Search for a common ground

By Bethany Jaeger, with Jamey Dunn contributing
House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton advanced their first joint measure to reform state government, focusing on the management of the public employee pension systems and targeting board members appointed by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. At the same time, the independent reform commission created by Gov. Pat Quinn issued its first set of recommendations for beefing up state ethics laws and improving transparency of government operations.



How the legislative reform committee and the governor’s reform commission will work together, however, is yet to be seen. So far, they’ve operated in similar hemispheres but in separate quarters. They’ve heard hours of testimony from a lot of the same witnesses, they’ve debated some of the same proposals and they’ve used the same language to define their missions. To date, they have not yet testified to each other's public hearings. And the governor’s reform commission is different in that it “has a voice but not a vote,” to borrow the words of Patrick Collins, former federal prosecutor and chair of the governor’s commission. What is realistic by the end of the spring legislative session depends on the level of support the proposals can gain from the legislative leaders and their members, although Quinn has indicated he's willing to use his executive powers to institute some of changes.

One item to note is that the House speaker and the Senate president have been meeting about once a week for breakfast with Quinn to talk about a broad range of issues facing the state, including everything from a potential $12.4 billion budget deficit to possible ethics reforms. Madigan told Illinois Issues this morning said he finds those meetings to be “very productive.” He added: “They’re not 100 percent harmonious. … There’s differences, but you’ve got people who are committed to working through differences and coming to a result.”

In terms of ethics, some of the proposals of the governor's reform commission already are being considered by the legislature. In addition to pension reforms advanced by Madigan and Cullerton, the governor’s reform commission offered two more starting points: The “pay” side (or campaign finance) and the “play” side (or state procurement), to borrow another Collins phrase. The governor’s Illinois Reform Commission will issue many more recommendations in its final report by the end of April.

Pension board reforms
Madigan and Cullerton started with pensions. Their measure, SB 364, would remove all members of the existing pension oversight boards, and Quinn would have 30 days to nominate new members. The governor would be able to nominate current members to stay, but they would have to get Senate approval. Board members currently are reimbursed for expenses but are not paid for their work, and that would remain.

While Madigan said he did not intend to accuse current members of corruption, he said it was important to start over with a “clean slate.” The measure also would require all board members to follow the same ethics standards currently applied to legislators and executive branch employees. The standards are meant to prevent conflicts of interest and so-called pay-to-play politics from influencing the investment decisions made by the pension boards, investment managers and consultants.

Similar pension reforms passed the House twice before but stalled in the Senate under then-President Emil Jones Jr.

Madigan said this morning that the pension reforms illustrate the good that can come out of cooperation between presiding officers. “The people of Illinois feel that they deserve better, and they’re right. And with myself and Sen. Cullerton working together — not trying to one-up anybody, not trying to play gotcha-politics — I think that we can accomplish a lot.”

Campaign contribution limits (The “pay” side of pay-to-play)
The Illinois Reform Commission recommends campaign contribution limits of $2,400 for individuals and $5,000 for political committees and would completely ban contributions from lobbyists and trusts. The legislature is split on the idea of campaign contributions, with opponents saying that there are too many loopholes and that it wouldn't reduce the cost of political campaigns. All four legislative leaders have said they could consider campaign finance reform, but contribution limits are not considered the priority. The legislature already is considering some measures that would limit contributions, including:

• HB 24: Rep. Harry Osterman’s bill resembles the commission’s recommendations. He’s a Chicago Democrat.
• SB 1768: Sen. Heather Steans’ bill would enforce similar limits for individuals and political committees that are not controlled by the candidates, but it also would cap the amount political committees for the Democratic and Republican caucuses could transfer to candidates at $30,000, among other things. She’s a Chicago Democrat.
• SB 1548: Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno’s bill would limit donations for all individuals, political parties, corporations, unions, etc., at $10,000. She’s a Lemont Republican.
• SB 2257: Sen. Kwame Raoul’s bill would, among other things, limit individual donations at $7,500 and corporate and labor group donations at $20,000. He’s another Chicago Democrat.

Two measures would establish a voluntary public financing system for judges and set various limits on the amount candidates could raise from individuals, political committees, corporations, labor groups, etc. They include:

• SB 2144, sponsored by Raoul.
• HB 1390, sponsored by freshman Rep. Will Burns, a Chicago Democrat.

Here are more highlights from the Illinois Reform Commission's recommendations for campaign finance, including extending last year’s pay-to-play ban to prevent state contractors from donating to legislators, as well as executive officers.

Procurement (The “play” side of pay-to-play)
The Illinois Reform Commission recommends the following:

• Make the procurement officials part of an independent arm of government to shield them from political pressure.
• Establish an independent contract monitor to review contracts and expose problematic deals.
• Scale back exemptions to the procurement code.
• Apply the procurement code to legislative, judicial and such quasi-governmental bodies as the Illinois Finance Authority.
• Subject no-bid and emergency contracts to tighter scrutiny and limitations.
• Disclose subcontractors, lobbyists and agents representing clients.
• Document any contact between vendors or their agents and procurement staff.
• Post all procurement information online.

Auditor General Bill Holland echoed some of the recommendations today during a special legislative hearing about state government reforms. But he added that the procurement code currently does not prevent agencies from accepting services before the terms of a contract are settled or before the contract is officially filed. He said that was “unacceptable” and said that all documents related to the contracting process, including losing proposals, should be made public.

Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, an Evanston Democrat, said the state also should tighten provisions on informal advisers, something noted during the corruption trial and conviction of former Blagojevich adviser Tony Rezko.

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Cardinal, Jack Franks' Constituents Weigh in on HB 2354

At last weekend's services at Catholic Church services in the Chicago Archdiocese a letter from Cardinal Francis George was distributed in church bulletins.


And, today, McHenry County residents delivered multiple messages via a YouTube production by Michael Brown of Testimony Pictures to House Bill 2354 co-sponsors State Representatives Jack Franks and Mark Beaubien.

The Cardinal also speaks to House Bill 2354, the bill which stimulated McHenry County pro-lifers to run an ad urging the withdrawal of support from the two.

And also stimulated the demonstration in front of State Rep. Franks' Route 47 office.

Cardinal George emphasizes the removal of “the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers.”

Rarely has the Catholic Church been this fully engaged in Springfield politics.

But as often happens when zealots take complete control, they try to push through legislative language which activates the other side. In this case, the rabidly pro-abortion Personal PAC overplayed its hand. Now it has the Catholic Church's hierarchy with which to contend.

The bill “will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed,” the Cardinal explains.

He evokes Abraham Lincoln's 1844 defense of Catholics' “rights of conscience,” even though his Whig Party is described as “often anti-Catholic.”

The entire entire letter follows:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

In the midst of Lent, with its drama of sin and grace, of evil and good, I write about a threat to our freedom to practice our religion in our State.

Before the Illinois General Assembly there is a proposal (HB 2354, the “Reproductive Health and Access Act”) that would remove the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers.

Thirty years ago, we were told that abortion is a rare but necessary tragedy and that abortion providers should not be legally punished.

Today we are being told that abortion is a human right and that those who qualify it in any manner or who will not provide it should be legally punished.

This proposed law will drive Catholic doctors and nurses from health care and will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed.

In our country, we recognize conscientious objection to war, even though defending one’s country is a noble and moral act.

We recognize the conscientious objection of those doctors who will not cooperate in administering the death penalty, even for terrible crimes.

Why do some Illinois legislators want to take away conscientious objection to abortion?

The enemies of human life and religious freedom in Illinois are well funded.

Pressure on legislators is great and is increasing.

I ask you to contact your Representative this week to express your dismay that the Illinois legislature, elected democratically, would debate a bill that removes freedom of conscientious decision-making for health care workers as a condition of their employment.

If, as we are told, the State should not come between a doctor and a mother, then surely all can agree that the State should not come between a health care worker and God.

We have, unfortunately, had to get used to the fact that our laws no longer protect unborn human life; now we are to get used to the fact that our laws will no longer protect conscience.

In 1844, Abraham Lincoln broke with his own party, the often anti-Catholic Whigs, and proposed:

“Resolved, that the guarantee of the rights of conscience, as found in our Constitution, is most sacred and inviolable, and one that belongs no less to the Catholic, than to the Protestant; and that all attempts to abridge or interfere with these rights, either of Catholic or Protestant, directly or indirectly, have our decided disapprobation, and shall ever have our most effective opposition.”

Illinois HB 2354 betrays the legacy of Lincoln in his home State.

This proposed law will rend the already fragile garment of our civic unity and further alienate many from our government. Catholics and all people of good will should work to ensure its defeat. I also ask you to thank those legislators who are courageously opposing HB 2354 and to pray for those who are supporting it. To contact your legislator, please go to www.ilga.gov, or call 312-368-1066.

Thank you and God bless you.



Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

Other stories that might be of interest:

3-28-9 Saturday Demonstration in Front of Jack Franks' Woodstock Office

3-30-9 Anatomy of a Demonstration

3-31-9 HB 2354 Video Shows Disappointment, Pleas for Changing of Mind and Promises of Opposition

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 31, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,508 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 31, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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ICPR Finds Contract Lobbyists Were Paid $6 Million in Government Funds to Influence State Government

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

But Private Sector Spending on Lobbying Remains a Secret in Illinois

Local governments and public agencies spent more than $6 million to hire professional lobbyists to influence Illinois state government last year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR).

"Because Illinois has relatively weak laws to regulate lobbying activity and transparency, it’s impossible to know specifics about lobbyists’ work," said David Morrison, Deputy Director of ICPR and lead researcher and writer of the report. "Nor can the public know the cost of lobbying on behalf of private organizations that are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)."

There are more than 1,500 professional lobbyists paid to influence Illinois government. If it were not for FOIA, the public would have no idea how much money is involved. Most neighboring Midwestern states, and most large industrial states, provide the public with far more information about lobbying and lobbyists than does Illinois.

Morrison noted that the public knows even less about the tens of millions of dollars spent on lobbying by private special interest groups, such as corporations and labor unions, because their contracts are not public documents.

“There’s a lot of money flowing to lobbyists, private professionals who are paid to influence state policy,” Morrison said. “In most cases, we don’t know what these lobbyists are doing: who they’re talking to, what agenda items they’re pushing, and what they're trying to block.”

Illinois law requires lobbyists to disclose meals, gifts, and travel paid for by lobbyists. But what special interests pay lobbyists, and which clients are footing the bills for those meals, gifts, and travel, is a mystery.

Even worse, some of the lobbying firms hired by local governments did not comply with state ethics laws related to their work. Illinois law requires professional lobbyists to register with the Secretary of State and disclose their clients before performing work. ICPR found several who did not register themselves or their clients in a timely manner; some did not register themselves or their clients at all.

Morrison said ICPR’s analysis demonstrates the need for greater disclosure and more transparency as it relates to lobbying on the state level. He noted that the federal government, many other states and even Cook County and the City of Chicago have more comprehensive sunshine requirements for their lobbyists.

“Illinoisans are being kept in the dark about lobbying and how it affects their government,” Morrison said. “We need new laws mandating greater transparency so that the public can get a better handle on how their taxpayer dollars are being spent and how special interest groups are influencing their government.”

This is ICPR's second report on lobbying expenditures by units of governments. The report covering FY2007 found $5 million in spending. Among the 96 units of governments in both reports, total spending on lobbying grew 15% since last year.

The report recommends changes to Illinois' Lobbyist Registration Act, including:

• All lobbyists, whether representing a government or private entity, should be required to disclose the terms of lobbying contracts, including financial arrangements.
• Lobbyists hiring other lobbyists as subcontractors should disclose whether the subcontractors are lobbying for all or only some of the primary lobbyist’s clients.
• Units of government should be required to acknowledge that they have hired a lobbyist.
• There should be a "cooling-off period" between the time a government employee or official leaves public service and his or her engagement as a lobbyist targeting former colleagues.
• The Secretary of State should have the clear authority to audit lobbyist disclosure reports and punish violators.

To comment, please visit ICPR's blog.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 30, 2009

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 29, 2009

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 28, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,420 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 28, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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Transit and taxpayers

By Bethany Jaeger
Mass transit advocates say Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed capital program needs an overhaul and relies on “fuzzy math,” and they look to an increase in the state’s motor fuel tax to help pump more money into transportation projects.


Quinn said this week that he wants to see the start of a capital program approved by the legislature by April 3. “I think it should be for roads, bridges and public transit. We shouldn’t forget that one of the key things of reducing our reliance on petroleum and foreign oil is having good public transit, as well as improving our roads and bridges.”

Yet, his proposal to provide about $4.6 billion for mass transit systems over five years doesn’t satisfy Chicago-based civic organizations. They said that Quinn’s plan relies more on federal funds and matching grants, including only about $1.5 billion in new state spending for transit.

“It’s not even enough money to cover the basic maintenance and repair needs to keep the [Chicago] region’s transit network in its current condition, much less to upgrade the transit network,” said Brian Imus, state director of Illinois Public Interest Research Group. He joined leaders of Chicago Metropolis 2020 and the Metropolitan Planning Council today in a teleconference.

Given the economy, a business and labor-based group called the Transportation for Illinois Coalition recently reduced it’s request for transportation infrastructure from $23 billion over five years to $13.5 billion over five years, but that would only fund a “minimally adequate, maintenance- and safety-focused program.”

To reach the $13.5 billion, it would take about a 13-cent increase in the state’s motor fuel tax, said Chicago Metropolis 2020 Vice President Jim LaBelle. The motor fuel tax has been 19 cents a gallon since 1990. If it were adjusted for inflation, it would be about 32 cents, he said.

Quinn, however, opposes the motor fuel tax increase. The idea has support from Senate President John Cullerton, and the House currently is considering HB 1, which would increase the tax by 8 cents a gallon.

LaBelle said his organization would support a motor fuel tax increase if it were accompanied by reforms to the way the state prioritizes construction projects and distributes the money. The group supports HB 2359, Rep. Kathy Ryg’s bill that we wrote about earlier this week. It would create regional transportation policy groups to advise the Illinois Department of Transportation when ranking projects.

Peter Skosey, vice president at the Metropolitan Planning Council, agreed with the need for a new planning process. “We for too long have spent our dollars based upon arbitrary geographies and political clout and less upon strategic investments.”

Watch whether Ryg’s measure combines with Rep. John Bradley’s 8-cent increase in the motor fuel tax to create a new revenue source, as well as a new way of distributing that money to transportation projects.


The state's TAB
By Jamey Dunn
The state’s new Taxpayer Action Board, created by Gov. Pat Quinn by executive order, held its first meeting today. The board plans to explore only ways to reduce spending, not ways to find new revenue sources, according to Tom Johnson, chairman of the new board and president of the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois. (He’s also a former director of the Illinois Department of Revenue during Gov. Jim Thompson’s administration.)

The board is supposed to make recommendations by May 22, nine days before the state constitutional deadline for the General Assembly to adjourn for the summer.

The board is charged with proposing ways to streamline government operations to save money, particularly for Medicaid, education, human services, as well as pensions and health care benefits for state workers.

The board is comprised of former lawmakers, policy experts, educators, business leaders, tax experts and individuals from health care and human services. Organizations such as the Metropolitan Planning Council and the Illinois Farm Bureau also have members on the board.

Jerry Stermer, Quinn’s chief of staff, said at the meeting that the board was formed to get a new perspective on the state’s deficit from people who represent their communities. “Maybe we’ve asked some of these questions before, but let’s ask them again. Let’s ask them in a different way, and let’s see if there are some redesigns, some reshuffling of the deck,” he said.

The state Senate also formed a special Deficit Reduction Committee, which issued a bare bones report with pages of testimony but few recommendations after four weeks of public hearings. See more here.

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6 Ailing Chimps Quarantined After Seventh Dies

This is very unfortunate. I hope that they find out what's wrong with these chimps before another one dies. And I hope the chimps are back on display soon!

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 27, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,389 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 27, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 26, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,350 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 26, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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Starting points, but no consensus, yet

By Hilary Russell and Jamey Dunn
It's the time of year when legislative leaders continue to say everything is on the table, but nothing seems to be falling to the ground.

The Senate’s special Deficit Reduction Committee ended today without any clearer answers about solving the state’s financial crisis than when the committee started meeting a month ago. Gov. Pat Quinn also held a meeting with Republican leaders and business leaders today in the Statehouse in an attempt to find some consensus.

Neither provided a common ground. But they did provide more "starting points."



“We had a really good discussion and dialogue,” Quinn said. “I’m sure not everyone is of the same mind, but I think it’s healthy to have a discussion about our economic crisis. The statistics yesterday were extremely sobering.” The state’s unemployment rate reached 8.6 percent, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

The meeting included House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont and business leaders, including the Tooling and Manufacturing Association and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

The special Senate committee charged with finding consensus about where to cut spending out of the state budget with little consensus. Here's the report.

“What we did not come up with in the past four weeks — and this was not the intent of this committee — we did not come up with the final solution,” said Sen. Donne Trotter, co-chair of the committee and a Chicago Democrat. “We did, in fact, meet and define some parameters in which we should start this appropriation process as we go forward with the strong intent to be out of here by May 31.”

Republicans want to cut spending and avoid raising taxes.

“We heard many people from this committee who passionately and sincerely believe that raising taxes is essential,” said co-chair Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican. “Speaking for myself, … I think the proposal to raise taxes is profoundly misguided. Raising taxes in Illinois will cost more Illinoisans their jobs. Period. With 8.6 percent unemployment, we cannot afford to lose any more jobs.”

Quinn proposed a 1.5 percentage point increase in the state income tax as part of his budget plan for next fiscal year, which is projected to have up to a $12.4 billion deficit.

Democrats, in turn, said cutting spending is not nearly enough to fill the gap.

“I hope we can also agree that we cannot solely cut our way out of this deficit,” said Sen. John Sullivan, a Rushville Democrat. “The cuts will be, to say the least, drastic and devastating, and when you talk about making some of the cuts that would be necessary to balance this budget, we would be laying off thousands of people across the state of Illinois to do that.”

One way to increase the number of jobs available is for the legislature to pass a capital bill; the problem reverts to how to pay for it.

Quinn proposes funding the capital plan through fee increases and some new tax revenues. Republicans oppose that idea and support gaming as a funding source.

