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June 5, 2015

June 5, 2015, 5:16 am
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Illinois House Passes Workers’ Comp Reform, GOP Says It Falls Short
From the Peoria Journal Star
Partisan divisions remained in full view Thursday as Democrats in the House passed what they said were compromise workers’ compensation reforms but which Republicans said would do nothing to bring down costs for businesses.
The 63-39 vote capped a day when House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, had a meeting with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner at which he said he reiterated that balancing the budget is the top priority facing the state.
“I don’t think the state should move into the month of July without the authority to spend money,” Madigan said at a Statehouse news conference. “I made that point very emphatically. Come July 1, he will be expected to manage the executive department, and he will not have the authority to spend money on executive agencies unless we finalize this work on the current spending plan and this work on elimination of the deficit.”
The state’s new fiscal year starts July 1. Democrats have passed a budget that spends $3 billion to $4 billion more than estimated state revenues next year. Democrats said they have made budget cuts and want revenue increases to make up the difference.
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June 8, 2015

June 8, 2015, 2:03 pm
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Kansas Links Court Funding To Judicial Rulings
From the Wall Street Journal
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed legislation that would eliminate funding for the state’s courts if they overturn a contentious law passed last year, a move experts described as an unprecedented display of legislative power.
The 2014 law, pushed by Republicans, stripped the Kansas Supreme Court of the power to appoint chief judges for the lower courts. A Kansas judge has sued to block it. Legal experts said the law signed late Thursday is likely the first instance of lawmakers tying a judicial budget to the outcome of a legal case.
The budget language will almost certainly be challenged in court, but activists warned that the effects of triggering the clause could be far-reaching. It’s unclear whether or how long the courts could operate without a budget in place. Courts would be unable to sign off on search and arrest warrants, issue protective orders or preside over constitutionally-mandated first appearances for people arrested for crimes, they said.
The 2014 law gave local courts the authority to select their own chief judges. The lawsuit pending in Shawnee County District Court, in northeastern Kansas, says the 2014 law violates a provision of the state constitution giving the Kansas Supreme Court “general administrative authority over all courts in the state.”
The bill signed by Gov. Brownback, a Republican, says that if that 2014 law is “stayed or is held to be invalid or unconstitutional,” the other provisions including funding for the courts are “declared to be null and void.”
Republican lawmakers denied any link between the language, known in legislative parlance as a non-severability clause, and the pending lawsuit.
Democrats, meanwhile, said the legislation is part of a vendetta against the courts for a series of rulings on education funding.
The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled twice that public-school funding was unconstitutionally inadequate. Soon after the most recent ruling, the legislature passed the law limiting the administrative authority of the court.
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June 9, 2015

June 9, 2015, 2:05 pm
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Union Protesters Disrupt Rauner Stop In Southern Illinois
From the Associated Press
A southern Illinois speech meant to build public support for Gov. Bruce Rauner's legislative agenda amid a budget impasse with majority Democratic lawmakers instead turned into a test of the first-term Republican's ability to stay on message, as he faced a flurry of taunts from union protesters.
Sign-carrying members of the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers Local 309 in Collinsville and the Caseyville-based Steamfitters Local 439 repeatedly interrupted Rauner's nine-minute pitch at Eckert's Country Store and Farm. The St. Clair County rally Monday afternoon followed a similar event earlier in the day in Marion.
The Illinois General Assembly is set to return to Springfield on Tuesday to continue their overtime effort to reach agreement on a budget for the fiscal year that begins next month. Rauner has said he won't bargain on new revenue for the budget until lawmakers consider his proposed reforms.
"I'm insistent. I won't talk about a tax hike unless we get the structural reform," he said Monday.
Before the event, several union members noted their opposition to Rauner's efforts to give local municipalities the power to adopt right-to-work laws for their own communities under which workers could opt out of joining unions and would not have to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
Rauner has ditched the idea of such "right-to-work" zones, which were initially part of his "turnaround agenda." But he reiterated his call for legislators to endorse other business- and political-climate changes he called critical for the state's future before he will consider the spending plan approved by legislative leaders before their May 31 adjournment. It includes a revenue gap of at least $3 billion, which Democrats want to plug with tax increases.
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June 10, 2015

