Attorney General Rules Rutland Violated Open Meetings Law
The Illinois Attorney General's Office ruled Friday that the Rutland Township Board violated the State's Open Meetings Act in October when it passed a controversial Investment Policy Ordinance last October and simultaneously replaced Supervisor Margaret Sanders as the Township Investment Officer with a single vote. The Attorney General said the Board should hold another vote about replacing Sanders for investments.
The First Electric Newspaper complained Rutland violated the OMA when its Oct. 14 agenda listed a vote to adopt the investment policy but not one on picking a new person to execute it. Board Attorney Ron Roeser of Elgin cited court decisions that "germane" action doesn't need a separate notice. However AG's attorneys agreed with FEN that an Open Meetings amendment last year outdated the old cases and now requires public notice "of all matters upon which a public body would be taking final action."
Supervising Attorney Josh Jones wrote, "The appointment of Trustee [Fred] Bulmahn was not a necessary result of adopting the Ordinance," continuing, "We agree [with FEN] that 'the two are clearly separate and distinct matters and should have been so noticed.'"
At last report, Rutland Township has enough money saved up to run for about a year and half without any new funds. While some townships in Illinois have written investment policies, FEN's been unable to locate any other with an investment officer different from the Supervisor.
Earlier this week in a bitter budget battle, trustees cut Assessor Jan Siers' requested new budget back from $186,000 to $162,000, saying a roughly 10 percent increase from the past one was enough. Siers argued that in a quadrennial reassessment year it wasn't. "I'm not going to cut salaries," she said. The Township budget this year was approved at $326,000 and the Road District's at $535,000.Posted by First Electric Newspaper LLC at 10:25 AM No comments :
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Sunday, May 17, 2015
Public Notice required on all matters being voted.
Gov. Rauner, who campaigned on transparency, now secretive | Belleville News-Democrat Belleville News-Democrat
By Kerry Lester and Sara Burnett
The Associated Press
When running for office, future Gov. Bruce Rauner regularly pledged to bring unprecedented transparency to state government as part of the Republican’s campaign to turn around the Illinois economy.
But now, as the clock ticks down on the General Assembly’s spring session, the former private equity executive is holding his cards especially close to his vest in tense negotiations with Democratic leaders over the pro-business reforms he wants in exchange for consenting to their demands on how to close a $6 billion budget gap.
For example:
▪ Most talks are being held by special working groups, but the meeting times, locations and topics are secret. Lawmakers involved say Rauner’s staff has demanded they don’t reveal what was discussed.
▪ Rauner has so far refused to let anyone see copies of legislation outlining his desired reforms, though he has publicly assured reporters the legislation exists, and more information is coming soon. On top of that, his legal staff has rejected freedom of information requests seeking the information.
▪ Rauner’s staff has consistently taken more than one month to provide copies of his non-public schedule in response to requests …
Thursday, May 14, 2015
APNewsBreak: Wisconsin's Feingold to run for US Senate - Yahoo News
Russ Feingold announced Thursday he will run to reclaim the U.S. Senate seat he lost five years ago to Republican Ron Johnson, fulfilling the hopes of Democrats who have been pushing for the liberal to return to political office.
Feingold said in a 90-second video to supporters that he will run for the seat in 2016. He likely will face the incumbent Johnson, a political newcomer when he defeated Feingold by 5 points in 2010. If successful, Feingold would be only the third senator since 1956 to reclaim a seat.
Feingold, 62, served 18 years in the Senate before losing to Johnson. He sat out the 2012 recall election against Gov. Scott Walker, the race for an open Senate seat that fall, and Walker's recall election in 2014. He will be running in a presidential year, when Democratic turnout will likely be stronger in Wisconsin than it was in the 2010 midterm when he lost.
Walker is preparing for a likely presidential run next year and is expected to announce his plans in late June or early July.
In the video announcement filmed inside his home near Madison, Feingold said his "desire to serve is stronger than ever" and that he wants to fight to "bring back to the U.S. Senate strong independence, bipartisanship and honesty."
Feingold said he intends to travel the state this summer "listening carefully to my fellow Wisconsinites talk about their concerns, especially when it comes to their economic well-being."
His entry brings Democrats immediate credibility in the race to regain control of the Senate. The GOP has a 54-44 advantage, with two independents who caucus with Democrats.
Johnson issued a statement hitting on the Republican's narrative that Feingold is a Washington insider who has lost touch with Wisconsin voters.
"While I was building a small manufacturing business and creating real jobs in Oshkosh, Russ was building Washington into the gigantic, debt-ridden, tax-eating, unresponsive, and freedom-squashing government we have today," Johnson said. "Russ Feingold wants more Washington, a more expensive Washington, and a more powerful Washington. I want to empower people. This campaign will give the people of Wisconsin a real choice."
