Illinois Primary: What’s at Stake?

J.B. Pritzker

Taking most of the air from the room is the gubernatorial election that has been expected to cost over $300 million dollars, and as of this writing, the leading Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker has spent a whopping $69.5 million dollars in a self-funded campaign.

It’s not about the money, say his defenders, but others have said that it is, and those others are mostly local DNC leaders who feel that the only way to beat the Republican incumbent, himself a wealthy man worth billions, that had the support of other uber wealthy people, such as Ken Griffin of Citadel, and who most Illinoisans, believe bought the governorship is with another billionaire.

In the number three spot is businessman Chris Kennedy, son of the late Robert F. Kennedy and now matriarch, Ethel Kennedy, capitalizing on his long knowledge of Illinois and indeed the Kennedy presence: Merchandise Mart, and many religious and civic enterprises, (especially with his Aunt Eunice Shriver, and the founding of “The Special Olympics”) wants the top job.

Chris Kennedy

At the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, in downtown Chicago, Kennedy, on Saturday, told the Chicago Tribune, calculated that “means he’s spending, I guess, $2 million a day to try and buy this election.”

That alone makes many dissatisfied, Kennedy included, who also said, “and we have to decide whether we want to send a message from illinois to the rest of the country, the rest of the world, that a democracy can be bought.”

If it’s Illinois politics, then it’s also dirty politics, where scandal, not love, is the best sweetener for an election where the stakes are high, and Pritzker, a venture capitalist (worth a cool $4 billion dollars) found himself embarrassed at the revelation of a secret FBI recorded conversation with the now disgraced former, governor Rod Blagojevich, when advising the former on how to solve his ‘African American thing”, suggested current secretary of state, Jesse White, as “the least offensive” of black leaders.”

To make matters worse, the conversation was the subject of a piercing attack in the Chicago Reader” a local alternative paper, which featured a bloated picture of Pritzker, on the cover, perching on a black lawn jockey statue, both emphasizing the candidate's weight, and seemingly disdain for the black community; but, which he is relying on to become the candidate on the Fall ballot.

The resulting outcry, some say, via a phone call to the paper’s owners, The Chicago Sun-Times, resulted in the firing of the Reader’s young editor, and a plethora of bad publicity, which Pritzker ironically tried to deflect by holding a press conference in front to a soul food restaurant, surrounded by some local black leaders.

Spin is nothing new to modern politics, but that backdrop made some in Chicago’s black community wince, at an outdated, and unneeded, stereotype.

If billionaire is the new standard, then Kennedy as a mere millionaire, seems to have nevertheless, adroitly captured the mood of a more ideals based campaign; and one of the first things that he did was to call out the questionable practices of Cook County Assessor, Joe Berrios who he accused of unfairly lowering the value of the homes of the wealthy and increasing the value of those far lower on the pay scale, resulting in an expose by the Chicago Tribune.

Last May, Pritzker was accused of ripping out the toilets from a historic home he purchased in Chicago’s pricey Gold Coast to gain a lower value, from Berrios, who accessed that home (bought next door to one that he already owned) from $117,087, to $19,719, according to the Chicago Sun-Time, and helped him gain three refund checks, totaling, $132,747.

That story faded away for a bit, but then resurfaced, especially when Kennedy, the first of the leading contenders to do so, called out Berrios on practices that favored the wealthy. And, of note is that the latter is the current chair of the Cook County Democrats, a position that he has held since February of 2007.

Adding even more bad news for Pritzker was a story in the Chicago Tribune that accused him of tax evasion by holding offshore accounts; and again, an allegation that Kennedy decried in the one televised debate on the local PBS station, WTTW, where Pritzker said were created by his grandfather, and alternatively, by family trustees, to continue that any proceeds go to charity.

Capitalizing on all of this is the young Daniel Biss, a former mathematics teacher, who has risen to the number two spot after most early predictions had said he would drop out to weak funding, but who now billing himself as the hero of the middle-class and his ads, showing his modest home in suburban Evanston, and easy demeanor have given him a substantial lift --- after a series of missteps --- like dropping running mate Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who supported Palestinian resistance to Israeli domination.

Daniel Biss

 Biss, who is Jewish, was forced to drop him; and, then came the revelation that in 2013 he voted to cut state employee benefits, only to have them ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois State Supreme Court, a decision that he says he regrets, but also affected his fundraising, therefore the hero of the middle-class to increase profile, erase memories of the faux pas, and raise some much needed cash, despite some donations of bits and pieces: $100,000 from the Illinois State Democratic Victory Fund, and a smattering of donations from retiring colleagues, had $2.3 million in July, an increase from $1.6 million in April; it is not entirely clear how much he has, as of this date, but it’s bound to be less than what is needed.

As said before, the old adage goes, whenever someone says it’s not about the money, it usually is, and there are many who decry the fact that the local Democratic leadership feels that the only way to defeat the dreaded Rauner is to have a billionaire Dem as a candidate.

