Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2006

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Tribune runs its last poll of the season.

Among the Democrats, Blagojevich has the support of 67 percent of voters who were polled compared with 18 percent for challenger Edwin Eisendrath, a former Chicago alderman. Another 14 percent are undecided, and 2 percent say they would vote for someone else. Since February’s poll, Blagojevich’s standing gained 5 percentage points while Eisendrath’s remained the same. […]

The poll found 36 percent of voters — who are likely to cast a Republican ballot supporting — Topinka. Oberweis was favored by 21 percent while 15 percent backed Bill Brady, a state senator from Bloomington. Another 9 percent voted for Chicago businessman Ron Gidwitz, 1 percent for Internet journalist Andy Martin and 18 percent were still undecided. […]

Separately, a different poll of 475 registered Cook County voters likely to vote in the Democratic primary has John Stroger, a 12-year incumbent, with a 10 percentage-point lead over challenger Forrest Claypool in a contest for the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board President. The poll, which has an error margin of 5 percentage points, shows Stroger with 47 percent. Tony Peraica, the GOP candidate for board president, is unchallenged.

Check out those Gidwitz numbers. I’ll have more on that in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax.

UPDATE: Comments are now closed on this post. See above for poll stories.

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Jones fundraiser will be held tonight

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’ve had more than a few requests to find out if Senate President Emil Jones’ big Springfield fundraiser tonight will still be held - considering the tornado damage to the town. The answer is yes. That part of town was spared, from what I understand.

UPDATE: Should’ve pointed this out before, but session will continue as scheduled.

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Disaster area declared

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

From a press release:

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today declared seven Illinois counties state disaster areas following a round of storms that moved quickly through the area this weekend, causing severe damage and approximately two dozen minor injuries. While staff with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) is still assessing the damage, no fatalities have been reported as of mid-day Monday, March 13, 2006.

UPDATE:Wow:

Statement as of 12:32 PM EST on March 13, 2006

record event report
National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL
1130 am Mon Mar 13 2006

… Record peak wind gust set at Moline…

A record peak wind gust of 107 mph was set at 7:48 PM Sunday March
12th at the Quad City Airport in Moline Illinois.

The previous peak wind gust was 81 mph set on August 21 1987.

(Via Drudge and a hat tip to a friend))

UPDATE: Promoted from comments:

When the new Emergency Ops Center was opened earlier this year, reporters asked the Governor, since he spent all his time in Chicago, how much time would he ever spend at the EOC in Springfield. Now we know: he didnâ€™t get down there until Noon, and he didnâ€™t fly direct to the helipad they built for him, but to the airport first.

The press room at the EOC apparently was not photogenic enough for him to make the formal disaster declaration, so he led the press on a 1-hour side trip only so he could pose in front of wrecked buildings to make the announcement there.

After his 20-some-hour performance on the air, harking back to David Sarnoff on top of the department store, Jim Leach could run for governor and win Sangamon county easy. He really held this town together last night, and the Midwest Radio Group is to be commended for their great team coverage all thru the night and into the daylight. While the big corporate Clear Channel stations ran on autopilot most of the night, Leach and crew were the vital central link for citizens, and some of the credit for there being no fatalities should go to them for their ample and detailed warning bulletins. Bravo, you guys.

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Question of the afternoon

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Sorry this was delayed today. Still trying to catch up after last night.

What do you think should be the over/under on Edwin Eisendrath’s primary results? Pick the over/under level and say which side you’re betting on.

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Afternoon shorts

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· David Phelps on Rod Blagojevich: “When he is re-elected, there will be a mass exodus of Republicans from the state payroll.”

Â· You can find the 100-plus page jury instructions for the George Ryan trial here. Be warned, this is a large pdf file. The last 8 pages or so is the jury voting checkoff list.

Â· Southside Irish Parade spectators cheer as Dan Lipinski’s parade float burns. Very funny little tidbit.

Â· Chuck Goudie writes about Rick Garcia and the hate commission. Meanwhile, Askia Muhammad defends Farrakhan and Sister Claudette Marie Muhammad: “Farrakhan does not hate Jewish people. He does not teach hatred of Jews.”

Â· Yard sign wars continue in Proviso Township.

Â· ArchPundit has more on that Weller office quote about the African-American vote.

Â· Good column about Cicero politics by Ray Hanania.

Â· Belleville News-Democrat whacks Blagojevich again.

Â· Klau hires Parrillo. Great move.

Â· I missed the parade this year, and after reading this story I’m really bummed about my mistake.

11 Comments

Gun shop, convicted felon got loans from state treasurer candidate’s bank

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Greg Hinz has a new column up about Giannoulias. It’s not pretty stuff.

On his campaign Web site, Illinois treasurer hopeful Alexi Giannoulias describes himself as “a banker â€” a community banker, to be more precise.” It’s an indication that Mr. Giannoulias’ job as vice-president and chief loan officer at Chicago’s Broadway Bank is his main credential in running to become one of the state’s two elected fiscal officers.

I understand why Mr. Giannoulias plays up the credential. “Community” implies little guys struggling to buy three-flats in Edgewater and start up businesses in Uptown â€” something Mr. Giannoulias says indeed has been accomplished by himself and his father, who founded Broadway Bank in the late 1970s. “Banker” suggests financial savvy, a point the Web site underlines in reporting that Crain’s “has ranked Broadway Bank as the No. 1 bank in Illinois for the past four years based on return on assets.”

Indeed, we did. Good things surely do happen at Mr. Giannoulias’ bank. But there are a few other things voters might want to know before putting a 29-year-old Democrat who never has held government office in charge of investing $7 billion of your money each year.

