Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2005

This just in… Rauschenberger will reportedly drop down

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I just put out this extra 15 minutes ago to subscribers:

Rumors have swirled all day that Sen. Steve Rauschenberger is dropping down to lieutenant governor and will run as Ron Gidwitz’s running mate.

Both campaigns today issued unusually stern “no comment” responses when asked about the rumor.

Several sources say the rumor is true, however, despite the tight lips at campaign headquarters.

More in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax.

UPDATE: The Tribune now has a story up:

In a major realignment in the Republican race for governor, conservative state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger has decided to quit the contest and instead run for lieutenant governor as the running mate to moderate Chicago businessman Ronald Gidwitz, sources close to both campaigns said today.

The move, to be formally announced on Wednesday, now casts the GOP primary race as a four-person field, with two moderates and two conservatives. Gidwitz hopes to gain some momentum for his candidacy, which has failed to generate any traction with potential primary voters despite significant spending on TV ads and direct mailings. […]

The impetus for the move, the sources said, was a meeting held Friday by state Republican Chairman Andrew McKenna Jr., who urged the contenders to reassess the viability of their campaigns. Sources said McKenna shared results of a GOP-financed poll that showed Gidwitz and Rauschenberger with support in the single digits. […]

One major question is whether the conservatives who supported Rauschenberger will move to support Gidwitz for governor. Gidwitz is a social moderate and supports abortion rights.

More tomorrow.

68 Comments

A $270,000 “gift”

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Chuck Goudie’s latest column has some surprising numbers.

The governorâ€™s expensive tastes must explain why Illinoisâ€™ tollway bosses are giving him such an expensive gift this year. It cost $271,000.

Itâ€™s actually 20 versions of the same gift totaling $271,000.

They let him unwrap the first present before Thanksgiving. Maybe youâ€™ve seen it. It is hanging like a giant ornament at the new Irving Park Toll Plaza on I-294 near Oâ€™Hare International Airport.

â€œOpen Road Tolling â€” Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor.â€

Thatâ€™s what the big sign says over the first automated express lanes to open on the Illinois tollway. […]

In return for the governorâ€™s most generous â€œurging,â€ the tollway bosses (whom he appointed) gave him 20 signs with his name on them.

â€œThe average price of the signs made so far is about $13,550,â€ Damico said.

That means if you use I-Pass twice a day, seven days a week, it would take you about 46 years to pay for just one of Rodâ€™s signs.

Read the whole thing. Pretty hilarious. My favorite line: “Even a new set of tortoise shell hairbrushes couldnâ€™t compete with that kind of loot.”

Ouch.

19 Comments

Gearing up for Con-Con vote

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

UPDATE: I mentioned this at the bottom, but it’s worth noting at the top as well. If you haven’t been to Illinoize yet, you really should go check it out. There are a lot of interesting things happening over there.

Promoted from the Illinoize blog. This was written by Dan Johnson-Weinberger:

Illinois voters will decide November, 2008, whether to convene a constitutional convention to consider improving the Illinois Constitution. This question appears on the state ballot every 20 years.

The first organization to endorse a constitutional convention is the Illinois Association of School Boards, according to this article in the Daily Southtown, reprinted on the Students First Illinois site here. […]

There’s actually a yahoogroup for advocates of a constitutional convention here that anyone can join. […]

Issues that I’d like addressed would include the constitutional mandate for a flate rate income tax, the odd, mandated 5/8 ratio of individual income tax to corporate income tax and perhaps a strengthened protection of speech rights.

And for the tax-cutters, I think we should revisit the issue of whether all public pensions should be constitutionally enshrined where it is unconstitutional to lower any pension payments at all — even those clear mistakes where some people are getting ridiculously generous pensions that the state, county or city can not afford.

Pensions are our biggest fiscal problem, and the constitutional prohibition against fixing any of the worst mistakes in pension increases that the General Assembly has made over the years is a problem. (Yes, I know that pensions are underfunded, but I think it’s fair to say that at least sometime over the last ten years the General Assembly has increased some pension payments unreasonably, and it would be best if some of those unreasonable increases could be reversed).

I’d be interested to see what your thoughts are on a constitutional convention.

