Dr. Arie Friedman, who is running unopposed as the GOP candidate who wants to take over State Senator Susan Garrett's seat in the 29th Senate District, is coming out swinging against West Deerfield Township Supervisor Julie Morrison in a new video that showcases Morrison's evasion on the very important question of whether she would have voted in favor of the infamous Illinois income tax increase, which jacked up our personal income taxes by 66%.
Friedman's ad is hard-hitting, and is also remarkable given that Morrison does not have a clear shot at the nomination, since she faces fellow Dem Milton Sumption in the Dem primary.
Some of the clips of Morrison in the video are just precious. Here's a sample:
Questioner: ".... I asked you the question about taxes."
Morrison: "You did!"
Questioner: "That was, like, back when you first started."
Morrison: "Right."
Questioner: "Have you thought about that at all? Do you have a position on it?"
Morrison: "I think about it every day."
Questioner: "Do you have a position on it?"
Morrison: "You know....no, I don't. Not that I can share right now. Sorry."
Watch the whole thing - it's under a minute. Frankly, you wouldn't usually believe any serious politician would think he or she could prevaricate on such an issue for long, and actually get away with it before being called out on it... but apparently that's the game Morrison is trying to play.
Most likely, Morrison's plan is to keep mum on this issue through the primary, and hope that no one presses the question, since she can't be caught saying she opposed the tax increase, or would vote against it, say, if the issue of making the tax increase permanent (since it was only supposed to last a few years) comes up, which many expect it will. To do so would give her opponent a clear opening. But, don't be shocked if after the primary, Morrison clearly comes out and takes a stand against the tax increase, just like her mentor Susan Garrett.
Just sayin'.
UPDATED 2/24/12 8:45 am: In today's Daily Herald, the editors came out to endorse Morrison over her primary opponent, Milton Sumption. What's missing from the endorsement?.... that's right, a discussion of Morrison's position on TAXES! The DH lauds Morrison for her supposed commitment to job creation, but how can they do so without asking her about her position on taxes, which are obviously a key component of the overall employment environment? Tsk, tsk, tsk...
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Turelli and Neerhof Continue Battle on Medicare Reform in 58th Legislative District Race
So, what do you do if you are running for the Illinois General Assembly, and there simply aren't frequent enough debates scheduled to engage your opponent on the issues? Well, how about a proxy war by dueling press releases? It seems, anyway, that this is the strategy that Lauren Turelli and her opponent, Dr. Mark Neerhof, have worked out.
Think of Team America as no-man's-land on the 58th District front: one candidate sends me a press release, so we send it to the other side for a response. And respond they do!
As before, since we gladly provide this public service, Team America has the first crack at putting these releases back to back to continue the heated discussion about how to best reform the Illinois Medicaid program.
Here's Turelli's next shot:
TURELLI CHALLENGES OPPONENT TO JUSTIFY
OPPOSITION TO COMMON-SENSE MEDICAID REFORMS
LAKE FOREST – Republican State Representative candidate Lauren Turelli challenged her opponent in the March 20th primary election, Mark Neerhof, to justify why he opposes common-sense reforms to Illinois' Medicaid program that could save Illinois taxpayers over $2 billion per year.
"As the Medicaid rolls skyrocket due to mismanagement and fraud, it's time to implement key reforms to ensure that the Illinois citizens who truly need this assistance are being served, and that taxpayers are not being fleeced," said Turelli. More to the point, Turelli noted that, "my opponent’s refusal to support common-sense reforms that save billions of dollars show he is not the real deal – not a true fiscal conservative."
At a recent candidate forum where Turelli reiterated her support of $2 billion in proposed Medicaid cuts, her opponent said ‘that makes no sense’. Turelli’s proposed reforms will look at all components – providers, patients, managed care, income tests and asset verification – of the broken Medicaid system to achieve significant cost reductions. These reforms and other common-sense measures are estimated to save taxpayers over
$2 billion per year.
"In order to fix Illinois, we need transparency and an end to currying favor with special interest groups. Dr. Neerhof needs to explain why he is opposed to common-sense reforms – a true fiscal conservative will back $2 billion in common-sense cuts", concluded Turelli.
