The union asked the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission to require the state to bargain with the WSEU and to extend the current contract until the matter is resolved.
Click on the following for more details: Wisconsin union charges governor with unfair labor practices - Politics - msnbc.com
CHAMPAIGN — Developers of the FutureGen project said Monday they have chosen an underground storage site in Morgan County for carbon dioxide generated by a western Illinois power plant they plan to refit with experimental low-emissions coal technology.
The FutureGen Alliance told The Associated Press it chose the spot over sites in Christian, Douglas and Fayette counties.
Click on the following for more details: FutureGen picks Jacksonville-area site for CO2 storage - DailyHerald.com
Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady is urging the Regional Transportation Authority to rescind its decision to hire the son-in-law of state House Speaker Mike Madigan as its new, $130,000-a-year chief lobbyist.
There are relatives who are qualified to hold a job, and this young man is one of them."
The RTA's spokeswoman had no further statement on the matter. On Friday, she described Mr. Matyas as "highly qualified."
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/section/blogs?blogID=greg-hinz&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a1daca073-2eab-468e-9f19-ec177090a35cPost%3a8aced611-3a2d-4766-ab81-ef0d3c740679&sid=sitelife.chicagobusiness.com#ixzz1FJg8A45F
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Police on Sunday decided not to enforce a 4 p.m. deadline for clearing the building so it could be cleaned.
As long as the estimated 4,000 demonstrators continued to obey the law, said Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs, there would be no need for arrests.
At the moment, it is hard to see how this ends without complete defeat for one side.
How long can Wisconsin protesters occupy the State Capitol? - CSMonitor.com
Monday night’s board meeting that they had received no feedback from residents about reducing coverage to the minimum required by law.
had been paying more than $100,000 a year for an extra 80 hours of patrol each week from two deputies
Police reports show they’re doing normal county business,” member Ronald Quimby said. “I don’t think the cost is justified.” He added that he thought Neighborhood Watch programs are “serving a function, making people more aware” of problems around them.
Click on the following for more details: Residents quiet over canceling county sheriff’s patrol
In February, 1988, Walker admitted violating Marquette campaign rules during his run for student government president and the Marquette Tribune deemed him "unfit" for office after finding Walker's campaign guilty of "mudslinging," and after reports that his campaign was throwing out copies of the paper that contained information damaging to Walker.
Walker left the university not long afterward.
Click on the following for more details: Scott Walker Returns to Marquette
The following editorial was submitted and published by both the Rockford Register Star and the Boone County Journal. Below is the RR Star publication. Click on the photocopy to enlarge.
263 different systems for tracking money, including many that are old and incompatible, according to a report Thursday.
What private company with revenues of $33 billion wouldn’t have a unified accounting system?”
report did not estimate how much the financial systems cost the state because of errors or confusion. But auditors did note that 17 percent of agencies provided figures on what it costs to enter duplicate data in different systems. The cost just for that portion of state government was $11.3 million
Click on the following for more details: State audit rips archaic accounting systems - Courier News
This is the national D.A.R.E. organization.
This information along with the audited financial statements of the charity are available at:
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/charities/search/index.jsp
The proper name of the organization for search purposes is:
D.A.R.E. AMERICA
Reg. Number:
01045289
EIN:
954242541
Click on the following photocopy for more details:
It does engage in lobbying activities.
Here are the salaries for key officials.
