Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2005

Friday, Apr 29, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

WBBM NewsRadio has been all over the gas price story, even adding a brief feature that encourages motorists to call in and report which stations have the lowest prices.

So, this looks almost like a tie-in story to their promotional feature.

Will the Illinois legislature pull through with relief from high gas prices? […]

Lawmakers in the Illinois House and Senate are eyeing ways to try to give motorists relief from high gas prices.

State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin) says heâ€™s eying either a gas sales tax holiday, capping the tax, or rolling the tax back, and working one of these ideas into the Fiscal Year 2006 budget.

Both Rauschenberger and State Rep. David Reis (RICE) (R-Willow Hill) say the state is making more money off the gasoline sales tax than originally budgeted because prices are higher than expected. […]

State Rep. Mike Boland (D-East Moline) says heâ€™d make a push for a gas sales tax holiday, but he doesnâ€™t think the governor would support it.

If the state eliminated the tax now it would cost $45 million a month. That reason alone is why a spokeswoman for the governorâ€™s office says it wonâ€™t happen this legislative session.

32 Comments

Question of the day

Friday, Apr 29, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Very busy day ahead of me today. Need to change my drivers license, have phone and cable installed in the new house, check my storage locker, pick up the moving truck and drive north. So, I doubt I’ll be posting anything.

I’ve been getting this question a lot this week, so I’ll post it here. Should I require that people choose a nom de plume when they post comments to eliminate all of the posts from “anonymous”? People could still keep their true identities secret, but requiring user names would allow us to more easily follow a conversation thread.

I’d especially like to hear from the people who post as “anonynmous.”

UPDATE: SBC showed up early, but I’m still waiting on the cable guy. So, I killed a little time by reading your comments on this post.

The debate has already produced one result. I’ve added timestamps to the comments, so people can now refer to, for instance, “anonymous 8:30am.” The change should make it easier to follow the thread. I’m still undecided about requiring user names, however.

UPDATE 2: I’ve decided to continue to allow anonymous posting for now. But I strongly encourage everyone to pick a screen name. It’s no big deal and very easy to do.

64 Comments

Maybe not

Thursday, Apr 28, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

All the hooplah about the Third Chicago Airport progress may be premature.

State Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson and Will County Executive Larry Walsh have both told 1340 WJOL News that what was widely reported in media outlets earlier this week about Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior perhaps winning his Peotone airport battle with Will County is extremely misleading. This was after the Illinois Departmnet of Transportation forwarded a tenative plan to the Federal Aviation Administration. […]

Both say that all that was agreed upon was the “technical plan,” concerning the length of a single runway and the number of gates.

Walsh, in fact, says that most of the ideas agreed upon actually came from the IDOT, rather than Congressman Jackson. Halvorson and Walsh both say that the major issue still up for grabs is “Who will have control of the Peotone Airport if it is ever built?”

Halvorson says she has received word from Governor Blagojevich and State Senate President Emil Jones that this “Governance Issue” will not be solved until Halvorson herself is happy with what she sees. And she says, Will County will have control.

There’s more fighting on the way.

7 Comments

Mixed signals?

Thursday, Apr 28, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Two different media takes on CMS’s intentions.

From the AP:

The Blagojevich administration is still doing business with a politically connected firm that billed the state for parties, candy and other improper expenses.

Executives at the Illinois Department of Central Management Services say they are “outraged” that the state paid for those items. But they have not cut ties with the company that submitted them, Illinois Property Asset Management.

C-M-S official Paul Campbell says the company has helped the state save money, so firing it without further investigation would be a mistake.

Copley’s version:

A politically connected company criticized in a state audit for seeking payment for questionable expenses could lose its $25 million contract, a Department of Central Management Services official said Wednesday. […]

CMS is reviewing the expenses questioned by Holland and also is trying to determine why CMS employees monitoring the IPAM contract didn’t stop the payments, CMS general counsel Ed Wynn said.

Depending on the outcome of that review, - expected to be completed in a few weeks - CMS could decide to cancel the $29 million contract, Wynn said.

I think the two men basically said the same thing. But their tone must have been different for the two reporters to come away with such different perspectives.

16 Comments

It’s all coming back to me now

Thursday, Apr 28, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Many years ago, a Quad Cities newspaper used a photo of me in a story about a local murderer who was captured in Texas. So, I guess I can relate a little to this story:

Two men claim photographs in the Chicago Tribune misidentified them as high-ranking mobsters, prompting one of the men Wednesday to sue the newspaper.

Retired businessman Frank Calabrese is suing the Tribune Co. for more than $1 million in damages, claiming defamation.

His picture ran Tuesday as part of a package about the indictment of several mobsters — including one named Frank Calabrese Sr. — on charges of plotting at least 18 murders. […]

Meanwhile, the Tribune also is investigating the accuracy of a photograph that ran in Wednesday’s editions, Wetli said.

That photograph, which the newspaper said in another story was taken by a college student, identified a man as Joseph “The Clown” Lombardo, a 76-year-old reputed mob boss who is on the lam after being indicted Monday along with Frank Calabrese Sr.