If the issues are taking second place to the values of a democracy, then it is Kennedy who we endorse for his personal integrity, values and a resurgence of New Frontier idealism that cannot be bought.

He has also called on the inequitable distribution of educational dollars to black neighborhoods, supported the role of investment into communities of color as a way to stem the violence, and a host of other planks in a platform that looks at the issues confronting the state, with plans to address the growing depopulation of the land of Lincoln, where current stats show that the high cost of living in a state that is burdened by high taxes, weak public education, and a  pension obligation that is the highest in the nation.

Still feeling the effect of the Great Recession, there has been a much higher level of unemployed blacks, and for those that are middle-class, they have left for better schools, lowered crime, and property taxes, like their white counterparts, who feel the pinch.

Both whites and blacks feel the budget busting high property taxes to buoy up the aforementioned pension crisis, with a drain of 37,000 from a population of nearly 12.8 million in 2016.

The problem as we see it, is not that Kennedy is not ready for the Illinoisan governorship, but is Illinois ready for Kennedy? Can the electorate see that his direct appeal to democratic values that wants to leave scandal behind, and move forward?

Hovering in the background is the formidable Speaker of the House Michael Madigan who everyone alternatively hates, fears and besmirches, on any given day, or time. Yet, this powerful man has been the villain among Republicans and Democratic women are rebelling due to what is felt to be less than ideal handling, some say cover-up of sexual abuse against women lawmakers, and leaders, in the state capitol.

For Biss, who now maligns him, he also accepted money for a youth based education fund, from the Speaker, but who can now spout off on the Madigan specter, as he did last year in a forum sponsored by the “Chicago Women Take Action Alliance,” when he unexpectedly, in an offhand remark about Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, said that Pritzker was Madigan’s favored candidate, to which the accused replied, “That’s hypocrisy, if you want to see the man that voted for Madigan, look at the end of the table!”

On the GOP side is the incumbent Rauner, but nipping at his heels is newcomer Jeanne Ives who has mangled the former’s cultivated image as a Republican by decrying his signature of a bill that used Medicaid funds for abortions, and for state employee health coverage as his chief betrayal, when he vowed to veto.

While she may well be outspent by the huge reserves it forces him to step up his game to make the grade, despite the National Review calling him the worst Republican governor in the nation. Ives also forces him to make a stand with President Trump, who he has sidestepped in every public address, and did not attend the inauguration, last year.

Ives supports Trump and says that “we should have a working relationship” with him, and has an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association.

In a very crowded field the race for the nomination for the job of Attorney General the standouts are Kwame Raoul who has a strong record on bipartisan issues and an equally consistent record on bread and butter issues, and Pat Quinn, who has the clout of being a past governor and the cash, although the cash being spent is mere pocket change in the gubernatorial race.

In a strong showing of women in the primary race, Ives, Marie Newman against Dan Lipinski and Kelly Mazewski against longtime Republican Peter Roskam, is Sharon Farleigh most recently of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, who holds an impressive resume including the addition of an engineering degree in both mechanical and aerospace engineering; plus, she is the only black woman in the race.

While she lacks name recognition, we predict that this is not the end of the road for Ms. Fairley if she loses.

Tuesday will prove to be a watershed moment for Illinois as it seeks to redress rights, and also, just might reverse the fortunes of Democrats in a blue state with a Republican governor, as we calculate the price tag wondering if ideals will win, along with true governance, or is about the money?

Politics imperil Illinois school budget in Rauner's proposed budget

Education in Illinois seemed to have taken a good turn with last summer's legislation to change the funding formula to serve all of the state’s students, and especially those from low income, or less advantaged communities. This light at the end of a decades long tunnel, presaged by mistakes, missteps, and misalliances, seemed to be the dawning of a new day, even as Governor Bruce Rauner, signed the bill, passed over his veto, amidst the smiling faces of the schoolchildren that surrounded him.

Originally claiming that the bill first promulgated by State Senator Andy Manar,  Democrat from Bunker Hill, was simply a bailout for Chicago, and in a war of words, it seemed that a new day had dawned when the state assembly bucked up, and said no.

Then the recent turnabout -- perhaps a petulance at having been forced to sign the bill that he hated, now came a regulation that there had to be a change in terms to ensure that all got the same chance, and especially those that were slated to receive monies from a $75 million scholarship that was a weak cover for a voucher, and one that was promoted by Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Chicago archdiocese, whose parochial schools were to benefit greatly.

While the Chicago Teachers Union railed at the obvious duplicity, and the weakening of the public school system, then in his fiscal year 2019 budget proposal Rauner has set those monies to go down the pipeline of underfunded pensions, by suggesting that school districts, not the state, pay for teachers pensions, but with no dedicated funding stream, the schools would be forced to relinquish any gains from last year’s legislation to make the payments.