Related Party Transactions
From audited 12-31-2009 statements
An editor has expressed a concern that this article lends undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, controversies or matters relative to the article subject as a whole. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (November 2010)
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Koch was born and lives in Wichita, Kansas, one of four sons of Mary Robinson and Fred C. Koch;[4][5] Koch's grandfather was a Dutch immigrant who settled in West Texas.[6] Koch's academic life was spent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1957 he received a bachelor's degree in general engineering, a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1958, and a masters degree in chemical engineering in 1960.[4] Koch first started working at Arthur D. Little, Inc.; Koch moved back to Wichita and joined Rock Island Oil & Refining Company in 1961.[7] In 1967 he became president of his father's business, which was then a medium-sized oil firm.[8] In the same year, he renamed the firm Koch Industries in honor of his father.[9] By 2006, Koch Industries had a $90 billion revenue and had grown by more than 2000 times under Koch with an annual compounded return of 18%.[10]
Koch's strategy for running a business, Market Based Management (MBM), is described in his 2007 book The Science of Success.[9] Koch Industries' 2004 acquisition of Invista "pushed him to write the book" in order to reach new employees with the philosophy.[9]
In the nearly 40 years that Koch has run Koch Industries, the company's revenue increased from $70 million to $90 billion.[11]
He supports "decision rights," which Koch says empowers employees to manage assets as if they were their own.[11] Koch holds his employees to a high standard after Koch was required to pay $30 million in government fines for an oil spill. "If somebody intentionally commits a compliance violation, they're gone," he told The Houston Chronicle.[11]
Too many companies, Koch says, focus on short-term gains rather than their long-term success. In Koch's view, companies ought to reinvest in their earnings in their future, and shareholders should "be willing to forgo larger dividends in the short term to enable the growth that would lead to much greater dividends over the long term."[11]
He believes that Berkshire Hathaway is another company that follows his principles of caring more about the long, rather than the short, term.[11] For that reason, he's against going public, saying that Koch Industries would go public "over my dead body." He saluted people running public companies. "My hat is off to people running public companies because there's such pressure to keep the stock price up. It's such a blessing being private." [12]
Koch's views are described as libertarian. He told the National Journal that his "overall concept is to minimize the role of government and to maximize the role of private economy and to maximize personal freedoms."[13] Today, he worries about too much governmental regulation, writing, "We could be facing the greatest loss of liberty and prosperity since the 1930s."[14]
Philosophically Koch owes "a huge debt of gratitude to the giants who created the Austrian School" of economics.[7] Koch was especially impressed by Ludwig von Mises' Human Action, and sought to apply its ideas to his business practices early in his career.[15] Other influences on Koch include F.A. Hayek, Alexis de Tocqueville,[16] Adam Smith, Michael Polanyi,[7] Joseph Schumpeter, Julian Simon, Paul Johnson, Thomas Sowell, Charles Murray, Leonard Read, and F.A. Harper.[8] Brian Doherty, author of Radicals for Capitalism, and an editor of Reason, stated Robert LeFevre was an anarchist (autarchist) figure who won Koch's approval.[17]
To Koch, "the short-term infatuation with quarterly earnings on Wall Street restricts the earnings potential of Fortune 500 publicly traded firms".[8] Koch also considers public firms to be "feeding grounds for lawyers and lawsuits", with regulations like Sarbanes–Oxley only increasing the earnings potential of private firms.[8]
In an interview article for the Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore writes "Charles Koch—no surprise—disdains government and the political class."[8] Koch thinks the billionaires Warren Buffett and George Soros, who fund organizations with different ideologies, "simply haven't been sufficiently exposed to the ideas of liberty".[8] Koch thinks "prosperity is under attack" by the Obama administration and "warns of policies that 'threaten to erode our economic freedom and transfer vast sums of money to the state'".[18]
Koch was careful to make clear that while he often disagrees with political decisions, Koch Industries does not try to skirt them. He writes in The Science of Success that in light of increased regulation,
We needed to be uncompromising [with our workforce], to expect 100 percent of our employees to comply 100 percent of the time with complex and ever-changing government mandates. Striving to comply with every law does not mean agreeing with every law. But, even when faced with laws we think are counter-productive, we must first comply. Only then, from a credible position, can we enter into a dialogue with regulatory agencies to demonstrate alternatives that are more beneficial. If these efforts fail, we can then join with others in using education and/or political efforts to change the law.[19]
David H. Koch
Wikipedia Citation on David H. Koch
Early life and education
Born in Wichita, Kansas, Koch is one of four sons of petroleum industry innovator Fred C. Koch. He attended the Deerfield Academy prep school in Massachusetts, graduating in 1959. He went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning both a bachelor's (1962) and a master's degree (1963) in chemical engineering.
