Progress Illinois

After the Cook County Board of Commissioners finally agreed yesterday to fund foreclosure mediation services, housing advocates are celebrating the move as "a huge step" towards stemming the problem.

As regular readers know, it's been a tough slog for those community activists -- led by the group Action Now -- who've been pushing the county to devote more resources to mediation -- a proven method of staving off foreclosure. By a vote of 16 to 1, the board approved a $3 million budget amendment introduced by Comm. Earlene Collins (D) at the behest of Board President Todd Stroger and Cook County's Chief circuit court Judge Tim Evans (Republican Comm. Tony Peraica was the lone dissenter).

Like elsewhere in the state, foreclosures continue to pile up in Cook County.  During a roundtable on WTTW's Chicago Tonight yesterday,  MB Bank Vice President Thomas FitzGibbon noted that one of the biggest challenges in enabling mortgage modifications is getting through the daunting paperwork. "Having a neutral third party helping that consumer, helping that household, fill out the documents is an extremely important part of this whole process," said FitzGibbon, who also sits on the board of the non-profit Neigborhood Housing Services. "Seventy percent of the applications for this service -- for this help that we send out to consumers who we know are in trouble -- never comes back." Watch his remarks (full video here):

Once up and running, Cook County's program will help fill this void.

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Over the past two weeks, we've been covering some intense efforts by Chicago-area who want to see Cook County set aside some of the millions in foreclosure filing fee revenue for mediation services.  After a year of unsuccessfully trying to get a meeting with County Board President Todd Stroger, the group Action Now finally sat down with Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Courts Tim Evans earlier this week, who pledged to recommend such an initiative to the board president. 

It looks like the organizers' hard work may be paying off.  Action Now informed us today that Stroger is currently circulating a budget amendment that will set aside $3 million next year to bolster much-needed foreclosure mediation and prevention efforts. Of that, $1.3 million will go toward outreach and adding legal staff to a foreclosure hotline. The remainder will go directly toward funding additional court and mediation staff.

Action Now's Aileen Kelleher tells us that the remaining question is whether the amendment will survive if the board succeeds in passing a partial repeal of Stroger's controversial one-percent sales tax hike, which is on their agenda this coming Monday. "We have to keep up the pressure on elected officials to see that this stays in the budget," Kelleher adds.  Check back for more details on Monday afternoon.

(CORRECTION 11/16: This post originally stated that Comm. Larry Suffredin had also introduced a $1.3 million foreclosure prevention amendment. It turns out that the measure is for the functioning of the county courts, not exclusively for foreclosure-related services. We regret the error.)

Last week, a group of housing activists showed up at Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's office demanding to know why he hasn't spent a dime of the estimated $15 million collected in foreclosure filing fees on mediation services, which are proven to help people hang onto their homes. "Where is that money going?" asked Michelle Young of the group Action Now. 

After trying to land a meeting with Stroger for nearly a year, Action Now was finally invited to sit down with him yesterday afternoon. But Stroger ended up inexplicably "detained," Young tells us. To his credit, Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Courts Tim Evans made the meeting. And Action Now members tell us that Evans has agreed to recommend that the county finally set more resources aside, beginning with $3 million over the coming year. A measure is expected to be introduced at next week's county board meeting.

"Mediation has been effective in other places," Young tells us, "but we need the money to fund it."  Florida's Miami-Dade County is a prime example. Since making mediation mandatory earlier this year, 78 percent -- or 465 of the 599 foreclosure cases scheduled -- were settled in the local courts. While these local efforts are no substitute for a real loan modification program at the federal level, the fact that Cook County continues to pull in millions from foreclosure filing fees presents a logical revenue source for such a program.  And the need remains real.  As the Federal Reserve of Chicago has pointed out (PDF), a glut of vacant, lender-owned properties tends to "weaken [homeowners'] interest in reinvesting in their property," thus diminishing "the safety and security of the neighborhood" and straining public services elsewhere.

