If Trump wins Super Tuesday, rich GOP donors won’t have anyone to give to

Here’s another head-spinning scenario Donald Trump has conjured: If he turns out to be the Republican nominee for president, rich GOP donors may not be able to find a presidential candidate willing to accept their money.

 

Trump, of course, is mostly self-funding his campaign, with a bit of help from small donors who have contributed about $8 million to his effort. While accepting donations subject to the $5,400 maximum, Trump has consistently blasted the “super PACs” that can accept unlimited amounts from wealthy donors. So it seems unlikely he’d change his mind and start his own super PAC. Trump has also touted the virtues of self-funding, saying repeatedly that he’s not beholden to any donor or interest group—a core tenet that seems to be a big part of his popularity.

If Trump wins the majority of delegates on Super Tuesday—as most polls suggest he will—he will become the prohibitive favorite to win the Republican nomination for president. And if he’s the nominee, what will top donors such as hedge funders Robert Mercer (a big giver to Ted Cruz), Paul Singer (Rubio) and Ken Griffin (Rubio) do with their money? Here are five possibilities:

1. Fund an anti-Hillary Clinton super PAC. Super PACs can spend their money either advocating for a favored candidate or campaigning against a rival. While Trump has said he doesn’t want a super PAC aligned with his campaign, he’d probably be happy to have GOP money stacked behind outside-spending groups devoted solely to attacking the Democratic nominee, who will most likely be Hillary Clinton. “Big donors can still fund super PACs pointing out the negatives with Hillary,” says GOP strategist Boris Epshteyn. “The party’s going to need a lot of money.”

There are already plenty of anti-Democrat super PACs that could be harnessed to attack Clinton, such as Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and Club for Growth Action, affiliated with Charles and David Koch. Most super PAC funding so far has gone to groups aligned with individual candidates—often to fund attacks on fellow Republicans in a hard-fought primary. But in 2012, that type of spending eventually coalesced around the nominee, when Mitt Romney’s super PAC, Restore our Future, raised an impressive $154 million. That was $37 million more than the No. 2 group, American Crossroads, which backed several GOP candidates.

Trump is different, given that he has bashed super PACs and big donors trying to buy influence all along. It would certainly be awkward for him to benefit from anti-Clinton super PACs he shuns in principle. But Trump also finds ways to change his positions while deflecting criticism for flip-flopping. So there still might be a big-dollar super PAC backing the Republican nominee and trashing his Democratic opponent in the home stretch next fall.

2. Give more to Congressional candidates. The House is a lock to remain in Republican hands after the elections, but the Senate is up for grabs, with more vulnerable Republicans running for reelection than Democrats. Republican Senators such as Mark Kirk of Illinois, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio will need all the help they can get, including a tailwind from million-dollar donors. With Trump doing his own thing in the presidential race, GOP kingmakers might feel their money is better spent helping keep the Senate in GOP hands, especially if the next president is a Democrat.

3. Fund a conservative third-party candidate. Politico reports that a few GOP donors are researching whether a late-entry third-party candidate would be viable. It's conceivable, but still a long shot. First, the candidate would face urgent deadlines for getting on the ballot in all 50 states. And second, any candidate who took votes away from Trump would raise the odds of a Democratic victory, perhaps decisively. 

4. Support Hillary Clinton. It might sound crazy, but some moderate, pragmatic donors who lean Republican could choose to throw their weight behind Clinton, on the assumption she’s more likely to win and they want to be on the right side come next January. Some of Bush’s prior donors might be most likely to side with Clinton, since they tend to be more moderate than those supporting Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. Certain Wall Street donors might even be tight with Clinton from her years as a New York senator (and 15-year resident of the state), and her role with the New York-based Clinton Foundation.

Clinton would welcome any Republican money she could get. Though her own super PAC, Priorities USA, is fairly well funded, with $51 million raised in 2015, that sum was still less than half the $119 million Bush’s super PAC raised. And toe-to-toe, there are more Republican donors willing to write a $1 million check than Democratic ones.

