* 1:35 pm - I’m told that Sen. John McCain is making his first trip to Illinois as the presumptive nominee February 20th to attend an event for Jim Oberweis in Aurora. If Democrat Bill Foster’s latest poll is even close to right, then Oberweis may have trouble in the March 8 special general election and will need all the help from McCain that he can get…
The telephone survey of 525 “likely voters,” conducted in the five days after the Feb. 5 dual congressional primaries, showed Republican Oberweis leading 45 percent to Foster’s 43 percent. […]
Of the respondents, 41 percent said [they were] Democrat and 40 percent Republican. Given that result, and the narrow difference between responses for the actual candidates, Bowen described the abbreviated race as a “dead heat” in a district that gave retired Republican Rep. Dennis Hastert 60 percent of the vote in 2006.
* 1:45 pm - Midway privatization plan nears fruition…
The city on Wednesday took what it called a “milestone” step toward cashing out on its investment in Midway Airport, announcing that most of Midway’s airlines back a privatization plan and issuing what’s known as a request for qualifications.
The RFQ asks that firms and investment groups interested in leasing Midway for at least 50 years respond by March 31.
* 1:58 pm - A good friend just pointed out to me that SJ-R readers voted this blog their favorite. Read the full list here. Thanks to all who voted. I didn’t even know the contest was going on.
* 2:18 pm - Tempers appear to be boiling over at the Statehouse among some Latino legislators. Sen. Willie Delgado just angrily confronted Rep. Susana Mendoza on the 1st floor about her support for his primary opponent. Earlier, in a super-classy move, Delgado and Sen. Iris Martinez both yelled at my intern about their coverage.
* The death penalty moratorium is back in the news…
DuPage County State’s Atty. Joseph Birkett joined a Republican lawmaker Tuesday in urging Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resume executions, saying Illinois’ death-penalty system has been reformed.
“We encourage the governor to follow the law,” said Birkett, president of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association. “It has been eight years since the moratorium was imposed.” […]
But Blagojevich, who first ran for governor in 2002 as a death penalty proponent, plans to stand pat. He’ll “keep the moratorium on death penalties in place until it’s clear beyond a doubt that the reforms put in place … are adequate and working and there’s no chance that an innocent person will wrongfully be put to death,” spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said Tuesday.
The Abolition in Illinois Movement released a study that suggests Illinois spent $148 million on death penalty cases since a special fund was set up eight years ago. Members say that figure does not include the cost of incarceration, appeals, some salaries and execution expenses.
“We agree the moratorium is not good for prosecutors,” said Elliot Slosar of the abolition group. “We sympathize with the legal limbo it has placed them in, and, while we concur that the moratorium needs to end, bringing executions back is not the solution. Abolition is.”
* Question: Should the moratorium be lifted? And, if you want it lifted, should the death penalty then be resumed or abolished? Explain, and try to be civil to each other. Thanks.
* Former City Clerk Jim Laski wrote a book while he was in prison. It’s self-published, but Laski has a website where you can buy it. Here’s the teaser…
Absentee ballots changed. Petitions were round-tabled. Who was involved in the “Hired Truck” scandal? How much did Daley know? But most importantly, did someone in City Hall help the Feds get Laski?
I’m not sure why that last point is the most important one, but whatever. I’ll be ordering my copy soon.
* Laski has been making the rounds on a promotional blitz. This is from ABC-7’s story…
In My Fall from Grace: City Hall to Prison Walls, Laski listed other Daley administration officials with whom he brokered Hired Truck deals. They include the mayor’s then-council floor leader Alderman Patrick Huels, former intergovernmental affairs director Victor Reyes, convicted patronage chief Robert Sorich, and convicted deputy water commissioner Donald Tomczak.
Laski insists there is no way the detail-oriented Daley could not have known about so many Hired Truck deals.
“This is a guy who…prides himself on detail. And he doesn’t know certain things? Selective amnesia,” said Laski.
Laski says Daley seemed, in his word, “paranoid” about federal investigations at city hall.
“On more than one occasion he’s asked me, ‘have you heard anything? Did you hear anything… from who?’ And he said, ‘the guys down the street. I mean the guys on Dearborn… or the FBI,” Laski said.
* Apparently, the guy points the finger of shame at a whole lot of people, including his old boss, Bill Lipinski…
The former clerk also implicated former Congressman Bill Lipinski, Laski’s mentor-turned-nemesis, even more deeply in the ghost payrolling that went on during Laski’s days as 23rd Ward alderman.