As the News-Gazette stated: “The key cost-cutting provision in Rauner's budget is a plan to shift pension and group health insurance costs — 25 percent this year, rising to 100 percent in four years — off the state budget and onto individual universities, community colleges and local school districts.”

Democrats did not succumb to Rauner’s arguments when he said, "We need to move pension costs to the people who do the buying, and make them responsible for the paying, too.”

"This is the biggest backdoor property tax increase in Illinois history," said State Treasurer Mike Frerichs, a Champaign Democrat and a former state senator. "He says he is increasing money for education and higher education, but at the same time making them pay far more than they're going to get. I find it galling for him to claim that he is fighting to cut taxes and put more money into education while pushing further burdens on our schools and our property taxpayers."

The plan has its supporters, among them the editors of the Belleville News Democrat who opined, “Rauner is right that school districts should be responsible for their own pension costs. The current system separates responsibility for paying a teacher's salary from paying most of a teacher's pension costs.

That leads to inflated final salaries paid by districts encouraging teachers to retire in their 50s so they can bring in younger teachers and pay them less. Then the state pays the retired teacher an extra decade based on that higher salary plus another 4.4 percent bump if the teacher has two years of unused sick leave.”

Currently, 26 percent of the state budget is spent on group health and pension costs.

Economists, and academics alike, in opposition, have sounded the alarm at the prospect, with the most prominent being Ralph Martire, executive director of the esteemed Center for Budget and Tax Accountability, whose distress can be seen, when he said in an op-ed piece for the State-Journal Register, “. . . he proposes to save the state money by shifting the obligation to pay the “normal costs” — that is, the amount the employer has to pay to cover future benefits being earned by current workers . . . which covers every school district except CPS, to local schools, saving the state $262 million. He then suggests Chicago residents assume 100 percent of the normal cost for the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, saving the state another $228 million. Both proposals require legislative action, which won’t happen.”

“It won’t happen, because lawmakers don’t want to be blamed for forcing an increase in local property taxes on their constituents, which is the inescapable consequence of the governor’s cost-shift proposal. See, while shifting this obligation saves $490 million in state revenue, it doesn’t save taxpayers a nickel. It just compels their local property tax bills to cover the tab. Given that Illinois already is more reliant on property taxes as a revenue source than most other states generally, and is currently the most reliant state in America on property taxes to fund schools specifically, the governor’s proposal to shift these costs to property taxes is both poor policy and poor politics. It won’t — and shouldn’t — happen,” concluded Martire.

Meanwhile Chicago struggles to maintain a system weakened by scandal, in the form of its last two superintendents, Barbara Byrd-Bennett who was convicted of bribery, and the recently departed Forrest Claypool on an ethics violation, that he lied to cover, and proposed closing three schools, in the Englewood neighborhood, an African American stronghold that has been plagued by disinvestment and violence, only to have new CEO Janice Jackson, under pressure, reverse plans, and say that they would be phased in over three years.

As a point person for the now disgraced Claypool, Jackson had to face a barrage of criticism from within and without the system, including gubernatorial candidate, Chris Kennedy who said, that it was part of what he calls Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “strategic gentrification plan,” which has at its core, he says is a plot to force African-Americans from the city, which they have done in droves, creating a new phenomena in urban migration.

Laura Washington, a black columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times, wrote that, “Chicago has lost more than 177,000 black residents between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census. [And] Cook County’s black population has fallen by more than 50,000 since 2010,” she added.

While there were several shrieks, of outrage, in response, from many quarters,  Kennedy’s claim, considering the historic school closings by Mayor Emanuel, in majority black areas, in 2013, has the ring of truth.

“I believe that black people are being pushed out of Chicago intentionally by a strategy that involves disinvestment in communities being implemented by the city administration, and I believe Rahm Emanuel is the head of the city administration and therefore needs to be held responsible for those outcomes,” he concluded.

Since chaos is not created in a vacuum, failures of this type, might not just be an orphan, standing the age old adage on its head.

With Chicago as the economic engine of the state, the proposal by Rauner, and the actions by Emanuel, also force us to take a look back in time when one of the endangered school, John Hope College Prep High School, in Englewood, was a success by most standards, with a high graduation rate that had administrators saying that they were definitely doing things right and felt no fear.

But policies by then Mayor Richard M. Daley and CPS School CEO Arne Duncan, along with a closing of nearby Englewood Academy, and acceptance of its students, and the subsequent redesignation of Hope as a neighborhood high school brought problems: loss of admission standards, plus violence and disciplinary issues, noted Sarah Karp for local NPR affiliate,WBEZ.

It also brought competition: “Between 2005 and 2015, CPS opened nine high schools within about two miles of Hope. . ..  many families were enticed by the prospect that the schools would offer their children something better.”