One example is to legalize video gaming. Sullivan said revisiting gaming as a funding source for a capital plan, however, is a mistake. He said that two previous capital bills that included gaming advanced through the Senate with bipartisan support, but they stalled in the House. “We tried it. It didn’t work. There wasn’t enough support in both chambers for it to become law,” he said. “So, why are we still having that discussion?”

Sullivan suggested that lawmakers move on to an income tax increase or come up with some new suggestions for funding sources.

Watch for Republicans to release some proposals next week. In the meantime, Murphy said that some of the broad suggestions made by the committee such as Medicaid and pension reforms are important starting points. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is the need to pass a capital plan. “We just have to get around to doing it and stop making excuses,” Murphy said.
Quinn remains opposed to gambling expansion. " I think it's a bad bet. Take a look at some of the stocks at these gambling firms. I don't think you'd want to buy those penny stocks today.”

Video gaming advances in the House
By Bethany Jaeger
Meanwhile, a House committee advanced a bill that would legalize video poker machines and tax them, potentially generating between $300 million and $500 million a year, according to Rep. Frank Mautino, the Democratic sponsor. He would dedicate the revenue to school construction projects, starting with a list of 23 schools that have been waiting for money that the state promised to them since 2002.

“The realization is that some of the things in the governor’s budget proposal are going to fail,” Mautino said shortly after his bill sailed through committee. “And so there have to be other alternatives that are out there. I don’t think the speaker’s interested in a big gambling package, but here’s something that we have to make a decision to either get rid of it or tax it — because they’re producing this money one way or the other.

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Party politics

By Bethany Jaeger
Politics often intertwine with state government, but it’s not often that state government tries to control the operations of political parties.



Democrats today advanced a measure that would force the Republican Party to change the way it selects State Central Committee members to match the process of the Democrats. Currently, the general public elects Republican precinct committeemen, who then internally select people to lead the GOP State Central Committee. On the contrary, the Democratic State Central Committee members are elected directly by voters during primary elections.

Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat and an assistant majority leader in his chamber, is the new sponsor of HB 825, which would require open ballots for Republican State Central Committee members, too. He said the change would improve transparency and would respond to Republicans’ repeated argument that voters elect someone to replace U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, a Democrat appointed by impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Republicans debated the idea of letting voters elect their State Central Committee members but rejected it during a statewide convention last year.

Yet, a similar bill, SB 600, is sponsored by Republican Sen. Chris Lauzen and has the support of Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. Several top Democrats also have signed on in support. Patty Schuh, spokeswoman for Senate Republicans, said while the caucus is split on the measure, it's peculiar that Democrats want to have such a heavy hand in the way Republicans conduct their own business.

Rep. Michael Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican, said political parties are private organizations that should have the right to self-governance, and it would be “very wrong” for one political party to dictate to another how to operate.

Rep. Skip Saviano, an Elmwood Park Republican who also is a Republican State Central Committee members, said the Democratic leadership flat out is trying to retaliate against Republicans for calling them out on inconsistencies over how to handle Burris’ controversial appointment. It also would kick the GOP when it’s already down, when they hold minorities in both chambers and don’t hold a single constitutional office. “This is an attempt to keep the Republican Party in disarray,” Saviano said to Lang during a House committee this morning.

Saviano said there’s been a longstanding agreement that each political party could conduct its own business. “Now, they’ve crossed the line.”

Then again, the numbers favor the Democrats, which have enough votes to send the bill to the Senate without a single Republican vote. “If they want it to be a done deal, Democrats could pass it and hijack the Republican Party,” Saviano said. “I mean, that’s what this is all about.”

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 25, 2009

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Will the "cutting committee" cut much?

By Jamey Dunn and Hilary Russell
The state’s budget deficit could be worse than Gov. Pat Quinn’s projection of $11.6 billion next fiscal year. But some education-funding reform advocates see a silver lining in that the dire budget constraints could open the door for a longstanding effort to restructure the way Illinois pays for public education.


They’re again supporting a so-called tax swap, which would increase the state income tax and expand the state sales tax to apply to services. The new revenues would help offer property tax relief. Sen. James Meeks, a Chicago Democrat who has been pushing the idea for seven years, says relying less on property taxes to fund public education would help address funding disparities between property rich and property poor school districts.

We’ll find out tomorrow morning whether such tax reforms will be included in a series of recommendations that a special bipartisan committee will pass along to legislative leaders as they try to figure out how to balance next year’s state budget. The special committee is led by a rare co-chairmanship of one Democrat and one Republican. Sen. Donne Trotter is the Democratic chairman. He said the committee is considering recommending such revenue changes as a tax swap, as well as other changes to the public employee pension system, that both parties can support.

“There’s probably going to be a larger stack of things that we could agree upon than things that we can’t,” Trotter said. However, he added that there’s a good chance that the committee could produce a majority and minority opinion reports.

Trotter said Meeks’ tax reforms have support from committee members of both political parties.

Legislators’ reluctance to raise state income taxes has been one of the main roadblocks to various tax swap proposals advanced in the past seven years, but Meeks said the likelihood of an income tax hike this year creates a “now or never” opportunity for reform. The latest proposal, SB 750, would raise the state income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent for individuals and from 4 percent to 8 percent for corporations.

While the tax reforms traditionally have been proposed as a way to reform education funding, Meeks said he’s open to using new tax revenues to plug the state’s budget deficit for up to two years. But then it would have to switch to fund education. If lawmakers only consider the deficit, he said, “we’ll end up raising taxes, but we won’t end up fixing anything.”

Ralph Martire, executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, supports Meeks’ plan for education funding and said there’s an added reason (scroll down) to reform the state’s tax structure. “The bottom line is Illinois cannot get to a balanced budget situation without adjusting both of its major taxes,” he said. He added that expanding the state sales tax could allow for a lower rate.

The Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois opposes the bill because, according to organization president Tom Johnson, property tax is a reliable revenue source for local governments even in hard times. He added that the state may not be able to keep up with the property tax relief, which he said could “vanish in a relatively short period of time.”

Tomorrow morning’s Budget Deficit Reduction Committee will wrap up four weeks of testimony, which started out by focusing more on what agencies and advocates couldn’t live without than what they were willing to cut. The last two meetings have changed the focus to more concrete examples of ways the state could generate money while it also saved money.

Sen. Matt Murphy, the Republican co-chair from Palatine, said: “I love the idea of restraining future growth for spending because there’s never gonna be enough tax revenue if we don’t get a handle on the spending. I look forward to coming out with a collection of deficit reduction measures that we think can help fill this hole and do it in a way that’s productive for the long-term benefits for the state.”

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 24, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,270 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 24, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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Countdown to capital begins

By Bethany Jaeger and Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn wants at least a portion of his statewide plan for major construction projects approved by the General Assembly before April 3. That’s the last session day scheduled before legislators are supposed to head home for a two-week spring break, and Quinn reportedly said today that he thinks they should bypass spring break to work on a capital plan.


The $26 billion plan, called Illinois Jobs Now, eventually would fund infrastructure, mass transit, railroad improvements, new school buildings, housing, conservation projects, and water treatment projects. Two new projects also would include an airport near Chicago’s south suburbs and the construction of the first veterans’ home within Chicago.

The proposed funding mechanisms, as usual, spark controversy. If Quinn’s budget plan were approved, vehicle-related fees would help fund road and bridge construction. (Driver’s license fees would increase from $10 to $20; license plate fees would go from $79 to $99; and vehicle registration fees would rise from $15 to $30.) Mass transit projects would be funded by title transfer fees, which would increase from $65 to $105.

Plans to build new schools, then, would be funded by shaving a portion of tax revenues typically given to local governments.

In addition to federal stimulus money, Quinn also proposes using about $150 million a year from the state’s dedicated Road Fund. That would allow the state to bond/borrow money to pay for projects specifically for roads and bridges.

That’s one portion of a capital plan that could be done by April 3. Senate President John Cullerton said it could be realistic for the legislature to approve increasing the amount the state may borrow for the purposes of kick-starting a road program and tapping into federal matching funds.

The part of the capital plan that will take the longest to negotiate is other sources of funding, especially if it's intertwined with an attempt to increase the state income tax rate or motor fuel tax rate. For instance, Cullerton said he still supports the idea of increasing the state’s 19-cent tax on each gallon of motor fuel, which hasn’t changed since 1990. He describes the motor fuel tax as a traditional way to pay for roads, and because it’s a so-called user fee, people could adjust their lifestyles if they didn’t want to pay more. (Senate Democrats are working on a plan that would increase the tax by about 16 cents, while the House is considering a bill to increase the tax by 8 cents.) According to Cullerton, an 8-cent increase could generate $500 million.

Sen. Martin Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat who chairs the Transportation Committee in his chamber, agreed that an increase in the gasoline tax has support in the legislature and would fund a “robust” capital plan. He’s sponsoring SB 200, which doesn’t have language, yet, but could be used to advance a motor fuel tax bill.

Sandoval is one critic of Quinn’s capital plan because, he said, he’s concerned it would be unfair to Chicago. “Mass transit takes a huge hit at a time when we’re preparing for the Olympics, at a time when we’re trying to protect the environment, at a time when we’re trying to put people back to work. Gov. Quinn is going in the wrong direction when it relates to mass transit.”

Under Quinn’s proposed budget, the Chicago-area Regional Transportation Authority would lose $32 million in grants for operating assistance. Public transportation also would lose about $42 million, but that’s based on decreased sales tax revenues. Downstate transportation districts, on the other hand, would see an increase of about $24 million.

Jennifer Morrison, managing director of the Transportation for Illinois Coalition, said that her organization was encouraged by Quinn's emphasis on a long-awaited capital plan but that the funding for mass transit, highways and local roads would be “way too small to make any meaningful impact.” She added that the budget plan is “more than a little unclear” about which revenue sources would be designated to which projects.

While neither Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno nor House Minority Leader Tom Cross supports Quinn’s fee increases, they said last week that they do hope to meet with the governor to work out a compromise.

Another part of the plan that will take a long time to negotiate is how the money would be distributed throughout the state. Not only could it differ depending on the source of revenue approved by the legislature, but it also could change if Democratic Rep. Kathleen Ryg of Vernon Hills has her say.

She wants the planning process to empower local stakeholders through various metropolitan planning organizations. House Bill 2359 would create a new advisory committee to the Illinois Department of Transportation when prioritizing road projects. Ryg said the new committee would help assure taxpayers and state officials that the limited amount of money available would be spent on the best use, particularly as a capital bill is drafted and new revenue sources are generated.

The recent appointment of Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig, a former state representative and budget expert for House Democrats, actually could help the measure advance. Ryg said this afternoon that she changed her bill from its original form in response to concerns expressed by Hannig shortly after his transition from the legislature to the state agency. Now Ryg's bill would ensure more representation for all areas of the state, including those that don't have metropolitan planning organizations.

Her bill also would change the way projects would get funded. Currently, engineers distribute money based on such factors as the condition of roads, the traffic flow and the population served. Ryg said her bill would fund the greatest maintenance needs first, and then the regional groups would advise the Transportation Department on other local needs. All areas of the state would be evaluated under the same set of new criteria.

Regardless of which revenue sources the General Assembly ultimately agrees upon, the influx of money has some legislators nervous about whether their districts will benefit. So watch for the concept in Ryg’s bill to serve as a potential “accountability” measure, meant to assure legislators that, at the least, their areas would be represented in the decision-making process.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 23, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,247 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 23, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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SIU Poll: Majority of >100K respondents favor a higher tax rate on high incomes

This report is a few months old, but particularly timely.

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University conducted a poll last fall and asked Illinois respondents what revenue-generators they would support. The most popular way for the State to raise more money was a federal-style progressive income tax where higher incomes pay a higher rate than lower incomes. 65.9 percent of respondents favored a progressive income tax.





Interestingly, while 74.2 percent of respondents who make less than $50K annually favored a progressive tax, and 68.9 percent of those who make between $50K and $100K favored the tax, more than half of the people who make more than $100K and would presumably pay the higher rate still favored a higher rate for themselves. 57.5% of the respondents who make more than $100,000 support a higher rate for higher incomes. (See page 26 of Professor Charles Leonard's Public Policy Institute Occasional Paper #12 to read the report yourself.)

Governor Quinn's proposal to raise the state's flat rate income tax rate from 3% to 4.5% combined with the uber-progressive move to triple the amount of tax-free income from $2,000 to $6,000 is as close to setting up a progressive tax as the General Assembly can get, since the Constitution unfortunately mandates a flat rate.

So while it is not only the right thing to do to tax lower income people less than higher income people (why would we possibly tax people who are earning money below the poverty line?), according to the SIU poll, it is also the most popular option on the table -- even among the people who would pay more.

I suspect a progressive income tax is popular because it is the right thing to do.

Cross-posted with Progressive Advocacy

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New Mexico Sends Contribution Limits Measure to Governor

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

Bill Richardson Expected to Sign
Soon only 4 States will have Wide-Open Campaign Finance Systems

Late last Friday, the New Mexico House of Representative gave final approval to a bill to create a system of campaign contribution limits. The proposal would prohibit donations to statewide candidates in excess of $5,000 per election from individuals and $10,000 from political committees. Non—statewide candidates would be barred from receiving more than $2,300 per election from individuals and $5,000 from committees.

The measure was filed at the behest of Gov. Bill Richardson, who has indicated that he will sign it.

New Mexico is currently one of only 5 states with no limits at all on campaign donations; Illinois is another. Contribution limits proposal are pending in the Illinois General Assembly: HB 24, SB 1768 and SB 1604. Call your legislator to tell them you don’t want to have to move to New Mexico to find legislators willing to tackle this problem. Call 800-719-3020 today and call for change.

To comment, please visit ICPR's blog.

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While Molski is Pessimistic about Flossmoor's Future, Braun Looks Forward

The local League of Women Voters held their Flossmoor Candidates Forum on Thursday, March 19 at the Flossmoor Library. More than 50 people showed up, including members of several candidate's families. There were several pieces of news out of the Forum, but perhaps the most interesting news was the sharp contrasts between the two mayoral candidates. Roger Molski was stuck on his "we can't do that" meme, while challenger Paul Braun was thinking creatively, offering fresh ideas and basically reminding us, Yes We Can.

Roger Molski was first with his opening statement. He mentioned that he came to Flossmoor because it resembled Grosse Point, MI. Then he told us why he was running for re-election:

I am terribly proud to say that I am the Mayor of Flossmoor and my mother who passed away last year was *really* proud to tell everyone in the world that Roger is the Mayor of Flossmoor.

He ended:

It's a team effort, and I am very, very proud to be Mayor and head of this team.

Then Paul Braun got up and introduced himself:

I am running because I believe that village government can do more for our residents than what's been going on. I am running because I believe that we can continue to maintain high quality public services -- police and fire -- and public works while at the same time doing more to increase economic development for our town.

Then Braun noted the biggest difference between his candidacy and that of Molski.

Washington has decided to pump 787 billion dollars into our economy and my question is, will Flossmoor be there to take advantage of that.

Braun laid out a strategy for getting more federal (and state) dollars into Flossmoor. Molski would later say, "They can't help us."

Braun ended by saying:

I am running because I'm passionate and I care about our town.

The first question asked by an audience member of the mayoral candidates was, "What changes will you try to make that is different than what's going on at the present time?"

Braun took the first crack at it:

My focus primarily is on economic development for our town in terms of making changes for the future. As I said in my opening statement, we're in the middle of a perfect storm, and while we're going to do everything we can to attract business to our community, new business to our community that's compatible with our community, I believe that for the next two year period we really need to be chasing dollars that are going to come from Washington and from the state of Illinois.

Braun said that he wants to be on the board of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, and that Flossmoor should join the Illinois Municipal League. Finally, he said:

we also need to be federally involved, as well. I'm committed to go to Washington, if necessary, to go knock on doors to get the funds that are necessary for our town. Because with those funds, that takes the pressure off of us, our taxpayers, the resident's tax burden. Some of you may have seen that a number of our recent mayors went to Washington and that we did not.

He ended by saying that if we don't get more active, "We could lose out on the dollars that are available to us."

Roger Molski then said,

The changes that you're going to see in the next four years in the village will revolve around economic development. I have been working ver, veryy hard for a long period of time, I've become a semi-expert on commercial development.

As a so-called "expert on commercial development," Roger Molski is the first and only mayor in Flossmoor -- probably in the South Suburbs -- to bring *blight* to our village. Then he pooh-poohed the idea of getting stimulus dollars for Flossmoor:

Washington will not reduce your tax dollars but good solid commercial developments in our TIF area will.

This is one of the reasons that people who know Roger Molski question his judgment, whether he is capable of leading in the 21st century. Molski's record of development in the past four years was to bring in a (now) bankrupt developer who happens to be a personal friend of his. He rammed the project through the board -- despite the questions that were raised about the troubled developer. Molski took $88,000 a year in property tax revenues off our tax rolls and left a black hole in the heart of our downtown commercial district.

Why should Flossmoor not be a contender for federal stimulus dollars? Molski's reasoning is unclear. Probably it's too much work for him. He seems to prefer to continue what he knows -- that is, bringing more blight to Flossmoor!

Then they were asked about whether Flossmoor should have business licenses for local businesses. Paul Braun noted that the question was first posed to him by the downtown Flossmoor business association who were actually in favor of commercial business licenses. "I'm not exactly opposed to it," he concluded. Roger Molski flatly stated, "We're not going to do it."

Another audience member asked, What is Flossmoor doing to obtain its share of stimulus money?

Roger Molski was a little perturbed:

If it's to be gotten, we're going to get our share for the projects that the trustees cited.

Paul Braun noted that Flossmoor was really depending upon our village manager and staff for requests for federal stimulus dollars. Where other cities have their mayors being aggressive about getting federal money, Molski was on vacation during the height of the process. Braun promised to be more proactive. He has "a totally different take on things:"

I think we were a bit late in terms of getting that information, not through any fault of anybody at this point, other than the fact that we're not focused on looking a bit outside our village in terms of regional, state and federal matters. So, in terms of getting economic stimulus dollars, yes, we're going to get trickle down at this point. But what I'm talking about is actually going after it, instead of waiting for it to come to us by sending letters and applying for projects, we need to be out there.