Laski said he hired a handful of employees at the congressmen’s direction who did remodeling work at Lipinski’s home and congressional office.
* The mayor’s office claims that Laski is just ginning up hype to sell books. No argument there, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The question is how does one believe Laski now? He was a crook, of that there is no doubt. We’ll have to wade through that book to see for ourselves if his allegations hold up, I suppose, or whether he’s just trying to pass blame.
The first question that comes to my mind is if he told the G about these allegations, and what, if anything, the feds did about it.
* The Sun-Times takes a quick look at a strange phenomenon that I briefly mentioned in my column last Friday…
Cook County’s Democratic ward bosses said they were backing Barack Obama for president and Northwest Side Ald. Tom Allen (38th) for state’s attorney.
And yet many of them failed to deliver their wards for either candidate.
Did they cut secret deals to back Hillary Clinton for president and Anita Alvarez for state’s attorney?
Or was it just another “Year of the Woman,” in which women and Hispanics voted their preferences instead of those of their ward bosses?
Cook County’s Democratic ward bosses said they were backing Barack Obama for president and Northwest Side Ald. Tom Allen (38th) for state’s attorney.
“A lot of women wanted to vote for Hillary Clinton,” said mayoral brother John Daley, whose 11th Ward — the ancestral home of the publicly pro-Obama Daley clan — went for Clinton and Alvarez.
Daley, Mike Madigan, Dick Mell and Ed Burke all backed Obama and Allen, but voters in their wards went with Clinton and Alvarez.
* I told subscribers about this development before the primary. The Trib has its own piece today, but I think they missed some important perspectives…
In the four weeks before the Feb. 5 primary election, two tobacco giants contributed $83,000 to 30 lawmakers. That amount sets a monthly pace that eclipses the industry’s largesse in this state for at least a decade, according to a Tribune review of campaign finance records. About threequarters of that money went to House Democrats. […]
Legislation that could get a hearing as early as Wednesday would carve out exemptions to allow indoor smoking at many bars, riverboat casinos, strip clubs and American Legion halls. Though some House members have been pushing for exemptions to the smoking ban since May, those bills were bottled up until Feb. 6-the day after the primary election-when the powerful-but-obscure House Rules Committee freed up the proposals for consideration.
Rep. Randy Ramey Jr. (RCarol Stream) said he didn’t think his bill, which would lift the smoking ban for thousands of private clubs and businesses, “would see the light of day” considering the anti-smoking fervor that has gripped the Statehouse.
Ramey said it is possible the bill’s fate was helped by campaign contributions Reynolds American made to three committee members just a week before the vote.
The Trib then goes on to list some Rules Committee members who voted to move the bill to a standing committee and who also received campaign contributions from Big Tobacco. The committee moved over a hundred bills out on a single vote, so there’s a suspicion in the article that the tobacco bill was hidden away.
* But here’s what the Tribune doesn’t fully explain. The exemption bill was sent to the House Environmental Health Committee, which is not exactly a pro-smoking bastion. The Trib does note that the committee rejected a casino exemption proposal last year. But it doesn’t explain that only one member on that committee, Rep. Al Riley, received any tobacco cash this cycle. You can bet that this casino exemption proposal is dead on arrival in that committee. The Rules Committee vote, in other words, is most likely no big deal.
* At the end of the story, the Trib talks about the cigarette tax hike that seems much more likely to be brought up this spring. That, I think, is the more important story here, plus the fact that so many House members with serious primary opponents were given contributions by Reynolds American. The tax hike passed the Senate, and Speaker Madigan has said he favors a cigarette tax increase to expand health care. Those contributions were more likely about that vote than the smoking ban exemption.
A week before Gov. Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to lay out his budget plans for the new year, the official who controls the state checkbook is warning of big financial problems.
State Comptroller Dan Hynes released a report Monday saying the state is carrying a large deficit and could face more trouble with an economic recession perhaps on its way.
State Comptroller Dan Hynes says a $750 million hole in this year’s budget needs to be filled even as Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration prepares a budget for next year that could have a significant deficit. Hynes said the state is entering an “extraordinarily challenging period” because it failed to prepare for an economic downturn as it struggles to pay a backlog of bills.
“We still have a serious budget deficit,” Hynes told the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board on Monday.