5. Sit on their cash. Several big Republican donors, most notably casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, have spent nothing so far, even though they had donated millions at a similar point in the 2012 Republican primaries. One lesson of that campaign was that Republican money used to attack fellow Republicans in the primaries can end up funding ads or opposition research the Democrats will exploit come the general election in the fall. Adelson is supposedly waiting for a single nominee to emerge, but once that happens, it’s possible he will object to that candidate on policy or ideological grounds, and keep his money to himself—especially since he’s said to favor Rubio. If Trump ends up being the only choice, Adelson will be one of many wondering what to do with his money.

Rick Newman’s latest book is Liberty for All: A Manifesto for Reclaiming Financial and Political Freedom. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman\

 

ABOVE IS FROM:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/if-trump-wins-super-tuesday--rich-gop-donors-won-t-have-anyone-to-give-to-213944925.html#

How Trump and Rauner are alike

 

February 27, 2016

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Greg Hinz on Politics

 

Barack Obama Bruce Rauner David Axelrod Donald Trump Greg Hinz Michael Madigan Pat Brady Government and Politics Politics Greg Hinz on Politics More +

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Maybe it's the lack of snow, but February truly has been a through-the-looking-glass month. I mean, we have a "pro-education" governor who is OK with colleges closing their doors and students dropping out because state funding has been blocked; a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate that thinks pouting equals good government; and "reformer" Jesus "Chuy" Garcia climbing into a big political bed with the head of the Illinois Democratic Machine, Michael Madigan.

And one more: How does "President Donald Trump" sound to you, Chicago?

Admittedly, the method we use in this country to nominate and elect presidents is something Alice and the Mad Hatter could have cooked up—or should I say hookahed. Only in America does the government empower a bunch of little, generally unrepresentative states to winnow the field and then select the winner not by a popular vote, which would force the candidates to campaign everywhere, but by something called the Electoral College.

"Her eyes immediately met those of a large blue caterpillar . . . taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else."

Still, the juggernaut that is Trump is in a category of its own. I've never seen so many pundits, insiders, strategists, reporters and other "experts" so gob-smacked. Which, I must admit, is thoroughly entertaining to much of America.

The rise of Trump and the parallel climb of Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side of the political divide are clearly linked.

"While the economy has improved, incomes have lagged over a long period of time" and on average are no greater than they were in 1999, says David Axelrod, the Chicago strategist who more than anyone but the candidate himself made Barack Obama president. "This is fuel in (Trump's) tank." And Sanders', too, if you just pivot to the 1 percent and how well they're doing.

"Obviously there is a lot of fear and anger. But I think Trump has tapped into some anxieties that we weren't even aware were there," says David Yepsen, a longtime presidential campaign watcher who now heads the Paul Simon Institute of Public Policy at Southern Illinois University. "Race, gay marriage, the threat from abroad. America today is more of a stir-fry than a melting pot."

But there's more there.

Part of it, I suspect, is Obama's fault. Though Axelrod puts it down to hard-right conservatives upset that Congress won't "stand up to Obama," the Chicagoan who is president raised expectations through the roof when he first was elected in 2008, campaigning as a messianic sort who would soar above the clouds bringing bipartisan harmony, hope and change to all.

He couldn't deliver on all of that. Frankly, I doubt anyone could. The old social-issues divide remains. The continuing globalization of the world's economy—increasingly everyone everywhere competes with everyone else—has added heaps of new kindling atop that already burning pile.

Given such realities, it's not hard to explain why people will turn to crisp, simple answers and tough-talking, self-financed, little-understood Type A business titans who declare they know the formula to restore past glory.

No, I'm not talking about Gov. Bruce Rauner, though some similarities definitely exist. Rather, my target is Trump, and to a lesser degree Vermont's Bernie "I'll make everything free" Sanders.

I have no idea how all of this is going to play out in months to come.

Former Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady, a John Kasich fan, predicts "a revolt" in the GOP if Trump snags the nomination. "Trump started his campaign talking about (Mexican) rapists and murderers. . . . This is not what the party is about."

My suspicion is that the parties are realigning. Blue-collar folks, people who are more conservative on the social issues, are headed to the GOP. Upper-middle-class office workers are turning Democratic, joining Latinos and African-Americans who feel dissed by the other party.

What will life be like on the other side of the looking glass? Your guess is as good as mine. But it sure looks like we're about to join Alice there.