He then quoted a Southtown Star article that quoted Blue Island Mayor Don Peloquin:

Communities with more clout, more village officials on political boards and mayors with more time to lobby on behalf of their towns usually have more access to money, Peloquin said.

Braun concluded:

I plan on doing a lot more than just waiting for the money to trickle down to us, we need to apply for it. We need to be out there actively seeking it and that means outside of our village.

The next question asked was, What plans does Flossmoor have for foreclosed or empty housing?

Molski claimed that the number wasn't that high and there wasn't a lot that we can do about it.

But as far as what we can do as a village, it's very limited.

Paul Braun was thinking about how to make Flossmoor more attractive to new people coming into the village:

If we can maintain the current tax level, which will be difficult, that makes Flossmoor more attractive to new people coming into town to turn these houses over.

He said that's why he's so interested in pursuing federal and state dollars, to ease the tax burdens of Flossmoor residents.

Why aren't the streets better maintained?

Roger Molski noted Flossmoor Road is a county road and the village isn't responsible for it:

It's their road. And we're willing to a transfer of that road if they completely rebuild it.

This speaks to one of the other complaints that people have about the current mayor. He doesn't seem to have influence with other local officials, to get them to keep their word to him or to Flossmoor.

Paul Braun noted that the federal stimulus package had some infrastructure money with it. He wants to apply for federal money to resurface all the roads in Flossmoor.

We need to be out there. SSMA is responsible for dishing out those funds, so let's get there and let's get an application in.

How does a store with a liquor license across the street from 3,000 students fit in with the character of Flossmoor?

Paul Braun answered bluntly:

It doesn't.

Braun wants to get community input about what residents think about Molski's latest idea.

Going forward, I don't think it's the proper location. You'll hear others say, 'well, they can go to the Jewel or they can go elsewhere,' well let them go elsewhere. I don't think we need that across the street from the high school at this point. I don't think it sets the proper example.

Then Braun noted that the high school is against this:

But, again, the high school district does not want it. 233, I've talked to school board, they do not want liquor at that location. So that tells you something right off the bat. If they don't want it, I don't see why the village needs to press it.

Molski re-acted defensively. "That is a done deal, it's been approved," Molski said. "It's been approved, it's going to be there."

The CVS is approved, everything about it is done, it's going there.

What kind of relationship does Flossmoor have with Metra and CN to maintain the Via Duct?

Paul Braun noted that he's heard complaints about the Flossmoor station, and that "Over all, we have as good a relationship as any other local town does have with Metra." He also said: "We've had our challenges from time to time in terms of maintenance issues regarding Via Duct."

Molski responded by basically pointing to his lack of influence:

The Canadian National people are difficult people to deal with. Their philosophy sometimes is that "we were there first."

"We're constantly on them," Molski ended. In other words, Roger Molski is doing everything he can. And it isn't good enough. His record -- which is what he wants people to use as their guide in voting in this race -- is one of failure.

What can be done about Flossmoor Square?

Paul Braun observed that "Flossmoor Square has caused us much community pain." I suppose we ought to say that Molski counts this vacant lot continually in his list of accomplishments, but I suspect Braun is right. For everyone except the mayor, this blight does cause us pain. Isn't it nice that the mayor has some place besides Flossmoor to go home to, so he doesn't wake up to this black hole in our commercial district every day?

Must be nice.

Braun suggested that we should "clean it up now" -- and, more importantly, that the village should be more proactive in staving off the "rumor mill." Most of us know that Chuck Bruti went through bankruptcy, but the mayor prevented the village from keeping up on that process -- probably because Bruti was the mayor's friend and Flossmoor Square was the mayor's project. Braun concluded:

We have to do something, this wait and see is not working. Its a top priority for me if I'm elected mayor.

Molski was basically in denial. He suggested that the economic downturn started four years ago, and that's the reason why Flossmoor Square has failed. "We can't do anything about it," Molski claimed.

He is wrong. Roger Molski may not be able to do something about it, but that's largely because he doesn't have the ability to lead Flossmoor or the vision to take it into the future.

Molski concluded the night by asking people to vote on his record. Are you happy with the empty lot in the heart of our downtown that Molski brought to Flossmoor in the last four years? Are you happy with the fact that Molski is bringing in a store that sells liquor across the street from H-F High School (against their wishes)? Are you happy with Molski being in vacation in Florida while other local mayors were in Washington, DC asking for stimulus money for their communities?

This is Roger Molski's record for the past four years. He may be proud of it. But I don't think too many of us who actually live here can afford it any more. Roger Molski is far too focused on what we can't do. Paul Braun reminds us, Yes We Can. The choice is stark, and the implications are clear.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 22, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,223 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 22, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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50% Tax Hike Not Enough

One of the states mega-taxeating advocates State Senator and Rev. James Meeks thinks a 50% income tax is not high enough.

That's what Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown reported yesterday.

How does Brown feel?

Here's the end of his column:

“...I support his overall goal. If we're going to raise the income tax, this is the time to deal with education funding, too.

“There are more legislators than you might expect who are willing to raise taxes, even in this economy, but if they're going to take the political hit, they're only going to do it once, and they're going to want to have something more to show for it than getting the state's bills paid more quickly.”

And, if this McHenry County Blog interests you, this one about Pat Quinn tax hike editorial cartoons might be of interest.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 21, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,535 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 2, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 20, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,162 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 20, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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About that "50% Increase"

As the graph below will show you, the much-balleyhooed "50%" tax increase fails to ring true. We found this out when looking at what the Effective tax rate is currently, versus what it would be under Gov. Quinn's plan. As you see, the tax increase tops out at about 20% for any family of 4 that could consider themselves middle class.

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This Is a Joke, Right?

Let's see. The budget supposedly has a $11 billion deficit and its predecessor is getting an award.

Here's the citation below the award:

“The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA)presented a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award to the State of Illinois, for its annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2008 (fiscal year 2009). According to GFOA, this award “reflects the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting.

"In order to receive this award, a governmental unit must satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well the entity’s budget serves as a policy document, as an operations guide, as a financial plan, and as a communications device.

“The Government Finance Officers Association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program, established in 1984, recognizes exemplary budget documentation by state, provincial and local governments, as well as public universities and colleges. Entities participating in the program submit copies of their operating budgets for review. Each budget document is evaluated using a comprehensive evaluation checklist and those judged proficient receive the award.

“We are very pleased to have received this national recognition. We believe our current budget continues to conform to program requirements, and we are submitting it to GFOA to determine its eligibility for another award.”

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 19, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,107 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 19, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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Legislators eye "adjustments"

By Bethany Jaeger, Jamey Dunn and Hilary Russell
Gov. Pat Quinn wrote his 40-minute Budget Address himself, just one indication of the change under the Capitol dome since the impeachment and removal of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.


Wearing glasses and a navy blue suit, Quinn opened his speech Wednesday before the General Assembly to a standing ovation from Democrats and Republicans. But the tone soon changed when Quinn described the context in which he proposes a bold spending and revenue plan:

• An integrity crisis — The state citizenry is damaged and embarrassed by the “bipartisan betrayal” of former Govs. George Ryan, a Republican serving in federal prison, and Blagojevich, a Democrat fighting federal corruption allegations.
• A fiscal crisis — The budget deficit is projected to be $11.6 billion by the end of fiscal year 2010, and the state can’t afford to pay nearly $5 billion in overdue bills.
• An economic crisis — Unemployment is rising to nearly 8 percent.

“To be direct and honest, our state is facing its greatest crisis in modern times," Quinn said.

David Merriman, an economist and professor of public administration with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, said in stark contrast to the budgets proposed by Blagojevich, “Quinn’s proposals are transparent, and the effects are relatively simple to identify. There is little or no smoke and mirrors.”

Senate President John Cullerton said he could see the looks on the faces of Democratic and Republican legislators. “Even if you didn’t agree with everything he said, it was just so gratifying to see the reaction of the members based on the governor’s sincerity and his words.”

Cullerton also pointed to the weighty proposals of an income tax increase, a road and school construction program, a reformed pension system and a slight bump in education funding. “It’s a lot of work, and he’s to be congratulated for making those proposals.”

But that doesn’t mean Quinn will get everything he wants. Legislators of both political parties already are eyeing “adjustments,” in Cullerton’s words, to ensure that an income tax increase is used as a last resort.

“If we cut as much as the governor has proposed, and we guarantee that we have paid our bills, and we guarantee that we have a capital bill, then — and only then — do we look to the income tax and determine whether we need it,” Cullerton said. “And, if so, how much we have to raise it?”

Income taxes
As we said last night, Quinn’s blueprint relies on a state income tax increase of 1.5 percentage points for individuals and 2.4 percentage points for businesses. But some of the new tax revenue would be shaved off to provide a heightened personal tax exemption, from the current $2,000 to $6,000 per individual. The net revenue: about $3.15 billion, according to House Democrats.

That’s one area subject to negotiations. Senate Democrats want to look at a personal exemption that’s lower than Quinn’s proposal or, possibly, phasing it in over a few years. Or, while they eventually could sign on to an income tax increase, they might seek a lower rate.

Pensions
Quinn also wants to restructure the public employee pension system, which we wrote about last week. Business groups have been advocating for pension reform for years. Yet, there’s a concern about Quinn’s plan to divert money away from the amount the state is supposed to pay into those systems through 2011.

Quinn proposes changing benefits for newly hired employees. Among other changes, that would increase the retirement age and require them to pay more into their retirement benefits. At the same time, Quinn proposes shorting the amount the state pays into the pension system by $500 million this year and $2.3 billion next fiscal year (CORRECTION: I misread a chart and mistakenly thought there would be a third year of reduced pension funding. I was wrong. There are only two years, totaling $2.8 billion. I sincerely apologize.). The pension reforms are estimated to save about $160 million by 2045.

Cullerton said while he believes the governor’s pension reforms could save money over time, “we just have to examine the numbers and make sure that those savings that we would get in the future would justify lower payments into those funds right now.”

Public employee unions reject the idea in its entirety. According to Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, retiree benefits average about $18,000 a year. He said the state’s debt should have nothing to do with employees who consistently contribute to their benefits. “Cutting future benefits will not reduce the state’s current debt by a single penny, and skipping payments on the basis of such imagined savings will only compound the current crisis.”

State employees
AFSCME also opposes Quinn’s idea of making current employees, minus public safety, health care and university workers, take four unpaid days off, called furlough days, and pay more into their health care plans.

There’s a contract in place, Lindall said. “The state can’t force changes in any of these areas. Under our contract, they have to negotiate it. If they don’t negotiate those changes, we will enforce our contract in court.”

What else is on the table?
Republicans say everything — from budget cuts to expanded gaming — should be on the table before resorting to an income tax increase.

While Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno agreed with parts of Quinn’s proposed budget such as pension reforms and the removal of a gas tax increase as a revenue source, she called an income tax increase “premature and irresponsible right now.”

House Minority Leader Tom Cross agreed that Medicaid spending should be reduced and, he added, lawmakers need to ensure they assess all the possibilities for using federal stimulus funds to help fill in the deficit.

Neither GOP leader would say that the state could pay off its debts without raising taxes, but they both said that tax increases should only be considered when all other options have been exhausted. Both also said that Republicans would be less wary of a tax increase if it would have a set end date.

Expanded gaming as a revenue source isn’t dead, either. Rep. Jim Durkin, a Western Springs Republican, said the state still should consider leasing the Illinois Lottery to a private entity to raise money, which has been tried before. Radogno agreed that the state should look to the “voluntary activity of gambling” for increased revenues.

Democrats also have been considering expanding gaming as a revenue source, although Cullerton said he would not intend to expand gaming as a way to pay for a capital construction plan. He did say gaming could be used to lessen the need for an income tax increase.

We'll talk more about capital plans soon.

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Quinn Hits Business

Unmentioned in Governor Pat Quinn's budget address was what his 50% income tax hike proposal will do to Illinois business.

Here's what the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce says,

“If this plan were passed, Illinois would have the 5th highest corporate income tax rate in the nation, though we would be close to tied for second. Illinois at 9.7% would be surpassed only by Iowa at 12%, Minnesota at 9.8%, Pennsylvania at 9.99%, and DC at 9.975%. (All three of these states have graduated taxes, but the rates shown are the highest rate for that state.)

“This, in combination with lost incentives, would be one more reason for employers to look elsewhere to avoid Illinois’ long‐standing anti‐business climate.”

Since there are no mitigating increases in deductions for business taxpayers, the tax hike would be at least 50% on those who create jobs in Illinois.

Indeed, if “loopholes” are closed for business, its tax burden would increase by more than 50%.

Talk about a reason to think about leaving Illinois...

Or a reason not to expand or bring a new business to Illinois.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog, where you might be interested in reading

A $5 Billion Deficit, Plus $1 Billion a Year in New Spending Equals $11 Billion

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Quinn Tax Reform Calculator

Let's see if this will work on here.

QUINN TAX CALCULATOR

How will you be affected by Governor Quinn's Proposed Tax Reform?

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State of Illinois Governor Quinn’s Proposed Budget Summary

Source: State of Illinois FY2010 Budget Book



FY2010 General Funds Budget:

• Revenues - $33.076 billion (after new proposed revenues)
  
• Operating Expenditures - $30.662 billion
  
• Pay-back short-term borrowing - $2.318 billion
  
• Pay old FY2009 bills - $1.333 billion
  
• Remaining FY2010 budget deficit - $1.237 billion (likely carried over to FY2011)
  

CLOSING THE DEFICIT

Current FY2009 deficit: $4.317 billion

• REVENUE: New FY2009 Federal Stimulus funds: $2.155 billion
  
• REVENUE: Fund sweeps: $199 million
  
• CUT: Pension payments: $550 million
  
• CUT: Other spending decreases: $155 million
  
• INCREASE: One-time Medicaid backlog pay-down: $1.491 billion (necessary to get federal funds)
  

New FY2009 deficit: $2.748 billion.

The State of Illinois will borrow $2.25 billion to pay bills this year and pay it back in FY2010. That leaves $1.333 billion in bills carried over to FY2010, $835 of which was carried over to FY2009 from FY2008.



Projected FY2010 deficit: $7.289 billion

• REVENUE: New FY2010 Federal Stimulus funds: $1.843 billion
  
• REVENUE: Income and corporate income tax increase: $3.207 billion
  
• REVENUE: Loophole closures, fee increases, and fund sweeps: $1.054 billion
  
• CUT: Pension payments: $2.296 billion
  
• CUT: Other spending decreases: $1.303 billion
  

New FY2009 surplus: $2.404 billion.

The State will use some of that surplus ($2.318 billion) to pay-back short-term borrowing. The rest ($97 million) will go toward paying down the $1.333 billion in bills carried over from FY2009 to FY2010.

We will be updating our information all day and in the weeks ahead as it comes out. Head on over to Wonkish.com for updates and a nifty Quinn Tax Reform calculator.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 18, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,071 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 18, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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Share the wealth and spread the pain

By Bethany Jaeger, with Jamey Dunn and Hilary Russell contributing
The theme of Gov. Pat Quinn’s first budget proposal, which will be announced at noon Wednesday before the General Assembly, is “shared sacrifice.”



It is “a very difficult budget, but it’s an honest budget,” Jack Lavin, Quinn’s chief operating officer, said during a Springfield budget briefing tonight. “It’s an honest budget that we present the people of Illinois to address the tsunami of red ink that we are facing, but it’s one worth having — shared sacrifice, shared responsibility — to address this unprecedented budget crisis.”

The tsunami of red ink he’s talking about is the recent $11.6 billion deficit projected by the end of next fiscal year. The budget proposal needs to go through the legislative process, meaning it’s far from a done deal. For it to become law, Quinn will have to persuade lawmakers to take a series of politically tough votes.

The most controversial item would be to increase the state income tax rate on individuals and businesses. The rate levied on individuals would rise from 3 percent to 4.5 percent, while the rate applied to corporations would jump from 4.8 percent to 7.2 percent.

According to the administration, if Quinn's budget is enacted, about half of the state’s 11.3 million taxpayers would pay more in state income taxes, while the rest could pay less.

That’s partially because Quinn wants to help individuals cope with the increased rate by tripling the personal exemption from $2,000 to $6,000, which would take a chunk out of the new tax revenue. A family of four would pay no state income tax on the first $24,000 they earned.

Quinn also proposes implementing a “back-to-school sales tax holiday” for 10 days each August to help spur the economy and help families better afford everything from school supplies to gym shoes for kids.

Jerry Stermer, Quinn’s chief of staff, said the extraordinary budget scenario creates a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reform the state’s tax structure based on ability to pay. “So those who have more ability can pay more. Those who have less ability ought to be asked to pay much less. And this would bring that kind of fairness to our code.”

If the legislature didn’t enact all of Quinn’s proposals, his administration says drastic changes would occur. According to Ginger Ostro, Quinn’s budget director, if the state cut spending without raising new revenue to fill the deficit, state government would return to 2004 funding levels. The result: 800,000 people losing health care coverage, 200 state police officers laid off, 34,000 teachers laid off, per-student education funding down by $1,200 per child, and one of the state’s four veteran’s homes closed.

Highlights
State employees (Pending negotiations with public employee unions)

• Take four furlough days (one each quarter) — $36 million saved.
• Pay more into their health care plans (the administration offered no estimate per person) — $200 million saved.

Pension benefits

• Maintain the “defined benefit” plan, but new employees would receive fewer benefits.
• Employees would increase their contributions by 2 percentage points.
  
• Cost-of-living adjustments would be readjusted to 50 percent of the consumer price index or 3 percent, whichever is lower.
• Similar to the Social Security system, retirement age for new employees would be 67.
• Employees covered by Social Security would earn 1.5 percent of their final pay per year of service. Employees not covered by Social Security would earn 2 percent.
• Estimated savings by the new system: $162 million by 2045.

Pension funding

• The administration would pay less than scheduled into the five public employee pension systems by $550 million this fiscal year and by nearly $2.3 billion next fiscal year.

Budget cuts

• The $500 million in cuts implemented in FY09 would remain.
• Across-the-board 2 percent reductions in grant programs, excluding programs for education and health care — $80 million saved.
• Reduce some community grant amounts by 10 percent and eliminate other grants altogether.
• Consolidate the Historic Preservation Agency into the Department of Natural Resources, reducing some administrative positions — $2.3 million saved.
  