June 10, 2015, 6:12 am
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More Finger-pointing, Little Progress At Statehouse
From the Bloomington Pantagraph
Illinois lawmakers spent a hot day in the Capitol on Tuesday debating the merits of freezing Illinois property taxes.
But, their actions did little to thaw the frosty relations between Democrats and Gov. Bruce Rauner, leaving the prospects of getting a new budget for the state in limbo.
With the clock ticking down on the state's fiscal year without a new budget in place, Rauner and his Republican allies said the Democrat-led maneuver was just more of the same political theater that has dominated the governor's first six months in office.
Before the discussions even began, Rauner spokesman Lance Trover turned to social media to label the hearings a "sham" and the reform efforts "phony" on Twitter.
Rauner joined in later during a news conference at the Executive Mansion.
"That's a waste of time," the governor said of a Senate hearing on property taxes.
Since taking office in January as the first Republican chief executive in 12 years, Rauner has butted heads with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, the two Chicago Democrats who preside over the General Assembly.
Rauner's anti-union positions and attempts to change state laws to favor business development have been rejected by Democrats, who say his proposals would hurt the middle class through a reduction in wages or other changes.
Hoping to pressure Democratic lawmakers into action, the governor earlier announced $400 million in budget cuts, including closing the Hardin County prison work camp, two unnamed juvenile prisons and state museums.
But that has not brought the two sides closer to a resolution.
Cullerton and Rauner met behind closed doors Tuesday. Neither side reported any significant progress.
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June 11, 2015

June 11, 2015, 5:53 am
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Who Won't Get Paid If The Illinois Budget Stalemate Drags On
From Crain's Chicago Business
One day after Gov. Bruce Rauner harshly criticized the ethics of Democratic legislative leaders, his appointee as comptroller adopted a more matter-of-fact tone today as she outlined the bills she could not pay if the state budget impasse persists.
Leslie Munger, named to the office after the death of Judy Baar Topinka, said during a news conference that state workers, Medicaid providers and other contractors would be among those whose payments would stop on July 1, the start of the state's fiscal year.
After that date, the Illinois Constitution restricts Munger's ability to pay bills if a budget is not enacted and signed into law, she said. Despite that provision, her office would continue to make other payments, including amounts due bondholders and state retirees, she said.
While she urged the Legislature to adopt a balanced budget and Rauner's legislative agenda, she did not specifically accuse the Democrats of holding up a deal, even though it was clear they were the targets of her remarks.
“I am here to urge the General Assembly to work in good faith with the governor to reach an agreement on a balanced budget and avoid an additional and unnecessary hardship to our state,” she said during the news conference at the Thompson Center.
“Every member of the General Assembly has been sent to Springfield by the voters of their districts to do a job,” she said, noting that the state constitution requires the passage of a balanced budget.
“As of today, they have failed to do their job,” she said.
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June 12, 2015

June 12, 2015, 8:39 am
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Five Associate Judges Not Reappointed In Third Circuit
From the Alton Telegraph
A major shakeup is afoot in the Third Judicial Circuit.
Five associate judges in the Third Judicial Circuit, which includes Madison and Bond counties, failed to be reappointed by the nine elected circuit judges Wednesday. Associate judges Duane Bailey, Ben Beyers, Donald Flack, David Grounds and Elizabeth Levy all fell short of the required three-fifths, or 60 percent, of votes to be retained for another term.
The five judges represent a rather large portion of the circuit’s associate judges. The circuit has 13 associate judges in total, with associate judges Philip Alfeld, Thomas Chapman, Clarence Harrison, Janet Heflin, Martin Mengarelli, Neil Schroeder, Ronald Slemer and Stephen Stobbs receiving enough votes to be reappointed to a new four-year term. Their new terms begin July 1.
Third Judicial Circuit Chief Judge David Hylla said the five non-reappointments is the largest turnover he’s witnessed in his 30 years in law.
“It’s the most that I’ve seen going back to 1985,” Hylla said.
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Bench Cleared: 5 Madison County Judges And 1 From St. Clair Voted Out