“I don’t think there’s any more latitude in terms of pushing [Medicaid] bills off,” Hynes told the Sun-Times’ editorial board. “Providers are starting to say ‘We’ve had enough.’ They’re starting to walk away.”
* The governor claims there’s a $750 million revenue shortfall. That would mean almost half of the projected $1.6 billion in “growth” has vanished since the state budget was written. And that doesn’t include the $200 million or so in lost revenue for next fiscal year from under-performing state investments, or the rapidly shrinking cash from casinos.
To fill the current hole, the governor’s aides said they hoped lawmakers would consider eliminating a series of tax breaks for corporations and sweep money from a variety of special funds with balances that have been tapped in prior years under Blagojevich.
* But, he provided no specifics and those ideas have been rejected in the past. Which bring us to the usual buck-passing…
[Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff] said lawmakers approved a budget last year based on “inflated” predictions of how much money the state would take in. If the state’s coming up short, Ottenhoff says, lawmakers this year will have to act to find that money.
* Here are some additional budget stories to ponder…
* Fiscal policies need to change to make Illinois more attractive to businesses
* Two former legislators died this week, Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis and Sen. Andy McGann.
* You can find the complete wake and funeral arrangements for Geo here. I’ve already posted several stories about her here. McGann’s obit and arrangements are here.
* By popular demand, I’m opening up comments to those who would like to reminisce about these two legislators, both of them unique in their own special way.
* Flood victims say lack of assistance ‘not fair’…
“The City of Pontiac, the City of Watseka and the County of Iroquois are in a world of hurt,” Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy said. “We are not asking for the assistance to pay for this on a municipal level, we are looking for individual assistance to help us get back on our feet.”
McCoy said that the numbers of affected homes in reports done by FEMA and IEMA were inaccurate and the denial was “due to grossly underreported numbers.”
“We are all very angry,” McCoy told The Associated Press Monday evening. “They simply didn’t see all the damage.”
McCoy also claimed FEMA overlooked a state that tends to be politically Democratic. President Bush, who oversees FEMA, is a Republican.
Sources tell Chicago Public Radio Stroger’s new proposal includes a smaller sales tax hike, coupled with some spending cuts. He says he’ll meet all 17 commissioners this week - in a bid to get a majority on board.
He expressed support for legislation pending on Capitol Hill that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to about 30% below 2005 levels. But, at minimum, using market-based approaches and more nuclear power, electricity prices would rise three cents to five cents per kilowatt hour to meet that goal, predicts the CEO of Chicago-based Exelon, one of the nation’s largest electric utility holding companies.
* ‘This program saves lives’ Senate reviews $12.5 million for CeaseFire
* Oberweis, Foster duel over Iraq in race to succeed Hastert…
In the 30-second spot scheduled to begin airing today on broadcast channels in the Chicago market, Oberweis is seen clicking off a television carrying the ad of foe Bill Foster, 52 of Geneva.
Oberweis, 61, of Sugar Grove, then turns to the camera and declares, “Bill Foster wants to cut off funding for our troops and raise the white flag. That’s extreme! No matter what you think of the war, we all agree we need to support our troops. General Patreaus’ strategy is working and we’ve already begun a gradual withdrawal.”
* Tom Roeser: Republicans Who Favored Lauzen Now Reconsidering How Lucky They were That Oberweis Won…
…the word seems to be getting around that Lauzen never called Oberweis to congratulate him and that he may continue to be a pouter and sore loser. If so, it would be a tragedy because while the district is heavily Republican all the GOP needs is fratricidal bickering to continue in the race which could open it up for a Democratic upset. What Lauzen out to do is grow up and congratulate the winner. He has his state senate seat and if he wants to pursue a future in the GOP he ought to be a good loser.
* Obama anti-lobbyist stand isn’t without blurry edges
* Is the Future for the Illinois GOP as Bleak as Pundits say?
For Illinois Republicans this is the midst of a great depression. The news that suburban voters, even in the GOP heartland of DuPage County, pulled more Democrat than Republican ballots in the primary is an ominous foreshadowing of a very bleak November.
* As you may know, a water pipe burst at the Statehouse Sunday night and it will slightly disrupt things this week…
The [repair] work will not be finished in time for today’s return of the General Assembly. Some Democratic senators with offices on the first floor and mezzanine will be moved to staff offices and conference rooms for the two days they are scheduled to be in Springfield this week, said Cindy Davidsmeyer, spokeswoman for Senate Democrats.