UPDATE: I forgot to issue the standard demand to get yourselves on over to the Illinoize blog. Interesting things are happening

24 Comments

Question of the day

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The governor announced yesterday that merit compensation employees would receive a 4 percent pay increase. MC workers haven’t had a raise since Blagojevich took office and in effect took a pay cut when Blagojevich forced them to pick up their share of their pension contributions.

Here’s the letter the governor sent yesterday:

Dear Colleague:

When we came into office in January 2003, we inherited a budget deficit of more than $5 billion. That budget deficit was thirteen times worse than anything our state had ever seen. To help solve the fiscal crisis, we asked for shared sacrifice from interests all across the state. You went above and beyond the call of duty: you worked harder, you began paying the employee share of the pension contribution, and you went without pay raises for several years.

The people of Illinois owe you an enormous debt of gratitude. Your dedication and sacrifice meant we could eliminate the Ryan deficits and balance the budget without raising taxes. It also meant we could put more money in our schools and provide health care to hundreds of thousands more people. Thanks to you, we now have our fiscal house in order, and we are now in a position where we can reward your hard work and dedication.

Effective December 2, 2005, merit compensation employees will receive a 4% increase in pay. The raise applies to all merit compensation employees in every agency and every department under my jurisdiction who have been employed by the State for at least one year. This pay raise will also apply to current merit compensation employees who are new to state government once they have been employed by the state for one year.

I hope this pay raise will help you and your family. I want you to know how grateful I am for your hard work and sacrifice. Your service to the people of Illinois is something all of us can be very proud of.

Have a safe and happy holiday season.

I’ve written in the past that a big problem for the governor is all those unhappy state employees who are tossing incriminating evidence over the transom to eager reporters.

Do you think this will tone down the anger out there or not? And will it make any difference in the upcoming campaign?

70 Comments

Umholtz announces for AG

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The announcement didn’t go as smoothly as most of the stories indicate.

Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stewart Umholtz announced his bid for attorney general Monday morning, and a Chicago banker has signaled his intent to join the race for treasurer.

Umholtz, a Republican, is running on an anti-corruption platform.

“I demand that public officials to uphold their oaths of office and not just use the criminal code as a guide for conduct,” he said. “I believe the citizens of this state demand their public officials use a much higher standard.”

I had to do a radio interview yesterday, so I missed the announcement, but reporters who were there said Umholtz repeated the “perception” line over and over again, particularly as it related to corruption.

Reporters then had a little fun with him, asking Umholtz how he felt about the “perception” of his alma mater’s former nickname, the “Pekin Chinks,” and where he stood on Chief Illiniwek.

“I can tell you that we worked very hard in our community to overcome that perception,” he said about the old Chinks nickname.

He said about the Chief, “In our country, we’ve been an embarassment about how we’ve treated Native Americans in our history.”

Nobody, however, asked Umholtz why he hasn’t filed a campaign disclosure support since June 15, 2000.

7 Comments

No Hall of Fame in his future?

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

He’s definitely not batting with a major league average.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich often jokes he was a C-average student in law school.

Judging by his administration’s track record in court, he may have been lucky to get those grades.

Last week, a federal judge ruled a Blagojevich-backed ban on violent video game sales to minors was unconstitutional. It marked at least the seventh time the governor has lost a high-profile case in court.

In addition to the decision on video games, Blagojevich has lost arguments with state and federal judges over plans to downsize an Air National Guard wing in Springfield, mortgage a state-owned office building in Chicago and allow telephone giant SBC to double certain rates it charges competitors.

He even tangled — and lost — a fight with state judges over legislation that would give the judges a pay raise.

That last sentence is a big reason why he’s done so poorly in state court.

But the guv’s judicial batting average doesn’t just impact him. Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has to defend the governor, which is dropping her overall batting average as well.

Meanwhile, in a not-so related story,

Moving to bolster his standing with women and progressives, Gov. Blagojevich expressed ‘’increasing concerns'’ Monday over U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito because of the judge’s anti-abortion stance.

Blagojevich, an abortion-rights supporter, outlined his anxiety about President Bush’s pick to replace swing-vote Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in a letter to Illinois’ two Democratic U.S. senators, who have shown little enthusiasm for Alito.

‘’If Judge Alito is elevated to the Supreme Court, the chances of Roe vs. Wade being overturned increase considerably,'’ Blagojevich wrote, citing memos Alito authored as a Justice Department lawyer on how to overturn Roe.

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