June 12, 2015, 8:43 am
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From the Belleville News-Democrat
One St. Clair County associate judge and five Madison County associate judges will be looking for new jobs come July 1.
The circuit judges who vote on whether to keep associate judges have voted out Laninya Cason, who serves on the bench in St. Clair County, and the following judges who serve in Madison County: Duane Bailey, Ben Beyers, Donald Flack, David Grounds and Elizabeth Levy.
Bailey and Beyers are the only two African-American judges on the bench in the 3rd Judicial Circuit, which is composed of Bond and Madison Counties.
Cason also is African-American. She’s the only associate judge who was not retained in the 20th Judicial Circuit, which covers St. Clair County. In recent years, Cason switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
Cason received a dismal score in the latest Illinois State Bar Association poll, a 45.83, in the overall category of “meets requirements of office.” In a recent interview, Cason said the poll of attorneys is a poor measure of a judge’s performance, and suggested that her party switch could be one factor for her score.
“I have been honored and blessed to have served the residents of St. Clair County with honor and integrity for 12 years,” Cason said Thursday. “My first priority has always been to be fair and impartial to the public I serve.”
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June 15, 2015

June 15, 2015, 1:26 pm
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Rauner, Public Unions Not Close On Contracts
From the Associated Press
The contracts for more than 40,000 Illinois state workers will expire at the end of the month, and their unions and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's negotiating team apparently aren't close to agreeing on new ones.
The standoff has gotten more public attention in recent days, with union members staging nearly 100 protests throughout the state, including last week in Springfield, to rally public support to their calls for fair contracts.
With the potential for a far-reaching strike or lockout looming, here are some things to know:
The state's contracts with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the state's largest public employee union, representing roughly 36,000 state workers, and those with roughly two dozen smaller unions representing roughly 5,000 nurses, police officers and others expire June 30. Although they have been negotiating new pacts for six months, the sides remain far apart on several key issues, including wage increases, health insurance costs, the promotion process and how overtime pay is calculated.
Rauner has said little publicly about the status of negotiations. But AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch indicated they're not going well, telling members in a letter last month that Rauner had indicated he planned to "force a strike and shut down state government" until the union agrees to his terms.
In response to Lynch's allegations, Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly told The Associated Press that the governor's "negotiating team is committed to bargaining in good faith with the government unions to reach a deal that is fair to employees and taxpayers."
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June 16, 2015

June 16, 2015, 1:27 pm
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United Pays $1 Million To Settle Disabled-Workers Suit
From Crain's Chicago Business
In a case the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider, United Airlines Inc. has reached a $1 million settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a case that involved the issue of accommodating disabled employees.
In 2013, the Supreme Court refused to reconsider a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in EEOC v. United Airlines Inc., which held that reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act may require employers to reassign employees to a vacant position when the employee cannot be accommodated in his or her current position.
The EEOC had charged that by requiring employees with disabilities to compete for vacant positions for which they were qualified, and which they needed to continue working, the company's practice frequently prevented disabled workers from continuing employment with the airline.
The EEOC said in a statement last week that the airline will pay $1 million to a small class of former United employees with disabilities and make changes nationally, under a consent decree.
United will revise its ADA reassignment policy, train employees with supervisory or human resource responsibilities regarding the policy changes, and provide reports to the EEOC regarding disabled employees who were denied a position as part of the ADA reassignment process, the EEOC said.
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June 17, 2015

June 18, 2015, 1:28 pm
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Senator Upset After Being Barred From Work Camp Visit
From the Southern Illinoisan
A Southern Illinois senator is angry that Gov. Bruce Rauner isn't allowing him to visit one of the state facilities he represents.
State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, says he was turned down in multiple requests to visit the Hardin County prison work camp, which Rauner said will close if a deal to balance the state budget isn't forthcoming.
The facility is among an estimated $820 million in cuts Rauner is threatening to make as he battles with Democrats who control the General Assembly over his pro-business agenda.
Forby said he asked if he could visit the facility Friday and was denied. On Monday, he showed up at the facility near Cave-In-Rock in Southern Illinois and was again denied access.
"This is the first time I've ever been turned down," Forby said. "I've been in every prison in my district. Once or twice a year I try to get around to talk to people at those facilities. I guess the governor doesn't want me to talk to those people."
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June 18, 2015