And Neerhof fires back:
Dr. Mark Neerhof Supports Bold Medicaid Reform
Turelli-Quinn Plan Fails to Address Medicaid’s Problems and Worsens Patient Care
Lake Forest, IL 2/21/12- Last week Lauren Turelli, Dr. Mark Neerhof’s Republican Primary campaign opponent came out in support of Liberal Democrat Governor Pat Quinn’s Medicaid plan. Republicans, conservatives, patients and physicians alike have lambasted the Turelli-Quinn plan. The Turelli-Quinn plan worsens the problems of access to care and Illinois’ unpaid bills.
Under the leadership of Governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn 20% of Illinoisans are now on Medicaid. Just like Quinn, Lauren’s ideas of reform worsen the problems created by the Blagojevich and Quinn Administrations. Turelli’s comments today claiming that Dr. Mark Neerhof does not support ‘common-sense’ reforms is a foolish accusation from a candidate that does not understand the fundamentals of what Medicaid is and what reform should look like.
Dr. Neerhof has dedicated his career to providing patient care to all patients including those on Medicaid. His plan for Medicaid calls for bold reforms, something that the Turelli- Quinn plan rejects. Medicaid already has 2.5 billion dollars of unpaid bills from last year. This year, Illinois is expected to have in excess of 3 billion dollars in unpaid bills, and the Civic Federation has recently announced that the total of unpaid Medicaid bills is expected to total 21 billion dollars by the end of 2017. Nowhere in the Turelli-Quinn proposal is there a plan for paying off the state’s Medicaid debts. These debts must be paid under law along with the ever-compounding interest the taxpayers owe providers each month, when the state misses payments.
Dr. Mark Neerhof: "Ms. Turelli claims that I am motivated by special interests. She is right. They are called patients. Lauren does not understand what the problems are with Medicaid. She does not work within its confines every day. As a physician, I see the problems in Medicaid and know what must be changed. Unlike Lauren, I do not support the Democrat Governor’s Medicaid plan. Rather, I support bold reform."
Dr. Neerhof’s plan would provide means-based premium assistance to patients in need to assist them in obtaining their own low cost health insurance policies. By doing so, we will provide lower cost, higher quality healthcare to the patients that need it the most.
Think of Team America as no-man's-land on the 58th District front: one candidate sends me a press release, so we send it to the other side for a response. And respond they do!
As before, since we gladly provide this public service, Team America has the first crack at putting these releases back to back to continue the heated discussion about how to best reform the Illinois Medicaid program.
Here's Turelli's next shot:
TURELLI CHALLENGES OPPONENT TO JUSTIFY
OPPOSITION TO COMMON-SENSE MEDICAID REFORMS
LAKE FOREST – Republican State Representative candidate Lauren Turelli challenged her opponent in the March 20th primary election, Mark Neerhof, to justify why he opposes common-sense reforms to Illinois' Medicaid program that could save Illinois taxpayers over $2 billion per year.
"As the Medicaid rolls skyrocket due to mismanagement and fraud, it's time to implement key reforms to ensure that the Illinois citizens who truly need this assistance are being served, and that taxpayers are not being fleeced," said Turelli. More to the point, Turelli noted that, "my opponent’s refusal to support common-sense reforms that save billions of dollars show he is not the real deal – not a true fiscal conservative."
At a recent candidate forum where Turelli reiterated her support of $2 billion in proposed Medicaid cuts, her opponent said ‘that makes no sense’. Turelli’s proposed reforms will look at all components – providers, patients, managed care, income tests and asset verification – of the broken Medicaid system to achieve significant cost reductions. These reforms and other common-sense measures are estimated to save taxpayers over
$2 billion per year.
"In order to fix Illinois, we need transparency and an end to currying favor with special interest groups. Dr. Neerhof needs to explain why he is opposed to common-sense reforms – a true fiscal conservative will back $2 billion in common-sense cuts", concluded Turelli.
And Neerhof fires back:
Dr. Mark Neerhof Supports Bold Medicaid Reform
Turelli-Quinn Plan Fails to Address Medicaid’s Problems and Worsens Patient Care
Lake Forest, IL 2/21/12- Last week Lauren Turelli, Dr. Mark Neerhof’s Republican Primary campaign opponent came out in support of Liberal Democrat Governor Pat Quinn’s Medicaid plan. Republicans, conservatives, patients and physicians alike have lambasted the Turelli-Quinn plan. The Turelli-Quinn plan worsens the problems of access to care and Illinois’ unpaid bills.