He established an MIT record in basketball by scoring an average of 21 points per game over three years, and held MIT's single-game scoring record of 41 points, from 1962 when he was captain of the team,[3] until it was broken in early 2009 by Jimmy Bartolotta.
Political career
Koch was the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the 1980 presidential election, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark. The Clark–Koch ticket promised to abolish Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board, welfare, minimum-wage laws, corporate taxes, all price supports and subsidies for agriculture and business, and U.S. Federal agencies including the SEC, EPA, ICC, FTC, OSHA, FBI, CIA, and DOE.[2][11] The ticket proposed legalization of prostitution, recreational drugs, and suicide.[2] The ticket received 921,128 votes, 1.06% of the total nationwide vote,[12] the Libertarian Party national ticket's best showing to date.[13]
After the bid, according to a book by Brian Doherty, an editor of Reason magazine, David and his brother Charles viewed politicians as "actors playing out a script" and they wanted to "supply the themes and words for the scripts" by influencing "the areas where policy ideas percolate from: academia and think tanks".[2]
Koch credits the campaign of Roger MacBride as his inspiration for getting involved in politics, telling a reporter from New York Magazine,
- "Here was a great guy, advocating all the things I believed in. He wanted less government and taxes, and was talking about repealing all these victimless crime laws that accumulated on the books. I have friends who smoke pot. I know many homosexuals. It's ridiculous to treat them as criminals—and here was someone running for president, saying just that."[14]
According to Koch, he gave his own Vice Presidential campaign $100,000 a month after being chosen as Ed Clark's running mate. "We'd like to abolish the Federal Elections Commission and all the limits on campaign spending anyway," Koch told New York Magazine's Rinker Buch in 1980. When asked why he ran, Koch replied, "Lord knows I didn't need a job, but I believe in what the Libertarians are saying. I suppose if they hadn't come along, I could have been a big Republican from Wichita. But hell—everybody from Kansas is a Republican." [14]
He broke with the Libertarian Party in 1984 when it supported eliminating all taxes[15] and Koch has since been a Republican.[3]
Current political views
He opposed the Iraq war, supports gay marriage, and stem-cell research.[15] He is against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and was against the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[15] Koch is unsure if global warming is caused by humans and thinks a warmer planet would be good because "[t]he Earth will be able to support enormously more people because a far greater land area will be available to produce food".[15]
Advocacy
See also: Political activities of the Koch family
In 1984, Koch founded, served as Chairman of the board of directors of, and donated to the free-market Citizens for a Sound Economy. In 2004, this organization separated into Americans for Prosperity Foundation and FreedomWorks. Koch continues as Chairman of the Board and gives money to Americans for Prosperity Foundation and to a related advocacy organization, Americans for Prosperity. A Koch spokesperson issued a press release stating that the Koch's have "no ties to and have never given money to FreedomWorks"[16]
Both FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have been providing funding and training to the US Tea Party movement, which opposes much of U.S. President Barack Obama's policies and legislative agenda.[2] In addition, Koch sits on the board and gives money to the libertarian Cato Institute and Reason Foundation.[2][3][17] In the late summer and early fall of 2010, Koch's contributions to political campaigns, free-market think tanks and other advocacy organizations came under increased scrutiny. Koch supports the Tea Party movement and Republican candidates, and California Proposition 23 (2010). In July 2010, New York Magazine profiled him, calling him the "tea party’s wallet".[3] In August 2010, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker wrote on the political spending of David and Charles Koch.[18] White House political advisor David Axelrod wrote in The Washington Post, calling them "campaigners we can't see."[19] Koch says that: "I’ve never been to a tea party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me."[15]
Philanthropy
Since 2000, Koch has pledged and/or donated more than $600 million to the arts, education and medical research, more than he gave to political causes.[20]
Arts
In July 2008, Koch pledged $100 million over 10 years to renovate the New York State Theater in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (now called the David H. Koch Theater),[21] and has pledged $10 million to renovate the outdoor fountains at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[22]
Koch has been a trustee of the American Ballet Theater for 25 years[23] and has contributed more than $6 million to the theater.[24]
Medical Research
A prostate cancer survivor,[25] Koch sits on the Board of Directors of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and has contributed $41 million to the Foundation, including $5 million to a collaborative project in the field of nanotechnology.[26] Koch is the eponym of the David H. Koch Chair of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a position currently held by Dr. Jonathan Simons.
