An investigation into Governor Bruce Rauner’s campaign finances goes public just as he prepares statewide television ad blitz.

EYEWITNESS NEWS CAPITOL BUREAU – An investigation into Governor Bruce Rauner’s campaign finances goes public just as he prepares statewide television ad blitz.

The Illinois Chief Procurement Officer is investigating a $2 million donation made to the Rauner campaign last December. The problem is the vendor may have broken the law by giving the governor a donation. This less than one week after Governor Bruce Rauner (R-Illinois) told reporters his campaign ledger is clean.

"My donors are taxpayers,” Rauner said. “The reality is I have not taken money from folks who do business with the state, who make money from the government by the government spending more money."

UIS Political Science Professor Ron Michaelson said the revelation comes at an awkward time for the governor. Rauner has spent most of June hammering Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) for working for so-called political cronies.

The law, passed in 2010, restricts donations for companies who receive more than $50,000 in contracts from the state. The law reads "Any business entity whose contracts with State agencies, in the aggregate, annually total more than $50,000 … are prohibited from making any contributions to any political committee established to promote the candidacy of (i) the officeholder responsible for awarding the contracts or (ii) any other declared candidate for that office."


CEO Richard Uihlein of Uline Inc., a packing materials company, made the $2 million donation to the Rauner campaign in December. Uline has received more than $50,000 from the governor’s office in the last three budget years according to the state comptroller’s office. Michaelson, a former Board of Elections director, said this happens every so often.

"It looks like in this case it might have been violated, it's been violated before,” Michaelson said.

He said companies who make receive many small contracts with the state can easily lose track and go over the limit.

"Sometimes it's exceeded unintentionally when it's a bunch of small contracts, but they all add up,” Michaelson said.

Uline is also required by law to register as an ineligible donor with the state board of elections. Uline did not. The donation is being investigated by the chief procurement officer. If a violation is determined, the Rauner campaign could have to pay the state a fine equal to the amount of the donation.

The governor's office said it could not speak for Uline and why the company was not properly registered as ineligible with the board of elections in the first place. Spokesperson Catherine Kelly said, “Rauner's campaign has a strong record of compliance.”

Rauner has also had an apparent change of heart on releasing television ads during the tense budget negotiations. The day after the May 31 deadline, the governor said Democrats were wildly speculating about a statewide TV ad blitz.

"I have never announced that I'm doing anything like that, they're just speculating at this point,” Rauner said.

Federal FCC files show ads in favor of Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda will begin rolling out across the state on Tuesday including in Central Illinois. The campaign is unprecedented during budget negotiations in a non-election year. Former campaign strategist Tim McAnarney said it's an indication the Rauner camp may be getting impatient.

"I think it's a sign that there's some stumbling along the way and that there wasn't an agreement as quickly as the governor would have liked,” McAnarney said.

But, he speculated launching ads amidst heated debate and negotiations may make reaching a deal more difficult.

"It will complicate negotiations,” McAnarney said. “These are human beings. No one likes to be attacked on either side."

The governor’s office did not comment on Rauner’s change of heart or the reason behind the decision to release the ads.

Pope's stance leaks; calls for urgent action on environment

 

NICOLE WINFIELD

Associated Press

‎June‎ ‎15‎, ‎2015

 

Pope's stance leaks; calls for urgent action on environment

NICOLE WINFIELD

Associated Press

‎June‎ ‎15‎, ‎2015

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A draft copy of Pope Francis' eagerly awaited encyclical on the environment calls for urgent action to protect the Earth and fight global warming, which the pope says is "mostly" due to human activity and the burning of fossil fuels.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the document that was leaked to the Italian newsweekly L'Espresso and published on its website Monday was not the final version and that the official encyclical would still be released as scheduled on Thursday.

The L'Espresso draft, which was published in galley form in Italian, makes many of the same points that Francis and his advisers have been making in the months-long rollout of the document.

In the draft, Francis lays out both the scientific and the moral reasons for protecting God's creation, noting that the poor are already suffering the most from air pollution and toxic dumping and will continue to bear the brunt of rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions. The draft says population growth isn't to blame for ecological problems but rather the consumerist, wasteful behavior of the rich.

Francis backs up his comments with science showing the impact on the planet of the continual loss of biodiversity in Amazonian rainforests, the melting of Arctic glaciers, the overfishing of the seas and the pollution of the world's water supply.