Above is from:  http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160227/ISSUE05/302279992/go-ask-alice-when-shes-10-feet-tall

An Illinois House committee Monday will begin hearings on a new approach for dealing with the state’s crushing pension debt.

• Pension buyout proposals to get first hearing on Monday

 

 

• By Doug Finke
  State Capitol Bureau

  The State Journal-Register

  By Doug Finke
  State Capitol Bureau

  Posted Feb. 27, 2016 at 10:00 PM

• |

  Purchase this Photo

  An Illinois House committee Monday will begin hearings on a new approach for dealing with the state's crushing pension debt. File/The State Journal-Register

• By Doug Finke
  State Capitol Bureau

  Posted Feb. 27, 2016 at 10:00 PM

• 

   

• By Doug Finke
  State Capitol Bureau

  Posted Feb. 27, 2016 at 10:00 PM

  An Illinois House committee Monday will begin hearings on a new approach for dealing with the state’s crushing pension debt.

  Under consideration will be plans that would allow workers at retirement to take pension benefits as a lump-sum cash payment and give up guaranteed pension payments for life.

  For some workers, this could mean a payout of hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the same time, proponents say, it would help reduce Illinois' crushing pension debt that now stands at $111 billion.

  “I’m trying to find a constitutional way to save the state a whole bunch of money,” said Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, sponsor of one of the pension bills. “I call it a win-win scenario.”

  But it’s also a scenario that needs some scrutiny and raises a lot of questions that lawmakers want to see answered.

  “There’s a whole range of options and different ways to do this,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, chair of the House Personnel and Pensions Committee, which will hold a hearing Monday. “We want to explore all of those options.”

  Nekritz, who helped author the pension reform plan that was ultimately struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court last year, said she believes the buyout plans would be found constitutional.

  “To my mind it is clearly constitutional because the choice is completely within the control of the annuitant,” she said. “If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it. We’re not changing your benefit. We’re offering you an additional benefit, frankly.”

  “Nothing here forces anyone to do anything,” agreed Rep. Mike Fortner, R-West Chicago.

  Present value

  Two versions of the buyout plan have been filed in the House. Batinick’s bill is House Bill 4427. Fortner has filed House Bill 5625. Both versions would allow people at retirement to take their pension benefit as a lump sum rather than receive continuing payments for as long as they live.

  The key for employees is the payout would be based on the present value of their pension benefits. In other words, it would be far more than just the payments the employees made into their retirement plans over the years.

  Under Batinick’s bill, a person about to retire could elect to get 75 percent of the net present value of their pension benefit as a lump sum payment.

  “It’s not based on what you contributed, it’s based on the state’s liability moving forward,” Batinick said. “It’s not a small amount of money.”

• • As an example, he said, a teacher about to retire at age 62 with a $60,000 annual benefit would have a net present value of nearly $800,000.

    He said the value of his plan to the employee is two-fold. Assuming the worker puts the lump sum payment into a retirement account, it can help reduce the federal tax liability on the pension benefit, he said. Also, money in a retirement plan can be willed to other family members in the event of the retiree’s death, while pension benefits cannot.

    “Pensioners don’t have access to basically what is their money,” Batinick said. “The money’s in a piggy bank. The state gives them an allowance for the rest of their life. There’s a lot of people that are concerned about the situation in the state and politicians fighting over what is their retirement money.”

    Batinick said a retiree would not have to take the entire amount as a lump sum. Rather, a person could take a certain amount as a lump sum and leave some in the retirement system to continue getting a monthly payment from the state, albeit at a reduced level.

    Depending on a final version of the buyout proposal, a retiree might have to forfeit some other benefit in order to get a partial buyout and still receive a pension. Nekritz said a possibility would be to give up compounded raises in retirement benefits and instead make them simple annual increases.

    Batinick said he will discuss in more detail Monday how the state would come up with the money to pay the lump sums that would be required under his plan. He said, though, that since the bill would be limited only to people who are actually at the point of retirement, the reduction in the state’s liabilities would help cover the cost.

    Insignificant impact?

