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“I don’t know of any other employment where a taxpayer would get a month’s pay for one or two days work,” Comptroller Susana Mendoza said. “It essentially is like an exit bonus and too often for legislators who are leaving in disgrace.”
“Evidenced by the failure of the progressive tax, folks don’t trust us,” Welch said. “If we can rebuild that trust, it’ll be amazing what voters will help us do.”
In addition to the alleged contract fraud, Roberto Caldero was also accused in an indictment filed in U.S. District Court with offering $100,000 in bribes from a suburban business owner to Solis in exchange for the alderman’s help securing an honorary street name for the businessman’s father and renaming a city park after his grandfather.
“And sometimes you fail the first time out, you get back up and try and try again. That’s how I’ve always done things,” Welch said, explaining that states like Arizona have had success tying revenue to a specific need or cause, and that Illinois could have success if it did the same. Illinois’ unfunded pension liability stands at nearly $140 billion.
Progressive aldermen and groups have blasted Lightfoot’s decision to use $281.5 million in COVID-19 federal relief funds to cover the cost of salaries and benefits for Chicago Police Department officers. While those funds could have been used for direct assistance to residents and businesses, that would have blown open a hole in the city’s operating fund because of the economic collapse caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Budget Director Susie Park said.
Lightfoot last week received her second dose of the vaccine, shots have been made available to all 50 aldermen, and the mayor said the city is making arrangements to get staffers at the City Clerk’s office vaccinated before resuming in-person meetings.
The Office of the Inspector General that’s been auditing the issue released an urgent alert Monday. It identified four main sources of unemployment fraud: People filing claims in many states, using Social Security numbers of the dead or belonging to state and federal inmates and claims filed from suspicious email accounts. Illinois has seen fraud that fits into at least two of those categories.
“Too many Americans were left waiting for weeks for important deliveries of mail and packages. This is unacceptable, and I apologize to those customers who felt the impact of our delays,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot explained, “I think what the monuments and murals committee did was identify those statues and murals and other historical markers that are worthy of conversation. And I think they are worthy of conversation. But let’s be clear, we’re in the Land of Lincoln, and that’s not going to change.”
High schools have faced a 4.3% drop in attendance compared to 0.9% for elementary schools. Meanwhile, more A’s were given this year but also more failing grades at all grade levels and in all racial groups.
“We’ve not had a stay-at-home order since back in April and May,” Pritzker said. “Restaurants are open, bars are open, all across the state of Illinois, gyms are open, we have sports running in our schools, and so on. Not to the extent that we’d all like.”
The relationship between public officials and heavily-regulated utilities that share a banner with power generation has recently raised questions about the motivation toward corrupt behavior.
Robert Smith, of the University of Illinois Springfield: “Seeking multiple sources and web sites and views is necessary today to reveal the truth about political events and governmental decisions. And perhaps most important, it’s not about anyone trying to ‘change your mind,’ it’s about ‘hearing every side’ and then deciding for yourself.”
Comment: Most Illinoisans are still unaware, but Illinois owes $74 billion for OPEBs — basically, pensioner healthcare, which is in addition to pensions themselves. They are entirely unfunded and are constitutionally guarantied in Illinois just like pensions. They raise the true pension hole by roughly 50% over commonly reported numbers.
CPS expects about 60,700 students in the elementary grades and in intensive special education programs to learn in school buildings by mid-March — slightly fewer than 30% of the eligible students. The group, which is more than two-thirds Black and Latino, remains disproportionately white.
Mark Konkol: “Every person, government and corporation touched by Lausch’s massive political corruption probe has one thing in common: deep ties to the corrupt Democratic machine that still runs Illinois politics.”
The group was denied entry past the lobby of City Hall — which one education advocate quickly condemned as a double standard. “Right, but she wants the school buildings open,” Rosemary Vega said after a male staffer told her she can’t go further. “So what kind of hypocrisy is that? You can’t have a city building closed and you want the city schools open.”
As Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez was finishing her remarks about Black History Month, Lightfoot could be heard saying, “you got to be f—— kidding me.” (With video)
On Monday, aldermen refused to vote on an annual measure certifying 13 banks as municipal depositaries.. “We need to put our foot down,” said Ald. Greg Mitchell. “If we’re gonna do business with you, we need reciprocity. There’s things we need in our city, from homeownership to small business loans.”
Jury trials were suspended last March during the initial COVID-19 outbreak and courts face an enormous backlog of cases that must be handled.
Addressing the board Wednesday, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said the recent negotiating process to reach a reopening deal with the district was “inhumane” for union members, district administration, CPS families and the public.
Some blocks hadn’t been plowed since Feb. 9, according to the city’s real-time plow truck tracker. And as residents complained of plowing delays on social media, the tracker was taken offline — even though city officials had encouraged residents to use it just a day earlier.
The Chicago Teachers Union says it’s surprised the city would try and potentially mandate anything without talking to the union.
Springfield Alderman Chuck Redpath, who has a law enforcement background, said the new law is a “slap in the face” for law enforcement. “I saw the picture this morning of the governor touting how much he’s going to fix racism in police departments and surrounded by all these people from Chicago, the most corrupt city in not just the state of Illinois but probably the country and they’re going to tell us how to reform our police departments. Are you serious?”
Angelica Guerrero Cuellar works with a nonprofit company in West Lawn with a focus on contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve seen the data,” she said, noting the district is among the hardest hit by COVID-19. “I understand my community.”
State law allows a legislator to claim a full month’s salary for just a day’s work; Kodatt would receive nearly $5,600 in taxpayer funds. “In the spirit of good governance, I ask Mr. Kodatt to decline the month’s salary he is entitled to under this arcane law,” Comptroller Susana Mendoza said in a statement.
The congressional remap does not have any strict deadlines, but candidates for U.S. representative do: they must file petitions signed by voters in their districts by December. That will be tough, because they will have no idea what the districts look like.
Two days after he picked his replacement as state representative, Mike Madigan asked that replacement to resign over ‘questionable conduct.’ Edward Guerra Kodatt then quit three days into his term. Madigan will again choose a successor.
Thank you to Tribune for publishing our earlier piece.
“After learning of alleged questionable conduct by Mr. Kodatt, it was suggested that he resign as state representative for the 22nd District,” Madigan said late Tuesday in a joint statement with Ald. Marty Quinn. “We are committed to a zero tolerance policy in the workplace.” The statement did not elaborate on the nature of the “questionable conduct.”
So far, states have largely managed their own vaccination coordination efforts — and some have proven more efficient at it than others. In Illinois, 13.70% of the population have received their first vaccination dose, slightly higher than the national average, and 4.40% have received their second and final dose, lower than the U.S. average.
“Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said, ‘Those who engage in fearmongering rhetoric’ should realize ‘this legislation is just the starting point.’ The starting point of what? The line in front of the U-Haul rental store?”
“It’s not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because getting a higher, an equitable amount of vaccine into our hardest hit areas in Chicago in turn helps protect everybody in Chicago,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Asked what it should mean to constituents that the 42nd Ward alderman was attacked in this manner, Reilly told the Tribune that anyone downtown “needs to be vigilant when they’re out in public in the evening.
Chicago’s Public Health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said her inspectors are examining urgent care centers in the city to determine whether vaccine patients are being charged, in violation of the program regulations.
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