Francis has said he wanted the encyclical to be read by everyone — not just Catholics — and he notes in the introduction that the document is now part of the formal teaching "magisterium" of the Catholic Church. That could be read as a warning of sorts to climate skeptics, including many Catholics in the U.S. who have suggested they simply will ignore the encyclical since the pope's views on the environment clash with their doubts about climate change.

Francis in September will travel to the United States and address both the United Nations and the U.S. Congress. Some Republicans are vocal climate skeptics and many conservatives have criticized the pope from even taking up the environment in an encyclical, the most authoritative teaching document a pope can issue.

Francis has said previously that climate change is "mostly" man-made and that humankind has a moral imperative to radically change its behavior to protect the planet for future generations — as well as to prevent the poor from suffering due to the sins of the rich.

In the draft, the pope repeats that scientific studies have shown that global warming is due "mostly" to human activity and the emission of gasses that prevents heat from dispersing in the atmosphere. He says that is worsened by a development model based on using fossil fuels as the main source of energy in the world.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as many environmental groups, declined to comment on the content of the document, noting the Thursday embargo set by the Vatican for the official release.

 

FROM:  https://www.yahoo.com/news/draft-popes-eagerly-awaited-environment-encyclical-leaks-182821141--finance.html

Closer Look: Rauner, public unions not close on contracts : News

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • 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 impasse has gotten more public attention in recent days, with union members staging nearly 100 protests throughout the state 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:

STATUS OF NEGOTIATIONS

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."

CONTRACT EXPIRATION

If agreements can't be reached in time, it's possible that the unions and Rauner could agree on contract extensions of several months to help facilitate negotiations under a less-pressurized setting, as has happened under past governors, including Rauner's predecessor, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. If not, a strike or lockout could occur.

AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said the union is committed to "doing the work required at the table" to reach an agreement, and that a strike "is not in the public interest."

Rauner, who has called for allowing cities to create union-free zones to attract development and has proposed an end to prevailing-wage laws, hasn't gone that far.

Kelly said that "as long as AFSCME is committed to bargaining in good faith, we are confident we can reach a contract by the deadline that benefits state workers and the taxpayers."

STRIKE

Without a contract in place, many unionized state workers would be allowed to vote to strike and walk off their jobs, though Lindall said that hasn't happened in Illinois history. That includes caseworkers at the Department of Children and Family Services, and home health care workers, among others. State agencies like the Department of Human Services and Secretary of State's office could shut down.

Without a contract, Rauner would also be able to lock out workers from their jobs.

Eyeing the possibility of a strike, lawmakers in the Democratic-led Legislature late last month approved a bill that would prohibit state workers from going on strike or being locked out of their jobs by the administration if negotiations on a new contract reach an impasse. Under current law, only prison guards and other public safety workers are barred from striking.

The proposal would allow either side in labor talks to declare an impasse, starting a process in which the contract would be sent to binding arbitration.

Rauner's attorneys have said that they believe the legislation would "change the nature of collective bargaining." The governor is expected to veto the bill.

Kelly said "the administration is not going to lock out employees and our team will continue to negotiate in good faith. If AFSCME members decide to strike, it will show they are placing their personal interests above the people they serve."

HISTORY SHOWS

History shows a mixed bag in terms of negotiations with past governors.

In 2004, Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed off on a 13 percent wage hike over the course of a four-year AFSCME contract which union leaders called the best deal in the country at the time. Blagojevich approved another contract with the union in 2008 that included average annual raises of roughly 4 percent.

Quinn's negotiations with the unions were tougher. After 11 months of bargaining sessions, the Democratic governor moved to terminate the state's extended contract with the unions.

The administration had been seeking a pay cut for state workers followed by a wage freeze. It also sought to have employees pay more for health insurance. Three months later, an agreement was reached giving employees a 2 percent wage increase in the final two years of their contract, but also requiring workers to pay more for health insurance.

From:  Closer Look: Rauner, public unions not close on contracts : News

BGA Public Eye: Now agency chairman, Schillerstrom's law firm to end tollway bond work

 

BGA Public Eye: Now agency chairman, Schillerstrom's law firm to end tollway bond work

Written By Better Government Association Posted: 06/14/2015, 11:22am

 

When Bruce Rauner ran for governor last year, he counted former DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom among those endorsing him.