• Other cuts and efficiencies to state agencies — $390 million total saved.
  

Federal stimulus

• Use about $4 billion of federal stimulus funds to plug the state deficit.
• Use $2.9 billion in federal stimulus funds to reduce the Medicaid payment cycle to 30 days.
• Use $2 billion to support elementary, secondary and higher education to avoid budget cuts below current FY09 levels.

Road and school construction
$26 billion plan paid for by:

• Increase driver's license fees from $10 to $20.
• Increase license plate fees from $79 to $99.
• Increase vehicle registration fees from $15 to $30.
• Increase title transfer fees from $65 to $105.
• Use Road Fund money.
• Shave some of the local governments’ share of tax revenues to pay for school construction.
• No increase in motor fuel taxes.
  

We'll have reaction from lawmakers and policy analysts after Quinn's budget address tomorrow.

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ASK LEGISLATORS TO LIMIT CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTONS

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

DIAL 1-800-719-3020

The CHANGE Illinois coalition on Monday opened a toll-free hotline for Illinoisans to call 1-800-719-3020 and tell their legislators to enact campaign contribution limits.

Callers to the CHANGE Illinois Hotline will be connected directly to their state legislators.

“Large campaign contributions in Illinois are muting the voice of the public and preventing real progress on the issues that matter,” said Bob Gallo, AARP Illinois Senior State Director. “Enough is enough – we need campaign contribution limits now. The people deserve to get their voice back.”

AARP is reaching out to its nearly 2 million members across Illinois asking them to call the hotline and urge their legislators to stop the flow of special interest money into Springfield. The number also will be featured in an upcoming article in the AARP Bulletin publication which is sent to all AARP members in the state.

Launched in late February, CHANGE Illinois is a coalition of civic, business, professional, non-profit and philanthropic organizations aligned to bring government integrity to Illinois. The coalition includes many civic leaders and organizations, including AARP, the Chicago Urban League, The Civic Federation, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, and the Latino Policy Forum.

“Removing one person from office does not solve the problem,” said Cynthia Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “Unlimited campaign contributions have led to wasteful spending, altered the power structure and distorted the debate of issues in Springfield.”

Canary pointed out that the federal election system limits contributions to candidates and 45 other states have laws limiting contributions.

“Limiting contributions is not all that is needed to make our government fair and honest, but it is a very important step,” Canary said. “Contribution limits will help make state government more representative of Illinoisans and more responsive to all citizens.”

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Flossmoor's Mayor's Record of Failure

Flossmoor's Missing Mayor, Roger Molski, sent out a postcard last week claiming "Record Commercial Development." Like all things that Molski does, the truth really depends on the definition (and the time frame). But there should be no doubt that Molski is continuing to gloss over his responsibility for bringing of blight to our downtown commercial district -- four years before our current economic crisis!

Our Missing Mayor wants you to believe that his record is one of accomplishment when it is actually one of dramatic failure. Really, what has he done in the past four years to be proud of?


At the May 2005 meeting where he was sworn in, Roger Molski pushed through the proposed "development" on the 2600 block of Flossmoor Road. You probably see the huge empty lot that Molski brought us every day. It's a dark hole in our commercial district.

One month later, in June 2005, Molski told us that "he expects ground to be broken by the end of the summer." The Flossmoor Square development was the centerpiece of Molski's development philosophy -- a philosophy that clearly failed.

Two and a half years later, the project remained "stalled," and even had the Southtown Star editorialize on the blight Roger Molski had brought to Flossmoor:

An empty lot near Flossmoor's downtown area is a reminder of a building project that's been in the works for more than two years, but hasn't happened yet. -- December 9, 2007

Four years later, the Daily Southtown featured Flossmoor's blight in its "Arrested Development" story:

Though a groundbreaking was slated for spring 2008, construction is stalled as plans still are being finalized, according to Patrick Finn, assistant village manager in Flossmoor.

Roger Molski introduced Chuck Bruti at May 2005 meeting as "his friend." He said that he'd known Bruti for years, and he mentioned that he -- our Missing Mayor -- had suggested to Bruti the development of the property where five thriving businesses had to be destroyed and removed from our tax roles.

This sounds like Blagojevich cronyism. Molski was looking out for his friends, not looking out for the village. Old school machine politics right here in Flossmoor.

Had the mayor done due diligence -- or even shown an bit of judgment -- he would have known that this project would sit idle for the past three-plus years (I predicted it at the very meeting that Molski pushed the project through). It was said that Bruti was having trouble with other projects. And if he was having trouble during the go-go period of economic development, there was no way he would be able to continue in the stingy credit environment we have now.

But Roger Molski was trying to help his friend. He even waved Flossmoor's zoning code to help his friend.

What did Flossmoor get out of it? Well, we've lost money. The five businesses that paid property and other taxes are now gone. The large parcel in the heart of our commercial district remains empty -- four years later. The actual prospects of development are low, especially as long as Molski is mayor.

Of course, Molski has moved on. He's trying to divert our attention from his record of failure by pushing the development of a store that will sell liquor across from Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Think about it. Roger Molski wants to turn H-F into a party school!

These two developments -- blight in the middle of our commercial district and alcohol to be sold across the street from H-F -- creates a tremendous downward pressure on our property values. Instead of being insulated from the rest of the South Suburbs, Molski is working hard to turn Flossmoor into another Harvey, another Robbins. It's not simply that Molski exhibits poor judgment, it's that he just doesn't care about Flossmoor anymore. If re-elected this time, it's hard to see how Molski serves out the full term.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 17, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,039 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 17, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. Thanks

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Tax increases will spark controversy

By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn already faces opposition from the business community to a possible income tax increase, even though his budget address will not take place until Wednesday. The Tooling and Manufacturing Association released a proposal today that suggests making budget cuts before turning to tax increases to solve the state’s deficit.


The premise of the plan is that Illinois corporations and families must pare down their budgets to survive difficult financial times, so the state should follow suit. “There really are some areas that we can cut in this budget before we go to that tax increase,” said Zach Mottl, chairman of the association’s government relations committee.

The association suggests a state hiring and promotions freeze, as well as changes to the state pension system that would resemble a private-sector 401(k) plan. That could include requiring larger employee contributions, getting rid of guaranteed retirement benefits and raising the retirement age to 67. The plan also includes substantial cuts to public schools, higher education and Medicaid. The only budgetary increase the association recommended was money for a job training grant program.

The plan also suggested that Quinn meet with business and labor groups to discuss changes to the worker’s compensation system, and they wanted him to reconsider his position on closing so-called corporate tax loopholes that the group said offer incentives to stimulate business growth in Illinois.

Ralph Martire (scroll down), executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, recently said that budget cuts will actually hurt the state’s economy and result in job loss. He said that a progressive tax increase, which would put more of the tax burden on the wealthy, is the solution for getting the state through the recession.

“If the state raises taxes progressively and maintains its expenditures on essential public services, we have the potential to shorten the recession in Illinois by half a year, maintain or grow jobs and actually do something that counters the negative impact of this spiral down for most people in the state,” Martire said in a Statehouse news conference last week.

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What's your limit?

By Bethany Jaeger
One of the most controversial and politically challenging ethics reforms being discussed this session is limiting the amount people and private interests can donate to political candidates. It’s a fight against the establishment as much as it is an attempt to Rod Blagojevich-proof the state. His campaign collected numerous $25,000 checks from businesses that held significant state contracts. In fact, that’s the impetus for last year’s so-called pay-to-play ban.



Since that ban took effect, a new coalition of business, labor, civic, nonprofit and philanthropic groups has formed and thrown its support behind campaign contribution limits as the gateway to more drastic steps, eventually including public financing. The so-called CHANGE Illinois coalition is advocating for limits on the amount individuals, businesses and private interest groups could donate to candidates at the state and local levels. It would resemble a law already in place at the federal level: a $2,300 limit for individuals and a $5,000 limit for businesses, unions and interest groups per election cycle. In Illinois, the coalition is keeping tabs on two bills sponsored by Democrats, HB 24 and SB 1768. Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno also is sponsoring SB 1548, which would limit contributions to $10,000.

Yet, legislative leaders express concerns about the practicality of ensuring a level playing field for all candidates. For instance, House Speaker Michael Madigan cited the example of a statewide candidate running for office against a self-funded, or individually wealthy, candidate. He mentioned a 2002 race of his daughter's, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, as an example. If she had to abide by contribution limits, how could she compete against an individually wealthy candidate who funded his or her own campaign, he asked. Of note, however, is that Attorney General Madigan is supporting the campaign contribution limits measure proposed by Rep. Harry Osterman, HB 24, because it is the most comprehensive, according to the attorney general's spokeswoman, Robyn Ziegler, this evening.

Senate President John Cullerton said he is open to considering contribution limits, as long as they’re not set so low that candidates have to spend more energy and resources seeking many more contributions than they already do.

Ann Lousin, who helped write the 1970 state Constitution and who teaches law at John Marshall Law School in Chicago, spells out some of the opposition to campaign finance limits for individuals, businesses and political groups. “If I can figure out a way around it in five minutes, you shouldn’t put it into the statute,” she said. “You go back to sunshine, sunshine, sunshine. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

She said individuals could disguise their financial support through friends or relatives, while state contractors could hide their donations by funneling money though subcontractors, which aren’t part of the public record. “All you’re doing is putting it underground,” she said.

She also opposes prohibiting people from out of state or out of district from donating to candidates because she said she believes that would unfairly hinder minority groups and female candidates, who often raise money from outside of their home bases.

“If you keep on putting in these rules, you’re going to define the only candidate who can run is somebody [who appeals to] narrower and narrower groups, somebody who takes only $100 contributions from a variety of different people, none of whom do business with the sate,” she says. “You’re going to get such purity. ... Who can run after a while?”

Cynthia Canary, director of the Chicago-based Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said contribution limits would challenge all candidates to reach out to more voters. And the measures supported by CHANGE Illinois would help disclose “bundling,” or the gathering of a group of checks from different people so that each contribution remains under the limit. The group also seeks more authority and funding for the Illinois State Board of Elections to conduct random audits so the campaign contribution reports don’t just end up in a file, unmonitored and under the radar.

Canary also said in a previous phone conversation that the goal is to enact reasonable, practical steps that will help scale back the influence of money in politics. And sunshine alone won’t cut it. “We have had sunshine for over 30 years, and look at the situation we’re in.”

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 16, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 43,009 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 16, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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Illinois Behind in Information Online

Kurt Erickson of the Pantagraph has reported that Illinois is behind the times in making information available online, according to the Sunshine Week 2009 Survey of State Government Information.

"Illinois’ ranking of 31st out of 50 comes as Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has called on state agencies to boost the amount of information they are putting online."

More needs to be done than simply calling upon state agencies to voluntarily do this. Agencies should be required to post certain additional information online. There is no excuse for governments, at a minimum, not to have their address and contact information, listing of elected and appointed officials, public notices, ordinances, rules, agendas, and minutes online.

"Quinn’s initiative is aimed at making more information about state government available to residents."

The initiative should include local units of government. In my experience, these are often the worst offenders. Quinn could do Illinois citizens a service by proposing a new centralized online state database into which units of local government are required to submit the types of information listed above.

"In Illinois, residents can click on a number of reports and databases that show how their tax dollars are being spent and how politicians are spending their money. But, it’s not always clear how to find some of the material. Business records, such as corporate filings, are at the Illinois Secretary of State’s office Web site. Contracts are located at the Illinois Comptroller’s office website. Audit reports, which show potentially wasteful spending, are at the Auditor General’s website."

Not all corporate filings are available online from the Secretary of State. While Secretary White does offer the ability to search a Corporate/LLC database, many important business records, such as Articles of Incorporation or Organization and Annual Reports, do not appear to be available online. Also, while information about contracts is indeed available at the Comptroller's website, Comptroller Hynes does not appear to offer the the contracts themselves online. In addition, the search and browse features often make it difficult to find the information that one might be seeking (For example, it does not seem possible to search by agency awarding the contract.)

A good start would be requiring the posting of an exhaustive official list of all public bodies. Many of these entities, such as Local Records Commissions or the Local Government Consolidation Commission, don't even have websites, let alone online availability of reports that they will, or have, issued; but the public can't address these issues if they don't know that these and what other entities actually exist. The Illinois State Library already maintains an excellent list of state Boards and Commissions, as all state agencies are required by Section 21 of the State Library Act (15 ILCS 320/21) to provide the library with copies of all publications they produce. (Too bad many of them fail to do this or refuse to do it in electronic form so that the library can make these available online.)

I might also suggest that the state should make all primary legal materials, including court decisions, freely available online. The state codes, consisting of statutes and administrative rules, are already so available; but despite the fact that court decisions have the ability to set precedent and are themselves a type of law--case law--only the most recent cases are available online, unless one is able to pay the outrageous fees of a proprietary commercial vendor. It would be easy enough to require the Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions (another public body without its own website) to post the decisions online. The Reporter already receives all of the decisions and pays a third party to publish them.

If ignorance of the law is no excuse, does not due process demand that the public have reasonable access to everything here above mentioned?

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 15, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,988 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 15, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 14, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,958 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 14, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 13, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,918 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 13, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com. Thanks

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Gas, Gambling, Games, Governor and Safeguard

By Jamey Dunn
A gas tax increase, a proposition to sell lottery tickets online and early plans for possible 2016 Chicago Olympic Games all progressed in the legislature today. So did a measure to protect youth from sex offenders who prowl on social networking Web sites.


Gasoline
A controversial measure to increase in the sales tax on gasoline, proposed by Democratic Rep. John Bradley of Marion, advanced this morning. Bradley warned that HB 1 still needed work, and he urged committee members to support the concept rather than the details as introduced.

Gambling
A bill backed by Senate President John Cullerton would allow the state to sell lottery tickets on the Internet. Sen. Don Harmon, a Democrat from Oak Park, said SB 1654 would do three things:

1. Prohibit the state from selling the Illinois Lottery to private investors.
   
2. Allow the state to hire a private firm to manage the lottery, while the state would still own it. Harmon said the idea would be to “contract with someone smarter than us to operate it.”
3. Create a pilot program to sell tickets for the Lotto and Mega Million games online.

The measure advanced out of committee today, but Harmon said it needed work before it would be ready for a final vote on the Senate floor.

Games
The Senate sent a bill to the House that is an early step towards preparing for the possibility of the 2016 Olympic Games being held in Chicago. The specifics of the bill will be worked out in the House, but sponsor Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, said it was important to get the ball rolling to meet an April deadline set by the International Olympic Committee.

Governor
Also in the Senate today, Cullerton announced that Senate Secretary Deborah Shipley (scroll down for bio) will join Gov. Pat Quinn’s staff as director of legislative operations. It’s another move that could build bridges between the executive and legislative branches, which have had frosty relationships during the past six years.

Shipley was elected secretary by Senate members in January 2007, replacing retired secretary Linda Hawker. Shipley will bring some institutional knowledge and offer guidance to Quinn’s relatively new and young legislative staff.

Safeguard against sex offenders
By Hilary Russell
The state could make it harder for individuals convicted of sex crimes to use the Internet.

Rep. Sandra Pihos, a Glen Ellyn Republican, is sponsoring HB 1314, a bill that would make using a social networking Web site a Class 4 felony for registered sex offenders. Convicted offenders must register with the state.

Earlier this year, Pihos said she read a report that nearly 100,000 sex offenders were removed from social networking Web sites in Connecticut and North Carolina, where two state attorneys general targeted sex offenders who used the Web.

“If they can remove that many sexual predators, we can do that here,” Pihos said. “Until we’re sure we have a mechanism in place that actually safeguards our children from sexual predators being on that site, I just feel that here in Illinois, we need to put some legislation in place.”

Her bill would apply a Class 4 felony or up to a three-year prison sentence if someone used social networking Web sites while registered as a sex offender. As a condition of parole, probation or release, the offender would have to agree not to use such sites as MySpace or FaceBook.

MySpace and FaceBook have more than 180 million users, and Pihos said that it’s an ideal anonymous place for sexual predators to troll for young people.

Read more...

GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 12, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,876 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 12, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or see below:

BEYOND BEYOND BEYOND OUTRAGEOUS: 18 ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS DECLARE FULL SCALE WAR ON ALL ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS:

CHICAGO GOP
-- Illinois Republican Party Holds Emergency Meeting - Passes Resolution - Tom Swiss
http://www.chicagogop.com/blog/772-Illinois-Republican-Party-Holds-Emergency-Meeting-Passes-Resolution.html
The Illinois Republican Party convened an emergency meeting Wednesday night to address the passage of SB600 out of committee. The resolution and bylaw amendment passed.
State Central Committeeman Dave Syverson voted "no" on the resolution and "pass" on the bylaw amendment. All other State Central Committeemen voted "yes."

A RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTYWHEREAS, pursuant to Bylaw Article IX, Section B, any provision of the Bylaws of the Illinois Republican Party ("Bylaws") may be suspended by the Central Committee upon the vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the weighted vote; and

WHEREAS, the Republican Party of Illinois has a First Amendment right to freedom of association, and must be permitted to govern its own affairs, including its own nominating processes, without unconstitutional and burdensome meddling by the state legislature; and

WHEREAS, neither the Illinois Senate, nor the state of Illinois, may, under the United States Constitution, force the Illinois Republican Party to adopt a particular nominating process contrary to the Party's wishes; and

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has explained this principle time and time again, see, e.g., Democratic Party of the United States v. Wisconsin ex rel. La Follette, 450 U.S. 107 (1981) (holding that the state of Wisconsin could not constitutionally compel the National Democratic Party to seat a delegation chosen in a way that violates the Party's rules); Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208 (1986) (refusing to permit the state to apply its closed primary rule to the state Republican Party after the state Republican Party adopted a rule permitting Independent voters to participate in its primary); Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Comm., 489 U.S. 214 (1989) (striking down restrictions on organization and composition of official governing bodies of political parties); California Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567 (2000) (striking down blanket primary law passed by California voters but opposed by the state Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Peace and Freedom Parties).

