TO: Scott
Harl
City
of Peru, Illinois
FROM: Tim McAnarney
McAnarney
Consulting
DATE: June
23, 2016
SUBJECT: Legislative
Report for January - May, 2016
Despite the Legislature’s failure to reach a budget
agreement, over 400 bills were passed and many of these have an impact on
Peru. A lot of my time is spent meeting
with Legislators and staff of both the Governor’s office and Legislative
Branches. Since my office is located by
the Capitol and I live in Springfield, all year I have a great relationship
with many of the government employees who actually try to keep our system
working. These contacts enable me to
inform Mayor Harl of what is happening and allows me to immediately arrange for
meetings that Peru requests.
On January 6, I contacted the Lieutenant Governor’s point
person on consolidation. Brian Costin
and I went over the Consolidation Report he helped write and set up a later
meeting with Mayor Harl.
On January 8, I met with Senate President John Cullerton’s
Chief-of-Staff, Dave Gross, to go over Peru’s agenda. Specifically, I stressed the need for local
government distributive fund to be kept intact and given to Peru. We also talked about pensions, grants that
were being withheld by the Governor’s office, and our enterprise zone
application.
On January 13, Mayor Harl and I had a long meeting with the
Lieutenant Governor’s office (Brian Costin) on the specifics of some
consolidation between Peru and the Township, and received some suggestions on
how to proceed,. Mayor Harl emphasized
that if the Peru City Council and Township officials agreed, we believed over
$100,000 a year could be saved. He said
he would help us in our effort.
On January 26, Mayor Harl and I met in Springfield to
discuss the solar panel situation at the Airport. I agreed to ask U.S. Senator Durbin for his
help. On February 3, I met again with
U.S. Senator Durbin’s office and they informed me that the FAA indicated that
the height of the building and the reflexivity of panels are okay.
On January 28, I met with IML officials to go over our
legislative agenda.
I attended every Legislative Session in January (January 11,
13, 14, 15, 20, 22, 26, 27, 28). I also
did a political talk show in Springfield (WFMB) where I discussed the
Springfield political scene.
On February 5, I also was a guest political commentator on
CBS (Champaign, Springfield, Decatur market).
This exposure allows me to talk about government and politics and give
me the opportunity to discuss issues important for our future requests. (The politicos watch these shows.)
On February 8, I met with Representative Jay Hoffman, who
had successfully passed legislation to consolidate Belleville Township and the
City. He said if Peru wanted to do the
same that he would help.
On February 9, I met with IDOT Secretary Randy Blankenhorn
to discuss Peru’s requests.
On February 12, I again was a political commentator on CBS
TV (Champaign).
On February 18, I had dinner with IDOT Secretary Randy
Blankenhorn and Assistant Secretary Rich Brauer. Again we talked about our future TIGER Grant
request.
On February 18, I met with IEPA officials (at Mayor Harl’s
request) to get clearance for cattle to graze on the landfill. On February 19, IEPA informed me they would
approve if the final closing permit was filed.
On February 24, I met with Mayor Harl in Springfield and we
discussed the IML’s inclusion of some “turn around” agenda ideas they were
supporting, which many Legislators do not.
We have to be careful.
On February 29, I met with lobbyists for the cities of
Rockford, Aurora, Elgin and East St. Louis to discuss a joint lobbying effort
on the tax credits and enterprise zones.
There are 14 tax credits expiring in June and these are valuable tools
cities need to help attract business.
In February I attended every Legislative Session (February
1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17).
On March 3, I met with the Governor’s Budget Director, Tim
Nuding, to talk about enterprise zone applications, tax credits and grants that
still were not funded. I also stressed
the City’s need for LGDF funding.
On March 11, I did another CBS TV political talk show.
On March 15, the Primary election was held. There were two major battles and over $9
million was spent on just two races.
Governor Rauner lost both of these contested races. It was an intense election night. CBS (Champaign) broadcast statewide
(Champaign, Peoria, Rockford, Rock Island, etc.) all night from my office. Many Legislators, staff from the Executive
and Legislative Branches were at my office all night and a lot of good
discussion and ideas were exchanged.
On March 18, Bob Vicery asked me to help a local business
get its liquor license. I was able to
get it done.
On March 19, I met with the Department of Natural Resources
staff regarding their letter on our $250,000 grant being held. It is still there.