June 18, 2015, 1:29 pm
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Relocating Red-light Camera Case A No-go
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
In a state where allegations of political corruption are nothing new, 12 impartial jurors can be found to serve in the trial of a former Chicago official accused of taking bribes, a federal judge has held.
In a written opinion, U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall denied John Bills’ motion to move his trial to federal court in Nevada.
Bills, the city’s former managing deputy of transportation, is charged with steering the contract for the installation of Chicago’s red-light cameras to Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. in return for money and other gifts.
Kendall rejected the argument that media coverage of Bills’ case — and of the hugely unpopular red-light camera program — makes it impossible to seat an impartial jury.
Bills, Kendall wrote, “has not shown that the pretrial publicity in this case has been any more severe than in other local political corruption cases successfully tried” in Chicago’s federal trial court in the past several years.
For example, former Gov. George H. Ryan was convicted in 2006, while former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich was found guilty in an unrelated case five years later, Kendall wrote.
She also noted that more than 8 million people live in the eight counties — Cook, Lake, Kane, DuPage, Kendall, Will, Grundy and LaSalle — that make up the eastern division of the Northern District of Illinois.
“Because the eastern division of this district is extremely vast, diverse and bustling, any potential for prejudice emanating from pretrial publicity is thoroughly mitigated,” Kendall wrote.
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June 19, 2015

June 19, 2015, 6:36 am
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Illinois Among Top States In Creating Businesses
From Crain's Chicago Business
So much for the jobs-killer rep—when it comes to states that are growing new businesses, Illinois is among the top U.S. leaders. The Land of Lincoln ranked No. 2 among states where businesses are being created the fastest, according to numbers released yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number of business startups in Illinois jumped 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier. The only state beating Illinois was Massachusetts—home of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—whose fourth-quarter number rose 5.6 percent.
Education seems to be a common thread among the top business-creating states, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Washington-based Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a research group that promotes innovation.
"One factor is that their university systems are all above average," Atkinson said.
Chicago universities ranked high on U.S. News & World Report's rankings of top U.S. academic research institutions released last September. The University of Chicago came in at No. 4 and Northwestern ranked No. 13.
The density of young firms and population diversity, including an area's ability to attract immigrants, are among the factors that helped some metropolitan areas and states stand out, said Arnobio Morelix, a research analyst who studies startups at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.
Illinois fits that bill, aided by Chicago's status as one of the fastest-growing cities for technology jobs, with a rapidly-growing tech community in River North. Yet the reasons for success sometimes aren't simple, he adds.
"Places with high startup activities tend to be attractive for reasons beyond just the economy," Morelix said. "They are places where people want to live and people want to move."
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June 22, 2015

June 22, 2015, 10:17 am
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Rigging Contract Rules In Illinois
From the Wall Street Journal
The state reform story of the year is in Illinois, where new Governor Bruce Rauner is trying to fix the broken fisc. To appreciate what he’s up against, consider how the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is rigging contract negotiations.
The union’s contract with the state expires June 30. Democrats in the state legislature have passed a bill stipulating that if Mr. Rauner and the union can’t agree on a new contract after 60 days, the negotiations would go to binding arbitration. In what is the definition of political cynicism, the bill would change the rules for four years only, expiring along with Mr. Rauner’s term. The assumption is that a Democratic successor would give the union whatever it wants.
Unions and employers are expected to bargain in good faith. Management has incentive to find a middle ground with employees to avoid a strike, and employees have an interest in continuing employment without the potential salary interruptions that can come with a standoff.
But according to AFSCME Illinois, the elected Governor must be boxed in with the threat of an arbitrator making the final contract decision. The union can’t abide that Mr. Rauner has proposed such shocking ideas as creating a 40-hour work week (overtime currently begins after 37.5 hours), freezing wages and raising health-insurance premiums for state workers.
Since 2000, Illinois public employees have seen their compensation grow handsomely. According to the Illinois Policy Institute, state workers won 27 pay raises in the decade before 2014. Between 2000 and 2013 average public employee compensation (adjusted for inflation) grew 32% to $82,314 from $62,423. Inflation-adjusted private compensation for the same period grew 14% to $65,064 from $57,086.
AFSCME knows that binding arbitration can tip the scales in its favor. The arrangement encourages unions to inflate their demands because if arbitration gives them half of their ask, they still come out ahead. The system also forces government to accept terms dictated by arbitrators who aren’t accountable to taxpayers.
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June 23, 2015

