Legislature to return to Statehouse, but just what will they do with themselves?

It’s becoming that time of year again when politically observant people get themselves all worked up over the concept of per diem.

As in the living expenses that the state pays its state legislators to cover the cost of them getting a hotel room or renting an apartment so they have some place to live while they are in Springfield doing “the peoples’ business.”

GOV. BRUCE RAUNER wants to put up the appearance of state officials working eagerly to try to reach a budget agreement for state government.

Meaning he said Thursday he’s calling them into a special session of the Legislature. To begin June 21, it would continue every day until the legislators approve a budget plan that can be sent to Rauner for his consideration -- or June 30, the end of the fiscal year (whichever comes first).

News reports about the move go out of their way to include a mention of the per diem payment – which these days totals $111 per day, plus a $0.39 per mile rate for gas mileage reimbursement.

It comes to roughly $40,000 per day, and the tone usually comes across as if THIS is the expense that is going to bust Illinois financially.

NOW BEFORE I go further, I have to confess – I have written the same stories; some two decades ago back when I was a Statehouse reporter-type person. It's not a new theme and it’s easy to calculate. The numbers are small so a reporter-doing-math can’t screw it up, and it gives an overtone of outrage!

Money being wasted as the legislators sit around doing nothing while the governor and legislative leaders continue to quarrel – as most of them have settled into stances by which they need to have the financial stalemate linger on indefinitely.

This really is a situation that will not be resolved until after the November 2018 election cycle where there might be a shift in the political dynamic of Illinois with its Democratic-run Legislature and Republican-run executive branch at loggerheads.

And if there ISN’T a shift, the stalemate has the potential to linger on for years to come. Pretty scary stuff, when you think about it! Although I suspect it will take an action such as the Mega Millions and Powerball lottery games saying they will no longer let Illinois participate in those prizes to catch the attention of the public.

THE REALITY IS that $40,000 is petty change. And the reason the legislators being present doesn’t really mean a lot is because this is a problem caused by the leadership being unable, or unwilling, to budge.

So Rauner can go ahead and call the General Assembly back to duty in Springfield and have them sit around. Unless he is willing to budge on his budgetary stance, nothing will change and it really will be $40,000 or so a day flushed down the toilet bowl of government.

So what is it state officials could contemplate if, and when, they return to Springfield?

There is that budget the Illinois Senate approved, but that the Illinois House of Representatives won’t even consider because they know in their hearts and minds that Rauner will play partisan politics in rejecting.

EARLIER THIS WEEK, Republicans from the Senate AND House offered up their own “seven point plan” that they say is a budget proposal they would be ready to approve and Rauner would sign into law IF ONLY those Democrats would get with the program.

Which has me wondering if a special session is meant to put pressure on Dem legislators to go along so as to put an end to the nearly two years this state has gone without a balanced budget in place. In the end, it’s really about pols trying to make sure the other guy gets the blame for the two years of inactivity we’ve had in Illinois.

This is a big deal because state law doesn’t really allow state government to operate without a budget. It’s only because of the federal courts that some agencies and programs continue to operate, and are spending up a disproportionate share of the funds while others are withering away.

We need to have that written budget dictating how money is spent. Would you really trust your government to have access to taxpayer monies without it? They’d be like the kid who blew their allowance money on candy, then complains they’re broke. Just like some of us will obsess about the per diem while the rest of Illinois burns.

  -30-

Getting a differing view of Denny Hastert than we ever saw while in office

His official portrait that hangs in the Capitol building makes J. Dennis Hastert appear dignified, gavel in hand and Eagle-topped staff at his side.

This 'Hastert' is ancient history

Fitting in with the image of Hastert as the almighty and powerful Speaker of the House who gets tagged in all stories about him as the longest-serving Speaker of the Republican political persuasion.

AND FOR THOSE who are putting the local spin on the story, one of only three Illinoisans who ever rose to that exacted title (which was the position that Rahm Emanuel himself once fantasized about holding someday – until those mayoral dreams popped into his head).

So exalted that there was serious speculation that a statue of Hastert ought to be erected on the grounds of the Statehouse in Springfield, along with statues of many political figures of significance who happened to come from Illinois.

So how far a fall it will seem come Tuesday, which is the day that Hastert will make his first public appearance since it was learned he faces a criminal indictment in U.S. District Court.