We'll be watching carefully to see if the Stroger administration helps push the proposal through as part of the county budget. "At least that would give people a fighting chance," says Action Now's Marsha Godard.

Deluged by the thousands of foreclosure cases that have clogged the Cook County court system, Chancery Division Presiding Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird made a bold move back in June when she called for a two-month reprieve on mortgage defaults. Despite her effort to buy homeowners time to seek mediation,  resources remain too scarce -- particularly for people from the low-income communities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis.

With the county pulling in millions in foreclosure filing fees, some local housing advocates are calling on Cook County Board President Todd Stroger to get creative and start redirecting that money toward mediation services. The local community organization Action Now estimates that the spike in $300 foreclosure filing fees has generated an additional $15 million for the county's coffers. Still, the Stroger administration has yet to allocate any of that money toward foreclosure prevention. "Why not use some of that money for mediation?" Marsha Godard of West Lawndale asked at a rally outside Stroger's office this morning. "At least that would give people a fighting chance."

It's no secret that low-income and African American neighborhoods have seen the highest concentration of foreclosures here in Illinois. "We saw someone getting put out on our way down here," activist Michelle Young of Austin reported at the rally. "This is about people losing their homes -- people who are moving out in the middle of the night because they're ashamed to say 'I'm having trouble with my mortgage.'" Watch:

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For those who haven't been following it closely, here's the latest news on the Democratic primary candidates for Cook County board president. As you'll soon learn, it's a messy, messy affair at the moment. 

Danny Davis
For months now, the 7th District congressman has insisted that he is "in" for county board president, despite simultaneously circulating petitions for reelection to Congress.  During the third quarter, Davis transferred $130,000 from his federal campaign account to his state coffers -- indicating a certain degree of seriousness.  Last Monday, he officially filed for the board president race.  But doubts about his candidacy persist, and for good reason.  As the Tribune's John Byrne reported, he also filed petitions for Congress yesterday. 

So what's the next move?  As Cook County Clerk David Orr told WTTW last week, Davis has until November 9 to drop out of one of the two races.  For the slew of candidates preparing to run for his House seat -- State Rep. Annazette Collins, Chicago Alds. Robert Fioretti and Sharon Dixon, Jim Ascot, Clarence Clemons, and Joyce Washington -- that decision couldn't come soon enough.

Todd Stroger
The incumbent board president created some suspense yesterday afternoon, waiting until an hour before the filing deadline to present his 22,000 petitions to the county clerk.  Not surprisingly, he had a tough time finding folks to circulate on his behalf.  From the Sun-Times:

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Private hospitals in Illinois have received their fair share of criticism for taking property tax exemptions with one hand and simultaneously turning away the uninsured with the other. The bad rap is well-deserved; in an April report, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) found that, in 2008, these facilities pulled in a collective $490 million in tax breaks for serving the poor last year while only providing $176 million worth of care (PDF). To put the figures in perspective, CTBA estimates that the excess tax benefit – $327.2 million – could have been used to provide medical care to an additional 47,836 Illinoisans that year. Meanwhile,  in shirking their obligation to the needy, these private hospitals are adding strain on the same public institutions they are intended to support.

One major problem is that the private hospitals do a dismal job of identifying those patients eligible for so-called "charity care."  The CTBA report details how this results in them racking up "bad debt":

By simply doing a better job of identifying patients eligible for charity care, the Hospitals Studied could have increased the amount of charity care delivered by $109.5 million, at no additional cost to such Hospitals. The Hospitals Studied reported a bad debt cost of $218.9 million. Bad debt is the amount of uncollectible hospital bills. Many hospital finance experts estimate that approximately 50 percent of hospital bad debt is owed by individuals who would qualify for charity care if they were identified for eligibility prior to going through the collections process. Accordingly, better identification of patients eligible for charity care would have increased the amount of charity care delivered by the Hospitals Studied by $109.5 million, with a corresponding decrease in bad debt.