“I think the disruption will be minimal,” she said.
The north entrance to the Capitol will remain closed at least part of today. Officials want to ensure plaster ceilings at the north entrance were not damaged by the water.
*** UPDATE *** After noting that the burst pipe was caused by an open door in the governor’s suite leading to a balcony, Aaron Chambers notes…
The governor’s staffers use the balcony to smoke. I once saw the governor’s buddies out there drinking beer at the end of session. Must be nice to have a balcony. Maybe in the future, they’ll securely close the door after they use it.
Comments
I finally made a decision on replacing my Treo. Your suggestions way back when gave me plenty to consider and were extremely helpful. I ended up going with the I-Phone.
It has its downsides (no copy and paste?), but overall, I’m pleased, and am keeping my fingers crossed that new functions will be added soon.
* I knew about this story, so I’m happy to see the Daily Herald used it in its piece on Geo’s life…
It was the fifth inning and a youthful Richard M. Daley was on the mound for the Illinois Senate.
Into the batter’s box stepped freshman Republican House member Adeline Geo-Karis. She looped a Daley offering into short left field, just beyond the fielders’ reach, and stood atop first base.
It was early June 1973, and with that swing, Geo-Karis is believed to have become the first woman to get a hit in the annual Illinois House-Senate charity softball game.
While perhaps not her greatest civic achievement, it may very well sum up Geo-Karis’ tenure in public life, a span of more than three decades during which she frequently found herself one of the few women in the room, but always ready to handle whatever the boys could dish out.
Geo-Karis died Sunday at the age of 89.
* You can read the original UPI story that the above recollection is based upon by clicking here.
A staunch Republican, Geo-Karis met such notables as former presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and helped George H.W. Bush campaign in Lake County. But she was also comfortable working with those on both sides of the aisle politically and socially.
“On a personal basis we were friends. I knew her before she was elected (to the State Legislature),” said State Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan. “I think one of her major accomplishments is what every legislator should take to heart - constituent services. When someone called her with a problem, she tried to do as much as she possible could to solve it for them.”
Geo-Karis retired after a 28-year career in the Senate, preceded by six years in the House, during the contentious Republican primary in 2006, which she lost to Warren Township Supervisor Suzanne Simpson. Geo-Karis then supported Democratic candidate Michael Bond of Vernon Hills, who beat Simpson in a close general election race to win the Senate seat.
Geo-Karis won her last election Feb. 5 when she was reelected to her position as a precinct committeeman.
Born in Tegeas, Greece on March 29, 1918, Geo-Karis immigrated to the United States in 1922. She was a graduate of Northwestern University and DePaul University Law School. She served as Lt. Commander with the U.S. Naval Reserves. Geo-Karis, who was also a past mayor of Zion and served as village attorney for Vernon Hills for many years, was a member of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Waukegan. She is survived by extended family and friends.
Geo was like a great aunt to me. I once owned a big, old, yellow Cadillac, and Geo loved it and I often gave her rides after session. For whatever reason, she called me “Miller.” Once, she caught herself and said, “I don’t know why I don’t call you ‘Rich,’ but I’ve gotten so used to calling you ‘Miller’ that I think I’ll just keep doing it.” I didn’t care. She was a woman who always spoke her mind and I truly loved her for it.
Funeral services for Geo-Karis, who was preceded in death by two brothers and a sister, are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in Zion at Illinois State Beach Park Conference Center and Resort in the Adeline J. Geo-Karis State Park, which was named after her two years ago. A wake is scheduled at the same location from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday.
So much news has happened since I shut everything down Thursday that I thought I’d catch you up today in a series of posts on a broad variety of topics. Comments are still off until Wednesday, when the General Assembly comes back into session.
Sources said Thomas helped investigators build a record of repeat visits to the old offices of Rezko and former business partner Daniel Mahru’s Rezmar Corp., at 853 N. Elston, by Blagojevich and Obama during 2004 and 2005.
In one case, sources said, Thomas told authorities he saw a Rezmar employee pass an envelope with a visible wad of bills to an unidentified Blagojevich aide.
“Individuals who helped select and process candidates for boards and commissions will testify that Rezko had weekly meetings with the head of patronage for the [Blagojevich] administration, where Rezko provided names of individuals he wanted appointed to certain boards,” prosecutors wrote in a 31-page document filed late Wednesday.
