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Archive for the ‘2015 Elections’ Category

Union Label

(Scott Stantis/ For the Chicago Tribune)

By The Editorial Board Wall Street Journal

The alliance between Democrats and public unions is a dominant feature of modern politics, and the mutual love is growing. That’s the message of a new report by the Commonwealth Foundation, which dug into how government unions fund politics through direct campaign spending and political action committees.

The four largest government unions are the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (Afscme). In the 2021-2022 election cycle, they spent more than $708 million combined on politics. Since 2012 union spending on federal elections has nearly tripled.

Democrats and their causes receive 95.7% of the cash from unions’ political action committees. In 2021-22 the Big Four gave more than $29 million to the SEIU’s United We Can super PAC and the NEA Advocacy Fund super PAC which support federal candidates for office. Another $16 million went to wealthy climate crusader Tom Steyer’s leftwing For Our Future Pac. Some $3 million went to Fair Share Massachusetts which supports a state wealth tax.

Big money also flows at the state level, where public unions all but run many state capitals. In 2021-2022, the four largest government unions spent $27.9 million in Illinois, $24.9 million in California, $13.2 million in Minnesota and $12.1 million in Pennsylvania.

Unions accounted for almost 83% of current Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign funds, and teacher’s unions were the lion’s share. They are getting their money’s worth. Mr. Johnson will be renegotiating the Chicago Teachers Union contract in 2024 and unions will be on both sides of the negotiating table.

Illinois Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris” Welch received $1.25 million in union PAC cash in the 2021-22 election cycle, more than any other state legislator in the country. Mr. Welch recently let an Illinois school-choice program for low-income children die because it was opposed by the unions.

Read more here.

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Mary Jane Theis

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis | BlueRoomStream

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

In September, the Illinois Supreme Court heard a case brought by two individuals who used the Freedom of Information Act to try and get records regarding why their FOID cards were either revoked or suspended.

During oral arguments, Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis raised the prevailing point that was ultimately issued unanimously Thursday.

“These documents are not subject to FOIA, can’t be inspected or copied, but there are other avenues that people can get information,” Theis said.

Representing the plaintiffs, attorney Thomas Maag said getting such information by calling Illinois State Police is not efficient.

“I invite this court to go to their website and dial the telephone number and see how many hours it takes to get a person, if you even can,” Maag argued.

More here.

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11.16.23 BOT Graphic

11.16.23 BOT Audio

Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting this evening beginning at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:

  • ENGINEERING PRESENTATION – Trotter and Associates, Inc.
  • Levy and Assessment of Taxes for the Fiscal Year Beginning January 1, 2023 and Ending December 31, 2023 – Draft
  • [Vote] A Resolution Adopting a Regular Meeting Calendar for 2024 Resolution 2 23 –, and
  • [Vote] An Ordinance Regarding the Illinois Paid Leave For All Workers Act Ordinance 23 –

A copy of their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.

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Sound

For many years now, residents have voiced their frustration with the poor sound quality of meetings they’ve participated in remotely. Village officials have also complained, now that they’re allowed to participate in meetings remotely, that communication is often problematic.

Back in May of 2022 we wrote, “What message is the Cecola administration sending residents?,” in an effort to make residents aware of the communication frustrations people were experiencing. Since then, what few efforts staff at Village Hall have put forth to correct the problems have fallen short, and lately we’ve found the recordings of meetings we used to rely on for clarification fail to do so.

Case in point, when we questioned why perfectly sound concrete was being torn up at taxpayer’s expense at the fire station adjacent to Village Hall, we looked to the Village Administrator’s explanation in the October 23 recordings. What we heard was a sometimes barely audible but mostly unintelligible explanation.

The last time we can recall when a Village meeting was clearly documented was New Year’s Eve of 2018 when the Village Electoral Board convened. Even though recording equipment in the Board room was available, a much more dependable court reporter was engaged to document the hearing.

As it turned out, this was fortuitous since some alleged perjury took place at that meeting, and if legal action had been taken, the transcript would have been required by the court.  Today we have nowhere near that recording quality to rely on, and with more Village officials participating with flawed remote technology, it will no doubt get exponentially worse.

Considering this, and the fact much of the equipment currently in use is beyond its’ intended shelf life, it’s time to purchase new equipment including visual communications hardware. If we have the money to unnecessarily replace perfectly good tile at Village Hall, then we surely have the money to bring our communications technology to levels addressing our current needs.

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11.13.23 RB

11.13.23 Zoom

The Village Roads & Bridges Committee meets this afternoon at 3 PM. The topics on the agenda include:

  • [Vote] Minutes – September 20, 2023 Special Meeting
  • [Vote] Minutes – November 8, 2022 Special Meeting (tabled from May 9, 2023 Special Meeting)
  • Road Program: 2024 Planning

A copy of the agenda can be viewed here.

The Committee did not meet in October.  Perhaps this was intentional to allow a cooling off period after the Chair seemingly lost her composure during the September meeting. The recording of that meeting can be found here.