On March 21, I met with staff and Legislators on our request
for support on S.B. 3019. This bill
would make all local, non-general revenue funds subject to automatic
appropriation authority – very important for Peru. (This bill is still in Committee.)
On March 23, I met with Illinois Municipal Electric
Association executives regarding Peru’s electric cap on industries. I also met with Illinois Manufacturers
Association executives on this matter with Mayor Harl and we agreed on how the
City would proceed. (We have to be
mindful that there are some who want to pass legislation to eliminate
non-competition for municipal utilities.)
On March 28, I met with Wal-Mart executives to request money
for Peru’s TBM Avenger Reunion. They
told me there was not time to arrange for this year, but call earlier next
year.
On March 31, Mayor Harl and I lobbied S.B. 2241 (limit fees
that a land management company can charge for access to railroad
right-of-way). This effects Northern
partners. We met with staff and bill
sponsors
I attended all Legislative Sessions (March 1, 2, 3, 8, 9,
10, 16, 17, 18).
On April 7, I met staff and Legislators to lobby S.B. 0571,
which would extend to three year (now two) the starting date our enterprise
could begin the renewal process and also shall become effective on date of
certification. (This directly impacts
Peru’s zone.)
On April 11, I met with Bill Houlihan, U.S. Senator Durbin’s
Chief-of-Staff, for update on our request for the Army Reserve Building. He said they are still working with U.S.
Department of Defense.
On April 12, S.B. 2241 passed the Senate,
On April 14, S.B. 0571 passed the Senate.
On April 14, I attended the House Revenue Hearing on tax
credits. Bills were sent to
Subcommittee.
On April 26, I met with U.S. Senator Durbin’s
Chief-of-Staff, Bill Houlihan, to lobby for our TIGER grant. He promised the Senator would push hard for
us.
In April, I attended every Legislative Session and
Committees (April 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22).
On May 2, Mayor Harl asked me to check on the legality of
Peru tearing down the old city Public Works building for Dollar General. On May 3, I met with Peggy Snyder,
Legislative Liaison for Illinois Department of Historic Preservation. She said she would get the approval done in a
few weeks.
May 4 was the IML Lobby Day and Mayor Harl and I met with
Legislators and staff. We had another
meeting in the Lieutenant Governor’s office on consolidation. We also met with Representatives Skoog and
Hoffman on S.B. 2241 (railroad crossing fee).
On May 5, Mayor Harl and I attended House Revenue Committee
Hearing on S.B. 0571 (enterprise zone effective date). Mayor Harl sat at the witness table. This bill was again sent to Subcommittee. We lobbied the Legislators after the
Hearing. We were promised it would get
called again.
On May 7, I attended U.S. Senator Durbin’s fundraiser and
again thanked him for his efforts on securing the Army Reserve Building and for
his help on our IDOT TIGER grant request.
On May 9, Mayor Harl and I attended Speaker Madigan’s
fundraiser in Springfield and met with many Legislators and staff.
On May 10, I had a follow-up meeting with Bill Houlihan of
U.S. Senator Durbin’s office and gave him a formal copy of our TIGER grant
application.
On May 12,
I attended the House Revenue Committee and our bills were sent back to
Subcommittee again.
On May 18,
Mayor Harl, Representative Skoog and I attended the Revenue Committee, again
with the same result. We then met with
some other City lobbyists about a fallback plan for Peru’s Enterprise Zone if
the bill failed to pass. But we were
hopeful of success, so we kept “Plan B” quiet.
I also met
with Assistant Secretary of Transportation, Rich Brauer, and personally gave
him our TIGER grant application.
On May 26,
the House Revenue Committee finally passed S.B. 2241. On May 29 it passed the House and on May 31
it passed the Senate.
On May 29,
House Revenue passed S.B. 0571. On May
30 the House passed it and on May 31 the Senate concurred. Great victories for Peru.
I attended
every Legislative Session in May (May 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, n18, 19,
20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31).
36 comments:
This one jumped out at me.
One among the list of wasteful money spent.
On May 9, Mayor Harl and I attended Speaker Madigan’s fundraiser in Springfield and met with many Legislators and staff.
OK we are paying this man to hobnob with Madigan and Mayor Harl gets to feel important by going too. Most of us living south of Cook County would like to see Madigon gone, so this state can once again function.
GRRR - Makes me see all shades of red with this blatant waste of taxpayer money.
LMAO!
