Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2006

Thursday, Jun 15, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Civil lawsuits can be such great fodder.

Antoin “Tony” Rezko has long been one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top fundraisers and closest confidants, even recommending candidates for Cabinet directors and state boards and commissions.

But newly obtained public records, including lawsuit documents, show a close circle of Rezko business investors and their relatives received jobs and appointments to influential state posts. The records show Rezko’s ties with the Blagojevich administration are far more extensive than were previously known.

The new documents show, for example, that Blagojevich appointed three Rezko business investors to a controversial board that oversees hospital projects. The board was replaced amid an ongoing federal kickback investigation that led to the indictment of the board’s vice chairman.

The state’s business development agency, run by a former Rezko company executive, employs the daughters of two other business partners, including a man who is a fugitive on federal tax charges.

Another Rezko partner got a loan for pizza franchises through a California businessman whose firm won a $83 million contract for redeveloping the Illinois Tollway’s restaurant oases. The loan came after an introduction from Rezko. […]

The names of the Rezko food company shareholders emerged recently amid a spate of civil lawsuits from former partners, including one filed in Cook County in April by Dr. Fortunee Massuda. […]

In 2003, Blagojevich appointed Massuda to the state’s Health Facilities Planning Board, along with Drs. Michel Malek and Imad Almanaseer. The Tribune previously reported Massuda and Malek each gave Blagojevich’s campaign $25,000 just weeks before being appointed, but their roles as shareholders in Rezko pizza businesses had not been previously disclosed. […]

The three Rezko associates and the other hospital board members were dismissed in 2004. The board was revamped that year after it came under federal scrutiny in part for its approval of Mercy Health System’s plans to build a $49 million hospital in Crystal Lake. As described in federal kickback charges against former board vice chairman Stuart Levine, Almanaseer changed his vote on the Mercy project after Levine whispered in his ear. Massuda and Malek also voted for the project.

Levine and Rezko go way back and have some mutual friends. Rezko not only raised a half mil for the governor’s ‘02 campaign, he provided 10 percent of the governor’s total family income in 2004.

Read the whole thing.

24 Comments

Question of the day

Thursday, Jun 15, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

First, the latest poll numbers.

Illinoisans donâ€™t want the state or U.S. constitutions rewritten to ban gay marriage, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

While the majority of Illinois voters â€” 51 percent â€” said they oppose gay marriage, only 40 percent support asking state lawmakers for a constitutional amendment to ban it, according to a poll by the Chicago-based Glengariff Group. Fifty percent were opposed and 10 percent were undecided.

There is less support for amending the U.S. Constitution with 62 percent opposed, the poll showed.

Gay marriage opponents hope to get a measure on the Illinois ballot this November that would ask voters if the state should amend its constitution. […]

The Illinois poll also tested votersâ€™ appetite on other gay rights issues, including civil unions. Fifty percent of people supported such unions that would give gay couples the legal benefits of marriage without calling it marriage.

There was 50 percent or more support on other issues, including adoption, inheritance rights and health benefits.

QUESTION: Assume that the anti-gay marriage folks get their question on the ballot this fall, and assume for the sake of argument that these poll results are close to reality. Will the referendum pass, and how much of a bind will this put pro gay rights Republican Judy Baar Topinka in?

40 Comments

“Don’t blame Blagojevich”

Thursday, Jun 15, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I missed this yesterday. Truth be told, I don’t read the Post-Dispatch editorial page much, especially since they flip-flopped on tort reform - firing up the reform argument in 2004 and flip-flopping a few months later when a medical malpractice reform bill appeared close to passage. Anyway, this was blogged on Illinoize yesterday, but I thought it would be worth a post here.

Blagojevich for the condition of the state’s economy makes only slightly more sense than blaming him for the weather. In truth, no governor has much influence over a state’s prosperity during a single term in office.

Economies don’t turn on a dime.

Things that a governor really can influence — the quality of schools, job training, public health and transportation infrastructure — take years to produce results in terms of increased business, new jobs and higher wages. […]

The real influence of state government is on long-term prosperity. Improving children’s health and education today will bring rewards in years to come: a healthier, better-educated work force, more higher-paying jobs, higher per-capita income and less spending on crime, welfare and social programs. Investing in transportation improvements pays economic dividends over decades; that’s why a new bridge over the Mississippi River is critical to southern Illinois’ economic future.

By those measures, Gov. Blagojevich has made the right calls.

Your thoughts?

42 Comments

Win some, lose some

Thursday, Jun 15, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

ABATE both won and lost yesterday.

A Downstate judge Wednesday issued an order temporarily blocking the Blagojevich administration from transferring about $350,000 from two special-purpose funds into the state’s main checking account.

The order by Sangamon County Circuit Judge Leo J. Zappa Jr. stemmed from a newly filed lawsuit by a group known as ABATE of Illinois, which is challenging the governor’s diversion of funds set up to benefit motorcycle enthusiasts.

