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More shady ties
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller There may not be a completely direct connection here to yet another alleged mobster, but Radogno’s point at the end should be addressed. Former state Sen. John D’Arco — twice convicted of federal corruption charges — is involved in a land deal financed by a bank that’s owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic candidate for Illinois treasurer.
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“We count on her to do what’s right”
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Not that she needs to spend much to win, but Lisa Madigan’s new TV ad is up. She even throws in a little jab at the governor. Also, Phil Hare’s new TV ad is posted on his website. Access it here. [Hat tip: Robbie C at Illinoize. Our little brother blog is on fire lately. Go check it out.] 
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Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Sun-Times goes straight “D”
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller I didn’t notice this until the Giannoulias campaign sent me an e-mail. The Sun-Times and the Sun-Times News Group have endorsed the entire statewide Democratic slate. They lead with Alexi. [Actually, the Sun-Times News Group endorsed Giannoulias. The other papers are apparently allowed to go their own way on the other races.]
In case you’re wondering, my occasional little column gives me zero influence over Sun-Times editorial policy. They don’t tell me what to write, and I don’t tell them what to write. Obviously.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller I’ve asked this before, but with two weeks remaining I thought I’d ask again. Are the national Republicans heading for total disaster on election day? With the Democrats pick up the US House and US Senate? Yes, this is a national question, and I usually try to avoid them, but to give it a local twist I’d like you to also note whether you think any GOP disaster/non-disaster will have an impact on Illinois races, including the governor’s race.
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Guv talks about Rezko, Kelly, Levine *** Updated x1 ***
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The governor appeared at the Daily Herald editorial board yesterday. Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich predicted Monday his campaign fundraising friend won’t be indicted for corruption, argued it’s not a bad thing that his plan to sell the lottery leaves a $1 billion school funding shortfall, and apologized for once comparing state lawmakers to “drunken sailors.” […] The governor also said he was surprised the Rezko had been indicted and said Rezko was never a close adviser.
Diversity? That’s some interesting spin. The governor finally gave a straight answer on the $1500 check, after waffling for weeks over which daughter may have benefitted from it.
Animal Farm has more. *I asked Blagojevich if, given all the oceans of newspaper ink that have been spilled the past four years about his ethics and numerous policy ideas, what he would take back. The governor paused for a while, as you might expect given that type of question, then threw out some Ditka-esque “In life..â€-type rhetoric, even quoting Socrates at one point: “The unexamined life is not worth living.†[…] The full transcript is expected tomorrow. *** UPDATE *** Gov. Blagojevich can recite the list of John Wayne’s B movies, he can rattle off 40-year-old lineups from long gone baseball teams, has memorized the lyrics to just about every Elvis song ever recorded, but has a difficult time recalling much of what happened during less than four years in statewide office. Governor Rod Blagojevich says he doesn’t remember getting a list of people that a now-indicted friend and fundraiser wanted to be appointed to state boards.
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Weird doings
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller This is pretty solid evidence that Stroger’s campaign is flailing late in the game. What was billed as a kickoff for the “Rod and Todd Show” instead stumbled getting out of the gate Monday. “Bizarre” is the word that immediately comes to mind. I thought they were supposed to be working together? Gov. Rod Blagojevich leads his opponent in cash and in the polls while Cook County Board president candidate Todd Stroger is struggling on both counts, but both are quietly exploring how to benefit each other by mobilizing African-American turnout.
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SurveyUSA: 44-34-14-8
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Crosstabs are here. Discuss. In an election for Governor of Illinois today, 10/23/06, incumbent Democrat Rod Blagojevich’s support is down, Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka’s support is down, and Green Party Candidate Rich Whitney’s support has doubled, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KSDK-TV St. Louis. Blagojevich today gets 44%, down 1 from an identical SurveyUSA KSDK-TV poll released 9/20/06. Topinka gets 34% today, down 5 points from 9/20. Whitney gets 14%, twice the 7% he got on 9/20. SurveyUSA observes that in two Governor polls released today 10/23, all “major party” candidtaes are down; minor party candidates are up. Could this mean that the anti-Republican sentiment detected in a number of SurveyUSA polls over the past 21 days is now manifesting itself more generally into an anti-establishment, anti-insider movement? Time, and more polling, will tell. It is possible the phenomenon is limited to Maine and Illinois, and not extensible elsewhere. That said, it is interesting enough to take note of, here.
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Tension mounts
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Could there be fireworks this Friday at Stu Levine’s federal hearing? The I-Team claims “Yes.” The I-Team has learned that Levine wore a wire for the government and details of those conversations will be made public for the first time in federal court on Friday. […] Meanwhile, Topinka’s campaign is still dark. The Blagojevich people say she’s broke. The Topinka people say not to worry, an ad is on the way. We’ll all see soon enough.