Under the leadership of Governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn 20% of Illinoisans are now on Medicaid. Just like Quinn, Lauren’s ideas of reform worsen the problems created by the Blagojevich and Quinn Administrations. Turelli’s comments today claiming that Dr. Mark Neerhof does not support ‘common-sense’ reforms is a foolish accusation from a candidate that does not understand the fundamentals of what Medicaid is and what reform should look like.
Dr. Neerhof has dedicated his career to providing patient care to all patients including those on Medicaid. His plan for Medicaid calls for bold reforms, something that the Turelli- Quinn plan rejects. Medicaid already has 2.5 billion dollars of unpaid bills from last year. This year, Illinois is expected to have in excess of 3 billion dollars in unpaid bills, and the Civic Federation has recently announced that the total of unpaid Medicaid bills is expected to total 21 billion dollars by the end of 2017. Nowhere in the Turelli-Quinn proposal is there a plan for paying off the state’s Medicaid debts. These debts must be paid under law along with the ever-compounding interest the taxpayers owe providers each month, when the state misses payments.
Dr. Mark Neerhof: "Ms. Turelli claims that I am motivated by special interests. She is right. They are called patients. Lauren does not understand what the problems are with Medicaid. She does not work within its confines every day. As a physician, I see the problems in Medicaid and know what must be changed. Unlike Lauren, I do not support the Democrat Governor’s Medicaid plan. Rather, I support bold reform."
Dr. Neerhof’s plan would provide means-based premium assistance to patients in need to assist them in obtaining their own low cost health insurance policies. By doing so, we will provide lower cost, higher quality healthcare to the patients that need it the most.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Brad Schneider Claims Big Lead In IL-10 Dem Race, But the Real Story is In the Comments (UPDATED)
The Patch reports on a poll conducted by IL-10 Dem hopeful Brad Schneider, who has been carpet-bombing Dem mailboxes in the 10th District to build up name recognition.
Well, okay, it wasn't really the Patch who "reported" on it, but simply republished a Schneider news pump, which is easy enough to do. In fact, someone at the Patch got ruffled enough at the many accusations in the comments to the article about biased reporting, that it had to point out that it wasn't really a news article, but simply a dump of a presser from Schneider. To be fair, Patch allows this from just about anyone, on both sides of the aisle (including, for example, some by the Bob Dold campaign), but maybe they might want to rethink this policy since they seem to be getting tarnished by folks who assume that since the post is on their website, these kind of posting are somehow 'real' journalism.
Anyway, the Schneider polls claims the following results:
29% - Brad Schneider
14% - Ilya Sheyman
4% - John Tree
2% - Vivek Bavda
However, as many commentors (most of whom appear to be campaign sock puppets from one camp or another), that means that 51% are still undecided, a month out from the election, and after more than 10 mailings by Schneider.
You really need to read the comments on the Patch site (over 50 the last time I checked) to get a laugh out of the proxy knife fight among the supporters of the various candidates. Note that Tree was at a lowly 4%, but Ellen is still in there swinging for him.
I wouldn't get overly excited about this particular poll, since as far as I can tell, no information about margin of error, sample size, etc., was released. So, in other words, no telling how good this info is. And, as the commentors point out, Sheyman has yet to hit the mailboxes in the way Schneider has, so Schneider may have already hit his ceiling, leaving Sheyman no where to go but up.
UPDATE: An alert commentor quickly directed us to Lynn Sweet, whose blog had the information we were looking for, along with a memo from the pollster giving more detailed info: The poll was a telephone survey conducted among 400 likely Democratic primary voters in the new 10th Congressional District of Illinois. Interviews were conducted February 14-15, 2012. The sampling error for this survey is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
400 voters is not a ton, and 4.9% margin of error is on the high side, but I guess we'll wait and see to determine how reflective these numbers are of the Dem primary voters.
Well, okay, it wasn't really the Patch who "reported" on it, but simply republished a Schneider news pump, which is easy enough to do. In fact, someone at the Patch got ruffled enough at the many accusations in the comments to the article about biased reporting, that it had to point out that it wasn't really a news article, but simply a dump of a presser from Schneider. To be fair, Patch allows this from just about anyone, on both sides of the aisle (including, for example, some by the Bob Dold campaign), but maybe they might want to rethink this policy since they seem to be getting tarnished by folks who assume that since the post is on their website, these kind of posting are somehow 'real' journalism.