WHEREAS, the Illinois Republican State Central Committee ("Central Committee"), as the Official Governing Body of the Illinois Republican Party, believes that SB600 as passed by the Illinois Senate Elections Committee on March 10, 2009, in its current form or future amended form, runs contrary to the best interests of the Party, would greatly damage the grassroots composition of the Party, and would overturn the will of the overwhelming majority of delegates at the 2008 Illinois Republican Party Convention; therefore:

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Central Committee, as the Official Governing Body of the Illinois Republican Party, publicly states its strong opposition to SB600; and

BE IT RESOLVED, the Republican Party of Illinois will expend whatever resources are necessary to defend its rights under the United States Constitution and to ensure that SB600, even if passed, is never enforced; and

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Republican Party of Illinois strongly encourages the individuals responsible for SB600 to reconsider the measure before such actions become necessary; and

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Central Committee shall suspend the meeting notice provisions of Bylaw Article V, Section C, pursuant to Bylaw Article IX, Section B, for purposes of voting on and passing this Resolution.

ILLINOIS REVIEW
-- State Party passes secret resolution on SB 600 - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/03/state-party-passes-secret-resolution-on-sb-600.html#comments
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Soon after we found out we'd need a replacement for our U.S. Senator Barack Obama last November, the Illinois Republican Party started a mantra about the people having a voice in picking Obama's replacement. We've published press release after press release from the IL GOP about the need for a special election to end the Blagojevich/Burris embarrassment. Their cry on behalf of the people gave the Republicans a credible argument for a special election that made the Democrats look smug and resistant to true democracy. Last night that same IL GOP leadership held a secret State Central Committee meeting to pass a resolution blocking the Republican rank and file from choosing their own leaders. Every state central committeeman except State Senator Dave Syverson supported the resolution. Thanks to Tom Swiss of the Chicago GOP, Republicans can read the secret resolution that resists any state party reform. Come back here and tell us what you think. . .Illinois Review reported on both sides of this until a couple of Sundays ago, when we wrote this editorial. . .This latest development by the IL GOP is more than disappointing, it's infuriating and insulting to the IL GOP rank and file. Either we believe in open elections and the people's right to determine their party leadership or we don't. The IL GOP should simply sit down and shut up about open processes and special elections. They've lost their voice.)

PUBLISHED PRIOR TO LEARNING OF THE ABOVE RESOLUTION:

GOPUSA ILLINOIS
-- Illinois Republican Precinct Committeemen anxiously await a phone call, an email, and/or a fax from their State Central Committee member - Dave Diersen
www.gopillinois.com
"Republican" Combine members and other anti-conservatives vehemently oppose SB600. With his vehement opposition to SB600, Illinois Republican Party (IRP) Chairman Andy McKenna increasingly acts as the chief spokesperson for "Republican" Combine members and for other anti-conservatives for this issue. Yesterday evening, the IRP's governing body, its State Central Committee (SCC), held a conference call. Without doubt, topics discussed included SB600, Senator Chris Lauzen and other SB600 supporters, strategies and tactics to defeat SB600, strategies and tactics to demonize and denigrate Lauzen and other SB600 supporters, lawyers who would file lawsuits if/when SB600 is enacted, etc. The tragic success that "Republican" Combine members and other anti-conservatives have had in getting Illinois Republican Senators to drop their sponsorship of SB600 and/or to vote against SB600 is one indicator of the "means" that "Republican" Combine members and other anti-conservatives have already used to achieve their "end." Some might call it carrots and sticks. Others might call it bribes and threats. Needless-to-say, Illinois Republican Precinct Committeemen anxiously await a phone call, an email, and/or a fax from their IRP SCC member for a full detailed report on what was said, who said it, and what was decided during yesterday's IRP SCC conference call. For those Illinois Republican Precinct Committeemen who do not get full reports today, I urge them to email their IRP SCC member this evening: Ruperto Alejandro (Congressional Dist. 4 at ale05@sbcglobal.net), John Birch (Dist. 18 at jcbirch@adams.net), Tolbert Chisum (Dist. 10 at tchisum@aol.com), Roger Claar (Dist. 13 bbmayor@aol.com), Jerry Clarke (Dist 15 at jerryclarke@yahoo.com), Steven Daglas (Dist. 1 at sdaglas@sbcglobal.net), Eugene Dawson (Dist. 8 at erdaw@comcast.net), Deb Detmers (Dist. 12 at ddetmers@charter.net), Judy Diekelman (Dist. 2 at diekelmanj@aol.com), Carol Donovan (Dist. 7 at carolsdonovan@yahoo.com), John Dorgan (Dist. 9 at jmdgop@yahoo.com), Chris Kachiroubas (Dist. 6 at katch99@msn.com), Craig Pesek (Dist. 3 at ccal2131@aol.com), Barbara Peterson (Dist. 11 at bjb2124@aol.com), Regan Ramsey (Dist. 17 at regan2@adams.net), Skip Saviano (Dist. 5 at skip@skipsaviano.com), Dave Syverson (Dist. 16 at sen1@aol.com), Dennis Wiggins (Dist. 14 dpw14th@comcast.net), and Bob Winchester (Dist. 19 at bobwinchester@hotmail.com). How satisfied are Illinois Republican Precinct Committeemen with their IRP SCC member's job performance? Did your IRP SCC member seek your input on SB600 prior to yesterday's conference call?
-- GOPUSA ILLINOIS nominates Senator Chris Lauzen to serve as the official spokesperson for Illinois Republicans who want to defend/advance the Illinois Republican Party platform - Dave Diersen
www.gopillinois.com
-- Political parties exist to defend/advance their platforms. The Illinois Republican Party (IRP) platform is conservative. In recent days, weeks, months, years, and decades, no one has done more to defend/advance the IRP platform than Senator Chris Lauzen. "Republican" Combine members and other anti-conservatives vehemently oppose SB600. With their vehement opposition to SB600, IRP Chairman Andy McKenna and Illinois Republican County Chairman's Association President Randy Pollard increasingly act as the chief spokespersons for "Republican" Combine members and for other anti-conservatives for this issue and for other issues. Therefore, GOPUSA ILLINOIS nominates Senator Lauzen to serve as the official spokesperson for Illinois Republicans who want to defend/advance the IRP platform. These Republicans are also known as "the base of the party" and "conservatives" and "platform Republicans" and just plain "Republicans."
-- DuPage County Election Commission Executive Director Bob Saar speaks at Milton Township Republican Central Committee monthly meeting; other speakers include candidates Gary Fasules, Jay Kinzler, Mark Kmiecik, Mike McKinnon, Michael Ledonne, and Allison O'Donnell; attendees include Bolds, Carlson, Connelly, Crane, Earl, Eckhoff, Edwards, Falbo, Fawell, Flickinger, Formento, French, Guerin, Heidorn, Hinkle, Ives, Jorgensen, Koch, Kotecki, Larsen, McBride, McKillip, Menna, Muehlfelt, Olson, Sanchez, Smith, Spitzzeri, Sutter, Whelan, and Zaruba - Dave Diersen
www.gopillinois.com
The Milton Township Republican Central Committee (MTRCC) held its monthly meeting on Wednesday evening, March 11, at the beautiful Wheaton Bowl Banquet Hall. MTRCC Chairman Mike Formento conducted the meeting which was attended by 68 precinct committeemen. DuPage County Election Commission Executive Director Bob Saar was the speaker. Other speakers included candidates Gary Fasules, Jay Kinzler, Mark Kmiecik, Mike McKinnon, Micgael Ledonne, and Allison O'Donnell. Past and present elected officials, candidates, and party leaders who attended included Alan Bolds, Lori Carlson, Tina Connelly, Lynn Crane, Bob Earl, Grant Eckhoff, Chris Edwards, Sal Falbo, Beverly Fawell, Jim Flickinger, Mike Formento, Dorothy French, Dan Guerin, Chris Heidorn, Gail Hinkle, Jeanne Ives, Ann Jorgensen, Mark Kmiecik, Georgia Koch, Roger Kotecki, Bob Larsen, J.R. McBride, Brian McKillip, Ron Menna, Gary Muehlfelt, Debra Olson, Leonard Sanchez, Ron Smith, Fred Spitzzeri, Ron Sutter, Tim Whelan, and John Zaruba. I had the honor of sitting at the same table with O'Donnell and Ledonne.

SENATOR CHRIS LAUZEN
-- Senate Bill 600 - An Update
http://www.lauzen.com/
(THE UPDATE: Here's a quick update on Senate Bill 600 which I wrote about in my last "Voice From the Senate Floor." This legislation would give every person who votes in a Republican Primary the right to select the equivalent of the Board of Directors of the Republican Party. For many decades before 1988, when then-Governor Jim Thompson consolidated his grip on power by removing our right to vote for leaders, Illinois Republicans voted for their leaders. Basically, Illinois Democrats have always retained their right to vote this way. Senate Bill 600 was passed out of the State Senate Elections Committee on Tuesday, March 10 by a vote of 5-4. The Committee's voting record on SB 600 was: Voting "YES": Senator David Luechtefeld (R), Senator M. Maggie Crotty (D), Senator Terry Link (D), Senator Michael Bond (D), Senator James T. Meeks (D). Voting "NO": Senator Dale A. Righter (R), Senator Dan Rutherford (R), Senator Randall M. Hultgren (R), Senator Louis S. Viverito (D). I now plan to move the Bill to 3rd Reading as soon as practical, but a few amendments need to be added before it is voted on by the entire Senate. One necessary adjustment to the legislation would be to give flexibility in allowing the Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee to come from either within or outside the State Central Committee. Another improvement to SB 600 is that it would be a requirement that any person running for a Republican State Central Committee seat would need to have voted in three of the four prior Republican Primary Elections. I believe that I have secured an Illinois House Republican sponsor who will call the Bill, if it is passed out of the Illinois Senate. Finally, I want to thank each and everyone of you who contacted the members of the State Senate Elections Committee. These were important telephone calls and helped move SB 600 out of Committee.)

CHAMPION NEWS
-- Senate Bill 600 - An Update - State Senator Chris Lauzen
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1736
FROM THE POSTING: [EDITOR'S NOTE: State Senator Chris Lauzen is doing a spectacular job leading SB600 through the legislative process in Springfield. At every stage he's standing-up to the worst elements of our State Party - the same entrenched bunch that destroyed our once proud GOP. Lauzen writes more below. If you would like to thank Chris for his hard work and courage - and to also let him know you support SB600 - just drop him a note to admin@lauzen.com. We know he'll be very glad to hear from you.]
-- If we had a GOP, we wouldn't have a President BHO - John Biver
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1733
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Every so often, the newly sworn in President Barack Obama said back on January 20th, the oath of office "is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms." Setting aside Obama's attempt to improve on the famous "dark and stormy night" line by fiction writer Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, the first six weeks of Obama's presidency has ushered in just the kind of change people weren't exactly hoping for. It's my view that the Republican Party hasn't had a good field of presidential candidates since 1988. While some worthy and accomplished individuals have stepped up to run, none of them had enough of what it took to lead the nation in the right direction. Sadly, this is the same problem faced all too often at the state and local level. This is the reason Champion News continues to emphasize the need for the construction of a genuine Republican Party. Without such a party, we'll never see better candidates step up to run at any level. Everything that good candidates need to win - message, manpower, and money - can flow from local and state GOP organizations. National campaigns can build upon that. That first one - "message" - has never been as critical as it is right now. As the main stream media slowly dies, the opportunity is growing for township, ward, county, and state Republican efforts to fill the informational gap that is being created. If anyone believes voters are receiving enough accurate information about the major public policy challenges we're facing - well, I'll just have to disagree. For those Americans who take the time to seek out news and analysis, this is a golden age. Never before have there been greater resources available - much with the point and click of a computer mouse. For those who aren't as interested - or are just lacking in time due to a busy life - Jay Leno's "man on the street" interviews reveal just how much work is ahead. People have the capability to take in the right information - they're just not getting it, as Leno's clips continually reveal. Champion News emphasizes the difficult work ahead - we need a renaissance and reformation involving a lot of Americans who haven't yet actively engaged in politics. Our hope - is that the change in their personal financial bottom line will inspire them to step up. We not only need better candidates running for President of the United States, but for every office. And those candidates will need all the help they can get to spread their message and win support for positive (as opposed to negative) change. Six weeks into the Administration of Mr. Hope and Change, articles like the ones below are becoming ever more prevalent. It's early of course, but make no mistake: the dark and stormy night is upon us. Join in the work to create a Republican Party that will insure the Era of Obama ends on January 20, 2013. What follows are a few excerpts from American opinion writers during the past week.)
-- "Think tank says more money is not the answer" - John Biver
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1734
-- Politicians Ignore $118 Billion Unfunded Retiree Liability Those same politicians have proposed a law to save us from the terror of plastic bags. - Bill Zettler
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1732

BLOOMINGTON PANTAGRAPH
-- BEYOND BEYOND BEYOND OUTRAGEOUS: Republicans want more gambling to pad state coffers - Kurt Erickson (DIERSEN: The Illinois Republican Party platform opposes the the expansion of gambling.) (FROM THE ARTICLE: (CROSS AND RADOGNO) offered up a menu of gambling-related options that could be used to raise money to pay for a $25 billion construction program, including adding gaming positions at current casinos and racetracks and adding a casino in Chicago. They also said they could support a plan to allow for the purchase of lottery tickets on the Internet, as well as video poker. Radogno said some of the ideas already have won support in the Senate, but never advanced in the House. She acknowledged that expanding gambling might be distasteful to some lawmakers, but said it would be fairer on taxpayers because gambling is "voluntary." "The fact of the matter is, we have gambling," Radogno said.) http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/03/12/news/doc49b83e45e8b47800870055.txt

CAPITALFAX
-- VERY SAD: Police report: Skoien with two prostitutes (includes Fox Chicago News video clip)http://capitalfax.blogspot.com/2009/03/police-report-skoien-with-two.html

ABC7
-- VERY SAD: Former Cook County GOP chairman denies prostitution report
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6705794
-- Illinois House committee votes on Burris Senate appointment
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6704839

NBC5
-- VERY SAD: Former GOP Chief Beaten by 110-Pound Wife So THAT's why they call it a playroom
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Former-GOP-Chief-Beaten-by-110-Pound-Wife.html

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
-- VERY SAD: Police report: Skoien with two prostitutes - Abdon Pallasch and Dan Rozek
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1472092,gary-skokien-prostitutes-toy-guitar-031109.article(THE ARTICLE: Inverness Police say former Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien admitted having two prostitutes in his children’s playroom when his wife walked in on him early Sunday morning. The allegation is in a domestic battery report from Skoien, 55, against his 36-year-old, 5-foot-4-inch, 110-pound wife. He said she beat him with her fists and an electric guitar. But Skoien said the police report inaccurately stated that he had prostitutes in his home. Skoien said he and a friend were talking in the playroom when his wife came down and began beating him. Eni Skoien spent two nights in a lock-up before being released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. The police report said Skoien had cuts and blood on his hands and there was blood on the walls and stairs near the playroom. The police report said Skoien “told [the responding officer] he did in fact have prostitutes with him in the playroom when his wife caught him.” The playroom looked like “a struggle of some kind took place there. . .There were items turned and tossed around the room,” the report said. “That’s how it was reported to us,” Barrington/Inverness Police Deputy Chief Jerry Libit said. Allies of Mayor Daley blasted Skoien four years ago when he offered a $10,000 “bounty” four years ago for information that would lead to Daley’s conviction on corruption charges. The remark got Skoien fired from his real estate job, cost him a seat on the Metra board and prompted calls for his ouster as party chairman, He survived a re-election vote, serving from 2004-2007 as chairman of the GOP, which has not elected a member countywide in 17 years. Current Republican Party Chairman Lee Roupas said, “It’s an extremely disappointing and unfortunate situation, if the allegations prove to be true.” Skoien was an aide to former Gov. Jim Thompson and serves as Palatine Township Republican Committeeman. He said he and his wife of 13 years have been living in separate sections of the house for a while and getting counseling but that he went to police after she hit him last Tuesday while he was brushing his teeth. “I went to the police to find out what I should be doing,” he said. On Sunday night, he said his wife was driven home from a function and she went to bed. Skoien called a friend who came over and they were talking in the playroom when his wife woke up and began beating him with her fists and “a hard heavy electric guitar,” he said. “I called police because I thought I was going to be killed,” Skoien said. Skoien went to talk to the arresting officers Wednesday after his stories hit the news, trying to convince them that he did not confirm his wife’s contention that she found him with prostitutes. “If they’re were hookers, I’m not sure why the police didn’t arrest me -- that’s illegal too,” Skoien said. He said the officer stuck to his contention that Skoien nodded in affirmance when told his wife’s version of events. Skoien said he disagrees. Skoien obtained an order of protection that prohibits his wife from having any contact with him or their three children, ages 5, 7 and 8, he said.)
-- Illinois earmarks. The complete list. - Lynn Sweet
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/03/illinois_earmarks.html

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
-- VERY SAD: Palatine GOP chief Gary Skoien says wife attacked him 2 women who were at his home were not prostitutes, he says - Carolyn Starks
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-skoien-wife-dispute-12mar12,0,7303553.story

DAILY HERALD
-- Despite rally, 'concealed carry' unlikely in Illinois AP
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=278475
-- VERY SAD: Candidates backing away from Skoien after domestic dispute Palatine Township Republican Committeeman denies he was with prostitutes - Kimberly Pohl and Joseph Ryan
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=278385
-- Take back state with vote on Senate seat - Dennis Reboletti, Republican State Representative, Elmhurst
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=278412
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH COLOR PICTURES IN DUPAGE EDITION: Article includes a picture of a ballot for College of DuPage Trustee positions including Allison O'Donnell, Mike McKinnon, and Michael Ladonne. All three spoke at the Milton Township Republican Central Committee monthly meeting last night. I had the honor of sitting at the same table with O'Donnell and Ledonne.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=278392
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: Communist China threatens America. How will Obama respond? How will those who benefit from unfair "free trade" with communist China respond?http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=278548
-- We must fight to keep capitalism alive - Steven R. Heuberger, Libertyville
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=278011&src=
(THE LETTER: I recently met several people who have immigrated to the United States from former Soviet Union nations. I cannot express their depression with the political environment of our country. As they say, this is why we left our homeland to get away from. They are very concerned that America is now becoming a socialist nation. Had they known that was what America was going to be, they probably would never had made the effort to come to our country. They have witnessed the failure to socialism. Hopefully, we as Americans will not have to go through that experience. Contact your representative and tell them how you support capitalism, which has made us the greatest nation in the history of the world, and you do not want us to go down the road of socialism.)

SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL REGISTER
-- Obama misreads ‘mandate’ - Patrick Buchanan
http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x108121732/Patrick-Buchanan-Obama-misreads-mandate

NAPERVILLE SUN
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: Richard R. Furstenau is a Republican Precinct Committeeman. Not surprisingly, Democrat Bill Bird does not side with Furstenau in the Furstenau v. Naperville lawsuit
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/napertalk/1473194,6_4_NA12_PAGE2COL_S1.article

CHICAGO NEWS BENCH
-- OUTRAGEOUS: GOP Rolls Over, Plays Dead in 5th Congressional District
http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com/2009/03/gop-rolls-over-plays-dead-in-5th-cong.html
(THE ARTICLE: Shame on Andy McKenna, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. Shame on the entire party, which seems hellbent on continuing its dismal record of losing elections. Although the Illinois GOP has won more "games" than the Chicago Cubs have over the past 100 years, at least the Cubs can honestly say they've been trying. The Illinois Republican Party seems content to roll over and play dead. Rosanna Pulido won the Republican special primary election in the Illinois 5th Congressional District on Tuesday, March 3. The election is being held to fill the seat vacated by Rahm Emanuel. You might not know this, however, from looking at the Illinois Republican Party's website (http://www.weareillinois.org/), where there are only two brief mentions of Rosanna Pulido. Pulido will face Democrat candidate Mike Quigley and Green Party candidate Mathew Reichel on April 7. We're not talking about a minor elected office. We're talking about a seat in the US Congress. Although it is unlikely that Pulido can defeat better funded Quigley, the GOP should at least be touting their candidate in the 5th. Barely a mention on their website. The GOP is making a lot of noise in support of a special election to replace Roland Burris, who was appointed by Gov. Blagojevich to fill the congressional seat vacated by Barack Obama. Yet the GOP is all but completely ignoring an ongoing special election in the 5th Congressional District. That's hypocritical and cowardly. It takes no courage to scream for a special election that will most likely not happen. It is cowardly to not support your own candidate in special election that is actually taking place. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is equally guilty of ignoring the 5th Congressional District election. GOP Chairman McKenna has a Facebook page. Did McKenna congratulate Pulido on Facebook? Did he even mention her? Nope. One person did post this to McKenna's Facebook page: I know a lot of people may feel that the 5th District is a lost cause, but they shouldn't. There is a strong GOP candidate here. Rosanna Pulido needs all of our help. I know it's not election season, but that is more reason for people like us to step up and show the Democrats that not only do we exist, but we can be contentious. All around. . .Read More voter turnout for the April 7th special election will most likely be low. Democrats expect that and they expect that the "silent" Republicans that reside in the district will not turn out. We CAN mobilize ourselves! We should be doing our part to turn up at the polls. This is something that is bigger than our district and our state. One more seat in Congress is one more step towards preventing the socialization of our country. If you live in the 5th you need to make the effort to mobilize yourself and others like you to vote! This election is not something that is lost for us. It is something we have gained! Why no such words of support for Pulido from McKenna and the Illinois GOP? Why are McKenna and the GOP "leaders" not thinking like the guy who wrote on McKenna's Facebook page? Not a word from either the RNC or Andy McKenna. Nada, zilch. There will be more about this next week. Much more.)

MEDILL REPORTS
-- Upswing in gun sales continues as Illinois shooters descend on Springfield - Leslie Patton
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=122221

WINDY CITY MEDIA GROUP
-- VERY SAD: "Quigley has spearheaded several pro-LGBT measures over the years, including a recent measure that changes a county ordinance to benefit same-sex couples that get married in another state. Among other accomplishments, he has also sponsored the gender-identity amendment to the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance."
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=20647

GALESBURG REGISTER MAIL
-- OUTRAGEOUS: Open primary bills clear first hurdle - Andrew Thomason
http://www.galesburg.com/news/news_state/x1676800104/Open-primary-bills-clear-first-hurdle

OTTAWA TIMES
-- GOP plans Lincoln birthday party for Sunday, March 29, in Ottawa
http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=376661

PUBLIC AFFAIRS
-- Berkowitz w/Tillman, Whitley, Zorn and Mendoza on Politics and Public Policy
http://jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com/2009/03/better-than-public-tv-watch-best-and.html

ILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE
-- State FOCA Bill Moves to House Floor -- Contact Your State Rep. Today! - David E. Smith
http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=34297

ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
-- VIDEO CLIP: Introducing the Illinois Economic Reform Agenda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-w82-wZKjE&utm_source=Illinois+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=5db073c148-Economic+Reform+Agenda+announcement-+03%2F11%2F09&utm_medium=email

CHICAGO DAILY OBSERVER
-- Why Won’t the “Trib” Come Clean About Fed’s Subpoena? - Tom Roeser
http://www.cdobs.com/archive/our-columns/why-won%E2%80%99t-the-%E2%80%9Ctrib%E2%80%9D-come-clean-about-fed%E2%80%99s-subpoena,3460

HUMAN EVENTS
-- Are 'Hope' And 'Change' Still Tax-Deductible? - Ann Coulter
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?fc_c=1377470x2893895x74008133&id=31041(FROM THE ARTICLE: According to their tax returns, in 2006 and 2007, the Obamas gave 5.8 percent and 6.1 percent of their income to charity. I guess Michelle Obama has to draw the line someplace with all this "giving back" stuff. The Bidens gave 0.15 percent and 0.31 percent of the income to charity. No wonder Obama doesn't see what the big fuss is over his decision to limit tax deductions for charitable giving. At least that part of Obama's tax plan won't affect his supporters. Meanwhile, in 1991, 1992 and 1993, George W. Bush had incomes of $179,591, $212,313 and $610,772. His charitable contributions those years were $28,236, $31,914 and $31,292. During his presidency, Bush gave away more than 10 percent of his income each year.)

FOX NEWS CHANNEL
-- Flashback: Carville Wanted Bush to Fail The press never reported that Democratic strategist James Carville said he wanted President Bush to fail before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But a feeding frenzy ensued when radio host Rush Limbaugh recently said he wanted President Obama to fail. - Bill Sammon
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/11/carville-wanted-bush-fail/

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
-- Limbaugh versus Carville on hoping presidents fail - Dave Cook
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/03/11/limbaugh-versus-carville-on-hoping-presidents-fail/

POLITICO
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: Matthew Dallek argues that Obama is not a socialist
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19898.html

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
-- S.F. police union accuses Ayers in 1970 bombing - Demian Bulwa
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/11/BATK16DHA4.DTL

WASHINGTON TIMES
-- VERY SAD: Abortion a 'choice,' Steele tells GQ - Victor Morton
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/12/abortion-a-choice-steele-tells-gq/

MSNBC
-- AS MEN FALL FURTHER AND FURTHER BEHIND WOMEN EVERY DAY IN TERMS OF EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS, INCOME, ETC.: Obama creates White House women's panel
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29640901/

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Police report: Skoien with two prostitutes

I am really not sure what to say about this. I know this is a bit scandalous more than what you'd probably expect to see on this blog, but WOW!

Gary Skoien is still a Republican Committeeman in Cook County, but he also used to be Cook County GOP chairman and he offered a bounty for information that could lead to an indictment of Mayor Daley. I almost wonder if someone is out to get him with these new allegations.

I'll take you first to the Sun-Times:

Former Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien is denying a police report that said his wife found him at home with two prostitutes and beat him with her fists and a toy guitar.

The report filled out by Barrington-Inverness police says that’s what Eni Skoien told them — and that Gary Skoien confirmed the account, said Deputy Chief Jerry Libit.

You have got to be kidding me!

Check out this video from FOX Chicago...

What say you out there? Is the Republican brand in Illinois hurt by this?

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Similar concepts, new context

One week before Gov. Pat Quinn proposes his first state budget to the General Assembly, legislators and advocates of all stripes are revisiting a lot of issues they tried but failed to enact during the Blagojevich Administration. This time, there’s a new context:

1. Legislators and Statehouse insiders trust Quinn more than they trusted Blagojevich.
2. Senate President John Cullerton has a better working and personal relationship with House Speaker Michael Madigan than did former Senate President Emil Jones Jr.
3. The economic and fiscal crises have sparked a new sense of urgency to find quick fixes at the same time they have inspired a willingness (however reluctant) to pursue more long-term reforms.

Whether the new context and new players actually will foster consensus and meaningful changes to revenue and spending, however, is yet to be seen. At this point in the spring session, it’s still all talk. Here are a few examples:

Gaming for capital
Republican leaders oppose increasing the state sales tax on gasoline to pay for a major construction program. Instead, they rekindled ideas to fund a capital program for schools, mass transit and infrastructure projects by expanding gaming. Their goal is to avoid raising any state taxes in a recession.

“Right now is absolutely not the time to be raising taxes on people who are struggling themselves,” said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno.

She and House Minority Leader Tom Cross propose expanding gaming to generate $1 billion in new revenue, which would help finance a $25 billion capital program. (They propose bonding about $12 billion, tapping $11 billion in the dedicated Road Fund to pay for transportation projects and leveraging about $3.5 billion from federal and local matching funds.)

Their gaming ideas include recurring proposals to allow a Chicago casino, expand positions at existing gaming facilities and enter a public-private partnership so that private investors manage the Illinois Lottery while the state continues to own it. Newer ideas include allowing video poker, as proposed in HB 4329, which is sponsored by one of Madigan’s assistant majority leaders, Rep. Frank Mautino of Spring Valley. Republicans also mentioned allowing Lottery tickets to be sold online, a proposal previously advanced by Cullerton.

Madigan took gaming off the table last year, but his spokesman, Steve Brown, said this is a new year. However, he said gaming tends to be a regressive source of revenue that usually generates a bunch of hype before falling by the wayside.

Senate Majority Leader James Clayborne said gaming for capital is still on the table in his chamber.

Tax reforms for education and economy
Ralph Martire, executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, reintroduced a concept of increasing the state income tax rate and expanding the state sales taxes to cover services. The goal is to reform the way the state pays for public education and to reduce the burden on local property taxes.

Cutting back on state spending during a recession may sound logical, Martire said, but “it is quite clearly the absolute worst thing the state of Illinois could do.”

He joined two leaders in the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to cite new evidence from Mark Zandi, Moody’s Economy.com’s chief economist, that the idea could help reduce the length of the economic recession in Illinois by preserving thousands of jobs and helping taxpayers spend money in their local economies.

The plan has been proposed in various forms before and would increase state income taxes, expand state sales taxes and provide targeted tax relief to low- and middle-income taxpayers. He added that broadening the sales tax to apply to services could reduce its rate, although it would be a hard sell to Cook County residents who already pay some of the highest sales tax rates in the country.

Sen. James Meeks, a Chicago Democrat and longtime sponsor of education funding reform measures, said Blagojevich is no longer in a position to threaten to veto tax reforms, and Cullerton has been a co-sponsor of such reforms. However, he added, his peers in the Senate likely would not support an income tax increase if it didn’t lead to education funding reform and property tax relief.

GOP budget reforms
By Hilary Russell
House Republicans flatly disagree and say Illinois has a spending problem, according to House Minority Leader Tom Cross.

He joined his GOP Caucus members and John Tillman, chief executive officer of the Chicago-based Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, to propose budget reforms that would help reduce the $9 billion deficit and increase accountability. Introduced today in a Statehouse news conference, the proposals include:

The Sunshine Act (HB 4134) would create a volunteer commission of four legislators and four members of the public to review each of the state’s executive branch programs. The bill is sponsored by Rep. David Reis, a Willow Hill Republican. The state does not have an accurate list of existing programs, making it difficult for lawmakers to keep track of them, GOP members said.

Reis is also sponsoring the Stimulus Watch Act, which would require the General Assembly’s approval to use federal stimulus funds to create new state programs. Once the funds run out for a particular program, it would end.

“Pay as You Go Spending” (HB 3189), sponsored by Rep. Mike Connelly, a Lisle Republican, would implement a start and end date for new state spending programs. Just to add a program another must be eliminated.

Rep. Darlene Senger, a Naperville Republican, is co-sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would change the required number of votes to raise taxes. Currently, a majority of 60 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate is needed to increase fees or taxes. Senger’s proposal would increase the required number of votes to a “supermajority,” or 71 votes in the House and 36 in the Senate, making it more difficult to pass tax bills.

Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, said that the Republican’s timing was more showboating for their constituents than offering real solutions. “I find it very interesting that whenever there is a public policy decision to be made and the facts are clear that many people look for a political peg to take the chance to hang their hat on rather than take any political risk whatsoever.”

Gun control vs. gun rights
By Jamey Dunn
On the same day that thousands of people came to the Capitol building to participate in the annual gun owner lobbying day, every gun control measure voted on in a House committee advanced to the floor. A feeling of déjà vu was in the air.

Two of the gun control measures that passed through the committee today were proposed last session by the same two Democrat sponsors from Chicago. House Bill 12, sponsored by Rep. Luis Arroyo, would limit handgun purchases to one per person per month. House Bill 165 , proposed by Rep. Edward Acevedo, would ban semi-automatic assault weapons.

Other measures before the committee included House Bill 179, proposed by Chicago Democrat Rep. Deborah Graham, which would require that guns must either be equipped with gun locks or stored in lock boxes around minors. House Bill 180, also sponsored by Graham, would make gun dealers register with the Illinois State Police, who could then do spot checks on the dealers.

Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Democrat from Harrisburg, supports gun rights and is pushing for a few different bills that would allow counties to decide if they wanted to allow concealed carry of guns. One concealed carry bill sponsored by Sen. John Jones, a Republican from Mount Vernon, did not make it out of the Senate Public Health Committee yesterday.

Special elections
Two special election bills were killed today in a partisan showdown in the House Executive Committee. The hearing only included Cross’ special election bill and one proposed by Rep. Jack Franks, a Democrat from Woodstock. Both votes split along party lines. Republicans on the committee were visibly miffed and protested the demise of the bills.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 11, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,848 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 11, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. The copy you find on Illinois Review may not be complete because Illinois Review deletes articles posted by Champion News and others it disapproves of. Thanks

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Challenges for Gov. Quinn's first budget

By Bethany Jaeger, with Jamey Dunn and Hilary Russell contributing
Gov. Pat Quinn said he’s trying to come up with the “least bad option” to navigate the state into fiscal and economic recovery “because there are no good options.”

When he proposes his first state budget and spending plan before the full General Assembly next Wednesday, he said “it’ll have some castor oil in it, but when you take castor oil, hopefully it’ll get better in the long run.”



That castor oil could come in the form of tax increases, spending cuts, public employee pension reforms and a way to finance a long-term capital plan for road and school construction. None of those is easy to swallow, particularly when his plan is sandwiched between a nationwide economic crisis and an alleged corruption spree that has crippled voter confidence.

Tax increases
One online survey conducted last month by Zogby International indicates that the majority of 644 likely voters rejected two revenue options on the table. Slightly more than a quarter of the respondents said they could support an income tax increase, while about 13 percent said they could support broadening the state sales tax to include services. But more than half, about 55 percent, said that they supported neither and that the state needed another plan.

Slightly more than half also said they would be less likely to vote for a member of the General Assembly who supported a tax increase.

Zogby International conducted the poll on behalf of the Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois and the Illinois Insurance Association. John Zogby spoke to the groups in Springfield Tuesday afternoon and said that when voters do not want tax increases, budget cuts, increased spending or tax cuts as possible solutions to the economic downturn, “they’re not being stupid” and “they’re not being fickle.” He said voters would start to see progress and grow more confident “when the orange cones go up, when the roads are starting to be paved, when the money actually gets in to the communities.”

Zogby said that if the survey would have framed the questions as either-or situations such as increasing income taxes or cutting education funding, voters would have responded differently. “If you throw out a tax increase and are not able to sell it, that’s the kind of result you’re going to get,” he said of the survey results.

Spending cuts
Quinn said in his Statehouse office Tuesday afternoon that trimming state spending is the No. 1 focus. “We have to cut, cut and cut costs in the budget” to economize and save money for the taxpayers. He didn’t specify but repeated that “everything is on the table,” which could refer to anything from reducing state headcount to pulling back on educational grants. He said the core priorities of state government are public safety, education, health care and, right now, a $25 billion capital investment program that creates jobs.

“You have to cut wherever you can,” he said. “There are some things that we’d like to do normally, but if in a tough economic time, you have to cut back. I think that’s what people understand. Nobody’s happy about this.”

A special Senate committee is trying to look specifically at ways to cut state government services; yet, officials and advocates for education last week and for health care this week more often stated why their programs could not be sacrificed. Instead, some supported calls for a state income tax increase to bring in new revenue. Two more meetings about ways to reduce state spending will be held before March 24 and will touch on public employee pensions and state government operations, as well as ideas for new revenues and reductions.

On Tuesday, the committee heard from the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan think tank in Chicago. It just launched a new Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability and issued a new report that calls for reducing spending, avoiding the creation of new programs and implementing a construction and infrastructure plan. One suggestion for reducing Medicaid costs, for instance, is to move some mental health patients from long-term care services that do not receive federal matching funds. Instead, the federation reported that clients could be moved to services that offer more integrated settings, which would receive federal matching funds and which could potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars.

Medicaid
Quinn said part of the need to cut back on spending is so that the state can have enough cash to pay its service providers, particularly medical providers who are at risk of closing their doors or laying off employees because they don’t get reimbursed by the state for months at a time.

More than 200 health care providers rallied at the Capitol Tuesday with Comptroller Dan Hynes to support a measure that would ensure that they got paid in a more timely manner. “This is just a small sampling of the thousands of providers who are desperate right now for relief,” Hynes said during a Senate committee. “These are small business owners. These are frontline service and social safety net services in our communities, and they have been devastated by these delays. They need our help.”

Hynes is again supporting a measure that would prohibit the state from deferring Medicaid bills into the next fiscal year, which has often happened as a way to make the current year’s budget appear balanced.

Pension reforms
Another area subject to reforms is public employee pension systems. Quinn said he’s considering a two-tiered system, meaning that existing employees would keep their current pension benefits but that new hires would receive lower benefits.