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RF

Keegan Lupa, 5, gets into a Radio Flyer children’s Tesla electric car with the help of Anne Goodman in the race track room at the company’s new store inside Woodfield Mall, Nov. 8, 2023, in Schaumburg. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

By Talia Soglin | Chicago Tribune

Radio Flyer is banking on bricks-and-mortar in Schaumburg, where the little red wagon maker will open the first retail location of its 106-year history.

Radio Flyer will sell stroller wagons, tricycles, scooters, go-karts and bikes from the 15,000-square-foot location on the first floor of Woodfield Mall, which is set to open Friday. The store will also feature a racetrack and a bike shop where shoppers can test ride products.

“We feel like it’s a great time for people to reconnect with us in a different way, in a physical store where they can touch and see the products,” said Robert Pasin, chief wagon officer.

Pasin, who has run the company since 1997, is the grandson of Antonio Pasin, a carpenter who launched the company under the name Liberty Coaster on Chicago’s West Side in 1917, three years after he immigrated from Italy.

The company is still based on Grand Avenue in Belmont Cragin, where workers at its prototype shop develop new products. Radio Flyer does not manufacture its own toys, which are made mostly in China but also in the U.S., Pasin said. The company completed a renovation of its headquarters in 2017.

The original steel red wagon is no longer a bestseller.

Read more here.

Editorial note: The Tesla Model 2 pictured above starts at $499.99. It comes in 4 colors and has options including a customized parking sign ($25)!

The weight capacity is listed at 81 lbs., so as enticing as it might be, it’s impractical for use by Cecola or Riff. However, we’re told the parking signs can be purchased separately, and we’ve no doubt that will be of interest to them. If so, we suggest they order at least five (5) of these to start.

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madigan

By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor

For the fourth year in a row, Chicago ranks as the country’s most corrupt city. Illinois stands as the third-most corrupt state in a University of Illinois at Chicago study.

To arrive at the findings, researchers analyzed 2021 public corruption statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice. In all, there were 32 public corruption convictions in the Northern District of Illinois that includes Chicago in 2021, nearly a 33% increase from the 22 convictions that were reported the year before.

State Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva, isn’t surprised.

“It’s an awful shame, and goes to show you what happens when we have one party controlling everything,” Ugaste told The Center Square. “It gets to people, and they think they can do as they please instead of doing what is required of them under the law and required of them ethically.”

A solution to the long-running problem doesn’t have to be that difficult, Ugaste said.

We have extremely weak ethics laws,” he added. “If we fixed those within the House and Senate and gave our Legislative Inspector General more authority, I think it would go a long way in helping all of it. On the Republican side, we file bills every year to strengthen the legislative inspector general and the ethics laws but they never get hearings.”

Read more here.

(Very) Related: Better (decades) late than never

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Urban Architecture In Chicago

Chicago is the most corrupt metropolitan area in America for the fourth consecutive year and Illinois is the second-most corrupt state, according to a new report from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Corruption can cost Illinois taxpayers up to $550 million per year.

By Dylan Sharkey | Illinois Policy

A new report found Chicago is the nation’s most corrupt metropolitan area and Illinois is the nation’s second-most corrupt state.

Chicago led the nation with 41 corruption convictions per year, or 1,824 total, from 1976 to 2021, according to an analysis by the University of Illinois-Chicago using U.S. Justice Department data on federal public corruption convictions.

Illinois was second of the states for per-capita convictions, with 1.75 for every 10,000 residents. Louisiana was on top with 2.85 per 10,000.

Total Illinois convictions hit 2,224 from 1976 to 2021, or an average of nearly 50 per year. About 4 in 5 of those were out of the Chicago area.

From 2000 to 2018, corruption cost Illinois $550 million per year in lost economic activity and investment. Political science professor Marco Rosaire Rossi noted Illinois corruption was down slightly in 2021 compared to other years, but far from where the state should be.

“However, just because corruption is becoming less frequent does not mean it is still not shamefully prevalent, nor that its impact on the state is less pernicious in terms of tax dollars wasted and lost in public trust,” he wrote.

Read more here.

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Halloween

President Cecola and Pro-tem Riff won’t fool many (if any) with their choice of costumes this year for Halloween.

Halloween is Tuesday, Oct. 31. Some communities are offering printable signs for those who wish to inform trick-or-treaters that their household is opting out of giving candy or information on recycling your pumpkin at Pumpkin Smash events.

The hours for Barrington Hills are 3-7 PM, as are the villages of Algonquin, Barrington, Carpentersville, East Dundee, Inverness, Lake Barrington, Palatine and South Barrington.

Deer Park is from 4-7 PM and Fox River Grove is 3:30-7:30 PM.

In Port Barrington, hours are 1-4 PM Sunday, Oct. 29, and there’s a Halloween Party & Costume Contest from 11 AM to 1 PM at the village hall.

Additional villages can be found here.

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VBH Entrance

Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting beginning at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:

  • [Vote] A Resolution Authorizing the Acceptance of a Quote for Repair of the Cement Driveway on the Grounds of the Village Hall for the Village of Barrington Hills Resolution 23 –
  • [Vote] Resolution Adopting the 2017 McHenry County Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan by the Village of Barrington Hills Resolution 23 –
  • [Vote] Remote Participation Rules (Primarily applies to Strauss and Hills)

A copy of their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.

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