Quinn names new chief of staff

Ryan Croke will be Gov. Pat Quinn’s new chief of staff.

Croke has served as Quinn’s deputy chief of staff since 2009. In that position, he focused on modernizing government, economic growth and public safety. Prior to that job, he served as a policy adviser to Quinn on matters including technology, education and economic development. In that role, he led a broadband initiative that deployed more than 3,000 miles of fiber optic cable throughout the state.

Ryan Croke

Croke will replace Jack Lavin, who has held the position since 2010. According to Quinn’s office, Lavin is “departing for the private sector.” Lavin, who has spent more than a decade in state government, worked under Quinn when he was state treasurer. “I thank Jack Lavin for his many years of public service and his hard work to restore fiscal stability, integrity and economic prosperity to Illinois,” Quinn said in a written statement. “I’ve known Jack since I was state treasurer, and I will always consider him a friend. He has done an excellent job building a brighter future for all the citizens of this state.”

Jack Lavin

Croke, 30, is from Wheeling. He has a master’s degree in communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He lives in Springfield with his wife, Brook. “Ryan Croke knows Illinois like the back of his hand and has played a critical role in my administration since the day I took office,” Quinn said in a written statement. “Ryan is a strong leader with the right vision and energy to manage the operations of state government and get things done for the people of Illinois.”

Quinn names Jack Lavin chief of staff

Gov. Pat Quinn named Jack Lavin his new chief of staff today.

“Jack Lavin has helped my administration accomplish many of our top priorities, and I have full confidence that he has the vision and ability to lead my office into a successful new term and will tackle the many serious issues facing our state,” Quinn said in a written statement.

Lavin has been Quinn's chief operating officer since February 2009, and was deputy treasurer under Quinn when he was treasurer. Before becoming a part of Quinn's administration, he was also appointed as director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Quinn's previous chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, resigned after some minor ethics violations during Quinn's campaign for governor. Stermer has since returned to the adminstration as a senior adviser.

Capital plan taking shape

By Jamey Dunn
Jack Lavin, Gov. Pat Quinn’s chief operating officer, said today that a negotiated proposal for capital plan revenue sources could be ready by next week.

“Generally the framework for funding is there,” Lavin said. “We hope to have that finalized over the next week or so.”

He said that the legislative leaders and Quinn have been focusing on revenue sources in their discussions and added that spending decisions will take longer to hammer out with the legislature.

According to Lavin, there will be no lump-sum appropriations in the capital bill. He said that Quinn wants spending for projects to be specifically listed as line items. Money would also go directly to existing programs, but those programs have set criteria to meet when deciding how to distribute funds.

Lavin laid out the “framework” for revenue before a House appropriations committee this morning. It includes:

• Ending the diversion of money from the Road Fund to the general fund.
• An increase in vehicle registration and licensing fees.
• An tax increase on wine and spirits. (Beer would be excluded from the increase.)
• An tax increase on candy.
• Applying sales tax to some sweetened tea and coffee beverages, as well as health and beauty products.
• Internet sales of lottery tickets and having a private firm manage the lottery with a focus on appealing to new players.

Lavin said that a proposal to increase the motor fuel tax is not being considered. “It’s currently not part of the discussion,” he said.

He added that the governor’s Office of Management and Budget is still researching that framework to determine if it would raise the money needed for a major capital plan. The size of the overall plan is not yet determined.

Prepare for the stimulus

By Bethany Jaeger, with Jamey Dunn contributing
Jack Lavin prefers not to be called this state’s “stimulus czar,” but his first two days on the job as Gov. Pat Quinn’s chief operating officer (corrected) have been dominated by projections of the amount of money Illinois will capture from the $787 billion federal stimulus package.

But Lavin also responded to concerns that his appointment could be clouded by his past ties to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and convicted felon Tony Rezko. Rezko was one of the people who recommended Lavin for his previous job as director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity during Blagojevich’s administration. Lavin and Quinn reportedly have been friends. Lavin pointed to his record. Here’s what he had to say:

I worked for those two men. They made some bad decisions. I had no part in any of those decisions, and I think my track record at DCEO speaks for itself. And it was a track record of working with business leaders, labor leaders, local governments, local mayors, legislators on both sides of the aisle, the congressional delegation. If you ask them, they will all say that we treated people with respect and integrity. We returned their calls, and that’s just the kind of thing and the kind of collaboration and partnership that we had at DCEO that we need now across all agencies, and working with the legislature, to be on the road to economic recovery.

Lavin testified to a special Senate committee this evening that Illinois could receive about $7 billion for programs and state operations, as well as about $2 billion for transportation-related and capital projects.

While the National Governor’s Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures ranks Illinois 6th in the nation for the amount of money it's estimated to receive in stimulus funds (projected to be about $8.8 billion), it’s clear that the incoming money won’t stretch far enough to cure the state’s $9 billion budget deficit next fiscal year. Estimates also are very fluid and vary.

The anticipation of the federal funds sparks a few concerns among legislators. 1) Lawmakers fear that the essentially one-time stimulus funds will build expectations and a false sense of hope that the state could maintain the increased funding levels once the federal money runs run out. 2) It’s widely acknowledged that the stimulus money could help, but it’s not even close to the amount of money that the state and service providers need to completely heal from the recession and consecutive years of deficits. 3) State agencies, particularly the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, are concerned about having enough staff on hand to handle stimulus-funded projects. Both said they could hire temporary workers or consultants to get through increased work load.

Lavin said while those concerns are valid, the stimulus package is designed to plug budgetary holes and avert layoffs, particularly in education. And then, in theory, as the state’s economy begins to recover, the state would be able to pay for some of these ongoing costs and new programs. (Some of the stimulus money will help expand or fund existing programs by using existing funding formulas, while other portions will create new programs.)

Higher education officials also expressed the concern that the $2 billion in stimulus funds could lead to a game of shuffle. Judy Irwin, executive director of the Illinois State Board of Higher Education, said there’s a possibility that money could be cut from education in the state budget to make up for shortfalls in other state operations, and then the federal stimulus money would be used to fill in the cuts to education. If that happened, schools would end up not getting much more money than they do now, she said.

Republicans and Democrats voiced concerns that schools in their home districts are expecting large funding increases that they may never see. “The frustration is that there really isn’t going to be a lot of money. …While it looks like there’s a lot of money going to schools, it’s really not going to be there,” said Sen. Dave Syverson, a Rockford Republican.

We’ll have much more about the details of the stimulus funds and how the state decides to divvy up the money. In the meantime, here’s a quick list of highlights, provided by Lavin’s testimony. Also, the state on Friday will launch a stimulus-specific Web site: www.recovery.illinois.gov.

General stimulus highlights for Illinois
About $7 billion for programs and state operations, according to Lavin’s estimates.
That includes funding for existing programs, using existing funding formulas:

• $2.9 billion for Medicaid
• $2 billion for school aid
• $110 million for workforce investment programs (to help people get trained to take on another job)
• $276 million for “green” jobs and weatherization programs

The stimulus also could bring in about $2 billion for infrastructure and capital, including:

• $935 million for rebuilding highways and bridges
• $371 million for transit assistance
• $260 million for wastewater and clean drinking water
• $222 million for public housing
• $24 for education technology
• $110 million energy programs, some of which can be used for operations and some of which can be used for capital

The state also will have a chance to compete for grants, including through the Department on Energy. That’s where Mattoon could compete for funding to rekindle the FutureGen project that got scrapped under President George Bush last year. Other projects of homeland security, broadband infrastructure and Army Corps of Engineers also could be eligible for grants.