In 2007, he contributed $100 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help fund the construction of a new 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) research and technology facility to serve as the home of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.[27] He also contributed $20 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The building he financed was named the David H. Koch Cancer Research Building.[28] $30 million to the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York,[29] $25 million to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to establish the David Koch Center for Applied Research in Genitourinary Cancers,[30] $15 million to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center.[31]
Education
Koch contributed $7 million to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) show Nova,[32] and is a contributer to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., including a $20 million gift to the American Museum of Natural History, creating the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing and a contribution of $15 million to the National Museum of Natural History to create the new David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, which opened on the museum's 100th anniversary of its location on the National Mall on March 17, 2010.[33]
Koch also financed the construction of Deerfield Academy's $68 million Koch Center for mathematics, science and technology,[34] and was named the first and only Lifetime Trustee.[34]
Koch gave $10 million to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory[35] where he was honored with the Double Helix Medal for Corporate Leadership for supporting research that, "improves the health of people everywhere."[36]
Real estate development
In May 2006 he sold what had been Jackie Kennedy's New York City apartment for more than $33 million.[37] He bought the apartment for $9.5 million in 1995.[38] He teamed up with members of New York City high society—including Victoria Newhouse, wife of media mogul S.I. Newhouse Jr., among others—to try to block Donald Trump's Trump World Tower.[39]
Those singled out in the campaign included senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Rep. Steve Israel of the House Appropriations Committee; Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts.
At a minimum, the use of the IO team against U.S. senators was a misue of vital resources designed to combat the enemy
In March 2010, Breazile issued a written order that "directly tasked" Holmes to conduct an IO campaign against "all DV visits" – short for "distinguished visitor." The team was also instructed to "prepare the context and develop the prep package for each visit." In case the order wasn’t clear enough, Breazile added that the new instructions were to "take priority over all other duties." Instead of fighting the Taliban,
Click on the following to read all of this story: Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators | Rolling Stone Politics
The Schaumburg Flyers baseball team is being evicted from Alexian Field for owing hundreds of thousands in unpaid rent and fees, leaving a hole in a minor league schedule and questions about the likelihood of fielding a new hometown team.
village has the right to negotiate with other teams, and Village President Al Larson said representatives of existing teams and investors who'd like to start a team have expressed interest.
Schaumburg Flyers evicted from village's baseball stadium - chicagotribune.com
Big changes at the Belvidere Y.
Feb. 1, John Kaufield, president of the Y’s board of directors, began working as its interim CEO — just days after Bill Holsker was terminated.
“We’ve got to put out a search for a new CEO,” Kaufield said. “We need to get the message out that there is a change. The Y is in a spot like other nonprofits. We’re being squeezed with a loss of revenue and increasing costs.”effective March 31, the Y is nixing its fully subsidized kids membership program, which served more than 915 Boone County youths in 2010 and 1,050 Boone County youths so far in 2011.
Click on the following for more details: Belvidere Family Y changes leadership, member fees - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
Watchdog’s Comment: Will America become Koch Brothers, Inc.?
Americans for Prosperity was founded by David H. Koch of Koch Industries. Koch and his wife, Julia, are major GOP contributors: They have donated more than $2 million to federal candidates and party organizations since 1990, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Koch also ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980, and currently serves on the board of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, according to his biography on the AFP website.