    Fortner’s version of the legislation does not use money from the pension systems to make the lump sum payments. Instead, qualified vendors would make the payments to retirees and then receive the full pension benefits from the state pension funds that would have gone to the retirees. The vendors would decide how much of a retiree’s total lump sum to keep as an expense. The amount would have to be disclosed upfront to the retiree.

    Fortner said the advantage to the state is a reduction in its pension liabilities that would reduce the state’s annual pension payment. Reducing liabilities by 10 percent to 15 percent, Fortner said, could save hundreds of millions in pension payments.

    Acknowledging that Batinick will disagree with her, Nekritz said she thinks the buyout plan’s effect on either the state’s pension debt or annual pension contributions will be small.

    “It’s not going to have any significant impact on the unfunded liability or the contribution the state has to make to the pensions,” she said.

    And finding a source of money to pay for the lump sums could be an issue.

    “At the level at which we are funded, it would be challenging to take assets out of the pension systems to pay for this,” Nekritz said. “Is the state willing to bond the dollars to do this and does that make financial sense for us to do this?”

    Yet, she said the plan is worth exploring because “that’s one of those options we have left open to us.”

    At this point, no actuarial studies have been done to determine how the numbers would work out. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability is working on some projections, but they are not completed yet.

    Nekritz said she anticipates several hearings will have to be held on the plans to bring in additional experts who can advise lawmakers about who is likely to participate in such a plan, how many people would participate and how it has worked in the private sector, where similar proposals have been used.

    “We’ve got a lot of homework to do here,” she said.

    -- Contact Doug Finke: doug.finke@sj-r.com, 788-1527, twitter.com/dougfinkesjr.

  • By Doug Finke
    State Capitol Bureau

    Above is from:  http://www.sj-r.com/news/20160227/pension-buyout-proposals-to-get-first-hearing-on-monday?Start=2

One Opinion:

For 98% of retirees, these options will be a bad deal, especially if you have a spouse you want to provide a pension to should you die early.

There are some cases I can think of where a retiree MIGHT consider it. If both spouses work for the State, I could see the one with the smaller pension possibly cashing out but remember there are tax implications if the cash is not rolled into a traditional IRA. Or a deathly ill currently single person with very short life expectancy who wanted to leave something to their kids. But even both of those scenarios have some risk of outliving the cash.

Either bill could be amended before passage, which might change things. If either bill is passed and you were to consider it, get the best PAID financial advice you can BEFORE you sign anything.

- RNUG

MercyRockford threatens to move $485M hospital project to Wisconsin

 

 

By Brian Leaf
Staff writer

Posted Feb. 29, 2016 at 2:52 PM
Updated at 3:22 PM

ROCKFORD — Javon R. Bea says he'll move MercyRockford Health System's $485 million hospital complex to Wisconsin if the city doesn't reduce $1.8 million in building permit fees by March 7.

The city contends it needs that amount to expand fire and EMS services to the hospital campus, near the junction of Interstate 90 and East Riverside Boulevard.

Bea sent a letter today to members of the Code & Regulation Committee. The committee tonight will review an annexation agreement between the city and MercyRockford for 262 acres where it proposes to build its campus.

"I appreciate everything the city staff, my team and the alderman (sic) have done to make this deal happen however the city's $1.8 million permit, review and inspection fees demand is a deal breaker for me," Bea said in the letter. "I will move this major medical campus to Wisconsin if we cannot find a compromise on this issues. I trust you will appreciate the larger economic impact of this project for Rockford and support my request."

A city memo accompanying the proposed annexation agreement said MercyRockford wanted a 50 percent reduction in the fee, an amount Bea confirmed in his letter.

Javon Bea letter to Rockford City Council

"Council members, I am requesting that you support my request to ensure fees will not exceed $900,000," Bea wrote. "I have informed city administration repeatedly that I will not agree to such an exorbitant fee structure."

Bea said that if compromise proves elusive, and the annexation agreement is not approved by the full council on March 7, MercyRockford will miss a scheduled commitment with its bond financing partner "and this will force us to consider an alternate location in Wisconsin."

The letter was copied to city officials and state Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, who is a member of the MercyRockford board of directors.

The city argues in a memo on the annexation agreement that MercyRockford's new campus will strain city services. The city proposes turning a fire maintenance facility at 2323 Sawyer Road into a fire station to meet increased demand for fire and ambulance services.

