.00	4	$10,000.00	$40,000.00	$50,000.00	0.05	$2,500.00

90 grand! That's the break-even point!

Everyone who makes less than $90,000 in family income with four exemptions pays less with a 5% income tax rate and a $10,000 exemption than they do today.

That's a lot of middle-class (and upper-middle-class) families in both D and R districts.

This is just to show that a progressive income tax is very possible and can cut taxes for lots of
low-income and working people who are paying too many taxes now because we don't tax high incomes and corporations enough.

That's how it should be.

There are other important ways to make our tax more fair -- increasing the earned income tax credit and either closing corporate tax loopholes or instituting an alternative minimum corporate income tax or even perhaps a gross receipts tax that only affects the highest grossing corporations.

But for those of us who believe in a more progressive tax, we have a challenge that so far we have not really met and that is to explain to each Member of the General Assembly exactly how each of these low-income tax cuts (a higher personal exemption of the earned income tax credit) actually works to deliver tax cuts to the people who need it most.

Tax policy is not intuitive or obvious and unless we do a better job showing Members exactly how taxes are not progressive now and how to make them more progressive, we are unlikely to overcome legislators' natural inclination against raising taxes. And ultimately, our task is to convince voters that they stand to benefit from raising taxes on incomes above their own as it is often too much to ask Members to get ahead of their voters.

This is the crux of the communications challenge: we need to convince lower-income voters (who usually have less education) that raising taxes on high incomes while cutting taxes on lower incomes is good for their bottom line. We need to convince voters that progressive tax policy is the best rural economic development and inner-city economic development the state can possibly offer – because it is.

750, the twin bills in the House and Senate that raise the income tax to 5%, expand the sales tax to include services and invest the revenue in education, human services and pension payments, also holds harmless lower incomes from the higher taxes. This is a great step and right now 750 must be considered the leading proposal before the General Assembly.

One problem, however, is that the low-income tax cuts in 750 (the Family Tax Credit) are neither obvious nor simple to explain. The Family Tax Credit is, as I understand it, a tax credit off of the higher state income tax that compensates for both the expected higher sales tax and the higher income tax that lower-income residents would pay. There is a worksheet that calculates the size of the credit based on income and exemptions which will result in everyone making less than $50,000 or so paying the same amount under 750 than they do today with a 3% income tax and a non-service sales tax.

The concept is sound and deserves to be at the center of the debate, but there are two potential improvements worth considering. One is that the bill essentially asks legislators to trust that the Family Tax Credit will work, as the mechanism is not clearly explained (for every $2,000 of income, how much is the Family Tax Credit worth?). The second is that instead of cutting taxes for those earning less than $30,000 or so, 750 keeps the tax burden the same. 750 makes our tax more progressive by raising taxes on people making more than $50,000 or $60,000 or so, which is good (since our state's long-term economy is suffering from a low-tax and thus low-investment status, particularly in education and transportation), but does not make progress on the other side to cut taxes on low-income people which would do the most good to our economy (as low-income people spend locally almost all the money they save unlike high-income people who invest their money in global vehicles like mutual funds or second homes).

This is the month to build on the Governor's campaign for Tax Fairness in the General Assembly. Let's seize it!

[cross-posted at djwinfo]

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Linda Chapa-LaVia files with the FEC

Via Bridget in the 6th

There is a new federal committee that filed with the FEC....

Linda Chapa LaVia for congress.


Now things get interesting, at least out OneMan way....

OneMan

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Target Dumps Arlington Heights TIF

As I was reading the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, I noticed a story by Graydon Meganthat saying that Target and the Village of Arlington Heights are parting their ways.

Arlington Heights, you may remember decided to condemn the businesses in its International Plaza in order to attract Target.

Municipal officials can condemn property in a Tax Increment Financing district.

It’s called eminent domain and is being used in the Vulcan Lakes TIF project in Crystal Lake, even though Mayor Aaron Shepley said there would be no condemnation of property.

The Arlington Heights businessmen—mainly immigrants--went up for grabs.

Enter libertarian-minded activists angry at the condemnation of property for economic development.

They protested.

They leafleted door-to-door.

Candidates used the issue to make the incumbents look bad.

And, although the challengers did not succeed, the incumbents and Target threw in the towel.

"We just made it uncomfortable for Target," Scott Bludorn, one of the citizens activists told McHenry County Blog.

"We certainly made the incumbents look shameful."

= = = = =
Bludorn is seen in front of the map above.

A $13 million Elgin TIF condo subsidy story on McHenry County Blog can be found here.

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Mike Wallace, onetime host of Chicago's "Miss Tavern Pale Beauty Pageant"

This is my Mother's Day post. With Mike Wallace being fresh in the news with tonight's already controversial interview with Mitt Romney airing this evening, now is a good time to hop in the "Wayback Machine."

A few years ago I was at the Marathon Pundit boyhood home in Palos Heights, Illinois, and "60 Minutes" came on.

There was a report by Mike Wallace, and my mother remarked, "You know, that Wallace is so smug, but I remember when he was the host of the 'Tavern Pale Beauty Pageant.'"

Space considerations were undoubtedly the reason this important part of Wallace's career were left out of his official CBS biography.

She explained in the early days of Chicago's WGN-TV, pro wrestling, hosted by Chicago Cubs announcer Jack Brickhouse, was one of its most popular programs.

During the intermissions of that show, WGN switched over to the beauty contest. Tavern Pale, a now-defunct local brew popular with blue collar folks, sponsored both the matches and the the Wallace-hosted beauty pageants.

The pageants, my mother told me, usually took place in bars in industrial neighborhoods such as South Chicago and Belmont-Cragin, and featured gum-smacking women, probably named Angie or Stella, competing to become Miss Tavern Pale for a week.

My mom's recollections of Wallace as pageant host are pretty clear--she says he was an enthusiastic emcee, and at the time, it seemed to her an impossibility that he'd be the serious journalist he became just a few years later.

Tonight I'll be at at my mother's house watching Wallace ask Governor Romney and his wife if they had pre-marital sex, I'll be wishing Romney replied back, "Hey, Wallace, didn't you used to host the Miss Tavern Pale beauty pageant....and did you ever...you know...with one of the contestants...."

Or can ask. So Mike, "Did you?"

Oh, Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Thanks for the inspiration for this post.

To comment on this post, please visit Morton Grove's most famous blog, Marathon Pundit.

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Oak Brook Paper Picks Up on Cary School Pay-to-Play Prohibition

Before the Illinois House passed a pay-to-play prohibition, Cary Grade School District 26 did so under the leadership of school board member Chris Jenner.

Two firms that stood to gain financially helped bankroll the Butler School District 53 bond issue last month, according to an Oak Brook Suburban Life article by Lane Kelley.

And, you know what, the name of that friendly blond from Wm. Blair and Company popped up again.

You remember Elizabeth Hennesey.

She was the one sitting in the audience of the Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 Board meeting in December.

She was the contact person who worked on Carpentersville District 300’s pay-no-principal-back-for-years, plus paying an additional $11.8 million for the privilege.

Hennesey did not return phone calls to the Suburban Life reporter.

I can empathize with the reporter. Hennesey wouldn’t return my phone calls either.

The other big donor was the political action committee for bond counsel Chapman & Cutler.

Catch this part of the article:

Butler Superintendent Sandra Martin said the district was not involved in the contributions, “and there certainly was no guarantee of any work in the future,” she added.

Cary’s Chris Jenner, who shepherded an anti-pay-to-play rule though Grade School District 26, was quoted as saying,

“It happens in a lot of places. It happens more often than it doesn’t.”

The weekend is not a desert at McHenry County Blog.

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