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I missed these earlier and rather than do yet another update, I figured I’d give the links their own posts.
· Charlie Johnston: “The hot rumor flying around Springfield and Chicago yesterday was that State Sen. James Meeks and Jim Oberweis were going to team up in a third-party run for governor and lite guv.”
· Cal Skinner: “The End of the (Political) World As We Know It?” Read the whole thing. Very good stuff.
· Tom Roeser: The idea, propounded by the minister-pol, that State Senator James Meeks would be attractive to social conservatives and thus could get votes beyond the African American community as the nominee of an “Honesty and Integrity†third party is ridiculous. Meeks is proposing an income tax hike to cover a $1 billion hike in educational spending and supports further gun-control. These don’t go hand-in-hand with social conservatism, a philosophy that needs a perfect four-pro-life, anti-special favoritism for gays, anti-gun control and no new taxes in order to be effective. But if his candidacy really got going, it would depress Blagojevich’s numbers, that’s for sure…
· How many aldermen met with James Meeks yesterday? Tribune says 9. Sun-Times says “about a dozen.” ABC7 says 14.
· NBC5 has posted an online poll asking whether Meeks should run for governor.
· New SurveyUSA numbers. Durbin, 48 percent job approval, 40 percent disapprove. Obama, 70 percent approval, 25 percent disapprove. Trendlines here and here.
· Hiram: Democratic unity in DuPage, part 1 and part 2.
· “An effort to stop radical anti-gay protesters from disrupting soldiers’ funerals is hung up in the Illinois Senate, as proponents wrestle with union concerns that the law could be used to curtail legitimate labor protests by cemetery workers.”
· The Ten Commandments for CTA riders
· 11th Hour disagrees with Leach on seatbelt stuff.
· Primary colors.
UPDATE:
· Huh?
Visitors to Illinois’ capital city last week might have been wondering if they’d taken a wrong turn somewhere in Iowa. Flying atop a state historic building under construction across the street from the busy Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was a University of Iowa Hawkeyes flag.The flag flapped in the spring breeze for at least a couple of days before state officials discovered it and had the banner removed over the weekend. “When we found out about it, we immediately contacted the contractor and had them take the flag down,†said David Blanchette, spokesman for the Illinois Capital Development Board. “Only U.S. and state flags should be flying on top of state buildings, whether under construction or otherwise.
UPDATE 2:The capital bill has been on the ropes since before the governor unveiled it, so this isn’t really a new revelation, but at least he’s on the record.
A key state lawmaker cast more doubt Monday on the future of a long-sought road and school construction program.Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, put the chances that a $3.2 billion building program would win General Assembly approval this spring at “maybe 50 percent.”
That assessment is the latest sign that Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s plan likely will be postponed for another year as lawmakers head toward a mid-April, election year adjournment.
Blagojevich has been unable to convince Republicans to support the package, which must be approved by a three-fifths majority of lawmakers in both the House and Senate.
The program would earmark $2.3 billion for road and bridge construction projects, $425 million for mass transit and $500 million to help local school districts replace crumbling schools and add classrooms.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 10:12 am
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The fact that Durbin’s approval rating among self-described “liberals” is only 53% should be worrisome for him. Still, the margin of error was over nine percent, so both he and his enemies can claim victory.
Comment by Amy Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 10:23 am
I like the Meeks and Obie rumor. Talk about the Odd Couple! HOwever, Meeks needs money to run for governor and Obie has it!
Comment by Marta Elena Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 10:35 am
Does anyone need to look farther than the union blockade of the bill banning protests at serviceman’s funerals to understand how well they define the phrase “out of touch” ?
Comment by Reddbyrd Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 10:50 am
First— Obie can not run for anything thats is NOT a GOP spot.
Second — Rick Winkel for AG??? Nice downstate bipartisan flavor to it, and he worked with Meeks on 750
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 11:19 am
WASHINGTON — Rep. Lane Evans, who has battled Parkinson’s disease for more than a decade, has told fellow Illinois Democrats here that he intends to announce his retirement from Congress.
Comment by Sorry to See him go Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 11:25 am
Maybe Roeser can explain how Bush’s budget busting spending goes with conservatism? If you’re willing to create false pretexts to go to war (killing lots of Arabs) does this give “conservatives” permission to engage in profligate spending?
Or was there never really a small government movement in Right Wing politics? Were they merely PO’d that the Left had figured out how to use goverment to advance the Left’s agenda?
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 11:45 am
>$500 million to help local school districts replace crumbling schools and add classrooms.
Paltry.
At approximately $60 mil to replace a school, that comes out to ‘replacing’ about 8 ‘crumbling’ schools in Illinois. I have twice that within about 10 miles of me.
Rev. Meeks will fix this.
Comment by Joe Sixpack Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 1:28 pm
Thanks Lane, you didn’t know this before the primary?
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 1:29 pm
Hey Wumpus, it could be that Cong. Evans had to wait for a definitive word from his doctors. If they were anything like the medical personnel I endured during my five-day hospital stay a month ago, Evans may have been expecting instead to hear an announcement like “Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard… nyuk, nyuk.”
Comment by Randall Sherman Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 3:08 pm
Anonymous,
You are wrong. Oberweis can run for any position on any party except Governor.
Comment by JI Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 6:35 pm
If the bill is anything like the Trib article, Illinois does not need it. The Blago folks will siphon so much money out of it it will be more like a billion when all is said and done. IDOT is a cespool of corruption and needs to be cleaned to the core starting with Martin, Stout, Ms. Stout, etc. That agency was once a good one but my sources tell me it is a joke now.
Comment by Save a Horse Ride a Harley Tuesday, Mar 28, 06 @ 9:57 pm