Like how Broadway Bank financed property used for a gun store so notorious that it was sued by Mayor Richard M. Daley and finally shut down by federal authorities. Or how the bank lent money to a crime figure convicted of running a national prostitution ring to buy land in Florida. Not to mention the Texas lawsuit that contends Mr. Giannoulias and the bank “extorted” a nearly $100,000 loan fee. And the $5,000 campaign donation Mr. Giannoulias returned after revelations that the donor bought a fleet of gambling boats from a group including indicted Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Apparently “community” is an expansive term.

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Shelden walks

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden makes good on his threat to walk out of Jim Oberweis’ Lincoln Day speech.

Well, I did walk out, and a small number of people followed. Iâ€™m glad I did. One Oberweis supporter suggested that I won votes for Oberweis, and perhaps I did. I think that what I said in the last few days hopefully swayed some people and made people realize that Jim Oberweis is not the face we want to put on the Republican Party in Illinois.

What was most fascinating was the Oberweis-Shelden debate prior to the dinner starting. One of his supporters, and a good friend of mine, brought Oberweis over to me, Iâ€™m guessing in an attempt to keep me from taking this stand. Instead what I got was confirmation of what I so dislike about Mr. Oberweis.

And Oberweis made an incredibly tasteless remark over the weekend.

Taking questions from locals in Downstate Godfrey, Oberweis was asked about federal government requirements placed on farmers to brand their animals. Oberweis reminded them about his tough stance against illegal immigration.

“If we as a government can track all of our animals, why can’t we track our terrorists? Why can’t we track illegal aliens?” he asked.

The audience of about 150 people laughed and clapped.

Later, Oberweis said he was being facetious in making his comments about tracking illegal immigrants. “It was a joke. I was kidding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture thing, that is not something that the governor of Illinois is going to be involved with in any way,” he said. “It was a joke, for gosh sakes.”

UPDATE: The News-Gazette blog has a list of those who walked out on Oberweis: County Clerk Mark Shelden, Circuit Clerk Linda Frank, County Board member Deb Feinen and Savoy Village Board member Joahn Dykstra

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New morning

Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Power’s back on, cable modem is working and a quick check doesn’t turn up much storm damage. Hope all my subscribers and blog readers made it through OK.

How did you come out of it?

UPDATE: From a press release:

Last night Springfield and other communities throughout Central Illinois and the Metro East suffered damage from severe storms and tornadoes. The State Emergency Operation Center in Springfield was activated last night. Staff has been on duty overnight and will continue coordinating with local officials today.

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich this morning has instructed State agencies to coordinate with the City of Springfield and provide to help restore power and services.

â€œResidents in Central Illinois suffered a devastating storm last night. While local officials and our State emergency teams are still assessing the extent of the damage, I want to assure the people of Springfield that we will commit whatever State assistance is needed to help get their city up and running again,â€ said the Governor.

Because of damage and loss of power at several State office buildings in Springfield, the Stateâ€™s Continuation of Operation and Continuation of Government Plans have been activated and non-essential state employees in Springfield are not required to report to work today. Only personnel previously identified by their agencies as essential in emergency circumstances are required to report to work.

UPDATE 2: The State Journal Register website is being slammed by all the visits. Here’s the latest update:

Last Updated 3/13/2006 10:01:39 AM

A strong, long-lived tornado was responsible for much of the damage that wrecked Springfield homes and businesses Sunday night, the National Weather Service in Lincoln has confirmed.

NWS survey crews are scouring the area to look at the damage and try to estimate what the wind speeds were, said Ed Shimon of the National Weather Service in Lincoln.

“It was a tornado. We had a visual sighting of it approaching the city and also as it went through,” he said. “It was on the ground causing a tornado or almost causing a tornado all the way from Kansas City. It was an extremely long-lived storm. It would strengthen, have a tornado and then it would weaken again.”

Sangamon County officials have declared as disaster areas the portions of Sangamon County where the storm moved through beginning about 8:15 p.m. The storm tracked roughly from New Berlin in western Sangamon County, through the southwest and central parts of Springfield and east toward Illiopolis.

Officials have estimated millions of dollars in damage to area homes and businesses.

“The closest I’ve seen to this is the ice storm (of March 1978); it’s just unreal,” Davlin said of the damage early today.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen in 25 years,” added Police Chief Don Kliment.

Power to the Sangamon County Building was turned back on about 4:30 a.m. today. The jail was on lockdown overnight because of the outage, according to county administrator Ryan McCrady.

Emergency officials are confirming 19 people suffered minor injuries in the county as a result of the storm. There were no reports of deaths or missing people.Â·

From what I could gather from listening to the radio last night, the tornado cut a path roughly from Target on the Southwest Side to Channel 20 on the Northeast Side. Huge amounts of damage.

From the SJ-R website. Go there for more pics, but be warned that the site is pretty slow right now from all the hits.

UPDATE: The 11th Hour liveblogged the storm last night and has more updates today. If you blogged the storm or the aftermath, please link to your posts in comments.

UPDATE: From a press release:

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich will meet with Mayor Tim Davlin
and State Emergency Management Officials at the State Emergency Operation Center in Springfield today to discuss the damage caused by last nightâ€™s severe storms and tornados. Immediately following the private meeting, there will be a media briefing at the Center to discuss the damage and the steps the State will take to assist Springfield in getting it up and running again. The Governor will then tour the area from above in a helicopter with Mayor Davlin and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) to further assess any destruction done.

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