Schillerstrom hosted a campaign fundraiser that brought in $25,000, gave $1,000 from his own political fund and introduced the future governor to other potential backers.

“I was a supporter of the governor early on,” Schillerstrom said in an interview.

Now Rauner has become a supporter of Schillerstrom, appointing the attorney and fellow Republican to the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board of directors in May then, this month, naming him chairman of the agency, which oversees billions of dollars in road projects in northern Illinois and controls more than 1,500 government jobs.

 

Schillerstrom’s law firm, Indianapolis-based Ice Miller LLP, has been doing legal work for the tollway system since at least 2008 for which it’s been paid a total of $236,945 over the past several years.

Ice Miller is involved in two current bond deals that could get the firm another $200,000, according to records and interviews.

Schillerstrom said he isn’t directly involved in those deals.

In any case, a tollway spokeswoman said Schillerstrom “will forgo any financial participation from Ice Miller’s work on these transactions.”

Schillerstrom initially said he could indirectly benefit from the tollway business because he’s an equity partner at Ice Miller’s Lisle office and shares in profits. He later said he won’t benefit from the tollway legal work in any way.

 

Ice Miller will continue working on the current bond transactions because “leaving now could stop or delay the deals,” Schillerstrom said.

But agency officials and the firm have agreed that Ice Miller, which has a four-year contract that was to expire in 2017, won’t get future bond work as long as Schillerstrom is on the tollway board “to avoid future conflicts,” a tollway official said.

“We want to make sure there’s no conflict,” Schillerstrom said. “We recognize that, going forward with me on the board, we have to change this.”

His law firm was hired in March to provide legal counsel on the two pending tollway transactions: a $400 million bond sale to help pay for road projects that may include widening the Jane Addams Tollway and the refinancing of $350 million of bonds sold in 2007 and 2008.

The $400 million deal could close as soon as July, with the law firm getting $100,000 in fees, according to the tollway authority. The other deal could close at any time and pay the firm up to $100,000 in fees.

Schillerstrom, who has been with Ice Miller since 2004, said he informed Rauner’s staff before his appointment of the firm’s work for the tollway.

Ice Miller is one of a pool of 10 law firms that provide legal counsel to the tollway on bond offerings and related matters, according to the agency.

Schillerstrom, who was DuPage County Board chairman for 12 years, left the  board in 2010 and since 2012 has been a registered lobbyist with clients that have included an Indiana technology firm and the South Suburban Joint Action Water Agency.

Schillerstrom said he is stepping away from lobbying: “I will not and cannot be a lobbyist if I’m a tollway director.”

As chairman of the tollway board, a position most recently held by Paula Wolff, Schillerstrom is paid $36,077 a year and gets health insurance. That’s in addition to the $119,640 yearly pension he receives from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund stemming from his DuPage County government tenure, according to interviews and records.

BGA Public Eye: Now agency chairman, Schillerstrom's law firm to end tollway bond work

Gov. Rauner outlines second round of cuts if balanced budget isn't approved - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL

 

By Doug Finke and Seth A. Richardson, State Capitol Bureau

Posted Jun. 12, 2015 at 3:52 PM
Updated Jun 13, 2015 at 8:28 AM

Funding for construction projects other than roads will be suspended, spending on Amtrak cut, and funding for the University of Illinois Extension, soil and water conservation districts and the Illinois tobacco Quitline put on hold under a new round of budget cuts Gov. Bruce Rauner announced Friday.

Altogether, the extensive list of proposed spending cuts will save about $420 million in the budget year that begins July 1, the administration said.

The proposed cuts, like a round of $400 million in proposed cuts announced last week, are intended to close what is currently a $4 billion hole in a state spending plan approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature.

The Republican governor's administration once again blamed the cuts on House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both Chicago Democrats. In a prepared statement, the administration said the two have "refused to pass real, compromise reforms that will grow the economy, pay down the debt and end the era of wasteful spending and broken budgets."

"In preparation for the possibility of having no budget on July 1 or a budget with a $4 billion hole, the administration is initiating its second round of steps to responsibly manage the state's finances," the administration said.

Spokesman Lance Trover said Rauner has repeatedly compromised on issues, "but Speaker Madigan and the politicians he controls to block any real reform.

