May 21, 2017
The (Champaign) News-Gazette
Let’s look under the rock
A bad state lease deal raises disturbing questions.
Illinois taxpayers recently took another unnecessary financial beating in a questionable leasing deal for which they paid far too much in exchange for far too little.
The questions surrounding the deal are these:
- Is this government corruption as usual?
- Or is it government incompetence as usual?
The state of Illinois recently signed a $2.4 million, five-year contract to store old records from the Department of Human Resources. That’s a lot of money to pay for temporary storage when, as critics have pointed out, the state could simply have bought the building, the onetime home of Barney’s Furniture, for $750,000.
Further complicating the plot is the entity that won the contract, an apparent sole bidder identified as Chicago-based Climate Controlled Holdings. It has links to Illinois’ onetime King of Clout, Bill Cellini of Springfield. Over the years, Cellini turned himself from humble public servant to multimillionaire through the business deals he arranged on the strength of his political connections and capacity to raise money for both Democrats and Republicans.
Cellini’s luck eventually ran out. He was convicted on a corruption charge in one of the Blagojevich-era scandals and sent to prison. The Cellini tie comes through a son-in-law, one of the building’s owners.
State officials insist there are no improprieties in the leasing arrangements, that it’s a straight-up deal that went through the traditional process and was completed without any undue influence from anyone.
A spokesman for the state’s Department of Central Management Services defended the arrangement, saying the lease was “procured through our standard process” that included “detailed review and approval from the independent chief procurement officer.”
If that defense was intended to calm public concern, it falls short of the mark.
On its face, it looks like a gross waste of money, an example of dramatically overpaying for the storage of records. One would almost feel better if the deal was crooked because a crooked deal would be the exception. The CMS spokesman suggests the arrangement here is appropriate.
Sen. Cullerton speculated that the lease represents “government insider trading” because of the lack of competition. That’s a valid point.
Given the profit-making opportunity, why weren’t multiple wolves going in for the kill?
Rep. David McSweeney noted that “there are plenty of other state office buildings that are empty” and available for storage. He further wonders why “there was no discussion of even digitizing the records.”
Those are two more valid points. In this high-tech age, storing buildings full of paper for years would seem to be an unnecessary expense. It all adds up, McSweeney contends, to “an absolute waste of taxpayer’s money.”
Democratic state Controller Susana Mendoza has stopped payments for the building’s lease, at best a temporary move if this deal passes legal muster. Further, some Democrats seeking to score political points are trying to wrap the deal around Gov. Bruce Rauner’s neck. It’s hard to imagine he played any role in making the deal.
But Rauner’s office can play a key role in reviewing the matter and mandating a change of approach. If this is the way state bureaucrats think business should be done, they need to be set straight.
McSweeney’s point about digitization also deserves scrutiny. How much paper is the state storing and at what cost? Is there an opportunity here to reduce the cost of doing business?
The big issue, of course, is how the deal went down. Is this the case of a group of sharp businessmen legally taking advantage of disinterested bureaucrats foolishly doing business the way it’s always been done. Or were other influences in play?
Clearly, there are more questions than answers. That’s why a hard look at what happened and why is required.
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May 20, 2017
(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald
Senate budget actions uneven, but worth reflection
Perfect, the saying goes, is the enemy of good.
The essence of that maxim was in full flower in the Illinois legislature last week, though it’s an admitted stretch to apply either term to whatever it is that is happening in Springfield. But there’s no escaping the phrase.
Senate President John Cullerton said, in essence, “It’s time to quite treading water on a budget compromise. Let’s vote on proposals developed by Republicans themselves.”
Republicans, including former gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady, on whose March budget proposal many of the compromise bills were specifically based, cried, “Whoa! We’re not ready. We need to do more work.”
To which Cullerton replied, “There are two weeks left. Our constituents expect us to act. Let’s vote.”