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Coupled with population loss, and increasing violence, the degradation of a once fine school, helped to shutter a thriving neighborhood.. It also shows how lawmakers and school officials actions can have a deleterious effect on the disinvestment of black and brown neighborhoods.

In a dollars and cents breakdown, it also means, as Martire says, less money for schools just when they are needed the most, but the $8.8 million backlog of unpaid bills by the state from the recent year budget crisis means there can be no additional money to the schools, with Rauner’s proposed plans.

With all politics being local and with the upcoming March primary it seemed that Rauner, was also trying to claim higher ground when in January, he took an amendatory veto to ensure that the aforementioned $75 million dollar scholarship program, he quibbled over terminology that he feels will delay the program for about three dozen private schools.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Rauner’s issue centers on language that would require nonpublic schools to be “recognized” by the board of education to participate in the tax program. He says that eligibility should be expanded to schools that are “registered” with the board.

Adding more fuel was, “during the fall veto session, the General Assembly passed a trailer bill (Senate Bill 444) making two technical changes dealing with how Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) is calculated in the new school funding formula. The trailer bill advanced so the modeling done by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for the new formula matched up with the bill that was passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor,” an unprecedented move said Senate Republicans.

Reversing direction to put the funding bill back on track was Manar who said, of a Senate override, that it, “helps to correct a poor governing decision that so far has delayed execution of the new school funding formula by nearly three months. I look forward to the House taking the same course of action so that we can put this sorry situation is behind us and allow the Illinois State Board of Education to move forward with its work. Schools and communities all over the state are anxious for this to be ironed out once and for all.”

Technology reduces violent crime in Chicago

There were some nervous eyes ready to view this year’s January crime report for  Chicago city - not only from the Chicago Police Department, but also the public, as well as city leadership, and other civic leaders, weary of Chicago titled as the poster child of violent crime, and a frequent target of President Donald Trump, whose warning that the city better improve in fighting crime, or that he would “send in the Feds,” a remark that was not readily understood, then or later.

2016 was the most violent year for the city with 762 people killed; a 58 percent increase from 2015, and a rise in homicides that came with a correspondent rise in shootings of 4,331; numbers that made Mayor Rahm Emanuel cringe, as the record, and the city’s reputation was shattered, while it struggled to retain its ranking for convention and tourism.

Two weeks ago, thanks to increasing technological help, these numbers were drastically reduced according to CPD statistics: a 16 percent drop in murders from 2016, and a 25 percent reduction in murders; a 31 percent drop in shootings from last year, representing a 13 percent from from the deadly year of 2016.

The reason for the drastic reductions is the use of improved technology that was freshly merged with existing tools such as neighborhood cameras and special detection centers, both of which has given the city, dedicated tools that use microphones to pinpoint the location of the shootings, and to quickly apprehend the shooters, said Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson at a news conference when the stats were released.

Known as a ShotSpotter, the software was originally touted by former police chief, Garry Mccarthy, which had been installed, and praised, only to have problems with quality results, and system integration, coupled with a high price tag. But, this time, the revised integration has proved its worth; approximately $250,000 per unit.

Here is how it works: ShotSpotter It is “an acoustics-based, GPS-equipped system that automatically locates the origin of the shot and notifies authorities. A series of acoustic sensors picks up the sound waves of a muzzle blast that radiate outward from the barrel in all directions.”

“ShotSpotter uses 10 to 12 sensors spaced evenly throughout each square-mile section of the city it's covering, and each sensor is capable of hearing the sound of gunfire within a 2-mile (3-km) radius.,” notes the website of How Stuff Works.

In Chicago’s case they are linked with map-based prediction tools that not only determine the location of the shooter, but also decrease the police response time, to as little as a few minutes in some cases, or less, in the best case.

Key to the response are handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets that have been distributed to police officers, so that the real-life data is ready to use.

There are naysayers who say that the process, as well as the results need vetting, and Fox News, reported attorney Daniel Massoglia stating there was not just a slippery slope, “but an avalanche” and continued his doubts by saying, “The state of camera surveillance is unique globally almost. We're one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the country."

He also added,"I would say that without independent vetting of ShotSpotter's claims and of the police's claims, we should take them with a serious grain of salt.”

Yet CPD claims reduction times from 8 minutes to 30 seconds, a scenario that makes many, both residents, and city leadership, breathe easier, even though the battle against violent crime is still ongoing.

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There are still others that say, “Some data indicate the technology still needs fine-tuning. Last year, Forbes discovered through a data analysis of more than two-dozen cities using the program, in 30% to 70% of cases, police found no evidence of a gunshot when they arrived.”

Further adding to the controversy are some police departments that are even more  gung-ho, and some are saying: "We've gone to the dot and found the casings 11 feet from where the dot was, according to the GPS coordinates," Capt. David Salazar of the Milwaukee Police Dept. told Business Insider. "So it's incredibly helpful. We've saved a lot of people's lives."