Anyway, the Schneider polls claims the following results:
29% - Brad Schneider
14% - Ilya Sheyman
4% - John Tree
2% - Vivek Bavda
However, as many commentors (most of whom appear to be campaign sock puppets from one camp or another), that means that 51% are still undecided, a month out from the election, and after more than 10 mailings by Schneider.
You really need to read the comments on the Patch site (over 50 the last time I checked) to get a laugh out of the proxy knife fight among the supporters of the various candidates. Note that Tree was at a lowly 4%, but Ellen is still in there swinging for him.
I wouldn't get overly excited about this particular poll, since as far as I can tell, no information about margin of error, sample size, etc., was released. So, in other words, no telling how good this info is. And, as the commentors point out, Sheyman has yet to hit the mailboxes in the way Schneider has, so Schneider may have already hit his ceiling, leaving Sheyman no where to go but up.
UPDATE: An alert commentor quickly directed us to Lynn Sweet, whose blog had the information we were looking for, along with a memo from the pollster giving more detailed info: The poll was a telephone survey conducted among 400 likely Democratic primary voters in the new 10th Congressional District of Illinois. Interviews were conducted February 14-15, 2012. The sampling error for this survey is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
400 voters is not a ton, and 4.9% margin of error is on the high side, but I guess we'll wait and see to determine how reflective these numbers are of the Dem primary voters.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
32- Year Veteran Lake County Circuit Court Clerk Sally Coffelt Endorses Her Current Chief Deputy Clerk, Keith Brin
I got this yesterday from the campaign of Keith Brin for Circuit Court. It's no surprise to people who have been paying attention, but now it's official....
Lake County Circuit Court Clerk Sally Coffelt Endorses Keith Brin
WAUKEGAN, IL – Sally Coffelt has officially announced who she is supporting to become the next Lake County Circuit Court Clerk: Keith Brin.
"Keith Brin has been learning the Office of the Circuit Court Clerk for the past 3 years and the voters of Lake County now have a decided advantage in having an experienced candidate running for this very important office. Keith is enthusiastic in his approach to maintaining the court records and has a number of ideas that will continue to provide the taxpayers of Lake County with effective, efficient, and fiscally responsible leadership as the use of technology increases in this process," said Coffelt of her endorsement.
Keith responded: "Sally has faithfully served Lake County for thirty-two years in this position, so to have her endorsement is humbling to say the least. She taught me that the sole focus of an elected official is to be on serving the public and living up to the trust they placed in us with their votes. I look forward to continuing her legacy of integrity and fiscal conservatism while further modernizing the office in order to improve access and efficiency."
Brin, Chief Deputy for the Office of the Lake County Circuit Court Clerk, has most recently led the development of a state-of-the-art Electronic Filing System without the use of taxpayer funds. This system is being heralded as a model for Circuit Court Clerks’ offices nationwide.
Coffelt’s endorsement joins a number of other high-profile endorsements received by Brin, including Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran, Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, Lake County Treasurer Robert Skidmore, and Lake County Regional Superintendant of Schools Roycealee Wood. In addition, the only Lake County Republican Township Organizations to endorse Primary candidates – Cuba, Libertyville, and Wauconda – have all overwhelmingly chosen Brin.
To see a full list of the endorsements Brin’s campaign has received, visit www.KeithBrin.com and click on the "Endorsements" tab at the bottom.
About Keith Brin:
Keith Brin is the Chief Deputy for the Lake County Circuit Court Clerk. An attorney and business executive from Highland Park, Keith received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Emory University and his JD from the Loyola University School of Law. He is highly involved in area civic organizations, including serving as chair of the Technology Committee for the Lake County Bar Association and as Vice Chair of the Moraine Township Republicans.
Lake County Circuit Court Clerk Sally Coffelt Endorses Keith Brin
WAUKEGAN, IL – Sally Coffelt has officially announced who she is supporting to become the next Lake County Circuit Court Clerk: Keith Brin.
"Keith Brin has been learning the Office of the Circuit Court Clerk for the past 3 years and the voters of Lake County now have a decided advantage in having an experienced candidate running for this very important office. Keith is enthusiastic in his approach to maintaining the court records and has a number of ideas that will continue to provide the taxpayers of Lake County with effective, efficient, and fiscally responsible leadership as the use of technology increases in this process," said Coffelt of her endorsement.