It would shift staff to Sawyer Road from Station 7, 4979 Falcon Road, near Chicago Rockford International Airport, where it previously had provided emergency aviation services that were outsourced by the airport board in 2013

We are confident that we will be able to recommission the Sawyer Road facility for approximately the same cost as the building permit fee that MercyRockford would have to pay under the agreement, which is estimated at approximately $1.8 million," said the memo to aldermen from City Administrator Jim Ryan, Legal Director Patrick Hayes, Community & Economic Development Director Todd Cagnoni and Interim Public Works Director Matt Vitner.

Tonight's meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at Rockford City Hall, 425 E. State St.

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160229/mercyrockford-threatens-to-move-485m-hospital-project-to-wisconsin/?Start=2

Railroad project could bring jobs, development to Rockford and miles of tracks through Boone County

•       

•  

  The $8B Great Lakes Basin proposal would bypass Chicago, where congestion drains U.S. rail commerce.

 
• The proposed Great Lakes Basin railroad would travel south from an existing railroad that runs through Milton, Wisconsin. From there, the tracks would head south through Boone County, east to Indiana and north to Michigain City, Indiana. PROVIDED IMAGE

 
Backers of the proposed Great Lakes Basin Railroad say they're poised to file an application for a railroad operator license with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board...

By Isaac Guerrero
Staff writer
Posted Feb. 27, 2016 at 9:00 AM

ROCKFORD — A team of investors is poised to ask the U.S. Surface Transportation Board this week to build an $8 billion freight railroad that, if approved, could lift economic development and job creation to new heights in the Rock River Valley.

The roughly 275-mile railroad loop would bypass Chicago and thereby shuttle goods more quickly from coast to coast.

The so-called Great Lakes Basin Railroad route resembles a giant C, an extension of an existing railroad from Milwaukee to Brodhead, Wisconsin, to a new line that would travel south through Boone County — with a western spur to the Chicago Rockford International Airport — south to Lee County and east to Indiana before heading north, where it would terminate in Michigan City, Indiana.

The new freight line is a moonshot. No railroad project of this size and scope has been tackled for more than a century. The project's backers have deep pockets and say they'll finance the endeavor privately, with no public subsidies. Even so, they face daunting hurdles, including acquisition of vast stretches of private land. If all goes well, supporters say, construction could begin in late 2019.

The long odds don't deter Frank Patton, a suburban Chicago businessman who assembled a coalition of railroad experts and venture capitalists to advance what they call the Great Lakes Basin route.

“We're very much aware that, to most people, this seems like an impossible idea,” Patton said. “But you know, Victor Hugo said that the mightiest army in the world isn't as strong as an idea whose time has come. In our minds, we think that's exactly the case.”

Patton pitched the plan for the Great Lakes Basin project to the Rockford Metropolitan Agency for Planning, or RMAP, board of directors last fall. The agency comprises regional municipal and county elected officials who decide how to best spend federal transportation dollars that flow to the Rockford region.

In Patton's initial pitch to RMAP, the proposed Great Lakes Basin route snaked through Winnebago County with a direct link to the Rockford airport. Further inspection of the route revealed a need for environmental impact studies to gauge the effect of development on sensitive lands along the Sugar River and near the Winnebago-Rock counties line. Those studies would be prohibitively time-consuming, Patton said.

Attention has turned to a new route that would traverse Boone County, from north to south, instead of slicing through environmentally sensitive land in Winnebago County. The new proposed route would travel through Bonus Township, part of which includes Belvidere, said Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain.

He and other RMAP board members aren't keen on the new Great Lakes Basin route, but they're reserving an official opinion until Patton and his team submit a formal application to the federal government that explains the project in detail.

“Farmers are not going to be happy in Boone County," Chamberlain said. "I suspect that if this route is chosen there will be opposition from landowners.”

A greater concern, Chamberlain said, is that railroads have powers of eminent domain — the right to seize private land for public use. So property owners along the route may have no choice but to sell the necessary right of way for the Great Lakes Basin project, even if they're not happy with whatever cash offer is made.

