Mayor Rahm Emanuel has named a new inspector general to the Chicago Board of Education, a move set for a procedural vote when the board meets Wednesday.

Nicholas J. Schuler, previously deputy inspector general for schools and the department’s interim chief officer since July 1, was appointed by the mayor to serve a term that runs until the end of June 2018.

Schuler was recommended for the post by his predecessor, James Sullivan, who left in June to work on fraud investigations for the Sikich professional services firm.

Given the recent furor over high-profile police killings, one would think public policymakers would be drifting toward stronger police accountability through increased recording of officers while on duty.

But in Illinois, you’d be thinking wrong.

State legislators there recently did a full 180 on police accountability and transparency by passing a law whose sole intent appears to be scaring people from recording police interactions. And some fear the law could be used to head off initiatives requiring officers to wear the kind of body cameras supported by President Obama and most civil-rights activists.

Illinois businesses with 25 or more workers soon might be compelled to offer employees access to an IRA retirement savings plans if they aren’t offering 401(k) plans.

The Illinois Secure Choice Saving Program, now awaiting the signature of Gov. Pat Quinn, would require employers to withhold 3 percent from each employee’s paycheck.

The money would go into an IRA for each employee.

Instead of fixing the state’s mismanaged pension system, Illinois’s elected class have dug in their heels and offered only bad ideas and gridlock. It’s an all-to-common outcome in Springfield, where painful realities are replaced by partisan buzzwords.

Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner has suggested pension system be converted to a kind of 401(k) plan, leaving it to public employees to invest in their own retirement. It’s a long-visited well by free market Republicans who believe the private sector is the solution to all public problems.

But this isn’t a real solution. It’s a herring that distracts the conversation while hitting the politically appropriate keys – taxpayer relief and personal responsibility.

Despite a strong effort by a coalition of opponents, efforts to repeal the new Illinois self-procured insurance tax law in the veto session of the Illinois General Assembly were unsuccessful.  As a result, the law will take effect on January 1, 2015.

As previously covered on this blog, Illinois allows “industrial insureds” to independently procure insurance.  Prior to the enactment of the self-procured insurance tax law, Illinois had not imposed tax on these transactions.  At the end of the spring legislative session, supposedly technical amendments to the insurance code were passed that imposed a 3.5 percent premium tax on these policies (plus an additional fire marshal tax and surplus line association fee, bringing the total to between 3.6 percent and 4.6 percent depending on the type of insurance).  This tax is imposed on the nationwide premium if the insured’s home state is Illinois.  Effectively, the statute is a tax on Illinois-headquartered businesses that use captive insurance risk management arrangements.

Despite being alerted to the unfriendly business impact of the bill, Governor Quinn signed it into law with an effective date of January 1, 2015.  Since then, the Illinois business community has sought the repeal of the tax or its amendment to exempt captives.  There had been hope that this could be achieved after the November election during the veto session or a lame duck session.  The Illinois House of Representatives, however, has adjourned and does not plan to reconvene until the 99thGeneral Assembly is inaugurated on January 14, 2015.  (The Senate also has adjourned, although the Senate President has left open the possibility of reconvening before inauguration.)  Going into the 99thGeneral Assembly, efforts will continue to seek legislative relief for captive insurance arrangements.

Olam International, a commodity trader controlled by Singapore’s state investment company, agreed to buy Archer Daniels-Midland’s cocoa business for $1.3 billion to boost production capacity.

Chicago-based ADM will seek to use proceeds to make investments in less volatile sectors or distribute excess capital to shareholders, Chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz said in a statement.

“We are continuing to actively manage our portfolio to create shareholder value by improving returns and dampening the volatility of our earnings,” Woertz said.

A former mayor of New York has given Peoria a holiday gift. It’s much more substantial than a necktie or a box of chocolates.

Peoria is among 12 United States municipalities chosen to participate in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Innovation Teams program. A grant of up to $1.5 million, $500,000 annually for three years, accompanies the selection.

The city intends to use the money to create a three-person innovation team, or “i-team.” It’s designed to help city leaders assess and attempt to use data to solve problems, often in nontraditional ways.

In a better place and time, politicians would focus this week on Judy Baar Topinka’s life, legacy and funeral services. But with the governorship changing parties in four weeks, there’s some urgency to the question of succession in the comptroller’s office.

We hope Monday’s statement from Attorney General Lisa Madigan — more on that later — brings some order for the moment. In time, though, the state should move to abolish not one but two unneeded offices, comptroller and lieutenant governor. The savings for a government that can’t pay billions in debts or afford better services for its weakest citizens: a recurring $14 million every year.

If we were suspicious types, we’d think some Illinois pols want to appear frugal while making sure that such economies — which also threaten party clout, patronage hires and the grooming of aspirants to higher offices — never show up on the ballot as constitutional amendments:

Changes made to a City of Chicago worker pension fund at the urging of Mayor Rahm Emanuel were challenged Tuesday in court by current and retired workers and the unions that represent them.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, comes as the Illinois Supreme Court is considering a lower-court ruling that overturned changes to state pensions based on arguments similar to those in the complaint filed against the city.

In both suits, the employees and unions point to a state constitutional provision that says pension benefits “shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which cannot be diminished or impaired.”