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Early evening radio/TV blogging
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller * Today’s afternoon update from WBBM 780 is below. The station’s website is here, you can subscribe to the station’s afternoon updates by clicking here. The afternoon show has a piece about Peter Roskam’s press conference. * WBEZ has a story up about the state Senate committee hearing today on a statewide smoking ban. All of Chicago Public Radio’s latest stories can be found at this link. * WBEZ’s full afternoon update is below, or go here. * LifeHacker reports that This American Life now has a podcast. * Rush Limbaugh claims that Michael J. Fox goes “off his meds” when he wants to stress the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s Disease. * “Live” Chicago political interview show with Todd Stroger and Tony Peraica, among others.
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Congressional stuff
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Michael J. Fox is coming to Illinois for a stem cell research press pop for Tammy Duckworth. From a Duckworth press release: Sixth District Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth will hold a rally with Michael J. Fox on Tuesday to address the importance of stem cell research. Fox did a TV ad in Missouri a few days ago, and it’s one of the most powerful spots I’ve seen all year. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton was in town today for Duckworth and Melissa Bean.
…But all did not go extremely well, for either Clinton or Duckworth’s GOP opponent, Peter Roskam. Animal Farm: *The event was closed to the press. After much pressure from reporters (including myself) over the weekend, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee relented and had a “media availability” with Clinton, Bean and Duckworth. Now, you might think that means all three would take questions. But no. Duckworth ducked questions from the press. Clinton took none. Only Bean came back to take questions from reporters. Duckworth, I’m told, was barely visible on the dais because college-age supporters blocked the view. Oh, and Clinton was 45 minutes late.
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Question of the day
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Yesterday, Governor Blagojevich offered his help for a possible Barack Obama presidential bid. “He has to make that decision for himself, and I would imagine he’ll spend a lot of time consulting with his wife, with his family before making a decision like that. But if he were to do something like that I’d be eager to help him,” Blagojevich said. How do you think Obama reacted? Snark heavily encouraged.
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“Rod… What are your thoughts?” *** Updated x1 ***
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The governor can deny that he had anything to do with Rezko all he wants, but stories like this undercut his every word. Today’s Sun-Times piece puts some questionable behavior right in the governor’s very own lap. One nondescript page — containing 19 names and a note to Gov. Blagojevich from his chief of staff — shows the clout Antoin “Tony” Rezko once wielded in state government. The note and the list can be seen here. Make special note of the people listed as “Priority.” Two of them were appointed to the thoroughly corrupt hospital board, which was essentially controlled by Stu Levine. One is the wife of a Rezko busines partner whose tollway restaurant records have been subpoenaed by the feds. Meanwhile, the AP ran this story yesterday.
*** UPDATE *** The Sun-Times has posted a different version of the letter, which includes the “fax header” information. It can be downloaded here.
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The Stroger beat goes on and on and on
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The Sun-Times starts off our roundup with an endorsement of Todd Stroger. Change must come to Cook County government, no matter who wins the race for county board president. The old way of doing things, personified by the honorable yet inflexible former president John Stroger, will not suffice any more. Because both parties have fielded candidates who are promising to shake things up in the $3 billion-a-year government, the question therefore becomes, who is more likely to succeed? While we believe Republican Tony Peraica is a qualified and experienced candidate who would be dedicated to reform, we fear his agenda would founder on the rocks of the county’s Democratic domination, paralyzing his tenure. We therefore endorse Democrat Todd Stroger, the 8th Ward alderman and the son of the former president. Peraica’s campaign called the editorial “Stuck on stupid redux” and released a statement from consultant Dan Proft.
It goes on and on, but you get the drift. If you want to read the whole thing, I turned it into a text file that you can download here. Meanwhile, Bill Beavers asked the governor on Friday (through the media) to pony up $100,000 from his obese campaign chest to help fund the Stroger effort The governor responded Saturday that he had agreed to give Todd some money, but he couldn’t resist putting the onus on everybody else. “We are working on gathering contributions for Todd,” he said. “We are in the process of getting … Mike Madigan to be a good party chairman and help … We’re looking to get … Lisa Madigan to help Todd Stroger because she doesn’t have a race of any consequence. We want the other candidates who … don’t have hard races to help … If they’ll help, we’ll help.” Perhaps I can translate for Brownie. “I’m not going to give any money to Stroger out of my campaign fund because I may need it for, um, other things. I will, however, raise money for Stroger from other people like Lisa and Mike Madigan.” But Stroger has more money than he’s let on.