Keith responded: "Sally has faithfully served Lake County for thirty-two years in this position, so to have her endorsement is humbling to say the least. She taught me that the sole focus of an elected official is to be on serving the public and living up to the trust they placed in us with their votes. I look forward to continuing her legacy of integrity and fiscal conservatism while further modernizing the office in order to improve access and efficiency."
Brin, Chief Deputy for the Office of the Lake County Circuit Court Clerk, has most recently led the development of a state-of-the-art Electronic Filing System without the use of taxpayer funds. This system is being heralded as a model for Circuit Court Clerks’ offices nationwide.
Coffelt’s endorsement joins a number of other high-profile endorsements received by Brin, including Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran, Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, Lake County Treasurer Robert Skidmore, and Lake County Regional Superintendant of Schools Roycealee Wood. In addition, the only Lake County Republican Township Organizations to endorse Primary candidates – Cuba, Libertyville, and Wauconda – have all overwhelmingly chosen Brin.
To see a full list of the endorsements Brin’s campaign has received, visit www.KeithBrin.com and click on the "Endorsements" tab at the bottom.
About Keith Brin:
Keith Brin is the Chief Deputy for the Lake County Circuit Court Clerk. An attorney and business executive from Highland Park, Keith received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Emory University and his JD from the Loyola University School of Law. He is highly involved in area civic organizations, including serving as chair of the Technology Committee for the Lake County Bar Association and as Vice Chair of the Moraine Township Republicans.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Dueling Press Releases Show Candidates Turelli and Neerhof Differ on Medicaid Reform in 58th Legislative District Race (UPDATED)
[UPDATE 2/15/12: Today, the Daily Herald catches up to us with a brief article on the issue.]
I received a press release from the campaign of Lauren Turelli, who is running for the Republican nomination for the 58th legislative District, which of course is now held by retiring State Rep. Karen May. Turrelli supports the plan recently unveiled by Democratic Governor Pat Quinn to cut $2 billion from the state's Medicare program. I asked Turelli's primary opponent, Dr. Mark Neerhof for a response, and they were happy to oblige. Needless to say, we have two candidates who seem very far apart on this issue.
So, here is Turelli's press release, followed by Neerhof's response. Remember ya saw it first on Team America. ;-)
Lauren Turelli Backs $2 Billion Cuts as First
Step to Reform Medicaid and Balance the Budget
LAKE FOREST – Republican State Representative candidate LAUREN TURELLI announced her support today for Governor Pat Quinn’s $2 billion cuts in Medicaid as a first step in reforming Medicaid and balancing the budget. Turelli has repeatedly advocated specific reforms to the Medicaid program, including a rollback of eligibility standards to pre-2002 levels, the appointment of an independent auditing firm to identify waste and fraud on a commission-fee basis, and a re-evaluation of provider billing practices and fee payments. A fiscal conservative who is a long-time advocate of Medicaid reform, pension reform and a repeal of the 67% income tax increase, LAUREN TURELLI was recently endorsed by the TAXPAYERS UNITED OF AMERICA-PAC (TUA-PAC) for her efforts to improve Illinois’ business climate.
In making this announcement, Turelli acknowledged that “even though Governor Quinn changes his mind weekly about whether to spend more or spend less, I think all Illinoisans need to immediately lock him into a commitment to reduce Medicaid spending by $2 billion to begin the journey towards a balanced budget”. While two billion dollars a year for four years will only bring the State of Illinois current on its present backlog of bill payments, Governor Quinn’s willingness to put this ‘sacred cow’ on the table represents a major victory in our fight to force the Democrat-controlled government in Springfield to admit that throwing more money at a problem is not going to fix it.”
Turelli explained that “Medicaid was originally designed to provide indigent and disabled persons with access to basic medical treatment and prescription drugs which otherwise would be unavailable to them. Nevertheless, in the last decade of Democrat-controlled government in Springfield, Medicaid enrollment increased by sixty-six percent, resulting in one out of five Illinoisans participating in the program.”
Turelli further noted that “this increase has resulted in Medicaid spending becoming the largest and fastest growing line item in the Illinois state budget. More specifically, from 2001 to 2008, Medicaid spending increased from $8.4 billion to $13.8 billion dollars, or sixty-five percent. In FY 2009, Medicaid spending comprised about 30% of the state’s budget.”
