Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2006

Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I just got off the phone with third party congressional candidate Bill Scheurer (running against Melissa Bean). He confirmed everything that was in this post by Jeff Berkowitz. This could turn out to be a huge story.

Scheurer said someone came to him, about a month ago, offering to help with the petition signature process. The person said his name was Anthony R. Constantine and he claimed to head A R Consulting, giving Bill a business card with that information on it. For a certain sum of money, he said he would obtain 8,000 to 10, 000 signatures to help get Scheurer on the ballot.

Scheurer was counting on the signatures from AR, but learned earlier this week he would get none, with vague, peculiar stories about health problems, etc. He also learned that one Anthony Constantine works in the legislative office of Cong. Dan Lipinski, and Constantine has a company named A R Consulting, but Constantine told Scheurer earlier this week that he did not meet with Scheurer previously and he is not the person who Scheurer met with and spoke with over the last month, and who committed to the 8,000 to 10,000 signatures to support placing Scheurer on the ballot in the 8th CD race.

Scheurer estimated he has about 9,000 signatures now and he would like to get 6,000 more in the next three days to get some buffer over and above the requisite 13, 950.

The guy appears to be screwed, and this is certainly a bizarre story. He says he will have at least 60 volunteers in the street this weekend, but that may not be enough to gather all those signatures. Stay tuned.

33 Comments

Blog bans

Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

This Kentucky blog ban episode brings up an interesting point for Illinois.

I’ve been told by some state employees that they can’t access this or any blog during business hours (although a back door is still open that a few people know about and which I would never divulge). For others it’s not a problem. I’ve never bothered to check up on who, if anyone, is being blocked here because I figured it wasn’t really a big deal. Now that it’s become big news elsewhere, I’m not so sure.

I’ll keep comments open through Saturday afternoon so that people can fully respond to this question, but are you being blocked? If so, what agency are you with? Any corporations blocking blogs out there? Â·

UPDATE: And, please, let’s stick to the question. The State Journal-Register now has reader comments on its website, as do some other papers, so why should I be blocked and not them? And even if they didn’t have comments, what’s the difference? But, wait, don’t answer that. It was a rhetorical question. Let’s stick to the topic at hand.

UPDATE: And another thing… with all the news feeds I have and the hundreds of links, this site is designed to be more of an Illinois news portal than a blog. It’s a starting point. So, this site shouldn’t be treated any differently than any other news sites, particularly since the idea is you can get to all of those places from here.

34 Comments

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Gay Rights; Olympics; Chapa LaVia; Myers; Geo; Schmitz; Schaffer; Jones (use all CAPS in password)

Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Question of the day

Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Today brings yet another poll showing overwhelming public support for an issue that the poll’s sponsors also happen to support.

Nearly 80 percent of Cook County residents want Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, according to a new poll released Thursday on the eve of a presentation before the U.S. Olympic Committee that will reveal Mayor Daley’s solution to the need for a new stadium.

“We have a very elegant solution — one that is economically doable to … win the 2016 Olympics that includes a very creative way as it relates to the stadium issue,” said Patrick Ryan, the executive chairman of Aon Corp. appointed to head Chicago’s Olympic exploratory committee.

Pressed to describe the stadium proposal that he and Daley will unveil at the U.S. Olympic Assembly exposition in La Jolla, Calif., Ryan said: “We cannot reveal our plans before we reveal them to the U.S. Olympic Committee. It would be bad form and, frankly, I think it would hurt us and would offend them. So, we’re not going to do it.”

Daley said he asked Stanley Tigerman and other Chicago architects to come up with a response to USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth’s demand that an 80,000- to 100,000-seat stadium be built or “totally committed” to by March 31, 2007.

QUESTION: Do you support Chicago’s bid for the Olympics? Why or why not and under what conditions?

35 Comments

Here we go again

Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The only way stories like this will ever stop is if Illinois finally bans campaign contributions by state contractors. Period.

The governor pats himself on the back for not taking state employee money, but contractors have a lot more cash on hand.

The Blagojevich administration is claiming that a study of the stateâ€™s fleet of cars ordered more than three years ago has generated millions of dollars in savings. But, officials wonâ€™t release the results of the study, which was conducted by a company that has contributed thousands of dollars to the governorâ€™s campaign fund.

As the state embarks on a plan to begin its first large-scale replacement of vehicles since the governor took office, the fact that the study isnâ€™t being made public is drawing fire from some lawmakers.

“I think if they donâ€™t respond to these inquiries on how they spend our state dollars, thereâ€™s something amiss,” said state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock. “They should have to respond. I donâ€™t think their objection is valid.”

In May, Lee News Service requested a copy of the study, which was called for by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in one of his first acts after taking office in 2003. The request, made using the stateâ€™s Freedom of Information Act, was denied in June. The administration says it cannot release the study because it is exempt from state open records laws.

The company that did this study just won a no-bid extension of its contract. That’s the way things are usually done in Springfield.

16 Comments

Political protection rackets

Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

My latest Sun-Times column came from this blog post a couple of weeks ago.

Back in the day, business owners in a neighborhood controlled by the Mafia would have to cough up weekly cash tributes. The money was for “protection,” except they weren’t really “protected” from anything except the mobsters themselves. If they didn’t pay up, very bad things would happen.

Politics has its own protection rackets. Sometimes people contribute campaign money to powerful politicians so that their interests are kept safe from harm. A state legislator, a city council member or a suburban mayor won’t usually torch a store that doesn’t pony up, but they can make life awfully difficult.

The most lucrative political protection racket is insurance sales, and for a lot longer than anyone can remember insurance has been the vocation of choice for Chicago and Cook County politicians.

I’d say “read the whole thing,” but that would be kinda presumptious of me. Ah, what the heck, do it anyway.

5 Comments

Morning shorts

Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· The governor seems to take a step further in saying he won’t lease or sell the tollway, but he hasn’t explicitly ruled it out yet, despite the Trib’s headline (”Sell or lease tollway? Blagojevich says no”). Here’s the latest statement: “I have no interest in giving up the tollway when we’re doing so many good things,” he said. “I have no interest in turning it over to private investors.”

Â· “An obscure but powerfully influential state panel that regulates hospitals in Illinois is coming under scrutiny just two years after Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he had fixed its problems.”

Â· Everybody calm down a little: “The men were all Muslims who thought they were plotting “in conjunction with Al Qaeda” but they really were dealing with law-enforcement undercover agents, one law-enforcement official told The Miami Herald.”

Â· “Sounding a lot like a mayoral challenger, state Sen. James Meeks (I-Chicago) demanded Thursday that Mayor Daley fix a problem with a “strong hint of racism”: poorly qualified teachers concentrated in black and Hispanic schools.”

Â· Supremes help lawyers, reporters.

Â· Editorial: Deals replace fiscal restraint

Â· State officials Thursday trumpeted significant improvement in Illinois’ unemployment picture.

Â· Illinois casinos to check IDs for addicts

Â· Study: Without a federal government willing to enforce federal No Child Left Behind laws, the Illinois State Board of Education sees no reason to follow them.

Â· Green Party expects to be on state ballot

Â· Fran makes a good funny

Â· A Rockford friend says he thinks the last paragraph of this story shows a Chicago-centric attitude at DHS.

Â· Editorial: THUMBS UP! To the Macon County Board’s Environmental, Education, Health and Welfare Committee for dismissing a proposal to make English the official language of Macon County. The committee correctly determined that the county has no power to create an official language and also pointed out that the state legislature has already declared English the official language of Illinois. The committee made a wise decision.

Â· Krol: A bad month in more ways than one for Hastert

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