Our View: Township consolidation is a small but key step | Northwest Herald

As the McHenry County Board closely examines whether to put a referendum question on the ballot on consolidating the county’s townships from 17 to 8, it’s important to look at the big picture.

 

With about 7,000 taxing bodies, Illinois leads the nation in the number of line items that show up on our property tax bills. Coincidentally, Illinois has the second highest property taxes in the United States behind New Jersey.

These facts can’t only be coincidences. Would consolidating units of government save money and reduce property taxes? Unless it is done with breathtaking incompetence, it’s difficult to see how it could not.

Regardless of which agency performs them, government services need to be performed. Students need an education, roads need to be maintained, police and firefighters are needed to provide safety, and the list goes on.

It’s also important that some local control be maintained in making the decisions that affect the residents in those communities. Decisions made on behalf of Chicago residents are different than decisions made for McHenry residents. This is one of the major arguments against consolidation.

But the benefits of local control are diluted when residents have so many different taxing bodies governing them that they’re left dizzy keeping track of who’s in charge. In many cases, it’s different people controlling their village, their parks, their libraries, their fire districts, their townships, their county, etc.

By spreading the accountability so widely, it removes accountability. Taxpayers are left barely knowing who is taxing them and for what.

And each one of those taxing bodies, in addition to serving residents, serves its own interests. They provide jobs and often pensions. The more vital the services they provide, the easier it is to justify their need for more employees, more tax dollars.

Consolidating townships is the tip of the iceberg of bloated government that’s flattened Illinois’ economy, leaving a mountain of debt just as the glaciers flattened the Illinois landscape, leaving the Great Lakes behind.

But Illinois needs to start somewhere, and it needs to do so fearlessly and without regard to the hundreds of tiny fiefdoms who are fighting for self preservation. It must do so wisely in the interest of taxpayers and the economy, not merely in the interest of political philosophy.

McHenry County Board Chairman Joseph Gottemoeller has appropriately asked the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office to review the law and guide the board on what it might consider to put as a question to voters.

Common sense tells us government consolidation has to be part of the solution for turning Illinois around for the better. But those steps need to be taken much faster than the pace of a glacier.

 

Our View: Township consolidation is a small but key step | Northwest Herald

Obama won't declare killings of Armenians in 1915 to be genocide - LA Times

 

hite House officials have decided that President Obama will not use the word “genocide” to describe the killings of more than 1 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks when he commemorates the deaths Friday, the 100th anniversary of the massacres.

The decision, revealed Tuesday in a meeting with Armenian American groups, backs down from a previous Obama pledge and sparked anger from activists.

“The president’s surrender represents a national disgrace,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America. “It is a betrayal of the truth, and it is a betrayal of trust.”

White House officials defended the decision as necessary to preserve the chance of cooperation with Turkey, a NATO ally, on Middle Eastern conflicts.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has led efforts in Congress to recognize the genocide, said he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision.

"How long must the victims and their families wait before our nation has the courage to confront Turkey with the truth about the murderous past of the Ottoman Empire? If not this president, who spoke so eloquently and passionately about recognition in the past, whom? If not after 100 years, when?" he said in a statement.

White House officials released a statement that did not use the word "genocide" after the meeting with Armenian American groups. The statement from National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the U.S. would use the anniversary of the massacres to "urge a full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts that we believe is in the interest of all parties."

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House expects Obama will mark "the historical significance" of the “Meds Yeghern," as the massacres are known in Armenian.

"We know and respect that there are some who are hoping to hear different language this year. We understand their perspective," the official said.

But, the official added, "the approach we have taken in previous years remains the right one — both for acknowledging the past, and for our ability to work with regional partners to save lives in the present," a reference to U.S. hopes for cooperation from Turkey, particularly in the civil war in Syria.

Hamparian said he and other Armenian American leaders learned the news

Obama won't declare killings of Armenians in 1915 to be genocide - LA Times

State retirees' lawyers to get $1.5 million for work on health insurance case - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL

 

• Lawyers representing state retirees in a case involving their health insurance premiums will receive a little more than $1.5 million in fees and costs for their work.

  The amount, determined by Sangamon County Associate Judge Steven Nardulli, is less than half of the $3.1 million in compensation (including a multiplier) the lawyers sought during a court hearing two weeks ago.