Feingold's signature legislation during 18 years in the Senate was his co-sponsorship with Republican Sen. John McCain of a campaign finance overhaul. The measure, which came to be known as McCain-Feingold, attempted to limit the influence of special interest money by banning soft money — unregulated donations by corporations, unions and the wealthy.
Another key part of that law banning union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010.
The liberal Feingold had a record of breaking with the Democratic Party during his years in the Senate. He was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act, which was enacted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to give law enforcement officials greater authority to tap phones and investigate suspected terrorists. He also opposed President Barack Obama's decision to expand the war in Afghanistan and was the first senator to propose a timetable to exit Iraq.
Feingold was a state senator for 10 years before being elected to the Senate for the first time in 1992.
After his defeat while seeking a fourth term, Feingold wrote a book and taught at the Marquette University Law School, Lawrence University and Stanford University. He formed Progressives United, a political action committee, in 2011, and in 2013 he was appointed as an envoy to Great Lakes region of Africa, a position he left in March.
Johnson's victory over Feingold came in his first run for office. The chief executive of a plastics manufacturer in Oshkosh, Johnson emerged as a speaker at tea party rallies in 2010 and spent more than $8 million on the race to defeat Feingold. He has said he will not self-finance his re-election effort.
Johnson ran as an opponent of the federal stimulus plan. In the Senate, he's been outspoken against President Obama's health care law, even filing a lawsuit challenging the requirement that lawmakers and their staff obtain health insurance through the exchanges.
Johnson was among 47 Republican senators who signed a letter to Iranian leaders in March raising doubts about Obama's nuclear negotiations. Johnson defended the letter, but also said he regretted that it wasn't sent as an open letter addressed to no one rather than to Iranian leaders.
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Online: http://www.russfeingold.com/
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APNewsBreak: Wisconsin's Feingold to run for US Senate - Yahoo News
Rauner sticks to his pension approach despite questions about its legality - Chicago Tribune
That position was relayed as the Republican governor dispatched a lawyer and policy adviser to a House committee to discuss the approach on pensions months after Rauner floated it. While no legislation has been filed, the new governor has talked broadly about moving all current workers to a less generous benefit package beginning in July. Upon retirement, those workers would collect two pensions — one from the more generous plan in place now, and a second from the less generous benefits accrued after July.
Skeptical lawmakers noted that the state Supreme Court ruled Friday that an earlier attempt to slash pension benefits for workers and retirees violated a clause in the Illinois Constitution that says such benefits cannot be "diminished or impaired."
In the unanimous ruling, justices also made clear that pension benefits promised to a public worker on the first day of employment cannot be reduced later. That distinction appeared to blow a hole in Rauner's plan.
But Wednesday, Rauner administration attorney Kim Fowler said the governor was not deterred.
"We continue to believe that the governor's proposal … is constitutional under the current constitution even after the Supreme Court's ruling that came out Friday," Fowler said.
The Rauner team's view is that the court was unclear about whether future benefits have the same protections as those benefits already earned. "We don't think the court clearly answered what benefits are protected," Fowler said.
Rauner sticks to his pension approach despite questions about its legality - Chicago Tribune
CTA looks to bridge $28M Rauner budget gap | abc7chicago.com
(WLS) --
The CTA is looking for ways to bridge a budget gap - one that board members fear will be at least $28 million in state funding cuts.
"Based on what Gov. Rauner has done, the full $28 million will disappear," said outgoing CTA President Forrest Claypool.Claypool says that money represents the reduced and free-ride subsidy the governor wants to end.
At Wednesday's board meeting, the agency discussed contingency plans to try and absorb the expected cuts without having to raise fares.
CTA looks to bridge $28M Rauner budget gap | abc7chicago.com
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Obama to Build Presidential Library on Chicago’s South Side - WSJ
The nation’s third-largest city was the front-runner from the start and, although stumbling at points, emerged from a shortlist that included New York’s Columbia University, where Mr. Obama did his undergraduate studies, and the University of Hawaii, located in the state where Mr. Obama was born.
“All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago,” Mr. Obama said in a statement Tuesday.
ENLARGE
President Barack Obama, accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, speaks in the East Room of the White House. President Obama will build his presidential library on Chicago’s South Side, choosing the city where his political career was born. Photo: Associated Press
The president worked as a community organizer in Chicago and later was elected to the Illinois state senate and U.S. Senate while a resident of the city’s South Side. His wife, Michelle Obama, grew up on the South Side and worked as an administrator at The University of Chicago, which spearheaded the winning bid. The children of the president and first lady also were born here.
The library spurred not only a national competition but one among Chicago neighborhoods, with bids coming from various sections of the city, including Bronzeville, the near West Side, and the far South Side. And while the winning proposal is tied to the University of Chicago, library organizers said they plan to work with the three finalists that weren’t selected, including establishing a presence at Columbia and collaborating with University of Illinois at Chicago.