"I also did a political talk show in Springfield (WFMB) where I discussed the Springfield political scene."
"Mayor Harl and I attended Speaker Madigan’s fundraiser in Springfield"
"I did another CBS TV political talk show."
"I also was a guest political commentator on CBS (Champaign, Springfield, Decatur market)."
I think Peru is turning into a "Reality" TV Show!
this is a joke, right?
I see a lot of talk and a lot of "meeting" but I see no actual accomplishments.
This is why people are so upset with government.
This is meaningless drivel.
Too many line items on this list had nothing to do with Peru. Lots of meetings, yet no action. I would vote no on the rehire.
So, he can't talk to any Republicans?
Vote to pay the Lobbyist another 2000/per mo. for one more year for the type of stuff shown above. took place this evening The interesting thing is that Ald. Payton joined with Ald. Ferrari, Mueller and Potthoff in opposition to the rehiring. Harl had to break the tie and I understand he was not too happy about that, seems he likes to be important and wants other people do the unpleasant work of voting for his "wants".
Some of the aldermen Who voted yes feel that it is important to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone in Springfield and I suppose Mayor Harl thinks it is important to you and I that he hobnob about Springfield with the Lobbyist to Democratic fundraisers. Republicans in Peru be damned.
Doesn't he realize that we have a State Senators office and a State Represetatives office right here in Peru and both are more than willing to help him with anything important going on in Springfield that involves the city of Peru. And at no charge to the taxpayers of the city, yep willing to the work at no additional charge.
In fact I think that maybe installing Skype at City Hall would be a better deal for Peru. Not only would you get to speak to the Lobbyist by phone but they could actually see each other.
Anybody surprised that Alderman Lukosus, Sapienza, Waldorf and Radtke supported the expenditure that Mayor Harl likes as one of his side benefits of being Mayor:
Any mayoral prospects out there thinking about running for the mayors seat in Peru? There is a need.
You can see the arrogance level of Harl increase with each and every one of these phony meetings he attends. Pretending to be important can't make you important. Many of the situations listed are very suspicicious looking and you have to read between the lines. Harl is trying to allow cattle grazing on the landfill? Holy cow crap! Could it be the "poor farmer" wants free grazing rights on taxpayer owned property? This shows Harl's ability to corrupt every situation imaginable in Peru. If Harl's head swells any bigger the public works guys will have to haul him back and forth to Springfield in one of the dump-trucks.
First of all I would personally like to thank you Lois for taking the time and initiative to get this information and give us the opportunity to form our own opinion as to whether we need this lobbyist or not. I, for one, see nothing in this report that tells me what he did to earn his salary. He attended many meetings, dinners, golf outings, etc. but no where do I see what he accomplished during these rendezvous. The one thing I did see that he did was help Mr. Vickrey get a local business a liquor license. I thought the mayor was the liquor commissioner and license official? Please, someone give me something solid that he accomplished for Peru in the 3 years since we've hired him other than to be in Springfield to answer the phone when the mayor calls.
I still want to know why Mayor Harl is trying to kick the US Army Reserve out of Peru.
Why are we concerned as to whether or not cattle can graze on the landfill? (discussed by lobbyist in his Feb. 18th statement).
In reading the report it looks like the lobbyist will be helping get rid of the township salaries? Is that why a few of you are upset? Does the wage elimination effect your income or your potential plans?
Stay tuned....he's back!
Cattle Grazing? Are you serious? This must be the "fresh tomatoes guy" trying to get something else from the city for free.
I would not be surprised if the liquor license in question was for Vickrey himself as the owner of one of those stupid "white-trash casinos" all over Peru. That is the Peru way of doing business. Good to see we have one Peru lobbyist lobbying for a liquor license for another Peru lobbyist. Can it get any more ridiculous than that? Can Peru taxpayers get an honest man to run for mayor?
Shouldn't the mayor be using funds from his campaign war chest to pay someone to attend Democratic fund raisers so he can feel important? Is it legal for him to use taxpayer money to pay a lobbyist at Democratic fund raisers? He was not elected under the banner of the Democratic Party and he should be using his own money not ours. No where in his campaigns did he say he would take our money for such use.
Legal minds ?
Yes, it is very concerning that many of the events are held in party affiliations as the Democratic party. The union and Democratic vote are the strong holds of the Mayor power base. In local small town elections party affiliations are seldom as important as they have been in the last several Peru elections. Its a credit to Mayor Harl and his election teams to organize the base of unions, Democrats and fundraising in winning elections for himself and those he supports.
