Daily Herald: Can Rauner get Democrats and Republicans to work together?
Bipartisan ethics reform in Illinois?
It may be possible — someday — if Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and some Democrats can follow up.
In his first week in office, Rauner put into action executive orders aimed at improving ethics and transparency. Twice, legislators appearing with him included a Democrat.
Two of the legislators working with Rauner are Sen. Darrin LaHood, R-Dunlap, and Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood. The lawmakers, both former federal prosecutors, each are introducing reform packages in their chambers.
WJBC: Food stamp enrollment up in Illinois
More households are on food stamps in Illinois than anytime since 2010.
The Illinois Department of Human Services say 1,000,070 households enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the last month, up 20,000 from the previous month.
The total number of Illinoisans getting food subsidies jumped 37,500 last month to 2,000,080 people.
Points and Figures: Welcome to Office Gov. Bruce Rauner
If you have been reading Wirepoints like I have, you always new the situation in Illinois was dire. Political reporters in every newspaper ignored the fiscal crisis. It goes against their belief in a lot of cases. But, Illinois is striving to prove Margaret Thatcher’s dictum that “the problem with socialism is sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.” Fiscal problems like this will bleed into communities that think they are immune from it-like trading or small entrepreneurial companies.
Here are the real numbers, just released on how bad of fiscal shape Illinois is in. Quoting from the report.
The term “legacy costs” is sometimes used to describe obligations to pay for services purchased by the state in previous years. Figure 1 shows that the state of Illinois has run deficits in every fiscal year since 2001. A portion of these shortfalls were covered by asset sales and other one-time revenue sources, but most were covered by some form of borrowing. We look first at the total value of these legacy costs in Illinois, separated by type:
NBC Chicago: Quinn Had MediPot Recommendations, Didn't Act
Newly released documents show former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn received recommendations on which businesses should receive lucrative medical marijuana licenses but did not act on them before leaving office.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration released the material to The Associated Press and other news organizations in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Quinn said he would issue the licenses by the end of last year, but he did not act before Rauner succeeded him, saying agencies in charge of evaluating applications still had more work to do.
WBEZ: Grading Rahm
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has had some big wins on economic issues. During his term so far, 30 new corporate headquarters have moved to the city, and he has been praised in the media for creating a booming start-up culture. Plus, the city overhauled some job training programs, passed a higher minimum wage, and overall unemployment is down.
But it appears the positive changes are not reaching everyone. While the Central Business District has added a significant number of jobs during Emanuel’s first term, the Southwest Side, for example, has added very few. And it is not just where the jobs are located, it’s who gets those jobs. As of 2013, black unemployment was hovering around 25 percent, not significantly different than it was when the mayor took office. Poverty, too, has barely budged.
It is a growing and improving economy, just like in other cities across the country. But just like those other cities, Chicago’s economy is only growing for some, not for all.
Chicago Sun Times: Rahm Emanuel's fundraising nears $30 million
Early last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel helped out developer Dan McCaffery by backing McCaffery’s controversial plan to transform the former Children’s Memorial Hospital site in Lincoln Park into apartments, condos and stores.
After the Chicago City Council approved the project in April 2014, McCaffery, his wife and an executive with his McCaffery Interests development company contributed $65,900 to the mayor’s campaign fund between June 30 and Nov. 24.
Asked whether there was a connection between his projects getting approved and the contributions to Emanuel, McCaffery says, “Never. No way.”
State Journal Register: AG Madigan blocks Lottery termination agreement
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan rejected a proposed agreement ending the state’s contract with the private vendor that ran the Illinois Lottery because of possible legal violations and the potential of higher fees, according to a letter made public Friday.
Former Gov. Pat Quinn directed the Lottery last year to end its dealings with Northstar Lottery Group partway into a 10-year contract over performance concerns. Officials with Northstar, the Lottery and Quinn’s office negotiated a deal to avoid costly lawsuits. The agreement was announced weeks before Quinn, a Democrat, left office. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, then a candidate, objected and said it was a bad deal for taxpayers.
Madigan’s reasoning agreed in part. In a Jan. 16 letter to Lottery Director Michael Jones, Madigan said the agreement could result in more fees and expenses than previous years and that her office wasn’t initially consulted.
Chicago Sun Times: Council should OK new effort to merge IG offices
For too long, an ordinance to combine the City Council and Chicago inspector general offices into one more effective unit has been bottled up in committee.
Last week, a new version of the ordinance was introduced that strengthens the firewall between the mayor and the inspector general who will head the combined offices. The Council should approve it.
Now, the Council has its own IG, but the office is underfunded and ineffective. Merging it into the IG office headed by Joe Ferguson would be a big step forward.
Some aldermen are concerned that could put the Council at a disadvantage because the mayor could get wind of any investigations of the Council the combined IG office is doing. The older ordinance had protections against information leaking to the executive branch, but the new one spells out those protections more clearly. Nothing wrong with that.
Government Executive: States Look to Tax E-Cigarettes
Taking a long inhale and blowing a cloud of vapor, Jason Jones, who has owned the Vapor Mania store here since 2011, considered what a tax would do to his business, which includes selling electronic cigarettes as well as manufacturing a wide variety of flavored nicotine liquids to go into them.
“I think we’d be out of business, or at least it would make it much harder to do business,” said Jones, 34. “I think it would drive people back to cigarettes because they would be cheaper.”
With an eye on the twin concerns of public health and raising revenue, Utah is one of many states considering taxing electronic cigarettes, the battery-powered devices that deliver vaporized nicotine and provide the look and feel of smoking without the smoke and tar of traditional tobacco products. Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, sparked this year’s debate when he included a footnote in his budget counting on $10 million from taxing e-cigarettes.
HuffPost: Here's How Obamacare Is Going To Affect Your Taxes
Taxes are a pain. Health insurance is a pain. This year, Americans will suffer both when they file their income taxes. Ouch.
The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, inserted health insurance into tax season in two ways, affecting nearly all of us. The first is the law’s mandate that almost all U.S. residents get health coverage or pay a penalty. The second is the tax-credit subsidy millions of Americans received via Obamacare’s exchanges to lower their health insurance premiums.
Oh, and there are new IRS forms, too.
Daily Mail: Obamacare program costs $50,000 in taxpayer money for every American who gets health insurance, says bombshell budget report
It will cost the federal government – taxpayers, that is – $50,000 for every person who gets health insurance under the Obamacare law, the Congressional Budget Office revealed on Monday.
The number comes from figures buried in a 15-page section of the nonpartisan organization’s new ten-year budget outlook.
The best-case scenario described by the CBO would result in ‘between 24 million and 27 million’ fewer Americans being uninsured in 2025, compared to the year before the Affordable Care Act took effect.