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AFSCME issues "fact sheet" on prison
Pontiac Daily Leader on June 12, 2004
AFSCME Council 31, which represents employees of Pontiac Correctional Center, today
issued a "Legislative Fact Sheet" on why PCC should be kept open.
The Illinois Senate on May 31 approved a Democratic Party-controlled budget which
included funding for Pontiac Correctional Center only through December and then funding for the remainder of the fiscal year
for Thomson Correctional Center.
This budget has not been approved by the Illinois House. This budget if approved would
mean that PCC would be closed by the end of the year.
"This closure would undermine the safety of prison staff and inmates, and jeopardize
important corrections programs. And while some in the Governor's administration claim it would save money, those savings --
which are dubious at best -- would come at too high a cost to DOC and Livingston County," according to AFSCME.
PCC is a maximum-security prison with the primary function of housing DOC's disciplinary
segregation population -- inmates whose violent or anti-social behavior requires that they be kept segregated from other prisoners,
the union's statement said.
The fact sheet also made the following statements:
In 1996, in an effort to control the increasing violence in the prison system, Pontiac
was converted to handle the most aggressive prisoners. Beds, toilets and sinks in segregation cells were embedded in concrete
and cell bars were replaced with perforated steel panels. Food hatches were constructed that eliminate the throwing of food
or other projectiles. Catwalks were rebuilt to make them fully encased and to provide sight lines to galleries with no blind
spots. These changes have decreased assaults by 60 percent, according to AFSCME.
"Thomson was not designated to handle these violent inmates. Upgrading the facility
to the Pontiac standard would require significant additional time and expense," states the fact sheet.
AFSCME also addressed the issue of double-celling maximum-security inmates.
"Most states do not double-cell maximum security inmates -- it is a violation of American
Correctional Association accreditation standards to do so, Yet at Pontiac, a facility that is supposedly focused on segregation,
fully 37 percent of inmates are double- or multi-celled -- most of them inmates in protective custody," according to AFSCME.
Pontiac is one of only three maximum-security facilities remaining in Illinois after
the closing of Joliet Correctional Center in 2002. AFSCME said that double-celling is much worse at Illinois' other two maximum-security
prisons. At Stateville 87 percent of inmates are double- or multi-celled and 88 percent are double-celled at Menard.
"Double-celling impacts safety. There were inmate deaths in the last nine months in
DOC facilities -- as many as in the previous five years. Three were in maximum facilities and were directly liked to double-celling.
The solution is not to replace PCC by opening Thomson, but to open Thomson and reduce the double-celling," AFSCME said.
The AFSCME-released information also details budgetary concerns and voices concerns
about what would happen to Pontiac's 94-bed mental health unit and if Thomson could be configured in less than six months
to take that unit as well as the condemned unit and the orientation unit.
Governor: AFSCME contract will save money
Blagojevich
admits junk food tax is under discussion
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
12 June 2004
Gov. Rod Blagojevich insisted Friday that the state will save money from a new contract
with union employees, even though it awards double-digit raises over four years.
The governor also acknowledged that a
so-called junk food tax is back on the budget bargaining table. This time, he did not flatly say he'd veto it.
A day after the state and its largest union - the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees Council 31 - reached agreement on a contract, Blagojevich refused to discuss details of the pact,
while calling it a good deal for everyone.
"I think you'll find it's an agreement that not only is fair to the men and women
who work in state government, but one that is very careful and sensitive with the taxpayers' money," he said. "The state will
save money overall over the course of several years."
Legislative sources in contact with union members said the deal includes raises totaling
17 percent over the next four years. However, union employees will have to contribute 4 percent of their salaries to their
pensions, reducing the total increase to 13 percent. The state began making the 4 percent pension contribution in lieu of
a pay raise in 1991.
Sources said the employees will get a raise of at least 5 percent beginning July 1
but will also start paying 2 percent of their salaries to the pensions. On Jan. 1, the state will take another 2 percent out
of checks for pensions, meaning employees will still end up with a net pay raise during a year that the state faces at least
a $2.3 billion budget deficit.
The remaining pay raises will be spread out over the final three years of the contract,
with the largest increases coming in the later years.
In addition to making pension contributions, employees will have to pay more for health-care
and prescription-drug benefits.
Even legislative leaders who met with Blagojevich Friday weren't told how the contract
will affect spending in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
"He (Blagojevich) didn't seem to have much detail about it," said Senate Republican
Leader Frank Watson of Greenville. "I don't know what the net amount is."
"They were unable to describe what the cost of the AFSCME contract would be," said
Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. "They (the leaders) asked about the cost, but the administration
was unable to provide it."
The administration has said that a 4 percent pension contribution from the 37,000
AFSCME members is worth about $60 million. Each 1 percent increase in salary for those workers costs the state about $15 million.
Asked how much the contract will save the state, Blagojevich said, "Ask me next week."
AFSCME members are in the process of ratifying the contract, which could take two
weeks.
Blagojevich and the four legislative leaders met for more than two hours Friday and
reported progress in negotiating a fiscal 2005 budget but said much work remains.
"There's some real contentious issues out there still," Watson said. "I think we are
still a long way from a decision. The whole issue of spending has not even been addressed."
Instead, talks have focused on revenue hikes needed to balance any budget, including
a sales tax on junk food and non-carbonated soft drinks. Two weeks ago, Blagojevich said he would veto any bill that extends
the sales tax to beverages such as iced tea and fruit drinks. He did not repeat that pledge Friday, but he did not embrace
the tax idea, either.
"It's being discussed. I'm unenthusiastic about it," Blagojevich said.
It's estimated the tax could raise $100 million.
Blagojevich said he had no plans to call lawmakers back into special session to deal
with the budget. After the General Assembly missed the May 31 constitutional deadline to pass a budget, the leaders sent rank-and-file
members home.
"As long as we are making progress in these discussions I don't see a need for (a
special session)," the governor said. "If we get a sense that there isn't good faith going on, that this is about running
out the clock and playing games and playing politics, then at the appropriate time I will make that adjustment."
Another negotiating session won't be held until Wednesday. That's the day Madigan
plans to have the five House appropriations committees start hearings on how much money is needed to keep basic state services
in place after July 1.
"We want to make sure there is no disruption of services in the new fiscal year,"
Brown said.
Madigan, meanwhile, is responding to Blagojevich's attacks that Madigan and the House
are not acting responsibly in the budget debate. Blagojevich has said the overtime session is the result of the House not
approving a spending plan he endorsed and that an austerity budget promoted by Madigan will shortchange education and health
care.
Madigan sent letters to several newspapers, including The State Journal-Register,
saying Blagojevich wants to increase spending by $750 million "without offering a realistic plan by which to pay for it."
"To browbeat lawmakers into signing off on his spendthrift proposal, the governor
has elected to cast those who believe that state government must live within its means as the enemies of children and the
sick," Madigan wrote.
AFSCME, state make a deal
Union members will
vote on 4-year contract
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
11 June 2004
Illinois' largest state-employee union reached tentative agreement with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's
administration on a new four-year contract Thursday, heading off the possibility of a crippling strike this summer.
Neither the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31
nor the administration would disclose details of the contract until union members have had a chance to ratify it. However,
both sides said the agreement is fair to the 37,000 state workers it covers and is financially responsible for a state facing
at least a $2.3 billion budget deficit.
"To the extent the state can afford anything, they can afford this," said AFSCME executive
director Henry Bayer. "It would be hard to point at the state contract and say that's where the (budget) problem lies."
"We think the members will be very happy with the contract," Bayer added.
Blagojevich issued a written statement calling the tentative agreement "both fair
to state workers and responsible given the state's financial difficulties. We believe the agreement represents progress for
union members and the state..."
The tentative contract does not rule out the possibility that layoffs could occur
as part of a budget compromise for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
"There are no guarantees against layoffs," Bayer said. "There is still the threat
of facilities being closed. We hope the (budget negotiators) will not allow that to happen."
"Layoffs and the contract agreement have nothing to do with each other," said Blagojevich
spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch, adding that the administration continues to have no plans to lay off employees.
The often-contentious contract negotiations stretched for months. The administration
not only wanted to keep pay raises to a minimum, negotiators wanted state workers to resume contributing 4 percent of their
salaries to their pensions. The state assumed those pension payments in 1991 in lieu of a pay raise during another budget
crisis.
The current four-year contract, which expires June 30, granted pay raises that compounded
are worth 19.3 percent. That includes both cost-of-living and longevity increases.
The tentative agreement was reached about 6 a.m. Thursday after an all-night negotiating
session in Peoria.
Bayer said the pace of negotiations picked up about two weeks ago, about the time
thousands of state workers held a rally in Springfield to protest their treatment at the hands of the Blagojevich administration.
Employees are bitter about layoffs, facility closures and the administration's hard line on contract negotiations.
"It could have been coincidental, but it couldn't have been lost on the administration
that our members very much wanted to get the contract settled," Bayer said.
Contract summaries are being prepared and will be distributed to all 85 AFSCME locals.
Union representatives will review the contract details with rank-and-file members in the next few days, prior to the membership
voting on the pact. Bayer said voting will be completed in a couple of weeks.
The 250-member bargaining committee unanimously recommended the contract, a first
for the union, Bayer said. Rank-and-file AFSCME members have never rejected a contract recommended by the bargaining committee.
VANDALIA PRISON STILL UNDER DEBATE, BUT DOC PREPARES FOR CLOSURE
BY MATT ADRIAN
FOR THE SOUTHERN
[Thu Jun 10 2004]
SPRINGFIELD -- Vandalia Correctional Center will remain open until the current budget
dispute is settled, but the Illinois Department of Corrections is continuing to prepare for the prison's possible closure.
"It is not in the '05 budget and until something definitive happens that's the path
we're proceeding down," said Sergio Molina, a DOC spokesman.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich cut the minimum-security prison from his proposed fiscal 2005
budget stating that Illinois needed to make better use of newer facilities. He said the closing Vandalia would save money
and help bridge a $2.3 billion deficit. He has since put Pontiac Correctional Center on the chopping block too.
In March, the governor's office sent a letter to city of Vandalia mayor Ricky Gottman
stating the administration planned to keep the prison running normally.
"It is the Administration's intent to not begin transferring inmates out of the Vandalia
Facility until a final decision has been made regarding the closure," wrote Deputy Chief of Staff Julie Curry. "It is also
not our intent to stop the intake of prisoners in the facility."
However, Molina confirmed Thursday that DOC has stopped sending new prisoners to VCC
in preparation for a possible closure.
Gottman said the decision is a breach of the agreement made by the governor's office.
"He said there would be no change in day-to-day operations," Gottman said. "No increase
in the number of inmates that is a change in day-to-day operations. His office has broken their promise."
Illinois workers picket across state for contract
Pressure
to cut pay, union says
By Stephen Franklin
Tribune staff reporter
May 18, 2004
To show their displeasure with five-month-old contract talks, hundreds of state employees
briefly picketed Monday at state facilities across Illinois.
About 37,000 state workers belong to Council 31 of the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which has been bargaining for a new contract to replace one that expires June 30.
"We are seeing significant pressure from the current administration to effectively
reduce employees' pay," said Anders Lindal, a union spokesman in Chicago.
The state, according to Lindal, is asking for an increase in the workers' share of
healthcare coverage costs. It also wants to stop paying the workers' share of pension costs, he said.
Under a contract signed in 1991, the union accepted a wage freeze in the first year
of the three-year deal, and in exchange, the state agreed to shoulder the cost of the workers' annual contributions toward
pension plans, according to union officials. These payments are 4 to 5.5 percent of workers' annual salaries.
In the last contract signed in 2000, workers received a 15 percent pay increase over
the four years of the agreement.
State officials said they would not comment on the talks while negotiations are under
way. But Becky Carroll, a spokeswoman for the governor's Office of Management and Budget, said that "the budget is designed
to instill fiscal discipline in very tough times."
The union's rank and file among state employees has shrunk by about 15 percent since
1991, and much of the decline is linked to job cutbacks and retirements. The average salary for the union's state employees
is $41,800 a year, union officials said.
Budget chief assails Ryan-era retirement plan
By Kevin McDermott
Wednesday, May. 05 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - In a showdown between politics past and present, Gov. Rod
Blagojevich's
budget director alleged Wednesday that former Gov. George Ryan's
administration had misled legislators into approving
an early retirement
program that could cost $310 million more than expected this year.
The budget director, John Filan, called for a special investigation.
A former Ryan administration official denied the allegation and
suggested that
Blagojevich was looking for others to blame because his
administration's budget plan was "falling apart."
At a news conference in Springfield, Filan announced that state-hired actuaries
late
last week got to the bottom of a nagging discrepancy in the state's
pension system. He said the experts had confirmed
that an early retirement
program approved under Ryan would cost $2.5 billion over 10 years, instead of
the $622 million
that was estimated when the Legislature approved it in 2002.
For the next fiscal year, that could translate into a $380 million state
payment
to the state's pension systems - instead of the $70 million that had
been anticipated.
"We are confident (that) members of the General Assembly were misled, plain and
simple,"
Filan said. "If ever there was a poster child for fiscal mismanagement
... this is it."
That program - which encouraged 11,000 state employees to retire early in an
attempt
to trim the state payroll - quadrupled its original estimated cost
largely because more people signed on than the Ryan
administration publicly had
predicted, Filan said. He also blamed changes in the program that were made
after the
original plan was put forward and hundreds of millions of dollars in
what he said were errors in putting the plan together.
Filan called on the state comptroller's office and the Illinois Economic and
Fiscal
Commission to investigate why it happened and how it can be avoided in
the future.
"Two billion dollars (off on the cost estimate) doesn't 'just happen,'" Filan
said.
"... What we're asking is, what happened, and why?"
When asked whether he believed there was criminal wrongdoing involved, Filan
replied:
"I have no idea."
Stephen Schnorf, who was state budget director under Ryan, responded that it
was
"an insult" to allege there was any intentional misleading involved in the
approval of the early retirement program. "The
numbers we came up with were our
very best estimate," Schnorf said. "There was never any attempt to mislead the
General
Assembly."
Schnorf suggested Blagojevich's people were trying to avoid blame because "the
budget
he's proposed (this year) is falling apart" at the hands of skeptical
legislators. He acknowledged that the early retirement
program ended up costing
more than expected, but said the Blagojevich administration's numbers on the
issue are so
"shockingly far apart" from the original estimates that the new
numbers may be suspect.
"Could we have been that far off? ... We could have been off maybe 25 percent
...
but 300 percent? There's something that doesn't add up," Schnorf said.
Schnorf also noted the state's current budget crisis would be worse if not for
the
early retirement program. "Ask John if he'd rather have the 11,000
employees back," Schnorf said.
Ryan, a Republican, was governor between 1999 and 2003. Blagojevich, a
Democrat,
took office in January 2003.
In the fiscal year that starts July 1, the state faces a budget shortfall
estimated
at $1.7 billion and blamed largely on the stagnant economy.
Blagojevich's plan for dealing with that shortfall has included
business taxes
that are unpopular with many legislators.
Health Alliance given reprieve
State workers'
insurance will be rebid
By MARY MASSINGALE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
3 May 2004
The contracts for state employees' group health insurance will be rebid, after a week of protests
of the proposed July 1 dropping of the Health Alliance insurance company.
Michael Rumman, director of the state Department of Central Management Services, refused to
say the initial contract-bidding process was flawed, as some critics have contended. However, he said Monday that "a lack
of confidence in the process" had persuaded him to start over with the bidding.
"For an issue this important and a contract award this significant, we need the process of selecting
vendors to be perceived by all as open, transparent and fair," Rumman said at a Statehouse news conference.
About 300 Health Alliance enrollees rallied in front of the Capitol before Rumman's announcement,
urging CMS officials to keep the Urbana-based health insurance provider as a choice for state government workers and retirees.
All current health-care benefits will remain intact while the state rebids the $600 million,
five-year contracts, which is expected to take anywhere from 60 days to six months. Beneficiaries will have their annual benefits
choice period from late May to mid-June based on current vendors.
When the new contract-bidding process is finished and winners are selected, beneficiaries will
have another time period in which to choose their health plan.
However, the state's switch from VSP to Spectera for vision-care needs remains on track for
July 1.
Under the original, competitively bid contract awards, Health Alliance - which covers 90,000
state workers and retirees in downstate Illinois - was to be dropped July 1, along with OSF Health Plans and Unicare. UnitedHealthcare
and John Deere Health were to be two new managed-care plans that would be offered with existing PersonalCare, HealthLink and
HMO Illinois. The state's indemnity plan, Quality Care, also will continue to be offered.
However, Health Alliance, OSF Health Plans and Unicare protested the bidding process that led
to the contract awards, saying the state had relied on inaccurate savings projections. The three companies also claim no questions
were asked about their provider discounts - a key element in the state's proposed switch from fully insured managed-care plans
to self-insured managed care.
Fully insured plans call for the state to pay premiums, and the company pays for any excess
claims. Self-insured plans call for the state to pay no premiums but pay for the cost of all claims.
While speaking before the House State Government Administration Committee, Rumman said the state's
proposed move toward self-insurance is simply following the private-sector trend, noting that 92 percent of all businesses
with at least 20,000 employees use self-insurance because it is more cost-effective.
"We have needed to catch up to the times for a very, very long time," said Rumman.
Any movement to a self-insurance system must be approved by the Illinois Economic and Fiscal
Commission, a bipartisan panel of House and Senate members. The same panel also reviews all contracts for state workers' group
health insurance, although Rumman disagreed with the argument that its approval is needed.
Jeffrey Ingrum of Health Alliance said most large, private businesses have financial reserves
to dig into when claim costs run higher than projected. The state develops a budget each year, Ingrum said, and could run
short of cash if claim costs overshoot projections.
"That's my concern - if they run out of money, that will affect payments and claims to providers,"
said Ingrum, who serves as chief executive officer of Health Alliance. "And they don't have huge financial reserves to dig
into."
A Republican lawmaker on Monday also questioned the "political machinations" behind the awarding
of the five winning contracts.
McKinsey & Co. has a one-year, $14 million consulting contract to assess all procurements
made by the state, and Rep. Bill Black of Danville hinted that David Wilhelm was somehow involved in the contract award to
UnitedHealthcare by speculating about "a very prominent member early on of this administration and the Bill Clinton administration."
Wilhelm is a high-profile political strategist and former Democratic National Committee chairman
who managed Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. Wilhelm also is helping Gov. Rod Blagojevich create a new political committee
to support legislative candidates.
Rumman later denied any involvement with either Wilhelm or UnitedHealthcare. A spokeswoman for
Wilhelm & Conlon Public Strategies - the consulting group that Wilhelm founded but recently left - also denied any connection
with UnitedHealthcare or its lobbyist, longtime Springfield Republican Bob Kjellander.
"We don't have a relationship with Kjellander or Springfield Consulting Group," said Heath
State workers' health plans under scrutiny
Dropping
three companies sparks criticism
By MARY MASSINGALE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
28 April 2004
An Urbana lawmaker has requested a special legislative hearing to scrutinize the
process used to award state health insurance contracts that eliminated Health Alliance and two other current insurance plans
from the choices offered state workers as of July 1.
The contract changes are in part the fallout of the state's decision to become
largely self-insured in terms of health insurance offered to 350,000 state workers, retirees and others. The new system should
be more cost-effective, according to Paul Sollitto, a deputy director of Central Management Services.
However, executives from the dropped health insurance plans say the new system
seems to be designed to generate savings by stretching out payments to clinics and hospitals.
In addition, they said the state appears to have used inaccurate estimates of
health costs in the contract process, further endangering the state's already precarious fiscal condition.
"We want to have this hearing so that we can get all of this out in the open and
find out what went wrong to get it overturned," said Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana. Health Alliance is based in her legislative
district.
Health Alliance, which currently covers 90,000 state workers, retirees and others
in downstate Illinois, is one of three state health insurance plans that will not be offered as of July. The others being
dropped on July 1 are OSF Health Plans and Unicare.
The changes are due in part to the state's decision to convert its employee group
health insurance from mostly fully insured managed-care to self-insured managed-care. Managed-care plans restrict an enrollee
to a designated network of doctors, clinics and hospitals. Those plans currently include Health Alliance, OSF Health Plans,Unicare,
PersonalCare, HealthLink and HMO Illinois.
Fully insured managed-care plans call for the state to pay companies a premium
for future medical costs of enrollees. The insurance company pays any costs beyond the premiums, so the company assumes the
risk of any health cost overruns.
Self-insured managed-care plans call for the state to pay no premiums but to pay
for all claims, thereby assuming all of the financial risk. The state also pays the insurance companies an administrative
fee to process claims.
Of the six managed-care plans listed above, HealthLink already is self-insured
managed care.
"Is that the best approach for a financially struggling state?" asked Jeffrey
Ingrum, chief executive officer for Urbana-based Health Alliance.
Yes, according to an official with Central Management Services, the state's personnel
agency.
"Insurance is an actuarial game," Sollitto said. "The larger the pool of beneficiaries,
the smaller the overall cost. The fact that we have such a large base, the risk is minimal" that the state would overshoot
its projected costs.
However, others note that under fully insured managed-care plans, payment to doctors,
clinics and other providers is required within a certain time. Payment cycles are more lax under self-insured managed-care
plans because the health insurance companies only pay the claims at the state's direction, creating a possible cash-flow advantage
for the state.
"That may be a possible motivation," said Mark Kuhn, an assistant administrator
at Springfield Clinic.
But Sollitto said the state has a timely payment cycle with its own self-insured
indemnity plan, Quality Care.
An indemnity plan differs from a managed-care plan in that it charges higher premiums
but allows enrollees to pick any doctor and pay usually 20 percent of costs.
Sollitto acknowledged that payment cycles last year for Quality Care were running
about 116 days after claims were filed, but he said they have now been chiseled down to about 28 days.
But Ingrum and others questioned how accurate the state's cost projections are
for the new self-insured managed-care plans that will go into effect July 1. Health Alliance, OSF Health Plans and Unicare
were not awarded contracts, while UnitedHealthcare and John Deere Health will join the other three existing managed-care insurance
companies.
Health Alliance and OSF Health Plans have filed protests with CMS over the contract
awards, charging that the contract proposals asked only for a per-enrollee monthly cost estimate. But CMS failed to provide
any claims data for the cost estimates, Ingrum said, leaving each bidding company to come up with its own.
Jeff Koch with Peoria-based OSF Health Plans said he questions the accuracy of
the cost-estimate comparisons.
"We're really asking for information on how they made the decision," Koch said.
"We're just as confused as everyone else."
Union officials and lawmakers also share that confusion. The state's three-year
contract with 37,000 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees expires June 30, and the
loss of Health Alliance may become an issue.
"We are concerned about the potential disruption in health care service to our
members," said Anders Lindall, a spokesman for AFSCME Council 31. "It's possible that this change may be subject to negotiations."
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has assigned the issue to the State
Government Administration Committee, which will meet at 2 p.m. Monday.
Mary Massingale can be reached at 782-6882 or mary.massingale@sj-r.com.
Ex-Shawnee warden is slain in Kosovo
By H.
Gregory Meyer, Tribune staff reporter. The Associated Press contributed to this report
April 21, 2004
The former warden of Shawnee Correctional Center in southern Illinois was among the two American
guards killed by a fellow United Nations policeman from Jordan in a shooting Saturday outside a Kosovo prison, officials said.
Kim Bigley, 47, of Paducah, Ky., had run the Downstate men's prison from January until October
2003, when she was fired by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration, state corrections officials said.
She and the other American who was killed, Lynn Williams, 48 of Elmont, N.Y., were employees
of DynCorp International, a unit of El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp., which contracts with the State Department
to provide police officers in Kosovo, company officials said.
The Jordanian officer opened fire on their group as it left a training session at the prison.
He was killed after a 10-minute shootout.
Bigley began her 19-year career with the Illinois Corrections Department as a jail guard in
the Jacksonville Correctional Center in 1984, said Dede Short, a department spokeswoman. Bigley became Shawnee's warden in
January 2003.
After she was fired last fall, she and several other former Illinois corrections employees
filed federal lawsuits against Blagojevich. Bigley alleged she was unfairly yanked for her Republican affiliations and for
speaking out on policy issues.
"Since that time, she's been looking for work locally but was unable to find work, so her
only option was to accept a position with the private company going to Kosovo," said Scott Schimanski, the Joliet-based attorney
who filed the suit on her behalf.
Sergio Molina, a Corrections Department spokesman, said that wardens serve at the pleasure
of the governor and his corrections chief and may be relieved of their duties at will.
Ryan pal pleads guilty to perjury
The Associated Press
April 21, 2004, 3:32 PM CDT
A former state senator admitted Wednesday that he collected a $60,000 lobbying fee despite
doing virtually no work for a year on a job he got through former Gov. George Ryan.
Arthur "Ron'' Swanson, 77, a former Republican state senator from suburban Homer Glen, pleaded
guilty to lying to a federal grand jury.
Swanson admitted he falsely claimed that a law firm lobbying for the $800 million expansion
of Chicago's McCormick Place convention center told him it was looking for help with the project.
Swanson conceded he also lied when he said an authority official told him the law firm needed
his help and again when he testified under oath that he met in Springfield with lawmakers and the firm every two to four weeks.
He was hired to lobby on behalf of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which operates
McCormick Place and Navy Pier.
"Contrary to his grand jury testimony, the defendant did not meet with representatives of
Firm A but rather had few if any substantive conversations with discussions about MPEA business'' in the first year of his
contract, said Swanson's signed, 13-page plea agreement.
It said he "performed virtually no lobbying or consulting work on behalf of MPEA.''
Swanson is a longtime Ryan friend whose son worked in the secretary of state's office under
Ryan.
Missing from the document was any agreement to testify as a prosecution witness if Ryan, who
is under indictment on racketeering charges along with lobbyist Larry Warner, goes to trial.
Swanson might be able to save himself some time behind bars by cooperating with federal prosecutors.
The agreement postpones his sentencing until after any Ryan trial and says that as things stand federal guidelines most likely
will call for a sentence of six months to a year.
Prosecutors agreed to drop remaining counts in the indictment, which also charged Swanson
with lying about other lobbying, including his contract to help tiny Grayville get a maximum-security prison.
Swanson learned on Feb. 23, 2001, that Ryan had chosen Grayville, the indictment said. It
said he then landed a contract on March 2 to lobby for the southern Illinois community. He was paid $50,000 for his services
and later lied about the contract before a federal grand jury, the indictment said.
The indictment said Swanson also gave money to a high-ranking official of the governor's office
to gamble on a trip to Lake Tahoe, Nev. Prosecutors have not disclosed whether the official was Ryan.
HARD TIME FOR PRISON
RICH MILLER
07 MARCH 2004
During the 2002 campaign, gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich traveled to Vandalia, in southern Illinois, and spoke
to a large crowd of union members. Most of those union members worked at the local state prison.
Blagojevich pledged to the prison workers that, if elected governor, "I will never balance the budget on your backs."
Fast-forward to February, 2004. Governor Rod Blagojevich proposes closing the very same Vandalia prison and laying off
the hundreds of workers whom he swore to protect during the 2002 campaign. To say that the prison workers feel double-crossed
would be putting it mildly.
For years, Department of Corrections employees have been reliable Republican voters. Many of the old-timers obtained their
jobs through Republican political connections, and many of the downstate prisons were built in Republican areas.
But a solid year of deep budget cuts and layoffs by Governor George Ryan had soured many prison workers on the Republican
Party. When Blagojevich came along, lots of them eagerly volunteered to work on his campaign. Jim Ryan, Blagojevich's Republican
opponent, refused to rule out more layoffs in the prison system. The choice was pretty easy.
A couple of weeks ago, hundreds of Vandalia prison workers and their friends and relatives traveled to Springfield to protest
the proposed prison closure and object to what has to be the single most spectacular flip-flop by this governor. They repeated
the trek last week.
The workers appear to have the facts on their side. It costs the state $23,000 per year to house an inmate at the Vandalia
Correctional Center (VCC). The brand-new prison in Lawrence County, where the VCC inmates will be moved, has a per-inmate
cost of $25,000. Governor Blagojevich claims he can save $30 million by closing the prison, but prison boosters say it will
actually cost the state $32 million to close the prison.
Plus, the prison has a work farm and other industries that generate $2 million a year in profits. The products are used
by other state prisons, and the prison workers provide services to local communities. The food and other products produced
at VCC won't be replaced when the facility is shuttered.
Only 71 of the 500 or so VCC workers will find jobs at the Lawrence facility. The rest may be out of luck. The local unemployment
rate could rise to 13 percent if the prison closes. The workers who will have to move fear they may not be able to sell their
homes.
The prison is in Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson's legislative district. The Vandalia Leader Union ran an editorial
recently which pointed out that after Sen. Watson refused to cooperate with the governor during last year's spring session,
Blagojevich fired the Vandalia warden and had him escorted out of the building under police guard. The warden was a personal
friend of Watson's.
The governor claimed not long ago that he had no idea that the Vandalia prison was in Watson's district. Lots of people
found that statement a bit hard to swallow, however, including Watson. Plenty of people believe that Blagojevich has proposed
closing the prison to either retaliate again for Watson's uncooperative manner, or to force him to the bargaining table and
make him put Senate Republican votes on the final budget agreement in exchange for keeping his prison open.
Finding the $30 million to keep Vandalia open won't be easy. The governor's budget proposal woefully underfunds education,
and pressure is building to give schools as much as $250 million more. Some of the corporate tax loopholes that he wants to
get rid of are proving to be more popular than first assumed, creating another $50 million hole, or thereabouts. If the union
which represents state workers refuses, as expected, to give in to his demand that its members pick up their own pension payments,
that will blow another $60 million hole in the budget.
Frank Watson is a stubborn man who isn't easily intimidated. Last year, he refused to offer any suggestions during the
budget negotiations, and did his best to keep his members from voting for the final product.
But if Watson wants to keep his prison open, he may have no choice but to cooperate this year. The governor's budget is
so full of holes that patching just one of them to free up some money for Vandalia won't be enough.
Prisons, politics
a common mix
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
22 Feb 2004
Four years ago, then-Gov. George Ryan proudly announced he would build a new prison in poverty-stricken
Hopkins Park, just outside his hometown of Kankakee. Today, the construction site is silent, the project abandoned.
Ryan's predecessor, Jim Edgar, used the power of his office to make a similar decision in 1998. He would build
a prison in Thomson to create jobs for a region reeling from the closure of a federal Army depot. The prison was built but
never opened, a victim of budget cuts.
Now Gov. Rod Blagojevich is the one exercising his power over prisons.
He already reopened one prison shut down by Ryan, and in last week's budget address he called for closing the Vandalia
prison - located in the district of one of his most vocal legislative critics - and a juvenile prison in St. Charles.
His announcement launches another round in the highly competitive, and often political, competition for the jobs
and tax revenue that accompany state prisons. The communities losing prisons under the governor's proposal are putting together
a coalition of local officials, state lawmakers and union leaders in hopes of changing Blagojevich's mind.
Some lawmakers and prison experts are getting fed up.
They argue that decisions about opening and closing prisons - costly decisions that can affect crime rates and
inmates' lives for years - should not depend on which town lobbies the hardest or where a governor needs to pick up votes.
"I don't see that this process has any integrity," said Jim Thomas, a criminal justice professor at Northern Illinois
University.
One idea floated by Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, R-Elgin, is to set up a commission, much like the federal panel
that reviews military bases, to study the state's prison needs and the best ways of meeting them.
The commission would make recommendations on which prisons to close and when to build new ones. Lawmakers could
accept or reject the recommendations with some confidence that they were based on solid evidence.
"It takes the politics out of it," said Rauschenberger, who is a candidate for U.S. Senate. "This would raise everybody's
level of understanding and assurance."
Blagojevich rejects the idea.
"I'm very much for more accountability, not less, and I don't feel it would be responsible of me to shift my responsibility
as governor to avoid making the hard decisions by having a commission," he said.
For years, the state needed new prisons to house the growing number of inmates. Those prisons came to be considered
prizes for small towns where factories had shut down and family farms were disappearing. Towns engaged in bidding wars to
present the state with the most attractive package of land and infrastructure improvements.
City leaders in Grayville even hired a lobbyist with connections to Ryan. Now federal prosecutors say that lobbyist,
Arthur Swanson, knew Ryan had already chosen Grayville when he took the town's $50,000 fee. Swanson is now under indictment.