He’s going to have to show up to the federal court complex and make the perp walk, getting grilled by television types who act as though Hastert will give a serious answer to any of their shouted-out questions about whether he really had sexual contact with those teenage boys who were students of his back when he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School.

RELATIVES OF ONE boy who has since passed on claim it happened, but that they were intimidated by Hastert’s public status as a politico into thinking no one would believe them.

Now, way too many people are eager to believe just about anything.

Even though the criminal charges themselves don’t relate to anything even remotely sexual.

It seems that one person tried to pressure Hastert to pay $3.5 million in order to keep their mouth shut about all of this. Some $1.7 million was actually paid, and nearly $1 million of those payments allegedly were withdrawn from Hastert’s bank accounts in violation of federal financial regulations.

THE SAME REGULATIONS that were enacted to try to keep drug dealers from being able to spend their ill-gotten gains freely.

Hastert is in a position where it’s legitimately his money he was paying to keep someone quiet. I’m sure his attorneys will try to emphasize that Hastert himself is somehow the victim.

He, after all, is the one who appears to be blackmailed. It also seems that the payments began after Hastert got out of office because that was when he became a highly-paid lobbyist.

What’s the point of extorting someone who doesn’t have any money to pay?

THERE WILL BE others who will go out of their way to turn this into a sordid sex scandal, and who probably will be disappointed that the statute of limitations is long passed on any chance of prosecuting “the coach” for what he may, or may not, have done some four decades ago.

Although it should be noted that any such charges would have had to be brought about by the state’s attorney for Kendall County – where local officials seem in shock that any such thing could ever have happened.

Meaning this case would not likely get the vociferous prosecution that those people are fantasizing about. Although I’m sure that when Hastert has to make his initial court appearance on Tuesday, it’s going to feel like the most humiliating experience he ever has endured.

And the longer these criminal proceedings linger, the more this is going to feel like a full-fledged crime taking place.

  -30-

EXTRA: Could Hastert make a trio of people convicted post-politically?

Politically-aware people got their shock Thursday when federal prosecutors let it be known that former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert now faces criminal charges.

HASTERT: Not in line for peaceful retirement

If he winds up cutting a plea deal, or going to trial and being found guilty, the “Hastert” name will wind up going on the list many people rattle off of Illinois political officials who ended up with criminal records.

ALTHOUGH IT SHOULD be noted that the indictment, which is written in legalese meant to be even more vague than usual as to what exactly the wrongdoing was, indicates the alleged illegal activity took place AFTER Hastert retired from political office.

It also seems to indicate the actions that inspired the allegedly illegal activity may have took place back before Hastert became a government official. Back in the days when he was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville – which used to be much more rural in character than the over-glorified Chicago suburb it has become.

Does this mean that Hastert was not a corrupt politician of any type? That he operated honestly in government, but did improper things in his life before and after his public service?

I’m hearing some sleazy stories about what that activity could have been, but I don’t quite trust the people I’m hearing from. I suspect they’re too eager to make this worse than it really is, and are hoping that some reporter-type will be too eager for a salacious story rather than what really happened.

SO ALL I have to go by is the indictment, which says that back in 2010, Hastert met with someone he has known for many years, “discussed past misconduct… that had occurred years earlier,” and then began making payments to the person.

WALKER: Technically NOT a corrupt pol

Hastert faces charges of structuring currency transactions to evade reports, along with making false statements to the FBI, because the indictment says the former speaker deliberately made bank withdrawals of under $10,000 – the amount at which banks are required to inform the government!

Some $952,000 was withdrawn in such a manner, and some $1.7 million was paid by the congressman (it was supposed to be $3.5 million in total), according to investigators. It seems like someone was blackmailing the former House speaker, but we don’t quite know yet what for.

Like I already wrote, it seems this was outside of his government activity. Which makes me think he belongs in a category with people like former Gov. Dan Walker and former 10^th Ward Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak.

Vrdolyak also prosecuted after his era

VRDOLYAK was long out of the City Council and was reduced to the level of being a political consultant in select suburbs when he was prosecuted and wound up serving a 10-month prison term for supposedly handling real estate transactions and receiving part of the sales price as his fee.

