Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2005

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Wednesday’s Capitol Fax will be chock full of interesting stuff from today’s candidate filings.

Two teasers. Former Cook County Board of Review Commissioner and former Alderman Robert Shaw filed against Rep. David Miller. And former Rep. and former Chicago Alderman Ray Frias filed against Sen. Tony Munoz a few minutes ago.

This is a primary election open thread.

UPDATE: It appears that Pat Quinn feels comfortable slamming the guv now that the nominating petition deadline has expired.

Politicians and veterans groups say Gov. Rod Blagojevich should reopen a state job the administration concedes was improperly filled so military veterans have a chance at it.

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and others have called on Blagojevich to reverse the hiring of an Illinois Department of Employment Security administrator because it effectively bypassed a law giving veterans preference in state hiring.

“If there’s any question with the way the hiring was done, if there’s a taint, then I think you have to unwind it from a legal perspective and begin again, and do it right,” Quinn said.

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This just in… Quigley out, to back Claypool

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Actually, it came through an hour ago. I missed it until now.

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley announced today that he is dropping out of the race for County Board president and is throwing his support behind fellow Commissioner Forrest Claypool to unseat incumbent John Stroger.

Rather than run for the County Board presidency himself, Quigley said he would be chairman of Claypool’s campaign.

Barring a last-minute filing by somebody else, today’s announcement leaves a one-on-one matchup in the March Democratic primary between Claypool, former head of the Chicago Park District and twice chief of staff to Mayor Richard Daley, and three-term President Stroger.

Quigley announced his decision to remove his name from the board presidency campaign and instead seek a third term as a county commissioner at an afternoon news conference at the Hotel Allegro in downtown Chicago.

17 Comments

Uh-Oh

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Anti-Christ rolls.

Former Illinois House Speaker Lee Daniels’ one-time top aide is cooperating with the federal government in a political corruption investigation, a prosecutor said today.

But more time is necessary to work out an agreement between prosecutors and attorneys for Michael Tristano, Assistant U.S. Attorney Manish Shah said.

“Mr. Tristano is cooperating with the government,” Shah told U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle. But he said no agreement was likely before mid-February.

Attorneys for the two sides already had said they were trying to work out such an agreement but had not specifically said that Tristano was already cooperating with the government.

Tristano, 49, is charged with fraud, theft and extortion conspiracy.

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Question of the day

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Handicap the Republican lieutenant governor’s primary battle.

Rauschenberger, Birkett, Wegman, Kathuria, Cole and this guy, who I’ve never heard of.

38 Comments

Low turnout a sign of things to come?

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Only about a hundred people showed up for Edwin Eisendrath’s announcement yesterday.

In a 10-minute speech, Eisendrath promised to end “the era of scandals and investigations and embarrassment.”

Word of Eisendrath’s candidacy surfaced a month ago, but so far no fellow Democrats have endorsed him publicly.

Still, “I expect there will be plenty of support,” Eisendrath said.

Eisendrath is up against the governor’s $14 million campaign war chest. Eisendrath, who comes from a wealthy family, has said he hopes to raise $3 million to $6 million.

And since our current governor has a reputation of not responding to reporters’ inquiries, this is not a good sign.

Democrat Edwin Eisendrath, a former Chicago alderman who said he planned to challenge Blagojevich in the March primary election, also did not return a phone call for comment.

Everybody eventually learns the same lesson in Springfield: Keep Aaron Chambers happy or else. I was his roommate for a while. Very pleasant, easy-going guy. Best roommate I ever had, in fact. Never want to be on his bad side, however.

And what’s with the “Edwin” stuff? It’s all over his website. Sounds a little too snooty to my ears. Doesn’t anyone ever call him “Ed”?

UPDATE: Pool report from today’s Springfield press conference.

…just awful. He pretty much refused to speak in specificity about anything from his political support to his personal financial commitment to his positions on any number of policy issues. He came off as much, much more arrogant than I pictured him. He didn’t do himself any favors with a press corps that would be more than happy to run with stories unfavorable to Blagojevich.

51 Comments

Good stuff

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Laura Washington’s column today is very good.

‘Every morning, I am not awakened by a phone call from my father telling me what to do today.” — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan

“I just don’t trust the boys. Like anything else, they will promise you anything. … It’s the same damn thing in politics.” — Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka

“I put love and loyalty over my career.” — Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun

These are just a few savory tidbits from an elegant afternoon tea held last Wednesday at the Drake Hotel. The scones and watercress were delicate, but the ladies minced no words.

The tea, sponsored by the Chicago Network, featured eight veteran women pols reflecting on how women make a difference in politics.

Read the whole thing.

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How ’bout them Bears?

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Man, there was some magic on that field last night.

This is a Chicago Bears open thread. Have fun.

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Duckworth interview

Monday, Dec 19, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Things got busy and a little crazy here this weekend and I didn’t have time to transcribe the 6th Congressional District Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth interview. Sorry about that.

I’ll hit a couple of high points and try to get to the rest of it later, but I can’t make any promises at the moment.

Also, I’ll post some of those poll results I had in this morning’s Capitol Fax later today.

On O’Hare expansion: “The decision has already been made,” so she wants to take full advantage of it for her district, including the western access route. Duckworth also noted that she is a pilot and has flown into O’Hare. “I understand noise mitigation,” she said, “Nobody can pull the wool over my eyes.”

Duckworth complained about the lack of funding behind the president’s No Child Left Behind law, and said it was too “one size fits all.” She said there should be some “localized standards” but said “some testing is beneficial to teachers,” because it’s a “diagnostic tool.”

“The commute time is horrible,” on the tollways, she said, and supported more funding for the system, as well as widening some other roads in the district and more support for Metra. “Common sense stuff,” she claimed.

She has a plan for a “high-tech corridor” in the district. Her husband is an IT guy, who, she said, “worked a couple of IT jobs that were transferred to India.” This will likely be the centerpiece of her campaign, so watch for a lot more on this issue.

Train whistles are a big problem in the district, according to people I know there. The whistles blow all night. Duckworth didn’t miss a beat when asked about the issue, even though it was obvious that it was a surprise question. “Safety balanced with quality of life issues,” was how she fleshed it out while we were on the phone. “Maybe more funding for better crossings,” was one suggestion she came up with.

On illegal immigration, she said we “definitely need to strengthen our borders,” but “illegal immigrants are in this country… We need to come up with a way to help them achieve legal status… (including) affordable fines… It’s a balancing act.”

Sorry, again, for not posting the transcript.

UPDATE: I’ll post the Cegelis poll numbers tomorrow.

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