Turelli went on to say that “special interests have driven our state budgets and resulting deficits to such a disastrous level that we no longer have any choice but to institute deep and aggressive reforms to stop the hemorrhaging. Forty percent of our state budget now covers Medicaid payments alone because special interest groups have been calling the shots down in Springfield – a practice I will fight to end by advocating that we cut, cut some more, and then cut some more, until we dig ourselves out of this hole. That means every person or entity involved in the Medicaid program – doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and patients – must join together in sharing the burdens necessary to reform this out-of control program because Illinois politicians can longer protect one special interest group to the detriment of our state as a whole.
The Neerhof campaign responds....
Dr. Neerhof Supports Bold Medicaid Reform
Quinn/Turelli plan tinkers around the edges and ignores fundamental problems
Dr. Mark Neerhof, Republican candidate for state Representative in the 58th district responded today to his opponent’s announcement of support for Governor Quinn’s proposal to cut $2 billion dollars from Medicaid as a first step in reforming Medicaid. He stated that this proposal is the wrong first step.
Dr. Neerhof agrees that Medicaid reform is desperately needed, but we need bold reform, not the type of tinkering around the edges of the status quo that Ms. Turelli and Governor Quinn are proposing. Dr. Neerhof understands we need to provide means-based premium assistance to patients in need to assist them in obtaining their own low cost health insurance policies. By doing so, we will provide cost-effective health care to the patients that need it the most.
Medicaid already has 2.5 billion dollars of unpaid bills from last year. This year, Illinois is expected to have in excess of 3 billion dollars in unpaid bills, and the Civic Federation has recently announced that the total of unpaid Medicaid bills is expected to total 21 billion dollars by the end of 2017. To propose cutting 2 billion dollars from the Medicaid budget when we are already not paying our bills not only does not solve any problems, it actually aggravates problems with access to care. Because of the failure of the state to pay its Medicaid bills, fewer physicians are willing to care for Medicaid patients and many patients cannot access care. To further reduce reimbursements would only worsen access to care for patients that need it the most.
I received a press release from the campaign of Lauren Turelli, who is running for the Republican nomination for the 58th legislative District, which of course is now held by retiring State Rep. Karen May. Turrelli supports the plan recently unveiled by Democratic Governor Pat Quinn to cut $2 billion from the state's Medicare program. I asked Turelli's primary opponent, Dr. Mark Neerhof for a response, and they were happy to oblige. Needless to say, we have two candidates who seem very far apart on this issue.
So, here is Turelli's press release, followed by Neerhof's response. Remember ya saw it first on Team America. ;-)
Lauren Turelli Backs $2 Billion Cuts as First
Step to Reform Medicaid and Balance the Budget
LAKE FOREST – Republican State Representative candidate LAUREN TURELLI announced her support today for Governor Pat Quinn’s $2 billion cuts in Medicaid as a first step in reforming Medicaid and balancing the budget. Turelli has repeatedly advocated specific reforms to the Medicaid program, including a rollback of eligibility standards to pre-2002 levels, the appointment of an independent auditing firm to identify waste and fraud on a commission-fee basis, and a re-evaluation of provider billing practices and fee payments. A fiscal conservative who is a long-time advocate of Medicaid reform, pension reform and a repeal of the 67% income tax increase, LAUREN TURELLI was recently endorsed by the TAXPAYERS UNITED OF AMERICA-PAC (TUA-PAC) for her efforts to improve Illinois’ business climate.
In making this announcement, Turelli acknowledged that “even though Governor Quinn changes his mind weekly about whether to spend more or spend less, I think all Illinoisans need to immediately lock him into a commitment to reduce Medicaid spending by $2 billion to begin the journey towards a balanced budget”. While two billion dollars a year for four years will only bring the State of Illinois current on its present backlog of bill payments, Governor Quinn’s willingness to put this ‘sacred cow’ on the table represents a major victory in our fight to force the Democrat-controlled government in Springfield to admit that throwing more money at a problem is not going to fix it.”
Turelli explained that “Medicaid was originally designed to provide indigent and disabled persons with access to basic medical treatment and prescription drugs which otherwise would be unavailable to them. Nevertheless, in the last decade of Democrat-controlled government in Springfield, Medicaid enrollment increased by sixty-six percent, resulting in one out of five Illinoisans participating in the program.”