The huge growth in the prison population - currently 53 percent more than the prisons were designed to hold - began
slowing at roughly the same time the state's tax revenues bottomed out about four years ago. The state no longer needed new
prisons as badly and couldn't afford its old ones.
Sen. Denny Jacobs, D-East Moline, endorses Rauschenberger's concept of an expert panel to make recommendations
on future prisons. Jacobs, whose district includes the vacant Thomson prison, says a series of "fiascoes" proves the current
system isn't working.
In recent years:
- Edgar ordered the Thomson prison built, but Ryan and now Blagojevich decided the state could not afford to staff
it and let it sit empty.
- Ryan awarded a prison to Hopkins Park, but Blagojevich halted construction.
- Ryan decided to close a prison in Vienna but gave in to an intense lobbying campaign and instead shut down the
Sheridan prison. Then Blagojevich, following through on a campaign promise, reopened Sheridan as a center for drug-addicted
inmates.
Vandalia, a minimum-security prison that opened in 1921 and houses 1,044 inmates, lies in the district of Senate
Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville.
Blagojevich said he did not realize that when he decided to recommend closing the prison, but it still led to speculation
that he was using the prison for leverage in his legislative battles with Watson.
Corrections Department spokesman Sergio Molina said his agency recommended closing Vandalia because the old prison
needs costly improvements - $25 million over the next four years. The prison's annual cost of housing each inmate, $23,647,
is the second-lowest of the four prisons in Vandalia's security class.
Likewise, the St. Charles facility has been targeted because it will need $13 million in improvements over the
next few years, he said. The residents will be scattered to other facilities, he said, and a youth center in Joliet will become
the main processing center for new juvenile inmates.
The average cost per inmate at St. Charles is $52,462, second-lowest among the eight youth centers.
James Coldren, president of the prison watchdog John Howard Association, agreed that "political muscle" should
be removed from the prison decision process. But he also says Blagojevich has a reasonable argument against giving up control.
"He's the caretaker of the public's money," Coldren said. "If prisons are built and everything goes haywire, who
gets the blame?"
More ex-state employees sue governor
By MIKE RAMSEY
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
21 Feb 2004
CHICAGO - Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich reneged on a promise not to fire productive state workers who were part of
the previous Republican administration, a new group of federal lawsuits contends.
Seven former employees of the Illinois
Department of Corrections contend they had a binding verbal "contract" with Blagojevich because he publicly said he wouldn't
purge holdovers from Gov. George Ryan's tenure if the workers did their jobs.
Instead, the new administration dismissed the seven DOC workers in recent months "with no explanation, no hearing, no
reason" so Blagojevich could replace them with political allies, Joliet labor attorney Scott Anthony Schimanski said Friday.
"The story may not be as good, even, if it wasn't for (Blagojevich) making speeches about how things have changed," he
said. "In his speeches, he says it's not 'business as usual.'"
At least six of the seven employees were "senior public service administrators" earning salaries ranging from $4,456
per month to $9,705 per month, according to Illinois comptroller records. The seven worked at prisons or offices in central
and southern Illinois, and all were considered "at-will" employees with unprotected jobs, meaning they served at the whim
of the incumbent governor.
"These people served at the pleasure of the previous administration," Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said. "The
law clearly states that a new governor has the right to hire people who share his agenda and goals. We can't imagine the courts
will interpret the law differently."
In August, Blagojevich, facing massive budget problems, said state employees shouldn't necessarily fear for their jobs.
"We're not looking to purge state government of different men and women who are hired during Republican administrations,"
he said. "I would say to the men and women working in state government that if they're doing a job necessary for the public
and doing it well, they have nothing to fear from this administration."
Schimanski argues that kind of statement constituted an offer of employment and that his clients accepted.
The civil-rights lawsuits name Blagojevich, Corrections director Roger Walker and his agency and a variety of other parties
allegedly involved in the firings. Each ex-employee seeks millions in compensatory and punitive damages.
Schimanski identified the entire group of plaintiffs as Kim Bigley of Kentucky; Dwayne Clark of Carbondale; Sandra Kiddy-Brown
of Springfield, brothers Mark and Norman Pierson of Murphysboro; Samuel Riley of Anna; and Thomas Snyder of Taylorville.
The lawsuits were filed in two waves over the past couple of weeks at Chicago's federal courthouse, rather than downstate,
where the plaintiffs lived and worked.
"It's well-known that the governor of Illinois lives in Chicago," Schimanski said. "If the governor's going to live in
Chicago, he's certainly going to be sued in Chicago."
Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or cnsramsey@aol. com.
Vandalia will fight to keep prison
Residents
meet to discuss Blagojevich's plan to close facility
By BRENDA PROTZ
CORRESPONDENT
20 Feb 2004
VANDALIA - When Steve Barker began working for the Illinois Department of Corrections
more than 23 years ago, he had one goal: to get a job in Vandalia, where he and his family live.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich's announcement Wednesday that he plans to close the prison and
work camp in Vandalia, about 80 miles southeast of Springfield, could end Barker's hopes.
Barker, 45, started his career at Graham Correctional Center in Hillsboro. He then
transferred to Taylorville Correctional Center, where he has been for the past 14 years and is now the bureau of identifications
supervisor.
He recently learned that the same position was opening up at Vandalia, so he applied
for it.
"When you work in your community, it gives you time to be involved, plus being able
to be there for your family," he said Thursday. "I am on the road two hours a day, and if something happens, I can't be right
there."
Barker was among more than 500 concerned Vandalia-area citizens at an emergency meeting
of the Vandalia City Council Wednesday night. They served notice that they aren't going to let the prison go without a fight.
Mayor Ricky Gottman pledged to do whatever possible to retain the more than 500 prison-related
jobs.
"We would lose more than $300,000 a year in direct revenue from state taxes in the
form of income tax, motor fuel tax and local use tax. We would lose an estimated $350,000 a year due to loss of sales tax
revenues due to loss of income and residents," Gottman told the gathering.
He also cited a domino effect of additional job losses through other business failures
and loss of revenue to schools.
Beyond the lost jobs and revenue, state Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Mulberry Grove, was upset
at the manner in which he learned of Blagojevich's plan.
"I'm angry. ... A friend of mine risked his job in the governor's office to call me.
He was embarrassed. He wanted me to know what was being said," Stephens said.
"A man would have called and told me himself, but that's not what the governor did."
Stephens said the impact of closing the prison will be felt throughout the state.
"This is important to everybody. This isn't good public policy," he said, adding that
the estimated $34 million in savings is misleading.
"These inmates will still need to be watched and fed, no matter where they go."
The prison's clinical supervisor, Arthur Langston, said he and the other employees
are just trying to stay positive.
"Everybody is trying to hang together and keep our morale up," he said. "We are just
trying to weather the storm and hope it doesn't happen."
Some at Wednesday night's meeting saw the Democratic governor's actions as a personal
vendetta against the local senator, Frank Watson, a Greenville Republican. Watson, the Senate minority leader, has been among
Blagojevich's most vocal critics.
Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina said that wasn't the case. He said the department
was told by the governor to see where it could cut corners. One of those corners was to close Vandalia.
"We had to take a look at the age of that facility, plus the capital expenditures,"
Molina said.
He said Corrections will do whatever it can to help displaced Vandalia employees.
By moving inmates to Lawrence Correctional Center in Sumner, he said, 71 more jobs will be created. And between now and July
1, 2005, there could be as many as 850 Corrections jobs elsewhere in the state, Molina said.
But that would mean relocation, and Shannon Metzger is all too familiar with such
moves.
Metzger, husband Rick and 3-year-old son Andrew moved to Vandalia after Rick's job
as a youth supervisor at Valley View Youth Center in St. Charles ended because the center's closing. Now, the family could
be looking at another transfer and another new town.
"He (Blagojevich) has no idea of the impact," she said. "He can't do this to a community
like this. It's the livelihood of the whole town. Every citizen will suffer."
Brenda Protz can be reached through the metro desk at 788-1519.
John Kerry Gets Backing From AFL-CIO
Thu Feb 19, 5:54 PM ET
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Democratic front-runner John Kerry (news - web sites) earned the endorsement
of the AFL-CIO Thursday, with the head of organized labor saying "the time has come to unite behind one man, one leader, one
candidate."
Amid chants of "Kerry! Kerry!," the Massachusetts senator welcomed the support of
a formidable ally as he tries to blunt rival John Edwards (news - web sites)' challenges to his position on trade.
"Today we stand united in a common cause and that common cause is not just to defeat George Bush, but it is to put
our country back on track, on the road of prosperity, the road of fairness, the road of jobs," Kerry told the crowd.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called Kerry a friend of the working man as he urged labor to stand with one candidate.
The AFL-CIO, comprised of 64 unions representing more than 13 million U.S. workers, is planning an unprecedented effort to
mobilize their members to vote for Kerry.
In another coup for the Democrat, he was poised to pick up the backing of nine-term Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a leader
in the civil rights movement whose support will be crucial in the state's March 2 primary. Georgia has 86 delegates at stake,
and Southern-bred Edwards has made it a prime target.
The AFL-CIO endorsement comes as Edwards begins a tour of key political states that have lost manufacturing jobs.
He continued his criticism of Kerry for voting for the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement that many workers blame for
job losses. Edwards said he opposed NAFTA during his 1998 Senate campaign.
"As Senator Kerry himself has pointed out many times during this campaign, records matter," Edwards said. "I think
there is a significant difference between us on this issue."
But Kerry said he and Edwards have the same policy on trade. Both voted for normalized trade relations with China
and both want to see labor and environmental standards addressed in trade pacts, he said.
Although Edwards said he would have voted against NAFTA, Kerry said: "He wasn't in the Senate back then. I don't
know where he registered his vote, but it wasn't in the Senate."
Kerry will pick up the AFL-CIO's endorsement despite his support for free trade, blamed by the unions for eroding
their memberships and sending millions of jobs to other countries. But the unions are eager to show a united front headed
into November's election after a bruising primary that used millions of labor dollars and exposed deep cracks in the movement.
In the Democratic primaries this year, those from labor households have made up anywhere from a fourth of the vote
to a third of the vote in states such as Delaware, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin with a significant labor presence, according
to exit polls.
Those voters tended to support Kerry, by narrow margins in Iowa and Wisconsin, and by a substantial margins from
20 to 40 percentage points in Missouri and Delaware.
The labor vote has been a significant part of the Democratic base, with union members voting for Al Gore (news -
web sites) over George Bush by about a 2-to-1 margin in 2000, according to exit polls. Those in labor households made up a
quarter of the vote, and they went for Gore by almost as big a margin.
Looking ahead to the general election, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said Kerry has evolved on the issue of
trade and has the best chance of beating President Bush (news - web sites).
"He might not be there yet, but I think the more he campaigns, the more he realizes this entire election is going
to come down to jobs," Hoffa said in an Associated Press interview Wednesday. "I think he's moving towards that. Everybody
evolves."
The Teamsters originally supported Dick Gephardt (news - web sites) for president. But the Missouri congressman dropped
out after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, leaving the Teamsters and 18 other unions that formed the Alliance for Economic
Justice with nowhere else to go.
Hoffa said the Teamsters can waver on the trade issue for a candidate with "a total package" who can win in November.
Edwards gave Kerry a scare in Wisconsin's primary Tuesday after highlighting his opposition to NAFTA and Kerry's vote
for it. Edwards plans to continue the criticism as the two head toward upcoming nominating contests in Ohio, New York and
Georgia.
Kerry, while in Wisconsin, often faced questions about his support of free trade and the movement of jobs overseas. The
trend continued Wednesday in Ohio, which Kerry said has lost 160,000 manufacturing jobs since Bush took office.
___
Job cuts, tax hikes
Governor lays out his budget
plan
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
19 FEB 2004
Gov. Rod Blagojevich called Wednesday for another round of state job cuts, facility
closures and fee and tax increases on business to make up a $1.7 billion deficit in next year's state budget.
Blagojevich's spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 increases expenditures
by nearly $1 billion, including a $400 million increase for public elementary and high schools and major hikes to cover health-care
services for the poor and state government employees.
But critics contend Blagojevich is also relying on getting more money from Washington,
which is far from certain, and is underfunding state pensions.
"This is not a balanced budget. It's more diversion and smoke and mirrors," said Sen.
Steve Rauschenberger of Elgin, the Senate Republicans' budget expert.
In a 72-minute speech to a joint session of the General Assembly, Blagojevich said
his budget plan was a matter of fairness.
"We are going to have to ask those who for a long time have benefited from the system
to give something back, to lead in the shared sacrifice," he said.
Leading that list are Illinois businesses that will pay more in taxes and fees if
lawmakers approve Blagojevich's budget. The governor wants to close what he calls tax loopholes to generate $223 million for
the state. Among those are depreciation rules that save companies $74 million and foreign tax havens that save $40 million.
As it is, he said 40 large corporations that operate in Illinois pay no state income
tax.
"We can't just run around granting tax breaks willy-nilly just because somebody knows
the lobbyists for the industries that want them," Blagojevich said.
Business groups and Republican lawmakers said the Democratic governor's plan will
cost the state jobs.
"He talked about Management 101, but I don't think he understands Economics 101,"
said Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson of Greenville. "You have to have a cost of doing business that is competitive or
you lose jobs."
"The governor and his allies last year passed $2 billion in new taxes and fees and
wage mandates onto Illinois employers," said Kim Clarke Maisch of the National Federation of Independent Business. "For him
to come back a few months later and say, 'Wait, it wasn't enough' will set back the Illinois economy further."
Some Democrats countered there is nothing unreasonable about closing the loopholes.
"It's very difficult to vote against the propositions (Blagojevich) has proposed today,"
said Sen. Vince Demuzio, D-Carlinville.
"If a company is in Illinois and they are making money and they're not paying taxes,
if we find a way to tax them, I don't know that they are going to leave the state," said Rep. Gary Hannig of Litchfield, the
House Democrats' budget expert.
Blagojevich wants to cut costs by slashing 4,000 more jobs from the state payroll.
About 2,000 of those jobs are vacant and will be wiped off the books, while the other
2,000 would be eliminated by offering an early retirement incentive to a select group of state employees. By cutting the work
force below 60,000, Blagojevich hopes to save up to $200 million.
"If a state agency or a state employee can perform two functions for the price of
one, then the taxpayers have every right to expect them to do just that," he said. "I believe we can cut down on the state's
payroll and still give the people of Illinois the service they expect and the results they deserve."
As contract negotiations continue between the state and its largest employees union,
Blagojevich used his speech to warn that "a fair deal for state employees must be weighed against the interests of the people
they serve. State government doesn't exist for the benefit of state employees or for the benefit of those of us who are elected
to public office."
Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, called those remarks offensive.
"I think he was impugning state employees when he should not have," Bomke said. "Maybe
that makes points with the general public, but I took offense to it."
Blagojevich also wants to close some state facilities, including a mental health operation
in Tinley Park and a minimum-security prison in Vandalia. Blagojevich said later that he didn't realize the prison is in the
Senate district of Watson, one of the governor's leading critics last year.
"I would hate to think he would jeopardize 500 families who depend on income from
the Vandalia Correctional Center to target me," Watson said. "I don't think he's that mean-spirited."
Blagojevich's budget relies on additional federal money to pay medical bills for the
poor. However, some of the money is contingent on federal approval of a financing scheme in which hospitals tax themselves
to pry loose additional federal dollars. Just last week, federal officials said they were going to restrict those kinds of
funding schemes.
Rauschenberger said Blagojevich is underfunding state pensions by $500 million in
fiscal 2005, a violation of pension funding laws. Rep. Mike Smith, D-Canton, said he believes the pension shortfall is about
$200 million.
Under a 1995 law, pension contributions are automatic and set at a level determined
by actuaries working for the five state-funded pension systems. However, Blagojevich's budget director, John Filan, said the
state is reviewing the accuracy of those determinations.
Blagojevich touted a $400 million increase in funding for public elementary and high
schools. He did not specify how the money should be spent, either on general state aid, or for specific programs like transportation
and special education. That will be determined later, he said.
Embattled State School Superintendent Robert Schiller said the $400 million increase
is "a good start in a tough time."
"You cannot look at $400 million at a time of a deficit and rank that as insubstantial,"
Schiller said.
Yet, the money goes only so far. Raising the state's guaranteed spending level per
pupil by $250 would cost $390 million by itself, Schiller said. That leaves nothing for other education programs, which is
why the state board asked for a $650 million spending increase.
Also Wednesday, Blagojevich called for:
Consolidating the departments of Professional Regulation, Financial Institutions, Banks and Real Estate and Insurance
into one large agency.
Cutting back on state tourism grants to free up money for other purposes.
Reducing the amount of money to buy parkland in urban areas.
Adding 400 Illinois State Police troopers, as well as parole agents and arson investigators, to the state payroll.
Warden aims to make Dwight model prison
By M.K. Guetersloh
DWIGHT -- When the state prison at Dwight opened in 1930, it was the only women's
prison in Illinois and a model for helping inmates become better mothers and better citizens.
More than 70 years later,
Alyssa Williams said she wants to put Dwight Correctional Center at the top of the national list of model prisons again when
it comes to helping inmates reform, overcome mental health problems and become better parents.
Williams has served as warden of the state's primary female prison for about three
months, but she has already started looking at programs that will help inmates and their children. Most of the 1,000 women
at the prison will finish their sentences and return to their families, she said.
Parenting classes offered at the prison help new mothers cope with the needs of younger
children, Williams said. That program needs to be expanded to help the women take care of their children through the troubling
teen years, she said.
Camp Celebration
Camp Celebration is one way the prison helps develop that mother-child bond. Every
Saturday in the summer, children participating in Camp Celebration get to spend time at the prison with their mothers while
enjoying cookouts and other outdoor activities.
"We are seeing if children can interact with their mothers in a positive environment.
It will reduce the likelihood that the children will become offenders," Williams said. "And of course, the mom gets to bond
with her child."
Williams said her interest in corrections is a little more focused on children because
of her education and early work with juvenile offenders through the Peoria County probation department.
"It's just amazing to see how these kids can change and learn from their past mistakes,"
Williams said.
Williams' background
Before joining the Illinois Department of Corrections in 2001 as a parole officer
in East St. Louis, Williams worked with sex offenders at Western State Hospital near Tacoma, Wash. Williams also worked in
clinical services at the Illinois prison system's youth center at Warrenville.
Williams said she was a little apprehensive about taking the job as warden of the
state's largest female prison. At 29-years-old, Williams is the youngest warden in Illinois' prisons.
Williams said she received a lot of encouragement from Debbie Denning, deputy director
of women and family services for the Department of Corrections.
Working with the staff
"And the staff has been very receptive," she said. Already Williams said she has been
working with representatives of the union that represents correctional officers to help address the prison's long-standing
understaffing problems.
In recent years, the prison has forced correctional officers to take overtime shifts
to cover vacant positions. Williams said earlier retirement offered by the state last year thinned the staff even more at
the prison.
"The union has been instrumental in helping me push for more staff, and the department
is responding," Williams said. In the coming months, 37 cadets will be assigned to Dwight after their graduation, adding to
the prison's staff of about 250 correctional officers, Williams said .
Audit: Illinois could've saved millions
Better utilization of state property could save $2.4 million a year
February 5, 2004
By DAYNA R. BROWN
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - Millions of Illinois taxpayer dollars might have been saved with a little planning and foresight, a recent
state audit shows.
Had the state moved agencies that currently lease property throughout Peoria into the former Zeller Mental Health Center,
it could have saved $2.4 million annually.
Instead, officials leased the vacant, state-owned facility to Illinois Central College for $1 a year, and it became home
to ICC North.
That transaction and other state property deals were highlighted in an audit of the Department of Central Management
Services, which is responsible for the state's space utilization program.
The 132-page document, released Tuesday by the state auditor general, also states CMS has an incomplete and inaccurate
listing of state properties.
"Our state management of property has been atrocious," said Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, who serves as co-chairman
of the legislative audit commission.
The report was generated after questions arose about the leasing of Zeller, which was closed in September 2002 because
state officials said it was too expensive to operate. It was leased to ICC two months later.
The auditor recommended that, in the future, CMS conduct a detailed examination of property to determine if it is "excess,"
which wasn't done for Zeller.
Illinois also should study unoccupied space at state-owned facilities and determine the cost benefit of moving agencies
leasing property elsewhere into that available space, the audit states. It also says "the state should receive adequate revenue
for the space rented."
Eleven state agencies lease 16 properties in Peoria, totaling 176,498 square feet. The audit shows the Zeller property
is more than 200,000 square feet - enough to accommodate all those agencies, though some could not be moved.
The leases range from $8.50 to $17.61 per square foot, while the
cost to operate at Zeller would only be $7 per square foot.
"With the number of vacancies that we have in state properties, we should not be renting other facilities," Mautino said,
adding he doesn't know specifics of the Zeller case and couldn't comment on it.
ICC officials still contend the public is getting a good deal.
"It is a great thing for the community and it is a great thing for the college," said Bruce Budde, a vice president at
ICC. "We have 2,000 students there. Without our presence (at ICC North), we would be underserving our community."
He also said the $1 amount is misleading because the college pays to operate the facility and has put $3 million into
the property.
In addition, not all the state agencies leasing facilities in Peoria - including the Department of Corrections - would
be a good fit for the Zeller property, Budde said.
Sen. George Shadid, D-Peoria, who was opposed to ICC moving into Zeller and also serves on the legislative audit commission,
would not comment Wednesday.
The audit also talks about inaccurate documentation of state property.
County assessors identified 27,783 parcels of land owned by the state, compared to the 3,091 recorded by CMS. While there
were valid reasons for some of the differences, like each piece of right-away may have been counted as a separate parcel,
there are still discrepancies, the audit states.
Other properties weren't counted at all. State properties not included on the CMS master list include Jubilee College
Historic State Site near Brimfield, the Metamora Courthouse, David Davis Mansion in Bloomington and Bishop Hill in Henry County.
"It's incredible that our state management agency is missing a third of our properties. It has been so lax that the opportunity
for waste and abuse is there," Mautino said.
The audit also found property owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation that was purchased many years ago but
has not yet been used for roadway. That includes 158 acres IDOT purchased in Peoria County in 1980 for $700,000.
The land was intended as an extension for Illinois Route 6, but remains farmland, said Eric Therkildsen, IDOT program
development engineer.
"Fifty acres was for the road and the rest was the remainder of the farm. Why we bought the entire thing, I don't know,"
said Therkildsen, who wasn't with IDOT at that time.
Mautino said his committee will review the audit in the next couple months.
Report cites budget cuts in prison death
February 1,
2004
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI -- Staff retirements and budget cuts contributed to reduced
security at a state prison, where two inmates allegedly killed a third and then hid from authorities for four days, according
to a Corrections Department report.
The incident in October prompted an internal review of security at the Missouri State
Penitentiary. As a result, the prison reduced its inmate population, reshuffled staff to keep a closer eye on prisoners, and
added 16 surveillance cameras, according to the report.
A convicted murderer, Toby Viles, was found dead in the prison ice plant, and his co-workers--convicted
murderers Shannon Phillips and Chris Sims--were reported missing. After a search, they were discovered hiding in a stocked
compartment under a stairwell less than 10 yards from where Viles' body had been found.
State official stops presses on prison paper
Eric Zorn
January 31, 2004
I was looking forward to going to Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet to run a seminar
for the staff of a fledgling prison newspaper.
But even before organizers and I could settle on a date for my speech to a literally captive
audience, Illinois Department of Corrections Director Roger Walker stopped the presses.
"Our agency has decided that [a newspaper at Stateville] is not a priority at this time,"
Department of Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina said this week.
That decision came as a big disappointment to the inmates who were planning to write the quarterly
Stateville Speaks, as well as to Bill Ryan, a director of the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the outside-the-walls
project coordinator.
"An inmate newspaper would be a tiny baby step providing much-needed education and promoting
positive inmate attitudes," Ryan said. "It's far healthier to have inmates interested and working on poetry, essays and book
reviews and discussing relevant issues in the prison environment than sitting in a cell all day doing nothing."
Having a publication written and edited by prisoners is not a new idea--they flourish elsewhere
and have come and gone at Illinois prisons.
They promote literacy and creativity, skills that will serve the inmates well when they are
released, as most will be. And because articles are carefully screened by prison staff before publication, they don't tend
to foment trouble or promote unrest.
In fact, an editorial already in the can for the first issue of Stateville Speaks should it
ever be published is a vehement anti-drug diatribe that calls users and dealers "sick and misguided; [the prisoners'] enemy.
An enemy of self-improvement, an enemy of rehabilitation, an enemy of human dignity."
It was written by Renaldo Hudson, 39, a convicted (and admitted) murderer and former Death
Row inmate who came up with the newspaper idea after he oversaw an essay contest that drew 41 entries last summer.
Ryan said Hudson and other inmates thought they had the go-ahead from department officials
to start publishing soon. Before the ax fell, Ryan, who lives in Westchester, had arranged for CNN to donate used computers
and secured pledges to cover printing expenses.
"Whenever we have inmates in any kind of program, it requires staff supervision," said Molina,
explaining why Walker decided not to allow the Stateville Speaks project to proceed. "This is a maximum-security facility.
We can't just let inmates walk back and forth to a newspaper office.
"It's not an issue of the content [of the publication]," Molina said. "It's that we have limited
resources, and we don't feel that this is how we should be allocating them."
James Coldren Jr., head of the John Howard Association, a prison reform organization headquartered
in Chicago, said he was disappointed to learn of the department's decision.
"There are very few opportunities these days for inmates to develop writing skills," Coldren
said.
Prison newspapers and newsletters "can relieve tension," Coldren said. "The ability to express
thoughts, experiences and feelings to others is psychologically healthy. Yet all [the department officials] seem to think
about is possible problems, like who's going to maintain the computers."
Bill Ryan is urging supporters to contact lawmakers in hopes that Gov. Rod Blagojevich will
ask department officials to reconsider. If he's successful, I'll be glad to go down and talk to the staff about reporting,
punctuation and paragraphs. But I'm sure there's nothing I can tell them about sentences that they don't already know.
- Some 62 percent of online voters this week said they agreed with my Tuesday column and disapproved
of CBS' decision to sell Super Bowl advertising time to purveyors of erectile-dysfunction medication such as Viagra, Levitra
and Cialis.
However, many female readers simply offered the e-mail equivalent of a derisive chortle and
welcomed me and other men to the club of those who are frequently surprised and made uneasy by TV commercials promoting products
that relate to their intimate functions.
The analogy is inexact, but I see the point. And if mini-pad manufacturers start advertising
during family events such as the Super Bowl, I'll march in the front lines of that protest as well.
- Readers have shared many memories of the recently and dearly departed Magikist lips billboard.
I've posted a selection via my Web log at chicagotribune.com/notebook.
Prison program targets drug addicts
By Sara Burnett
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Thu Jan 29, 9:11 AM ET
As he greets the new inmates at Sheridan Correctional Center, Warden Michael Rothwell
walks among them, explaining how life here will be different from other prisons.
You'll be treated with respect, he says.
You'll be treated like a man, he adds.
"I see heads nodding as I talk," Rothwell said Thursday. "They tell me later they've never had a warden talk to them
like that."
Rothwell and the other people behind a new drug rehabilitation program at Sheridan hope the changes don't stop there.
The program is a kind of "test case" for Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a slew of social service, community and business groups.
The goal is to decrease the state's recidivism rate, or the percentage of people released from prison who re-offend,
by providing drug treatment, job training, education and counseling, both in prison and after inmates are released.
At 54 percent, the state's recidivism rate is the highest in Illinois history, said Deanne Benos, the assistant director
of the Illinois Department of Corrections and a former policy adviser to the governor.
The first group of 50 prisoners arrived at Sheridan, located about 30 miles southwest of Aurora, Jan. 2. Since then,
about 150 others have moved in. The prison can hold 1,300 inmates at a time, and the program is expected to serve 1,700 per
year.
Participants who have between six and 24 months of their sentence left may volunteer for the program. It does not
accept any sex offenders or murderers.
"We want to be tough on crime, but we have to be smart, too," Benos said. "This is both tough and smart."
The department of corrections estimates it will cost about $48 million per year to run the Sheridan project. That's
about $15 million to $18 million more than similar size prisons that don't offer the comprehensive services.
But Benos said studies of similar prison programs in states like New York and Texas show that for every $1 spent,
states save $7 by turning out productive members of society rather than people likely to commit more crimes or require other
social services.
Blagojevich also hopes to double the number of probation officers working statewide by the time his first term ends,
in January of 2007.
At the time he took office, the state had about 370 probation officers. That number fell to 330 after the state offered
an early retirement program. Those officers now handle more than 100 clients each, Benos said.
If their caseloads were smaller, she added, they'd be better able to monitor clients and make judgment calls on whether
petty offenses should land them back in prison or whether they need more support services.
Corrections officials estimate the total cost of bringing the probation staff up to 740 officers will be about $42.3
million, including $11.4 million in one-time costs like cars and radios.
The president of the John Howard Association, a prison reform group, called the Sheridan project a "true innovation"
that could serve as a national model.
State officials estimate 69 percent of the people in prison today either were convicted of drug-related crimes or committed
their crimes while on drugs or to get money for drugs.
Dean stumps in Springfield
By ADRIANA COLINDRES
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
11 Jan 2004
Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean invoked the words of Abraham Lincoln as he told hundreds of union workers
in Springfield on Saturday why he deserves to be the country's next chief executive.
"The biggest lie that people like
me tell people like you at election time is: If you vote for me, I'm going to solve all your problems," Dean told members
of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. "The truth is, the power to change this country
is in your hands, not mine.
"Abraham Lincoln said that a government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth,"
Dean said. "Together, we have the power to take back the White House in 2004. And this is exactly what we're going to do."
Dean, considered the Democratic front-runner, scheduled a brief stop in Springfield so he could speak at AFSCME Council
31's PEOPLE legislative conference at the Hilton Springfield. Union spokesman Anders Lindall estimated more than 700 AFSCME
members attended the event.
PEOPLE is the union's acronym for Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality.
Dean had been campaigning in New Hampshire before flying to Springfield, and he headed to Iowa afterward, said Henry
Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31. Those two states are the sites of this year's first presidential contests,
with the Iowa caucuses Jan. 19 and the New Hampshire primary election Jan. 27.
Many political observers believe the Democratic presidential nominee already will have been chosen by the time Illinois
holds its March 16 primary.
But in introducing the former Vermont governor to the AFSCME crowd Saturday, Bayer said: "We want you to know, Governor
Dean, that if you don't have this (nomination) thing wrapped up by March 16, we're going to put the final nail in the coffin
and catapult you into the general election here in Illinois."
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents more than 1.4 million members nationwide,
endorsed Dean for president last November.
In a speech that lasted about 20 minutes, Dean criticized incumbent President George W. Bush for the tax cuts he pushed
through Congress, for not doing enough to preserve and create jobs and for the war in Iraq.
"You cannot trust Republicans with your money," Dean said as the audience applauded.
Then, acknowledging the presence of Republican state Sen. Larry Bomke on the dais, Dean added: "With, of course, the
exception of your state senator here, who I know would never have been allowed to sit on this dais if he wasn't a good labor
voter."
Bomke, of Springfield, explained later that he was at the AFSCME event to accept a "legislator of the year" award.
"It was uncomfortable being a Republican and being up on the dais" while Dean spoke, Bomke acknowledged.
"I've been a Republican all my life, a strong supporter of George W. Bush," Bomke added. "But I was impressed with Governor
Dean. He's very energetic, a lot of charisma, and I think the president will have his work cut out for him. But I'm confident
that (Bush will) win the election."
In his speech, however, Dean said he plans to defeat Bush by "bringing new people" into the political process.
"The only way to beat George Bush is to reach out to the 50 percent of Americans who've quit voting because they can't
tell the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans anymore, and give them a reason to vote," Dean said.
Earlier Saturday, AFSCME Council 31 endorsed state Sen. Barack Obama of Chicago in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
"We did that based upon the relationship that we've had with him in the years that he's been in the Illinois General
Assembly," AFSCME's Bayer said. "He's not only been someone who's voted with us, but he's been someone who has been a spear-carrier
for us, who's been a sponsor of our legislation, who has worked to try to garner support among his colleagues on votes that
were important to us."
