Chicago’s Tough Road to Fill Budget Holes; Why Being Mayor of Portland Is a 'Lousy' Job
Gloomy skies in Chicago. Jake Hukee / Shutterstock.com
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also: An $840,000 salary in Alaska and diluting political crimes investigations in the name of free speech in Wisconsin.
Here’s some of what we’ve been reading today…
CHICAGO, Illinois: Mayor Rahm Emanuel is losing the battle against borrowed money in the Second City. The Chicago Tribune reports that the mayor has reduced borrowing to fill budget holes but that he is still relying on bonds to cover routine expenditures—things like landscaping and city fountains. The Tribune writes: “Of about $300 million in new bond money spent in 2013, 2014 and early 2015—debt on which the city will pay interest until 2044—nearly half paid for short-lived items. Borrowing for operating costs sticks future generations with the tab, plus interest, for spending that will not benefit them.” [The Chicago Tribune]
PORTLAND, Oregon: On Monday, Mayor Charlie Hales announced he wouldn’t run for a second term in office. He is the third mayor in a row to make that announcement, which has a lot of political observers in the city scratching their heads, reports The Oregonian. In Portland, the mayor shares power with four members of the City Council. "You have less authority than you have elsewhere, but you get the same portion or more of blame," explained Phil Keisling, a former secretary of state who heads the Center for Public Service at the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. “I tell everybody what a lousy job it is," said Ken Allen, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. [The Oregonian / OregonLive.com]
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania: Are juvenile offenders being drugged into behaving? That’s a question Public Source is asking. The investigative outlet reports that over the last seven years, youth correctional facilities in the state ordered enough antipsychotic medications to treat one-third of the young prisoners. That would make for a very high percentage of medicated kids. Less than 2 percent of kids in the country take antipsychotics. Child advocates describe what’s happening as “chemical restraint.” “These are the toughest kids in the juvenile justice system and, in some ways, the most vulnerable,” writes reporter Halle Stockton. [Public Source]
JUNEAU, Alaska: Nice work if you can get it—and maybe getting much better, soon. Gov. Bill Walker has asked state lawmakers to green-light an $840,000 salary and benefits package for a single state employee to work on a proposed $55 billion natural-gas pipeline megaproject, reports The Alaska Dispatch News. The Department of Natural Resources employee would work with partners in the oil and pipeline businesses and would be charged with selling the state’s share of gas extracted from the North Slope. The Dispatch News notes that, on the campaign stump last year, Walker questioned salaries earned by employees at a state corporation working on the pipeline. One of those employees earned a compensation package worth $510,000. [The Alaska Dispatch News]
MADISON, Wisconsin: Republicans in the state legislature have passed two bills that will make it more difficult to prosecute political crimes, reports Wisconsin Public Radio. The measures will outlaw so-called John Doe cases, in which prosecutors ask a judge for subpoena powers to investigate allegations of wrongdoing. Now prosecutors will have to go through the more complicated grand jury process. Another bill would eliminate the Government Accountability Board. Gov. Scott Walker has championed the bills and signed the John Doe bill into law this week, touting it as a victory for free speech. Walker has been the target of two John Doe investigations. Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca said the new anti-John Doe law should be named the "Corrupt Politicians Protection Act." [Wisconsin Public Radio]
John Tomasic is a journalist who lives in Boulder, Colorado.
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