The group’s president is Tim Phillips, a Republican campaign strategist who helped organize tea party protests. Directors of the organization include Art Pope, a former North Carolina congressman, and James Miller, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and budget director under President Ronald Reagan.
AFP is registered under the IRS code as a 501(c)(4) — meaning it does not have to disclose its donors.
AFP is affiliated with the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which operates from the same address and with the same president and senior staff. The foundation is a public charity registered under the IRS code as a 501(c)(3) — meaning that donations to it may be deducted from the donor’s taxable income. Its donors also need not be publicly disclosed. In late August, 2010 the New York Times reported that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had filed a complaint with the IRS accusing the AFP Foundation of abusing its tax-deductible status by running TV ads that it claimed were inherently “political in nature.” The AFP called the complaint without merit, and said it had raised money from 70,000 individual donors, according to the Times.
The Washington Post reported that the group "plans to spend more than $45 million targeting more than 50 House districts and half a dozen Senate races in key battleground states
Click on the following for more details: Americans for Prosperity | FactCheck.org
As stated in the Americans for Prosperity’s December 31, 2009 audited statements, AFP is a 501 c 4 corporation under the Internal Revenue Code and is exempt from taxes.
Are contributions to a 501 c 4 corporation deductible: http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/article/0,,id=156411,00.html
Contributions to civic leagues or other section 501(c)(4) organizations generally are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. They may be deductible as trade or business expenses, if ordinary and necessary in the conduct of the taxpayer’s business. However, see Nondeductible Lobbying and Political Expenditures for more information. Also, the organization may be required to disclose that contributions are not deductible when it solicits contributions.
Donations to volunteer fire companies are deductible as charitable contributions on the donor’s federal income tax return, but only if made for exclusively public purposes. Similarly, contributions to certain war veterans organizations are deductible. If the contributions are deductible as charitable contributions, substantiation and disclosure requirements may apply.
Americans for Prosperity
Their website is: http://americansforprosperity.org/walker/ is running the following support commercial for Wisconsin Governor Walker.
The following is taken from the IRS Code: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopici03.pdf
Although the Service has been making an effort to refine and clarify this area, IRC 501(c)(4) remains in some degree a catch-all for presumptively beneficial non-profit organizations that resist classification under the other exempting provisions of the Code. Unfortunately, this condition exists because "social welfare" is inherently an abstruse concept that continues to defy precise definition.
The general concept, however, can be expressed as follows:
Organizations that promote social welfare should primarily promote the common good and general welfare of the people of the community as a whole.
An organization that primarily benefits a private group of citizens cannot qualify for IRC 501(c)(4) exempt statute
.Local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of a designated person or persons in a particular municipality and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.
The statutory terms disclose that IRC 501(c)(4) embraces two general classifications:
a. Social welfare organizations, and
b. Local associations of employees.
Statutory History
Effective September 14, 1995, organizations exempt under IRC 501(c)(4) may not allow any part of their net earnings to inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
Further, insiders and organization managers may be subject to the excise tax imposed by IRC 4958 if assets or services are provided to insiders for less than fair market value. Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2, Pub. L. No. 168, § 1311(a), 104th Cong. 2d Sess (1996), 110 Stat. 1452.
IRC 501…..
Here is connection to the Walker’s phone call.
Its political action committee gave $43,000 to Walker's campaign, and donated heavily to the Republican Governors' Association, which funded ads attacking Walker's opponent in last year's election.
Kochs also give millions to support Americans For Prosperity, which launched a $320,000 television ad campaign in favor of Walker's legislation on Wednesday and already has a website, standwithwalker.com, where more than 60,000 have signed a petition supporting his plan.
The whole phone conversation is available on this link to the Beloit Paper, click on the following: Beloit Daily News
Watchdog’s Comment: “Only Boone County’s County Board would approve a “retirement incentive” to someone who already retired. After all it is only $10,000 and it is paid to a top employee of the Sheriff’s Department.”
The employees have until March 31 to sign a form expressing their intent to retire.