Still the Chicago stats are nothing to sneeze at, and all things considered even a drop of over 40 percent in Englewood, one of the highest crime neighborhoods suggests that fighting violent crime, and especially shootings is worth the investment.  And, with the expansion into Grand Crossing and South Chicago, this is an effort that cannot be ignored, especially with 7 percent more gun ares and seizures and plus 8 percent more illegal guns confiscated

Anthony Guglielmi, CPD communications director, in an email, told me that, “In terms of the technology, the district situation rooms are made up of gunshot detection systems, integrated crime cameras and predictive analytical software. The data from these systems Is analyzed in real time by University of Chicago crime analysts alongside CPD officers to help foster more nimble and proactive policing efforts to respond to violence. The goal of this tech strategy is simply to provide officers with the most accurate real-time information about crime in a community and assist with smart deployment efforts.”

In an editorial, at the end of last year, The Chicago Tribune noted that for

2018, successful crime fighting efforts require a change in culture in the police department; which was noted in the sunset of the Obama administration with their Department of Justice report, by then Attorney General Loretta Lynn, and also the recommendation of a consent decree that was later scuttle-butted by her replacement,  Jeff Sessions.

After praising the technological advances and success, the editors said, “The most sweeping action Emanuel can take to fight violence is finish reforming CPD. The culture of policing in Chicago has long been blighted by officer misconduct. The accountability system is broken. This has turned many residents, who might otherwise help officers fight crime, against the cops. To repair trust, Emanuel has to finish restructuring police training and procedures. He must complete negotiations with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on robust oversight protocols to replace a planned federal consent decree that was shelved by the Trump administration.”

For some that was stating the obvious, for even the most casual news follower, yet for others, it works hand in hand with the recent technological success. As Guglielmi emphasized, “While the tools are extremely helpful, it's truly the work of police officers supported by their communities that is driving down gun violence in many of our districts.”

Issues dominate in Illinois gubernatorial race, but so does money

This past Tuesday night was the latest round of the Illinois Democratic gubernatorial candidates forum; this one sponsored by NBC-Ch. 5, The Urban League, the Union League Club of Chicago, and Telemundo; and in a brisk pace, local media doyenne, Carol Marin teased out their positions for those that may have missed an earlier forum that was sponsored by the local DCC, on the city’s far North Side, and two sponsored by a duo of local women’s organizations: Chicago Women Take Action Alliance, and She Votes Illinois; plus one by the state’s LGBTQ community, all of which helped solidify the various positions that the candidates have established. 

On stage were billionaire J.B. Pritzker, businessman Chris Kennedy, community activist, Tio Hardiman, former teacher Dan Biss and educator, Bob Daiber, and veteran candidate Robert Marshall - all of whom were forced at points to give specific answers to specific question, and at time, some like Hardiman attempted to grandstand without being specific, often frustrating Marin in her attempt to move the hour along. 

Case in point is the state’s tax system -- one of the least progressive in the tri-state area and that has been debated, and pilloried by many for several years. As the Chicago Tribune reported: “All of the candidates except Marshall favor replacing the state’s current 4.95 percent personal income-tax rate, which Democratic and Republican lawmakers raised last summer, with a graduated tax that would place a higher levy on higher incomes akin to the federal system. 

The change, which would require a voter-approved constitutional amendment, couldn’t be considered for at least two years. Pritzker, Biss and Kennedy declined to specify the highest tax rate they would support on those making the most money, but Pritzker and Kennedy each said Illinois should adopt changes to the state’s tax code to grant additional tax credits to help the middle class until a graduated tax could be considered.” Opinions varied with Biss feeling that the change would hurt the middle class, but that it was endemic to do the right thing, for all taxpayers; with Daiber saying that any changes in revenue and budget should help fund schools in the state, and, says the longtime educator, that a quality education was vital for the future of the state’s economic viability. 

The elephant in the room was still the current occupant of the governor's chair, Republican Bruce Rauner, whose stalemate over a budget agreement with the state assembly crippled the budgets of local colleges and universities, and social service agencies, as he hammered out his insistence on what was a partisan and union bashing position, foreign to this blue state. The old adage that money can’t buy you love, but it can get you into political office is being tested in the Land of Lincoln and it came out in full force that evening. 

For many, the leading candidate is Pritzker, worth nearly $4 billion dollars, and in a race where many say will be won by only a wealthy man; Rauner spent $28 million of his own dollars getting elected, and hired an unprecedented 400 staff members to ease that win, has set the gold standard in the 2014 reign. Pritzker’s people won’t say how much that he intends to spend, from his own pocket, but it’s an easy assumption that the Hyatt Hotel heir will spend what the thinks that he needs, should he win the primary. Some Democrat party leaders, such as Sen. Dick Durbin and Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, have given their prestigious endorsement to him, and that only increases the amount that can be raised and matched. 