Hynes wins Illinois AFL-CIO endorsement
By
Mike Robinson
The Associated Press
January 8, 2004, 11:57 AM CST
ROSEMONT -- In a show of labor support, state Comptroller Dan Hynes won the Illinois
AFL-CIO endorsement Thursday for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
``This is by far the most significant endorsement of this campaign,'' Hynes said at
a news conference where he was flanked by AFL-CIO president Margaret Blackshere and other labor leaders.
He said the endorsement would boost his campaign because ``the AFL-CIO knows how to
win.''
Delegates streaming out of the meeting said Hynes won a crushing victory.
``I think this was completely anticipated,'' said Henry Tamarin, president of Hotel
Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 1 in Chicago, which supports a rival candidate to Hynes, State Sen. Barack Obama.
Tamarin and other delegates said the key issue put before the meeting was whether to
endorse Hynes and that no other contender was offered to the delegates.
Delegates said there were 18 votes against making any endorsement and more than 100
in Hynes' favor.
While the delegates were taking their vote, a huge blowup of a union card issued in
1962 to another candidate in the race, millionaire commodities trader Blair Hull, sat outside the hall. The card was issued
by the Cannery Warehousemen, Food Processors, Drivers, and Helpers, Local 679 in Los Gatos, Calif.
The AFL-CIO endorsement means Hynes is going to get a ready-made network of political
workers in counties across the state in his race for the nomination in the March 16 primary. It also will mean a fresh infusion
of money into his campaign from union treasuries.
Hynes had been working the unions for months and was expected to get the endorsement.
DuPage County electrical worker Pat McCool, who came to observe the meeting, said he
supported Hynes ``because he stood up for labor in not allowing people to cheat on the prevailing wage law.''
The law requires nonunion shops to pay union wages if they have state contracts.
Hull met with reporters after the vote and said he expects to get the votes of many
rank-and-file union members because he was once one himself and ``I'm one of them.''
``I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth,'' he said. Hull launched his commodities
trading company using $25,000 he won at blackjack.
Hull was asked if as a U.S. senator he would vote to repeal the section of federal law
that authorizes states to enact right-to-work laws.
``Oh yes, I'm against right-to-work laws,'' Hull replied.
When Hynes was asked the same question at the news conference, he said there were any
number of laws on the books that should be reviewed, ``and I'll take a look at that one.''
Dean expected in city Jan. 10
Candidate to speak
at AFSCME meeting
By JOHN REYNOLDS
STAFF WRITER
1 Jan 2004
The race for the White House is expected to cut through Springfield next week when
Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean comes to town.
Henry Bayer, executive director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees Council 31, said Wednesday that Dean is expected to speak to the union's legislative conference Jan. 10. The event
is not open to the public, but about 500 union members are expected to attend the event at the Hilton Springfield.
"Most of our members haven't seen him in person. This is an opportunity to see him
face to face," Bayer said.
Dean, the former governor of Vermont, has been endorsed by AFSCME.
Dean will talk about his candidacy and issues confronting labor, Bayer said.
Many of organized labor's concerns are also shared by the general public, Bayer said.
Among issues he cited were improving the economy and helping state and local governments that are feeling the budget crunch.
"In past recessions, the federal government has extended a hand to state and local
governments," Bayer said. "This administration has been very stingy about doing that."
Dean is expected to touch on such issues as trade laws, the minimum wage and education.
Bayer said he believes union members will be more active during this campaign than
they were four years ago.
An exact time for the Dean event has not yet been finalized.
The legislative conference is an annual event for AFSCME. Union members from around
the state will attend the one-day event, where they will lay out the union's legislative agenda for the upcoming year.
Boot camp to reopen as work camp
MAGGIE
BORMAN ,
The Telegraph 12/31/2003
WHITE HALL
-- A Greene County corrections facility that fell to the budget ax last year is being resurrected this spring -- and will
become a work camp to boot.
The former Greene County Impact Incarceration Program facility, commonly called the
Greene County Boot Camp, will become an Illinois Department of Corrections Work Camp, less regimentally structured and more
focused on public works projects, IDOC spokesman Sergio Molina said.
"It will still house 200 inmates and we anticipate it will be full," he said.
The camp, located between White Hall and Roodhouse in northern Greene County, was
victim of the $500 million in budget cuts implemented at the urging of former Gov. George Ryans. The reopening will fulfill
a campaign promise made by Ryans successor, Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"I am just very happy that the facility is going to be reopened. It is definitely
good news for us and for the area communities," state Sen. Vince Demuzio, D-Carlinville, said.
Opened in March 1993, the boot camp was a 120-day program that used a highly structured
and regimented environment that stressed rehabilitation programs in the prison setting and in the community through public
works service. The 200-bed facility housed all male first-time non-violent offenders aged 17-29.
The camp will reopen in March or April. Molina said inmates would be those non-violent
offenders who must undergo a state screening process to qualify for serving the last segment of their sentence at the work
camp. Should inmates not abide by camp regulations, they would be returned to a prison facility for the remainder of their
sentence.
Former boot camp inmates provided much-needed service to the area, from sandbagging
during the flood of 1993 to shoveling snow at municipal and educational buildings. It was a much-appreciated asset for financially
strapped entities. The economically depressed county benefited from having the facility, which had an annual operating budget
of $5 million and 73 staff members.
State Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, worked closely with Demuzio to reopen the facility
after it was closed in September 2002. He was not available for comment, but White Hall Mayor Harold Brimm said he was thankful
for the efforts.
"We are really looking forward to its reopening, as it will mean so much to our local
economy as well as for communities in surrounding counties," Brimm said. "I had anticipated it would be reopened -- though
I didnt know as what. I didnt think the state would let the facility just sit there empty."
Demuzio said he fully anticipates that Blagojevich will divulge more information regarding
the Greene County Work Camp in late January through the economic development meetings he has been having throughout the state.
He said he didnt want to usurp the governors announcements.
"I know IDOC is in the process of hiring the 73 staff positions required for the Work
Camp, but again those kinds of things need to come from the administration," Demuzio said.
$25M prison hospital proposed for Dixon, Illinois
By
Pat Guinane
Tuesday, December 30th, 2003
.
SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Department of Corrections is looking for additional
bed space in northwestern Illinois, but not at Thomson Correctional Center.
.
The dormant maximum-security prison in
Carroll County is neither the right shape, nor the right size to accommodate a growing number of inmates who require special
medical care because of advancing age or chronic illness.
.
The Department of Corrections, or DOC, would like to build
a $25 million hospital at Dixon Correctional Center, about 40 miles southeast of Thomson.
.
A couple of years ago, we
came up with the plan to essentially make Dixon Correctional Center the medical facility for the agency and along with that
concept was the idea of building a new hospital, DOC spokesman Sergio Molina said.
.
The Dixon facility already cares for nearly 2,100 inmates. Of those, about 600
patients require special care because of a physical or mental condition, Molina said. This year the state gave DOC $1.2 million
to begin planning a new hospital building that would add nearly 200 beds intended for elderly and infirm inmates now housed
at facilities throughout the state.
.
Building the new hospital would cost the state about $5 million, with federal
grant money accounting for the other $20 million, Molina said.
.
Illinois spent more than $140 million to build Thomson
Correctional Center, which was completed more than two years ago. But tight budget years have kept lawmakers from finding
the money to operate the prison.
.
The 1,800-bed facility includes a 200-bed dormitory-style minimum-security wing,
but Molina said that section of the prison could not used as a hospital.
.
We never envisioned placing inmates that
needed chronic care at a place like Thomson, because it doesnt serve that purpose, he said. The guys we would place there
are the guys that would be physically able to go out and work in the community.
.
The minimum-security wing is essentially
barracks-style housing for low-risk inmates to work at the prison or on state road cleanup crews, Molina said.
.
The
new hospital could take close to two years to build, Molina said. First, the Department of Corrections would have to convince
the legislature and the governor to allocate the construction money.
.
The head of a Chicago-based prison watchdog group
said Tuesday that he supports the expansion, but thinks the state also should consider a compassionate release program to
ease the crunch of elderly and chronically ill prisoners.
.
Essentially, what we would propose is that at some age maybe
65, maybe 70 you would take a close look at inmates who have served long sentences and are chronically ill or pose no risk
to society and you find a way to release them, said James Chip Coldren Jr., president of the John Howard Association.
.
Inmates
50 and older still comprise just 3 or 4 percent of the prison population, but their numbers have jumped as the states inmate
count grew from about 10,000 to more than 43,000 since the 1970s, according to the Department of Corrections.
.
On
top of that, a lot of our inmates have not lived very healthy lives, Molina said.
.
The proposed facility, which would
be built next to the existing hospital, would add dozens of new medical and nursing jobs, Molina said.
.
Thomson Correctional
Center was expected to create about 750 prison jobs. But first lawmakers have to find at least $50 million a year to run the
prison.
.
The Department of Correction has entertained outside suitors. Federal officials toured the facility this summer
with an eye toward temporary housing for illegal immigrants, but ultimately decided Thomson was too far from Chicago.
.
(This
story includes reports from The Associated Press.)
.
Pat Guinane can be contacted at
.
(217) 789-0865 or patrick.guinane@lee.net.
Fix allegedly in for prison pick
By KATE CLEMENTS
THE NEWS-GAZETTE
December 19, 2003
SPRINGFIELD Shady dealings involving the siting of
a maximum-security state prison in Grayville were part of the 91-page federal indictment of former Gov. George Ryan this week.
It was a prison that Hoopeston officials had fought to have located in their town instead.
According to the
federal indictment, Ryan allegedly notified "Associate 1," who has previously been identified as lobbyist Ron Swanson, that
Grayville would be the site for the new prison almost two months before the decision was made public.
Swanson
then obtained a $50,000 contract to lobby for Grayville to be selected as the new prison site, even though he would have known
that no lobbying was needed because the city had already been chosen, according to the indictment.
When Ryan
announced the selection of the prison site, he publicly acknowledged the efforts of Swanson's client in promoting Grayville
as the best location for the new prison. Federal prosecutors allege that Ryan made the comments at Swanson's request.
Several towns, including Hoopeston, had competed for the prison in spring 2001 because the $140 million facility was expected
to create 350 to 400 construction jobs and employ 750 when it was up and running.
In his pitch to Department
of Corrections officials, then-mayor Bob Ault estimated that 90 percent of Hoopeston residents supported the idea of bringing
a prison to the city, which had been hit hard by the closings and downsizing of the canning plants that were its main industry.
The city suggested the state buy all or part of a 375-acre parcel known as the Stokely farm and build the prison there.
Hoopeston was named as a finalist in the selection process, and the city felt confident that it was going to get the prison,
Ault said in a phone interview Thursday.
"When I was mayor, I was certainly disappointed in the decision that
was made, because Hoopeston met all of the criteria and we made several concessions," Ault said. "But the decision was made
by the governor to award it to Grayville, and I guess he had the authority to make that decision."
The indictment
only addresses the period between when the decision was made and when it was announced, but some are now questioning whether
the siting was handled fairly from the beginning.
Department of Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina said only
that "the selection process was followed," and declined to comment further.
When asked if he felt that the
fix was in all along for Grayville, Ault said he "really didn't know for sure."
But it may have all ended
up for the best, he added.
"I certainly wouldn't want to be in the position that Grayville is in now," Ault
said.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich halted construction on the prison in April, citing budget cuts.
The Illinois Department of Corrections now admits the possibility that it may never be completed and is looking at other uses
for the site.
"We're still looking at options of what we can do with that property, whether we continue with
the construction for Department of Corrections purposes, or if there is interest from other outside entities," Molina said.
Grayville actually purchased the land on which the prison was to be located, something Ault said he was pressured to do in
Hoopeston.
"People had urged us to purchase the land and donate it to the state, but we did not concede to
that because we would have put the town in debt to pay for the land," he said. "If they decided not to build the prison, we
would still have that indebtedness hanging over our heads."
You can reach Kate Clements at (217) 782-2486
or via e-mail at kclements@news-gazette.com.
Bettendorf company gets contract at empty prison
By Pat Guinane
QCTimes, Wednesday, December 17th, 2003
.
.
SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Department of Corrections has agreed to
pay an Iowa firm nearly $23,000 a year to maintain security and fire alarm systems at Thomson Correctional Center, even though
the maximum security prison still awaits its first inmate.
.
The three-year, $68,000 contract awarded Tuesday to Simplex
Grinnel LP in Bettendorf, represents a fraction of what it costs Illinois to keep the northwest Illinois prison in mothballs.
.
The
$140 million facility originally was scheduled to open about two-and-a-half years ago. It would have boosted the states prison
capacity by 1,800 beds and provided about 750 jobs to Carroll County, where unemployment peaks well above the statewide average.
.
But when state finances declined, Gov. George Ryan decided the state couldnt afford
to open the Thomson prison and spend at least $50 million a year running it.
.
The community feels that he mismanaged
the states finances in his last couple years and that with more prudent spending, the money could have been there, said Merrie
Jo Enloe, president of the village of 550 residents.
.
Earlier this month, a local businessman who expanded his gas
station and convenience store to cater to prison-related traffic had to sell his shop, Enloe said. Frustrated townsfolk jokingly
suggest that the state might as well convert the prison into a no-frills bed-and-breakfast inn.
.
We wanted the first
guest to be George Ryan, Enloe said.
.
First-year Gov. Rod Blagojevich has not found the funds to open the prison, and
the shuttered prison will cost DOC about $800,000 to maintain this year. The state put up another $362,000 this year to help
the community make the payments on a sewage treatment plant built to accommodate the prison, DOC spokesman Sergio Molina said.
.
The
facility faces an uncertain future. Molina said finding the money to open Thomson in the next fiscal year is not out of the
question, but there are competitors for the money.
.
Earlier this year, the state halted construction of prisons in
Hopkins Park near Kankakee and in Grayville, along the states southeastern border. It could be difficult to convince the governor
or the legislature to open one prison over another.
.
Outside suitors remain somewhat of an option. Federal immigration
officials looking for bed space toured Thomson this summer.
.
The issue with them is they need bed space in closer proximity
to the city of Chicago, Molina said. So, right now theyre not looking at Thomson.
.
Molina said the DOC has had talks
with two private firms in correctional industries, and the states of Wisconsin, Alaska and Hawaii appear to be in the market
for more prison capacity.
.
Generally speaking, there are a number of states that have been looking for bed space to
house inmates from their systems, he said. What were going to do is talk to any interested parties and see if Thomson is a
viable option.
.
Enloe said she has no problem with other states as suitors. However, she is wary of a private firm
guarding maximum-security inmates in the community. A private firm also might not offer employment benefits on par with the
state.
.
Its frustrating, Enloe said. Hope is draining.
.
Pat Guinane can be contacted at
.
(217) 789-0865or
patrick.guinane@lee.net.
Early outs hike state costs
$380 million a year for nine
years
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
29 Oct 2003
Last year's early retirement program will cost state government an extra $380 million a year
for the next nine years, trustees of the State Employees Retirement System were told Tuesday.
The cost of the early retirement program more than doubled the amount of state funding needed
for the system to meet its obligations.
"The early retirement incentive cut state employment, but there's a big ticket at the other
end," said Robert Knox, executive secretary of the State Retirement Systems. The SRS oversees pension plans for state workers,
judges and lawmakers.
Each year the retirement systems must formally notify the governor and General Assembly how
much money is needed to meet funding targets.
SERS will need $720 million in state money during the budget year that starts next July 1.
However, most of that is needed to cover the debt added to the system from the early retirement
incentive program of late 2002. Had there been no early retirement program, Knox said, the system would need $358 million.
The program was intended to trim the state's payroll of older, higher-paid workers. It allowed
eligible workers to purchase five years' worth of pension credits, giving them a boost in their retirement benefits.
The offer proved tremendously popular. Normally, about one-third of eligible employees take
advantage of an early retirement program. However, 11,000 of the 22,000 eligible Illinois workers opted for the retirement
plan. The huge number of new retirees added about $2.3 billion to the unfunded liability of the State Employee Retirement
System, one reason the cost to the state is soaring.
However, the state is saving money on salaries. Those 11,000 employees collectively earned
$49 million a month, Knox said. That's $588 million a year in salaries. About 1,000 of those jobs have been refilled, according
to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Office of Management and Budget.
How the numbers stack up could affect chances for another early retirement incentive plan
to pass the General Assembly. Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, will announce details of a proposed additional round of early
retirements Thursday and hopes it will pass the General Assembly during the upcoming fall veto session.
In the meantime, though, Poe wants to review SERS' financial data.
"I think we've got to look at (the numbers)," Poe said. "I don't know how it stacks up."
Poe said he thinks another round of early retirements could save the state $150 million to
$200 million. It also would avert any additional layoffs, he said.
Poe said he thinks Blagojevich is planning to lay off large numbers of non-union employees,
although he acknowledged that is "speculation on my part."
Poe denied that he's pushing another early retirement plan to bail out Republican state workers
who remain on the state payroll after 25 years of GOP governors.
"There's a good chance a lot (of eligible retirees) are Republicans, but I'm just trying to
help out people," Poe said.
Blagojevich also has raised the possibility of another early retirement plan as a way to trim
the payroll. The option remains on the table for now, said Becky Carroll, spokeswoman for Blagojevich budget director John
Filan.
"We are evaluating the SERS findings. We will look at the assumptions they make and just take
it from there," Carroll said. "We are going to treat this as we would any budget request."
Drug use in state prisons declines
By JOHN O'CONNOR
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
12 Oct 2003
The percentage of inmates testing
positive for illegal drugs in state prisons has dropped from nearly 10 percent six years ago to 1.2 percent, according to
Department of Corrections figures.
Positive drug tests among guards, parole agents and other employees also have continually
dropped since 1998, to less than 1 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
The plummeting numbers follow a Corrections crackdown that began in the mid-1990s with an inmate drug scandal; a zero-tolerance
drug policy for employees; and more intensive searches of inmates, visitors and employees, particularly since the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
"It's working," Corrections director Roger Walker said. "It's manpower-intensive but there has to be a message sent and
we have to do it and do it now."
Charles Fasano of the John Howard Association, a prison-watchdog group, was impressed by the steady decline and credited
Corrections' tougher stance.
"Even in a fairly tight prison, drugs are still a problem that they had to pay special attention to," Fasano said. "They
bought more equipment, they're using dogs more, they're more vigilant about searches."
In the 1997 fiscal year, 9.5 percent of the 7,100 inmates who were tested came up positive for illegal drugs.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1.2 percent of 45,930 inmates tested - virtually everyone in more than 60 state
prisons, juvenile centers and work-release programs - had drugs in their systems.
The crackdown can trace its roots to the infamous videotapes that surfaced in 1996 showing convicted mass-murderer Richard
Speck indulging in sex and what appeared to be drugs seemingly at will. The agency, pushed by the General Assembly, enacted
new policies and disciplinary measures to reclaim what many said was a system in which inmates had too many privileges.
Prison system hires first guards in months
By
JOHN O'CONNOR Associated Press writer
October 4, 2003
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois' prison guards, who say the state budget crisis has only
worsened matters for an already understaffed system, will get some relief after the Corrections Department hired its first
batch of cadets in nearly two years.
The agency's academy in Springfield is training 110 prison guards who will be assigned
to prisons throughout the state in mid-November, along with 28 parole officers, spokesman Sergio Molina said Thursday.
Roughly 250 more cadets and 30 parole officers are scheduled for the next two classes
- although the numbers could change slightly - and the department plans to keep training newcomers through May, Molina said.
They can't come soon enough for correctional officers in the state's 36 adult prisons
and youth detention centers. Corrections employees worked 661,000 overtime hours last year - the equivalent of 330 more full-time
employees working 50 weeks a year.
"They're getting to the point of just being exhausted," said correctional officer
Renee Bantista, a union board member at the Dwight prison. "Your alertness isn't there; you're walking around like a zombie."
The department paid $19.3 million in overtime last year, according to agency records.
That's down 25 percent from the $25.9 million it paid in the fiscal year that ended in June 2001, but 8 percent more than
what was paid in fiscal 2002.
"There's certainly some concern about how many hours our staff put in," Molina said.
"That's why the priority has been placed on those front-line positions, to start back-filling some of those vacancies."
Corrections has 13,842 employees, according to the state comptroller. The agency's
last cadet class graduated in March 2002, but Molina said there's enough money to have 14,992 by the end of the fiscal year
in June.
Large Unions Must Disclose Finances
Fri
Oct 3, 6:18 PM ET
By LEIGH STROPE, AP Labor Writer
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration issued new regulations Friday requiring
the nation's largest labor unions to disclose details of their finances, including how much they spend on politics and lobbying,
gifts, overhead and management.
The rules will force national, regional and local unions with income
of more than $250,000 to provide much more financial detail in the annual forms they are required to file with the Labor Department
(news - web sites). The forms haven't been updated in more than 40 years, administration officials say.
"The current financial disclosure forms that unions file provide little of value to rank-and-file members about their
union's finances and operations, and they have failed as an effective deterrent against financial misconduct," said Labor
Secretary Elaine Chao in a statement.
The rules take effect next year, though unions will not have to file a report until March 2005.
Organized labor questioned the timing of the announcement on a Friday, several hours after the Labor Department released
its largest monthly report, on unemployment.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the rules were a political attempt to disarm unions headed into next year's elections.
Unions are the traditional political allies of Democrats and mobilize huge numbers of voters for them in elections.
Unions and the White House have been at odds since President Bush (news - web sites) assumed office.
"The Bush administration's rules are craftily designed to weaken unions, the strongest advocates for American workers,
as our nation prepares for the 2004 elections," Sweeney said in a statement. "The rules target unions and go far beyond what
is required of corporations or other not-for-profit organizations."
He said the requirements are overly burdensome for 5,000 labor organizations and will give companies the upper hand
in unionizing efforts by disclosing financial details.
Under current rules, large unions can lump together much of their transactions. For example, one form filed with
the department said a union spent $62 million on "disbursement of grants to joint projects with state and local affiliates."
Another reported $4 million spent on "sundry expenses."
Such broad categories make it easy to hide possible embezzlement and mismanagement, Republicans said.
The new regulations "will give rank-and-file union members better tools to hold union leaders accountable for their
actions and better, more understandable information for them to judge the financial health and integrity of their unions,"
said Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., chairman of the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee.
Labor unions fought against the department's initial plan, released in December 2002, and got 30 Republican House
members to sign a letter asking the department to start over.
The Labor Department said it received more than 35,000 public comments on the proposal, which led to the exemption
of more than 500 smaller unions from filing the most detailed financial report.
The new rule also requires large unions to file a new report for any trusts in which it has a financial interest,
and must disclose transactions of $10,000 or more.
Unions also must estimate the proportion of time each officer and employee spends on activities such as representation
and politics and lobbying.
Walker brings integrity to DOC
By ADRIANA COLINDRES
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
28 Sept 2003
Roger Walker Jr., the former
sheriff of Macon County, knows a thing or two about criminals.
"I always felt our job was done once we put them in jail,
once they've been sentenced by the courts," Walker says of the three decades he spent working in the sheriff's department.
"That was our job and it was done, and who cares what happens after that?
"Well, we should care what happens after that."
Walker also knows about working for a government with troublesome finances. In 2001, because of a tight budget in Macon
County, he ended the practice of offering bacon, eggs and other hot breakfasts to jail inmates. Instead, inmates ate bagels
and coffee.
State government in Illinois is dealing with a money crunch, too.
"I'm walking into a situation basically like I left, only it's a much larger-scale one, where there's a financial crisis,"
says Walker, 54. "So I don't have the luxury of being able to have the manpower I'd like to see at all of the facilities.
I don't have the money to buy all of the equipment that I think all of the workers should have."
A native of Tennessee who grew up in Decatur, Walker began working for the state less than four months ago.
When he won his race for Macon County sheriff in 1998, he became the first African-American man to be elected sheriff
in Illinois. He sailed to a second term in 2002.
Earlier this year, Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked Walker to serve as head of the Department of Corrections. Walker asked
the governor if he could wait until June to start his new job because he wanted to make sure his wife, Vergie, would recover
from a stem cell transplant needed to treat her bone marrow cancer. Walker said the transplant proved successful. The couple,
who celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary in August, have two daughters and three grandchildren. They still live in Decatur.
"We're a pretty religious family, and there's a lot of prayer that went into this whole thing," Walker says.
As head of Corrections, Walker's responsibilities include overseeing the reopening of work camps in Hanna City and Greene
County and the reopening of Sheridan Correctional Center in LaSalle County as a drug treatment center. All are expected to
happen early next year.
The Department of Corrections also is facing a number of staffing issues triggered at least partly by the state budget
situation.
For instance, Blagojevich last spring deleted from the new state budget $17 million that lawmakers had put in to pay
for the positions of 230 Corrections captains. The governor said the rank represented an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
In August, the department launched an administrative restructuring plan that eliminated more than 200 captains' posts,
though most of those people found other jobs within the agency.
On Sept. 16, about 30 employees at Hill Correctional Center in Knox County held a rally, saying the facility has too
many inmates and too few guards. That poses a security risk, the Hill employees said.
"I understand their concerns," says Walker, who has proposed changing the existing scheduling system to try to relieve
staffing problems.
Under his proposal, employees no longer would have fixed days off, such as every Saturday and Sunday. Rather, employees
would work six days, be off two days, work six days again and be off three days. Then the cycle would repeat.
Such a plan worked in Macon County, he says. So far, however, the state's largest employee union isn't going along with
the idea.
"Our local leaders tell us that our members just aren't interested in it," says Henry Bayer, executive director of Council
31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
"Even if it were a good idea - and I don't think it is a good idea, but even if it were - it certainly shouldn't be a
priority," Bayer says. "He should be spending his time making sure that critical positions are being filled. He should be
spending his time establishing credibility with the employees."
Walker says he wants a chance to give his proposal a test run.
"I can't prove to them how good the schedule would be because they won't let me try it," he says. "That's one thing I
haven't gotten accustomed to yet, is dealing with the union. But I've made some strides with them, and I hope that they understand
what I'm doing is to help the department and to address some of the problems they see as problems."
Walker says one of his strengths is his people skills, and others seem to agree.
"He's a personable guy, very pleasant," Bayer says.
Jerry Dawson, a 26-year veteran of the Macon County Sheriff's Department and Walker's successor as sheriff, describes
his former boss as "very service-oriented" and someone who establishes good rapport with others.
"He came up through the ranks, so he had the respect of the rank-and-file people," Dawson says. "The thing that he's
going to bring to that (Corrections) office is integrity. He's very fair."
Death row stays mostly empty
Capital punishment
sentences behind average
By JAN DENNIS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
28 Sept 2003
Just
two men are waiting to die in the tiny cells on Illinois' once-empty death row, locked away in a hollow prison gallery that
some predict could remain largely vacant years from now.
Death sentences are running well behind the state's average of
11 per year in the decade before former Gov. George Ryan made news worldwide in January by pardoning four condemned prisoners
and sparing the lives of 167 others.
Capital punishment opponents hail the decline as a sign that executions are falling
out of favor because of the furor over a flawed system that sent 17 men to death row who later were found to be wrongfully
convicted.
Some prosecutors around the state acknowledge that death penalty cases probably have
been stifled in the aftermath of Illinois' capital punishment debate, but not by a sense of justice.
Instead, they blame new legal requirements intended to safeguard death penalty cases,
along with uncertainty over the legislature's ongoing efforts to overhaul the system.
Defense attorneys, meanwhile, credit a reform already on the books that provided more
state money for defendants, leveling the financial playing field in death penalty cases.
"When you think about it, it used to be the United States Treasury against some poor
little guy who's been charged with a crime. That was part of the unfairness of the whole system. Even upper income people
have trouble paying for
their own defense, the costs are so high," Ryan said.
Death sentences dipped from a decade-high 17 in 1996 to just three in 2001, the year
after the defense fund was created, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.
"It's not because prosecutors are seeking the death penalty less. It's because defendants
now have better resources to get themselves off," said Steve Richards, head of the state appellate defender's death penalty
trial assistance division.
Champaign County State's Attorney John Piland, president of the Illinois State's Attorneys
Association, said his group fears many of the reforms are a thinly veiled effort to abolish executions.
"Prosecutors have in fact done what I think the abolitionists had hoped they would
do, which is to say 'Yes, this case is deserving of the death penalty but because it is so much agony, so much trouble, the
ends just aren't worth it,'" said Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons.
Other state's attorneys say they haven't been swayed by the death penalty debate or
new Supreme Court rules that require prosecutors to disclose information that may help the defense and allow defense attorneys
to interview prosecution witnesses before trial.
"We handle cases the same as we did before the whole clemency issue. We reserve the
possibility of pursuing the death penalty for the most heinous cases," said Jerry Lawrence, spokesman for Cook County State's
Attorney Dick Devine.
Lawyers who help defend potential death penalty clients say their caseloads have changed
little since Ryan emptied death row.
Richards and Jeff Howard, capital case coordinator for the Cook County public defender,
said their offices are handling about 300 potential death penalty cases.
Howard said Cook County prosecutors have filed notices that they intend to seek the
death penalty in more than 100 cases, which he suspects might be a bargaining chip.
"Though prosecutors are saying they are less apt to seek the death penalty, it appears
they are still using it as a tool to hold over a defendant's head to bring about a possible plea agreement," Howard said.
Richards said the vast majority of death penalty cases are now settled before trial.
Only five cases have gone to a jury this year, and only two ended with a death sentence, he said.
Anti-death penalty groups said they will continue their push to abolish executions
as the legislature debates reforms and the Supreme Court considers a lawsuit by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and 10 state's
attorneys that would return 32 inmates spared by Ryan to death row. Madigan, who expects a ruling by early next year, said
she supports both the death penalty and the reform package that will go back to lawmakers during this fall's veto session.
"The fact is, our system will never be perfect. It's a basic principle that you don't
kill innocent people, and once the public sees we can't guarantee that, it will lead to its abolition," said Jane Bohman,
executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
Ryan, who has been asked to help two European groups propose a United Nations resolution
outlawing executions worldwide, said he has become more opposed to the death penalty since leaving office.
"I've pretty much decided that I don't see any purpose in the death penalty. For the
most part, I think we would be a better place without it," said Ryan, who denied a 1999 appeal by Andrew Kokoraleis, the last
person executed in Illinois.
Prosecutors and victims' families disagree, saying the death penalty is needed for
both public safety and to reassure people when crimes shock a community.
"I look at it that it's a reality for an imperfect society. There are some individuals
who represent such a risk to public safety. Most animals would be safer and more compliant in society than they are," said
Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz.
Jacqui White of Bloomington, whose sister's killer was spared by Ryan's mass clemency
order, agreed.
"I don't think it's about vindication or revenge. There's nothing that's ever going
to bring her back. The main thing for me was preventing him from hurting someone else in the future," White said.
Coles County State's Attorney Steve Ferguson sent the first killer to Illinois' then-empty
death row in February, when 27-year-old Anthony Mertz of Charleston was convicted of murdering Eastern Illinois University
student Shannon McNamara in 2001.
Ferguson said he sought the death penalty for the first time in his 11 years as state's
attorney because of the cold-blooded nature of the murder and evidence that linked Mertz to another killing two years earlier.
"It's not something that I celebrate, if you will, as a notch in the belt. But I guess
what I feel good about is that we made the system work," he said.
Mertz was joined on death row in August by 61-year-old Curtis Thompson of Toulon,
convicted in a 2002 shooting spree that killed Stark County deputy Adam Streicher and James and Janet Giesenhagen of Toulon.
Arbitrator: DOC captains move OK
Agency's action
to fill lieutenant vacancies was within its authority
By ADRIANA COLINDRES
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
20 Sept 2003
The Illinois Department of Corrections acted within its authority when it allowed
some department captains, who were slated for layoff, to fill lieutenants' vacancies, an arbitrator has ruled.
Arbitrator
Harvey Nathan's decision, issued this week, was in response to a May 23 grievance filed by Council 31 of the American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees. The grievance was against the state of Illinois and the departments of Corrections
and Central Management Services.
The union's grievance contended that by permitting captains to move into lieutenants'
vacancies, Corrections was violating its collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME. As a result, AFSCME said, its members
were being cheated out of jobs and promotions because the former captains were taking up those slots.
But in his ruling, Nathan found it was "not a violation of the agreement for the employer
to decide to open up the long-awaited lieutenant positions so that the displaced captains would have a place to go."
Captains used to be shift supervisors at prisons. But Gov. Rod Blagojevich, saying
captains represented an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, deleted from the new state budget the $17 million that lawmakers
had put in to fund 230 captains' positions.