There's an additional concern, Chamberlain said. The new railroad appears to hold substantial economic development potential for the south Chicago suburbs. And the route could provide fuel for two mammoth and politically charged capital projects that have never materialized, but have also never died: a proposed passenger-service airport in Peotone and the Illiana Corridor, a four-lane expressway that would link Interstate 55 in Illinois with Interstate 65 in Indiana.

Former Gov. Pat Quinn pushed for construction of a Peotone airport and a $1.3 billion Illiana Tollway that would link Illinois and Indiana. His successor, Gov. Bruce Rauner, put a hold on the Illiana plan amid concern that the highway would put Illinois taxpayers on the hook for some $500 million in borrowing. Similar concerns have been raised about the Peotone project, although the state last year bought additional land for the would-be airport in the south Chicago suburbs.

The Peotone airport is viewed by leaders in the Rock River Valley as a direct threat to the economic potential of the Rockford airport, which is poised for more cargo business when a giant jet repair hub opens for business this summer.

Steve Ernst doesn't think the Great Lakes Basin poses any threat to Rockford or its airport. A former city engineer and retired RMAP director, Ernst believes that quite the opposite is true.

“We have a legacy freight rail yard on South Main Street in downtown Rockford,” Ernst said. “All of transportation and urban planning that RMAP and the city of Rockford have done for the last 20 years has been to find a more suitable location for that rail yard.”

Railroad operators don't want to use a rail yard that's in the middle of a urban setting, like the one along South Main, Ernst said. That property is better suited for mixed-use development, he said, and the best site for a major freight terminal would be at or near the city's airport.

“That's what the Great Lakes Basin route does,” Ernst said. “There would be a spur directly to the airport. And the city could reclaim that legacy rail yard on South Main. This plan is better for the railroads, it's better for the Rockford area, it's better for Chicago because it alleviates congestion there, it's better for everybody.”

• The president of Great Lakes Basin Railroad is Jim Wilson, a longtime Chicagoland resident who now lives in Humble, Texas, just north of Austin. Wilson has several decades of railroad management and operations experience, including 18 years in executive and operational roles with Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (now known as BSNF). Patton won't name the investors behind his team, although he said their identities will be disclosed as soon as this week, when a formal application is submitted to the federal government.

  “There will be a very extensive public input process as we move forward,” Patton said. “The Surface Transportation Board requires that, and I can tell you there will be plenty of opportunities for people in Rockford and in Boone County to give us their input. There's no monopoly on wisdom as far as we're concerned.”

  Decision-makers at the U.S. Department of Transportation are likely to look favorably on the Great Lakes Basin proposal, Ernst said, because backers of the project aren't asking for a dime of local, state or federal money.

  “There's simply not enough public subsidies at the local, state or federal level to support projects of this size,” Ernst said. “I personally feel that Washington is looking for a showcase project like this. I think they're latching on to this because these kind of public-private partnerships will be how big capital projects of the future will be done.”

  For now, the notion that the revised alignment would aid the Illiana and Peotone projects “is scuttlebutt and should be treated as such,” Chamberlain said. But if that notion proves true, he said, then the Great Lakes Basin project “has a negative effect on what we're trying to do at RFD and throughout the northern Illinois region.”

  The Great Lakes Basin idea has been the subject of news reports for some time. It has gained credibility because of a renewed interest in the rail industry. Most notably, Berkshire Hathaway, the company of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, has reaped huge profits since it purchased BNSF railroad in 2009.

  If the railroad is built with either a direct link or a spur to Rockford's airport, there is an opportunity on the city's southern edge to build a rail-to-truck terminal that could be a powerful economic driver for the region. The project is more enticing because of the proximity of UPS' cargo hub at the airport and the prospect of additional cargo business there.

  The airport is viewed by many leaders in the Rockford region as a diamond in the rough, an economic development juggernaut that has yet to exploit its true potential. That airport and the confluence of Interstates 90 and 30 and U.S. 20 give Rockford a competitive advantage for jobs and prosperity desired by leaders in urban areas across the country.