Those involved in the gubernatorial battle describe the spending as an arms race, pitting two free-spending billionaires willing to invest whatever it takes, said Politico.com, shortly after the Pritzker candidacy was announced. “I’ve never in my career started a race with an opponent sitting on $70 million at the outset,” said Pritzker campaign manager Anne Caprara, who served as executive director of Priorities USA, the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC. “That is new, I will say.” “

Pritzker is widely regarded as the front-runner ahead of the March 20 primary election, benefiting from pouring more than $42 million of his fortune into extensive TV advertising and building up his campaign while the Democratic establishment has coalesced around his candidacy.” Others breakdown that Rauner spent $68 million campaign dollars with the $28 million of his own money, and can go higher much higher for his reelection bid. And the entire race may hit $300 million in total, setting a national record, for the fifth most populous state in the country. “That has left Kennedy and Biss running as outsiders and trying to emerge as Pritzker’s top rival in hopes of shaping public perception that the contest is down to two candidates,”continued the Tribune. 

Rauner is still, for this mostly liberal state, is continuing to look like Scrooge, especially with the nearly two year stretch, where the state lacked a budget, under his stalemate, only to have one that was finally approved over his veto. 

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His recent amendatory veto of a major education funding bill (which gave parity for low income children),and was passed again, over his objections as “just a bailout for Chicago,” but which he much later cheerfully signed - is the one to beat, say all of the men on the stage. Supporting an unheralded $75 million voucher program for a state that still struggles to meet state constitution mandated pension tabs, is one area, of opposition, and one that had the support of the Chicago Roman Catholic Cardinal Blase Cupich, who recently closed five Catholic schools for reasons of economy but now plans to build a multi million dollar complex on land across the street from Holy Name Cathedral, tainting all involved with hypocrisy, say some, who scoff at the reasons for the closings. 

The governor also received the dubious distinction from the National Review, the de facto Republican Party house organ, that claimed Rauner was the worst Republican governor in the nation. Being in the opposition means more than bashing and the need for building that better mousetrap, and hearing how it would be made seemed to be the goal of the evening and Marin’s questions were targeted to elicit a response. 

Coming out swinging was Kennedy, the scion of the storied political family, whose trailing poll numbers have caused worries among his supporters, sparked when “Biss [who] is the only supporter of a financial transaction tax, known as the “LaSalle Street tax,” on individual transactions in Chicago’s financial and commodity exchanges. Such a tax, he said, could generate up to $8 billion. But the transactions tax, long supported by the Chicago Teachers Union, is viewed as unlikely in an era of digitized trading in which exchanges could leave Chicago. The comment prompted a rebuke from Kennedy, who suggested Biss was trying to “promise something we can’t deliver.” 

Yet delivering on improving educational opportunities for all, is another item on the new governor's short list, whoever that may be, as graduation rates from Illinois’ public colleges has improved from a low of 73.1 percent - in the traditional four years -- to 88.30 percent in 2016.

If the state’s economic drivers are to be sustained in a new era that demands, as employers continue to search for qualified employees. Previously, economists have claimed that 64 percent of jobs in the state will require post-secondary education this year. 

Hovering in the background are traditional “pay to play” politics and Rauner recently ran ads revealing Pritzker in a seemingly assent to be made attorney general in the now infamous Blagojevich tapes; a charge that he has denied; and which he answered in what some are calling a “dodgy” manner. 

When Marin asked Kennedy to say something nice about Pritzker, he replied that he was a “poster child of all that’s wrong with the corrupt system in our state.” “It’s difficult for me to heap praise on him. And that’s where I unfortunately need to end it,” Kennedy said. The remark was a breach of debate protocol — even Hillary Clinton was able to muster up praise for Donald Trump’s children in an October 2016 presidential debate — and afterward, Kennedy said he apologized to Pritzker.” 

Biss, who like Kennedy, has gone after Pritzker as being a typical Illinois politician with the tacit suggestion, that his loyalties are divided and that his a strong supporter for longtime Speaker of the House MIchael Madigan continuing a fight that began at the Chicago Women Take Action Alliance forum, “ . ..when unexpectedly, in an offhand remark about Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, and that Pritzker was his favored candidate, to which he replied, “That’s hypocrisy, if you want to see the man that voted for Madigan, look at the end of the table!” 

 On Tuesday, this was the scenario: “The best thing for (Rauner) in this election is to run against another billionaire who’s Mike Madigan’s candidate,” Biss said. “If we want to be successful, we can’t afford to do that. And so I think it’s important to nominate someone with a record of standing up to Mike Madigan.” Pritzker responded that Biss was “the only candidate on this stage that voted for Mike Madigan for speaker of the House, that ran Mike Madigan’s super (political action committee) in 2016, and you’ve accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Springfield insiders and bankers and lobbyists.” “So I don’t think you’re the one to lecture here,” Pritzker said to Biss. “I think you should just be who you are and stop criticizing others.” 

