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 Illinois has big reserves of coal, which is good because Santa
will need a lot of it to cover the misdeeds in Illinois state government from
2020.
Here are some highlights of those making the “naughty” and “nice” lists during a
year of unrest, uncertainty and dysfunction in Illinois.
Naughty: Mike Madigan
Illinois House Speaker Madigan’s 35 years of accumulating power was at great
risk after federal prosecutors and Commonwealth Edison detailed how over $1.3
million in payments were made to his cronies to win his favor for legislation
worth more than $150 million to the electric utility. Similar allegations are
being probed involving AT&T, Walgreens and Rush University Medical Center.
Madigan has deflected past scandals involving sexual harassment, Metra and
McCormick Place, but the ComEd bribery scandal had the two U.S. senators from
Illinois and the governor calling for his ouster as Illinois Democratic Party
chairman and 19 House Democrats pledging not to support him for another term as
speaker Jan. 13.
Naughty: Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Pritzker kept his campaign promise to push for a graduated state income tax, but
by the time voters got a good look at the “fair tax” they overwhelmingly
rejected it Nov. 3. Pritzker’s proposal held the potential to tax retirees, bump
taxes on over 100,000 small businesses up to 47%, create a marriage penalty and
entrust more taxing power to state lawmakers who were working hard to prove
themselves untrustworthy.
Pritzker tried to scare voters to his position by threatening a 20% tax hike on
everyone if he didn’t get his “fair tax.” Then after the loss, Pritzker claimed
voters were “deceived” into rejecting his tax, even though he was sued because
the official ballot language and explanation mailer failed to give voters an
unbiased version of the question.
Naughty: Illinois Department of Employment Security
As the COVID-19 pandemic raged and Pritzker ordered wide segments of the
Illinois economy shuttered, as many as 200,000 workers a week sought
unemployment assistance being funded by the federal government. Illinois’
unemployment system bungled the response.
First, the IDES unemployment claims system was so overwhelmed and left idled
workers waiting so long that a $22 million system was put in place by a no-bid
contractor. Two months after the pandemic hit, gig workers were finally added to
the system and it promptly exposed personal information such as Social Security
numbers of 32,483 of them. Then, IDES mistakenly overpaid gig workers and
independent contractors before demanding big repayments long after the money was
spent on living expenses.
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Naughty: Illinois General Assembly
Illinois state lawmakers were content to quarantine at home and
allow Pritzker to repeatedly declare statewide emergencies so he
could issue emergency orders to deal with COVID-19. House members in
2019 were in session for 73 days, but only 25 in 2020 while
collecting about $66,000 in base salary, $10,000 stipends for
committee chairs and pension accruals. Some state lawmakers did try
to limit Pritzker’s emergency powers in the courts, but none had
succeeded as 2020 came to a close. Two Democratic lawmakers from
Chicago – state Rep. Ann Williams and state Sen. Robert Martwick –
introduced a bill Dec. 21 allowing the General Assembly to remotely
meet and vote in emergency situations.
Nice: Julie Porter
The former Legislative Inspector General called out state lawmakers
for stopping her as watchdog from doing anything about wrongdoing by
their peers. Porter, a former federal prosecutor, testified she
never would have taken the job had she known lawmakers would quash
legitimate investigations against sitting lawmakers. State Rep.
Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, introduced a bill to give the
inspector general greater independence and power, but Madigan placed
the bill in the House Rules Committee to die.
Nice: Michael Shakman and Paul Lurie
More than 50 years ago, the two lawyers began a battle against
public employees being used for politicking at the local and state
levels. As Pritzker tried to end the oversight and rules governing
patronage hiring within the state departments he controls, the pair
again emerged to fight him, saying patronage and cronyism still
thrive in Illinois government.
Illinois’ leaders have a chance to get on the “nice” list during
2021, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot came closer when she asked
state lawmakers for meaningful pension reform to help deal with
soaring costs in her city. Instead of threats about 20% state tax
increases or even more cuts in a state that already charges too much
for ever less, state lawmakers and Pritzker should work to give
voters a say about amending the Illinois Constitution to allow for
commonsense pension reforms, like replacing automatic 3% raises for
life with true cost-of-living adjustments.
Most Illinoisans already said that’s a nice solution.
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