Jan. 08--Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.
Topspin
It's Friday, Jan. 8, and students at some private and community college students soon will feel the state budget pinch.
They'll be on the hook for spring semester tuition that would have been covered by state-funded grants were it not for the budget impasse in Springfield.
Twenty-one community colleges and 15 private colleges have told the Illinois Student Assistance Commission that they don't plan on crediting Monetary Assistance Program grants for the spring semester, meaning students will have to pay that portion of their tuition bills on their own. Most of those schools -- 59 percent -- said they also didn't credit fall tuition grants.
Annual MAP grant awards average about $2,700 and are pledged to students before the school year begins. But the money is only sent to the schools if it's appropriated by the legislature and approved by the governor, and that process has been held up in the six-month budget battle at the Capitol.
Many colleges and universities covered the funding shortfall in the fall semester by crediting students' bills for the tuition grants they were promised, under the theory that the schools would be reimbursed by the state down the road.
With the budget impasse spilling into the spring semester, the commission that administers the grant program sent a questionnaire asking all colleges and universities in Illinois about their plans for handling the funding issue in the spring.
We'd like to provide you a list, but the commission would not name the institutions that responded to the survey, saying participation was voluntary and some institutions chose to submit responses anonymously.
None of the public universities that responded to the survey said they would charge students for the grant-based tuition. (Kim Geiger)
What's on tap
*Mayor Rahm Emanuel has no public schedule after another challenging week.
*Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public events.
From the notebook
*Burnett clout story: Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., 27th, was singing the praises of the new Malcolm X College campus at the ribbon-cutting Thursday when he caught himself wandering into some quintessentially Chicago murky legal territory.
Burnett was marveling at the fact people from all over the city want to get into Malcolm X, a community college with a focus on preparing students for jobs in the burgeoning health care industry, and he recounted a story about the daughter of a city worker he knew.
"Several months ago, a young lady came to me. She said I knew her father. She lived way up north," Burnett said with Mayor Emanuel and others looking on in the bright atrium of the new building. "She came to my office at ward night, a young Caucasian lady. She said 'Ald. Burnett, my dad used to work for the city, so on and so forth. He said I should come to see you.' "
"She said 'I'm trying to get this certain type of certificate in nursing, and Malcolm X College is the only one that offers it.' She said 'Can you help me get into Malcolm X?' " Burnett said. "And I was like 'Help you get into Malcolm X?' I was like wow, folks are asking people could they help them go to Malcolm X."
Burnett started to move on to further accolades about the new facility before catching himself. "Now, I didn't do anything, for the media, for the record," he said as the crowd burst out laughing.
Emanuel stepped forward, grabbed Burnett by the shoulders and added "We can validate that. There are no phone call or email records." (John Byrne)
*Emanuel encounters protester: In case you missed the end of our front-page story on the mayor's latest reversal on police misconduct, here it is:
Though the large public demonstrations that marked the weeks after the court-ordered release of the Laquan McDonald video have faded, Emanuel still faces protesters. As he walked to his wating SUV outside Malcolm X College on Thursday, Emanuel encountered 27-year-old Jared Steverson.
"Get out of our city! This is our city! What else are you covering up, mayor?" Steverson shouted, approaching the vehicle as Emanuel got in the back seat. When the mayor's ride pulled away, Steverson spit in the street.
*Illinois debt: A key ratings agency says that despite Illinois' ongoing budget stalemate, the state should have enough money on hand to cover debt payments through the end of the fiscal year.
The report issued Thursday by Standard Poor's comes as Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration plans to go to market later this month to borrow $480 million to pay for transit and road construction projects.
The agency said that while "it might seem obvious" that the state's credit rating should be downgraded from its current A- position -- already the lowest in the nation -- Illinois has provided data that shows it has "sufficient internal liquidity" to make debt payments through the end of the current spending year, which ends June 30.
"A budget crisis does not necessarily constitute a debt crisis," S wrote. "From a global ratings scale perspective, we still view the state's ability to meet its debt obligations as they come strong ... In fact, to formulate an argument otherwise, in our view, requires overemphasizing the state's budget politics relative to its fundamental ability to pay its debt service."