“Biss served in in the House for one term and backed Madigan for speaker before moving to the Senate. In 2016, Madigan's personal campaign fund gave $500,000 to Leading Illinois for Tomorrow, a federal PAC Biss ran that made about $10 million in independent expenditures, mainly for TV ads seeking to link Rauner to then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump,” said the Tribune.

With some issues at the forefront, especially economic ones, the standard “gotcha” of Illinois politicians is in the background, and does not seem like it’s going away. Stay tuned.

Rauner's petulance cost Illinois public shool students

In an unexpected, but still unexplained, action Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner took an amendatory veto to ensure that the $75 million dollar scholarship program, that many are calling a voucher for lower income students to attend Catholic and Independent schools, does just that as he quibbled over terminology that he feels will delay the program for about three dozen private schools.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Rauner’s issue centers on language that would require nonpublic schools to be “recognized” by the board of education to participate in the tax program. He says that eligibility should be expanded to schools that are “registered” with the board.

While it all seems semantic, it also has delayed the new funding formula from going to the neediest students and schools across the state, that were impaired under the old formula, and the funds that they have received have been from the previous and woefully inadequate one used for decades and that gave Illinois the reputation for the most inequitable per pupil funding in the nation.

The State-Journal Register reported that “Making this adjustment to this bill will maximize the number of schools eligible to participate, and therefore the number of students who may benefit,” Rauner said. “Inclusivity was the spirit of this legislation to begin with, and we simply must ensure that we follow through with the appropriate language to get the job done.”

State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, the chief architect of the school funding bill, said the governor’s veto of the simple trailer bill creates potential “chaos” for every Illinois school that stands to benefit from long-overdue funding reform.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker noted Rauner is “once again using Illinois children as pawns in his political games.”

$36 million dollar pledges were made when the tax credit became available on Jan. 2. The move was widely seen as part of the compromise needed to pass the bill along with intensive lobbying by Cardinal Cupich, of the Chicago archdiocese.

In strong language the Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey condemned the move, and said, in a press statement: “Bruce Rauner has a weird notion of fairness. First, he vetoed the state’s budget for the 2018 fiscal year, which included additional funding for public schools, and also vetoed revenue to end the budget crisis. He attacked the bill on school funding reform—which would drive dollars to districts and students that need them the most—and called it a ‘bailout,’ even though students in Chicago are among the neediest in the state with some of the highest class sizes, ratios of students to social workers and fewest enrichment opportunities. And when he took too much political heat for holding the state’s more than two million public school students hostage for his anti-worker, anti-woman agenda, he said he would support changes only if they included a scam that funnels public dollars to private schools and massive tax breaks to billionaires like himself.”

“In his latest take on fairness, the governor has held up a technical bill—that his own appointed Illinois State Board of Education needed to implement the new funding law—to ‘save’ three dozen additional private schools by giving them a crack at the public money trough. It’s no surprise that he’s running more nauseating television commercials touting this scam as his signature achievement. I guess in the governor’s mind, nothing can be saved unless he’s able to destroy it first.”

Adding further delays are even more problematic, but “according to Jackie Matthews, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education, the agency does not yet know when it will be able to implement the new funding model, and that the delays were based on the figures used --- in other words, the old “attack the methodology” tactic

.

Before the veto superintendents were told it could go into effect in December, but the Illinois State Board of Education pushed it back to April, and now she says that “implementing a new funding formula is a complicated process that takes time. The evidence-based funding law fundamentally changed how the state distributes increases in state funding,” Matthews said. “ISBE is a little over four months into our work to implement the historic new law. Implementation requires that new systems be built, new data be collected and verified, and additional communication and collaboration streams be established within and outside of the agency.”

Addressing school superintendent concerns, Matthews said, “the models produced were based on unverified data generated for the specific purpose of helping policymakers evaluate the various funding reform proposals.”

Just to make a point, say some, this move is to say that he’s still in charge, despite earlier claims that he wasn’t, but that Speaker of the House Michael Madigan was, a remark that he later regretted, say others; but this petulance now robs the neediest students of their right to a decent education.

Chicago government braces for more than cold weather in 2018

With a tumultuous 2017, Chicago now faces an uphill battle of both challenges and problems, many that might take months to tackle. Number one on the list is the leadership of the public school system, the nation’s third largest, which now has its third leader in less than a decade, Janice Jackson, who replaces Forrest Claypool, forced to resign in an ethics scandal involving an employee supervising work from his previous employer, where there was a significant financial agreement, has received praise for her success as an educator, but also criticism for supporting the recent round of school closings in the Englewood neighborhood, one of the city’s poorest.

An African American, she has also received a warning from other black leaders that if she creates policies that harm black students and their neighborhoods, then she will be in more than just a hot seat.

