Tonight’s debate
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The Illinois Chamber and the NFIB are hosting tonight’s GOP governor’s debate, but if you’re not in Springfield or Champaign you’re out of luck. The debate will be broadcast this afternoon from 5-6pm on WICS-20 (Spfld) and WICD-15 (Champaign). It won’t be on the Internet and is not being made available for rebroadcast to other stations. ABC-7 in Chicago will air another debate tomorrow night at 10:30 pm. Use this as a debate open thread. UPDATE: WHOA! Isn’t it illegal to record a private phone conversation in Illinois without consent? Oby says he has tapes of Kovarik-Topinka calls. Bombshell… and backfire? UPDATE 2: Oberweis may have misspoken. He clearly said recordings or tapes of conversations (plural), but I think they only have one voicemail, which isn’t much. He sure looked sleazy when he said it, though. And he was booed by the audience. UPDATE 3: The AP story is up. Jim Oberweis drew boos and jeers twice during a Republican gubernatorial debate Tuesday when he accused rival Judy Baar Topinka of unethical conduct. Coverage always follows conflict.
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If the glove doesn’t fit….
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller I’ve thought for a few weeks now that George Ryan’s trial was taking a familiar turn. Prosecutors spending way too much time making a very complicated case in fear or at least in anticipation of the defendant’s “dream team” of lawyers. Defense putting on a fairly straight-forward, relatively quick rebuttal. This is from defense attorney Dan Webb’s statement to jurors today.
Not quite the brilliant poetry of Johnnie Cochran’s summation, but I can sure hear an echo.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Do you belong to any group, union, association, business, etc. that lobbies the General Assembly? How well do they perform? Details, please.
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Not going away yet
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Governor Blagojevich refused yesterday to take detailed questions about his hugely controversial hate crime commission appointment. Gov. Rod Blagojevich wouldn’t discuss details Monday of how he appointed a Nation of Islam official to a state hate crimes commission or whether the two have talked about her views on race and tolerance. Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League reports an increase in hate crimes against local Jews. The Anti-Defamation League of Chicago is reporting a rise in anti-semitism. UPDATE: Muhammad understandably chose a sympathetic venue for her first major interview since the story began, WVON radio.
“Perceived by some as anti-Semitic”? Um, wow. Doesn’t sound like she distanced herself much there. Whatever the case, I’m glad she’s finally talking. Now, if she would just talk to the rest of the media maybe we could all put this thing behind us, one way or the other. Oh, and the governor needs to answer some questions as well. UPDATE: Forgot to link to my newspaper column on this subject. Here’s the conclusion: The result of all of this is inflamed tension between black and Jewish legislators, who are usually natural legislative allies, and deeply hurt feelings within the Jewish delegation itself, which is now divided between ideological foes of Farrakhan and ultra-partisan supporters of the governor. UPDATE: Kadner has more.
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Tribune’s take on Kovarik allegations
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller We’ll skip the preliminaries that you already know and get right to the meat of the story.
And on, and on, and on, and on. Read the whole thing, even though they left out a lot of problems with this statement that I had in today’s Capitol Fax, wherein I referred to Kovarik’s statement as having more holes in it than Dick Cheney’s hunting buddy.
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Protected: For Capitol Fax subscribers only - full Kovarik statement and other campaign updates
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
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6th District open thread
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller We haven’t had a good knock-down, drag-out here for several days over the 6th Congressional District race. Let’s start it off with a recent Lynn Sweet column on the low turnout at a recent Duckworth event. It was snowing Sunday afternoon, and cold in north suburban Roselle, so I concede upfront that the weather impacted the turnout at a “family fun festival” campaign event for Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth. This is a 6th District open thread. What’s going on lately? (Updated to add the name “Lynn Sweet” because somebody in comments actually claimed that I had lifted her column and used it as my own without attribution, even though I never even hinted that it was mine and there was a link to her column in the original post. Ridiculous.)
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Oberweis talks about ending FOID card system
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller I’m surprised it took him this long.
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Guv hasn’t met with GOP leaders in weeks
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The Republicans are complaining that the governor is cutting them out. Gov. Rod Blagojevich will need Republican support for his $3.3 billion school and road construction plan, but he hasn’t been seeing GOP lawmakers personally to work things out. […] That rally in Rochester resulted in this news report. Governor Rod Blagojevich asks high school students to urge lawmakers to pass his capital improvements bill. Blagojevich says his $3.2 billion dollar capital bill includes money for school construction. In 2002, the state promised Rochester schools more than ten million dollars to build new schools, but the district has yet to receive the money. Even if lawmakers don’t fully fund the governor’s capital bill, Rochester is first on the list to get whatever money the legislature appropriates. UPDATE:The rally also produced this priceless Doug Finke lede: Unable to get enough grown-ups in the General Assembly to approve his construction bond program, Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked for help Monday from people too young to vote.
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Morning shorts
Tuesday, Mar 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller · Ron Gidwitz has a new TV ad, and it’s pretty good (wvx file). The ad touts his strong Tribune endorsement. · Is a compromise brewing between the CTA and Citgo? The CTA turned down an offer of millions of dollars worth of free diesel from the Venezuelan-owned company, but there may be progress, according to CTA Tattler. “Essentially, CTA staff is suggesting that the CTA give Citgo 200,000 30-day passes — $15,000,000 worth — in exchange for $15,000,000 in cash.” · Safe for work nakedness (mov file). Tim Davlin is just one of those featured in this funny short film from Grace Uncensored. · OneMan comes up with a spiffy new TV ad concept. · Aurora to lazy residents: Tear down those Christmas decorations! (Hat tip: Governing.com blog) · Here’s one I missed from the other day, “Driver card for illegal immigrants rejected.” · 8th Congressional District Repubs split on how to handle immigration. · Churchill plays up his experience in 8th District race. · Internet political donations are soaring. · Republican lieutenant governor candidate Sandy Wegman has a new radio ad in which she attacks not her opponents but gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka. It’s a must-listen. (Hat tip: Family Taxpayers Network) · Life in the Tribune’s DC “superbureau.” (Hat tip: fishbowlDC) · I agree. This is pretty cool. · The Decatur Herald & Review’s Letters to the Editor Blog is still going well. Very well. Go check it out. More newspapers should be doing this while they continue trying to figure out how to convert their old media staff to new media. It makes sense. · CTA workers authorize strike.
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