  Money to pay the fees will come out of the roughly $63 million in health insurance premiums collected from retirees. The money was deducted from their pension checks.

  In his ruling, Nardulli said the attorney fees amount to about 2.37 percent of the premium money paid. In other words, when refunds are made, for every $100 in premium refunds due to an employee, $2.37 will be deducted to pay legal fees.

  After the state passed a law that began to charge all retirees premiums for their state-subsidized health insurance, multiple lawsuits were filed challenging the law as a violation of the Illinois Constitution's pension protection clause. Nardulli consolidated the various cases, but multiple attorneys remained involved.

  The attorneys affected by the legal fees decision took their cases on a contingency basis, meaning they would not get paid unless they won. Some other attorneys were paid by their clients as the case proceeded through the courts.

  Nine lawyers and a paralegal initially claimed more than 3,500 hours working on the case. The lawyers' fees ranged from $250 to $400 an hour. They also claimed a multiplier that is allowed in class-action lawsuits.

  Nardulli reviewed the billing and cut the hours to 2,668. He also limited hourly billing to $250. Springfield lawyers Don Craven and John Myers, who brought one of the earliest lawsuits against the law, worked the most hours on the case, Nardulli determined. Each will be paid $265,625 for his work. Craven could not be reached for comment. Myers declined to comment.

  Hundreds of people filed letters with the court, virtually all of them objecting to attorney fees. Many felt the state should cover the legal expenses since it lost the case. Nardulli said that while he sympathized with their position, nothing in the law allowed him to shift the costs to the state.

  More than 300 others objected because they said they were paying their own counsel and should not have to pay for others. A number of those were members of the State Universities Annuitants Association, which hired its own firm to represent members. Nardulli noted, though, that the association didn't get involved until after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against the law and sent it back to circuit court for further proceedings.

  "The fact remains that the work performed in overturning the assessment of health insurance premiums was performed by attorneys other than SUAA attorneys," Nardulli wrote in his decision. "To exclude SUAA members from sharing in the cost of the litigation would unfairly shift the burden of the attorney fees to other retirees, and would provide a benefit to SUAA members for which they did not contribute."

  Page 2 of 2 - In a short briefing to members, the annuitants association said it is "grateful to be able to say that the fees being taken from money being returned to (retired university) members are far less than requested."

  Now that attorney fees have been decided, work can being on determining how much of a refund is due to each retiree. The court schedule calls for refunds to be sent out in early June.

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

• By Doug Finke, State Capitol Bureau

  The State Journal-Register

  By Doug Finke, State Capitol Bureau

  Posted Apr. 15, 2015 at 1:23 PM
  Updated Apr 15, 2015 at 10:14 PM

 

State retirees' lawyers to get $1.5 million for work on health insurance case - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL

Rauner's 'Turnaround Illinois Agenda' gets no support in Libertyville - Libertyville Review

 

Gov. Bruce Rauner's controversial "Turnaround Illinois Agenda" died on the floor without a single Libertyville trustee willing to recommend approval during an April 14 meeting.

Municipalities throughout Illinois are being asked to approve a pre-written resolution that pledges support for a number of Rauner's ideas.

One item in the proclamation says local governing bodies should have the right to decide what workplace topics unions in their towns can bargain over and whether or not non-union members should pay "fair share" dues.

Among several other items, the resolution also pledges support for reforming workers compensation laws and removing the state requirements for government construction contracting, also known as "prevailing wage."

 

"The governor's office has asked that we pass this resolution as it stands," Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler said. "In my opinion, we can pass any resolution we want. If we want to pass a resolution to the governor, it should say what we want."

Village trustees in Mundelein voted April 13 to spend two weeks revising Rauner's resolution in private before revisiting the matter April 27. Weppler said he agreed with a few items on the document and was willing to consider a revision, but his trustees decided otherwise.

"I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of the State of Illinois, so it would be inappropriate of me to recommend that we secede and join Wisconsin," Trustee Richard Moras said. "I cannot support this. It makes no sense, and it's plain silly."

Moras, who was the most outspoken of the trustees, compared the resolution to a hypothetical situation where Libertyville supports raising fees at the Federal Reserve.

"We have no authority or insights on these topics," Moras said. "This is a waste of our time, and nothing more than a political grandstand."