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Reform and Renewal marches ever forward
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Copley has bad new for the governor: Springfield attorney Mary Lee Leahy must give a deposition in an Illinois Department of Transportation wrongful-firing lawsuit, and the questioning will not be limited to the one agency, a federal judge ruled Friday. And Finke finds more taxpayer subsidies of the governor’s campaign fund.
The intended recipient died in January.
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Topinka picks up a few endorsements
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The endorsements of Topinka read more like diatribes against Blagojevich, but I’m sure she’ll take whatever she can get at this point. * Tribune: The governor’s flimsy responses–he doesn’t know, he can’t recall, he’s the victim here–insult the people of Illinois.
* If you can find the Herald & Review’s endorsement, link it in comments. * Blagojevich responds:
* The AP also ran this puff piece: Gov. Rod Blagojevich is more than a casual John Wayne fan. He can list all of John Wayne’s B movies, but he can’t remember if his kid ever got another $1500 check.
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The “empire” expands just a bit
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller I knew they were doing this in the print version, but I hadn’t noticed that they put it online until now. The Daily Southtown is running excerpts from your comments on a regular basis (I think every week). You can see the latest version - from the QOTD “Assume it’s the first 100 days of a Pat Quinn administration. What happens?” - here. Pretty cool. The “empire” will expand even more this week. I’ll have details soon. Meanwhile, after going through the poll results that we’ve covered here before, my syndicated newspaper column ends thusly: It seems easy to predict a Blagojevich victory because he’s ahead in every poll, this state leans heavily Democratic and Topinka has been successfully transformed by the governor’s media team from being a respected state elder into a George Ryan hack. But no credible poll shows Blagojevich with enough votes to win, despite all the positive TV ads he’s running. His favorability and job approval ratings are so bad that he hasn’t been able to close the deal. Speaking of polls, the Hotline has a funny quip about the latest results: Topinka is probably quoting Jon Lovitz-as-Michael Dukakis to herself at night: “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.”
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Morning shorts
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller * Gov. Blagojevich’s State Board of Education chairman appointed to ComEd board * Krol: Quinn suddenly has little to say about Blagojevich * McQueary: Turn off the TV, tune into the election * Marin: Meeks didn’t run, but he isn’t going away * Big-time spenders - Local bars, eateries benefit from politicians’ campaign cash * Group pushes to alter smoking ban - Beverage association chief says council will hear proposal to end ban at bars * FEMA rejects Rockford’s request for disaster funds - The agency says damage in the city was $1 million, not $30 million. * Rockford Residents mum on political affiliation * Washington: What has Brown done for — her campaign? * Madigan, Umholtz a study in contrast * Blagojevich, Topinka trading accusations of improper doings
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That’s gonna make a heckuva mailer
Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Alderman Burt Natarus continues behaving like a man who either doesn’t realize that he’s headed for the toughest re-election fight of his life or doesn’t care.
It’s always the politically smart thing to insult your constituents. Not.
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Help!
Sunday, Oct 22, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
“WE HAVE TO WATCH ED SULLIVAN TONIGHT OR I’LL JUST DIE!!!” Sheesh. We should’ve seen this coming earlier this year. Many of the nation’s top political reporters, who you normally couldn’t pry out of a comfortable tavern with a nuclear bomb, eagerly hopped and skipped like ecstatic little girls behind Barack Obama through some decidedly uncomfortable African locations. Then there was the TIME cover and the breathless coverage of his new book and subsequent publicity tour.
A normally sedate Tribune reporter even compared him to Abraham Lincoln today, for crying out loud. And it was a lousy analogy at that. Then there’s Steinberg, who turns to mush at the mere sight of the man. Neil, pull yourself together, dude. Having known him for several years and watched him develop and grow, I respect Barack Obama, like him a lot and even think he ought to seriously consider running for president while the hype is hot. I don’t believe that he’s the problem here. He doesn’t act like he thinks he’s the Beatles. The political press corps and the punditry are the problem. They’re the screaming teenagers. There’s such a thing as too much hype. The Beatles eventually stopped touring because nobody could hear their music over the roar of the crowd. The Fab Four then fought constantly in the studio and eventually broke up. The press needs to calm the heck down and stop raising expectations so high or they’re gonna destroy Obama. He’s not a god or a giant or even a great American leader (yet). He’s just a man, who a few short years ago was an obscure but Take a deep breath, girls. Please.
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I’ve been chuckling as - once again - the national press corps has gone almost completely off its rocker today over the “news” about Barack Obama. I imagine parents must’ve felt this way in 1964 when their quiet, studious daughters turned into insane, screaming banshees at the mere mention of John, Paul, George and Ringo. 
This weekend, Obama opened the door to a presidential run a little bit more than he did the last time he published a book and the | « NEWER POSTS | PREVIOUS POSTS » |