"It's deeply troubling to see that Speaker Madigan remains committed to sacrificing the middle class in order to protect the political class," Trover said.

Read more details: Gov. Rauner outlines second round of cuts if balanced budget isn't approved - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL

$2M Rauner donor's company does business with state, has exceeded $50K limit past 4 years - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL

 

• By Bernard Schoenburg, Political Writer

  Posted Jun. 13, 2015 at 10:00 PM

  The head of a company that has done more than $50,000 in business with the state in each of the past four years donated $2 million to Gov. Bruce Rauner's campaign fund in December in apparent conflict with state campaign finance laws.

  Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest is CEO of Uline, a packaging supply company now based in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. In December, he gave Citizens for Rauner a $2 million contribution. Uihlein's wife, Elizabeth, is president of the firm, and she donated $25,000 to Rauner in October.

  According to comptroller's records, Uline has been paid more than $80,000 for purchases by agencies under the governor in fiscal year 2015, which ends June 30. The previous year, fiscal 2014, such agency purchases from Uline totaled more than $86,000. The total was about $70,000 in fiscal 2013 and $100,000 in fiscal 2012.

  Those totals represent the bulk of Uline sales to the state each year but don't include purchases made by parts of state government not under the governor's control.

  The state's chief procurement officer, Matt Brown, said his agency is investigating the matter.

  At a news conference (hear audio) on the grounds of the Executive Mansion last week, the Republican governor — who has frequently spotlighted what he says are conflicts of interest between donors and elected officials — again criticized the Democrats who lead the General Assembly as "working for government insiders." He was asked about wealthy donors to his own campaign.

  "My donors are taxpayers," Rauner said. "And the reality is, I have not taken money from folks who do business with the state, who make money from the government. … Frankly, it's illegal for businesses or individuals who contract or do business with the state to do business with politicians. That's a good restriction. I haven't taken any money from any of those folks. My donors are taxpayers, pure and simple."

  A state law that took effect in 2010 state, "Any business entity whose contracts with State agencies, in the aggregate, annually total more than $50,000 … are prohibited from making any contributions to any political committee established to promote the candidacy of (i) the officeholder responsible for awarding the contracts or (ii) any other declared candidate for that office." Vendors whose business exceeds the threshold are supposed to register with the State Board of Elections.

  Page 2 of 4 - "I can't speak for whether or not Uline should be registered — the onus is on the contributor," Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said in an emailed statement. "As you know, Citizens for Rauner had a strong record of compliance during the campaign."

  A phone message left with a Uline spokesperson was not returned Friday.

  Rauner became a declared candidate, as defined in the statute, when he filed his nominating petitions for governor in December 2013, which was in the middle of the state's fiscal 2014.

  'Analysis' underway

  Brown said that after he was told by The State Journal-Register last week of Uline's aggregate state business, he asked the state purchasing officers who report to him to gather information to see if the donations from the Uihlein s and the state business going to Uline are outside the boundaries of the law.

  "If there's money expended from the state's treasury and we have that company receiving those funds in remuneration for contracts or business … obviously there's a $50,000 threshold there," he said.

  Brown said agencies can spend up to $20,000 on a purchase without a contract, and it is not unusual for companies that sell to many agencies to not immediately realize they have crossed the $50,000 threshold. He said that when he and purchasing agents find such cases, "we ask those companies to go ahead and disclose" their vendor relationship. He also said meetings of purchasing agents can lead to recommendations that there be a master contract bid for certain items.

  "An agency can go out under their small purchase authority and they can say, 'I need $5,000 worth of boxes,' and order $5,000 worth of boxes and pay the invoice," Brown said, speaking hypothetically. "And the state doesn't have the technology that essentially filters all those invoices and says, 'Hey, you guys know we're spending $78,000 this year with this company in small purchases?' "

  In several cases, Brown said, officeholders that receive contributions from companies doing more than $50,000 annually in state business have had to give the amount of the donation to the state's general revenue fund.

  As for whether that means Citizens for Rauner, the governor's campaign fund, will have to give more than $2 million to the state treasury because of Uline's state business, Brown said he didn't want to go that far.

  "We want to conduct that analysis before I give you any idea what the outcome could be," he said.