Trustee Todd Gaines said he agreed with Moras' statements, and also expressed discomfort with the Rauner's administration's emphasis that nothing in the resolution be changed…

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Rauner's 'Turnaround Illinois Agenda' gets no support in Libertyville - Libertyville Review

Rauner tries to distance himself from CPS contract scandal - Chicago Tribune

 

…records show that Rauner was a key player in the group and that the group played a key role in bringing the executive training program to the public schools.

Rauner's family foundation gave the Chicago Public Education Fund $500,000 in 2012, according to federal tax records, and Rauner said Monday that he and his wife have given the fund "many millions of dollars" over the years. Rauner also was chairman of the nonprofit for a time and said he served on the board for at least 10 years.

In 2012, the Chicago Public Education Fund issued a news release saying it provided $380,000 to fund the first year of the SUPES Academy program, which it described as a "pioneering effort to create the nation's first district-based academy for managers of principals."

The Rauner-connected group also stated that "following a successful first year supported by The Fund, CPS absorbed the cost" for the program during the 2012-2013 school year and that CPS "is further expanding the program during the 2013-2014 school year to become the primary source of support and development for all CPS principals."

In her statement, the fund CEO said the nonprofit organization has made more than $50 million in grants over the past 15 years, primarily to organizations working with teachers and principals in Chicago's public schools.

"In 2011, our organization made a $380,000 grant to SUPES Academy for a one-year pilot program to train CPS network chiefs and their deputies. Network chiefs are the CPS employees who supervise and manage school principals," Anichini said. "In 2012, following the completion of that pilot program, we declined a request by CPS leadership to provide a second year of funding for SUPES Academy training of principals. The Chicago Public Education Fund, its directors, and its staff have had no involvement with SUPES Academy since 2012."

The Chicago Public Education Fund is made up of a broad list of the area's most influential politicians and business leaders — all of whom have made restructuring education a top civic priority over the past decade. Many have become key political supporters of Rauner, Emanuel or both.

Indeed, Rauner was a board director and is currently a director emeritus. Last week, the governor's hand-picked board of education named Tony Smith the state's new superintendent of schools. Smith, who has spent most of his career in California, was appointed to the fund's board of directors last year and was on Rauner's transition team after the November election.

Launched in 2000, the group was first led by then-Chicago Tribune Publisher Scott Smith. Rauner joined the board the next year and later was its chairman before becoming an emeritus member of the board, along with future U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who is a former member of the Chicago school board, and current school board President David Vitale.

Others currently on the nonprofit board include Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, who has financially backed both Rauner's and Emanuel's campaigns; Mellody Hobson of the powerful Ariel Investments; Helen Zell, wife of real estate magnate Sam Zell; Susan Crown, a principal of the Chicago investment firm of Henry Crown & Co.; and Beth Swanson, a former top education deputy to Emanuel.

"But the investigation, I hope that the potential wrongdoing that I've read about didn't occur," Rauner said Monday. "I don't know. But I hope anybody that did wrongdoing gets fully prosecuted."…

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Rauner tries to distance himself from CPS contract scandal - Chicago Tribune#page=1

Two former Rauner aides form a super PAC to back governor's agenda - Chicago Tribune

 

Two former campaign aides to Gov. Bruce Rauner have formed a new political fund to help the governor push his agenda at the Capitol, the latest effort to give the Republican leverage as his plans face resistance from the Democrat-controlled legislature.

Kim Geiger and Monique Garcia

As the Easter holiday weekend loomed, Gov. Bruce Rauner quietly trimmed $26 million from the state budget, including cuts in funding to bury the poor, help people with autism and aid smokers who want to quit.

As the Easter holiday weekend loomed, Gov. Bruce Rauner quietly trimmed $26 million from the state budget, including cuts in funding to bury the poor, help people with autism and aid smokers who want to quit. ( Kim Geiger and Monique Garcia )

Called "Turnaround Illinois," the fund will be able to raise an unlimited amount of money as a super political action committee. The group's goal is to "support state legislative candidates who support Gov. Rauner's bold and needed reforms, and to oppose those who stand in the way," according to paperwork filed with the State Board of Elections.

Documents show the group's chairman is listed as Lesley Sweeney, who was chief financial officer for the governor's campaign committee. Named as treasurer is Michael G. Adams, who was general counsel for the Rauner campaign.

