{"id":711,"date":"2009-12-16T19:11:45","date_gmt":"2009-12-17T01:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookcountypd.org\/blog\/?p=711"},"modified":"2009-12-18T09:34:39","modified_gmt":"2009-12-18T15:34:39","slug":"december-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/12\/16\/december-update\/","title":{"rendered":"December Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, I am back from a contract negotiation session between Cook County and the 15 AFSCME locals including ours.\u00a0 I\u00a0have to tell you\u00a0that what\u00a0we learned today from\u00a0Jaye Williams<\/a>, the new CFO for Cook County,\u00a0is that\u00a0the County is about $200 million in the hole for 2011, because of the\u00a0half penny sales tax rollback passed by the county board<\/a>.\u00a0 Commissioners, swayed by angry anti-tax rhetoric from\u00a0the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times editorial boards, voted to decrease the tax because they\u00a0are under the mistaken belief that such a reduction in taxes will actually generate revenue – – even when there is no basis to believe this.\u00a0\u00a0 Ask yourself\u00a0 this question: Would you drive outside the county to make a $1000 purchase to save $5?\u00a0 I think not.<\/p>\n

While Todd Stroger fought to veto this rollback, his efforts were thwarted by a new state law passed during the fall veto session by the General Assembly and signed\u00a0by Governor Quinn that reduced the number of commissioners required to override a veto from 15 to 11.\u00a0 12 commissioners voted for the rollback and\u00a0 so a veto by the President would have been meaningless.\u00a0 So now we are going to be $200 million in the hole.\u00a0 Before we could take solace in the fact that the budget woes were with the City of Chicago and the State but not with Cook County.\u00a0 Now we can join\u00a0the State and City of Chicago in having an unbalanced budget and revenue shortfalls.<\/p>\n

What we do know is that there will probably be a new County board president next year and maybe some new commissioners as well, and what they will have to address is how we are going to make up for the $200 million reduction in revenue.\u00a0 It’s a problem that was solved — and now is back and\u00a0not going away any time soon.<\/p>\n

This rollback of the sales tax, championed by Commissioner Larry Suffredin, and supported by 11 other commissioners has dealt a blow to the County’s financial picture and will undoubtedly\u00a0have a significant impact on our ability to secure a fair contract [read\u00a0 ‘wages and good health care’].<\/p>\n

PEOPLE ENDORSEMENTS<\/span><\/p>\n

On December 15th, Joe Gump and I attended the AFSCME Region 1 PEOPLE<\/a> committee meeting, (all AFSCME local presidents and PEOPLE chairs are voting members) and the committee voted to not\u00a0endorse <\/em>Commissioner Suffredin in his reelection bid.\u00a0 The same “no endorsement” was given to each commissioner that voted to rollback the half penny tax.\u00a0 The only candidates for commissioner that garnered our endorsement were:<\/p>\n

Jerry Butler (3rd), Elgie Sims (4th), Deborah Sims (5th), Joan Murphy (6th), and \u00a0Jesus Garcia (7th).\u00a0 Also endorsed for Assessor was Joe Berrios.<\/p>\n

Similarly, based on the pledges by Dorothy Brown, Toni Preckwinkle and Terrence O’Brien to rollback the rest of the penny tax, there was no endorsement in the President’s race either.\u00a0 Did I mention we did not<\/span> endorse Todd Stroger?\u00a0 His fight to veto the rollback was spirited, but too little, too late.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you haven’t made up your mind yet on who you will vote for in the Cook County Board President race, you should attend a\u00a0candidate forum<\/a>\u00a0that is being held on January 12th from 6-7:30 pm at the First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple.\u00a0 Also, \u00a0there was no endorsement in the Sheriff’s race.<\/p>\n

And the “no endorsement” theme continues in the State races as well.\u00a0 Neither Hynes nor Quinn will step up and support an income tax increase.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Illinois is in dismal financial straits<\/a>, ranking only better than California.\u00a0 The money has to come from somewhere and that is why HB 174<\/a>, which\u00a0raises personal income tax and\u00a0adds services to the list of things that can be taxed, \u00a0is the best solution to the state’s fiscal crisis.\u00a0 We need to support candidates who understand that cuts in services and wage concessions are not going to balance the budget.\u00a0 And that is why the state PEOPLE committee declined to endorse either Hynes or Quinn for Governor.<\/p>\n