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The latest from the Illinois electoral landscape ...

IL GOVERNOR

A poll released by the Paul Simon Institute on Public Policy late last week showed Gov. Pat Quinn with a sizeable lead over comptroller and Democratic gubernatorial challenger Dan Hynes:

Quinn:  33.9%
Hynes: 16.5%
Someone else: 14.2%
Don't know/No answer: 35.4%
MOE +/- 5/4%

Since our last 2010 round-up, this race has also seen its share of additional endorsements.  A week ago, Quinn accepted the backing of Rep. Phil Hare, who said that the "Illinois Congressional delegation finally has a partner inSpringfield, instead of a punch line."  Watch a video put together by the campaign: 

Today, Quinn is scheduled to receive the endorsement of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. Last week, that same union's state council announced their support for challenger Dan Hynes, who also received the endorsement of the sheet metal workers union.

IL SENATE

In the nation's Capitol last week, reporters spotted Alexi Giannoulias leaving the White House where he told them he'd been huddling with senior adviser David Axelrod to discuss the Democratic Senate primary. At this point, Giannoulias is leading in the polls and in the fundraising race, but doubts remain about his viability among the Democratic establishment in D.C. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported on that dynamic:

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Back in Springfield for the fall veto session, state lawmakers made measured progress yesterday on some legislative priorities we've been tracking for months. Here's a brief rundown of what transpired:

Campaign Finance Reform

The big news was that a House committee approved a revised version of the ethics package vetoed by Gov. Pat Quinn in late August. This bill (SB 1466), introduced by House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), covers much of the same ground as HB 7. It also applies campaign contribution limits -- $5,000 from individuals; $10,000 from corporations, labor organizations and associations; and $50,000 from political action committees or other candidates -- to the election cycle rather than the calendar year, an improvement designed to protect challengers who don't file until close to the election date.

But Madigan did make one major, self-serving change that has reformers up in arms.  He stripped the $90,000 cap from party and legislative leader campaign committees to candidates, allowing himself to continue directing unlimited resources to his preferred candidates.

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The latest from the 2010 electoral landscape ...

IL GOVERNOR

This morning, Rep, Mike Quigley formally endorsed Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, saying that "the best indication of future behavior is past performance."  Watch an excerpt from Quigley's remarks:

The Quinn campaign has also posted some highlights from UNITE-HERE's recent endorsement, which you can watch here.

U.S. SENATE

This morning, Republican Senate candidate and congressman Mark Kirk announced a $1.6 million third quarter fundraising haul:

Five-term GOP Congressman and Navy veteran Mark Kirk, the leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, today reported his campaign set a new single-quarter fundraising record for federal Republican candidates in Illinois raising more than $1.6 million. That brings the campaign’s total receipts for the election to more than $2.9 million with $2.3 million in the bank.

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In the crowded field of Democratic contenders for Cook County board president, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward) has stood out from the pack when it comes to defining and articulating her platform.  For months now, before potential voters and press, she has made her reform agenda quite clear.  Meanwhile, some of the other candidates still haven't provided their full view on the issues.

Most recently, Preckwinkle appeared on ABC 7 this past weekend, where she reiterated three ways she would break from Todd Stroger's administration: begin to roll back the sales tax hike gradually; make permanent the Cook County Health System's independent governing board; and expand jail diversion programs already being administered by the Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office (including the Day Reporting Center, Sheriff's Work Alternative Program, and the Sheriff's Boot Camp). Watch as she talks at length about the last priority and emphasizes that back-end support for the formerly incarcerated should be a key component of any strategy to limit the county's jail population. It's a point she's been making for months:

For more depth, you can check out Preckwinkle's recent sit-down with Jeff Berkowitz, who has also interviewed incumbent Todd Stroger and challengers Terry O'Brien and Dorothy Brown.