On Aug. 1, after a one-month delay, Corrections implemented a restructuring plan.
Part of the plan involved creating a new post, "shift commander," to describe the employees who supervise prison work shifts.
The restructuring eliminated more than 200 captains' posts, but almost all of those
workers landed other jobs within the agency. Some accepted promotions to shift commander. Others accepted demotions to lieutenant
or correctional officer at an adult facility or youth supervisor at a juvenile facility.
In the grievance, the union said it didn't receive proper notification of Corrections'
plan to lay off captains.
AFSCME asked the arbitrator to rule in its favor and to retroactively offer the lieutenant
jobs to qualified bargaining unit employees. AFSCME represents Corrections lieutenants, but it didn't represent captains.
"We're very unhappy, obviously, with the arbitrator's decision," said Henry Bayer,
executive director of AFSCME Council 31. "In the view of our attorneys, there's not much we can do about it at this point."
Bayer said the union still has two pending Corrections-related grievances, including
one concerning the calculation of seniority for former captains who moved into correctional officer jobs.
Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina said the arbitrator's ruling "essentially affirms
what we've already done."
"Operationally, it really doesn't change anything," he said.
Exporting U.S. Jobs
An
engineered exodus of manufacturing and hi-tech jobs threatens to abolish the American middle class the bulwark of a free society.
by William Norman Grigg
September 22, 2003
We were middle class," lamented former textile worker Jimmy Bennett in an interview with the Washington Post, before
hastily correcting himself: "We still are." Jimmy and his wife Verleen, residents of Kannapolis, North Carolina, were among
the nearly 6,500 employees of the Pillowtex towel factory laid off in early August.
Just two years ago, reported the August 9th Washington Post, the Bennetts had bought a modest $100,000 home, "confident
their combined wages would continue to support the comfortable lifestyle that had long eluded their parents." Like many of
their former colleagues, the Bennetts, who both work part-time at near minimum wage, quickly sold many of their household
amenities to get by on roughly half their previous take-home pay.
Thousands of other former Pillowtex workers "are fending off eviction notices, car repossessions and home foreclosures,
and making difficult choices about which prescription drugs to skip and which utilities to turn off," reported the Post. "People
are turning off cellphones, cutting cable TV, and pleading with creditors," added the August 5th Christian Science Monitor.
"Already, 200 have had their water shut off."
The Monitor describes the Pillowtex closing as an event akin to a natural disaster. But it wasnt a destructive caprice
of nature that shut down the plant. Rather, as the paper observes, the firm was overwhelmed by "a flood of imports from China."
Resulting in the largest one-day layoff in the history of North Carolina, the Pillowtex bankruptcy dramatically exemplifies
the devastation being wrought throughout Americas manufacturing economy as our trade deficit with Communist China grows.
As the Monitor reports, "Manufacturing businesses, from electronics to furniture and fishing lures, are closing their
doors or moving production to China.... Three members of the presidents cabinet on a cross-country jaunt to promote the Bush
economic plan have gotten an earful from angry businesspeople trying to compete with Chinese imports made by workers getting
50 cents an hour."
Charles Bremer of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute points out that as textiles from Communist China and Vietnam
flood the American market, "People are moving jobs faster than you can count." In 2008, all import quotas on Chinese textiles
will be removed. "At that point," predicts Bremer, "the Chinese will completely dominate the market."
Ironically, at least some of the future textile imports from China will probably be produced on looms from Pillowtexs
Kannapolis facility but those looms will be in China, operated by Chinese workers. The August 7th Charlotte Observer reported
that "looms and other machinery [from Pillowtex] likely will be removed from plants, packed and shipped to manufacturers in
China, Pakistan, and India...."
Manufacturing in Decline
As the erosion of Americas manufacturing base accelerates, communities across the nation are experiencing economic ruin
similar to that of Kannapolis.
This summer, 10 plants operated by the Hooker Furniture Corporation were shut down. These factories were shuttered even
though the companys profits had grown in recent years "largely by outsourcing to cheaper manufacturers abroad," reported ABC
News on August 14th.
"Every time weve asked them to step up, theyve done it," commented Hooker CEO Paul Toms of the employees who lost their
jobs. "I feel like weve let these folks down, and I dont know what Id do different.... Its unlike anything Ive seen in my
21 years in the industry. A lot of plants have closed, people have been sent home, and it really has come quicker than anybody
expected. I think its hard to say, three, four, five years from now, what will this industry look like domestically."
As with the American textile industry, our furniture industry is being decimated in uneven competition with low-wage
nations like Communist China. The Chinese "have millions of people that theyre trying to have employed so its hard to fault
them," Toms opines. "But I think that at some point, this country has to think about whats best for us.... You have industries
and examples of predatory pricing. Thats the risk we run not just in furniture, but in any industry that were letting leave
this country."
Andrew Brod is an economic analyst in Kernersville, North Carolina, where Hooker closed a plant formerly employing hundreds.
He told ABC News that many American companies, rather than making capital investments in the U.S., have decided to "funnel
investments abroad, many to China itself...." "Some have contracted with Chinese producers, but others have entered into joint
ventures to establish new factories [and] to refurbish existing factories," Brod notes.
The closing of the Kernersville Hooker plant is already having a local economic impact. "If I dont work, I cant go out
and spend money to shop or buy what I need, so thats going to put somebody else in jeopardy," observed former Hooker employee
Mildred Stiles. Rather than being "that trickle-down thing," she continued, "I think its going to be more of a pour-down....
I think its going to hurt everybody concerned." In some economic circles, the phenomenon she describes is called the "race
to the bottom" the sudden, rapid decline of an entire population from the middle class to near-subsistence living.
Our nations manufacturing sector has been the gateway to the middle class for untold millions of Americans, resulting
in unprecedented national prosperity. What will America look like if manufacturing jobs continue to be outsourced to low-wage
foreign competitors? Surveying Kernersvilles grim economic prospects, Brod declares: "In part, the answer to that question
is, What sort of America do you see now? Its here already."
Grim portents abound for other manufacturing-dependent communities and for our nation as a whole. An academic study compiled
in 2001 for the U.S.-China Security Review Commission and the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission reports: "In the months
since the enactment of Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) legislation with China there has been an escalation of production
shifts out of the U.S. and into China.... [B]etween October 1, 2000 and April 30, 2001 more than eighty corporations announced
their intentions to shift production to China...." Since 1992, "as many as 760,000 U.S. jobs have been lost due to the U.S.-China
trade deficit," with a comparable number of jobs disappearing because of outsourcing to Mexico. "The employment effects of
these production shifts go well beyond the individual workers whose jobs were lost," continues the report. "Each time another
company shuts down operations and moves work to China, Mexico, or any other country, it has a ripple effect on the wages of
every other worker in that industry" in other words, accelerating the "race to the bottom."
The August 25th Financial Times reported that Communist China is "rapidly catching up with the U.S. as the worlds most
popular location for foreign investment": Last year, China attracted a record $52.7 billion in foreign investment, "more than
any other country." "China has been widely blamed in developed countries for flooding the industrialized world with cheap
goods," commented Alan Ruskin of the 4Cast economic consulting group. "But Western investment is largely making this rise
in productive capacity possible."
Mercury Marine, the manufacturer of small boat engines and the largest employer in Wisconsins Fond du Lac County, has
announced that it "will shift some production to China within the next three years," reported the August 8th Appleton, Wisconsin,
Post-Crescent. Five days earlier, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported: "A small group of Mercury Marine employees from
China are coming to Fond du Lac to tour the plant but not to take work to China, [company communications manager Steve] Fleming
said." But at some American companies, such visits by Chinese employees have foreshadowed outsourcing manufacturing jobs there.
The northwest Indiana town of Valparaiso confronts the prospect of losing a local plant operated by Magnequench, an electronics
firm acquired in 1995 by a consortium including Chinese industrial interests. If the plant is moved to China, 225 local residents
will lose their jobs. Even more shocking is the fact that the Magnequench facility in Valparaiso "makes 80 percent of rare
earth magnets used in smart bombs," according to the Chesterton Tribune.
The erosion of the U.S. industrial base "has enormous national security implications," reported the August 2003 issue
of National Defense magazine. "It has made the United States so dependent on foreign countries for critical components and
systems that it may have lost its ability to control its supply chains. The United States is becoming dependent on countries
such as China, India, Russia, France and Germany for critical weapons technology. Its conceivable that one of these governments
could tell its local suppliers not to sell critical components to the United States because they do not agree with U.S. foreign
policy."
Writing in the June 2002 issue of Harpers magazine, business analyst Barry Lynn points out that many of Americas premier
corporations including key defense-related firms now consider themselves "virtual companies" depending on a complex and widely
dispersed network of suppliers around the world. Dell Computer, for example, assembles its computers out of 4,500 parts manufactured
in various Asian countries, including Communist China. Dell an important defense contractor maintains an inventory sufficient
for only four days production. If its supply line were interrupted for more than 96 hours, Dells Texas plants would cease
production.
Simply put, "the U.S. industrial base is being taken apart, piece-by-piece, and relocated to other nations," conclude
trade analysts Pat Choate and Edward Miller. "In the process, much of Americas industrial and military production base is
being sold to foreign interests, and more importantly a significant portion of it is being physically relocated into other
nations, including our most likely strategic rival China."
For more than a century and a half, Americas manufacturing economy attracted hardworking people from around the world
eager to become Americans. Manufacturing jobs offered these new arrivals entrée into the middle class and helped them assimilate
into our nations civic culture. But as former Treasury Department official Paul Craig Roberts points out, "The loss of high
productivity jobs takes away the ladders of upward mobility and wipes out our human capital."
As our manufacturing base is being stripped away, Americans may someday find it necessary to emigrate to find manufacturing
jobs. Case in point: A machinist employed for several years at a major Wisconsin-based multinational firm the father of a
large family described to The New American how he was told by his employer that within several years he may have to "relocate
to China" if he wants to keep his job.
A "Political Thing"
John C. McCoy, owner of Omnitech Technical Associates in Bellingham, Washington, commented to The New American that "China
is being set up as the center of global manufacturing. They have a huge supply of cheap labor, cheap power, and very modern
production facilities. Many, perhaps even most, of the Chinese-made products being unloaded on our docks and reaching our
store shelves are assembled in automated plants, and dropped into shipping boxes without ever being touched by human hands."
Many of those ultra-modern Chinese plants have been built by Japanese firms, but others have been built in recent years by
U.S.-based multinational corporations.
McCoy, an activist with a group called Save our American Manufacturing (SAM), points out that outsourcing to China has
exploded because of a chain reaction. "Once tooling capacity is lost, manufacturing simply has to move," he told The New American.
"People running companies in this country generally dont want to go offshore. But once the process got started, it snowballed,
because the specialized tooling capacity started to shut down and it takes a long time to re-tool, too long to remain competitive
in this globalized economy."
Behind the Decline
McCoy describes our declining manufacturing base as "a political thing," rather than the result of market forces or irresponsible
corporate greed. "Present American policy has lost touch with knowledge of how goods are produced," he contends. "America
without the capacity to renew and invent products will perish. The most important key to our renewal, apart from the entrepreneurial
spirit, is the ability to engineer, and make tooling. Under current trade policy these assets are quickly disappearing, being
traded away. And once theyre gone, we may never get them back."
The Communist Chinese regime enjoys an unnatural competitive advantage over American manufacturers because it essentially
employs slave labor. That advantage is compounded by our own governments perverse insistence on subsidizing, via the Export-Import
Bank (Ex-Im), the relocation of U.S. corporations to China. The Ex-Im Bank was created by the FDR administration in 1934 for
the purpose of encouraging business investment in the Soviet Union. Through Ex-Im, corporate investments in China are subsidized,
and any losses incurred are socialized (that is, picked up by U.S. taxpayers) while the profits remain private and legitimate
market competition is undermined.
Government-subsidized corporate relocation to China also accelerates the process described by McCoy, in which Beijings
manufacturing sector "tools-up" even as ours "tools-down." As the May 1998 issue of Harvard Business Review reported, American
companies seeking to do business in China "face many requirements to transfer technology or to export a certain percentage
of their products made in China. Controls on foreign exchange keep them from moving funds freely out of the country."
"Every firm that sets up for production in China has to turn over its technology," Jerry Skoff, owner of Badger Metal
Tech in Menominee Falls, Wisconsin, pointed out to The New American. "Intellectual property theft by the Chinese is very common.
And any investment banker familiar with the Chinese system will tell people preparing to set up over there that they should
pad their expenses by at least 40 percent to allow for the graft, bribes, and other payoffs involved in doing business over
there." Given the pandemic corruption of the Chinese system, the federal governments role in socializing risks and losses
for U.S.-based firms looms even larger.
Many U.S. companies were lured to China by the prospect of a vast, untapped consumer market. But rather than selling
goods in China, American companies are exporting goods from there and completing the circuit by sending jobs and plants back
to China. Consequently, observed Richard Bernstein and Ross H. Munro in their 1997 book The Coming Conflict with China, "China
has been getting American investment capital and reaping windfall trade surpluses at the same time. As a result, China is
one of the leading foreign-exchange-reserve countries in the world a bizarre situation for a poor and developing country."
Beijing benefits greatly from Chinas trade surplus because it can subsidize predatory trade practices such as directing
subsidies into various manufacturing fields as a way of underbidding potential American competitors.
In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Jay Bender, owner of Falcon Plastics in Brookings, South Dakota,
described "how one of his customers, a manufacturer of fishing lures, has decided to move its production from the U.S. to
China.... [The fishing lure manufacturer] asked him to bid on molds to make the plastic bait. He bid $25,000 per mold. That
was a competitive price, he said." However, the potential customer found a Chinese source charging $3,000 for each mold. "I
cant even buy raw materials for that," Bender observes. "There are two possibilities: Either they are subsidized by the government,
or they gave away the molds to get the manufacturing business." To remain in business, Bender has had to lay off nearly one-third
of his workforce.
"Were killing ourselves," laments Jerry Skoff. "Bombs are falling, but people arent paying attention. Were being reduced
from a manufacturing and hi-tech economy into a service economy and if things continue the way they are, the service sector
will eventually go the same direction."
Abolishing the Middle Class
At the end of the process Skoff describes is the eradication of the American middle class derisively referred to as the
"bourgeoisie" by Karl Marx. "Were basically liquidating our whole middle class, polarizing people on the two extremes, haves
and have-nots," warned Roger Chastain, president of the Milliken & Co. textile firm, in an interview with the Durham Herald.
"Well be a third world country."
"It makes me wonder if there is some merit to the conspiracy theory the idea that all of this is part of a deliberate
scheme to wipe out the middle class," Jerry Skoff mused to The New American. "The middle class is always a pain in the neck
where governments concerned. Its where you find most of the people who complain about taxes, regulations, and other policies.
If you wipe them out, you just have the ultra-rich and the poor a perfect arrangement for a dictatorship."
Program could keep youths out of state prison
By RYAN KEITH
ASSOCIATED PRESS
19 Sept 2003
Each year, hundreds of Illinois teenagers wind up in state prisons for serious and more mundane offenses. It costs
the state big money and can lead youngsters to a lifetime of crime.
But state officials and youth advocates want to change that pattern. They are working on a program to offer financial
incentives for counties that find alternative ways to discipline juvenile offenders.
Counties would agree to send fewer juveniles to state prisons and instead put them through community-based programs,
such as substance abuse treatment or counseling.
In exchange, the counties would receive money for the programs from the state, which could save hundreds of millions
of dollars in prison expenses.
"The current financial incentive is to send the kid to the state slammer because the state pays," said Rep. Barbara Flynn
Currie, D-Chicago. "The idea is to see if different decisions would be made about miscreants."
The "Redeploy Illinois" program was approved by lawmakers this spring as state officials looked for ways to reduce spending
in tight budget times. If lawmakers approve a change recommended by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the program would get under way
next summer.
The idea, modeled after an Ohio program, is to encourage counties to deal with problem children themselves.
"People do best in the communities that they know best," said Paula Wolff of Chicago Metropolis 2020, an advocacy group
for the Chicago metropolitan region.
Redeploy Illinois isn't law yet. Blagojevich used his amendatory veto power last month to take out language detailing
how the state and counties will share savings.
Supporters say this is one of several details that will be worked out in the coming year.
The juvenile population in the Illinois Department of Corrections has been dropping significantly, from nearly 2,200
inmates in 1999 to about 1,500 last year. A 1999 juvenile reform law helped cut back the numbers, prison officials said, and
the overall prison population has been falling, too.
But the total cost of housing those minors has stayed about the same. The state will spend $112 million on youth prisoners
this year, prison officials said.
Youth advocates and criminal justice experts say counties have a strong financial incentive to send juveniles to prison.
Putting young criminals in the local jail means the county pays, but shipping them to the Department of Corrections is
free for the county. Some minors are sent to prison simply for court-ordered evaluations because their home counties lack
the proper facilities.
That means youths who commit nonviolent offenses go to prison when what they need is counseling or treatment for addiction
or learning disorders. That can have long-term consequences, advocates say.
"It may actually make them more violent sending them there," Wolff said.
In Ohio, nine counties saw a 42 percent decline in youths sent to state prison in 1994, the initial year of the program.
The total number of youths sent to state prisons there since the program went statewide in 1995 dropped from 3,410 to 2,453
in 2001.
Ohio officials say there also has been some cost savings but cannot say yet exactly how much has been saved or diverted
to local counties. Ann Liotta, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Youth Services, said many local programs have been started
there and the program has been a "wonderful success" in reducing admissions to prison and improving cooperation among state
officials and local judges.
Illinois is using the same basic setup and should see the same results, advocates say.
Counties that agree to cut the number of youths they send to state prisons by at least 25 percent would get a share of
the money the state government saves on incarceration.
Counties first must get approval from the state Department of Human Services for their plan to reduce juvenile commitments,
detailing which offenders could benefit from alternative disciplines and what services or programs could be provided. Juveniles
who commit serious felonies still would be sent to prison.
The Department of Corrections estimates Illinois could save more than $235 million over 10 years if 325 youths are dropped
from the system with all counties participating.
Even more important, advocates say, is giving local authorities the resources and authority to rehabilitate misbehaving
youths.
"Part of the premise is to give the local jurisdictions more oversight," said Chip Coldren, president of the John Howard
Association, a prison watchdog group. "If you get the right people involved at the right level, kids won't slip through."
Not everyone is convinced. Some critics say they applaud the idea but have problems with its execution.
Sen. Peter Roskam, R-Glen Ellyn, says he's concerned some youths will get off too easily for misdemeanors, such as sex
offenses or domestic battery, that should bring prison time.
He also says lawmakers, not local officials, should decide how delinquents are disciplined.
"The legislature should be the body that says these are the alternatives to incarceration," Roskam said.
Senate spurns overtime plan
White-collar workers
protected; White House threatens veto
By T. Shawn Taylor, Tribune staff reporter.
Tribune senior correspondent William Neikirk contributed to this story
September 11, 2003
The Bush administration's effort to overhaul overtime rules suffered a major setback
Wednesday after a divided U.S. Senate approved a measure to block rule changes that would deny many workers overtime pay.
The Republican-led chamber, defying a White House veto threat, voted 54-45 to attach
an amendment to a $138 billion spending bill that would prevent the Labor Department from changing white-collar overtime exemptions
under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
"Senate Democrats, joined by six Republicans, stood with working Americans and took
a critical step toward turning back a Bush administration proposal to take overtime pay away from millions of people," said
Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) "During these hard economic times, the last thing we should be doing is cutting Americans' pay."
But Wednesday's victory was only the beginning of a process, Daschle said, adding
that the overtime debate is far from over.
The White House has threatened to veto the spending bill if the amendment, sponsored
by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), is attached to a compromise bill that has to be worked out among House and Senate members.
If the White House does block the spending bill, it could delay funding of U.S. health,
labor and education programs, requiring a temporary spending bill and even more debate on the overtime issue.
Still, Wednesday's vote was hailed as a major--and rare--victory for pro-labor forces
over the Bush administration. Critics of the Labor Department's proposed changes to white-collar overtime exemptions say it
would strip 8 million workers--including nurses, firefighters and police officers--of overtime pay.
Administration officials deny those claims and have estimated 644,000 workers would
lose overtime under the proposal but have said another 1.3 million low-wage workers would gain it.
The Harkin amendment keeps intact the part of the proposal that benefits low-income
workers by raising the minimum yearly salary to $22,100 a year for workers to qualify for overtime.
In recent weeks, foes of the plan, which would change overtime eligibility rules in
three traditional categories of workers--executive, administrative and professional, have campaigned to defeat the portions
they don't like. Groups have organized protest rallies and bombarded members of Congress with e-mail messages to persuade
lawmakers to block the new rules even before the Labor Department issues its final version.
"America's working men and women have won a tremendous victory," said John Sweeney,
president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union federation, which ran television ads in three states--Maine, Ohio and
Missouri--in the past week to drum up support for the Harkin amendment.
House approval
Although the Senate vote represents a blow to the Labor Department's effort, it remains
to be seen whether it will effectively block attempts to update the act, the Depression-era law that spells out which workers
are eligible for overtime pay.
An attempt earlier this summer in the House to attach an identical amendment to the
U.S. health, labor and education appropriations bill was narrowly defeated on a vote of 213-210. The Senate action means that
a conference of members from both chambers will have to scramble to work out a compromise bill before Congress adjourns in
late October.
Traditionally, the appropriations bill is supposed to be wrapped up by Oct. 1, or
the start of the fiscal year for those departments.
Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said the department plans to continue to update
the overtime rules, done at the behest of employer groups who have complained for years that the current rules are confusing
and antiquated. However, because of the Senate action, it is unlikely that any changes will go into effect by early next year
as originally planned.
"The department's proposed reforms are long overdue. Unclear regulations hurt workers
because the department's investigators find it difficult to fully enforce the current regulations, employers don't know what
their responsibilities are, and workers don't know their rights," said Chao.
`Fuzzy science' alleged
Some employer groups on Wednesday expressed outrage over the Senate vote and urged
Congress to allow the department to complete its regulatory process before trying to block it.
"Supporters of the Harkin amendment showed that they were more interested in supporting
labor unions than in supporting workers," said Tracy Mullin, president and chief executive of the National Retail Federation.
In recent months, opponents and supporters have wrangled over the number of low-income
workers who would benefit.
"The maximum it could be is 737,000. That's all the white-collar workers there are
who are making less than $22,100 [a year] who are salaried and working more than 40 hours a week," said Ross Eisenbrey, an
economist for the Economic Policy Institute, who accused the Labor Department of including blue-collar workers in its calculations
to inflate the number to 1.3 million.
Supporters of the Bush plan say opponents are the ones inflating the numbers. Lawrence
Lorber, an attorney for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, accused the institute of using "fuzzy science" to arrive at its figure
of 8 million workers who would lose overtime pay.
"It was unfortunate because I think [the Senate vote] was based on some misunderstanding
as to the real impact of these proposed regulations," Lorber said. "The regulatory process should have gone forward."
Corrections settles labor dispute
By JOHN O'CONNOR
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
10 Sept 2003
While state government wrestles with a budget deficit, the Illinois Department of Corrections must pay $4.5 million to
settle a dispute with parole agents who were kept on call around the clock for nearly a year.
The settlement between the state and the agents' union is less than half what an arbitrator said the agents deserved,
but more than double what the department offered.
The dispute began in July 2000 when Corrections ordered about 200 parole agents to carry pagers and respond when called
- even if they were on vacation - or face discipline.
The agents argued that put them on "standby" status, entitling them under their contract to four hours' pay for each
day on standby.
The order stood from July 25, 2000, until June 11, 2001, during the tenure of former Gov. George Ryan. The directive
wasn't lifted until six weeks after an arbitrator ruled in May 2001 that Corrections had to pay. Had the department rescinded
the order upon the arbitrator's decision, the state could have saved nearly $550,000.
"It was real arrogance," said Mike Newman, associate director of the agents' union, the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees. "The contract language was clear, and the Ryan administration should have known better."
The agency must pay $2.25 million by the end of 2003 and the rest between July 1 and Dec. 31 next year.
Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina did not know where the department would get the money, but said it could pay "without
jeopardizing the operations of the agency."
In the May 2001 ruling, the arbitrator said the department should pay $9.5 million. Corrections then offered to pay $2
million.
A circuit court later overturned the arbitrator's ruling on appeal, saying an award should consider the state's ability
to pay and how much time agents actually worked. The issue returned to the arbitrator, who directed the two sides to negotiate.
Molina could not explain Corrections' decision to settle and didn't know how many parole agents would get money. The
state had fewer than 200 when the order took effect and about 340 a year later.
If 300 agents evenly divided the settlement money, each would get $15,000. All affected agents also will get a compensatory
day off for each month they were on standby.
State's fifth private jail nearly ready
By Kit Miniclier, Denver Post Staff Writer
31 Aug 2003
Colorado's fifth private prison will open in Brush in September with
the arrival of 90 female inmates from Wyoming, officials have confirmed.
The concept of running prisons for profit is
controversial, but cost-conscious federal, state and local officials are increasingly turning to the private sector to finance,
design, build and operate prisons.
Colorado's other private, for- profit prisons - in Burlington, Walsenburg, Las Animas
and Olney Springs - are owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America.
Two more private, for-profit prison facilities, in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, are
in the design stage. They are intended to provide therapeutic treatment for adult parole violators to return them to society,
said Alison Morgan of the Colorado Department of Corrections.
GRW Corp., named after founder Gil R. Wright, is opening the Brush facility, city officials and Morgan confirmed.
The company has four prisons in Kansas, Illinois and Texas.
It is taking over an empty private prison site with a capacity of 250 inmates. GRW vice president Dick Mills says the
company may eventually add another 500 beds.
The facility, formerly known as High Plains Youth Center, housed troubled youth. Colorado closed it in April 1998 after
a 13-year-old inmate committed suicide and allegations of physical and sexual abuse surfaced. It was run by Denver-based Rebound
Corp.
Officials remain mum on details of prison attack
By M.K. Guetersloh
Pontiac bureau chief
Saturday, August 23, 2003
PONTIAC -- Prison officials are still investigating how two Pontiac Correctional Center
inmates chipped their way through a concrete block wall and attacked the two inmates in the neighboring cell.
One inmate
was taken to OSF Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center following the early Thursday morning attack. He remained hospitalized
Friday, according to Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Fairchild.
The inmate has been transferred to another hospital, but Fairchild would not release
the name of the inmate or say where he is hospitalized.
The names of the other inmates involved in the incident are also not being released,
Fairchild said. He added that the names may become public record if charges are filed against the inmates.
Fairchild would not say when the investigation may conclude.
A tactical unit was called to remove the inmates from their cells Thursday after the
incident.
The inmates involved in the incident were in the prison's disciplinary segregation
unit, which houses virtually all of Pontiac's inmates. Inmates often are sent to Pontiac's unit because they have violated
rules at other state prisons.
At Pontiac, a men's maximum-security prison, the inmates are locked in their cells
23 1/2 hours a day.
When an inmate violates the rules at Pontiac, the prison system still has alternatives
for further discipline, including transferring the inmate to the stricter, more remote Tamms Correctional Center, the state's
super-maximum prison in Southern Illinois, Fairchild said.
"Inmates can see the loss of good conduct credit, and there is always the possibility
of facing administrative review to go to Tamms," Fairchild said.
Fairchild said he would not comment on the size of the hole is the inmates created.
He also will not comment on how the hole was made.
"Once our investigation is completed, we will look at any procedures that may not
have been followed and if we need to put more procedures in place," Fairchild said.
Officers charged
Fri, Aug 22, 2003
CHICAGO (AP)
Federal authorities have accused three Illinois correctional officers of providing drugs to inmates at the Stateville Correctional
Center in Joliet, and one of the officers is charged with having sex with inmates.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced the charges Thursday against former
guards Robert Goodner, Tanya Flowers and Steven King.
The announcement followed a joint investigation by the FBI, Illinois State Police
and Department of Corrections.
"It violates the security of the facility," Fitzgerald said of the alleged collusion
between guards and inmates.
"We want people involved with gangs and drugs to be in jail, but not as employees,"
he said.
A fourth defendant not working at the prison is accused of supplying drugs to
one of the guards. All four are from Chicago.
Goodner, 28, was arrested last December. Prosecutors charged him with smuggling
cocaine, heroin and marijuana to nine inmates, six of them imprisoned for murder. He's also charged with fraud for denying
his membership in the Gangster Disciples street gang on his job application, and for breaking prison rules by supplying a
camera and cellular phone to an inmate, according to prosecutors.
Goodner is jailed without bail at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.
His attorney did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
Flowers, 32, is charged with engaging in sex with inmates on various occasions
in 2001 and 2002 while another inmate acted as a lookout. The U.S. attorney's office also charged her with smuggling for allegedly
bringing marijuana to one of the inmates and agreeing to handle crack cocaine for Goodner in December 2002, after Goodner
was secretly cooperating with authorities.
Flowers is free on her own recognizance and remained for a time on the job at
the prison to work as an informant for authorities after her January arrest, according to her attorney, Steven Hunter.
"She went through some difficult emotional times that caused her to make some
poor choices," Hunter said Thursday.
AARP: Get parolees out of nursing homes
Corrections places medically needy
inmates after release
By MARY MASSINGALE
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
03Aug 2003
As she prepares her agenda for next year's legislative session, Donna Ginther of AARP lists one issue as a top
priority: Getting paroled prison inmates out of Illinois nursing homes.
"I can just imagine paying a ton of money to keep
Grandma in a nursing home next to a convicted felon," said Ginther, who serves as a lobbyist for the senior advocacy group.
Although little publicized, the Illinois Department of Corrections has been paroling "medically needy" inmates
into nursing homes for years. The department, which is required by law to release inmates once they've completed their sentences,
places ex-prisoners who are not able to care for themselves and have no family willing to take them in into long-term care
facilities. The inmates' care is paid for by Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor.
A DOC spokesman said the program averages 20 to 50 parolees on any given day.
"What's the difference with these guys the day before they go off parole and the day they do?" said DOC spokesman
Brian Fairchild. "The bottom line is if they are dangerous, we wouldn't recommend that they be placed there."
But an advocate for nursing home residents questioned the medical needs of the parolees and the screening process
that places the inmates.
"The guy who's dying of cancer, I don't have a problem with," said Wendy Meltzer, executive director of the Chicago-based
Illinois Citizens for Better Care. "It's the 29-year-old psychotic I'm arguing about."
Fairchild said the average age of the 33 parolees currently in nursing homes is in the 60s, although the ages range
from 30 to 80. Of the 33, 25 suffer from physical problems as diverse as cancer, paralysis, glaucoma, blindness, Parkinson's
disease, hepatitis C and HIV. The remaining eight parolees suffer from mental illnesses primarily caused by lifelong substance
abuse, Fairchild said. They have been placed in nursing homes with special wards for mental illness.
The inmates' offenses cover the gamut of the criminal spectrum, according to Fairchild, including minor drug offenses,
armed robbery and murder, although no murderers are currently in nursing homes.
The screening process used to determine placement involves officials from the Departments of Corrections, Aging
and Human Services. Fairchild said a nursing home is selected for its ability to serve the parolees' needs and its closeness
to family members.
Fairchild declined to give specific locations, citing the confidentiality of parolee cases, as well as federal
rules on the privacy of health information.
However, of the 33 current parolees, 20 are in 14 nursing homes in the Cook and Will county area. Seven inmates
are housed in three homes located in the northern part of the state, extending from Bloomington to Rockford. Five parolees
are staying in four homes in the central region of the state, extending from Quincy to Danville and south to Hillsboro. The
remaining inmate is in a home near the Metro East area.
Both Ginther and Meltzer say parolees with health problems should be housed in a separate facility, away from the
elderly.
"We're putting strong, young parolees known to be violent in with the frail elderly," Ginther said.
Fairchild said he knew of no reported incident in which a parolee in a nursing home had attacked a resident. However,
the agency just started compiling statistics on inmates paroled to nursing homes slightly more than a year ago.
A well-publicized 2001 incident in a Cahokia nursing home in which a 44-year-old mentally ill patient sexually
assaulted a 78-year-old female resident did not involve a parolee, said Department of Public Health spokeswoman Tammy Leonard.
However, it was during that investigation that Public Health found four unsupervised parolees in the nursing home
- the first time the agency learned of the DOC practice, Leonard said. Public Health investigators also discovered some of
the inmates had been convicted of sexual assault. Fairchild said sex offenders are no longer eligible for the nursing home
parole program.