* Blagojevich fights order to release federal subpoenas…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration says it has new, secret evidence to warrant keeping the public from seeing federal subpoenas it has received.
Lawyers for the Democrat filed court papers Feb. 8 asking a judge to reverse his ruling of a month ago to release subpoenas from the U.S. attorney. “Newly discovered evidence” makes it important to keep the documents secret, they said.
But they also requested to file the documents in secrecy and no information about them was included in the filing.
Laski claims Daley invited him into his private City Hall conference room and asked if he’d heard “from anybody down the street.” — Hizzoner’s reference to the feds — during a probe of alleged time-sheet fraud at City Hall. […]
When Laski said, “No!” Daley offered to give him some advice.
Quoth Laski: “He spoke quietly as if we were being bugged. He told me, in a very serious tone of voice, that, in order to survive in this business, I had to have a buffer.
* Blagojevich fundraiser got loan from billionaire tied to Rezko; more here
The loan came from General Mediterranean Holdings, a company based in Luxembourg and headed by Nadhmi Auchi, a London-based Iraqi who is currently appealing a fraud conviction in France.
* Federal prosecutors counter defense bid to bar evidence in Tony Rezko fraud trial
* GOP hopefuls drop finance aide amid investigation…
The Republican congressional campaigns of Aaron Schock and Tim Baldermann parted ways with their shared campaign treasurer after news reports suggested he could be involved in an accounting scandal.
Christopher Ward served as campaign treasurer for Schock and Baldermann and previously had worked for the national party. Several media reports out of Washington, D.C., suggest Ward could be part of an investigation involving questionable accounting during his time with the Republican National Campaign Committee.
* How did Hillary win key city wards? Bosses’ pledges for Obama fall short: Clinton, Alvarez ‘were just very popular with Latinos and women’…
Does that mean the ward bosses have lost their power to carry their wards?
Did they cut secret deals to back Hillary Clinton for president and Anita Alvarez for state’s attorney?
Or was it just another “Year of the Woman,” in which women and Hispanics voted their preferences instead of those of their ward bosses?
There could be some loud fireworks the next time Illinois Senate Democrats meet behind closed doors.
Two of those Democrats, Martin Sandoval and Tony Munoz, contributed a combined $45,000 to Rep. Rich Bradley’s losing Democratic primary campaign against Sen. Iris Martinez. That is a big political no-no.
…the Frank Giustra-Kazakhstan-Uranium affair, blown open by The New York Times last week, serves as a reminder that the relationship between the Clintons and money has not always been lily-white.
Initially, Williams was brought in to run the campaign even though Solis Doyle was still there. The result was confusion for the staff, who weren’t sure who was really in charge, the source said.
But even more troublesome was the campaign’s money crunch. Over the last seven years, Clinton had raised $175 million for her re-election and her presidential campaign. But Solis Doyle didn’t tell Clinton that there was next to no cash on hand until after the New Hampshire primary.
“We were lying about money,” the source said. “The cash on hand was nothing.”
Clinton didn’t tell Solis Doyle she was lending money to keep the campaign afloat. Solis Doyle found out third-hand. And when she asked Clinton about it, the senator told her she couldn’t understand how the campaign had gotten to such a point, the source said.
Barb Hicks doesn’t know how many more services Madonna House can cut.
But dire state financial conditions have forced Hicks, the executive and business director of the Quincy shelter, to think about turning away even more people in need.
* Gov. asking lawmakers to end tax breaks for businesses…
On Friday, his budget office could not provide a detailed list of exactly what the governor is seeking, drawing the ire of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who has been Blagojevich’s chief legislative nemesis.
“That level of work would be a big burden for him,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said. “It’d probably be too much to ask.”
The Illinois Gaming Board reported that casinos in the state experienced a 17 percent revenue decrease in January compared with January last year. The majority of casinos also reported an almost 6 percent decrease in admissions.
Officials are blaming the smoking ban, which went into effect Jan. 1, for the decline. Illinois, along with 18 other states, made it illegal to smoke in nearly every public place and requires smokers to step at least 15 feet away from a building entrance, ventilation intake or an open window before lighting up.
The head of the gaming board said that because people have to go outside to take smoke breaks, that means less time spent gambling.
* Words no Illinois lawmaker will say: “Tax hike.”