But the ruling could have implications for hundreds of other special-purpose funds that collect fees for designated purposes, such as the road fund, which receives money from the motor fuel tax and the vehicle registration fee.

Zappa’s order prohibiting the administration from shifting revenues from a cycle rider’s training fund and a fund dedicated to the upkeep of off-road motorcycle trails extends until July 10, when the case is next set for hearing.

ABATE was seeking an order from Zappa blocking the governor’s diversion of revenue from 77 funds, few having anything to do with motorcyclists. The money in play in those particular funds totaled more than $30 million..

The judge wouldn’t block the transfers of other state fund monies, so that was the loss part.

3 Comments

Tollway stories

Thursday, Jun 15, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Three tollway stories today. First, Speaker Madigan has some questions.

Breaking months of silence on the landmark issue, House Speaker Michael Madigan has raised more than a dozen questions about a potential tollway lease deal in a letter to lawmakers overseeing hearings on the matter.

Madigan says the questions, which range from how tolls would increase to what would happen to the oases, need to be answered before the plan is given serious thought.

The letter resembled one he sent earlier this month to state House members regarding another lease plan â€” Gov. Rod Blagojevichâ€™s proposal to lease the state lottery for $10 billion to fund education initiatives.

Then there’s this story in the Southtown about a tollway sale/lease hearing earlier this week.

If a system of toll roads built on the backs of suburban commuters is sold or leased, the windfall better wind up in the suburbs.

That was the message given Tuesday to an Illinois Senate committee that’s looking into privatizing the state’s tollway system.

“This is where the needs are,” Will County Executive Larry Walsh told the committee at a hearing in Joliet. […]

State Sen. Christine Radogno (R-LaGrange) noted more than 70 percent of traffic on the tollways is generated by commuters, and most of those vehicles are moving from suburb to suburb to get to work.

“We’ve paid into the system over the last 40 years. Our paying into it gives the system value for someone to come in and buy it,” Radogno said. “Does the money stay in these communities? I think that is a legitimate question.”

And the I-Team follows up on an earlier story.

Was an Illinois Tollway worker fired for refusing to pay off a politically-connected contractor? Two powerful Illinois state senators are formally requesting that the attorney general look into new allegations of corruption at tollway headquarters.

On Monday, the ABC7 I-Team first reported that a tollway worker claimed he was terminated after refusing the give a $100,000 gift to a state contractor. Now, there is new information about which politician allegedly wanted the contractor paid off.
As a middle manager at the Illinois Tollway, Jim Fragackis did not expect to get a call with instructions from a state senator.

The matter has been referred to the attorney general.

13 Comments

Morning shorts

Thursday, Jun 15, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· Sen. Bill Brady may have been reading the comments here, because yesterday a commenter pointed out that a Sun-Times story about this week’s devastating audit of DHS reported that the state was paying more than $550,000 to buy 109 shredders. That seemed excessive, and I think shortly thereafter Brady sent out a press release wondering what the heck was going on.

Â· Was a real estate deal by US House Speaker Denny Hastert corrupt or just a sweet and fortuitous arrangement among old friends investing in a rapidly booming county?

Â· Daley won’t wait for state

Â· Sorry, alderman, but that was a lame excuse

Â· Cook County bumbles beetle battle

Â· Witness claims Sorich ordered files erased

Â· Kadner: Crete Mayor Michael Einhorn lies.

Â· “The Supreme Court of Illinois ordered Wednesday that lawyers in this state must report how many hours they spend helping poor clients every year.”

Â· Now, here’s a threesome that you don’t often see on the same page: Lauzen, Schmitz and Blagojevich.

Â· Apparently, Frank Watson prefers diplomacy over my war plans. Good for him, but it would’ve been a grand adventure. Then again, maybe there’s still hope.

Â· Interesting story, good human interest, but no chance.

Â· Illinois Legislators Lambaste Governor’s Subsidy Plan

Â· The Southern has a great piece on my old buddy John Reilly.

After more than four decades in the hotel and restaurant business, it would seem that John Reilly might be looking for a slower pace and a lower gear.

Instead, it’s quite the contrary for the personable Reilly, who goes about his daily duties at Rend Lake Resort and Conference Center as general manager and acts as a one-person tourism committee by continually singing the praises of Rend Lake and all of Southern Illinois. […]

Reilly said he will continue to be a goodwill ambassador for Southern Illinois at every opportunity.

“I don’t want to hear people say that Rend Lake is the best kept secret in the state,” Reilly said. “I wish that I would have gotten to this point quicker than I did but we’re certainly not finished. I don’t think I’ll ever be totally satisfied until everybody knows what we have to offer here in Southern Illinois.”

If you haven’t been to the resort, you really ought to go. I had an amazingly good time when I was last there. This article makes me want to head down to Rend Lake today, but I can’t. Maybe next weekend. You can find a lot more info here.

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