Public Health surveyors are now given a list of parolees during the nursing home's annual inspection to check that
inmates are getting proper care and supervision. If a parolee's actions cause a nursing home to be cited by Public Health,
the facility administrator is responsible for correcting the problem - even if that means removing the parolee.
Leonard said a nursing home can turn away any potential resident only if it can prove it cannot serve the resident's
needs. With Illinois nursing homes running at about 83 percent occupancy, Meltzer said she doubts any nursing home administrator
would turn away a parolee.
"They'll take anybody they can get," Meltzer said.
Public Health regulations do not require nursing home administrators to tell the public about the criminal background
of any patient. However, Fairchild said administrators and residents can get rid of a troublemaking parolee simply by calling
the Department of Corrections.
If ex-inmates violate their parole in any way - including walking away from the nursing home - they are returned
to prison. Although no violations had been reported within the last year, Fairchild said, inmates who had violated parole
in the past were removed from the nursing homes and placed in prison infirmaries.
He advised concerned family members to check the names of any suspected residents with the Department of Corrections'
Web site (www.idoc.state.il.us).
Meltzer said she finds little comfort in his advice.
"Do you really want to mix parolees in a hallway with your mother?" she said.
Mary Massingale can be reached at 782-6882 or mary.massingale@sj-r.com.
Most DOC captains land new posts
By ADRIANA COLINDRES
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
02Aug 2003
The Illinois Department of Corrections eliminated more than 200 captains' jobs Friday, but nearly all of those employees
have landed different positions at the agency.
Still, the administrative restructuring "absolutely" will save the state
money, Corrections spokesman Brian Fairchild said. He couldn't provide an estimate.
"There will be less bureaucracy in that structure, and that will result in savings," he said.
The reorganization at Corrections was triggered by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's decision to remove from the budget about $17
million that would have paid the captains. Blagojevich said the captains represented an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
In the new administrative setup, the former job ranks of unit superintendent, major and captain no longer exist. The
department created a new title, shift commander, to describe employees who supervise prison work shifts.
There are 111 shift commanders. Previously, captains served as shift supervisors at prisons.
The restructuring originally was to start July 1, when the state's new fiscal year began, but it was postponed by a month.
Of the 216 captains who were subject to layoffs, all but eight found other Corrections jobs, Fairchild said.
One ex-captain, Austin Randolph, was
promoted to assistant warden at Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Fairchild said.
Fifty-four former captains accepted promotions to shift commander, and 153 other former captains accepted demotions to
various positions. Of those 153, 83 moved into lieutenant jobs, 65 into correctional officer jobs and five into youth supervisor
jobs at the state's juvenile facilities.
Eight other former captains were offered positions within the department, but they opted for layoff, Fairchild said.
Corrections' restructuring has drawn criticism from Local 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, a union that represents prison workers.
"Our members are very angry at the administration for doing this," said Henry Bayer, executive director of the union
local.
Union members believe their contract with the state is being violated, Bayer said. Also, union members are being cheated
out of jobs and promotions because the former captains have moved into positions that should have gone to AFSCME members,
he said.
AFSCME filed a grievance to protest the movement of Corrections captains into lieutenants' vacancies. The union represents
lieutenants, but it didn't represent captains.
The grievance is headed to arbitration Aug. 18, Bayer said.
He also criticized the new Corrections setup for failing to include a sufficient number of shift commanders.
White stops raises, overtime
Union may
take secretary of state to court
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
31 July 2003
Secretary of State Jesse White has frozen salaries for thousands of his workers
and eliminated overtime to compensate for budget cuts made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Additional spending reductions are coming and could result in the layoff of
as many as 250 people, along with the closing of up to 10 secretary of state facilities, according to union representatives
apprised of the plan.
However, White spokesman Dave Druker said Wednesday that no one in the office
had yet been laid off nor had any facilities been closed. Though likely, the layoffs and closures probably wont happen until
fall, he said.
The cost-cutting measures implemented by White up to now already are bringing
threats of a lawsuit from the Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents about 2,300 of Whites 3,450
employees.
The SEIU members were supposed to receive a 4 percent pay raise July 1 as part
of their contract with the secretary of state. White eliminated that raise, as well as raises for workers belonging to the
Fraternal Order of Police and the Teamsters and cost-of-living adjustments for non-union employees.
They (Whites office) indicated that it is their belief that due to the nature
of the cuts, they were required to implement the pay freeze, said SEIU Local 73 president Christine Boardman. We dont necessarily
concur. These are not the most highly compensated people.
Boardman said the union could be in court as early as next week trying to force
payment of the raises. The union contends that White cannot unilaterally eliminate a contractual pay hike.
Druker said the office had little choice but to cancel raises in the face of
Blagojevichs budget cuts.
At this point, we dont see any other options unless the money is restored, Druker
said. My understanding is we have the authority to withhold those pay increases for lack of resources.
Lawmakers could intervene during their veto session in No-
vember if they vote to restore to Whites budget the money Blagojevich cut. If
that doesnt happen, Druker said, another 2 percent pay hike for SEIU workers scheduled for Jan. 1 will be canceled.
Overtime pay for all secretary of state employees also was eliminated. Much
of the overtime was paid to union workers in drivers license facilities who served customers beyond normal hours.
The previous policy was if a person was in line at closing time, we would take
care of them, Boardman said.
Thats not going to happen any longer. Instead, facility managers will give warning
to customers that the office is closing at quitting time regardless of who is in line. At one Chicago facility last week,
100 people were forced to come back another day.
Its going to be a huge inconvenience for the public, Boardman said.
Druker said the office knows of only the one instance in which a large number
of customers were turned away.
As for further belt-tightening, Boardman said she was told by Whites staff that
up to 250 people will be laid off and 10 facilities closed as additional spending reductions are implemented.
White has said all along that layoffs and facility closures will be necessary,
Druker noted, adding that both the layoffs and closures are still under review.
My guess is we are still a little ways off on that, he said. At a minimum, we
are looking well into the fall.
State employees no longer monitoring television newscasts
Springfield (AP)
30 July 2003
Prison workers will no longer be required to videotape and review television newscasts.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich drew criticism last week for using state employees with the Corrections Department to monitor
daily news brodcasts.
Blagojevich spokesman Cheryle Jackson said on Monday that the work has been reassigned to a network
of voluteers.
Blagojevich's office said the practice helps him keep track of different issues in different areas of the
state. But critics contended that paying state employeesto watch television was a waste of resources at a time when agencies
are dealing with budget cuts.
The corrections Department has lost more than 3,000 employees to layoffs and early retirement
in roughly a year.
Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina said employees at five sites had been taping and reviewing newscasts.
He said they were informed of the change on Friday.
Maintaining gov's vanity
Rich Miller
27 July 2003
In yet another example of how obsessed Governor Rod Blagojevich is about his public
image, even during "the worst fiscal crisis in the state's history," the governor is requiring state employees to videotape
and review local TV news broadcasts about him seven days a week on state time.
In one instance, a prison psychologist was ordered by his warden to review the tapes
"for any news casts concerning Governor Blagojevich."
A source gave me a May 14th memorandum from the warden of the East Moline Correctional
Center, Ian Oliver, which spelled out the duties for Dr. Keith Frainey. I published the contents of the memo last week in
my newsletter, and several media outlets picked it up. A few papers outright stole it (including the Chicago Sun-Times), not
identifying the original publication at all, and many didn't get the whole story, so here it is.
Dr. Frainey was informed in the memo that newscasts were currently being taped for
Quad Cities channels 4, 6, 8 and 18. According to the memo, channels 4, 6, and 8 "are taped at 5:00 pm, 6:00 pm, and 10:00
pm." Channel 18 "is taped at 9:00 pm." That would be at least five hours of news broadcasts every day, seven days per week.
"Mr. Frainey has been appointed to review these tapes on a daily basis for any news
casts concerning Governor Blagojevich," the warden wrote. "Where there is information on a tape complete the attached form
and route the tape to the Warden's Office by 9:15 am."
Two prison counselors, Mike Weaver and Jeff O'Brien, "have been appointed as back
ups," according to the memo.
Their union complained about the new duties, and the orders were changed. Management
personnel are now taping the broadcasts.
Blagojevich spokesperson Cheryle Jackson defended the videotaping, although she did
agree that requiring a psychologist to review at least five hours of TV newscasts every morning was probably not the right
move.
Despite the specific wording of the DoC memo about tracking TV stories "concerning
Governor Blagojevich," Jackson denied that state employees were being used to monitor broadcasts solely about the governor.
The employees are looking for coverage about all state agencies, she insisted.
Jackson also reasoned that using state employees and several VCR's and televisions
in each facility to monitor the broadcasts actually saves the state money because video clipping services charge "thousands
of dollars a month." The governor, she said, "is trying to do more with less." The other option, of course, would be to not
tape the programs at all - something Jackson never mentioned.
Jackson claimed that the Department of Corrections "already monitors their media around
the state. So, we thought we would partner with Corrections to monitor the coverage."
A spokesperson for Corrections confirmed the department has checked its own coverage
"for years," but, when pressed, admitted it was not a daily, ongoing project. Broadcasts were taped usually when the department
knew a story would appear, the spokesperson said. The practice of daily monitoring started since the governor took office.
So, why is the governor's office doing this? Jackson explained that they were just
following normal business practices. "Any company does this," she said.
Jackson also claimed the video clips give the governor's office "one means of knowing
what state agencies are doing, what's getting covered."
"When the media raises an issue, sometimes it's the first we're learning of it," Jackson
said, adding the videos are "sometimes a wealth of information for us."
Jackson also pointed out that the state has collected newspaper clippings on a daily
basis "for eons." Those duties are handled by the Illinois Information Service.
Jackson said she didn't think it was unreasonable for someone in an agency's public
relations office to monitor the broadcasts. But not every regional state office has a PR person, and the current East Moline
monitoring is not being handled by a public relations person, according to the department.
Jackson did not know offhand how many state offices or state employees were monitoring
news broadcasts seven days per week, but Illinois has several downstate TV markets besides the Quad Cities and Quincy. Rockford,
Peoria, Metro East (via St. Louis), Carbondale, Decatur, Springfield, Bloomington and Champaign all have television stations.
And then there's Chicago.
The governor said recently that he was hiring auditors to find waste in government
and get rid of excess employees. Their first recommendation should be to stop using state workers to puff up the governor's
vanity.
Governor defends using prison staff to tape news
BY CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporter
Responding to criticism from Republicans over his use of state prison workers to tape television news broadcasts,
Gov. Blagojevich on Thursday defended the move as an exercise in good government.
"This is another example of changing the way business is done," Blagojevich said on Chicago's Near West Side after signing
legislation that bolsters funding for preschool programs. "This is a way of bringing government outside of the closed rooms
in Springfield and understanding what communities are facing."
Republican lawmakers have blasted the initiative in light of the state Corrections Department recently losing nearly
2,500 workers to layoffs and early retirements. The Democratic governor, they say, has no business asking prison employees
around the state to tape newscasts and then send the tapes to the governor's office.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents prison workers, also lit into the
governor.
"I always thought the job of corrections was to watch inmates, not to watch TV," Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME
Council 31, told the Associated Press.
Blagojevich dismissed the criticism, noting he isn't the first governor to pay attention to television newscasts around
the state.
"We've expanded what previous administrations have done without costing the taxpayers any money," he said. "It's part
of asking people to multitask so you can do more with less. . . . We're downsizing government; they're doing more than just
the traditional job description."
Governor OKs most of budget
Rushville prison
funds in $221 million cut
4 July 2003
By Doug Finke
State Capitol Bureau
Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed most of the state budget into law Thursday, but not
before slicing more than $221 million from it, including money to open a prison in Rushville.
Blagojevich slashed more than $48 million from Secretary of State Jesse Whites
budget and nearly $2.5 million from Treasurer Judy Baar Topinkas budget. The cuts are deeper than White and Topinka were willing
to accept earlier this week when Blagojevich demanded that they make reductions.
The administration had previously announced many of the other cuts Blagojevich
made Thursday. They include eliminating money to give judges, lawmakers and top state officials pay raises and eliminating
money for Department of Corrections captains positions. Blagojevich also plans to cut, but not eliminate, funding for regional
superintendents of education, although he did not act on education funding legislation Thursday.
However, Blagojevich also made a number of new cuts Thursday, including $20 million
for state employ-
-ee health insurance, about $22 million in Department of Human Services grants,
$6 million in student assistance grants and $5.3 million in grants from the Department of Public Health.
Many difficult decisions had to be made because of the fiscal mess I inherited,
Blagojevich said in a press release announcing the budget action.
But some of those decisions were harshly criticized Thursday. White said Blagojevich
reneged on a promise made at a Tuesday meeting not to cut his budget by more than 3 percent.
We left the meeting with the understanding it would be a 3 percent decrease, White
said. I dont like people bargaining with me in bad faith. This is the first time Ive ever been treated this way.
Blagojevich eliminated a $27 million increase White was supposed to receive and
then cut an additional 7.5 percent of what was left. White said he already had talked with House Speaker Michael Madigan,
D-Chicago, and Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, and has been assured they will restore the money during the General
Assemblys fall veto session.
Topinkas budget also was cut 7.5 percent, even though she told Blagojevich the
office could only absorb a 3 percent reduction.
We dug down deep for the 3 percent, said Topinka spokeswoman Carolyn Barry Frost.
He accepted that, and then he turned around and changed his mind. Hes not a man of honor and hes not a man of his word.
The deeper cuts could very well mean layoffs and service cuts, Frost said.
Hes going to put hardworking people out of work because of his pork projects,
Frost said, referring to member initiative grants the governor awarded last week.
Blagojevich spokesman Tom Schafer said the only grants the governor awarded last
week involved bond money that could not be used to pay employee salaries.
Attorney General Lisa Madigans budget was only cut by 3 percent because she successfully
argued that her office is involved with public safety issues. Comptroller Dan Hynes previously agreed to a 7.5 percent reduction.
Blagojevich cut $7.3 million that was supposed to pay for opening a Department
of Corrections youth center in Rushville and to reopen a work camp in Paris. Money to reopen work camps in Hanna City and
Greene County and to turn the Sheridan Correctional Center into a drug treatment facility is still in the budget.
Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville, said the money Blagojevich cut would have enabled
the youth center to open in April and employ 275 people, a potentially huge impact for the area.
I am not going to give up on it, Sullivan said. We will get it open.
Henry Bayer, executive director of Council 31 of the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees, said the union will push lawmakers to restore funding for the Paris work camp.
I thought we had an agreement (with Blagojevich) to reopen all three, Bayer said.
Schafer said many of the cuts involved money the General Assembly added at the
last minute. He said the Department of Central Management Services assured the governor that the $20 million for state employee
health insurance wasnt immediately needed to pay bills.
Blagojevich has yet to sign the budget for elementary and secondary education,
which contains money for regional superintendents of schools. He is expected to sign it Monday.
Blagojevich originally wanted to eliminate money to pay the salaries of all 45
regional superintendents. However, lawmakers balked at the idea and restored $17 million. Blagojevich plans to cut that to
$11 million.
The governor wants the regional superintendents to develop a plan to eliminate
half of their jobs. The next election for regional superintendents is in 2006.
P.E. Cross, president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents
of Schools, said members of the organization agree with the governors plan, although they understand it comes with a price.
I would say there will be some cutbacks in some services, Cross said. We realize
the dilemma of the state on the fiscal side.
Blagojevich also has yet to act on the capital budget, which pays for state building
projects. Lawmakers added some of those projects - such as prisons at Grayville and Hopkins Park - even though Blagojevich
wasnt in favor of them.
Schafer said it is too early to say whether Blagojevich will veto those projects.
Many of the budget cuts Blagojevich made Thursday involved money that lawmakers added above what Blagojevich requested.
The legislature put too much money in the budget, above and beyond what the governor
requested, Schafer said.
Doug Finke can be reached at 788-1527 or doug.finke@sj-r.com.
Trading Away Jobs and Liberty
Though billed as a boon to the U.S., the General Agreement on Trade in Services will,
in reality, wreak havoc on our economy, sovereignty, and way of life.
by William F. Jasper
June 30, 2003
Outsourcing," "offshoring," "human resource realignment," "training your replacement." These are words that send
chills through millions of workers in IT ("information technology") and other hi-tech industries. They also send waves of
anger and depression. In the tragic case of Kevin Flanagan, they are being blamed for his suicide. For months, the 41-year-old
Silicon Valley software programmer had been anticipating a layoff announcement from his employer, Bank of America.
"He knew that Bank of America was sending jobs overseas," Contra Costa Times reporter Ellen Lee wrote in a May 13th article.
"He had seen his friends and coworkers leave until only he and one other person remained on the last project Flanagan worked
on." On the April afternoon after he had been told his job was terminated, Kevin Flanagan went outside and shot himself dead
in the parking lot of the Bank of Americas Concord Technology Center.
Most of the newly displaced hi-tech American workers will not react in as extreme a manner as Kevin Flanagan, but the
devastating economic, social, geo-political, and psychological impacts of this developing trend will prove to be huge.
Hundreds of thousands of American IT workers have lost their jobs in the past several years to foreign replacements through
the L-1 visa loophole, or the similar H-1B visa program. American software engineers, computer designers, technicians, electrical
engineers, and other hi-tech employees are feeling the downside of globalization. These professionals who invested in education
and thought they had secure futures in the tech and service industries have had a rude awakening. They have been getting pink
slips and joining the unemployment lines, along with auto workers, steel workers, assembly-line workers, loggers, and other
low-tech workers. They are being replaced by low-wage workers on computer terminals working from India, Pakistan, and China.
Starting in the 1970s and accelerating in the 1980s and 90s, millions of American blue-collar manufacturing and resource
industry jobs were lost as U.S. companies relocated factories to cheap labor markets like Mexico and Communist China. Now
the white collar jobs are on the line. Analysts are predicting that millions of these high-end jobs will vanish from America
in the next several years. A study by Forrester Research Inc. predicts that at least 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136
billion in wages will shift from the U.S. to low-cost countries by 2015. However, if the so-called free trade onslaught of
the Clinton and Bush administrations is allowed to continue, the devastating impact could be even greater than that, and could
occur much sooner.
The Coming FTAs
Congressman John Mica (R-Fla.) has introduced legislation to rein in the L-1 visa program, which currently allows U.S.
companies to transfer foreign employees from overseas branches or subsidiaries to the United States and then contract them
out to replace American workers. But Rep. Micas legislative effort and others like it may have negligible impact if the multitude
of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) now being completed by the Bush administration go into effect.
On May 6th, President Bush signed the Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which (if approved by Congress) would allow an
unlimited number of "temporary" workers from Singapore to enter the United States. The new Singapore FTA states: "A party
shall not: (a) as a condition for temporary entry [of intra-company transferees] require labor certification tests or other
procedures of similar effect; or (b) impose or maintain any numerical restriction relating to temporary entry."
"Even before Congress can get around to curbing the abuses of the L-1 visa program, the administration is already looking
for ways around any limits that might be set on the number of low-wage high tech workers who can be brought into the country,"
charged Dan Stein, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in
a June 2nd news release. "The language of the Singapore FTA, if it is replicated in trade agreements with other countries,
will institutionalize the abuses that have been widely reported" in the major media, Mr. Stein cautioned. "Control over employment-based
visas will effectively be taken out of the hands of the peoples elected representatives," he noted, and transferred to corporate
executives and foreign politicians in Singapore, Bangalore, Lahore, and Beijing.
As the history of the H-1B and L-1 programs has shown, many of these temporary workers overstay their visas and join
the already massive pool of illegal aliens competing with U.S. citizens for a dwindling job base. The Singapore FTA would
also impact U.S. employment by accelerating the trend of "outsourcing" and "offshoring" jobs currently held by American workers.
On June 6th, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick signed a similar FTA with Chile, on behalf of the United States.
A June 6th news release from Zoellicks office states: "The agreement offers new access [to Chilean markets] for U.S. banks,
insurance companies, telecommunications companies, securities firms, express delivery companies, and professionals." But what
the release doesnt say is that this wont translate into jobs and prosperity for American workers. The "U.S." corporations
that will be doing business in Chile will use an increasingly international labor force working by telephone and computer
modem from Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
GATS Targets Everyone
Other bilateral and regional agreements are pending. One of the most far-reaching multilateral trade agreements now under
negotiation, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), threatens to swell the tide of foreign workers to our shores
and greatly speed up job outsourcing. Every bit as important as the job and immigration dynamic, however, is the GATS threat
to our national sovereignty and our system of constitutional federalism. GATS will subject the U.S. to innumerable charges
of trade restriction violations that arbitrators appointed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) will adjudicate. Thousands
of federal, state, and local laws and regulations will become "illegal" under the GATS regime.
GATSs potential impact on the states is enormous. Under the U.S. constitutional system, the national government in Washington,
D.C., is narrowly restricted to the exercise of specific, delegated powers having to do primarily with national defense, diplomacy,
international trade, postal service, patents, etc. The individual states, on the other hand, reserved to themselves the vast
majority of governmental powers concerning criminal and civil law, commercial relations, contracts, business regulation, professional
standards and licensing, etc. Each of our 50 states enacts its own laws and regulations governing these matters. Since the
Civil War, the federal government has been encroaching, unconstitutionally, on more and more of these states rights. Now,
the internationalists in the Bush administration are preparing to take this process to the global level, positioning the WTO
to encroach on the states authority to an incredible degree.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services will affect virtually all service industries and service jobs, which means
virtually all American businesses and jobs. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which takes the lead in negotiating
trade agreements, provides this answer to its own question, "What are services?":
Services are what most Americans do for a living. Service industries account for nearly 80 percent of U.S. employment
and GDP. U.S. exports of commercial services (i.e., excluding military and government) were $246 billion in 1998, supporting
over 4 million services and manufacturing jobs in the United States.
GATS targets all of these service industries, including insurance, banking, legal services, accounting, engineering,
teaching, real estate, tourism, consulting, energy distribution, transportation, telecommunications, courier and postal services,
and much, much more.
Most state laws governing these industries and professions are certain to come under concerted attack from member nations
of the WTO. In fact, secret negotiation documents leaked from the European Union show that the EU is angling to have the Bush
administration force the state governments in the U.S. to eliminate those laws that the Europeans consider to be unacceptably
"discriminatory."
Concerning accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services, the EUs executive branch, the European Commission (EC), calls
for opening U.S. markets by striking down many state laws. For instance, the leaked EC proposals say, in typical bureaucratese:
"Obligation of establishing an in-state office in several States. EC Request: Remove this requirement." In identical bureaucratese,
the EU/EC politicians call for removal of state residency requirements.
Similar proposals hold for engineering services. The EU objects to: "In-state residency requirement in Idaho, Iowa, Kansas,
Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia." Again, the EC bureaucrats
say: "Remove this requirement."
The same goes for insurance services: "All States require in-State residency for surplus lines brokers and agents. EC
Request: Eliminate this restriction."
Likewise, the EU insurance proposals call for removal of state laws requiring "U.S. citizenship and residency for members
of the board and incorporators."
The EU objects that our incredibly lax immigration standards are too onerous, claiming: "Difficulties are experienced
as a result of the length of time to process H1B visas." The EU complains that state governments unfairly restrict foreign
acquisition of land, specifically calling for removal of "restrictions on ownership or purchase of land by non-US citizens
in South Carolina, Oklahoma, Florida, Wyoming and Mississippi." Likewise it wants to see an end to "restrictions on purchase
of public lands by non-US citizens in Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana and Oregon."
The European GATS negotiators call for eliminating state laws requiring U.S. citizenship for real estate brokers and
take the U.S. to task for not removing state regulations concerning land surveying, aerial surveying, aerial map-making, printing
and publishing, translation services, marine dredging, distribution of alcoholic beverages and military equipment, distribution
of drinking water, waste water management, solid waste management, and a myriad of other services.
You can be sure that once these sectors are penetrated, GATS will be expanded to cover all other service jobs and professions:
doctors, nurses, dentists, medical and dental technicians, anesthesiologists, veterinarians, chiropractors, beauticians, architects,
teachers, financial planners, electricians, stock brokers, etc. All state laws concerning regulation and certification of
these professions will be up for challenge in the WTO.
GATS is an especially dangerous agreement because it is not a single fixed document; it is an open-ended, ongoing process
that commits the U.S. and all other 146 member nations of the WTO to a continuous progression of negotiation and revision.
Thousands of invisible WTO/GATS negotiators are ever-busily rewriting state and national laws in secrecy. Although WTO and
UN internationalists pretend to favor complete openness in government and are fond of using terms like "transparency" and
"accountability," GATS demonstrates the complete hollowness of their claims. Each round of GATS has been conducted in secret
negotiation sessions that last for years, and the documents that have emerged are couched in deceptive, ambiguous verbiage.
Federal System Under Attack
The EU has proven itself very aggressive in using the WTO to challenge U.S. laws and policies in the past. That history,
together with the leaked EU proposals for GATS, provides plenty of warning that the Europeans will use all of their weight
in the WTO to attack state and local laws that impede their penetration of our markets.
Of course, the EU proposals to their U.S. counterparts that the state laws and requirements in question be "removed,"
"eliminated," or "harmonized" show, at best, an ignorance of the constitutional division of powers between our national and
state governments. The White House, even with the agreement of Congress, cannot constitutionally force the states to yield
on these matters. To do so would be nothing less than blatant usurpation. The only way legally to effect the EUs proposals
under GATS would be through deliberately amending the U.S. Constitution to transfer those state powers to the national government.
However, because the U.S. is already a signatory to earlier GATS agreements and commitments, the avid globalists in the
U.S. argue that we are bound to conform to developing international trade standards, even if they conflict with our constitutional
law.
They point, for instance, to the WTO "Disciplines on Domestic Regulation in the Accountancy Sector," adopted in December
1998. Paragraph 2 of that agreement holds that WTO member nations "shall ensure" that measures relating to "licensing requirements
and procedures, technical standards and qualification requirements and procedures are not prepared, adopted or applied with
a view to or with the effect of creating unnecessary barriers to trade." Members also agreed to ensure that "such measures
are not more trade-restrictive than necessary to fulfill a legitimate objective." How will the WTO interpret "not more trade-restrictive
than necessary" in relation to our state laws? We do not know, but there is a strong likelihood that it would not be favorable
to our states. What are "legitimate objectives?" According to the WTO, they are: "The protection of the consumers (which includes
all users of accounting services and the public generally), the quality of the service, professional competence, and the integrity
of the profession." But, again, the interpretation will be decided by WTO one-worlders.
Some state legislatures and legislators are expressing concern, albeit belatedly, over the looming threat GATS poses
to their authority. In a March 24, 2003 letter to Robert Zoellick, President Bushs U.S. Trade Representative, the National
Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) noted that it "supports international trade agreements that generate jobs and economic
growth in our communities, provided that the agreements respect the constitutional and traditional authority of state and
local governments." The NCSL said it is concerned that negotiations are proceeding under GATS "without a full understanding
of the impact of GATS on state and local authority."
The NCSL letter noted that there are problems with conflicting and ambiguous definitions. It said: "GATS covers government-provided
services if the services are commercial or if they are procured with a view to commercial resale. The WTO Secretariat has
taken the position that merely charging ratepayers for a service is all it takes to make the service commercial, regardless
of whether the charge is for a profit." The NCSL letter then asks: "Is there any unambiguous interpretation of which public
services are commercial and which are not?"
While announcing again its support for international trade liberalization, the NCSL specified that trade agreements "must
first be harmonized with traditional American law and values of Constitutional federalism." "Great care must be exercised,"
it continued, "to protect state laws and authority from unjustified challenges that will predictably result from the broad
language of trade agreements."
Twenty-six Democrat members of the California legislature signed a March 28th letter to Mr. Zoellick expressing many
of the same concerns. "This far reaching trade agreement of the WTO could have profound implications for our state and municipal
lawmaking authority, specifically on our ability to fulfill our obligations and our authority to govern, legislate and regulate
for the benefit of our communities and for the broader public interest," the letter stated. Among those signing the letter
were Senate Majority Leader Don Perata, Senate Majority Whip Richard Alarcon, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, and lesbian
activist Senator Sheila Kuehl.
The fact that some of the signers represent the most liberal-left elements of the Democrat Party does not negate the
legitimacy of their concerns and objections. Undoubtedly, many of them oppose GATS simply for partisan reasons. However, taking
their letter at face value, they are at least expressing the kinds of concerns that Republicans, who claim to be guardians
of the Constitution, should be making. "The GATS is of particular concern to us because of its massive scope and the lack
of clarity as to the extent to which it will apply to state and local laws," said the Democrat legislators. Their letter continued:
According to the text, the only services exempted would be those services "supplied in the exercise of governmental authority,"
defined as "any service which is supplied neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one or more service providers."
These are critical terms that remain undefined and could be interpreted by a dispute panel in a way that renders the exemption
meaningless.
In fact, under an enforced regime contemplated by GATS, a great many state powers would be rendered meaningless. GATS
is one of many WTO agreements in the process of battering down the remnants of national sovereignty and merging all nations
into one global economic and political system that veteran globalists refer to as a "new world order." The ultimate goal of
these one-world Insiders is world government under their control. The principal brain center of the world-government advocates
is Pratt House, the New York City headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Nearly 30 years ago, in April 1974,
a now-famous essay entitled "The Hard Road to World Order" appeared in the CFR journal Foreign Affairs. It was penned by Columbia
University professor and veteran State Department official Richard N. Gardner, who most recently served in the Clinton administration.
Gardner told his fellow one-worlders that "instant world government" is an illusion because Americans would not accept
an open assault on their constitutional system. The globalists, he said, must continue to labor for the piecemeal creation
of an all-powerful superstate. It must be built gradually, piece by piece, brick by brick, he said:
In short, the "house of world order" will have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down. It will
look like a great "booming, buzzing confusion," to use William James famous description of reality, but an end run around
national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.
Gardner suggested luring all nations into a variety of technological, economic, and political entanglements which would
gradually be strengthened until they formed a genuine world government. The first three institutions Gardner pointed to for
this purpose were the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
In 1995, GATT was transformed into the WTO, with greatly expanded status and powers. The Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign
Affairs, and well-placed CFR members in business, finance, the media and government have provided the key leadership in advancing
the GATT/WTO in this march toward "world order" and continue to lead the push for GATS and the proliferating entangling agreements
misleadingly called Free Trade Agreements.
Sowing Confusion
As with the WTO itself, the most visible, vocal opponents of GATS are leaders of the hardcore Marxoid left. Global Trade
Watch, led by veteran agitators Ralph Nader and Lori Wallach, is in the vanguard of the controlled opposition. This means
that they put on a show of opposing the WTO to keep any real, principled constitutionalists from gaining the fore and exposing
the real agenda behind the WTO/GATS agenda. Nader and Wallach are shills for the CFR globalists. Global Trade Watch is funded
by the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and other CFR-dominated tax-exempt foundations. They are joined in this ruse
by the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Institute for Policy Studies, and other far-left bastions of radicalism,
who, likewise, are generously funded by the same Establishment sources.
The Marxist rhetoric, radical appearance, and often violent demonstrations of these leftists tend to make the one-world
champions of the WTO appear more reasonable, respectable, and centrist by comparison. This image contrast is repeatedly reinforced
by a continuous parade of CFR-sponsored economists, forecasters, business leaders, brain trusts, and Republican leaders with
impressive-sounding "research" that seems to show that what we need is more hair of the dog that bit us. We must simply enact
more and more "Free Trade Agreements," while simultaneously yielding more and more authority to the WTO and sending more and
more jobs overseas, claim these "enlightened" voices, when courting the American business community.
This is the essence of the message delivered to U.S. corporate leaders in an influential 2003 report from Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu, a CFR corporate member. Entitled The Cusp of a Revolution: How offshoring will transform the financial services
industry, the Deloitte report tells CEOs that they had better get their companies aboard the offshore express before they
miss out completely on this "transformational" opportunity and are left in the dust.
"The shifting of activities to lower-cost locations," it claims, "ignites the possibility of transforming the structure
of the financial-services industry. Indeed, it offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reduce significantly the operating
costs of the majority of financial institutions." According to the report, "$356 billion of cost for the global financial-services
industry will be relocated offshore within the next five years. We calculate that this will translate into a bottom-line annual
cost savings of $138 billion (or $1.4 billion each) for the worlds top 100 financial-services companies by 2008."