The AFSCME PEOPLE committee has endorsed Judge Jim Epstien<\/a>, a former public defender, for the Appellate Court .\u00a0 The committee does not endorse candidates in cicruit court judicial races, but as promised in my last message, here are your brothers and sisters who, in no particular order,\u00a0 are running for judge of the circuit court:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
MARK LEVITT<\/a> 4th Subcircuit, Lake County<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

DAN GALLAGHER<\/a>, Carol Pearce McCarthy Vacancy, Cook County<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ANN FINLEY COLLINS<\/a>, 11th Judicial Subcircuit, Cook County<\/span><\/p>\n

PAMELA LEEMING<\/a>,* 11th Judicial Subcircuit, Cook County<\/span><\/p>\n

TERRY MACCARTHY<\/a>,**Philip Bronstein Vacancy, Cook County<\/span><\/p>\n

*Pamela left the office when appointed to the bench last month.<\/span><\/p>\n

**Terry is a supervisor at 26th St and a former local member.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you looked at your paystub and noticed that you are not contributing $4.20 of every paycheck to the PEOPLE committee, you can call me at 26th Street\u00a0for information on how\u00a0to set up your voluntary deduction that will fund this vital political voice for our union.<\/span><\/p>\n

UNICARE<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Many of you have been asking about the status of Unicare HMO, which decided to pull out of Illinois effective December 31, 2009.\u00a0 Today we learned from the County\u00a0that next week, insurance cards will be sent to current Unicare members from a new Blue Cross Blue Shield plan that will have a network that will be comparable to but not identical\u00a0to the Unicare plan.\u00a0 Northwestern\u00a0Memorial\u00a0Hospital, however, will be included<\/em> in the network.<\/p>\n

ARDC<\/span><\/p>\n

Withall the activity of the holiday season upon us we need to remember that a condition of employment is that we are on the master roll of attorneys licensed and registered to practice in Illinois.\u00a0 Please protect your job status and complete the registration for next year withthe ARDC before it’s too late.\u00a0\u00a0 Although, we are in discussions with other state and local governmental agencies\u00a0 about approaching the Illinois Supreme Court for reduced rates for government attorneys,\u00a0 we must still pay the same rates as other practicing lawyers.\u00a0\u00a0 Please\u00a0 avoid the headaches by ensuring that\u00a0 you have registered and paid your dues to the ARDC.\u00a0\u00a0 You can even register online<\/a>!<\/p>\n

THANK YOU\u00a0 to the HOLIDAY PARTY COMMITTEE<\/span><\/p>\n

If you attended the annual holiday party at Moretti’s, you should know that the people to thank are Melissa Myer<\/strong>, Sara Spivy, Sarah Fransene and Kyan Keenan<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The hit of the party, as anyone who attended can tell you, was the photo booth that allowed members to dress up using festive props and have picturestaken with friends and co-workers that they could take home and enjoy for years to come.<\/p>\n

TIME CONSIDERED SERVED – MITT TO ISSUE<\/span><\/p>\n

[singlepic id=143 w=320 h=240 float=]Last week, Bryan Bowen<\/strong> (26th) left\u00a0our office for private practice in Columbus, Ohio.\u00a0 Bryan was assigned to the Felony Trial Division and had been an assistant public defender since June of 2004.\u00a0 We wish Bryan the very best.<\/p>\n

Soon, Brian Healy<\/strong>, a public defender since January of 1980, will retire.\u00a0 Brian has spent almost twenty years representing the indigent accused in [singlepic id=140 w=320 h=240 float=left]the Maywood courthouse.\u00a0His level of dedication, experience and skill will be sorely missed.\u00a0 Brian, Happy Trails to you too and thank you for your years of service to the citzens of Cook County.<\/p>\n

Finally,\u00a0 I want to wish you and yours a very happy and safe holiday season!<\/p>\n

In Solidarity,<\/p>\n

K. S. Galhotra<\/p>\n

President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, I am back from a contract negotiation session between Cook County and the 15 AFSCME locals including ours.\u00a0 I\u00a0have to tell you\u00a0that what\u00a0we learned today from\u00a0Jaye Williams, the new CFO for Cook County,\u00a0is that\u00a0the County is about $200 million in the hole for 2011, because of the\u00a0half penny sales tax rollback passed by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}