The revelation that Claypool, long the go-to-guy for tough jobs, who had a squeaky clean reputation sent local residents and politicos reeling, especially after predecessor Barbara Byrd Bennett, was recently convicted of embezzling money and funneling it to her former employer, in exchange for a kickback

With a majority of Chicago Public Schools holding mostly Hispanic (46.8%) and African American (37.0) students, the political will for leadership and development is scarce in this long racially divided city, where many students of color are clustered, especially on the South and West sides, in crumbling buildings, some devoid of proper heating and cooling.

With rampant cost overruns for maintenance and teachers pensions, and the looming ghosts of the 2012 teachers strike, the financial forecast has improved, but is still sorely in need of triage.

One area of overlapping improvement was the creation of a new school funding formula, statewide, but that gave CPS students a boost to what had been the nation’s worst for low-income students; and, especially with the old formula that was strictly tethered to real estate taxes, and left some wealthy suburban schools with a bonus, even surplus, and some in the city, struggling to stay open.

In what many are considering to be a step in the right direction, two bond rating agencies have given thumbs up to the recent Illinois school funding formula, with reservations but praise nevertheless. S&P Global Ratings “revised the outlook on the Chicago Board of Education’s junk credit rating to stable from negative . . . citing a boost in state and local funding for the cash-strapped school district,” reported Reuters.

Jackson will have a tough time to show that student test scores continue to improve and tackle the financing and at the same time, handle the racial divisions, where some might see her, despite an ilustours record, as a sell out.

For Mayor Rahm Emanuel he faces another hit for the city’s reputation as being corrupt, and his resignation to Claypool’s departure made him look as if he was not in control of his department heads, especially in his quest for re-election; made even more questionable from the city’s black residents who are still stinging from the 50 school closings in their neighborhoods in 2013.

The Claypool departure has also reinvigorated calls for an elected school board, but that move is not a panacea for freedom, as it could easily be dominated by one faction, or another, of which the city has many.

The brightest light on the state level was the success in an override of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto, for a budget after a two year absence and that left many public colleges and universities facing deficits that could only be handled, in some cases with furlough days, and forced cuts in programs.

For 2018 social service agencies who were forced to beg for private donations, or close, will have to shore up finances and staffing to fulfill their missions, while the state pays a backlog of unpaid bills that was pegged at $16.6 billion dollars.

Comptroller Susana Mendoza requested a new rule that would require monthly reports of unpaid bills, and “will require state agencies to report bills on a monthly basis and include how old the bills are, whether funds have been appropriated to pay those bills and how much interest is owed,” reported Bloomberg Markets.

In what will be eventually seen as an ill-advised move the state has begun award $75 million of tax cuts -- vouchers really -- for private and Roman Catholic schools, a move that was decried in the press, but that Cardinal Cupich lauded, and pithly commented when pressed by supporters of the Chicago Teachers Union, they got their raise, what’s the issue?

The $75 million could go a long way in restoring cut programs such as the arts and special education, and more teachers, but the cardinal bypassed in feigned wonderment.

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, searching for needed money, created a sweetened beverage tax, called a pop tax, in local parlance, that had people in arms, especially retailers who employed many heads of households. While some liberals took a short-sighted attitude, “if you want to drink this, then pay up,” most realized the financial pitfalls, in what was another regressive tax in the Emanuel quiver.

The claim that the tax was to fight childhood obesity, was later retrenched and Preckwinkle said, it was always about the money. With voters ready to topple her and the county budget, the tax was rescinded on Dec.1.

Now, the fight to get money into the coffers has brought out many who say, delete the bloated bureaucracy of the nation’s second largest county, and what anti-union critics say are inflated salaries, putting Preckwinkle in an unenviable position, to manage the $3.1 billion budget, but also showing the county’s 5.2 million residents that they have power, and can use it.

The long held belief that the Chicago Police Department operated under different rules than other public servants, treating people of color differently than whites, still holds sway, but there was hope in the unprecedented conviction of an officer, Marco Proano, who shot into a car, using unreasonable force, gave hope to many. Of course, it will take a long time for trust to be regained by many of the public towards the police.

Finally, on the gubernatorial side, the reelection of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who has become as unpopular as Scrooge on Christmas Eve, has brought only one GOP contender, Rep. Jeanne Ives, while the Democrats have a plethora of people, including J.B. Pritzker, the Hyatt heir, the earnest, and former head of the Merchandise Mart, Chris Kennedy, and son ot the late Robert F. Kennedy, Ceasefire creator, Tio Hardiman, and educators Daniel Biss and Bob Daiber.

Pritzker supporters are in earnest and some are saying that the only way to beat Rauner is someone as wealthy as he is, if not more. But, there are others that say this should be about the issues, and not money.

Speaking on money, despite the largest property tax in Chicago history, and the increases in water and sewage rates, pension obligations are to the tune of $40 billion, say some, and others that, collectively, the tax hikes and other measures will take at least a decade to show improvement.

It’s going to be quite a year in 2018.