THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...State lost $5 billion in pandemic unemployment fraud...New union contract ratified...Top IL GOP official says time to move on from Trump
July 27, 2023
Good morning, Illinois.
I’ll be the sitting down for a taping on my friend Collin Corbett’s “Smoke Filled Room” podcast later today. They’ll post the video version tomorrow morning here. Collin is a GOP operative and we’ll tape a segment with him for out podcast, too. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here. Or you can subscribe on your favorite podcast service like Apple, Google, Spotify, or Amazon. We’re also scheduled to be joined by Sen. Chapin Rose.
Before somebody gives me the business for sitting down with a podcast run by Republican operatives, just let me say I will go on any show that is willing to have an honest conversation, whether hosted by Republicans, Democrats, or otherwise. I’ve done hits on Black-focused stations (WVON), liberal stations (WCPT), and with straight up conservative and independent hosts. If you host a podcast and want to argue with me, just click reply to this email.
The Governor makes an EV announcement in DuQuoin at 10, attends a groundbreaking at the Hoyleton Youth and Family Services center near Centralia at 12:30, and speaks at a gun violence prevention event in suburban Northfield at 6. Busy boy.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
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State paid at least $5.2 billion in fraudulent or excessive unemployment claims during pandemic, audit finds (Chicago Tribune)
The state agency that distributes unemployment benefits paid out more than $5 billion in fraudulent or excessive claims over two years when the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to cut back their operations or shut down, leaving many Illinoisans out of work, according to a report from the Illinois auditor general.
Among the missteps by the Illinois Department of Employment Security were millions of dollars sent to people who were either in prison or dead, according to the report, which is the auditor general’s fullest accounting yet of massive fraud and overpayments that occurred as the state was flooded with jobless claims.
“IDES was not prepared to respond to the needs created by the pandemic,” the report from Auditor General Frank Mautino’s office stated. “IDES did not have a plan for responding to recessions and potential surges in claims.”
Mautino’s office reported a year ago that fraudsters pilfered nearly $2 billion from the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program from July 2020 through June 2021.
In the latest audit, covering fiscal years 2020 through 2022, IDES reported overpaying, through fraudulent and nonfraudulent claims, $3.2 billion through the PUA program and $2.04 billion through regular claims from an unemployment insurance trust fund jointly run by the state and federal government.
Those numbers could be “understated: because they are merely estimates as IDES was still trying to account for all the fraudulent payments, auditors noted.
The PUA program was meant to pay people not usually covered by unemployment insurance, such as gig workers or the self-employed. Federal unemployment officials and law enforcement openly warned that thieves, many of them overseas, were jamming states’ online portals with fake claims.
IDES said it stopped or recovered $150.36 million in unemployment trust fund payments and $361.34 million for the PUA program. The report noted, though, that of the $5.24 billion in overpayments, $2.8 billion is classified as identity theft, money that is not considered recoverable since it can’t be collected from the identity theft victim.
AFSCME ratifies new 4-year contract with the state (Capitol News Illinois)
Gov. JB Pritzker and the state’s largest public employee union announced Tuesday that they have agreed on a new contract that will provide a nearly 18 percent pay raise over four years, including a 4 percent raise this year.
The contract also expands parental leave to 12 weeks and calls for new joint efforts to improve workplace safety.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office said in an email that the contract is projected to cost an additional $204 million in the first year and $625 million over four years.
Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents about 35,000 state employees, voted in local union meetings over the last two weeks to ratify the contract, which negotiators had tentatively agreed to on July 1.
The announcement came on the same day Pritzker, leaders of the Democratic National Committee, and Chicago labor leaders announced they had reached a “labor peace agreement” covering the 2024 Democratic National Convention to ensure there will be no labor disruptions during that event.
“Illinois is a pro-worker state — and when it comes to workers’ rights, my administration is committed to ensuring that every Illinoisan has access to good-paying opportunities,” Pritzker said in a joint statement with AFSCME Council 31 announcing the state contract. “This contract represents a partnership that won’t just expand our pool of state employees — it will strengthen our state’s workforce and provide opportunity for employees and their families.”
AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said the contract “helps to address the toll that inflation has taken on state employee incomes and keeps health care affordable.”
We told you all about the contract last week.
Related: AFSCME ratifies 4-year contract with state that includes 18% pay raise and extended parental leave (Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker, AFSCME reach contract agreement (State Journal-Register)
Top Illinois Republican urges GOP to move on from Trump (Chicago Sun-Times)
An influential Illinois Republican is urging Republicans to break from ex-President Donald Trump, the current front runner for the 2024 GOP nomination.
Richard Porter, a local and national party leader, took his first public stand about moving on from Trump in a column published Wednesday by Real Clear Politics.
His speaking out is significant because so many local and national Republicans are remaining silent, declining to voice their reservations about Trump, even as Trump, facing pending and potential criminal indictments remains popular with his base and often extracts retribution on critics.
“The tragedy of Trump is that he’s more peevish than principled,” wrote Porter, an Illinois National Committeeman on the Republican National Committee.
“Consequently, he is easily baited by his opponents into distracting fights over petty matters. How else can one explain his current predicament and the danger he presents to our principles?
“His enemies don’t even hide their designs. Democrats lay traps in plain sight, and the muscle head of U.S. politics walks right into them, time after time. True, he rallies his MAGA loyalists with each fight, no matter how ill-conceived. Most Republicans who are not Trump haters watch his travails with admiration and morbid fear: Can the old lion escape the jackals yet again?
“But, a criminal trial brought by the Deep State over moldy documents that Trump just could not bring himself to return is scheduled for the end of the presidential primary season. Republicans have to ask: Is this trial a struggle over the future of freedom in this country? Or just collateral damage from Trump’s inability to skip a fight?”
Porter warns “there’s still more to come in les travails de Trump,” noting that he may face criminal indictments from Special Counsel Jack Smith and in Georgia.
“There were irregularities and none of this is fair, I hear fellow Trumplicans declare! His fight is our fight! But is it really?
“Or is Trump just a vain old guy who’s easily egged into pointless bar fights that end up undermining our ability to win the broader war for our nation’s future?
“Note all the polls showing Trump losing to Biden.”
You can expect a certain group of right wing bloggers to lose their minds in 3..2…1. Though, it’s interesting that Porter is willing to step so far outside of the base of the GOP. Maybe I’ll try to get him on the podcast next week.
Related: Illinois’ Republican national committeeman urges GOP to bypass Trump and back DeSantis (Chicago Tribune)
FROM THE ILLINOIZE THIS WEEK
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Need to renew your driver’s license? Starting Sept. 1, you’ll need an appointment. (Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker signs bill aimed at ending homelessness (Capitol News Illinois)
Vermilion State’s Attorney: Ending cash bail will have many unintended negative consequences (Champaign News-Gazette)
Democratic state Sen. Patricia Van Pelt set to retire (Chicago Tribune)
Sen. Tom Bennett plans to retire at end of his term (Shaw Media)
For their first big post-Madigan fundraiser, Illinois Dems land a star (Crain’s Chicago Business)
VP Kamala Harris urges Hispanic leaders in Chicago to unite against extremists: ‘When we fight, we win’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinois prisons need $2.5 billion in repairs, and that’s just the beginning (WBEZ)
Bear down south? Richton Park mayor invites team to consider building south suburban stadium (Chicago Sun-Times)
Durbin: Deadly coal ash dumps threaten our families (Daily Herald)
Opinion: Pretrial Fairness Act a win for Black Illinoisans (Champaign News-Gazette)
Vallas: Here’s how to save the SAFE-T Act from its flaws and protect public safety (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Maternity deserts a problem for everyone, not just young families (Shaw Media)
Opinion: ComEd takes feds licking but keeps on ticking (Champaign News-Gazette)
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