“When they turn this in, it’s done,” Boone County Administrator Ken Terrinoni said. “They pick their retirement date, they retire and they get their incentive. It’s two choices: We pay the employer share of the single health insurance for three years and they still pay the employee share, or (they get) $10,000.”
Only seven employees have shown an interest and are eligible for the incentives, including one person who has retired since the proposal came forward in the fall.
Click on the following for more details: 7 Boone County employees offered early retirement - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
[Koch’s] semiannual shindigs, which began in 2003, as an "opportunity for attendees and presenters to discuss ways of preserving and advancing economic freedom in the United States and to share ideas about the free-market principles that have made our country great." The guest list for last weekend's meeting is still under wraps, but the June 2010 event in Aspen drew a who's who of conservative media stars; Besides Beck, there were Philip Anschutz, owner of the Examiner newspapers and the Weekly Standard; Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist and Weekly Standard contributor; Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal editorial board member; and Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor for The National Review
[think-tanks and foundations that have benefited from the Koch's largesse.] Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, Manhattan Institute , Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI),
Click on the following to read the entire article: The Koch Brothers' Vast Right-Wing media Conspiracy | Mother Jones
Neither Koch brother is on this 501 c 4 corporation board. However Tim Phillips who is President of Americans for Prosperity Foundation is also President of Americans for Prosperity.
All of this information was obtained at: http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/charities/search/index.jsp
The proper name of the organization for search purposes is:
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY
Reg. Number:
01047162
EIN:
753148958
Audited statement as December 31, 2009 are available at the above database.
The primary purpose of this organization is “educate citizens”
The Koch Brother’s involvement with Wisconsin Governor Walker and the anti-union movement for state workers is now fairly well document. Here is some information available based upon the Illinois Attorney General’s data base for charities.
All of this information was obtained at: http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/charities/search/index.jsp
The proper name of the organization for search purposes is:
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FOUNDATION
Reg. Number:
01027277
EIN:
521527294
Audited statement as December 31, 2009 are available at the above database.
As shown by this filing brother, David E. Koch, is Chairman of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation.
Income for the five years ending December 31, 2009 is shown below. 2009 income were a high of $10.4 million the average
Mr. Phillips did not mention was that his Virginia-based nonprofit group,[Americans for Prosperity ] whose budget surged to $40 million in 2010 from $7 million three years ago, was created and financed in part by the secretive billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch.
State records also show that Koch Industries, their energy and consumer products conglomerate based in Wichita, Kan., was one of the biggest contributors to the election campaign of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a
Click on the following for more details: Koch Brothers’ Money Fuels Wisconsin Fight - NYTimes.com
***************************************
Illinois on Wednesday sold $3.7 billion in pension bonds, priced at an average price of 5.56% for securities whose maturities range from 2014 to 2019,
34.6 billion Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, Springfield, expects to receive $2.2 billion from the bond sale and the $13.5 billion Illinois State Universities Retirement System, Champaign, $777 million.
The $9.97 billion Illinois State Employees' Retirement System expects to receive $690 million; the $420 million Illinois Judges' Retirement System, $47 million; and the $100.5 million Illinois General Assembly Retirement System, $9 million. The three plans are overseen by the $10.5 billion Illinois State Board of Investment, Chicago.
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110223/NEWS01/110229944/illinois-sells-3-7-billion-in-pension-bonds-averaging-5-56#ixzz1EqE1ImKZ
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Republican and Democratic leaders and strategists appear to be relishing the broadening fight over labor unions, feeling it is energizing their core supporters and clarifying key differences between the two parties.
Democrats claim the fight has injected fresh energy into the ranks of labor unions, which are a major supplier of campaign money and volunteers for Democratic candidates. Republicans say the showdowns show they are the ones willing to make tough decisions to cut government spending and take on entrenched powers.