While no contributions have been reported yet, big money is expected to flow in shortly. The new fund is on top of a $20 million pot of money Rauner established in his own campaign fund shortly before taking office to promote his agenda.

Rauner, who made his wealth as a private equity investor, put in $10 million of his own money, while Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, provided $8 million, and Richard Uihlein, CEO of Uline Corp., added $2 million.

The new super PAC comes as Rauner has been touring the state promoting what he's billed as the Illinois Turnaround, a package of proposals ranging from limits on employee unions to business-friendly changes to workers compensation insurance and regulations to prevent venue-shopping for civil lawsuits.

The governor also is pushing changes to the state employee pension system that would shift all workers into a less generous benefit plan as well as huge cuts to the state budget that are fiercely opposed by Democrats who favor tax increases to offset the need for deep spending reductions.

The state faces an estimated $6 billion shortfall in the budget year that begins July 1, and Rauner has made no secret of his desire to use the massive budget hole to his advantage as he seeks changes. That sets the stage for Rauner to potentially cut a deal on higher taxes in exchange for lawmakers going along with some of his other plans.

"The opportunity to bring big structural change is right now, as part of the 2016 budget," Rauner said last week while addressing a group of school superintendents in Springfield. "Because once the 2016 budget happens, nobody is going to want to listen to any structural reform. They're going to move on to the next issue, now is the opportunity to drive change along with the budget. Because crisis creates opportunity for change."

Two former Rauner aides form a super PAC to back governor's agenda - Chicago Tribune

Marion school district announces two superintendent finalists | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather

looking again.

MARION — The Marion Independent School District on Monday announced two finalists for its superintendent position.

Joseph Dyer, a superintendent in Southampton, N.Y., and Michael Houselog, a superintendent in Belvidere, Ill., are the two final candidates, the district said.

Marion this year has been searching for a replacement for current superintendent Sarah Pinion, who will retire June 30. She has led Marion schools since 2009.

Ray and Associates, the firm hired to lead the search, received 46 applications and presented 11 to the Marion school board, said board president David Law. The board chose five to interview via Skype, he said.

Dyer and Houselog will be in Marion Thursday, Law said, for in-person interviews with the board, administrators, students, faculty, support staff and community members.

The board will decide on a candidate Thursday night and hopes to have a verbal commitment from the candidate that night or Friday morning, Law said. He added that he hopes to get a signed contract and announce the next superintendent on Monday or Tuesday.

Dyer has been the superintendent of the Tuckahoe Common School District in Southampton since 2010. He previously was a superintendent in Pennsylvania and earned a doctor of education degree from Virginia Tech University.

Dyer planned to leave the Tuckahoe district last year for a superintendent position in the Susquehanna Valley Central School District, also in New York, according to an October report from the Southampton Press and a release from the Susquehanna district.

The Susquehanna district later hired a different superintendent. Law said the Marion board did not “delve into” that situation in considering Dyer.

“We did not feel it had a great deal of bearing on our situation,” Law said.

“My hope is to serve where educational needs are a professional match with my skills as an educational leader,” said a statement from Dyer. “I highly regard the excellence and community pride that are characteristics of Marion Independent School District and am honored to be considered for the position of superintendent.”

Houselog has been the superintendent of the Belvidere Community Unit School District #100 since 2007. He previously was a superintendent at two other Illinois districts.

Houselog earned a doctor of education degree from Aurora University. He also has earned an education specialist degree from Drake University and a bachelor’s degree from Loras College.

Houselog previously was a candidate for Iowa superintendent positions in the Johnston, Southeast Polk and Dubuque districts, according to media reports and the Southeast Polk district. He has two adult children who live in Iowa, according to a news release from the Marion district.

“The Marion superintendency provides a rare opportunity for me to share my successes I’ve had in Belvidere and other locations,” said a statement from Houselog. “I am highly motivated to relocate my wife and younger children to Marion. Upon researching your school district during the past few weeks, I’ve concluded that my skill set could likely be a great match for the superintendent of schools position for Marion Independent.”

Dyer and Houselog did not return requests for comment Monday afternoon. The Marion district did not make available a schedule of the Thursday interviews.

Marion school district announces two superintendent finalists | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather