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Chicago Tribune: The double standard imposed on Rauner
Leave it to an opinion writer to interrupt a perfectly blissful holiday weekend.
But sand in the “Days of Our Lives, Springfield,” hourglass is growing alarmingly thin. Lawmakers gather for the final three days of the fall veto session on Tuesday. If legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner cannot shatter the state budget impasse, it will be a reprehensible failure of governing.
But you already knew that.
So, there’s no better time than now to blow up some of the inaccurate and tiresome arguments you’ll hear from Democrats and Rauner’s critics on budget gridlock and how we got here. One of the naysayers’ favorite ways to shift blame for the state’s financial mess is to assert that Rauner never introduced legitimate, authentic, balanced budgets.
CBS Chicago: Rauner Seeking Daily Budget Meetings With Top Lawmakers
Gov. Bruce Rauner has called for daily meetings with legislative leaders in an effort to end the state’s budget stalemate.
A stopgap budget approved by the Illinois General Assembly and the governor is set to expire at the end of 2016, and the governor said he wants to meet with the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate every day until an agreement on a full-year’s budget is reached.
Chicago Tribune: Republicans accuse Democrats of 'good cop, bad cop' routine on Rauner agenda
The deep divisions that have fueled the state’s record-breaking budget impasse remained on display Monday at the Capitol, with Democrats and Republicans bickering over whether to even hold a hearing on a proposal to overhaul the workers’ compensation reform system.
The issue is part of the core of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s economic agenda, which he’s made a prerequisite to a larger budget deal. But both sides accused the other of playing games on the topic; Republicans said Democrats purposefully called an outdated version and Democrats contended the GOP continues to push changes that are too extreme.
Chicago Sun-Times: Republicans say Dems divided and in no hurry to solve budget mess
Republican leaders on Monday painted a picture of a divided Democratic leadership — portraying House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton as being at odds on whether to work with Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Indeed, while Cullerton left a legislative leaders meeting with the Republican governor saying he’d bring back counterproposals on workers’ compensation and pension reform, Madigan said Rauner and Republican leaders should continue to use the framework of the last seven budgets, instead of talking reforms.
Associated Press: Rauner sets up 2 workplace task forces; union is skeptical
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is creating two workplace task forces, but leaders of Illinois’ largest public-employees union say it’s an attempt to distract attention from larger contract issues.
Rauner’s office announced Monday the new groups will study job-related injuries and workplace violence. Rauner’s office says the union proposed the groups and they will include union representatives.
Chicago Sun-Times: Emanuel extends the deadline to apply for property tax rebate
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday extended until Dec. 30 the deadline for Chicagoans to claim their share of a $20 million property tax rebate after only seven percent of eligible homeowners applied for the token break offered to soften the blow of a record property tax increase.
Emanuel had promised to encourage Chicagoans to take advantage of the rebate instead of offering the relief for political cover and secretly hoping they don’t apply.
Chicago Tribune: Workers to strike Tuesday at O'Hare and other Chicago sites
Travelers through O’Hare International Airport can expect a scene Tuesday as airport workers walk off the job and rally for a $15 minimum wage alongside fast-food workers, graduate assistants, child and health care workers and Uber drivers.
The Fight for $15 campaign, led by the Service Employees International Union, is marking the fourth anniversary of its first strike of McDonald’s workers in New York with a nationwide day of protests it says will be its most disruptive yet, in hopes of conveying a message to the incoming Trump administration that it “won’t back down” from its movement to raise wages.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois law enforcement takes in more than $319 million on forfeited property
Illinois law enforcement confiscated more than $319 million in property and cash from individuals over the past decade, using a system that does not require convictions — or even charges in some cases — to validate the forfeitures, according to a new study.
In a joint report issued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the Illinois Policy Institute, researchers detail the financial incentives for police departments and local prosecutors to seize personal property from the public. In Illinois, law enforcement agencies receive about $30 million in forfeited property each year, the study found.
Chicago Tribune: Bellwood school district faces more questions on spending
Officials from a small, cash-strapped suburban school district have been under scrutiny this year for what critics say is excessive spending, from extensive travel, to adding friends and family to the payroll, to secretly padding the superintendent’s pension.
Now, they are facing new questions about how the district has shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars for taxi services in recent years under a no-bid arrangement.
News Gazette: You-know-who is running again
The bloom came off the rose pretty darn quick for state Rep.-elect Katie Stuart, a Glen Carbon Democrat who will be sworn in to office in January with the new Illinois General Assembly.
Less than two weeks after knocking off incumbent Republican Rep. Dwight Kay, her party’s only pickup in the Illinois House, Stuart is already playing a deceitful games with the voters.
Asked if she intended to vote to re-elect House Speaker Michael Madigan, Stuart pretended to be flummoxed by the question.
Chicago Tribune: Madigan says he has 'overwhelming support to be re-elected speaker'
House Speaker Michael Madigan said Monday that he has “overwhelming support to be re-elected speaker” despite repeated attacks from Republicans who have called on rank-and-file members to not elect him to another term.
Madigan, who has been speaker for all but two years since 1983, faces re-election Jan. 11, when new lawmakers are sworn in. While it’s historically been largely a symbolic vote cast along party lines, the Illinois Republican Party, largely funded by Gov. Bruce Rauner and his allies, already have warned that votes to re-elect Madigan as speaker will be used against Democrats in 2018.
Illinois News Network: Illinois soon to be on the hook for $100 million for newly eligible Medicaid users
Regardless of what a new Congress does with Obamacare, states will start to pick up part of the cost for their ‘newly eligible’ Medicaid patients next year.
In Illinois, that means almost $100 million for almost 600,000 mostly-single, able-bodied men who enrolled in Medicaid because of Obamacare, according to Nic Horton with the Foundation for Government Accountability.
Chicago Sun-Times: City offers partial amnesty to businesses with satellite TV feeds
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is offering a partial amusement tax amnesty to restaurants, bars and hotels with satellite television feeds, but the carrot-and stick approach is not sitting well with the restaurant industry.
Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia said he is examining his legal options in response to the city’s plan to get tough on businesses that decline the city’s offer to waive years of delinquent amusement taxes — along with interest and penalties – provided businesses pay past-due amusement taxes alone dating back to July 1, 2015.