  The Executive Ethics Commission, which is the body that named Brown to his five-year term as chief procurement officer for general services, has a list of more than 30 contributions that were made by state vendors and then donated to the state. That includes a $250 donation to Rauner's campaign fund in February from Prairie State Plumbing & Heating Inc., based in Athens, and $1,000 donated in April to the Rauner fund by Springfield Electric Supply Co.

  Page 3 of 4 - Both of those companies are registered as vendors with the State Board of Elections, but Uline is not.

  Technical violation?

  Comptroller's office records of spending with Uline show payments were in relatively small amounts. The largest annual total for any agency in the current fiscal year is $17,876 from the Department of Transportation, for example. More than $12,000 has been spent on Uline goods so far this year by the Department of Natural Resources, and some orders have been as small as $170, which was paid by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

  Even if there is merely a technical violation, given the relatively low amount of state spending with the firm and the large associated political donations, the situation still deserves to be reconciled with the law, Brown said.

  "Irrespective of how the scales weigh — the value of the contract versus the value of the contribution — it doesn't get them off the hook," Brown said. "My job as CPO is to understand the magnitude of the violation."

  A company like Uline, he added, may decide it wants to stop doing business with the state in order to allow its owners to keep contributing to candidates.

  Richard Uihlein's $2 million donation was part of $20 million Rauner's campaign fund raised in late December. Of that total, Rauner donated $10 million, and Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, a hedge fund based in Chicago, donated $8 million.

  In a 2013 story in Crain's Chicago Business, Uihlein was quoted as saying, "I'm a conservative Republican, and I'm trying to help people who believe as I do in limited government and free markets." He said at the time that Wisconsin officials had aggressively courted the Uline headquarters. He also said that Illinois' fiscal crisis worried him enormously.

  "Bruce is the only one in the race who isn't beholden to public sector unions," Uihlein said at the time.

  Brown, of Auburn, said he was not reappointed to another five-year term by the Executive Ethics Commission and is leaving his post at the end of June. Named by the commission to replace him as of July 1 is Ellen Daley of Chicago, who is now deputy general counsel — procurement at the Department of Central Management Services. She is up for Senate confirmation.

  Page 4 of 4 - — Contact Bernard Schoenburg: bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com, 788-1540, twitter.com/bschoenburg.

• By Bernard Schoenburg, Political Writer

  The State Journal-Register

   

$2M Rauner donor's company does business with state, has exceeded $50K limit past 4 years - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL

Illinois governor rejects possibility of temporary budget - Yahoo News

 

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Thursday rejected the possibility of a short-term spending plan to keep the state operating beyond the July 1 start of fiscal 2016 if there is no deal over a full-year budget.

"An unbalanced short-term budget with no real reforms is still a phony budget and unacceptable to the people of Illinois," said a statement from the Republican governor's office.

On Wednesday, Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger said nearly all payments handled by her office will cease on July 1 without appropriation authority contained in an enacted fiscal 2016 budget. That includes workers' paychecks and new payments to Medicaid providers.

The Illinois Hospital Association said on Thursday that a lack of state funding for Medicaid, the healthcare program for poor residents, could jeopardize access to services for children, seniors and families, and the ability of hospitals to meet their operating expenses.

"If a budget resolution does not appear likely by the end of the month, the adoption of a temporary one-month budget should be considered to preserve access to essential health services until a final budget agreement is reached," the group said in a statement.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, a union local which represents 38,000 people employed by the state of Illinois, could go to court as it has done in the past to ensure workers are paid, said Anders Lindall, its spokesman, adding that an interim budget could avert a shutdown.

"Failing that, our union will be prepared to do whatever’s necessary to ensure that public services are not disrupted and public service workers are paid on time and in full," he said.

Democrats, who control the House and Senate, have passed a $36.3 billion budget that relies on cuts and at least $3 billion in yet-to-be-identified new revenue. Rauner has insisted that lawmakers approve his so-called turnaround agenda, which includes term limits and a local property tax freeze, before he will consider a tax increase.

The governor's office said a budget deal can still be reached this month with Democrats if they embrace "real reform and compromise to grow the economy."

In 2007, the Illinois legislature passed a one-month temporary budget amid a fiscal 2008 spending dispute with then-Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich. A full-year budget was not signed into law until Aug. 23, 2007.

Illinois governor rejects possibility of temporary budget - Yahoo News