The Barack Obama Foundation still has to decide on a final site, saying it will choose between land in Washington and Jackson parks in the coming months. Plans call for the library to be part of a larger facility known as the Barack Obama Presidential Center, which will include the library, a museum and offices, and activity space. The foundation will raise the money to build the center, and after its completion, the National Archives will take over operation of the library and museum like with other presidential libraries.
While Chicago was the leader from the start, the use of parkland drew criticism, raising concerns the city would lose out. But elected officials, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel who served as Mr. Obama’s first chief of staff, took steps to make the public land available, and in the end, the Obamas’ deep ties to the city won out.
“Every value, every memory, every important relationship to me exists in Chicago. I consider myself a South Sider,” Mrs. Obama said.
Tuesday’s decision is likely to renew speculation on where the Obamas will live after the White House, and whether they will return to Chicago or settle elsewhere such as New York City.
Attendance at presidential libraries vary with those of recent Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attracting large numbers of visitors and the libraries of Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy remaining popular. The lowest attendance last year came at the Herbert Hoover presidential library, which was the nation’s first such library. In total, 2.5 million people visited the 13 presidential libraries last year, according to the National Archives.
Part of what went into Tuesday’s decision is the potential economic boost the library could provide to Chicago’s South Side. The area is rich in history and remains the heart of the city’s black community, but has neighborhoods that have long struggled with high unemployment and violence.
Mr. Emanuel described the library as a once in a lifetime opportunity “that will bring tremendous cultural, economic, and educational benefits to the South Side.”
Read the entire story: Obama to Build Presidential Library on Chicago’s South Side - WSJ
In Illinois Capitol, lobbying a growing business : News
SPRINGFIELD — When it comes to his pledge to grow business in Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner's presence in the Capitol has triggered an increase in one at least one sector.
According to a review of state records, the number of lobbyists patrolling the marble-floored statehouse is at its highest level in five years.
While some say the uptick is linked to having a Republican in the governor's office for the first time in 12 years, others believe a push by utility companies for favorable changes in state law is playing a role.
"With the new administration, there are those who do business with the state who feel the need to have more direct contact with executive branch employees," said state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington.
In addition, the change in administration has left former members of Gov. Pat Quinn's inner circle and former lawmakers ready to cash in their connections working as lobbyists.
According to a review of state lobbying records requested by the The Southern's Springfield Bureau, 1,733 lobbyists registered with the Illinois Secretary of State's office from January through April.
The number is up from 1,700 during the same time period last year and up by nearly 100 lobbyists who registered in 2013.
It means there are nearly 10 lobbyists for each of the state's 177 members of the House and the Senate.
The numbers also show a move away from companies having their own, in-house lobbying teams. So far this year, there are 1,973 lobbying entities or organizations, up from 1,763 five years ago.
That's an indication that more businesses are outsourcing their lobbying efforts by contracting with specific lobbying companies, said David Weisbaum, director of the Illinois Secretary of State Index Department, which administers the state lobbying law.
Brady attributes some of the increase to the energy sector, in which major state utilities are looking to Springfield to help their profit margin.
"They are gearing up with more lobbyists to more effectively get their message out," Brady said.
Among businesses that have gone on a lobbyist hiring spree is Exelon Generation, which has assembled a team of 16 lobbyists this spring, up from eight last year.
The company is threatening to close nuclear power plants in Clinton, Cordova and Byron unless the General Assembly approves a plan that would guarantee utility power buys from low greenhouse gas sources such as its nuke plants.
The roster of Exelon hires includes lobbyists with strong ties to both Republicans and Democrats. Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady is on board, as are Eric Madiar and Ron Holmes, both of whom were top aides to Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.
AT&T and its subsidiaries have a similarly large contingent of lobbyists as the telecommunications giant seeks legislation that would allow it to spend less money on the upkeep of its older landline infrastructure.
Among its army of lobbyists is former state Sen. Denny Jacobs, D-East Moline, and a host of contractors with strong Republican connections.
A key lobbying observer says he's not so sure the increase can be linked to the push by Exelon and AT&T.
"There's always something like that going on," said Keith Sias, a Springfield-based lobbyists with the Illinois Credit Union League.
Sias, who is heading up the Illinois Third House this year, which is an organization for statehouse lobbyists, said he's not aware of any particular changes in state law that would have triggered more people to register.
When it comes to wining and dining lawmakers, the biggest spending lobbying organization so far in 2015 is the Ounce of Prevention Fund, which is headed by First Lady Diana Rauner. Reports show the group, which is a public-private partnership that prepares children for success in school and in life, has spent $132,415 to wine and dine lawmakers this year.
The Illinois Association of Park Districts has spent $87,151 this year on lawmakers and public officials as part of its lobbying efforts.