A paid public employee on official business cannot attend a fund raiser. So if he said he did so to represent Peru in an official capacity, he broke the law.
11:30 Lobbyist are not employees. They are not breaking the law and have rules that enable them to not only attend fundraisers but give to political candidates.
11:23
The campaigners put him in office and he can use he funds anyway he sees fit. And those he supports get the support of both the union money and the democratic party. Can you name anybody who got elected to office without the support of the Harl campaign team?
12:39 PM, June 28, 2016 - you cannot "Lobby" at a fund raiser. That is called bribery. You "Lobby" at the legislative office. You also cannot give a donation at the legislative office - that is also called bribery.
So - Timmy going to the fund raisers is totally irrelevant to the job we are paying him to do. It was put in that letter to impress the very impressionable Local Yokels.
Why hasent he gone to Senator Kirk's office? Or Congressman Kinzinger's office? Maybe State Senator Rezin's office?
Timmy and Harl are in cahoots with the Rat Men and Madigan. Oh... by the way, Friday is July 1 - Is Franky on the way to jail to take the empty cell next to Blaggo?
The Army Reserve Center is going to be missed. I wonder what Peru wants to do with it after they get the Army kicked out of town. Shameful and unpatriotic, asking for a military base to be closed down.
The Rat Men are out in force again in Ottawa on Dayton Road harassing innocent people trying to put a meal on the table for their kids. Why are they allowed to use public land to harass people simply trying to get a job done. These Rat Men are Anti-American and should be tossed in jail or at least run out of town.
The lobbyist saved the city money by delivering the grant application in person. He saved the postage costs! And the cost of reading the newspaper by updating the city on important issues in Springfield. You have too many short minded people in Peru to understand the positive results of a lobbyist. He also attended many, many fundraisers for all those overworked political cronies in Springfield. Why call your local representatives when you have a lobbyist that fights for you in Springfield, at least $24,000 worth?
Folks! The answers are in Springfield and every city should be in getting those dollars. Last look the state was billions in the hole and no hope for any fresh air. Ottawa has a lobbyist and should we also adopt the City of Ottawa tax rate about 4x Peru's?
The lobbyist attended every session of the legislative process. That's great! I watched every episode of the West Wing. Does that make a difference?
1:22 PM, June 30, 2016 - you are probably better informed by watching West Wing. :)
After the election everyone will find out why Peru is kicking the Army out of Peru. It involves big cardboard checks. And big property tax increases.
On Jan 14th the mayor should have contacted Peru Township elected Officials. Pure Political Game the mayor and Bernabeii are planning. The township waste is nothing. Millions of dollars are wasted by Harl and Bernabei.
1108 have you heard the sewer sucker is down. 20k to fix it. LOL. 450k Waste of money.
Isn't it under warranty? How could it break down so quickly? Did we do something wrong?
How could the Vactor get broken when they never use it?
11:08
Please tell me where Millions are wasted and don't say the new public Works building.
The old one was falling down around the workers.
So step up and share or better yet just shut up and say thank you.
2:21. No one said it is broken. An anonymous person posted it which means nothing. Even then equipment does break down.
For those who say they never use it are lying, just for the record. It was just out a week or two ago and I'm sure the hell not driving around looking for it.
the new public works building should have cost $250K max. Not the several million they are spending. It is larger than the building the City of Springfield, Illinois public works is housed in. The waste on that building is criminal. The waste on the next "safety complex" will be colossal.
7:40 am, They (Harl, Bernabei, etc.) seem to be building monuments to themselves. They are honoring themselves at taxpayer expense by creating huge and overblown structures that reflect their inflated egos and high opinions of themselves. I really think they actually have massive feelings of inferiority and they overcompensate by spending lavishly on themselves at taxpayer expense in hopes of being immortalized in these "monuments" to themselves. What they don't understand is that they are legends only in their own imaginations. They are exactly the opposite of what civic leaeders should be. Narcissistic behavior in elected and appointed city officials in Peru is rampant. The damage they are doing to the city is costing taxpayers millions annually and it is just a matter of time before they will spend us out of business.
10:23 AM, July 06, 2016 - wait until they give that new garage a name. "S.J. Harl Pubic Works Complex" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
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