June 23, 2015, 10:19 am
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Hinz: Springfield Just Goes Through The Motions As Train Wreck Nears
From Crain's Chicago Business
With just a week and a day to go before the state begins a new fiscal year without a budget, a slow-motion fiscal train wreck continues to unfold in Springfield with everyone from Chicago Public Schools to state workers and vendors wondering if they'll soon become collateral damage.
At the moment, the House and the Senate are due to convene at midday tomorrow. Members then are scheduled to head home. The state's current budget, meanwhile, is set to expire June 30.
Meanwhile, Gov. Bruce Rauner had no public schedule at all today.
The House in tomorrow's session will take up some legislation, but Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Mike Madigan, said he's "not sure yet" what it will be. What he is fairly certain of is that "we'll be done by the end of the day."
In the Senate, members will convene into a committee of the whole to consider changes in the state's minimum-wage and sick-pay laws, said Rikeesha Phelon, spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton.
Phelon, whose boss lately has been somewhat more optimistic than Madigan about the possibility of a budget deal, did add that talks are continuing between Senate and gubernatorial staffers about two key items in Rauner's "turnaround Illinois" agenda: workers' compensation reform and a property tax freeze. Rauner has declined to sign off on tax hikes needed to balance the budget until Democrats agree to back at least part of his agenda.
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June 24, 2015

June 24, 2015, 10:20 am
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Rauner Battling Unions On A Second Front: A New Contract
From the Chicago Tribune
As Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner remains locked in a stalemate with Democratic lawmakers over his pro-business, anti-union agenda, he's opened up a second front, battling the largest state employee union over a new contract.
For decades, such negotiations typically have centered on how much raises will be, how long the deal will last and whether workers will budge on benefits. Not so under Rauner, who has a list of two dozen demands ranging from reducing overtime and time off to slashing the state's contribution toward health care. Beyond that, Rauner wants the union to agree to let the state stop collecting dues and fees from workers on its behalf, a philosophical war that's playing out in court.
"I do want to fundamentally change the nature of the contract," Rauner said recently after a campaign-style event at an office park in Vernon Hills. "They've never had the type of change that I'm recommending."
The union, whose members have spent months in conference rooms with administration officials trying to hammer out a contract, says employees aren't the cause of the state's financial troubles and already have accepted higher health care costs in recent years. Viewing Rauner's demands as a threat to their existence, they've countered the governor's proposal with a request for pay raises, better health benefits and a boost in overtime pay for prison workers, according to an administration document obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
"The parties are very far apart," said Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which has taken the lead on negotiations for contracts that cover roughly 40,000 state workers. Expecting a deal by month's end is "not realistic," he said.
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June 25, 2015

June 25, 2015, 10:21 am
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Metra, Other Agencies May Be Fined For Missing Safety System Deadline
From the Chicago Tribune
Metra will likely face fines or other penalties for failing to meet a federally mandated deadline for installation of a high-tech safety system at the end of the year, the nation's top railroad regulator said Wednesday.
Metra won't be alone, however. Virtually every other commuter and freight railroad in the country will be unable to install the hugely expensive and complicated system, known as positive train control, by Dec. 31, officials said at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.
PTC is "the single most important safety development in a century," said Sarah Feinberg, acting chief of the Federal Railroad Administration. "The FRA will enforce the deadline as Congress has mandated."
Railroads that fail to meet the deadline could face fines of up to $25,000 per day.
But fining the railroads for missing the deadline makes no sense, Metra Executive Director Don Orseno testified, because that money would come from the same pot of funding Metra needs to pay for PTC and other safety programs, and infrastructure like new bridges.
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June 26, 2015