Click on the following for more details: Political Fight Over Unions Escalates - WSJ.com
The Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in Human Life of Washington gives the green light to advocates of effective campaign finance disclosure to aggressively defend existing disclosure laws under challenge by Bopp and other opponents of transparency in government, and to legislators to enact stronger disclosure laws to shine light on the recent flood of corporate dollars into U.S. elections that are being laundered through intermediaries like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and increasingly-prevalent fly-by-night 501(c)(4) organizations formed solely for the purpose of hiding the identities of special interests trying to buy our elections.
Click on the following for more details: Supreme Court Declines to Review Important Ninth Circuit Decision Upholding Washington State Ballot Measure Disclosure Laws - Inbox - Yahoo! Mail
- The Daily Beast was a newspaper in the 1938 novel Scoop
The Beast was originally a Buffalo, New York alternative biweekly newspaper which now publishes exclusively online.
The Beast was founded by Matt Taibbi, Kevin McElwee and Paul Fallon in 2002.[1] The format was originally a free biweekly newspaper, but changed in 2007 when it began to charge for issues as a national monthly publication that also offered international subscriptions.[1] In late 2009, The Beast stopped producing print editions, but now actively maintains an online presence with the tagline "The World's Only Website."[1] The Beast's longest-serving editor was Allan Uthman; it is currently edited by Ian Murphy (writer).[1][2]
An annual feature of The Beast is "The 50 Most Loathsome Americans" - a list of infamous celebrities, authors, athletes, pundits, politicians and others selected for their dubious distinction, with reasons and examples given for each entry's inclusion.[3][4][5]
Click on the following: The Beast (newspaper) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thіѕ іѕ іnсrеdіblе.
Buffalo Beast — thе online newspaper founded bу onetime editor Matt Taibbi, hаѕ a recording οf a phone call between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker аnd current Buffalo Beast editor Ian Murphy — pretending tο bе David Koch.
(Note: thе Buffalo Beast website hаѕ bееn οn аnd οff аll daylight. )
Click on the following for more details: BUSTED: Wisconsin Governor Gets Punked By Journalist Pretending To Be David Koch | Al Tech Latest News World
Walker believed the caller was a conservative billionaire named David Koch, but it was actually a liberal blogger.
The two talked for at least 20 minutes a
- Walker compared his stand to that taken by President Ronald Reagan when he fired the nation's air-traffic controllers during a labor dispute in 1981
- governor said he was ratcheting up the pressure on Senate Democrats to return to the Capitol a week after they fled to block the legislation. He said he supported a move to require them to come to the Capitol to pick up their paychecks rather than have them deposited directly
- floated an idea to lure Democratic senators back to the Capitol for negotiations and then have the Senate quickly pass the bill while they are in talks.
- On the call, Walker said he expected the anti-union movement to spread across the country and he had spoken with the governors of Ohio and Nevada. The man pretending to be Koch seemed to agree, telling Walker, "You're the first domino."
"Yep, this is our moment," Walker responded.
- Click on the following for more details: In prank call, Wis. gov discussed tricking Dems - chicagotribune.com
Impasse in Madison does not serve the public good.
WHETHER EITHER SIDE wants to admit it or not, there are two separate issues in play regarding the showdown in Madison.
The first and most immediate is this: There is a hole in this fiscal year budget '…The other issue involves the proper role — if there is one — for public employee unions. That’s the tougher question, the one currently dividing the state into angry camps. Wisconsin has a long and mostly proud history with America’s labor movement. Indeed, Wisconsin even claims to be the birthplace of public unionism. Now Walker wants to all but abolish unions from the public square. No wonder his anti-collective bargaining stance is proving to be explosively contentious
Read the entire editorial is available at: Beloit Daily News - your source for news, entertainment, sports, opinion, events, community, shopping and more > Opinion > Todays Opinion
Despite its well-publicized fiscal woes, Illinois hasn't had any trouble attracting investors for its $3.7 billion pension bond deal, expected to price later Wednesday in the municipal-bond market.