While Walker, who popped back into our public consciousness when he died earlier this month, was prosecuted a decade after he left office. He became a business executive found guilty of bank fraud for trying to cut corners in the way he tried to accumulate personal wealth.

Of course, we think of them as “corrupt” politicians and play up the stories of their legal predicaments because that adds a jolt of “juice” to their tales.

That could become the same for Hastert – who had quite a stint in Congress and was one of only three Illinoisans ever to rise through the ranks to become House speaker back in the days of George W. Bush as president.

SINCE I DOUBT we’d care one bit if an ordinary schmoe were to make payments to try to cover up something that may have happened three or more decades earlier.

How many of us have actions from our younger days that we wish we hadn’t done, and where our initial reaction to being confronted with the past might be to try to cover things up?

  -30-

Chicago finances; what a mess! Who's got a big-enough mop to clean up?

I’m not about to predict what solution our political people will ultimately come up with to resolve the financial problems our governments face these days.

EMANUEL: Does he still want 'four more years?'

In fact, I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that our officials don’t really have a clue – other than the cheap, old rhetoric they usually fall back on – as to how to resolve the problems we’re confronted with.

I CAN’T HELP but wonder if Rahm Emanuel, as he prepares to take the oath of office on Monday to serve another four-year term, is now secretly regretting that he won the municipal election runoff held last month.

He could be drifting off into the next phase of his life right about now, rather than having to have his name forevermore attached to whatever solution people try to implement. If it goes wrong, he’ll forevermore get the blame!

Which is kind of funny, since we were fed all that campaign rhetoric just a few weeks ago about how the concept of Jesus Garcia as mayor of Chicago would be an ultimate disaster! All kinds of horrible things would happen to the city if we didn’t let Rahm have a second term as mayor.

When you think about it, bad things have happened regardless. Our credit rating was reduced literally to junk by the Moody’s Investors Service. While Standard & Poor’s didn’t take the same exact action, they also downgraded the bond ratings that determine how much interest we’re going to have to repay on our debt.

WILL CHICAGO BE literally reduced to only being able to borrow money from those shifty guys who make their money off the “vig” from their loans – as in they charge exorbitant interest because their “customers” are incapable of getting a traditional loan?

CLINTON: What will he think?

Or would even the loan sharks refuse to do business with city government because we’re too bad a risk and there’s no fingers or kneecaps to break.

Unless the mayor literally has to serve as a surrogate for the city. In which case, perhaps he ought to make sure his health insurance is adequate for the pain he’ll suffer.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m being a smart aleck. I’m making organized crime analogies over serious issues involving municipal finance.

BUT PERHAPS THAT is how the mayor himself is having to think of this issue these days. You almost have to have a sense of humor about the term “junk bonds” being applied to our city’s government.

As though the people who are most eager to spread this story have their own ideological hang-ups with regard to urban issues and large municipalities – particularly if they’re filled with people who aren’t exactly like themselves in every racial and ethnic way!

GARCIA: Thankful he didn't win April 7?

How do we get out of this debt and get the bond-rating agencies to boost our standing back to a higher level? While wondering why it wasn’t the state government’s bond ratings that took the hit, instead of Chicago’s?

I do find some humor in those people who suggest that this is now the motivation to approve development of that city-owned casino that some Chicago officials have been dreaming about for years.

IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE the kind of money that such a casino would create as the city (and state) share of tax revenues is so piddly and insignificant compared to the billions of dollars that would need to be produced to truly put Chicago government on fine solid financial stats.

Even more ridiculous are those people who are talking of the state’s pension funding shortfall and who now want a state Constitutional amendment to make possible the very action that the General Assembly tried enacting – only to have it found unconstitutional.

OBAMA: Will he, Rahm and Bill be future pol trio?

That would take so much time to get approved, and the whole while the financial situation would become worse and worse for city and state. This is the time for the radical solution – and not the pie in the sky fantasy!

All of which makes me wonder what will go through Emanuel’s mind as he takes his oath of office, with former President Bill Clinton watching. Dreaming of the day when he can be an ex-politico like William J. (and soon, Barack H., maybe they'll have periodic meetings at the future Obama Presidential Library and Museum) and can think high-minded thoughts about future officials trying to resolve the ongoing issues our government faces.

  -30-