Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2005

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Rep. Bill Black was hospitalized yesterday with a blood clot.

Get well soon, Bill!

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Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I received this e-mail today:

I too enjoyed the comments and was amazed by how rude some of them were (I didn’t appreciate those).

Why don’t you appoint an editorial board of sorts to screen comments? Ask for volunteers and impose a set of criteria and let that group (of your readers) make those decisions.

Just a thought.

I like this idea a lot. Any volunteers?

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Wow

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I give the governor a lot of grief, but this is a marketing coup.

Ernie Banks played shortstop and first base for the Chicago Cubs, but he’ll soon be pitching for Governor Rod Blagojevich.

The original “Mister Cub” has agreed to serve as spokesman for the governor’s discount prescription drug program. He will appear in a series of radio, television and print ads urging senior citizens and people with disabilities to join the Illinois R-X Buying Club.

Banks says he is promoting the program because it could help his friends and family members save money on medication.

I just hope the governor’s office finally follows the law this time around and doesn’t include his own name or image in the advertising. Nobody, even a Sox fan like myself, wants to see Mr. Cub involved in a scandal.

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Kathuria is back

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

It looks like Chirinjeev Kathuria, who ran a miserably awful campaign for US Senate last year and sealed his fate when he sued the Tribune for libel, is running for lieutenant governor.

Insert snarky thought here.

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Guv signs judicial bill

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

March 25, 2005:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Thursday that he was unaware of a measure designed to diversify the bench in Winnebago and other GOP-leaning counties, even though it’s been on his desk for more than six weeks.

“Haven’t seen it,” the Chicago Democrat said when asked during a conversation about an unrelated matter why he hadn’t acted.

“Let me track it down. It just hasn’t come to me yet. What does it do?”

The measure would divide Winnebago, Boone and six other counties into subcircuits for the election of some judges. Democrats backed the measure, which apparently is designed to land more Democrats on the bench in counties dominated by Republicans.

I’m told that the governor and his staff were briefed by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s operation long before he told this to the Register-Star. His self-professed ignorance caused a lot of eyebrows to rise in the Statehouse.

April 8, 2005:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved a measure Thursday designed to diversify the bench in Winnebago and other GOP-leaning counties. […]

If Blagojevich had not signed or vetoed the measure by Sunday, it would have automatically become law.

Apparently, he figured it out.

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Clueless in Normal

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Looks like this one is gone.

A campus environmental group is kicking off a petition drive Friday aimed at forcing a Joliet businessman off the Illinois State University board of trustees.

The Student Environmental Action Coalition will begin collecting signatures at 3:30 p.m. in the Spotlight Room at Bone Student Center. The group wants Gov. Rod Blagojevich not to reappoint trustee Jay Bergman because of his oil company’s environmental problems.

Bergman, a 1970 ISU graduate and a trustee since 2003, dismissed the group’s efforts.

“From what I understand, they are so far to the left they make Jane Fonda look like Ronald Reagan,” Bergman said Wednesday. “Their concern is to promote a radical, leftist agenda. I just happen to be their target this semester.”

The group’s push comes in the wake of a Pantagraph report in January detailing how Bergman’s company, Petco Petroleum Corp., is fighting an environmental lawsuit filed by the state attorney general.

Blagojevich’s office put Bergman’s reappointment on hold pending the outcome of that case, which stems from oil drilling-related spills of salt water last year in Fayette County.

Read the whole thing. This guy is truly clueless about public relations.

UPDATE: The college president rebukes his boss:

Illinois State University President Al Bowman issued a rare public rebuke of one of his bosses Friday.

Responding to a report in The Pantagraph, Bowman said ISU Trustee Jay Bergman’s criticism of a campus environmental group goes against his belief in “student civic engagement.”

“Although I have not spoken today with Trustee Bergman, I disagree with some remarks attributed to him in today’s edition of The Pantagraph,” Bowman said in a statement released Friday afternoon.

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Job offer for Doug Scott

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’m glad to hear about this.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday said he offered a job to Doug Scott, his friend and Rockford’s lame-duck mayor.

Blagojevich said he spoke Wednesday with his fellow Democrat and they discussed options for Scott within the governor’s administration.

“He’s got an open mind. Yeah, he’s interested,” Blagojevich said when asked if Scott wanted to work for him. Then, he added: “Whoa, wait a minute. Hold on. You know what? Hold on. You should ask him.

“We had a real nice conversation. He’s a friend, and I told him he’d be a tremendous asset to our administration. I asked him to be willing to think about whether or not that’s something he might be interested in doing and think about some of the areas that he thinks he might be able to make a contribution in. And he promised that he would think about it.”

I hope he gets a real job with real responsibilities. I know he kinda screwed up that mayor’s gig (or, at least, the campaign), but I still think he’d be a great asset for the state. Personally, I’d like to see him as a top advisor, rather than just an agency head.

I’d ask you what you think, but I killed off comments. I miss them already. Bummer.

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