June 26, 2015, 10:23 am
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Rauner Vetoes state Budget, Cites $4 Billion Deficit
From the Springfield State Journal-Register
Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the remainder of the state's operations budget Thursday, saying it was out of balance and unconstitutional.
Rauner took the action a day after approving a bill that provides funding for elementary and secondary education and will allow the state's public schools to open on schedule this fall.
The Republican governor previously threatened to veto the spending plan the legislature's Democrats sent to him because it is up to $4 billion out of balance.
In an op-ed piece published Thursday by the Chicago Tribune, Rauner wrote that he was sent to Springfield by voters to "end the era of unbalanced budgets and runaway debt."
"The road back to fiscal sanity starts today with my veto of a budget that is nearly $4 billion out of balance and includes no reform," Rauner wrote. "Rather than repeating the mistakes of the past — just kicking the can and raising taxes without real reform — now is our chance to transform Illinois to make it more competitive and compassionate."
Rauner also repeated his demands for workers' compensation changes, tort reform, pension reform and other changes as necessary components of fixing the state's fiscal problems.
Rauner's action comes just days before the start of the state's new fiscal year. Without a budget in place by Wednesday, the state won't have the authority to spend money on new expenses. However, the state will still be able to make payments on its backlog of bills incurred before then.
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June 29, 2015

June 29, 2015, 6:03 am
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Budget Battle Could Mean Payday Delay For Illinois Judges, Staffs
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
State court judges and staff may have to wait a while for their paychecks after July 1.
Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the Illinois courts’ budget on Thursday, among many others, prolonging a larger state spending battle against legislative Democrats that’s gone on for months. The budget includes the Illinois Supreme Court, Illinois Appellate Court and 24 circuit courts across the state.
Rauner rejected a plan advanced by Democrats that would’ve kept the courts budget flat at $344.8 million from the general revenue fund, arguing the overall budget was out of balance by nearly $4 billion and the legislature should approve more of his agenda.
But even without a budget in place, the state’s courts are expected to conduct business as usual.
The chair of the Conference of Chief Judges said this week that the courts will remain open and employees will report to work like normal on July 1 — the start of the new fiscal year — even though they may not get compensated until after a state budget is enacted.
“At some point, we will have a budget of some sort. I don’t think anybody can legitimately dispute that,” said 17th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Joseph G. McGraw, the conference’s chairman. “The question is just when, how much, and how much will be apportioned. And I don’t think we can stop essential services while we stand by like spectators.”
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June 30, 2015

June 30, 2015, 6:10 am
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Will Supreme Court Ruling In Arizona Case Clean Up Illinois Politics?
From the Chicago Sun-Times
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday OK’d an Arizona independent redistricting commission, a ruling with significance in Illinois, where reformers are trying again to change the highly partisan gamed system that all but guarantees election results.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled the Arizona commission, created in a 2000 ballot initiative to address partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, was constitutional.
Rampant gerrymandering is the norm in Illinois.
Democrats who control the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield have given Democratic candidates incredible advantages in the drawing of legislative and congressional districts mandated every 10 years after each census.
In 2014, some rich folks who are part of the Illinois civic elite from both parties bankrolled the nonpartisan Yes for Independent Maps, which tried and failed to get a referendum before voters to create a commission to draw state legislative districts.
Cook County Circuit Judge Mary Mikva blocked the measure from getting on the November 2014 ballot. Last June, Mikva concluded the ballot initiative was invalid because the commission structure the group proposed was too broad.
Mikva is the daughter of Abner Mikva, a former congressman, federal judge and White House counsel whose political career is rooted in Chicago’s independent reform-minded Democratic politics. Abner Mikva famously recounted that when he attempted to get a city job he was told, ‘We don’t want nobody nobody sent,’ which explained the inner workings of Chicago machine politics.
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July 1, 2015

July 1, 2015, 6:12 am
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Madigan: General Assembly To Vote On 30-day Essential Services Budget
From Reboot Illinois
House Speaker Michael Madigan on Tuesday said the General Assembly will vote Wednesday on a 30-day budget to fund essential services.
The $2.26 billion budget would give the state legal authority to pay employees and other bills associated with what Madigan said are essential government functions.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has said repeatedly during the contentious budget process that he opposes passing a temporary budget. Rauner last week vetoed most of the Democrat-approved budget, saying it over-spent by $4 billion and violated the state constitution’s requirement that the state enact a balanced budget.
He has said he will help Democrats find new tax revenue to fill some of the budget gap only if they pass several economic and political reforms he has outlined in a plan called Illinois Turnaround. Madigan says Rauner is out of bounds in trying to use what he calls “non-budget issues” as bargaining chips in the budget process.
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