Estimating that 13 million people are employed in financial services jobs in "mature industrial economies," the Deloitte
analysis predicts a "potential movement of up to two million jobs" offshore. Cusp of a Revolution notes: "In 5 years GE Capital
has offshored 11,000 positions to India and is now considering the impact of commercializing their offshore capabilities on
their competitive advantage."
"Only a minority of financial institutions yet have offshore operations," says the Deloitte report. It continues: "Momentum
has built rapidly within the industry, however, and we estimate that nearly three-of-four major financial institutions will
be offshore within two years."
"It is essential to catch the wave of offshoring because the benefits are potentially transformational," says the much-quoted
report. "As offshoring gathers momentum, so the types of functions will expand to include all types of business processes."
"Those institutions currently offshore," says Deloitte, "particularly investment banks and insurers, will lead the shift to
full-service offshoring."
If the CFR cabal dominating the White House, Congress, and the media have their way, GATS and the multiplying FTAs will
lead to offshoring virtually all of Americas productive capacity and, with it, our rapidly disappearing prosperity, freedom,
and independence.
Besides the recently signed FTAs with Chile and Singapore, the Bush administration is nearing completion on bilateral
FTAs with Morocco and Australia. It also plans to complete two regional FTAs by years end: the Central American Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA) with Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and El Salvador; and the South African Customs Union with
South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Then there is the big granddaddy of the regional FTAs, the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA), involving 34 nations of North and South America and the Caribbean, scheduled for completion by
2005. Over the coming weeks and months, President Bush will be sending these agreements to Congress for a "fast track" up-or-down
vote. By late 2004 the administration also plans to have completed negotiations on GATS. If we allow these agreements to be
adopted and implemented, the United States will be headed on the fast track to self-demolition and oblivion, from world superpower
to Third World has-been, a mere cog in the new one-world imperium.
Relatively little organized opposition to these schemes has materialized, except for that led by the left-wing anti-globalization
forces. Most Republicans and conservative, patriotic Americans, still enamored of President Bush, have bought into the nonsensical
arguments of the administration that these FTAs are the ticket to ever-expanding prosperity.
But that is changing rapidly, as more and more Americans are feeling the harsh reality of the planned "new world order"
or are beginning to see the writing on the wall concerning their own jobs, businesses, and professions. By attacking virtually
every segment of society simultaneously, the one-worlders may be miscalculating; they risk awakening, angering, and activating
an immense resistance involving Americans from all socio-economic backgrounds and every walk of life. These newly awakened
Americans can be reached and organized into a formidable force to upset the subversive globalist agenda and preserve our independence.
But we have no time to waste.
Corrections delays job reorganization
Adriana Collindres
State Journal Register
27 June 2003
The Illinois Department of Corrections is delaying
by a month a plan to reorganize its administrative setup at state prisons, in part by Y getting rid of more than 200 cap
tains'
jobs, officials said Thursday.
The reorganization plan now will take effect Aug. l, instead of Tuesday as originally scheduled.
The state's new fisca[ year begins Tuesday.
'We felt it was a responsible
course of action to delay this process for
a month so that we can ensure, in fairness to everyone involved, that this process is done Without any wrinkles," said Corrections
spokesman Sergio Molina. "The issue is we want to ensure that
we dot our i's and cross our t's."
Molina cited two reasons
for the decision. The department wanted
to be sure it was giving proper notification to the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees, a union representing prison workers, he said. In addition,
he said, the department still
is in the process of identifying who Will fill 65 "shift commander" positions. In one component to the restructuring
plan, the department intends
to create the new title of "shift commander" to describe employees who supervise prison work
shifts. There Will be about 110 shift commanders, and existing job ranks of unit superintendent, major and captain will be
abolished, Molina
said earlier this week.
", At present, captains are the shift supervisors of prisons.' But Gov.. Rod
Blagojevich has said captains represent an unneeded layer of bureaucracy and that he would trim from the new state budget
the $17 million that lawmakers put in for 230 captains' positions.
The department of Corrections has said that some of
the captains
could move into shift commander positions while others could fill 122 vacant lieutenant positions or
get laid off.
The Department of Central Man
agement Services, which provides
personnel services to state agencies,on
Wednesday notified the affected Corrections workers to stay on the job until they're told otherwise, Molina said.
In a
letter to Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Local 31, Corrections Director Roger Walker
Jr. said the agency's reorganization
effort has made it "imperative for us to revise the captain layoff plan."
"Consequently, we have asked CMS to rescind the
original layoff plan that was to be effective July 1, 2003," added Walker's letter, which was dated Wednesday. "Please accept
this as a formal notice that DOC intends to layoff the captains effective August 1, 2003."
Bayer said Thursday that
his
union continues to believe the department's reorganization plan has
some deficiencies."
For
instance, he said, it doesn't.
provide for a sufficient number of
shift commanders.
Bayer also
said the department is
making a mistake by offering lieu- " tenant positions to captains. The
union has filed a grievance
on that
topic. AFSCME represents Corrections lieutenants, but not captains.
Bayer said he thinks the department's
change in plans was prompted by procedural error.
"They're required to give us a notice," he said of department officials.
"They had never officially notified
us that they were laying off captains
and they were going
to be putting
captains in our bargaining unit."
He said he hopes DOC officials
use the month-long
delay to "re- think their whole plan."
The governor's office is aware
that the Department of Corrections
is postponing the reorganization
plan, said Blagojevich spokesman
Tom Schafer. The reorganization
process is
Not stopping, he said. "It's Just being put off another month to make sure everything is
done correctly."
Molina said the delay would have a "negligible" financial impact, and Schafer said the state still
would see the same cost savings by
eliminating the captains jobs.
Adriana Collindres can be reached
at
782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com .
Prison positions changing
Corrections reacts to
loss of captains
By ADRIANA COLINDRES
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
25 June 2003
Spurred by the elimination of more than 200 captains' positions next month, the Illinois
Department of Corrections is revamping its administrative setup at state prisons.
"This is restructuring, streamlining," said agency spokesman Sergio Molina, who added
that officials still are working on specifics of the plan.
About 110 people will serve as shift supervisors at prison facilities, he said. They
likely will be called "shift commanders," and the existing job ranks of unit superintendent, major and captain will be abolished,
Molina said. More than 30 department employees are unit superintendents and about 40 are majors, he said.
At present, captains serve as shift supervisors at the prisons.
But Gov. Rod Blagojevich, saying the captains represent an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy,
sought to take away the funding for their positions. Lawmakers tried to save the captains' jobs by adding $17 million to the
budget for the fiscal year that starts Tuesday, but Blagojevich said this month that he would use his line-item veto power
to eliminate money for the 230 positions.
Molina said employees who hold captains' positions could fill about 65 of the shift
commander spots, depending on each worker's qualifications. The pay for shift commanders hasn't been determined.
Henry Bayer, who heads the largest state employees union, believes the restructuring
plan will "save some money, but the savings won't be as big as it looked on first blush," when the governor announced he was
eliminating captains' positions.
Molina said there would be substantial savings, but he couldn't pinpoint how much.
Bayer's union, Local 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
has filed a grievance to protest the movement of some DOC captains into 122 lieutenants' vacancies. Lieutenants are represented
by AFSCME, but captains aren't.
While no captains have moved into lieutenants' positions yet, the Department of Corrections
has identified which captains would fill those slots, Molina said. That's subject to change, however, because some of the
captains slated to be laid off or moved into lieutenants' positions could qualify for shift commander jobs, he said.
After the new fiscal year starts, Molina said, the department expects to hire at least
1,300 "front-line staff," mostly correctional officers who deal directly with prison inmates.
"This reorganization of the bureaucracy is placing the emphasis right where it needs
to be - on front-line staff," he said.
Statehouse INSIDER
BY DOUG FINKE
22 June 2003
A memo issued by Department of Corrections Director ROGER WALKER JR. has some employees pretty upset. Its
just what is needed in a department where employees are already on edge over budget cutbacks.
Dated June 12, the memo states
all correspondence or phone calls received from state legislators and staff, congressional offices and staff and constitutional
officers and staff should be directed to the Office of Intergovernmental Relations ... If contacted by a legislator directly,
you should immediately notify the Intergovernmental Operations Office for direction on handling. NO IDOC EMPLOYEE should be
corresponding with the above offices as an employee of IDOC without first notifying the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
Some employees are taking that as a gag order, particularly captains who are lobbying to keep their jobs.
However, Corrections spokesman BRIAN FAIRCHILD said the memo is just reiterating a longstanding DOC policy thats meant to
ensure accurate information is passed along to other government officials.
Governor gets 30 patronage jobs
By MIKE RAMSEY
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
20 JUNE 2003
CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Democratic administration can fill 30 more upper-level state positions - or fire the
current job-holders - for purely political reasons.
The Illinois Civil Service Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to classify the jobs as exempt from protections against patronage.
Since March, two months after Blagojevich took office, the panel has authorized at least 88 of the so-called "4d(3)" positions
- a reference to an exemption in the personnel code - at the request of the governor's agencies.
The latest bundle of patronage jobs is spread across 10 departments and is a mix of existing and newly created positions.
Many are vacant.
Among the positions are an Illinois State Fair adviser for the agriculture secretary, an inspector general and assistants
for the administration, and two newly hired "special advocates" who will design a prescription drug-buying club for seniors.
Blagojevich campaigned for office by condemning political cronyism and oversized government, but spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff
said the positions coming up for classification have been part of a larger streamlining - not an attempt to stack the payroll.
"Overall, there's still going to be a reduction in state head count," she said. "It would be misleading to (suggest)
the governor is throwing all these positions into state government."
Most of the 51,000 employees in state agencies are hired under a_code that bars political considerations and stipulates
levels of merit and fitness. The number of exempt employees serving "at the will" of the governor or his Cabinet increased
to 475 with Thursday's vote by the Civil Service Commission, according to the Department of Central Management Services.
Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said she generally agrees with the concept
of patronage - up to a point.
"There is a role for these kinds of jobs in certain positions, ensuring that you do have like-minded people and creating
a team you can manage, but it really is a question of how far it goes," Canary said.
Ottenhoff said Blagojevich's administration likely will submit more requests to the Civil Service Commission as the state
government restructuring continues. She noted that Blagojevich is the first Democrat to occupy the Executive Mansion since
the late 1970s, and his staff is sorting through "three generations of Republican administrations."
The Civil Service Commission currently has a 3-2 Republican edge, but chairman George Richards of Danville said partisan
interests aren't a factor in decision-making. The commission will approve re-classifications on the advice of agency officials
and staff review, he said.
Five requested job-status changes were withdrawn or tabled Thursday.
Candidate for the union members
By George F. Will
Published
2:15 a.m. PDT
Thursday, June 12, 2003
WASHINGTON -- Time was, presidential nominations were dispensed
by kingmakers in smoke-filled rooms. Today smoking is a scarlet sin and the democratization of the nominating process supposedly
has made kingmakers extinct.
Not quite. Meet Gerald McEntee.
The yearnings of Democratic presidential candidates are focused on the leader of the
1.4 million members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. McEntee says "it is going to be hard"
in 2004 -- it was impossible in 1992 -- for the entire AFL-CIO to get the required two-thirds of its federated unions to agree
to endorse a candidate before the first nominating event, the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses.
But "by late September, early October" AFSCME will, he says, endorse a candidate by
itself, as it did in 1992. That year most AFL-CIO leaders lost their liberal hearts to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and his prairie
populism. McEntee kept his eye on the prize -- electability -- and AFSCME endorsed Bill Clinton early.
Two-thirds support of a particular candidate by AFSCME's leadership is not required,
but McEntee says that as a practical matter "damn near" two-thirds will be required. And achieved. That will resonate, beginning
in Iowa, where AFSCME represents 28,000 workers, second only to the teachers union. In 2000 just 61,000 voters participated
in the Iowa Democratic caucuses hotly contested by Al Gore and Bill Bradley.
First elected in 1981, McEntee is in his sixth four-year term leading the largest
of the public employee unions, which are responsible for most of the growth sector of organized labor. In 1955 America's population
was about 166 million, the civilian work force was 54.2 million and union membership was 17.9 million, which was 33 percent
of the work force. Today the population is about 290 million, the civilian work force is about 122 million and union membership
is 16.1 million, which is 13.2 percent of the work force. Last year union membership declined 280,000, largely because of
layoffs in such heavily unionized industries as airlines, hotels and steel.
But 37.5 percent of government workers today are union members. In 1956 there were
915,000 unionized government workers. Today there are nearly 7.4 million. Public employee unions are government organized
as an interest group. They want more government, and more of government to be susceptible to unionization. So they have a
perennial interest in electing Democrats, and an especially intense interest in defeating the current president, whose tax
cuts are impediments to government growth. And, as he showed in the organization of the new Department of Homeland Security,
he is not bashful about limiting the powers of organized labor.
"No access!" McEntee exclaims, referring to what he says labor experienced from the
White House during the 12 years of the Reagan-Bush presidencies, 1981-1993. He says he entered the White House only once --
when Lech Walesa, leader of Poland's Solidarity labor movement, was honored and insisted that American labor leaders be present.
So McEntee is spoiling for a fight. In 1992 union households cast 19 percent of the
presidential vote. But lately, thanks to aggressive voter-turnout operations that Republicans successfully emulated in 2002,
voting by union households has risen rapidly: In 2000, union households delivered about 26 percent of the turnout.
How does McEntee think Bush can be beaten? "You have to get him partially or altogether
out of the bubble he's been in since 9/11." Meaning? "You have to have a campaign that is somewhat aggressive on the issue
(of terrorism), that shakes him (Bush) out of his hammock."
McEntee thinks John Kerry has the advantage of a distinguished war record. However,
McEntee ruefully remembers that George McGovern was not protected by his fine World War II record: "I was treasurer of McGovern's
Pennsylvania campaign, and we raised $400."
Dick Gephardt may have an advantage -- with McEntee, if not with the Democratic nominating
electorate's antiwar activists -- because he burnished his national security credentials by helping to write and pass the
congressional resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq. And McEntee notes that Gephardt, who won the 1988 caucuses,
"has cooked pancakes in everybody's kitchen" there.
Recently, McEntee says, "I was driving on Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Ronald Reagan
Building, and I thought, 'Where are you now that we really need you?' Bad as he (Reagan) was for our people, this crowd is
way out there." The blunt-speaking McEntee, more perhaps than any other person, will pick the candidate for expelling "this
crowd."
DOC union: Displaced captains shouldn't get 1st shot at jobs
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
6 June 2003
SPRINGFIELD(AP) A union contends the state Corrections Department is breaking the rules by offering
first crack at openings for prison lieutenants to captains who are about to be laid off.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says hundreds of its members have passed the lieutenant's
test and are in line for the jobs.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is cutting $17 million from the proposed budget to eliminate 219 captains' positions.
Corrections Department spokesman Sergio Molina said Thursday the agency got permission within the last month to fill
122 vacant lieutenant's spots union jobs with a rank just below captain and offered them all to captains, who are not part
of the union.
"There are over 700 people who have passed the exam and are on the eligibility list" for lieutenant, AFSCME Executive
Director Henry Bayer said. "They shouldn't be offering these positions to people outside the bargaining unit, irrespective
of their qualifications."
Bayer said some captains have never worked as lieutenants or even passed the exam.
Hundreds of union members were laid off last year when two prisons and several work camps closed to save money. More
than 100 have not been called back, Bayer said.
AFSCME filed a grievance with the agency last week.
Corrections is following personnel rules in allowing the latest laid-off workers the opportunity to take a lower rank,
Molina said. Conversely, the laid-off guards can't be recalled to a promotion a correctional officer could not return as a
lieutenant, he said.
Blagojevich said last week he wanted captains eliminated as an "unnecessary, bloated bureaucracy." The Democrat, who
took $376,000 in contributions from AFSCME for last fall's campaign, dismissed the union's complaints as political sour grapes.
"Evidently they're concerned that most of these captains happen to be Republicans and that they shouldn't be hired,"
Blagojevich said. "They should be able to reapply for other positions in state government and we don't care what political
party they come from."
Captains take unmbrage at Blagojevich's characterzation of them as bureaucrats. They say they are
necessary to keep prisons safe and that people taking over for them won't have the same experience.
Governor cuts back budget by $22 million
Pay
raises, prison captains take first hits from vetoes
By DOUG FINKE and MIKE RAMSEY
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday cut $22 million from the state budget
for the fiscal year that begins July 1, including money for judges' and lawmakers' pay raises and to retain Department of
Corrections captains.
The spending reduction represents only a tiny amount of the $53 billion state budget
approved by lawmakers last week. However, the symbolic value of cutting raises for state officials is enormous.
"Now is not the time for a pay raise," Blagojevich said at a Chicago news conference.
"We cannot afford it, and I cannot ask the taxpayers to pay for it."
Lawmakers included nearly $800,000 in the budget to cover 2.8 percent cost-of-living
pay raises for themselves, the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney general
and auditor general, along with Cabinet directors and their top aides.
The money was added even though nonunion employees under Blagojevich's control have
had their salaries frozen and must begin contributing 4 percent of their wages to their pension plan.
Had the pay raises gone through, Blagojevich would have made $154,910. Base salaries
for lawmakers would have risen to $59,232, although most of them earn much more through stipends paid for holding leadership
posts or committee chairmanships.
Last month, Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, said lawmakers wanted a pay raise
after giving up a 3.8 percent cost-of-living increase last year. At the same time, Jones wasn't surprised the governor killed
the raises, according to Jones' spokeswoman, Cindy Davidsmeyer.
Although lawmakers will have a chance to restore the money later this year, "I don't
think anyone is proposing that," Davidsmeyer said.
Under the Illinois Constitution, the governor can either reduce or outright eliminate
spending sent to him by the General Assembly. He is not allowed to increase spending. Lawmakers can later vote to restore
the money cut by the governor, usually in the fall veto session.
Blagojevich also cut $3.7 million to cover a cost-of-living increase for state judges.
Earlier this year, the judges threatened to sue because a raise they were scheduled to receive was rejected by lawmakers.
Refusing them a pay increase violated the constitutional separation of powers, according to the Illinois Judges Association.
I hope they understand that this is not a year that we can afford to give them a pay
raise, Blagojevich said. At a time when we are asking almost everyone to share in the sacrifice of solving the fiscal crisis,
I dont see how we can approve a pay raise for judges that totals nearly $4 million.
Judge Ann Jorgensen, president of the Judges Association, did not return phone calls
seeking comment about Blagojevichs action.
The governor also eliminated funding to save the jobs of more than 200 Corrections
captains. Blagojevich called for getting rid of the captains jobs when he introduced his budget in April. He said the captains
represent a needless layer of bureaucracy.
Lawmakers, though, added $17 million to the budget to save the captains jobs.
In good conscience I cannot let that decision stand, Blagojevich said. The public
expects us to do more with less. I cannot ask them to cover the cost of middle management we just dont need.
Word of the veto stunned Brian Kane, a captain at the Hill Correctional Center in
Galesburg.
This is a big letdown after 18 years of service, Kane said. I thought loyalty counted
for something. I dont know what my future is going to hold.
Kane believes the state wont save as much money as it thinks because captains are
salaried and work overtime without additional compensation. Without the captains, nonsalaried workers will have to put in
longer hours with overtime pay, Kane said.
Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, agrees.
I think in the long run, its going to cost them a lot more, Poe said. Id be willing
to vote for an override, but Im afraid theyll already have their people in place.
Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina said 122 of the departments 219 captains already
have been offered positions as lieutenant.
Generally speaking, they will be taking a pay cut to move to lieutenants, Molina said,
adding that the remaining captains can apply for other vacant jobs in the department.
Wednesdays spending cuts will not be the last, according to Blagojevich, who said,
I fully anticipate and expect there will be more announcements along these lines.
The governor said he hasnt decided if he will veto money included in the budget to
complete construction of prisons at Hopkins Park and Grayville. He said he is not persuaded at all by claims the state will
have to pay $40 million to pull out of the two construction projects.
Budget Proposal includes funds for prison projects
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
The proposed state budget that lawmakers sent to Gov.Rod Blagojevich includes money to resume
two prison construction projects being overseen by central Illinois firms.
Blagojevich, however, already
has indicated
he probably would trim parts of the budget, so it's un certain which items will befunded in the final version of the spending
plan that covers the fiscal year beginning July 1.
For now, though, the budget contains $126 millIon to pay for construction
costs at a new maximum
security prison in Grayville and $78
million for construction costs at the
new women's prison
in Hopkins
Park.
Williams Bros. Construction of Peoria Heights is general contractor for the Grayville prison in southern
Illinois, and River City Construction Co. of East Peoria is general contractor for the Hopkins Park facility, near Kankakee.
Because
of the state budget crisis, Blagojevich halted the prison construction in mid-April. That disrupted business for Williams
Bros.,
River City and dozens of subcontractors, and some employees were laid off.
Governor to veto some pay raises
By Maura Kelly
Associated Press Writer
June 4, 2003, 3:02 PM CDT
Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Wednesday he will veto pay raises for the state's constitutional
officers, agency directors, judges and lawmakers as part of $22 million in cuts to the state budget just approved by the General
Assembly.
Blagojevich also said he will cut money, put in the budget over his objection,
that would continue to fund more than 200 captains' jobs in the state Department of Corrections.
Blagojevich said he was making the line item vetoes to the $52 billion budget
lawmakers passed late Saturday because tough choices are still needed to make sure the state's roughly $5 billion deficit
is erased.
"In these difficult times when state agencies are being consolidated, when the
number of state personnel is being reduced, in short, when others are being asked to sacrifice, this is not the time to give
pay raises to the governor, the lieutenant governor, to the constitutional officers, to the men and women of the General Assembly
or to the Supreme Court, the Appellate Court or the Circuit Court judges,'' Blagojevich said.
If lawmakers do not override the governor's cuts, the money will be put in the
state's rainy day fund.
The governor said he will continue to review the budget for additional spending
cuts.
"I fully anticipate and expect there will be more announcements along these lines,''
Blagojevich said.
The budget included $791,000 for pay raises for the governor, lieutenant governor,
attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, auditor general, agency directors, assistant agency directors
and all 177 lawmakers.
The raises were to take effect automatically because lawmakers did not pass a
bill to reject them.
A 2.8-percent raise, based on the inflation rate, would have boosted the governor's
salary to $154,910. State representatives and senators would have been paid a base pay of $59,232.
Lawmakers also would have received increases in the stipends they get for extra
duties, ranging from $9,017 for committee chairman to $24,043 for legislative leaders such as the Senate president and the
House speaker.
Sen. Patrick Welch (D-Peru), an appropriations committee chairman, said he wasn't
surprised by the governor's decision to veto raises.
"With the budget problems that we had it was not a good idea to include them in
the bill, but the bill came up so late that we didn't want to redraft that part of the legislation,'' he said. "Many of us
encouraged the governor to veto that part of the legislation.''
Last year, lawmakers rejected cost-of-living raises for themselves and some judges,
prompting judges to threaten to file a lawsuit. Pay raises for judges were approved this year by lawmakers. Blagojevich said
the judicial raises would cost $3.7 million.
DuPage County Circuit Judge Ann Jorgensen, who is president of the Illinois Judges
Association, declined to comment until she had more information about the governor's decision to cancel the raises.
Judges have said the state constitution prohibits anyone from reducing a judge's
salary while he or she is in office. A cost-of-living increase is considered part of a judge's salary, not a raise, said Cook
County Circuit Judge Stuart Nudelman, immediate past president of judges association.
The raises Blagojevich vetoed would have boosted a Supreme Court judge's salary
to $168,538; an Appellate Court judge's salary to $158,624; a Circuit Court judge's salary to $145,558; and an associate judge's
salary to $135,645.
The governor said the corrections department captains can reapply for lower paying
jobs in the department, which are open because of early retirements.
"The public expects us to do more with less. I cannot ask them to cover the cost
of middle management we just don't need,'' Blagojevich said.
| AN OPEN LETTER TO IDOC DIRECTOR ROGER WALKER |
3 June 2003
Dear Director Walker,
We are pleased that at long last DOC has new leadership. AFSCME looks forward to working
constructively with you to bring stability to a Department which has been in turmoil as a result of actions taken by the previous
administration and by your predecessor, Donnie Snyder.
The disruption included an attempt to deny DOC employees the improved
pension that the Union had fought so hard to negotiate; an attempt to eliminate all Sergeant, Maintenance Craftsman, and Leisure
Activity Specialists; an initiative to privatize dietary and commissary services; and attempts, partly successful, to close
DOC prisons, juvenile centers, work camps, and adult transition centers.
The new administration has taken some positive
steps to rebuild DOC: the elimination of a number of superfluous deputy director positions; the plan1 to reopen Sheridan;
and the recall of many laid off employees.
However, that positive direction has run into a roadblock as the result of DOC's
decision to offer lieutenant positions--for which AFSCME members have worked so hard to qualify--to captains.
For many
years DOC had complete discretion in selecting candidates for both captain and lieutenant positions. Too often selection for
those jobs was made on the basis of politics and favoritism. It took the union a long time to pressure the State into permitting
our members to be chosen for lieutenant positions based upon their ability to pass an exam, and on their years of service
with DOC.
Now, those who've qualified for the lieutenant positions through that route and have been waiting patiently for
promotional opportunities are being forced to stan1d by and watch as those jobs are offered to many of the people who rose
to the ranks of management through the very political process that we fought so hard to eliminate.
In addition, the timing
of these offerings is very suspicious. For months we have been urging DOC to recall our laid off members and to fill the hundreds
of jobs which remain vacant. We were told that there are budget constraints (we do recognize that there are) and that filling
positions would take time. In the meantime, more than 100 of our members remain on layoff, and more than 500 are in temporary
assignments. Yet as soon as the captains became subject to layoff, scores of lieutenant positions popped open.
Whatever
the motivation, bypassing employees who've worked hard and played by the rules is causing immense damage to departmental morale.
It is crucial that you act quickly to redress this situation and make sure that all lieutenant positions are filled only by
bargaining unit employees who have contractual rights to them. There are correctional officer vacancies that could be made
available to captains to avert their layoffs.
Our Union has always worked hard to improve prison safety. We were the first
to call attention to the problems with gangs and call for a get-tough policy, and we initiated legislation to ban cell coverings.
It was the union that first advocated for limits on inmate property and movement, and for the requirement that inmates wear
uniforms.
These measures enhanced institutional security immeasurably, but the improvements that have
been made are
now jeopardized both by the extreme shortage of staff and by the friction that has been unnecessarily created by the manner
in which the lieutenant positions have been offered, a friction not lost on the inmate population.
DOC faces big challenges,
challenges that can only be met if both the Department's leadership and employees work together. For its part the Union is
ready to work with you. We urge you to act immediately to fill the hundreds of vacant frontline positions and to restore fairness
to DOC's filling of vacancies policy so that we can1move this Department forward, beginning today.
AFSCME COUNCIL 31
GOVERNOR MIGHT STILL CUT PRISON CAPTAINS
BY MATT ADRIAN
FOR THE SOUTHERN
Mon Jun 02 2003
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he might use his amendatory veto powers to
remove 218 Department of Corrections captain positions that lawmakers included in next year's budget.
Blagojevich had redlined the jobs as a way to pare costs and fill a $5 billion budget
hole.
"We were able to find ways to streamline government, consolidate state agencies, reduce
the headcount in personnel, make government more accountable ... eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy or hard-to-justify bureaucracy,
and these positions could very well fit that description," Blagojevich said. "If that is the case after we review the legislation
and the budget then I'll act appropriately."
The captains lobbied heavily to get their jobs replaced in the fiscal 2004 budget.
As state employees, the 218 captains are allowed to apply for other positions within state government. As a result, the administration
is allowing many of the captains to apply for 114 lieutenant positions open throughout the state prison system.
Allen Arbeiter, a captain at the Du Quoin Work Camp, said he has been offered a lieutenant
position, but if he accepts he will lose 22 years of seniority.
"There will be guys with five or six years in with more seniority than me," Arbeiter
said. "It's a hard pill to swallow, but it's better than being unemployed."
Arbeiter said he and other captains are concerned that eliminating their positions
will remove a level of frontline workers.
"It's going to get someone hurt," Arbeiter said.
The administration's move has been met with resistance by American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees Council 31, the union that represents most of the state's prison workers.
AFSCME argues that the lieutenant positions should be filled by union members, especially the more than 100 laid-off
prison workers who lost their jobs after cuts in the state's current budget. The union filed a contract grievance against
the state last week.
217-789-0865
Governor expects to trim budget
Critics:
More cuts still may not help spending plan
2 June 2003
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
Barely an hour after the Illinois General Assembly passed the last pieces of next
year's state budget, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he probably will veto parts of the spending plan sent to him by lawmakers.
However, critics said even cuts might not be enough to save a spending plan they believe
relies on overly optimistic estimates of how much revenue the state expects to collect next year. If those critics are right,
lawmakers could be back in Springfield in a matter of months making even deeper cuts or raising additional taxes.
"They may be able to cobble through and get us into January," said Sen. Steve Rauschenberger,
R-Elgin, the Senate Republican budget negotiator. "This budget does not (make it through) a full year."
Lawmakers sent to Blagojevich a $53-billion-plus spending plan balanced with hundreds
of fee increases, business tax hikes and one-time revenues such as the sale of the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago and
the sale of an unused riverboat casino license.
The spending plan largely mirrors the budget plan proposed by Blagojevich in April.
It provides additional money for education but leaves many state jobs vacant, trims money for universities and makes cuts
to human services programs.
Lawmakers voted to restore some of the human service cuts and to add about $180 million
to public elementary and high schools.
Although balanced on paper, the budget still may be cut before Blagojevich signs it
into law.
"We haven't decided on what, if anything, I'll veto, although I do suspect some vetoes
are likely," Blagojevich said at a news conference early Sunday. "I think we have an opportunity to even pare down this budget
some more."
Blagojevich didn't say what spending he might veto, but the likely targets include
money lawmakers added in the last couple of weeks to restore cuts Blagojevich called for in the budget he proposed in April.
That could include money to save the jobs of 200 Department of Corrections captains and salaries for regional superintendents
of education.
"We eliminated layers of unnecessary bureaucracy or hard-to-justify bureaucracy,"
Blagojevich said when asked whether he would cut the Corrections' captains. "These positions could very well fit that description.
If that's the case after we review the budget, then I'll act appropriately."
During a private meeting last week, Blagojevich told Senate Democrats he likely will
veto the money lawmakers reinstated to pay salaries of regional school superintendents.
Blagojevich also vowed to hold the line on lawmakers' pet projects that were included
in a $10 billion capital projects bill the General Assembly hurriedly passed just before adjournment. The budget includes
$4 billion worth of new projects and $6 billion continued from previous years.
At least $200 million and possibly more than $300 million is included in that budget
in lump sums for projects to be identified later. The widely criticized pool of money for lawmaker projects known as member
initiatives was also budgeted as a lump sum in the budget passed a year ago, with the actual projects only identified months
later.
Although project money is included in the capital budget, it cannot be spent until
the governor signs off on it. Blagojevich insisted Sunday that he will only approve about $450 million worth of projects that
were carried over from previous state budgets - at least for now.
"I've said consistently we're not going to fund anything beyond the $450 million we
allotted," Blagojevich said. "If there is more than that, it will be considered in the second year."
Included in the capital budget is $7 million to remodel part of the closed Lincoln
Developmental Center into cottages for residents being moved into community-based care. Blagojevich budget director John Filan
said the new state budget also includes up to $5 million to pay salaries for staffers at the remodeled facility. It will not
reopen until January at the earliest.
Lawmakers rushed to approve the capital-spending budget before the midnight Saturday
adjournment deadline. After then, Republican votes were needed to approve bills, increasing their bargaining power.
In the Senate, Democrats began debating the bill on the Senate floor without first
holding the customary committee hearing. When Republicans complained, the majority Democrats cut off debate and rammed the
bill through just before the deadline. Republicans stormed off the floor, and the Democrats adjourned for the spring shortly
after.
"To have it crammed down our throat in typical Chicago-style politics sets a precedent,
I think, for the future sessions that is not going to be good," said Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville.
Those strained relations between Republicans and Democrats could make it more difficult
for the General Assembly to fix the budget if it starts unraveling a few months into the budget year that starts July 1. More
than a few lawmakers believe there is a strong possibility that a repair job is going to be needed.