“We want to make sure we have adequate money not just to pay the pensions of public employees, which is an important policy goal and it’s a legal requirement, but we also want to have money to invest in health care and education and having public safety,” Quinn said. “So there’s a lot of balancing.”

While the idea has support from such think tanks as the Civic Federation, it has strong opposition from such public employee unions as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.

The Civic Federation’s report suggests ways to chip away at the state’s $73 billion unfunded pension liabilities. One idea includes imposing a moratorium on new employee benefits until the pension system had enough assets on hand to fund 90 percent of its liabilities.

“It would not be imperative to have to change the pension benefits if, in fact, the state could afford them,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation. “But the fact it has not fully funded them for over 30 years is a strong indication to the Civic Federation that the benefits are unaffordable, and there is no comparable type benefit program in the private sector. You just don’t see people retiring after 20 years of service with a defined benefit that goes up by 3 percent a year and that allows for free health insurance.”

He said the federation’s No. 1 recommendation to the state is to stop digging and making the problem worse. “These runaway pension costs are compounded by the under-funding, but inherent in the under-funding is the state’s 30 years of not adequately funding them. And if the state was able to afford this generous of benefit, it would be funding them.”

AFSCME Council 31 said the public employee benefit levels are modest and below the national average, and they’re not the problem, according to spokesman Anders Lindall. Rather, he said, the problem is that previous governors and legislatures have chronically failed to adequately pay the state’s contribution into the pension systems, creating a mountain of unfunded liabilities.

“Cutting pensions and undermining retirement security for state employees is wrong, period,” Lindall said. “And AFSCME will oppose any unfair two-tiered system that would have employees doing equal work for unequal benefits. It’s important to know that the average benefit for a current retiree is $1,500 a month, about $18,000 a year. I think anybody that would consider that gold-plated is out of touch with reality.”

However, even legislators such as Rep. Joe Lyons, who describes himself as a pro-labor Democrat, know they have to keep an open mind and prepare for some politically tough votes this year. “It’s one of these very bitter, bitter pills that we’re going to have to at least think about swallowing,” he said.

Members of the General Assembly already have tiered pension benefits, depending on when they were elected. And Rep. Kevin McCarthy, an Orland Park Democrat who chairs the House committee on pensions, said he’s proposed a measure with the support of House Speaker Michael Madigan that would change the General Assembly’s pension system from a “defined benefit” to a “defined contribution” plan. It would create a 401(k)-type system where legislators paid into their retirement accounts, and the state matched that amount up to a certain percentage.

“People have to realize that this is a system that we just cannot afford in the long term,” McCarthy said, adding that the legislation would start with the General Assembly’s retirement system and then extrapolate whether it would work for the four other pension systems for teachers, state employees, university employees and judges.

Quinn said he does not plan to propose a 401(k)-type system for public employees.

We'll have much more on reform proposals in the next week.

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First sign of Burris’ uphill battle

By Jamey Dunn
An online survey conducted last month by Zogby International indicates that most of 644 likely voters would not vote for incumbent U.S. Sen. Roland Burris in 2010. Just 5.3 percent of the survey respondents said they would support him in the Democratic primary, while Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and Comptroller Dan Hynes garnered about an equal level of support: 28.1 percent for Giannoulias and 26.8 percent for Hynes.



However, Zogby said, “it’s very, very early. It’s a name recognition game, essentially.”

Of the Republican respondents, 26.3 percent said they would support U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, and
21 percent would support U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam in the GOP primary for Burris’ seat.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan led incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn in the question about whom respondents would support for governor in 2010. Madigan received 41 percent, while 29.5 percent supported Quinn.

However, Zogby said that Quinn has an approval rating of 46.4 percent during an economic crisis, indicating that he does have at least “some political capital.”

Republicans supported DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett for governor over state Sen. Bill Brady, who received 8.5 percent, and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce president Doug Whitley, who received 5.6 percent. Birkett received 39.3 percent.

Zogby said that a high number of Democrats, Republicans and independent undecided voters means that the Illinois GOP could have a shot at making these races close. He advised the Republican Party to reach out to the middle and to pick moderate undecided voters, as well as to try to avoid infighting. “Republicans have an opportunity in 2010, but the opportunity will not be in embracing their old [conservative] principals. You don’t embrace your fundamental principles when you’re out of office. You’re supposed to do that when you’re in office.”

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Campaign Finance Reform -- Really

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

Not one, not two, but three different Chicago newspapers ran opinion pieces recently in favor of campaign finance reform, joining a growing chorus in support of fixing our broken political system.

Crain's took a look at "the corruption that has come to define Illinois" and concluded, "Illinois can reclaim its dignity by curbing the flow of campaign cash that pollutes our politics and government."

The Sun-Times wrote, "with our state in post-impeachment crisis, now is the time for Springfield lawmakers to enact meaningful campaign contribution limits." The Sun-Times also observed, "In theory, public disclosure … discourages dirty dealings. In practice, we've seen how well that has worked."

And in the Tribune, former First Chicago NBD CEO Richard Thomas noted, "illegal practices that are discouraged abroad are tolerated here in Illinois." And he argued "placing limits on campaign contributions would be a good place to start."

Support for campaign finance reform is growing outside of the Capitol. Former Executive Ethics Commission Chairman Scott Turow recently told the legislative Joint Committee on Government Reform, in a hearing on transparency, that he believes that campaign finance reform is "indispensable," even asserting, "our state will continue to be perceived as an ethical swamp, both in Illinois and outside of it, unless we prohibit unlimited campaign donations." A broad coalition of business, civic, and non-profit groups, including ICPR, recently formed, calling itself CHANGE Illinois.

To date, 20 House members have signed on as sponsors of HB 24, a measure to reform campaign finance. Similar legislation in the Senate, SB 1768, has a smaller but growing list of sponsors.

Legislators need to hear your voices. Contact your House and Senate members and tell them what you think of our current political crisis. Now is the time for people to speak up.

To comment, please visit ICPR's blog.

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Huston: Stop Illinois HB 422

Illinois H.B. 422 sponsored by Karen May (D, Highland Park) creates the Illinois Clean Air Act establishing new motor vehicle emission standards based on California’s Low Emission Vehicle Program requirements.



Many in the business community in Illinois oppose this legislation for the unduly stringent requirements it would impose on the state, among other reasons. But a compelling one for me is the simple matter of Illinois allowing its laws to be crafted by Californians. What sense does it make for a state in the central part of the country to allow a state thousands of miles away, one that has vastly different environmental conditions, to write laws that will affect its own citizens? This idea alone is so unAmerican that it boggles the mind.

To learn more about the effort to stop this disastrous law from being imposed by unaccountable Californians on the people of Illinois visit...
http://www.nocalevinil.com/.

Read the complete post here.

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The Illinois Congressional Pork Report

by Cal Skinner

Taxpayers for Common Sense have totaled up the congressional earmarks in the budget bill being voted on this week.

I was reminded of that when I read an editorial cartoon sent to me by my Joplin, Missouri, brother-in-law. It was in the Saganaw News.

Scene: Husband and wife sitting at the breakfast table.

Husband: “Sez here they arrested a D.C. Madam for running a house of ill repute...”

Wife: “They arrested Polisi?”

Below is the list of who got what in this year's budget, which is due to be passed only about six months after the beginning of the fiscal year. They are listed in descending order from highest to lowest dollar amount of pork projects.

• Ray LaHood, 23 earmarks totaling $8,774,250

• Rahm Emanuel, 10 earmarks totaling $6,523,000

• Jerry Costello, 12 earmarks totaling $5,425,175

• Dan Lipinski, 12 projects totaling $4,451,172

• Melissa Bean, 10 earmarks totaling $3,687,314 (one in McHenry County)

• Bill Foster, 12 earmarks totaling $3,095,000

• Danny Davis, 10 earmarks totaling $3,066,014

• Tim Johnson, 8 earmarks totaling $2,806,100

• Jesse Jackson, Jr., 15 earmarks totaling $2,783,500

• Peter Roskam, 12 earmarks totaling $2,655,330

• John Shimkus, 13 earmarks totaling $2,421,750

• Bobby Rush, 8 earmarks totaling $2,073,375

• Don Manzullo, 6 earmarks totaling $2,070,500 (one in McHenry County)

• Phil Hare, 7 earmarks totaling $2,031,000

• Jan Schakowsky, 8 earmarks totaling $1,644,000

• Luis Gutierrez, 2 earmarks totaling $760,000

• Jerry Weller, 7 earmarks totaling $1,243,250

$47.8 million in total.

Eschewing pork were Republicans Judy Biggert and Mark Kirk.

Three retired members, Rahm Emanuel, Ray LaHood and Jerry Weller get credit for projects anyway.

Newly elected Congress folks Debbie Halvorson and Aaron Shock were not listed.

Previous Illinois pork reports on McHenry County Blog:

2-28-9 Illinois Pork in the Commerce, Justice and Science Budgets

3-1-9 Illinois Defense Department Pork

3-2-9 Homeland Security Pork in Illinois

3-2-9 Return of Planetarium Pork

3-3-9 Ray LaHood Tucks $90,000 Bandstand Renovation in Congressional Budget

3-3-9 Pork Where You Might Expect It – in the Agriculture Budget

3-4-9 Illinois Earmarks for Interior, Environment Bills

3-5-9 Illinois Comes Out on Short End of Military Pork

3-6-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 1

3-7-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 2 - Dick Durbin's

3-8-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 3

3-9-9 Illinois Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Congressional Earmarks – Part 4

3-10-9 Illinois Corps of Engineers Pork

Tomorrow at McHenry County Blog the bacon our United States Senators brought home.
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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 10, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,807 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 10, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. The copy you find on Illinois Review may not be complete because Illinois Review deletes articles posted by Champion News and others it disapproves of. Thanks

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They're Baaaaaaaack!

Flossmoor's First Couple, Roger and Marcia Molski, are back from an extended "vacation." This being a month before the next election, Flossmoor can expect to see more of the two. They did this last time the mayor was on the ballot as well, Marcia spending time in the village to give the appearance that they still live here.

Voters in Flossmoor can be expected to vote on whether it is "good enough" to have an absentee mayor. No one can blame Roger for wanting to sleep in his own bed or return home to his wife each night. The problem is that they are in Chicago, not Flossmoor. So the question remains, should the mayor live here?

The issue with having an absentee mayor has been made crystal clear this winter. Flossmoor's mayor was absent from the village during the recent ice storm. He didn't endure local power outages because he was at home, in Chicago. Nor did he visit local businesses concerned about having power to open their doors. He simply wasn't here.

Molski was absent during our recent "blizzard," as well. Pictures were provided in a prior post of the Mayor's absence. Of course, the blizzard only made Molski's practice of going home (to Chicago) each night more obvious.

Because the mayor doesn't live here anymore, he's fairly disengaged from the community. So it is no surprise that the mayor has expressed little interest in helping Flossmoor benefit from federal stimulus dollars. While the city manager has done yeoman's work in trying to recover from the mayor's managerial weaknesses, the fact remains that Flossmoor would have greatly benefited from a mayor who was engaged in his community, who could have had an immediate response when the concept of stimulus dollars was becoming public.

The question of whether our mayor should live here really is a question about how invested the mayor should be in the community that he leads. Overnight power outages have no effect on the mayor because he doesn't sleep here. He can't look out his windows and see a community that is blacked-out. One suspects his condo in Chicago has its own backup generator, so he may very well be immune to local power outages there, as well. Must be nice.

The mayor's lack of investment in Flossmoor shows in the kinds of things he is doing to our community. He brought blight to Flossmoor, helping an over-extended developer raze five active businesses on the tax rolls here and leaving a half-block long hole on Flossmoor's main street. What is he doing about it? When I asked, not a thing.

Instead, we come to find that the mayor is helping to bring in a store that will sell liquor and tobacco across the street from Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Once again, Molski was instrumental in having our community standards waved in order to get one of his pet projects passed.

Would Roger Molski really have worked so hard to wave our community zoning requirements if he actually lived in Flossmoor? Probably not. If Molski was fully invested in our community, he would have been more likely to understand why residents would want to retain the look and feel of Flossmoor, why it is important to encourage businesses to adapt to our community standards, why selling liquor across the street from one of our community's main assets (its high school) isn't a good idea. No, our absentee mayor has discovered Chicago values and seeks to import them here, to Flossmoor. He's not fully invested in our community, and it shows.

So the question is, should the mayor live here? If you care about Flossmoor's community values, about its inherent charm and small town flavor, then the answer must be yes. If you want to turn Flossmoor into Chicago, then obviously the mayor is a great promoter for undermining Flossmoor's charm and standards. He's done it before and you can expect for him to do it again. Home is where the heart is, and it's clear that Roger Molski's heart is no longer in Flossmoor.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 9, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,779 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 9, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. The copy you find on Illinois Review may not be complete because Illinois Review deletes articles posted by Champion News and others it disapproves of. Thanks

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 8, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,751 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 8, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. The copy you find on Illinois Review may not be complete because Illinois Review deletes articles posted by Champion News and others it disapproves of. Thanks

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 7, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,725 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 7, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. The copy you find on Illinois Review may not be complete because Illinois Review deletes articles posted by Champion News and others it disapproves of. Thanks

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Tax talk and FutureGen update

Income tax talk
By Bethany Jaeger
Senate Democrats are considering ways to trim the budget at the same time they’re considering revenue ideas to help alleviate the $9 billion to $11 billion budget deficit. At least one revenue idea includes an increase in the state income tax by as much as 2 percentage points, which would bring the rate to 5 percent for individuals.



Sen. Donne Trotter, budget negotiator for the Senate Democrats, said that for every percentage point increase, the state could collect an extra $3.3 billion, meaning 1 percentage point wouldn't plug the expanding budget gap. “If you’re going to do something as dramatic as raise the income tax, you might as well make it workable. Let’s not just do it and still have a hole and have to come back and do it next year.”

Trotter said early internal discussions about changing the tax structure include establishing a progressive system that would levy a higher tax rate on people who made more money and giving tax credits to families who made less money.

He said the idea to grant tax credits to lower-income families would allow the legislature to get around having to change the state Constitution, which established a flat income tax rate. Illinois lawmakers would have to propose a constitutional amendment to levy the tax on a sliding scale based on ability to pay.

FutureGen still being considered by the Feds
By Jamey Dunn
The U.S. Department of Energy has not taken the proposed FutureGen plant in Mattoon off the table, but the overall plan and the details of the bureaucratic process remain in flux.

According to the New York Times, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said yesterday that he still is considering the Mattoon plant as part of a “modified” project that could include international partners. “We are taking, certainly, a fresh look at FutureGen, how it would fit into this expanded portfolio,” Chu was quoted as saying.

Illinois lawmakers have focused on the record of decision, a statement that says the plan for the Mattoon site has met all environmental standards for construction. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin recently called for Chu to sign the document so the project can move forward.

However, John Grasser, a spokesman for the Fossil Energy Division of the Department of Energy, said that being concerned with the record of decision at this point is “putting the cart before the horse.” Grasser said that the project must be resurrected before the record can be signed. He said that Chu is still open to the possibility of breathing new life into the project that was abandoned by former President George Bush's administration in January 2008. Grasser said that if the Mattoon site becomes part of a new plan, it could require a new record of decision and some administrative planning that will be worked out when, and if, the time comes.

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Tax Cap Attack

by Cal Skinner

I am stimulated by Chicago Tribune now freelance (used to be Education) reporter Diane Rado's Thursday article about the impact of the one-tenth of one percent increase in the Consumer Price Index and, hence, in property tax revenues for school and other tax districts in tax capped counties.

McHenry County Blog has written extensively about the effects of that unheard of low CPI and you can find links to the articles here, if you are interested.

Next week four of the tax cap busting bills are scheduled for the House and Senate Revenue Committees.

Diana Rado, who used to be the Tribune's best education writer until she met one of those downsizing problems, writes that

the one-tenth of one percent increase in the Consumer Price Index “ means most taxpayers can expect only slight increases in their 2009 tax bills, which are paid in 2010.“

She points out that tax referendums “not a very viable possibility in the current recession.”

Rado reports,

"One bill filed in the General Assembly in February would prevent the cap from falling below 2 percent. Another bill would allow the use of a different inflation measure in the formula—an employment cost index that tracks changes in labor costs—which could benefit school districts.”

I find 110 bills designed to gut the tax cap.

Two concerning allowing a minimum of a two percent increase in what schools can get each year, even if the CPI is less, are

• Rep. Art Turner's House Bill 2502 and


• Sen. Lou Viverito's Senate Bill 2126

Turner's bill has joint sponsors—Frank Mautino, Linda Chapa LaVia, and William Davis—from each of the House Democratic Party caucuses in addition to long-time Republican tax cap buster advocate school superintendent Roger Eddy.

Viverito has no co-sponsors, but he is Chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee.

Both bills are posted for hearing next week. The House hearing is Nest Thursday at 9 AM. The Senate hearing is at 2 on Wednesday.

Members on the House Revenue Committee follow:

Chairperson John E. Bradley D

Vice-Chairperson: Frank J. Mautino D

Member: Bob Biggins R

Member: Suzanne Bassi R

Member: Mark H. Beaubien, Jr. R

Member: Linda Chapa LaVia D

Member: Barbara Flynn Currie D

Member: Roger L. Eddy R

Member: LaShawn K. Ford D

Member: Careen M Gordon D

Member: Ed Sullivan, Jr. R

Member: Arthur L. Turner D

Member: Michael J. Zalewski D

The Senate Revenue Committee members follow:

Chairperson Louis S. Viverito D

Vice-Chairperson: James T. Meeks D

Member: M. Maggie Crotty D

Member: Susan Garrett D

Member: Mike Jacobs D

Member: Jeffrey M. Schoenberg D

Minority Spokesperson : Chris Lauzen R

Member: Bill Brady R

Member: Randall M. Hultgren R

Member: Matt Murphy R

By clicking on their names, you can find their phone numbers, if you wish to call them.

Other bills to worry about are

• Aurora's Rep.Linda Chapa LaVia's HB 2237, which would take pension payments out from under the tax cap.

• SB 1513, sponsored by Sen. James Clayborne of East St. Louis. Both are Democrats.

