Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2005

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Those who predicted an easy victory for Cong. Jesse Jackson’s south suburban airport plan weren’t paying attention.

As Capitol Fax readers know, Senate President Emil Jones said he would wait to see what Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson thinks. And now this:

Will County leaders Tuesday asked local legislators to support the county’s plan for developing and operating a third Chicago-area airport at Peotone.

County Executive Larry Walsh, a Democrat, and Republican County Board member Jim Moustis met with nine local legislators and a representative of House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego). U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.), whose district covers the airport site, arranged the closed-door, 90-minute meeting in New Lenox.[…]

State Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete), the Senate majority leader, will steer the bill through the legislature, Walsh said, adding he “firmly believes” there will be action on it this spring.

The Will County plan contradicts Jackson’s plan in several ways, and an internal IDOT memo throws some doubt on part of the congressman’s proposal, according to the Daily Southtown.

An Illinois Department of Transportation memo casts doubt on whether the state can transfer land set aside for an airport to a group headed by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

The memo, prepared by IDOT lawyers for Transportation Secretary Tim Martin, suggests the land near Peotone should not be relinquished without the blessing of the General Assembly.

The document also questions the legality of how the Jackson group selected two developers to design and build the airport. Illinois procurement laws do not allow design and construction contracts to be lumped together.

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Breathtaking, Part 2

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Like I said before, it never helps to look ‘em in the eye and not tell the truth.

Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich has dragged his feet on naming members to the Illinois Gaming Board and balked at its plea to hire more investigators, yet his administration has forced the panel to hire a lobbyist that board members say they neither want nor need. […]

Though the Gaming Board is a quasi-independent agency, Blagojevich’s Revenue Department oversees its budget and hiring. In January, before Freveletti formally came on the payroll, [Gaming Board members] Peterlin and Dugan wrote a letter to Revenue Director Brian Hamer to complain they had not been consulted about the possibility she could be hired.

“As the economic shortfalls of the state call for budget tightening, this is a position the Illinois Gaming Board has identified as one that is not required,” the letter read. “We’ve previously informed your office of our position.” […]

As recently as last week, Blagojevich declared his commitment to preserving the independence of the board. “The more independent the better the Gaming Board should be,” Blagojevich told the Tribune.

You see, he was just saying they should be independent. It’s not like he took a solemn pledge or anything.

9 Comments

Groundhog day

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Back in 1975, Mayor Richard J. Daley traveled to Springfield and made an eloquent (no, really) speech to a joint session of the General Assembly on behalf of more funding for schools.

The mayor’s idea passed both chambers, but Governor Dan Walker vetoed it. Daley, fed up, unleashed the dogs and Walker was history.

Is history about to repeat itself?

Mayor Daley chided Gov. Blagojevich on Tuesday for a $53 billion state budget that ignores what the mayor contends should be Illinois’ highest priority: a more equitable way to fund public education. […]

“We should have a discussion on this because, otherwise, it falls upon the local taxpayers and it’s uneven, its unfair,” the mayor said. “If you live in a wealthy area, such as the North Shore, you have all the money you want. But other areas of the state don’t have . . . the financial resources. It’s called unfairness. Until that [tax swap] happens, there’s unevenness in the quality of education in Illinois.”

Governor Blagojevich, you may remember, has vowed to veto any tax swap bill if it makes it to his desk.

If I have time this week, I’m going to dig up that old Daley speech.

6 Comments

Not gonna happen

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The idea of redistricting Illinois’ congressional districts after what the Texas Republicans did a couple of years ago has come up before. Senate President Emil Jones pushed the idea, only to be overruled by House Speaker Michael Madigan, who went through an excruciating post-remap remap debate in the 1970s.

The plan is back, and, according to Roll Call (subscription only), some big muckety mucks in DC are pushing Governor Rod Blagojevich to draw a new map.

Faced with the prospect of Republicans redrawing Congressional lines in a third state since the initial 2001 round of redistricting ended, a faction of national Democrats is urging an aggressive strategy aimed at striking back at Republican House Members in states like New Mexico and Illinois. […]

Democratic Govs. Rod Blagojevich (Ill.) and Bill Richardson (N.M.) as well as high-ranking Louisiana elected officials have been contacted by members of House leadership led by Hoyer since the Georgia legislature began their re-redistricting.

MYDD has more analysis of what this could mean for Illinois:

Democrats believe that a re-opening of the Illinois lines could yield at least two seats; one could be carved out of the suburbs surrounding Chicago, which are currently represented entirely by Republicans including House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

Another gain could come in southern Illinois in areas Phelps represented prior to the redistricting of 2001.

This may become a hot topic on the Internets yet again, but I called Madigan’s spokesman last night and he said the Speaker is still opposed to drawing a new map.

The original 2001 congressional map was drawn after extensive negotiations by the incumbents in both parties. Phelps was the odd man out partly because he wasn’t well-liked, and mostly because nobody wanted to do anything to unduly upset US House Speaker Denny Hastert.

The reasoning goes that there are far more benefits for Illinois with a cooperative Hastert than the Dems could ever get from a couple of extra seats in the US House (with the accompanying vengence by Hastert’s people).

Unless Madigan changes his mind, this idea is still dead.

(Major hat tip to John Deeth for the links.)

13 Comments

“Ten Things I Believe Bloggers Do Wrong”

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Raw360 has some very good advice for all of us who are doing this blog thingy.

1. Only link to what we’ve already read and only say what we’ve already heard. Most bloggers will go through this stage at some point, but ask yourself why they should be reading you instead of InstaPundit if you’re taking all your links from IP and why they should be reading you instead of RightWingNews or Daily Kos when your point of view is virtually identical.

The rest of it is very good and I found myself cringing a couple of times. If you blog, or even if you read a lot of blogs, try to take a minute to look at the entire post.

3 Comments

Buggy

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’ve noticed that Firefox is getting a little bit buggy lately. It’s crashing and freezing up more than it did before. Not sure if it’s Firefox or me. Anyone else having problems?

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