"This is a budget that's very fragile," Watson said. "It's built on revenue sources
that are questionable at best. I think there's a real possibility we'll see this come crumbling down like a house of cards."
The budget assumes the state will be able to sell an unused casino license for $350
million, even though Illinois has the highest casino taxes in the nation. It also assumes the state will collect at least
$230 million from the sale of the Thompson Center state office building in downtown Chicago, along with the toll highway headquarters
in Downers Grove and some Elgin Mental Health Center property.
Many lawmakers don't think the state will collect that money. Moreover, they aren't
even convinced that the fee hikes and business taxes will produce as much money as anticipated.
"In a year like this, with the structure of the budget the way it is, there's a real
good possibility we'll be back (to fix it) just because all of those things have to happen," said Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring
Valley. "If two or three of these major components fall apart, we end up $400 million to $500 million short."
Captains' fate rests with veto pen
Monday, June 2, 2003
By Kurt Erickson Statehouse bureau chief
SPRINGFIELD -- The jobs of more than 200 prison captains remain in limbo despite the General
Assembly's approval of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's $52 billion budget late Saturday. Blagojevich, in comments after the budget
was passed, said he may take his veto pen to the massive document in search of ways to pare down spending that was added in
the waning days of the spring legislative session.
The $17 million that would fund the captains' salaries could be among the cuts.
"Some vetoes are likely," Blagojevich said.
"These are the hard choices we have to make."
In his efforts to cut government spending, Blagojevich announced earlier this year that he was
eliminating the captains as a way to "streamline bureaucracy" in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He also cut deputy
director positions in hopes of saving several million more dollars in state spending.
Last month, he sent layoff notices to the 217 non-union workers telling them they would be out
of work on June 30.
At Pontiac Correctional Center, nine captains would be cut. At Dwight Correctional Center, 10
positions would be slashed. At the two state prisons in Lincoln, a total of nine workers would lose their jobs.
The captains, dressed in their uniforms, kept a vigil at the Statehouse for much of last week
and watched as the House and Senate inserted $17 million into the budget to restore their positions.
Blagojevich, who is expected to sign the budget in the coming weeks, said the captains, if they
are vetoed out of the budget, would be welcome to reapply for any openings within the prison system.
Budget makes good on promise
BY CHRIS TERRY
JACKSONVILLE
JOURNAL-COURIER
June 2, 2003
Roodhouse resident Frank Hopkins attended more than 1,500 graduation ceremonies at the
Greene County Boot Camp before it closed late last year.
But With the approval Saturday night of the state's 2004 fiscal
year budget, Mr. Hopkins, on behalf of the North Greene Chamber of Commerce, Will get a chance to present even more
plaques
to graduates of the boot camp sometime in the near future.
Part of the state's budget included $3 million to reopen work
camps in Greene County and Hanna City and an
additional $5million to open the Illinois
Youth Center in Rushville.
"We're
elated down here," said Mr.
Hopkins, who helped organize rallies in
support of reopening the facility and testified
about the facilities advantages
before the State Government Administration Committee in February. "People are calling
me to find out more, but 1 don't know any more right now. I just know that the boot camp is going to
"
reopen.
White
Hall Mayor Harold Brimm was first asked about the camp's reopening at church Sunday morning. Though he couldn't provide an
answer then, he inquired shortly after return
ing home from church.
"I'm sure glad to hear this because we've lost a
lot of revenue," Mayor Brimm said. "1 had a strong feeling that this was going to happen because (Gov. Rod Blagojevich) made
that promise to the people of Greene County. I didnt
know for sure, but I just had a good feeling."
State Rep. Jim Watson, R.
Jacksonville, said the facility will be phased into a
complete reopening by January.
The Rushville facility is scheduled to open in the last quarter of the 2004 fiscal year,
state Sen.
John Sullivan, D-Rushville, Said.
Once it is opened, the Illinois Youth Center will be among the top employers
in western Illinois, Sen. Sullivan said, providing
about 275 jobs. Former Gov.,
George H. Ryan awarded the $34 million,
288 bed facility to
Rushville in December 1999, but its opening was delayed because of the state's budget deficit
Rushville
Mayor Ronald Shepherd said his only hope is
the juvenille prison hires local residents rather than transfers from other
facilities.
"The opening of this is long anticipated," said Mayor Shepherd.. "Hopefully, it's going to have an upswing
in the job market of the area, which has lost a lot of big companies recently."
However, state Sen. Vince Demuzio, D-Carlinville,
cautioned that until. the governor signs into law the bill enacting the measures, House Bill 2700, anything can happen.
"I
would hope that there's room for this project to go forward'" said Sen. Demuzio. "I
think it's a good one, and we will
work with the governor anyway we can to facilitate the opening."
AFSCME upset by DOC move
By Adriana Colindres
State Capitol Bureau
May 30, 2003
Representatives of the largest state employee union are crying foul over the possible movement of
some Department of Corrections captains into lieutenants' posts.
That would unfairly take jobs away from
some
current lieutenants, who are mem
bers, of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said
Henry
Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31.
"We have over 100 members who have been on layoff for 10 months who have
no health insurance, and we have been trying to get the governor to post the positions for the people to come back to work,"
Bayer said. "So far, they've been dragging their feet in doing that, yet last week, they turned
around on a dime and offered
positions that
belong to our members to captains who the governor has claimed to layoff."
Bayer has Written a letter
to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, expressing the union's opposition to what Bayer described as a Corrections move to grant "an unknown
number" of lieutenant positions to captains. The action last week "thwarted the contractual rights of AFSCME members" in the
depart
Ment, he said.
"The union also has filed a grievance with
the Department of Central Management Services,
state government's personnel agency, Bayer said..
At present, " the captains aren't members of a union. But they are seeking
to become
represented by Laborers' International
Union of North America.
Bayer and roughly 80 AFSCME mem
bers
went to the second floor of the state Capitol Thursday morning, hoping to meet with the governor. After being told he wasn't
in, Bayer and other AFSCME officials instead spoke with Julie Curry, Blagojevich's deputy chief of staff for economic development
and labor.
"We laid out to her our outrage and con
cerns about the actions that have been
taken in the Department
of "Corrections," Bayer said.
, He told union members that the gover
nor's office said it would set up a meeting next
week between the union and new Corrections Director Roger Walker.
"Our hope is that the new director will have a sense
of fairness and that he will reverse these decisions.," Bayer said.
Blagojevich's budget proposal called for cutting the
funding .for Corrections captains' jobs. The House Senate restored
that funding in budget bills they passed and sent to
the governor last week. Also last week,Walker said he would copsider sug
gestions that the outgoing captains be re
hired
at a lesser rank.
Blagojevich said later Thursday that the
union "doesn't appreciate the fact" that the captains' contract
says they must be given a chance to reapply for other positions with the state.
"Evidently, they're concerned that most
of these captains happen to be Republicans and that they shouldn't be hired," the governor added. "In those cases where we've
decided to downsize by reducing bureau
cracy and needless waste, if contracts and
rules provide that those same employees
can reapply, they should be able to reapply for other positions in state government, and we don't. care what political party
they come from."
While Bayer and the others met Thursday, with AFSCME members waiting outside the governor's office, about
15 uniformed Corrections captains also stood nearby.
The captains are lobbying policymakers
about the importance. of
keeping their jobs
in the state budget, said Matthew Bradbury,
a captain at Western Illinois Correctional Center
in Mount Sterling.
"We're the highest-ranking staff that are
there. 24 hours a day, seven days a week,"
he
said.
"It's unfortunate we can't get on the
same page and work together (with AF
SCME) toward a common goal,
"Bradbury said. " The common goal is everybody
keeps their jobs." '
Doug Finke and Mary Massingale of the
State Capitol Bureau contributed to this report. AdrianaColindrescan be reached at 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com.
May 27, 2003
VIA FACSIMILE
The Honorable Rod Blagojevich
Governor of Illinois
207
State House
Springfield IL 62706
Dear Governor Blagojevich:
I am writing to express the union's
strong objection to actions taken last week by the Illinois Department of Corrections which granted an unknown number of lieutenant
positions to DOC captains and thwarted the contractual rights of AFSCME members in DOC.
The timing of DOC's action
is highly suspect. From the day you were inaugurated, the union has been pressing this administration to fill badly needed
front line vacant positions. Time and again we were told that first DOC had to request that positions be filled before
the Governor's office would grant permission for the filling of any vacancy.
At times the process seemed interminable
and although a number of our laid off members were recalled to work, we still have more than 100 members who are in their
tenth month on layoff without health insurance.
While we were counseled by the Department to be patient, DOC turned
around on a dime when captain's jobs were in jeopardy to find places for them. If, indeed, these positions are so critical
to fill, why did DOC wait until the captains received layoff notices to fill them?
Many hard-working AFSCME members
have been waiting for years for the opportunity to fill the positions which are now being offered to captains. In order
to qualify for a lieutenant position our members have studied for and passed the appropriate tests. Most of these captains
have never taken the lieutenant test. Indeed, some have even taken it and flunked, only to be made captains because
of their political connections. Now DOC proposes to bring them into lieutenant positions through the back door.
May
27, 2003
Page Two
If DOC had followed appropriate procedures, then the lieutenant positions would have been posted
and current qualified employees -- mainly sergeants or correctional officers -- would have filled them. Other correctional
officer positions are on tap to be filled in the coming weeks and those could have been made available to the captains once
all employees had an opportunity to bid on available positions.
That's how the situation could have been -- and still
can be -- handled fairly. The actions taken by DOC are an insult to every hard-working front line staff person and I
urge you to reverse them immediately.
Sincerely,
Henry Bayer
Executive Director
/ls(5766)
cc:
Julie Curry
Jacksonville budget in HB2700 for FY2003
30
JACKSONVILLE CORRECTIONAL CENTER
31 For Personal Services ........................ $ 21,375,200
32
For Employee Retirement Contributions
33 Paid by Employer ............................
1,160,200
34 For Student, Member and Inmate Compensation ..
410,000
-85- SDS093 00032 AWM 00032 a
1 For State Contributions to
State
2 Employees' Retirement System ................ 2,743,700
3
For State Contributions to
4 Social Security .............................
1,603,000
5 For Contractual Services ..................... 3,442,400
6
For Travel ................................... 20,000
7
For Travel and Allowance for Committed,
8 Paroled and Discharged Prisoners ............
40,000
9 For Commodities .............................. 2,716,000
10
For Printing ................................. 26,600
11
For Equipment ................................ 153,500
12 For
Telecommunications Services .............. 72,900
13
For Operation of Auto Equipment .............. 167,100
14 For
the Greene County Impact
15 Incarceration Program .......................
2,578,650
16 Total
$36,509,250
State Senate approves spending plan
Stage set for House
to pass budget, sent it to governor
May 23, 2003
By DOUG FINKE
SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Senate approved major portions of the state budget Thursday, setting
the stage for the House to approve them today and send them to Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
But even as the spending plan was being approved, Blagojevich and the four legislative leaders
were still struggling to figure out how to pay for it. It now appears the state will dip further into special purpose funds
to underwrite the budget, something likely to anger the interest groups who benefit from those funds.
Senators approved budgets for elementary and high schools, universities, human services and
a host of other agencies Thursday night. While money for some programs was cut, the budget plan crafted by the Democrats preserved
2.8 percent cost-of-living increases for state lawmakers.
The Senate education budget added $97 million for public elementary and high schools above
what Blagojevich called for in his budget plan. State School Superintendent Robert Schiller said the plan puts more money
into districts with large numbers of poverty students. The change means only a "handful" of school districts will lose money,
unlike the more than 300 districts that lost money under Blagojevich's original budget.
"The losses range from less than $263 to a high of $164,000," Schiller said.
Those losses will be made up with $5.2 million in transition money contained in the budget.
Regional school superintendent salaries are restored in the Senate budget.
The budget the Senate approved includes money to open the youth center in Rushville and work
camps at Hanna City and Greene County that were closed this year because of the budget crunch. Money to reopen Sheridan Correctional
Center as a drug treatment center is also in the budget, as is money to complete construction of the Hopkins Park correctional
center.
However, the budget does not include money to reopen a portion of Lincoln Developmental Center.
The Senate budget bills include $17 million to continue the rank of captain at the Department
of Corrections. Blagojevich wants to eliminate the captains' positions, and 30-day layoff notices were sent to the captains
this week.
The captains' salaries were included in the same bill that gives lawmakers a 2.8 percent cost-of-living
increase, making it difficult for them to vote against the bill even if they didn't want to raise their own salaries.
Several Republicans complained they were being asked to vote for spending bills when it's
unclear how the state will pay for all of the spending. Blagojevich has called for a wide range of fee increases, closing
so-called "tax loopholes" and tapping into special-purpose funds to balance the budget. So far, lawmakers haven't approved
any of those, and some of Blagojevich's ideas are running into stiff opposition.
"This is a house of cards, and it will come tumbling down and we will be back here," said
Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville.
The Senate passed the brunt of the budget Thursday and is expected to deal with the rest today.
Earlier Thursday, Blagojevich and the four legislative leaders met face to face for nearly
three hours to talk about the revenue hikes Blagojevich needs to balance the budget.
"We had a good productive day," Blagojevich said after the meeting.
Blagojevich conceded that he and lawmakers could be $300 million to $700 million apart, based
on how much lawmakers want to spend and how reluctant they are to raise fees. At least two revenue ideas floated by Blagojevich
- eliminating tax breaks on out-of-state natural gas purchases and on equipment used by trucking companies, airlines and railroads
in Illinois - are facing stiff opposition from lawmakers.
House Republican Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said special purpose state funds may be asked
to shoulder more of the budget-balancing burden. Those funds usually get their money from fees assessed on professions or
industries. The funds then pay for programs that benefit those industries or professions.
Blagojevich said those funds should pay a 5 percent fee to cover the cost of the state providing
bookkeeping and other administrative services. Now, though, the four leaders are thinking of assessing those funds a 6 percent
or 7 percent administrative fee.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has indicated the House will begin voting on fee
increases next week after the Memorial Day weekend. The Senate will not vote on them until after the House approves them.
Lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn their spring session May 31.
Blagojevich recognizes Lewis as 2003 Correctional Officer of Year
Proclaims May 4-10, 2003 Correctional Officer Week in Illinois
9 May 2003
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. - Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today recognized Pontiac Correctional Center officer
Ed Lewis as the 2003 Correctional Officer of the Year and thanked all corrections staff for the important work they do in
protecting the public from danger. He also declared May 4-10 as Correctional Officer week in Illinois in appreciation for
the important public service they provide the citizens of Illinois.
"The uniformed staff who make our Illinois prison system a model for the rest of the nation
are dedicated, hard working public servants who deserve our thanks and praise," said Blagojevich. "Without their daily sacrifices,
commitment and fair treatment of prison inmates, we would not be able to live our lives in the safety and comfort we all enjoy."
Nominations for this year's award come from officers recognized at each of the Department
of Corrections 26 state prisons and eight juvenile centers. The top officer is selected from the facility nominees and presented
with a $500 savings bond, membership in the American Correctional Association and given the opportunity to address those present
for the award. The nominees are judged on leadership, initiative, professionalism and service to their community and career.
This year's winner has served as an officer at Pontiac since September 1994. Officer Lewis
became squad leader of the Pontiac Tactical Unit for emergency response inside the prison in 1995. He has also served as class
counselor at the Corrections Training Academy and has represented the agency at career night programs for high school students.
Officer Lewis is working toward a college degree in criminal justice with an emphasis on business
administration. He coaches football in the local youth league and displays steady leadership skills in his volunteer work
and career at the prison.
Other facility nominees include
Big Muddy River Correctional Center - Monty Clark, Correctional
Officer;
Centralia Correctional Center - Rodney L. Schaeffer, Correctional Officer;
Danville Correctional Center -
Jamie Hernandez, Correctional Officer;
Decatur Correctional Center - Tony Coleman, Correctional Officer;
Dixon Correctional
Center - Brett Melton, Correctional Officer;
Dwight Correctional Center - Brenda Lillard, Correctional Officer;
East Moline Correctional
Center - Tim Jackson, Correctional Officer;
Graham Correctional Center - Jesse Busby, Correctional Officer;
Hill Correctional
Center - Phillip J. Brooks, Correctional Officer;
Illinois River Correctional Center - Steven Smith, Correctional Officer;
Jacksonville Correctional Center - Patrick Clarey, Correctional Officer;
Lawrence Correctional Center - Rachel Nielsen,
Correctional Officer;
Lincoln Correctional Center - Rod Morgan, Correctional Sergeant;
Logan Correctional Center - Kimberly Riggins, Correctional Officer;
Menard Correctional
Center - Gary Rednour, Correctional Officer;
Pinckneyville Correctional Center - James N. Scott, Correctional Officer;
Pontiac Correctional Center - Ed Lewis, Correctional Officer;
Robinson Correctional Center - Jon Williams, Correctional
Officer;
Shawnee Correctional Center - Kurtis "Todd" Hunter, Correctional Officer;
Stateville Correctional Center
- Clifford Brewer, Correctional Officer;
Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center - Marvin Bateman, Correctional Officer;
Tamms Correctional Center - Albert Wehrheim, Correctional Officer;
Taylorville Correctional Center - Bryan Carlock,
Correctional Sergeant;
Vandalia Correctional Center - Mark Pyle, Correctional Officer;
Vienna Correctional Center,
Dixon Springs IIP - Max Nance, Correctional Officer;
Western Illinois Correctional Center - Tim Megginson, Correctional
Officer;
IYC - Chicago; Sandra Binion, Youth Supervisor II; IYC - Harrisburg - Eugenia Newlin, Youth
Supervisor II; IYC - Joliet - Charlie Jordan, Youth Supervisor III; IYC - Kewanee - Ted Phillips, Youth Supervisor II; IYC
- Murphysboro - Jeff Coleman, Youth Supervisor III; IYC - Pere Marquette - Shawn Wiser, Youth Supervisor II; IYC - St. Charles
- Bruce Cavins, Youth Supervisor II; IYC - Warrenville - Orlando Salazar, Youth Supervisor II.
Union urges state not to cut corrections budget funds
Department
officials say funding, staff are sufficient
by Maggie Borman
Jacksonville Journal-Courier
07 May 2003
SPRINGFIELD - Officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections and the largest union
representing state employees said that it is imparitive that the legislators not cut the department's General Revenue Fund
allocation of $1.3 billion any further.
"It is critical that legislators understand how dire the situation is in Illinois
correctional facilities," Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees,
testified at an appropriations hearing in Springfield last week. "Early retirement has decimated the front-line ranks in state
prisons, even as the inmate population is on the rise again. There is a crying need for more bed space and more staff. It
has become an issue of safety."
Mr. Bayer, who was flanked by more than 100 uniformed correctional officers from facilities
throughout the state, said legislators also must come up with a plan to fund shuttered corrections facilities.
The
budget reopens Sheridan Correctional Center, but not the Illinois Youth Center at Valley View, the work/boot camps in Greene
County, Paris or Hanna City, or the 'halfway house' adult transitional centers that have been closed," he said. "Reopening
these components of the system would go a long way toward easing overcrowded conditions and reducing the pressure on other
facilities."
While reopening all the closed facilities had been a promise made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the bleak reality
of a $5 billion budget deficit makes it unlikely he can keep that promise.
Although Greene County residents and Department
of Corrections staff, as well as state Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, and Illinois Senate Majority Leader Vince Demuzio,
D-Carlinville, had tried to keep the Greene County Impact Incarceration Program open, the boot camp was closed by the state
last September. Located between White Hall and Roodhouse, the 200-bed facility, which opened in 1993 and housed non-violent
male first-time offenders, has remained shuttered.
The Department of Corrections said the prison population is down
to approximately 43,250 inmates, compared to the all-time high of 46,700, and that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Department of Corrections'
proposed budget addresses many of the department's needs.
"I don't want to downplay how important it is to have
adequate staff in our facilities," Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Fairchild said, "but the 2004 budget takes care
of those concerns."The fiscal year 2004 corrections budget proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich of nearly $1.3 billion is up from
fiscal year 2003's $1.2 billion budget and includes $23.8 million to reopen the Sheridan Facility in January 2004. The corrections
budget also allocates $6 million to parole expansion, Mr. Fairchild said, including 60 new parole agents and four additional
parole supervisors. The expansion will help support the governor's newly launched "Operation Spotlight" program that
tightens parole supervision. The budget also assumes a $16 million reduction in administrative costs that will be found by
not filling vacant administrative positions and targeting reductions of management employees in the department.
"So, the good news is the streamlining of bureaucracy at DOC while providing front-line staff at the facilities," Mr. Fairchild
said. "The budget will allow DOC to add staff at facilities throughout the state by redirecting the savings from early retirement
and less management layers. We don't have exact numbers yet, but there will be an increase in front-line staff."
While some legislators have questioned the logic of attempting to reopen shuttered facilities, given the state's budget crisis,
others questioned the sense in allowing the buildings to remain vacant and serving no purpose.
The Department of
Corrections is trying to find alternative uses for the facilities. "While everything is tentative right now, we are in discussions
wih Homeland Security on options on how best to use the bed space available," Mr. Fairchild said. "Though I can't say how
many of the closed facilities would be used, they did mention they would like to look at facilities closer to Chicago, such
as Joliet, a 640-bed site, and having a new reception and classification facility housed in the Stateville facility."
AFSCME regional director Buddy Maupin, of AFSCME's Marion field office, said the governor's budget reflected some of the union's
concerns for maintaining prison security through front-line staffing, cutting bureaucracy and drug abuse treatment programs
for inmates. Yet, he said he feels the budget glass remains only half-full:
"Our testimony on the budget is that
it's a mixed bag, and that reopening of closed facilities is a budget area that needs improvement."
Maggie Borman can reached
at maggieborman@hotmail.com
Corrections lays off 20; eight in central office
By Bernard Schoenburg
Political Writer
State Journal Register
03 May 2003
The Illinois Department of Corrections has cut 20 jobs in a money-saving move, spokesman Sergio
Molina said Friday.
Eight of the people worked at the department's central office complex in Springfield and were informed
Thursday, Molina said.
One of them is Jack Pecoraro, the chief of administrative services who was paid $112,248 annually.
Pecoraro had been head of the Secretary of State Police for a time when George Ryan was secretary of state. Pecoraro moved
to Corrections during Ryan's term as governor, Molina said.
Pecoraro was serving a four-year term, but the position was
abolished.
"We're streamlining the bureaucracy," Molina said, adding that the layoffs do not affect jobs with direct contact
with inmates. "The emphasis and priority is on front-line staff."
The employees will remain on the payroll until the end
of May, he said.
"This is the layer of bureaucracy that the governor has been talking about at the Department of Corrections,"
said Tom Schafer, spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich. "In the budget speech, the governor talked about how there were five
layers of bureaucracy and not enough people that are handling the actual work with the inmates. He obviously agrees that we
do need to replace some of the correctional guards, so there most likely will be increases in many positions.
"But
as far as the upper-level administration, he felt it was top-heavy."
Acting director Don Snyder is running the department.
Blagojevich on Thursday announced his choice for a new director -- Macon County Sheriff Roger Walker Jr. -- who is expected
to take over in June and whose job is subject to Senate confirmation.
A list issued by Corrections of the departing
employees included one retirement. Molina said Edward Green decided to retire from his job as assistant deputy director in
a region of southern Illinois.
Other Springfield-based employees on the layoff list include executive secretaries
Linda Kane and Debra Stout; human resource assistants John Garry and Barbara Workman; executive secretary Mary J. Heard; administrative
assistant Sharlyn McBride; and Rick Oakley, commander of a special operations team designed to respond to emergencies.
Corrections will continue to have emergency responders, Molina said.
Blagojevich picks prisons chief
The
Associated Press
May 1, 2003, 10:45 AM CDT
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has picked Macon County Sheriff Roger Walker Jr. to run the state
prison system, administration sources said Thursday.
Blagojevich scheduled a news conference in Decatur for Thursday afternoon to announce
his nominee.
Walker would be the Democratic governor's second appointee as director of the Corrections
Department. The first, Ernesto Velasco, stepped aside amid allegations of systematic beatings of prisoners at the Cook County
Jail while he was administrator there.
Walker, the first black man elected sheriff in Illinois, did not immediately return calls
seeking comment.
Walker, 54, has been in law enforcement for more than 30 years. He joined the Macon County
Sheriff's Department in 1971 as a deputy and has twice been elected sheriff, the first time in 1998.
He also served on Blagojevich's transition team, working on the committee handling crime
and safety issues.
Velasco resigned seven weeks after Blagojevich named him to the post. The governor initially
hailed the Mexican immigrant as an example of the American dream of reaching the top through hard work.
But he put the appointment on hold after the Chicago Tribune reported allegations of prisoners
being mistreated. Velasco later stepped aside, saying he did not want the controversy over his appointment to distract from
the department's work.
Walker prompted complaints from Macon County inmates in 2001 when he cut back on the number
of hot meals served at the jail. Walker, saying a tight budget left him no choice, began serving just one hot meal a day.
Inmates complained that he was starving them, but Walker said the meals met all state
nutrition guidelines
State police vehicles outnumber officers
Governor freezing
purchases to save $8.5 million
By PAT GUINANE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
28 April 2003
From a 1951 Ford Del Rio wagon to a dozen 2003 Chevy Impalas, Illinois State Police have 2,429 vehicles, or enough
to draw the attention of a new governor facing a big budget deficit.
The state police do not need more cars than officers, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in unveiling his fiscal 2004 spending
plan two weeks ago.
He listed the size of the agency's fleet among examples of bureaucratic inefficiency that include high-priced real estate
for state agency offices, overspending on items ranging from computers to windshield washer fluid and the Department of Corrections'
airplane.
"The kind of waste I just described may be hard to find," the governor said. "But it's easy to cut."
Blagojevich's proposed budget includes no money for new police vehicles in the fiscal year that begins July 1, meaning
state police will have to continue to use current vehicles while odometers continue to roll forward.
"Public safety is not going to be affected," said Master Sgt. Rick Hector, a state police spokesman. "Like all other
state agencies right now, we're all having to tighten our belts and make do with what we have."
Blagojevich expects a freeze on new vehicle purchases and improved management to slash roughly $8.5 million from next
year's bottom line.
But for the state police fleet, that could actually mean a significant reduction. For instance, the agency had 2,461
vehicles when the governor's budget was put together. Since then, 32 vehicles have been lost to attrition, Hector said.
Some are totaled in crashes, and others simply reach a point where they are beyond repair, he explained.
Although the governor already has canceled a $2 million state purchase of 124 passenger vehicles, Blagojevich spokesman
Tom Schafer said vital transportation needs will be met.
"The governor has not banned the purchase of state vehicles entirely," Schafer said. "If they have a request for a particular
vehicle or vehicles, those are things that the governor's office is reviewing. There's no outright ban."
With 361 more vehicles than officers, the state police would appear to be an obvious place to cut. But the numbers alone
are misleading, the agency says, as only about 2,000 of its vehicles are on the front line. The rest are mostly backup patrol
cars, along with training and utility vehicles.
The average odometer reading of a state police car is 83,555 miles.
The 21 state police districts keep in reserve 263 vehicles, or a little more than 10 percent of the fleet - a tactic
Larry Trent, the agency's new director, explained to state senators earlier this month.
"It's not unusual for cars to be in the shop," Trent said. "For instance, in District 11 (the Metro East area), which
has over 100 troopers, it's not unusual, on any given week, for six or seven cars to be in the shop. So you're going to necessitate
another six or seven cars available, at least, for a district that size."
The state police assign 49 vehicles to administrators, have 156 support vehicles - mostly vans and trucks - and allot
25 cars to its cadet training facility in Pawnee.
For patrol, the state police rely on just a few models.
Until the mid-1990s, the Chevrolet Caprice was the most popular patrol car for the state and a number of other police
agencies. But the model was discontinued in 1997, steering police purchases to the Ford Crown Victoria and the Chevy Impala.
At 1,213 and 193 cars, respectively, those two models are the most popular among the state police, followed by the 132
Caprices still in use and 110 Dodge Intrepids the agency deploys.
There are also a small number of Pontiacs, Plymouths and Oldsmobiles among other makes in the mix, and even a Lexus or
two. Most of the more exotic models were confiscated in drug busts and are used for undercover work, Hector said.
The fleet has a bit of muscle, too, with troopers in 23 Chevy Camaros and 15 Ford Mustangs patrolling for speeders.
"They have been very successful," Hector said. "Most people, when they see a marked squad, pretty much behave. But when
they see a car like a Mustang or a Camaro out there, they just don't even think (of) that being a squad."
At least one state police vehicle is for show only. With just under 80,000 miles logged, the 52-year-old Del Rio is merely
a display car for events such as the Illinois State Fair.
DOC audit: Gun records sloppy
Ag manager found on Corrections payroll
By ADRIANA COLINDRES
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
24 April 2003
The Illinois Department of Corrections failed to keep proper track of all its weapons and
had on its payroll a manager with a different agency, state auditors said Wednesday.
Responding to the report from Auditor General William Holland, Corrections officials said
they were taking steps to eliminate such problems.
Auditors said one weapon on the department's inventory listing couldn't be located. In addition,
they said, Corrections did not properly identify where more than a dozen other weapons were.
"Failure to account for all weapons of the department increases the risk that an unauthorized
individual could gain access to a firearm and leaves the department and the state exposed to a risk of liability," Holland
said in the audit covering a two-year period ending June 30, 2002.
Corrections spokesman Brian Fairchild said the agency has tightened procedures for keeping
tabs on its firearms.
"It's very important to be accountable for those weapons," he said.
Lapses usually are the result of an employee forgetting to fill out paperwork that would take
a weapon off the department's inventory, Fairchild said.
In a separate finding, auditors identified an employee, Lynnette Jones, who was on the Corrections
payroll but working for the Department of Agriculture. Jones had been executive assistant to Corrections Director Donald Snyder,
Fairchild said.
Agriculture spokesman Jeff Squibb said Jones had been the agency's personnel director but
that she is no longer there.
When Jones moved to Agriculture, Corrections wanted to retain her expertise on drug-testing
and other issues, Fairchild said.
Auditors said an intergovernmental agreement specified that while Jones would stay on the
Corrections payroll, Agriculture would repay Corrections for her salary and benefits. From March 2001 to June 30, 2002, Corrections
paid her $136,562, the audit said, while Agriculture reimbursed Corrections about $130,000.
However, Corrections officials couldn't provide any documentation that she had spent time
on agency-related issues, auditors said.
"A state agency should only pay the salary and benefits of employees from whom they received
services," the auditor general's report said.
Fairchild said much of Jones' work for Corrections was done over the telephone.
"Could we have documented that better? Yes," he said. "Will we in the future? Yes."
Auditors also criticized Corrections for failing to:
Notify the proper authorities about two juveniles who escaped from the department's custody.
Seek reimbursement from inmates to cover their incarceration costs, as state law allows.
Report the value of state housing benefits as employees' income, which is required by state law and federal regulation.
Update the addresses of all discharged sex offenders in its Offender Tracking System.
Meanwhile, overcrowding remains
an issue, according to auditors' findings. On average, Corrections facilities exceed their rated total capacity by about 30
percent.
Designed for a total capacity of 34,987, the facilities housed an average total population of 45,455 at the time of the
audits.
Fairchild said the existing prison population is about 43,200, a marked decrease from its high point of 46,500 two years
ago.
"Nobody can really explain it," he said of the drop.
The inmate decline puts the department in a better position to deal with budget cuts that include suspending construction
on two prisons, Fairchild said.
The auditor general also released almost 40 reports of individual Corrections facilities Wednesday.
At Lincoln Correctional Center, auditors said, more than $2.6 million improperly was used to pay food costs at other
correctional facilities, with more than $2.3 million diverted to Logan Correctional Center, also in Lincoln, and $270,000
for the Concordia Training Academy.
Auditors criticized the practice of paying expenditures at other correctional facilities, saying it "distorts operating
statistics and circumvents the appropriation control of the legislature."
At Taylorville Correctional Center, auditors said a former timekeeper boosted her pay by more than $1,800 because she
inappropriately had access to the records on which her pay was based. The center recovered the money from the employee.
Many of the audits revealed no serious problems at individual facilities. Those include Jacksonville Correctional Center
and Graham Correctional Center in Hillsboro.
Audit finds Correctional Industries overpaid Pana warehouse owners
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
24 April 2003
Illinois prison officials paid more than $53,000 to the owners of a Pana warehouse even though
the payments weren't part of their lease agreement, an audit shows.