Previous efforts to pass the compromise had stalled because each individual piece of legislation required passage of all the others, and Republicans in particular were balking at pieces they found, well, imperfect — notably a property tax freeze they didn’t think was long enough, school reform legislation that among other issues bails out Chicago Public Schools and workers’ compensation reform they want to be stronger.
So, Cullerton unlinked the bills, knowing his majority party had the votes to pass most of them. Among bills approved Wednesday were a measure making it easier to consolidate governments, casino gambling expansion and a $36.5 billion budget including $3.7 billion in spending cuts. But when it came time to approve the law that would permit implementation of the budget, even some Democrats reversed course, apparently in an effort to embarrass Republicans who they felt weren’t willing to take the political heat for compromises they’d helped write.
Suddenly, it was all just one more picture of stereotypical Springfield gamesmanship. On Thursday, Cullerton had hoped to take up some of the most contentious parts of the bargain — including the property tax freeze, an income tax increase and workers’ compensation reform. He had to pull up short and send everyone home when it became apparent there would be no progress on those issues. But let’s not be too hasty to criticize.
Illinoisans have scoffed for decades at the general practice of the legislature to dump several pounds of budget paperwork on lawmakers an hour before the end of session and gain passage. Cullerton can hardly be faulted for pressing for action now — especially considering that the measures face nothing but uncertainty in the House and with the governor. Although the political optics are ugly, it’s clear from remarks on both sides that Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have made sincere moves toward compromise. And, while we have grave misgivings about some pieces, especially the CPS bailout and gambling expansion, it’s still worth noting that reaching something like consensus on bills of this magnitude would be nothing short of remarkable in any past legislative session.
So the week gave us something worth pondering. No, it wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t even good. But it did suggest hope.
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May 17, 2017
The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan
Annual flooding - the new normal?
The terms 50-year and 100-year flood have become obsolete.
We, Southern Illinoisans, are now dealing with annual flooding.
That’s really not hyperbole. After torrential rains doused Southern Illinois earlier this month, both the Big Muddy and the Mississippi rivers posted near-record crests. The Big Muddy crested at 40.5 feet, just below the record set in 2011. In the meantime, the Mississippi crested at 45.99 feet, the sixth highest level on record. The record was set last year.
During 2011, a levee in Missouri was purposely breached in order to save Cairo from devastating floods.
So, for those keeping score at home, that would be four 100-year floods in the past six years.
And, that’s just the west side of our region.
Let’s not forget the 2011 Ohio River flood that submerged most of Gallatin County.
What’s more, scientists tell us to expect the trend to continue.
The National Climate Assessment compiled in 2014 indicates precipitation has increased by about 20 percent in the past century. The rainfall that drenched the region this spring certainly verifies that data.
Despite that reality, Southern Illinois finds itself virtually helpless against the elements.
Controlling a major river is a dicey proposition under the best of circumstances. But, the condition of our levees have exacerbated the situation.
The flood of 2016 breached the Len Small Levee in Alexander County, inundating thousands of acres. The flooding was so severe it scoured topsoil in some areas, and left several feet of sand in its wake in other spots. The mile-long breach in the levee was never repaired, resulting in about 20,000 acres being flooded again.
Residents of the area aren’t sure if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will ever repair the levee. The estimated cost to repair the levee is 200 times the yearly allotment the levee district receives in taxes. When you’re dealing with the federal government’s cost-benefit analysis, those figures don’t add up.
In the meantime, residents of Grand Tower in Jackson County have been working since the 2011 flood to shore up the Big Muddy and Mississippi levees.
Bottom line, repairs to the Len Small Levee are in limbo and officials seem to be treading water concerning the Grand Tower levees.
Compounding the problem, most of the levees in the region are rated unsatisfactory, making it impossible for residents to purchase flood insurance.
It’s an untenable situation.
Someone in the chain of command has to make tough decisions, and make them now.
The federal government has to decide whether to rebuild the levees, or to purchase the land adjacent to the rivers and re-establish the historic flood plain. The latter is something area residents don’t want to hear - neither do we.
On the other hand, given the severe nature of the annual flooding, the status quo is no longer acceptable.
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