• To that end, RMAP is attempting to supersize itself. Members of its Policy Committee approved a resolution Thursday that allows the agency to restructure itself into a multi-county regional planning council. The goal is to fold Winnebago and Boone counties into a larger alliance with Stephenson, McHenry, DeKalb and Ogle counties. The counties could then outsource transportation, housing and land-use planning services to RMAP and enjoy the benefit of a larger lobbying voice in Springfield and in Washington when opportunities are available for jobs and development projects that would benefit the entire region.

  “I represent 26,000 people in the city of Belvidere,” Chamberlain said. “But if we can work on job creation and economic development as a region of seven counties — now we represent a million people. All of a sudden, you're speaking with a larger voice, a more powerful voice. So that when money starts coming from the state and federal level, you have a greater opportunity to be granted those dollars.”

  Isaac Guerrero: 815-987-1361; iguerrero@rrstar.com; @isaac_rrs

• Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/article/20160227/NEWS/160229571/?Start=4

Election 2016: Two women vying for Boone County state's attorney in historic primary

•  

By Adam Poulisse
Staff writer
• Posted Feb. 27, 2016 at 9:10 PM
  Updated Feb 27, 2016 at 9:15 PM
  

  BELVIDERE — For the first time ever, two women are vying for the position of state's attorney in Boone County.

  Tricia Smith, a former Boone County Board member and former assistant state's attorney, is challenging incumbent Michelle Courier in the March 15 Republican primary. There are no Democrats on the ballot.

  Courier, who was first elected in 2008, pledges to continue making Boone County a safe place to live by cracking down on criminals.

  "I want to continue to grow our reputation on being tough on crime," Courier said. "In addition, we've done things that were proactive. We've made a positive impact on the community, and I want to continue to make a positive impact here."

  Smith is an attorney with John H. Maville Law Offices in Belvidere. Maville served as Boone County state's attorney from 1968 to 1980 and has endorsed Smith, as has former Boone County Sheriff Duane Wirth.

  "I've worked in every courtroom in that courthouse, from traffic and misdemeanor to juvenile delinquency, juvenile abuse and neglect and felony (cases)," Smith said. "I can go into any of those courtrooms and run them today. I draw on all that experience to look at charges and get them right."

  Both candidates graduated from Belvidere High School and have been involved in Boone County government in some capacity. Both point to their experience in the criminal justice system.

  Smith was a police officer in Rockford for six years and went on to work as Boone County assistant state's attorney. She was elected to the Boone County Board in 2010 but resigned in 2011 to avoid a conflict of interest when her law firm was hired to provide legal services to the 17th Judicial Circuit Court.

  Courier has spent about 13 years in the State's Attorney's office in different capacities, including criminal prosecutor. After graduating from law school at Northern Illinois University, she served on the Boone County Board and was chief assistant state's attorney in McHenry County from 2004 to 2008.

  Courier said the highlights from her time in office include implementing the use of SCRAM bracelets, which test alcohol intake of DUI offenders while using GPS tracking technology, and the county's First Offender Program.

  Established in 2013, the program allows first-time offenders accused of less-serious crimes like retail theft or property damage to commit to such things as community service, restitution and a letter of apology. Cases are dismissed for those who complete the program.

  Courier also is concerned about gang activity. She started a Gang Task Force that included her office, law enforcement, the Belvidere Park District and others. In 2009, she successfully sued the Latin Kings as well as more than 30 known gang members in Belvidere and Boone County. The lawsuit prohibited gang members from spraying graffiti on public or private property, meeting in public and possessing guns.

  Page 2 of 2 - "The whole point of the lawsuit was to give law enforcement another tool in the fight against gangs," Courier said. "It is the opportunity for them to actually, if they see them associating, to stop them and arrest them. It's an additional tool, not the only tool."

  Smith said the lawsuit "did not increase the safety of Boone County citizens."

  "It (was) a civil suit in which people are sued for money, a money judgment, not to put people in prison," Smith said. "My answer to people that are committing crimes in our community that are severe, that are gang members committing crimes, is to put them in prison."

  Smith also contends that Courier only has a 66 percent felony jury trial success rate. Courier maintains that of the 74 felony cases brought to trial from 2012 to 2015, 56 were found guilty — about a 76 percent conviction rate.

  "We've actually taken more tough cases to trial; we've taken more cases to trial, and our conviction rate is greater than the previous administration," Courier said.