But a man identified as Stanley Swieton told Chicago reporters he was the person in the picture.

I didn’t sue when this happened to me, but I didn’t tell the editors my intentions right away and they were more than a little freaked out when I mentioned that my mother lived in their circulation area. Actually, Mom thought the whole thing was hilarious, and one of the paper’s columnists ended up writing a great little story about her, so it all worked out OK as far as I was concerned.

6 Comments

Question of the day

Thursday, Apr 28, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

As I noted in today’s Capitol Fax, the biennial “Taste of Chicago in Springfield” is next week and Mayor Daley will be in town for the festivities.

What do you think of the job that Daley has done so far? Is he one of the nation’s greatest mayors, as Time Magazine claimed, or is he something else? Be specific.

(PS: I’m closing on my house today, and will be busy as heck with many related tasks, plus dealing with the session, so blogging may be light after mid-morning. Comment Posse, please keep a close eye on things.)

21 Comments

Redfield on the audit

Thursday, Apr 28, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Kent Redfield’s take on the CMS audit fallout.

An auditor general’s report that is critical of financial mismanagement in Illinois government could lead to stronger campaign finance laws for the state, according to political studies professor Kent Redfield. […]

“The fallout is going to be primarily political. It is going to make it much more difficult for the governor to talk about reform and renewal and a new way to do business,” said Redfield, associate director of the Illinois Legislative Studies Center at the University of Illinois in Springfield. […]

“… (E)mbarrassment and scandal have helped us get lots of our campaign finance reforms in Illinois,” Redfield said.

If they’re buzzing about an auditor general’s report in Quincy, this thing is getting noticed a lot more than the governor’s office may have expected. Then again, the Herald-Whig is an excellent small-town paper that takes its politics seriously.

14 Comments

The gang that couldn’t shoot straight

Thursday, Apr 28, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Blagojevich administration is caught in another prevarication.

State prison officials backed away from claims that they need $18 million in emergency funds because of a costly union contract Wednesday as lawmakers grilled them about the budget.

Corrections Department officials and the governor’s budget office instead acknowledged they needed the extra money because they miscalculated the number of employees who would be leaving through attrition. […]

Corrections officials first blamed the need for emergency funds on a renegotiated contract with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. The department said it increased costs by $35 million.

AFSCME disputed that characterization of the contract, saying it gave employees a raise but also required them to pay more into the state pension system. Executive Director Henry Bayer called the department’s budget explanation a “fantasy.”

At a time when the administration desperately needs to be seen as credible so it can back up its claims that it was shafted in the CMS audit, the geniuses pull something like this. Not a good thing.

15 Comments

Moron

Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

When the facts contradict the legend, print the legend.

This Sports Illustrated writer/blogger is absolutely clueless.

The White Sox were “number 1″ on his recent list of the “Top five worst teams to root for.”

Though they haven’t won the World Series since 1917, the Sox can’t win for losing. The Cubs, who have been title-less almost as long, are lovable, the Sox are overlooked. The Cubs have Wrigley, the Sox have a character-less barn. The Cubs had Harry Caray, the Sox have Ken Harrelson.

This journalistic cretin is living in the past. The Cubs aren’t “lovable.” They’ve so jumped the shark. You can only play people for chumps for so long, and last year was the worst yet. Good idea forcing Steve Stone out just because he told the truth about what a bunch of pathetic losers that team was last year.

The team’s fan base is mostly comprised of suburban tourists who go to the stadium for the “experience.” The truth is, Wrigley Field is a crumbling dump that ought to be bulldozed into Lake Michigan before somebody gets hurt. Sox Park is spacious and clean, and the ownership has done a good job lately of remodeling what was admittedly a drab stadium (apparently, SI has no travel budget).

And Harry Caray is dead. I liked him, too, but he’s gone to that great press box in the sky. What do they have now? A couple of colorless nobodies who can’t speak their minds because of what happened to their predecessors last year (although the team’s radio play-by-play guy is the best in the business). Hawk has his problems, sure, but he’s a living legend, not a dead one.

Has this sports writer actually watched a White Sox game this year? They are, right now, one of the most exciting teams in baseball.

What an idiot.

(PS: I don’t really hate the Cubs or Wrigley that much. “Most hyperbole inserted for effect.” I do, however, absolutely despise hack writers who refuse to notice when the world changes.)

16 Comments

Looking ahead

Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Now that the governor and his administration have been thoroughly raked over the coals regarding the disastrous CMS audit, I wonder how long it will be before editorial writers demand that the Senate not confirm Paul Campbell, the governor’s choice to become the new CMS director.

It’ll definitely be a heckuva floor fight. But this could be decided before the nomination even reaches the floor.

Does the governor really want this confirmantion fight? Does he want the committee hearings? The rancorous floor debate?

I kinda doubt that the governor relishes subjecting himself to this very public meatgrinder. Campbell could wind up telling the guv he wants to, “Spend more time with my family.”