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 6, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,679 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 6, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. The copy you find on Illinois Review may not be complete because Illinois Review deletes articles posted by Champion News and others it disapproves of. Thanks

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Of Condoms and Rape in Prison

by Cal Skinner

There is a way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in prison.

But it goes against the grain of everything considered by liberals as politically correct.

The way to do it is to test all of the prisoners periodically and house those who are HIV-infected separately from those who are not.


When I was on top of this subject in the mid-1990's, three or four states followed that almost guaranteed course of protecting uninfected inmates from those who are HIV-infected.

I talked to a former Illinois Corrections official working in Louisiana's prison system, one of the ones that housed the infected separately from the infected.

(The liberals opposed to this practice always called it “segregation,” thus putting a racial twist on a disease that infects all races.)

The former Illinois DOC employee told me when they first instituted the policy, they put up a chain link fence between the two sections.

Guess what?

The prisoners were having sex through the links.

Louisiana solved that problem by putting up another fence 12 inches away.

The point is that prisoners are not responsible people. If they were responsible, they would not be behind bars.

Now comes my former colleague Monique Davis, who sat across the center aisle from former State Rep. Tom Johnson and me in the 1990's, sponsoring a bill to distribute condoms in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

She has gotten the bill out of committee.

Giving prisoners condoms will not stop rape in prison.

If you are interested in the problem, here's some more information.

The DOC has pretty much a three money approach to HIV.

Although an almost half million dollar CDC study in the early 1990's proved that HIV was being spread behind Illinois prison walls, the Department refused to do anything significant about it.

Even when I found a “face”--Michael Blucker, then of Crystal Lake--who could proved he was HIV-infected in prison.

DOC decided to institute “peer counseling.”

Big deal.

Inmates don't put on condoms when they are about to rape someone.

If a subservient inmate agrees to “hook up” with a dominant inmate in order not to be randomly raped, the dominant male may use a condom. That happened to Donny Donaldson, who wrote the brief

But the rape is not less a rape, even if it looks consensual.

How bad is it?

"The horrors experienced by many young inmates, particularly those who are convicted of nonviolent offenses, border on the unimaginable.

"Prison rape not only threatens the lives of those who fall prey to their aggressors, but it is potentially devastating to the human spirit.

"Shame, depression, and a shattering loss of self-esteem accompany the perpetual terror the victim thereafter must endure."

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Farmer v. Brennan

That is the top item on the newly re-named Stop Prisoner Rape organization. It is now called Just Detention International.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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Civil unions measure advances

On the same day that the California Supreme Court heard arguments on the legality of Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that defined marriage in that state’s constitution as being between a man and a woman, an Illinois bill that would create civil unions advanced to the House floor.



The bill, proposed by Democratic Rep. Greg Harris of Chicago, would create civil unions for both heterosexual and homosexual couples, giving them the same state and local rights as married couples. According to Harris, however, the bill could not address the more than 1,000 rights and responsibilities that the federal government grants to married couples.

Churches in opposition to same-sex civil unions could not be forced to perform any kind of civil union ceremony.

Opponents to the bill call it a backhanded attempt to legalize same-sex marriages in Illinois. Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, said the legislation “is all about same sex-marriage” because it would redefine the term “spouse” by including anyone in a civil union.

Gilligan also expressed a concern that faith-based organizations that oppose homosexuality would be forced to acknowledge civil unions when making hiring decisions and giving benefits.

Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, said that this bill is identical to efforts in other states that set off judicial battles over same sex-marriage. “There is no doubt that a legal challenge will follow,” he said. If that happened, the Illinois Supreme Court would face the decision of legalizing same-sex marriage. “You very well may see a same sex-marriage decision in Illinois. … Obviously, that would happen without the consent or will of the people,” Nimocks said.

Those in favor of the bill say it is important to grant all couples the same rights in situations such as medical care decisions, hospital visits and funeral planning for a life partner. Harris said these rights are necessary “so that no one is left a legal stranger at the time of need in a loved one’s life.”

Rev. Suzanne Anderson-Hurdle, a Lutheran minister from Romeoville, said she agreed with opponents of the bill on the desire to keep the government from telling her church what to do, but she also said that sometimes the “secular or governmental world might be ahead of us believers and can challenge us to do what we should be doing.”

Anderson-Hurdle, whose church welcomes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, said that the bill was about equality, not religious faith. “This is not and should not be a religious discussion. This is a matter of legal, civil and human rights.”

Harris tried to advance an identical bill last year, but he said his effort was derailed by the impeachment proceedings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But it also was subject to several delaying tactics by the opposition.

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South Suburban "Shovel Ready" Projects

Stimulus Watch provides a breakdown of "shovel ready" projects eligible for federal stimulus dollars. These are defined as:

the "shovel-ready" projects the mayors of this state submitted in the 2008 U.S. Conference of Mayors report.

The shocking thing about this report is not who is on it, but who is missing from it. There were no projects submitted for that report by the villages of Hazel Crest or Dolton, County Club Hills, Markham, Steger, Robbins or Flossmoor. Mayors in Illinois made a request totalling $3 billion, representing all the requests in the state listed in the report. But the villages of County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger were absent from these requests.

Ford Heights (pop: 3,227) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $20,031 (Illinois average was $54,124) according to the website city-data.com. Robbins (pop: 6,312) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $27,637. I suspect that these two villages (like Flossmoor) aren't members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Markham (pop: 12,190) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $47,608. Steger (pop: 10,458) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $49,534. All these villages were below the Illinois statewide average, and all of these could have easily benefited from stimulus dollars being used in their communities.

Dolton (pop: 24,032) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $54,965 (slightly more than the Illinois average of $54,124). Hazel Crest (pop: 14,164) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $57,891. Both of these villages have seen brighter days and suffer from neglect of existing infrastructure. Country Club Hills (pop: 16,764) is more fortunate, with an estimated median household income in 2007 of $66,047 and Flossmoor (pop: 9,353) had an estimated median household income in 2007 of $107,850, but neither village had infrastructure projects in mind for the report.

According to Stimulus Watch, the report includes $49,865,000 in project requests from Blue Island for 25 projects. Click on the link will provide more information about those project requests. Richton Park has requested $48,047,000 for 9 projects. South Holland has made $29,911,340 in requests for 19 projects. Homewood has asked for $22,000,000 for its Water and Sewer Infrastructure Rehabilitation project in the neighbor by Walt's. Glenwood has requested $19,350,000 for 28 projects in its community.

Calumet City wants $12,504,000 for 7 projects. Olympia Fields has $12,200,000 worth of projects in 16 different areas. Chicago Heights is requesting $11,674,165 for 27 projects, according to the Conference of Mayors report. Chicago Heights has also asked for $30 million in federal stimulus dollars for its proposed wind farm at a dormant landfill. Tinley Park asked for $10,272,105 to fund 13 projects.

Rounding out the requests for the South Suburbs in the 2008 report, Harvey put in for $5,120,000 for 13 projects. Lynwood asked for $5,825,000 for 15 projects. Park Forest wants $3,757,000 for 5 projects. And Sauk Village requested $3,350,000 to fund 5 projects there.

While you could argue that no one could have foreseen the economic meltdown that has resulted in the federal stimulus package, that doesn't exactly explain why the communities of County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger were not included in the Conference of Mayors report. Most, if not all, communities have a list of projects that they would like federal help on, so you have to wonder why County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger weren't submitting projects in this routine request. I called the villages of Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest and Markham to ask why they were omitted from this report. I asked them for an explanation as to why their villages weren't included in the requests detailed by the 2008 Conference of Mayors report.

I talked to Joseph Bertrand and Robert Palmer, who is the Village Manager, from Hazel Crest, and they were surprised to hear that they didn't have any shovel-ready projects in the report. "There are a lot of reports out there," Palmer told me. He also told me that Hazel Crest submitted requests to the Mayors Caucus of Chicago about a month ago and that they had just had their transportation meeting on Tuesday where Hazel Crest had made requests for transportation dollars. He said he knew about the Stimulus Watch website, and didn't really have an explanation for why Hazel Crest wasn't on it. "We were told we had two weeks to get it back to South Suburban Mayors and Managers," Palmer said.

He guessed that they had about 8-10 projects ready to go (he didn't say ready to go, but that's what the stimulus funding requires). Palmer said there was a lot of creek stabilization and sewer lining in what they believed would be eligible for federal funding under the stimulus package.

I also talked to Bridget Wachtel, the City Manager for Flossmoor, who gave me a very simple explanation as to why Flossmoor wasn't included. Flossmoor is not a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, so it couldn't have been on this list. Nonetheless, we did talk about the steps the village was taking to receive stimulus dollars. "We are pursuing stimulus dollars," Wachtel told me. "We have begun to register programs through the recovery website," she said.

"You have to have a project that fits into an existing program and it has to be shovel ready," she explained. She expressed some frustration with the conflict between the definition of "shovel ready" and the need for a funding source for the village to take the project to the shovel ready stage. Flossmoor has a "slew of programs in a capitol plan," but that doesn't mean they are eligible or shovel ready.

Wachtel explained that Flossmoor was "struggling to find where we can fit in" with regards to this new source of federal funds. She mentioned the Illinois Public Energy Agency low interest loan program that helped fund the first three phases of Flossmoor's sanitary sewer rehab. "That's where the $27 surcharge on your water bill goes," she said. They are thinking that perhaps the fourth phase of the sewer rehab project could come under the stimulus package. That way, 50% of project would be funded through stimulus dollars, and -- of the remaining 50% -- half (or 25%) would be eligible for a no interest loan and the other half would be eligible for a low interest loan. But "can we meet the deadline? Can we logistically meet those deadlines?"

I spoke with the offices of the mayor in Markam and Dolton, but neither office had anything to say about this. They took a message; no one called back.

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***IDOT on Top of Things***Breakdown of Highways and Bridges Stimulus $$$***Some Districts Get the Shaft: Capital Bill a Must***

** IL in general and IDOT specifically have taken some heat this week from the press for not submitting a list of infrastructure projects. From the Tribune:

Illinois still has not officially submitted a list of shovel-ready road and mass transit projects to the federal government for funding under the economic stimulus package, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday, warning that time is running out.

"The law requires us to get the money out the door very quickly," LaHood said. But "we have not received a list from the state or from Chicago."

** IDOT responded to this criticism in a Daily Herald article on Wednesday:

But Kollias says Illinois still has time and that no federal agency has suggested the state's missed deadlines.

She says Illinois has a window of about four months to complete an involved project-approval process.

That included inviting public comment on a nearly $700 million IDOT project list that emphasizes road repairs. Kollias says that comment period ended only Tuesday.

** On Wednesday, newly appointed Secretary of Transportation Gary Hannig testified before the Appropriations-Public Safety Committee on IDOT's project list and the probable allocation and division of funds. Of course, he addressed the public concerns that IDOT was not on the ball with regard to federal deadlines...

The Trib article misunderstood the situation. We had a list of shovel ready projects ready to go, but we felt it would seem disingenuous to submit a list of projects while were we still accepting and review public suggestions for stimulus projects. That process ended Tuesday, however, and IDOT has submitted a project list to the federal government.

Well that should help relieve those of you out there whom were sweating bullets worrying that IL would again prove inept and fail to collect all available stimulus money.

FYI- Here is the link to the IDOT website where which was where suggestions were submitted and a list of projects can be found...


** So now lets look at two different breakdowns of the stimulus money.

1.) Here is the allocation of stimulus funds divided by type of spending.


These are the federally mandated allocation levels. The state may choose not to use some funds, however any unused funds from one category may not be shifted to another. So IL must accept these ratios if it wishes to maximize the stimulus funds it receives. Basically, the Federal Government is saying take it or leave it, but the state can't change it.

2.) Here are 2 flow charts that show:

A.) How the U.S. government divides the Highway/Bridges Stimulus dollars among the state.

There is an important difference between the State Share and the Local Share of the stimulus money. The State Share must be allocated, for the most part, within 6 months of the bill enactment. (some types of spending have a little longer than this) So IL must allocate all of the $627 million it is eligible to receive by July of this year. This money must not be spent by then, however, the projects they will fund must have gotten under way by the end of the 6 month time span. All projects must be submitted to the U.S Department of Transportation and then must be approved by Federal engineers.

The Local Share works the same way, however, local governments are allotted a whole year (Feb 2010) to allocate their funds and get their projects underway. Both state and local governments are subject to the same federal controls for submission and approval of projects, but the state must work quickly, or else any funds not allocated to a project underway by deadline will be lost to the state. (I will return to this below)

• B.) How IL will divide the funds it receives geographically throughout the state.

This graph is pretty straight forward, but it should be noted that the Large Metropolitan Organizations are divided among the dominant or primary municipality, the county(s), and council of mayors (for suburban municipalities).

Take Chicago for example the $180 million that the Chicago MPO receives. The city of Chicago will receive $86 million, Cook County gets $47 million, and the remaining $57 million is split between the 6 different Council of Mayors that exist within the MPO.

Also, D-1 of the State Share is for the northern region of the state which contains roughly 40% to 45% of the IL's population.

The % split by the state and local is mandated by the federal government, but the sub-division within those categories are done at the state's discretion, and this is where things got interesting during the Appropriations-Public Safety Committee on Wednesday.


** Due to the federal guidelines, mainly the requirement to have the U.S. DOT approve projects and the 6 month deadline (of which 4 months remain), IDOT is not able to distribute project equally throughout the state.

As I mentioned above, the state has to play by the U.S. Government's rules or else lose the funding. The result, of course, was a committee that had some very unhappy members. Naturally, these Representatives wanted to know how the project lists were created. In fact, the vast majority of the committee's business consisted of Representatives asking about the process by which projects were designated as a stimulus funded project . As you can imagine, much of this was questioning was circular, Hannig's response was very consistent however.

(The following three paragraphs are paraphrased very closely from Hannig's testimony - I took notes, but I do not have the exact audio- and so the original meaning remains intact, but they are not exact quotes)

Hannig explained that, for the most part, IDOT simply choose projects that were already in the federal pipeline awaiting funding. These project were already approved and were in fact shovel ready projects that simply needed the funding to get underway, so they were a natural fit with the federal guidelines and rapidly approaching deadline. It was IDOT engineers, not any politician or administrator, that determined which projects were ready enough to be placed on the projects list. Thus, districts with the most shovel ready projects are slotted to receive a larger share of the stimulus money then districts with few ready to go projects. Due to the use it or lose it nature of the deadline, some districts got the shaft.

I understand that there is a great deal of "frustration" regarding division of stimulus funds and that some districts are essentially getting "screwed". Let us remember that the stimulus money is not even equal to one year of IL highway operating budget. So while the stimulus will help, it is certainly not a solution to IL infrastructure problems, and a much greater amount of funds, mainly a capital bill, will be needed to handle state's infrastructure needs.

Thus, I strongly recommend that this committee consider a capital bill. And for those members who did not receive a fair share of stimulus funding, they should look to a capital bill to address those concerns.

** So there you have it. IDOT is on top of the IL Stimulus money and, due to federal time lines, some districts receive relatively meager portions. The real problem is that the stimulus money for infrastructure (highway and bridges) is only a drop in the bucket of what the state really needs, and a capital bill of untold billions of dollars will be needed to deal with the states significant infrastructure demands.


** Related...

* Officials have year to set up projects

* Stimulus money to pave Southland

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GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - March 5, 2009

Articles of interest to Illinois Republicans recently posted by ABC7, NBC5, CBS2, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Daily Herald, Suburban Chicago News, Suburban Life, Pioneer Local, Southtown Star, Rockford Register Star, Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register, Belleville News Democrat, Southern Illinoisan, Illinois Review, Public Affairs, Champion News, Illinois Family Institute, Americans For Truth, Chicago Daily Observer, Tom Roeser, Capitalfax, etc. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought 42,655 such articles and information on many upcoming events to its subscribers' attention each morning, free of charge, and without any advertising. To view the March 5, 2009 GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips, please visit www.gopillinois.com or www.illinoisreview.com. The copy you find on Illinois Review may not be complete because Illinois Review deletes articles posted by Champion News and others it disapproves of. Thanks

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Deficit and guns

Deficit redux
By Hilary Russell
Members of the bipartisan Senate Committee on Deficit Reduction held the first of four hearings today to determine how to pare down the state deficit. Education advocates and officials testified for three hours about how budget cuts to education would have lasting consequences.



Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican, chairs the committee with Sen. Donne Trotter, a Chicago Democrat. Murphy said today’s hearing detracts from the committee’s initial intention. “We want to know where you’re willing to cut and where we think we can cut. I mean, it’s not supposed to be a parade of people explaining how they’re indispensable,” he said.

Glenn Poshard, president of Southern Illinois University, said the school received $ 9 million less this year than it did eight years ago, and that loss resulted in tuition hikes that nearly doubled the cost of an education since 2004.

Trotter said he viewed the committee hearing as a positive work-in-progress. “We asked the individuals, the stakeholders, to talk about how we could find money. And there were some ideas that weren’t considered before. I think we are getting the feel of what we can seriously be looking at that individuals are willing to stomach,” he said.

The hearings will span through March 24, covering topics such as health and human services, pensions and state government operations and revenues and reductions. The next committee meets Tuesday, March 10, and will discuss the Healthcare and Family Service budget deficit and revenue shortfall. Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, and Senator Minority Leader Christine Radogno, a Lemont Republican, each appointed five party members to the committee.

Gun bill advances
By Jamey Dunn
Gun owners may have to report any loss or theft of a handgun to local police within three days or they could lose the right to own a firearm.

House Bill 845, sponsored by Chicago Democrat Sen. Edward Acevedo, passed out of a House committee today with a 6 to 4 vote. Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez testified in favor of the measure, which she called “common sense gun legislation.” She said it would help law enforcement track guns that are used in crimes because the owners often supply the guns to people who commit the crimes, and then the owners claim they lost the gun.

Todd Vandermyde, spokesman for the Illinois Rifle Association, said the bill is unconstitutional because it could take away the right to own a firearm for a “failure to report a property crime.” He said that current laws should be properly enforced to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Failing to report a lost or stolen handgun the first time would be a petty offense. A second offense could carry the weight of a felony, possible jail time and loss of the Firearm Owner’s Identification Card, which is required for gun ownership in Illinois.

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