  Smith said she has raised about $30,000 for her campaign. Courier said she has raised about $20,000 and is primarily self-funded.
  Adam Poulisse: 815-987-1344; apoulisse@rrstar.com; @adampoulisse
  Name: Michelle Courier
  Age: 43
  Job: State's Attorney, incumbent Education: University of Illinois, and law degree from Northern Illinois University
  Name: Tricia Smith
  Age: 43
  Job: Attorney at Law Offices John H. Maville
  Education: Degree in administration of criminal justice from Bradley University and law degree from University of Iowa College of Law.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160227/election-2016-two-women-vying-for-boone-county-states-attorney-in-historic-primary/?Start=2

You Know Electric Cars Are Poised to Take Off When the Koch Brothers Plan The Technology’s Demise

 

By Gina Coplon-Newfield

Photo Above: A sampling of the electric vehicles available on the market today. Photo Credit: Sierra Club.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are on the rise. In some locations, it’s no longer surprising to see LEAFs, Volts, or any of the multitude of available plug-in models driving alongside us on the road. Not even the climate-change-denying, fossil-fuel-baron Koch brothers, who run Koch Industries, have been able to ignore the reality of EVs’ growing popularity. According to journalist Peter Stone, the Kochs have quietly launched a multimillion dollar plan aimed at slowing EVs down.

This week a newly released analysis by Bloomberg New Energy and Finance predicted that electric vehicles will help mark the end of the world’s reliance on oil for transportation. This would be very bad for business for the Koch brothers and their allies. While EVs still make up a small portion of total US and worldwide auto sales, the projections are for rapid growth in the market share, especially once longer range, lower cost EVs hit the market in the coming months and years.

The Kochs’ new anti-EV front group will promote petroleum-based transportation fuels and attack government subsidies for EVs, such as consumer rebates. This new advocacy effort, reportedly preparing to launch as soon as this spring or summer, may well spend upwards of  $10 million per year. The Koch brothers’ behavior hardly comes as a surprise when we consider their record, as described in this great Rolling Stone article, launching initiatives against wind and solar power, supporting any fossil fuel project they could get their hands on, practically buying the elections of anti-environmental politicians, and funding media efforts to deny the reality of climate disruption.

This planned assault on EVs from the Koch brothers comes after a number of EV victories in recent months. In December 2015, while electric vehicles were up against the lowest gas prices since 2009, U.S. sales set a record-breaking total of 13,650 electric vehicles sold throughout the month,the highest since EVs hit the mass market in 2010, and the fourth quarter of 2015 was the best-selling EV quarter to date in the US. To date, worldwide, more than 1 million EVs have been sold.

Just last month, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and California were among states to announce important programs to accelerate the use of EVs. Judith Judson, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Commissioner, shared at the New England Auto Show that the ‘Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles’ (MORE-EV) program would receive $2 million in new funding, and Rhode Island subsequently became the latest state to add an EV consumer rebate program. In California, the Public Utilities Commission approved the Southern California Edison’s “Charge Ready” program, which will open 1,500 new charging stations and educate customers about the benefits of driving an electric vehicle. In New York, Governor Cuomo recently proposed funding for 900 more public EV charging stations through the Charge NY program.

EVs have a long way to go to reach mass market adoption, but the future of electric vehicles is clearly headed in the right direction. In fact, as Bloomberg’s Sooner Than You Think series indicated, EV battery prices came down 35 percent last year and will drop much further to make EVs cheaper to manufacture. In the meantime, we do indeed need government programs to make EVs less expensive and more convenient for the masses.

Many groups are gearing up to face off with Koch-funded front groups. But as the Union of Concerned Scientists recently pointed out, the planned Koch anti-EV campaign may in fact bring more attention toward electric vehicles and their many benefits. Because EVs are cleaner and more fun to drive than gas guzzlers, we’ll welcome opportunities to get “butts in seats” so people can check EVs out for themselves.

Gina Coplon-Newfield is the director of the Sierra Club's Electric Vehicles Initiative.

Above is from:  http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2016/02/you-know-electric-cars-are-poised-take-when-koch-brothers-plan-technology-s-demise