Turelli further noted that “this increase has resulted in Medicaid spending becoming the largest and fastest growing line item in the Illinois state budget. More specifically, from 2001 to 2008, Medicaid spending increased from $8.4 billion to $13.8 billion dollars, or sixty-five percent. In FY 2009, Medicaid spending comprised about 30% of the state’s budget.”
Turelli went on to say that “special interests have driven our state budgets and resulting deficits to such a disastrous level that we no longer have any choice but to institute deep and aggressive reforms to stop the hemorrhaging. Forty percent of our state budget now covers Medicaid payments alone because special interest groups have been calling the shots down in Springfield – a practice I will fight to end by advocating that we cut, cut some more, and then cut some more, until we dig ourselves out of this hole. That means every person or entity involved in the Medicaid program – doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and patients – must join together in sharing the burdens necessary to reform this out-of control program because Illinois politicians can longer protect one special interest group to the detriment of our state as a whole.
The Neerhof campaign responds....
Dr. Neerhof Supports Bold Medicaid Reform
Quinn/Turelli plan tinkers around the edges and ignores fundamental problems
Dr. Mark Neerhof, Republican candidate for state Representative in the 58th district responded today to his opponent’s announcement of support for Governor Quinn’s proposal to cut $2 billion dollars from Medicaid as a first step in reforming Medicaid. He stated that this proposal is the wrong first step.
Dr. Neerhof agrees that Medicaid reform is desperately needed, but we need bold reform, not the type of tinkering around the edges of the status quo that Ms. Turelli and Governor Quinn are proposing. Dr. Neerhof understands we need to provide means-based premium assistance to patients in need to assist them in obtaining their own low cost health insurance policies. By doing so, we will provide cost-effective health care to the patients that need it the most.
Medicaid already has 2.5 billion dollars of unpaid bills from last year. This year, Illinois is expected to have in excess of 3 billion dollars in unpaid bills, and the Civic Federation has recently announced that the total of unpaid Medicaid bills is expected to total 21 billion dollars by the end of 2017. To propose cutting 2 billion dollars from the Medicaid budget when we are already not paying our bills not only does not solve any problems, it actually aggravates problems with access to care. Because of the failure of the state to pay its Medicaid bills, fewer physicians are willing to care for Medicaid patients and many patients cannot access care. To further reduce reimbursements would only worsen access to care for patients that need it the most.
Ilya Sheyman First Up With Video Ad in IL-10; Criticizes Brad Schneider's Republican Contributions in Press Release
Young Iyla Sheyman, the presumptive front-runner in the Democratic competition to take on Republican Congressman Bob Dold in Illinois' 10th Congressional District, is up with a video spot, touting his "American Dream" background story and "progressive" agenda.
Politico describes this as a "persuasion-level buy", but I will confess I don't know exactly what that means. So far, this appears to be a cable TV-only ad.
His top competition, Brad Schneider, has more cash in the bank than young Ilya does right now, so look for a response from Schneider soon, but Sheyman got in first and will get the press pops, so props to Sheyman. Seems Schneider has been playing catch-up from day one since he got in the race after Sheyman, and has yet to break ahead. With barely more than a month left, and everyone's mailboxes about ready to burst with campaign mail, will Scheider be able to stand out andbv pull ahead? We'll have to wait and see.
Sheyman is also pulling no punches against Schneider for his past contributions to Republican Mark Kirk and others, which based on what I'm reading and hearing from the Dems, seemed to be Scheider's big Achilles' Heel at this point. Sheyman's press release that heralded the new video stated plainly:
Sheyman is running against the more conservative Brad Schneider, who has a track record of supporting Republicans in past races. Brad Schneider donated to multiple Republican candidates for Federal office who were proponents of privatizing Social Security, ending Medicare and who opposed the Affordable Care Act. This includes a 2001 donation of $1000 to Rep Mike Rogers (R-MI), a 2002 donation of $1000 to Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-MN), a 2008 donation of $250 to Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), a 2009 donation of $250 to Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), and over $3,000$ in donations to Sen. Mark Kirk’s Congressional and Senate campaigns between 2002 and 2009.
Love it when those knives come out.
Politico describes this as a "persuasion-level buy", but I will confess I don't know exactly what that means. So far, this appears to be a cable TV-only ad.