Initial indications on the deal Tuesday showed $6.1 billion in orders, with around a fifth of those coming from international investors, such as sovereign-wealth funds
This is from the Wall Street Journal and you may need a subscription to read all of the article: Illinois Sees Strong Demand For Its Pension Bond
1996 law defines marriage from the federal perspective as between a man and a woman, which means same-sex married couples are denied access to marriage-based federal benefits.
the law's key section is unconstitutional. "Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute" in court, Holder said in a statement.
Wisconsin Assembly Bill 11, the "Scott Walker Budget Repair Bill" (2011)
This page is the complete text of the act that will become law if Wisconsin Assembly Bill 11 is enacted by both chambers of the Wisconsin State Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker. (See also: Union protests in Madison, Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker's Budget Repair Bill)
Introduction
ASSEMBLY BILL 11
February 15, 2011
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON ASSEMBLY ORGANIZATION, by request of Governor Scott Walker.
Referred to Joint Committee on Finance.
Referred to Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems.
AN ACT relating to: state finances, collective bargaining for public employees, compensation and fringe benefits of public employees, the state civil service system, the Medical Assistance program, sale of certain facilities, granting bonding authority, and making an appropriation.
Click on the following for more details: mbly Bill 11, the "Scott Walker Budget Repair Bill" (2011) - Ballotpedia
Candlewick Lake currently has 17 or 18 public safety officers, including those who work at the three entrance gates. During the summer that number will swell by another five to 10 officers when the lake patrol begins.
Martin, 31, has 13 years’ experience in security work and recently received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Westwood College in Woodridge.
was raised in Chicago, relocated to Freeport, then Rockford, then back to the Chicago area. His mother still resides in Rockford.
When he learned about the opening in Candlewick Lake, Martin said he was working security at a nuclear power plant in Romeoville
public safety officers don’t carry firearms. It’s the same as the Marquette patrol in that officers don’t have arrest powers; here they do hand out citations to those who violate traffic laws.
Candlewick public safety officers rely on sheriff’s deputies to make arrests and
Click on the following for more details: Candlewick Lake residents meet new chief of public safety
House Bill 1869
Instead of paying tax dollars to print public notices about government activities, governments could skip that requirement if they agree to post the full public notices on their own websites. In addition, a small ad would have to be printed in the paper to announce the website address where public notices would be posted.
stealthy assault on open government under the guise of saving money. Newspapers, of course, have a vested interest in this matter: The bill would take a slight amount of revenue from most newspapers.
But for decades, public notices have been printed in newspapers for a good reason: to provide the greatest verifiable public exposure for the money spent. (Public notices are billed at a discounted ad rate, by the way).
For people who use the Internet, Illinois newspapers (including this one) already offer a free, online public notice service. Visit http://www.publicnoticeillinois.com/ to search for public notices from this community and many others.
Click on the following for more details: Northwest Herald | Bill reduces public notice
222 Church Street
Woodstock, ILLINOIS 60098
Steve Otten, Executive Director—$72,000 plus $7,786 benefits.
All of this information was obtained at: http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/charities/search/index.jsp
The proper name of the organization for search purposes is:
CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER FOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Reg. Number:
01040225
EIN:
364382447
Audited statement as of June 30, 2009 are available at the above database.
Beverly Broyles, Executive Director, $41,532 (2009)
All of this information was obtained at: http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/charities/search/index.jsp
The proper name of the organization for search purposes is:
TINKER SWISS COTTAGE, INC.
Reg. Number:
01022098
EIN:
366110280
Audited statements as of 12-31-2009 are available on the above mention data base.
Dr. Gorski”s compensation of $1.36 million but includes “catch-up” of some benefits. See the other key officials on the first photocopy. the second photocopy speaks of Dr. Gorski’s cath-up.
All of this information was obtained at: http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/charities/search/index.jsp
The proper name of the organization for search purposes is:
SWEDISHAMERICAN HEALTH SYSTEM CORPORATION
Reg. Number:
01013809
EIN:
363241458
Audited 5-31-2009 statements are available at the above mentioned site.
Click on the photocopy to enlarge.