Still, the agency warned that while the state's credit is not worthy of a downgrade at this time, "we also do not currently see a pathway to upward rating migration anytime soon." S noted that continued spending despite a drop in revenues following the 2015 income tax rollback means Illinois could face a bill backlog of nearly $10 billion, noting a large accumulation of bills by the end of the budget year "could tip the state's rating lower." (Monique Garcia)
*Speaking of that bill backlog: If Illinois continues on its current financial path, the state will face a $25 billion bill backlog and a $5 billion deficit come 2020, says Gov. Bruce Rauner's Office of Management and Budget.
That warning came as part of the agency's annual report on the state's financial health. The document, which projects forward based on spending and revenue levels in existing law, can be misleading because it doesn't account for changes that might be enacted by the legislature and governor down the road.
But it does provide a broad outline of what could happen if Rauner and lawmakers do nothing. The projection puts Illinois on pace to amass a bill backlog that's three-quarters of its entire 2019 operating budget.
That's a problem, Rauner's team said in an accompanying analysis.
The longstanding practice of accumulating billions of dollars in unpaid bills "is a form of borrowing from the state's vendors that has allowed the state to avoid making tough decisions to balance the budget," Rauner's budget office said, adding that "this mechanism should be eliminated so that future backlogs of bills cannot be created."
But not yet.
"Once Illinois' backlog of bills can be paid down to reasonable levels," the budget office said, Rauner "would seek the elimination of the loopholes in state law that have allowed the state to create backlogs of bills."
Meanwhile, as Rauner and ruling Democrats in the General Assembly are engaged in a political stalemate that's held up the budget process, Illinois' $4.4 billion backlog from the budget year that ended last June is projected to hit $9 billion this June. (Kim Geiger)
*Transit Union for Raja in IL-8: In the 8th Congressional District contest, Democratic businessman Raja Krishnamoorthi has scored the endorsement of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
"Raja supports a responsible federal infrastructure bank to help fund critical public transportation projects and other transportation needs, especially in suburban areas," Lawrence J. Hanley, ATU International president, said in a statement.
Schaumburg's Krishnamoorthi and state Sen. Mike Noland of Elgin have been trying to gather labor endorsements in their bid for the open-seat Democratic nomination in the west and northwest suburban congressional district. Also in the Democratic contest is Villa Park Village Manager Deb Bullwinkel.
The seat is being left vacant by U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth's decision to seek the U.S. Senate nomination. (Rick Pearson)
*And it will be three: A challenge to state Sen. Napoleon Harris's candidacy petitions for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate was withdrawn Thursday, making it a three-way contest.
Harris, of south suburban Harvey, faces U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates and former Chicago Urban League president Andrea Zopp for the March 15 nomination in the contest for the seat held by re-election seeking Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk.
Harris has filed a statement of candidacy with the U.S. Senate, but has yet to provide any details about fundraising activity. Harris is a former NFL linebacker and south suburban pizza franchise owner. (Rick Pearson)
*The Sunday Spin: On the next edition of the "Sunday Spin," airing from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Sunday on WGN-AM (720), Tribune political reporter Rick Pearson's guests are the newspaper's prize-winning architectural critic, Blair Kamin, to discuss the selection of architects for a new Obama presidential library; Tribune City Hall reporter Bill Ruthhart with the latest on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's troubles; and state Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Riverside, on his bill to formally legalize fantasy sports.
What we're writing
*Emanuel pivots on Law Department police misconduct controversy.
*Chicago Teachers Union wants Emanuel, Alvarez to resign.
*Ruling throws Illinois hospitals' tax-exempt status into question.
*Rep. Dold withdraws State of the Union invite.
What we're reading
*Springfield City Council considers formal resolution to urge state to pay $9 million in utility costs.
*Billy Goat bartender was one of the greats.
*David Bowie has a new album and it's getting good reviews.
Follow the money
*Ald. George Cardenas, 12th, reported a $10,800 contribution from MAT Leasing. Looks to be the same firm of Michael Tadin, a major figure in the Hired Truck scandal.
*State Sen. Matt Murphy kicked in $30,000 to the Rebublican State Senate Campaign Committtee, which is trying to pick up seats this year against a huge Democratic supermajority. It's common for more established members of a caucus to throw in to help colleagues and potential colleagues.
*Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash
Beyond Chicago
*Presidential race, Republican side: A look at the 2016 ad wars and technology.
*Presidential race, Democratic side: Hillary Clinton to get Planned Parenthood endorsement.
*Murder charges sought in Georgia police shooting case.
*First-quarter 401(k) statements could cause dyspepsia if this China situation continues.