His top competition, Brad Schneider, has more cash in the bank than young Ilya does right now, so look for a response from Schneider soon, but Sheyman got in first and will get the press pops, so props to Sheyman. Seems Schneider has been playing catch-up from day one since he got in the race after Sheyman, and has yet to break ahead. With barely more than a month left, and everyone's mailboxes about ready to burst with campaign mail, will Scheider be able to stand out andbv pull ahead? We'll have to wait and see.
Sheyman is also pulling no punches against Schneider for his past contributions to Republican Mark Kirk and others, which based on what I'm reading and hearing from the Dems, seemed to be Scheider's big Achilles' Heel at this point. Sheyman's press release that heralded the new video stated plainly:
Sheyman is running against the more conservative Brad Schneider, who has a track record of supporting Republicans in past races. Brad Schneider donated to multiple Republican candidates for Federal office who were proponents of privatizing Social Security, ending Medicare and who opposed the Affordable Care Act. This includes a 2001 donation of $1000 to Rep Mike Rogers (R-MI), a 2002 donation of $1000 to Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-MN), a 2008 donation of $250 to Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), a 2009 donation of $250 to Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), and over $3,000$ in donations to Sen. Mark Kirk’s Congressional and Senate campaigns between 2002 and 2009.
Love it when those knives come out.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Grant Township Lincoln Day Dinner Now Held in the 10th Congressional District!
Yesterday evening, I attended yet another edition of the Grant Township Lincoln Day dinner, which is always a lot of fun. As usual, the room was packed, the food was good, and the politicians were many, since the March primary is just around the corner. About the only Lake County candidate who was absent was Circuit Court Clerk Candidate and current Chief Deputy Keith Brin, who was home sick with the flu. Current Circuit Clerk (of 32 years) Sally Coffelt filled in for Keith during the ubiquitous 'naming of the officials', which was emcee'd by County Board Member Bonnie Thompson Carter. And, boy, there were a lot of 'em.The keynote speaker this year was State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who was making good on his commitment to talk at this dinner a few years back, but he had to cancel because of his jaw being wired shut due to a mishap while he was on a ski vacation. Rutherford mentioned that he was coordinating the Illinois campaign for Mitt Romney, but he mostly focused on the future of the party. While he commended everyone for fighting for what they believed in (in terms of the 'social' issues), he emphasized that if the Republicans do not want to be resigned to being the party of the minority, they must rally around the common themes of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and lower taxes, and eschew the divisions that arise when Republicans impose a litmus test on candidates based on issues like abortion.
Since the recent redistricting, one big change in Grant Township is that Grant is now in the 10th District, not the 8th. This means that this coming election, Grant will be working to re-elect Congressman Robert Dold, instead of Joe Walsh. Walsh and Dold both spoke, and each commended the other, with Walsh imploring those from Grant to work just as hard (or harder) to support Dold as they did for him, and Dold pointing out that Walsh's tough battle in the new 8th District means that everyone still needs to support him as well.
No door prizes for TA this year, but there's always next year. Here are my pix:
John and Jan Zobus pose with political consultant extraordinaire (according to him anyway) Collin Corbett.
County Board candidate Jeff Werfel, with County Treasurer Bob Skidmore and State Representative JoAnn Osmond.
Here's Jeff again with keynote speaker State Treasurer Dan Rutherford.
Retired Judge Jane Waller and State's Attorney Michael Waller.
Green Oaks Trustee Dan Sugrue and 8th District Congressman Joe Walsh
County Board Chairman David Stolman, County Board Member Bonnie Thompson Carter, and Congressman Bob Dold.
County Board Members Linda Pedersen and Steve Carlson.
Party hosts Walt and Nancy Kubalanza bookend Dan Rutherford.
County Board Candidate Scott Helton and Moraine Township GOP Chairman Lou Atsaves strike their best 'enforcer' pose. I'm glad I don't owe them money.
My fellow Augustana alumni Kris Duffy and State Senator Dan Duffy.
Congressman Bob Dold and Circuit Court Judge Dan Shanes.
Sheriff Mark Curran and State's Attorney Candidate Bryan Winter.
State Rep. Sandy Cole and Judge Shanes.
Circuit Court Clerk Sally Coffelt and State's Attorney Candidate Louise Hayes.
Long-time GOP leader Bob Churchill, Recorder of Deeds candidate Bob Bednar, and State Senate candidate Don Castella (30th District).
Judge Jimmy Boras and GOP Chairman Bob Cook.
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