The report released Wednesday by Auditor General William Holland's office also noted that
the Department of Corrections' Correctional Industries had spent nearly $1.2 million on a computer system that isn't operational
five years after work on it began.
Auditors said Correctional Industries should not have made $53,000 in additional payments
for the warehouse it leases near Pana, in southeastern Christian County. The payments included $46,800 for installation of
a security system, even though the original lease called for the warehouse owners to install it, and $6,200 for three months'
back rent on space not included in the lease. Corrections Industries used the space but did not initially pay rent for it.
Corrections officials defended the security-system purchase, saying it was never supposed
to be provided by the warehouse owners. However, the agency said it will try to recover the $6,200 in extra rent payments
if it is determined they were improperly made.
"We're working to see if that was done correctly," said Corrections spokesman Brian Fairchild.
"There is no argument we used the space."
Auditors again criticized the warehouse lease itself because Corrections has never shown it
to be cost-effective. When the state initially rented the former Essex Wire plant in 2000, agreeing to a 10-year, $4 million
lease, it was owned by Springfield developers Robert Egizii, Dennis Polk and John Pruitt. The three and businesses they owned
contributed more than $66,000 to the campaign fund of Gov. George Ryan.
All three denied that the contributions had played any role in the warehouse lease. However,
critics contend the bid specifications for the warehouse space were written so narrowly by Corrections that only the Pana
building qualified.
The warehouse deal is an example of Correctional Industries not weighing the costs and benefits
of its operations, auditors said, also citing the doll-making operation at the Lincoln Correctional Center.
Correctional Industries - which teaches job skills to inmates - decided to start producing
rag-style dolls that could be sold at craft shows and bazaars, auditors said. But while 850 dolls were made, only 296 were
sold, at a loss of $5,887. The doll-making operation will be discontinued.
Fairchild said Corrections is "willing in some cases to take some kind of hit" in developing
new industries programs.
"They wanted to give more (work) assignments to women at Lincoln," he said. "It looked like
this might work."
Auditors also criticized a plan for inmates at the Vienna Correctional Center to train wild
horses brought in from the West and turn them over to the federal government. Although Correctional Industries said it had
produced a cost/benefit analysis for the idea, auditors said there was no paperwork to prove it.
Fairchild said the department pulled the plug on the program before it began.
Auditors found that the Correctional Industries computer management system was projected to
cost $770,000 five years ago. The state has spent more than $1.1 million, and it is only partially working.
Fairchild blamed the delay on lack of funds and staff shortages caused by early retirement.
Union state employees escape cuts - so far
By RICH FREDERICK
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
12 April 2003
SPRINGFIELD - In his proposed budget, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is asking non-union state employees
to forgo pay raises and wants managers to start contributing to their pensions. Could union employees be next?
Under Blagojevich's plan, state government will not offer merit pay increases to non-union
employees this year, saving an estimated $14.2 million. Managers also would be asked to begin contributing 4 percent of their
salaries to their pensions, saving an estimated $28.4 million because state government now pays that contribution.
At a briefing Tuesday, budget director John Filan told reporters that a pension-contribution
requirement would be used as a starting point in negotiating the state's next contract with the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees.
AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer said it is too early to start negotiations
but indicated the union would not accept members contributing to their own pensions without larger pay increases.
"We negotiate at the bargaining table, not with Mr. Filan," Bayer said. "Mr. Filan hasn't
been around state government that long and doesn't know the history of it. I'm sure once he learns the history of how that
happened, he will forgo that position."
AFCSME's current contract with the state runs through June 30, 2004. Under that contract,
employees are guaranteed a 4 percent raise on July 1 and continue to have their pension contributions picked up by the state.
Bayer said negotiations for the next contract are scheduled to begin in December.
Union employees make up about 70 percent of the state work force. Last year, former Gov. George
Ryan asked AFSCME employees to forgo a pay raise to help balance the state budget. AFSCME rejected Ryan's request and, in
turn, the governor shuttered a number of facilities that employed mainly union members, such as Zeller Mental Health Center
in Peoria.
Critics say union employees should have been asked to make a sacrifice to balance the budget,
considering that nearly everybody else was.
"Sacrifices do have to be made in this situation, but I don't think it's fair to ask some
to sacrifice and not others," said Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville.
Watson said Blagojevich's failure to ask the unions for help might be his way of paying back
"political IOUs." Blagojevich received more than $1.1 million in campaign contributions from unions representing state employees
in 2001-02.
Political scientist Kent Redfield said union workers were spared in the budget because Blagojevich
might have wanted to avoid the hassle of reopening contracts, preferring instead to deal with organized labor in next year's
budget and at the bargaining table.
"It is extremely difficult task to reopen a contract, and we're in a situation where that
is not a viable option. He was able to finesse his way through it this year," said Redfield, associate director of the Institute
for Legislative Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Redfield said that Blagojevich's treatment of union employee in the budget does not mean he
will be soft in negotiating the next contract.
"He's not going to jeopardize the state budget or his political future by giving extravagant
rates to the unions. The real question is if he will restore the cuts for merit employees if we are in a better financial
situation next year," he said.
Governor's plan to fix budget may fall short
Savings could be less than forecast
By Rick Pearson and Ray Long, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter Diane Rado contributed
to this report
April 12, 2003
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich's controversial plan to sell state buildings and halt
construction on a new women's prison could yield far less in savings than he is counting on to help dig his government out
of a multibillion-dollar budget hole, state officials acknowledged Friday.
In the budget he delivered to lawmakers earlier in the week, the new Democratic governor estimated
he could generate $200 million in a deal that would sell the state's showcase Thompson Center office building in Chicago's
Loop, then possibly lease it back.
He also said $30 million could be realized by selling the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority's
headquarters in Downers Grove, and forecast $76.3 million in savings by halting construction of the partly built prison in
the impoverished Kankakee County community of Hopkins Park.
But supporters of the prison, as well as one of its major contractors, said the state is contractually
obligated to reimburse construction firms for materials, potential lost profits and manpower costs if it stops the work. They
estimated the price for all that could total more than $40 million, cutting the governor's projected savings by more than
half.
Tollway officials, meanwhile, said state law precludes Blagojevich from using proceeds from
the sale of their headquarters for anything other than tollway business, meaning he would have to get the law changed to use
the money to help defray the budget deficit.
Critics of the Thompson Center sale proposal said the value of such a deal could be undercut
because the state may have to continue making payments on bonds used to finance construction of the building in 1985.
In another potential setback to the governor's budget plans, his administration agreed Friday
to reinstate $65 million it had planned to cut from a state subsidy to the Chicago teachers pension fund.
The planned subsidy cut took some local officials by surprise and strained relations between
the governor's office and the Chicago Public Schools. Restoration of the money came as both sides blamed the cut on a "mutual
miscommunication," but the move means Blagojevich will be forced to find money to pay for it from other places in a state
budget plan that is extremely tight.
Prison work already started
Former Gov. George Ryan broke ground on the Hopkins Park prison in September, and $13 million
has already been spent. The facility, which had been scheduled to open in early 2005, was designed to house 1,800 female inmates.
Blagojevich spokesman Tom Schafer acknowledged Friday that "there are contractual obligations
we would have to meet if, indeed, we did close the project down." But Schafer said administration officials were reviewing
the contract and it was premature to estimate the ultimate costs of putting the project on ice.
"There may be things we would have to pay such as company overhead, profits, equipment and
supplies, and even the potential loss of work since [the contractors] took this job on," Schafer said. "There are a number
of costs that would be associated with [a shutdown], but we're not prepared to give a dollar amount on what that might be."
In his budget message, Blagojevich called for a suspension of the project rather than an outright
abandonment, and some officials suggested the distinction could lessen the costs to the state.
But Jim Barr, president of River City Construction of East Peoria, one of the prime construction
contractors on the project, said various engineering, architectural and construction firms associated with the project have
put the tab "in excess of $40 million ... to pay for everything that's been done and close out all of the subs and suppliers.
"It would be a considerable process to terminate all of our subcontractors and actually do
the right thing by all the people who are involved," Barr said. "I'm hopeful the state will find this is not a good economic
move and go on and built it. I don't blame them for looking for ways to save taxpayers' money. I'm for that. But I don't see
how this could make any sense."
State Rep. Phil Novak (D-Bradley), whose district includes the project, said "too much dirt
has been turned" on the prison to shut down construction.
"I understand [the Blagojevich administration is] trying to be creative and save money," Novak
said. "And I think there are many things in his budget that I support. But stopping a project that's already started ... will
probably end up costing the state more than it would save."
Taking aim at `Taj Mahal'
The tollway building that the governor wants to put on the block, built in 1992 for $25.6
million, has been widely attacked as an opulent "Taj Mahal" that symbolizes bureaucratic waste. But critics of any sale contend
that proceeds from such a transaction would belong to tollway bondholders and could not now be tapped for general use by the
state.
Bruce P. Weisenthal, an attorney with the Chicago firm of Schiff Hardin & Waite and the
bond counsel for the tollway, said state law governing the toll highway authority "currently does not contain language that
would enable the authority to transfer money ... to the [state's] general revenue fund."
On the other hand, state Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Evanston), a frequent tollway critic,
said he believes precedent exists for turning over tollway dollars to the state's general checkbook because some properties
used for tollway construction were paid from general revenues.
Blagojevich's budget also contemplates an outright sale of the Thompson Center or a deal that
would allow the state to lease back the facility over time. But some lawmakers have privately questioned whether the administration
would derive the $200 million in profits that it estimates would come from the transaction.
Threat of double payments
The facility cost $172 million to build, but bonds used to finance it were to be retired over
20 to 25 years, legislators said. That could mean the state would have to pay off bonds associated with the structure before
it could sell it, reducing the government's take from any sale. Or, in the case of a lease-back arrangement, the state could
be making two payments on the building at the same time--one to retire bond debt for its construction and another for rent.
One administration scenario calls for the state to sell the building for at least $200 million
and pay a total of $300 million in lease payments over as many as 20 years before regaining title to the structure.
Blagojevich aides said some estimates have placed the structure's value at far greater than
$200 million. But the administration of Republican Gov. Jim Edgar took a look at such a sale in 1991 and found it would not
be cost effective.
One former Edgar aide said that although the structure contains nearly 1 million square feet
of space, only 25 percent of it is usable because of its unique shape and its sizable 16-story atrium. The Edgar aide, who
asked not to be identified, said one real estate official at the time estimated its value at only about $40 million.
Blagojevich aides, however, defended the $200 million figure for the Thompson Center as a
"conservative" estimate based on a consultant's study that examined the structure's Loop location and the value of downtown
rental properties.
Inmate to go from Death Row to altar
March 23, 2003
JOLIET -- Word from Stateville Correctional Center has it that recently pardoned Death Row
inmate Stanley Howard is planning to wed one of the activists who worked to save his life.
Joan Parkin of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty confirmed that she and Howard will be
married May 18. Though they have known each other for four years, Parkin said true love struck "like a thunderbolt" last year
and Howard popped the question Oct. 13.
They kept it a secret for fear it would affect his case, but with his pardon signed and sealed
for two months and the date fast approaching, word slipped.
Howard, who remains imprisoned on a sexual assault conviction, plans to ask prison officials
to let him make the trip to the Will County clerk's office for the wedding.
Statehouse INSIDER
Doug Finke
23 Mar 2003
The biggest Illinois political story of the week was nearly buried under wall-to-wall coverage of the
war in Iraq. The same day the war began, a federal jury found SCOTT FAWELL guilty of all the corruption charges filed against
him. It didn't take long for people to start thinking great thoughts about what this will mean for the state. A defense attorney
said the verdict means the days of blurring the line between political and government activities could be over. Others said
the conviction might spur new ethics reforms in Illinois.
Would that it were so.
Big predictions of change also were made after the feds got convictions in the Management Services of Illinois
scandal. Defense attorney PATRICK TUITE said: "It's going to shut (Springfield) down. The lobbyists are going to be running
scared."
Federal prosecutor RICHARD COX said, "We hope it turns business on its head. The verdicts represent the
public's unwillingness to tolerate influence-peddling and government-for-sale tactics."
For the record, those statements were made in 1997 - just as Fawell was cooking up his plan to get GEORGE
RYAN elected governor. That plan included having the state pay for campaign workers and stealing state equipment for the campaign.
Such much for convictions bringing reform.
Run Fawell's name through spell check on some word processing programs (it doesn't work on Microsoft
Word), and the options you're given include "farewell," "fallen" and "flawed." Eerie, isn't it?
Ryan was spotted Friday in the state comptroller's office on Adams Street in Springfield. It's the place
where state checks are printed and distributed. Turns out Ryan was arranging direct deposit of his state pension check. Shucks,
we thought maybe he was there to complain about not getting money he is due - like about a zillion other Illinoisans.
This had to be the worst nightmare for state prison workers. The infamous DONNIE SNYDER is back as director
of the Department of Corrections. Most people thought Snyder was gone after Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH was elected. Well, he was
finished as director, but he stayed in the agency as a budget guy. Then Blagojevich's nominee for Correction's director, ERNESTO
VELASCO, withdrew his name after reports surfaced of mass beatings at the Cook County jail while he was director there. Voila,
Blagojevich appoints Snyder as acting director. How convenient that Snyder was still available.
Prison workers are livid. If Snyder isn't the most detested director in Illinois history, he is close, because
he laid off guards, closed prisons and tried to privatize some prison jobs. Just when prison workers thought they were finally
rid of the guy, he's baaaaack.
AFSCME, the union that represents prison guards and other state employees, is angry. It endorsed Blagojevich
and gave him a ton of money. It has yet to see any return on its investment -and now it once again has to deal with Snyder.
Blagojevich insists Snyder's reappointment is only temporary. If he wants to keep peace with AFSCME, he'd
better be telling the truth.
Blagojevich constantly sings the praises of small businesses and how much he wants to help them. His
lieutenant governor, PAT QUINN, recently criticized state incentives given to large companies. So it surprised some people
when Blagojevich showed up in Bloomington to take credit for the $22 million in tax incentives given to that cottage industry
known as Mitsubishi Motors. Mitsubishi is expanding and will create 300 new jobs. That means the state will spend a little
more than $73,000 for each new job.
It pays to be flexible.
The House last week approved Blagojevich's plan for issuing bonds to support state pensions - something
he said is crucial to balancing the budget. The governor was so excited he decided to hold a news conference outside his office
on the Capitol's second floor. The backdrop for the conference was the glass doors that lead to the office reception area.
Before the news conference started, a loyal staffer came out and spritzed glass cleaner on the doors so they would look just
right for the TV cameras. You didn't see that attention to PR detail with Ryan, or JIM EDGAR or JIM THOMPSON.
These guys may or may not balance the budget, but they'll look good trying.
Risky State Business
Rich Miller
23 Mar 2003
You may have heard that Governor Rod Blagojevich wants to "refinance"
some state debt, which will supposedly free up $1.9 billion to help close the state's massive $4.8 billion budget deficit.
But the media coverage of this plan has been ill-informed, at best, mainly because the governor
has done a good job of obfuscating the issue.
The editor of the respected Pensions & Investments newspaper penned a column last week
slamming the bond proposal as "ridiculousness." She also criticized Illinois reporters for not realizing that the governor's
use of the term "refinancing" is incorrect.
What's going on here? It's complicated, but stay with me a minute. Blagojevich says he is
refinancing debt. The "debt" in question is money the state is required to pay into the pension system in years to come. That's
not technically "debt," so it can't actually be refinanced. But Blagojevich insists that future obligations are a form of
debt. Anyway, the governor claims that by borrowing $10 billion now at six percent interest and then investing it and praying
for an eight percent return, he can repay the bonds, and make a few bucks on the deal.
But, this is where it gets weird. The governor wants to "book" all of the profits right away.
This means all of the profit that was supposed to be made off of the $10 billion in investments over the course of the 30-year
bonds will be realized immediately. How does he do this? By instantly spending $1.9 billion of that $10 billion before it
has earned a nickel in interest. If this sounds to you like some Enron scheme, well, you're not far off the mark.
A few of Enron's ideas worked, however, so this might, too, but there is concern that it could
have a negative effect on the state's bond rating, and there's plenty of worry about what could happen if the state invests
in the wrong stocks and loses a lot of the cash.
The House passed the bond bill last week. The proposal required a three-fifths vote to pass,
so it needed a bipartisan majority and several Republicans supported the Democratic governor.
The big problem may be in the Senate, where the Republicans appear to be balking at supporting
the plan. The Senate Repubs are saying publicly that they want to wait and see what the governor's budget looks like first.
Privately, they say they may only agree to a drastically scaled-back, $3 billion proposal this year, and maybe another $3
billion next year.
Adding fuel to the fire could be Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, who told the Legislative Audit
Commission last week that she had several concerns about the proposal and indicated that she may not support it. Topinka has
talked to several rating agencies and public finance experts who tell her that the proposal is risky. The treasurer would
reportedly like to see Blagojevich cut the budget much further before he moves his bond bill. Topinka is a former state Senator,
and she still has a lot of influence with Senate Republicans, who could use her for political cover if she ends up opposing
the legislation.
But here's the real bottom line, and the main reason why so many House Republicans climbed
on board last week. Without this borrowing plan, the state will be forced to make a huge pension payment in a few months and
then several more next fiscal year with money that the government simply doesn't have. So, either the state borrows now, or
it uses money that would otherwise go to schools, roads, public safety and human services to make those pension payments.
Or it raises taxes on business. The state could also change the law to skip a few pension payments, but the governor has said
he won't ever do that and it's doubtful that the conservative Senate Republicans would agree to such an idea. And they definitely
won't go for a tax hike on their friends in the business lobby.
This should be a fascinating game to watch. Every tax-eating group imaginable is currently
ginning up thousands of phone calls and letters to legislators. The media has so far taken a liking to the borrowing idea,
so the editorial pages could turn against any obstructionists. And, of course, there's always the gubernatorial threat of
losing local projects and jobs if anyone says "No." Let the fun begin.
Snyder resumes Department of Correction position
By Beth Coldwell
March 20, 2003
Over the weekend, Donnie Snyder of Pittsfield stepped back into his former position as Illinois
Department of Corrections director. Over the weekend, Donnie Snyder of Pittsfield stepped back into his former position as
Illinois Department of Corrections director after the resignation of Ernesto Velasco who was appointed to the position by
Gov. Rod Blagojevich less than two months ago.
"Any time the governor asks you to serve, you do it," Snyder said, adding that his tenure
in the position will be "indefinite." Snyder directed the department under the administration of former Gov. George Ryan.
After Velasco was appointed to the post, Snyder was named deputy director of the department and assisted in the transition.
He said he had planned to continue in the deputy director position until last week when Blagojevich asked him to return to
the top post.
Velasco sent a three-paragraph letter of resignation to the governor Friday afternoon in response
to a flurry of allegations that inmates had suffered brutality at the hands of guards during Velasco's tenure as Cook County
jail administrator in 2000.
The letter of resignation reads:
"I am writing today to request that you accept my resignation as Director of the Illinois
Department of Corrections. My deep and unyielding respect for the Department of Corrections and its vital mission requires
that I resign, so that the public issues surrounding my appointment do not overshadow the department's mandate.
"Keeping Illinois' correctional facilities secure, effective and efficient is an integral
component of state government. We cannot allow anything to stand in the way of accomplishing those goals.
"I respectfully request that you accept my letter of resignation. I appreciate your support
throughout this trying process."
Prisons leader resigns; governor takes heat over replacement choice
15 Mar 2003
SPRINGFIELD A labor union ally criticized Gov. Rod Blagojevich for re-appointing
Donald Snyder director of the Illinois Department of Corrections to replace Ernesto Velasco, who quit the post Friday.
Velasco announced his resignation in a late-afternoon news release. His nomination ran into
trouble after a Chicago newspaper reported that Velasco had failed to investigate allegations of inmate beatings at the Cook
County Jail. Velasco headed the jail before Blagojevich made him the acting director of the Corrections Department.
My deep and unyielding respect for the Department of Corrections and its vital mission requires that I resign so
that the public issues surrounding my appointment do not overshadow the departments mandate, Velasco said.
Blagojevich touted Velasco as an American success story while announcing his appointment in February. Velasco immigrated
to the United States from Mexico at age 13.
But the governor expressed no remorse for Velascos resignation Friday. Today I accepted Mr. Velascos resignation. We
are working actively to appoint a new director as quickly as possible, Blagojevich said.
Spokesmen for Blagojevich would not accept telephone calls seeking further comment. The news release did not indicate
who would replace Velasco.
Henry Bayer, the executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said administration
officials spoke to him about Snyders appointment.
They said they appointed Donnie Snyder as a temporary director, but we think that was an error in judgment and a move
in the wrong direction, Bayer said.
He noted that Blagojevich campaigned against the policies Snyder pursued under former Gov. George Ryan.
It was on his watch that all of the facilities were closed. It was on his watch that the privatization initiatives were
taken, Bayer said. It was under his watch that the number of administrative positions increased and it became top-heavy.
Bayer said the agency needs permanent leadership to replace thousands of guards who have left because of early-retirement
incentives and layoffs.
Snyder also was criticized during his tenure for using a state airplane and an official car to attend political and private
events.
Velasco is the second high-ranking member of the Blagojevich administration to depart this month. Deputy Gov. Doug Scofield
announced his resignation March 3, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Velasco resigns
By John O'Connor
Associated Press Writer
March 14, 2003, 4:39 PM CST
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Ernesto Velasco, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's nominee to run the state Corrections
Department, resigned today amid allegations of brutality during his tenure as director of the Cook County jail.
Velasco's resignation letter said he was stepping down so that the scandal didn't engulf the
state prison system and its mission.
"My deep and unyielding respect for the Department of Corrections and its vital mission requires
that I resign so that the public issues surrounding my appointment do not overshadow the department's mandate," Velasco wrote
in his letter to the governor.
An aide to Blagojevich said the governor did not ask for Velasco's resignation, but that he
offered it on his own.
The aide said no one had been named to replace Velasco. Former Corrections Director Donald
Snyder, who currently is deputy director overseeing the agency's budget, declined comment.
Blagojevich put Velasco's nomination on hold last month, saying he wanted more information
about the brutality allegations.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Cook County Jail guards beat and terrorized inmates in a
maximum security unit on a night four years ago and then filed false paperwork to cover up the alleged rampage.
Inmates, sheriff's sources and internal documents said guards, clad in riot gear and accompanied
by four guard dogs without muzzles, ransacked inmates' cells.
According to those making the allegations, the guards then ordered about 400 prisoners to
strip and had them line up against jail walls. Prisoners were struck with batons for not moving fast enough or for looking
away from the wall, and some were ordered to lie down where they say they were stomped and kicked.
Velasco, 50, of Chicago, was named director of the Corrections Department on Feb. 4, less
than two weeks after he retired as executive director of the jail. He held the post for seven years.
He denied knowing anything about the alleged violence.
Velasco, who was appointed to the state post at a salary of $127,570, told an Illinois House
committee that he later heard about the incident and turned the information over to the jail's investigative unit.
"They initiated the investigation, and I never heard back from them again," Velasco told lawmakers.
"I did not check into what was taking place during the investigation because it is not the policy of the director's office
to interfere with the investigation."
Another of Blagojevich's appointments, which must be confirmed by the Senate, has been criticized
as well. Sal Diaz allegedly was fired from the state Department of Children and Family Services for "job abandonment" in 1992.
Diaz, who Blagojevich appointed to head the DCFS child protection unit, said he thought the
department had accepted his resignation in 1992.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, suggested Friday that
people named to state cabinet posts are too closely scrutinized. Cullerton was unaware of Velasco's resignation, but said
cabinet appointments largely are public-service minded and do not make such large salaries that justify the media inspection
they undergo.
Blagojevich 'dreams big'
Outlines proposals on slim budget
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
14 mar 2003
Gov. Rod Blagojevich used his first State of the State speech Wednesday to outline what he
called an ambitious agenda for Illinois that nonetheless carries a bargain-basement price tag.
Blagojevich said he wants to create a prescription drug program for senior citizens, expand
health-care programs for the poor, reopen the closed Sheridan Correctional Center, make preschool available to every child
and provide business incentives, all at a cost of $88 million to the state.
The governor also called for an increase in the minimum wage, passage of a pay-equity law
in Illinois and for parents to be given more time off from their jobs to attend school activities.
"They (the public) want us to be a state that once again dreams big dreams and tries daring
solutions," Blagojevich said at the close of his 45-minute speech. "If we can be as bold as the history that carried us here
and as big as the future ahead of us, I believe we will be able to dream big dreams again."
Before addressing the General Assembly, the Chicago Democrat said he would not dwell on the
state budget and its $5 billion deficit because he plans to deliver a budget speech April 9. But he acknowledged that the
budget crisis limited what he could propose in his State of the State.
"The budget crisis is forcing us to temper our agenda," Blagojevich said. "... It won't be
easy to balance the budget. It won't be easy to make progress on these tough issues, but we will."
He also addressed the state's financial situation in another portion of his speech: "In an
ideal world, preschool for every child would begin tomorrow," Blagojevich said. "But an ideal world doesn't operate on a $5
billion budget deficit."
Although several ideas Blagojevich outlined Wednesday will cost state government money, he
did not indicate how they'll fit into a budget hemorrhaging red ink. That was not lost on lawmakers who eventually will have
to vote on a spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
"If someone was listening at home without worrying about the costs, without worrying about
the specifics, they'd say, 'Oh, that sounds good,"' said House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego. "The bottom line is,
we need to see specific details of the proposals and the cost."
"I was wanting today to hear some substance," said Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson of
Greenville. "I was wanting to see a governor take the lead in a very troubling time in this state, and I don't know that we
saw that."
It wasn't just Republicans who found the speech lacking.
"I think he sounded more like he was on the campaign trail," said Sen. Denny Jacobs, D-East
Moline. "I think he has to move beyond the campaign speech. Some of the programs he wants to institute, I don't see how we
can do them for $88 million."
Some lawmakers have characterized the Blagojevich administration so far as one of confusion,
lack of focus and disorganization. Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, said Blagojevich's speech should put those concerns
to rest.
"The speech indicates he is well-focused," Jones said. "He focused on the critical issues
that need to be addressed, taking into consideration the serious fiscal problems we have."
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, refuses to speak to reporters from large print-news
organizations, including The State Journal-Register, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. He continued that practice Wednesday.
"He's got other things to do with his time," Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.
The costliest initiative Blagojevich outlined Wednesday was the nearly $25 million he wants
to spend to begin phasing in a universal preschool program, though the state cannot afford to offer preschool to all students
at this time, he said.
Next on the list was $24 million to reopen the Sheridan Correctional Center, which was closed
last year for budget reasons. Blagojevich wants the prison converted to a specialized center to treat drug offenders, to open
in January 2004.
Expanding enrollment in the KidCare and FamilyCare health programs for the poor will cost
another $24 million, according to the governor's office. Blagojevich eventually wants to enroll an additional 20,000 kids
and 300,000 adults, but it will take three years to reach those goals.
Blagojevich proposed programs that will assist in the development of small businesses and
the creation of jobs, while also calling for Illinois to increase its minimum wage beyond that required by the federal government.
"A person working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year should not live in poverty," he said.
However, business groups contend that raising the minimum wage will cost the state jobs in
the long run.
"Business owners have only one option if they can't afford higher wages. They have to let
people go," said Kim Maisch of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Another Blagojevich proposal - requiring that businesses give parents up to three days of
unpaid leave to attend school functions - is hard on small businesses, Maisch added.
Blagojevich said the state employees under his control will immediately qualify for unpaid
leave to attend school functions.
As expected, Blagojevich also said he will work to lower seniors' prescription drug costs.
"The phrase 'sticker shock' doesn't begin to describe what so many people feel when they go
to the pharmacy to get a prescription filled," he said.
Blagojevich created a new administration position to focus on negotiating a better price for
drugs purchased by the state. That negotiating power will be used to help seniors obtain their drugs at a lower cost.
Among the other initiatives he mentioned Wednesday, Blagojevich proposed hiring more parole
agents and creating $5,000 scholarships for teachers willing to work for five years in areas of the state where there is a
shortage of teachers. The scholarships also would be available to teachers willing to specialize in certain subjects where
shortages exist.
---
Blagojevich's proposals
The Associated Press
14 mar 2003
A list of some of the promises Gov. Rod Blagojevich made in his first State of the State address,
along with details and estimated first-year costs if available:
EDUCATION
Make preschool available to all children, starting with 25,000 "at-risk" children within three years - $24.9 million.
Give $5,000 annual scholarships to college students who agree to spend five years teaching in needy areas - $4.1 million.
Sign a proclamation calling for all schools to adopt national PTA standards for parental involvement.
Create an Internet system for parents to monitor their children's school performance.
BUSINESS
Pass legislation to create a $200 million, privately funded "Illinois Opportunity Fund" to invest in business.
Open six "entrepreneurship centers" around the state, with the first opening in two months - $1 million. They would dole
out $1.8 million worth of business planning grants.
Raise the minimum wage to $6.50 an hour, up from $5.15.
CRIME
Double the number of parole agents - from 370 to 740 - over the next four years and tighten the supervision of parolees
- $6 million.
Gradually reopen the shuttered Sheridan prison as a drug offender rehabilitation facility - $24 million.
HEALTH
Negotiate better prices for the prescription drugs purchased by various state agencies.
Work with lawmakers to let senior citizens buy prescription drugs through a single "buying club" that should get better
prices.
Work with Congress to add 50,000 senior citizens into the "Circuit Breaker" program that provides free drugs to the poor
and have the program cover all types of drugs.
Expand the KidCare health program by 20,000 children - $3.8 million.
The Associated Press
Prison reopening: Sheridan to treat drug offenders
By SCOTT REEDER SNG Springfield Bureau Chief
13 mar 2003
SPRINGFIELD Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced today that he will reopen Sheridan Correctional
Center in January as a facility designed to treat drug offenders.
What we are trying to do is end the revolving door of people coming and going from prison,
said Blagojevichs press secretary Tom Schafer.
The prison will reopen with a budget nearly double its previous level, he said.
Although the prison has a capacity of 974, it will likely treat 1,500 to 2,000 per year because
of the relatively short sentences served by drug offenders.
But what will set this drug program apart from other prison treatment programs is that it
will be geared toward treating the inmates drug habit from the time he enters the prison system until well after he is released
into society.
There will be a wide range of treatment options available to inmates at Sheridan. There are
similar programs on a smaller scale at prisons across the state. But this is the first time an entire prison has been set
aside just for treating drug offenders, Schafer said.
Most of those treated there will be people convicted of felony drug possession, he said.
Inmates will receive medical treatment in Sheridan and then will undergo an intensive parole
in which they must undergo frequent drug tests and will receive more intense supervision than other parolees. They will be
identified as candidates for treatment shortly after they enter the prison system.
The prison will have an annual budget of $50 million. The previous annual budget for the prison
was about $28 million.
Just how the state would pay for the facility while facing a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall
remains to be seen.
Schafer said the governor will give the specifics on that when he delivers his budget address
in April.
Blagojevich promised to reopen the prison, closed by former Gov. George Ryan, during the gubernatorial
campaign last year. Ryan closed it as part of overall budget cuts.
The prison employed more than 400 people. The new facility is expected to employ about 450.
Schafer said the governor wants to make the prison a national model. He added there arent
really any comparable programs in the United States.
Often people commit crimes because they are involved with drugs. Then they end up in prison.
Once they are out of prison they are back on drugs and committing crimes. Then they go back to prison. We want to stop that
revolving door, he said.
Abolishing the Middle Class
Your Job May Be Next! - The New American - March 10, 2003
Hello and welcome to Review of the News Online. I'm William Norman Grigg, Senior Editor for The New American magazine
-- an affiliated publication of the John Birch Society.
In a moment of stunning candor 24 years ago, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker stated: "The standard of living
of the average American has to decline. I don't think you can escape that." It's difficult to find a more average couple than
Jimmy and Verleen Bennett of Kannapolis, North Carolina, who -- along with nearly 6,500 employees of the Pillowtex towel factory
-- were laid off in early August.
Just two years ago, reported the August 9th Washington Post, the Bennetts had bought a modest $100,000 home, "confident
their combined wages would continue to support the comfortable lifestyle that had long eluded their parents." Now the couple,
each of whom is working a part-time job at near minimum wage, is conducting a triage of household ameniti
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