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Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

House Speaker Madigan has just proposed moving the 2008 IL primary to Feb. 5 to help Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy.

More tomorrow.

[Comments closed. Go here for updated stories and discusssion.]

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Lang-Berrios; Rules; Daniels; NCSL; Retirement resolutions; Geo; Chavez; Senate; Override; DuPage; Rejection; ComEd; McLaughlin

Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Question of the day

Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

First, the set-up:

In the end, the Illinois General Assembly closed out its two-year session with a day of rejection.

On the eve of the inauguration of a new legislature, lawmakers on Tuesday failed to act on rate-relief proposals for electricity customers facing huge increases […]

Senators adjourned without voting on a House-passed plan backed by Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) that would extend for three years a nearly decade-long freeze on electricity rates. Madigan, in turn, never called a vote on a Senate-passed plan to phase in the rate hikes over the next three years. Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) backed the phase-in plan.

Rate increases averaging 22 percent for Commonwealth Edison customers and increases of 55 percent for Downstate electrical customers of Ameren Corp. took effect Jan. 1.

Now, the Question: Which side do you support in this fight, Madigan or Jones? Should the rate freeze be extended, or should consumers be allowed to essentially finance the rate hikes over time, without interest (although, depending on whom you believe, possibly with extra bond charges attached)?

41 Comments

Obamarama - Timing

Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

Political Insider has a prediction.

There is growing speculation in Democratic political circles that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will announce his presidential intentions on Martin Luther King Day. That timing would certainly highlight the historic nature of his candidacy.

I’m not exactly sure when the State of the Union address is, since I’m more concerned with covering today’s swearing-in ceremonies, but All Headline News has this:

Reports say Senator Obama will wait until after President Bush delivers his State of the Union address in January…

And, once again, for those who can’t seem to find stories about where Obama stands on the “issues,” CQPolitics has an in-depth comparison of Obama and Hillary Clinton’s voting records, including a spreadsheet. [Hat tip: Sweet]

23 Comments

Plucking the pigeon

Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

There’s some confusion over some of the facts surrounding the federal case against Alderman Arenda Troutman.

Troutman, who represents the South Side’s 20th Ward, was arrested for allegedly taking money to grease the way for a real estate development at 5730 S. Halsted St.

But the site in question, as it turns out, isn’t even in Troutman’s ward.

And her mouthpiece has seized on that fact as evidence that Troutman is somehow innocent.

“It just doesn’t sound right: [the informant] bribed Arenda Troutman to develop Shirley Coleman’s ward with money she didn’t ever get?” said Troutman’s lawyer, Sam Adam Jr. “They can’t even get the area where they’re trying to set her up right?”

Maybe, but she did, apparently, take the money and she allegedly made several calls on behalf of the informant.

According to the complaint, she got $5,000, the promise of another $10,000 and had discussed being given a residence and commercial space in the project.

Alley-access ordinances are routine, said Ald. Thomas Allen (38th), chairman of the council’s Transportation Committee, which processes hundreds of such proposals every year. It would be “ridiculous” to pay a bribe to get one through the City Council, he said.

It would be “ridiculous” unless Troutman was trying to pluck what she thought was a fat, stupid pigeon. Then it would be standard operating procedure.

Meanwhile, two of the city council’s broken down old bulls reflect on Ald. Troutman’s arrest.

“There are problems with people’s behavior all over the world. Government, industry, the churches. It’s a matter of human behavior,” said Ald. Burt Natarus (42nd).

It has been almost eight years since the last alderman was convicted of corruption. Virgil Jones became the twenty-fifth alderman nailed in 26 years.

That lull in convictions leads Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) to insist Troutman’s charges shouldn’t reflect on today’s council as a whole.

“There has been no problems in this council over the last decade and contrary to the common belief, the council is really made up of a lot of good people,” Stone said.

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State Fair follow-up question

Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

Yesterday, I asked you to vote for a band to play at the State Fair Grandstand this summer, hoping to possibly influence the Fair’s booking decisions.

I didn’t make an exact count, but here are the names that I saw most often mentioned which didn’t fry my eyeballs:

* Wilco or some other alt country act - perhaps Steve Earle or the Bottle Rockets (and, yes, I know that Wilco isn’t really an alt country band any longer, but I put them here anyway)

* Green Day, White Stripes or another band that the kids enjoy

* Blue Man Group

* Alison Krauss & Union Station

* Buddy Guy, and/or an evening of Chicago blues

* Cheap Trick, John Fogerty, Steely Dan, Van Halen, or another bygone era rock group

* Weird Al Yankovic

Please vote for just one, and no whining if your choice wasn’t listed. Thanks.

76 Comments

Morning shorts *** Updated x2 ***

Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Where the poor are: “In 1999 large cities and their suburbs had nearly equal numbers of poor individuals, but by 2005 the suburban poor outnumbered their city counterparts by at least 1 million.”

* A little clarity about Doc Walls

According to Fire on the Prairie, the account of the Washington years by former Reader staff writer Gary Rivlin, Walls was a gofer: “the man who took care of the tab, for instance, when Washington and a few aides stopped off for lunch — and then handled his schedule for his first couple years in office. Washington grew frustrated with Walls’s propensity for passing himself off as more important than he was, and fired him in 1985.”

Here’s what Walls told Reader contributor Mick Dumke recently when asked about being fired by Washington: “At 25, I was considered one of the most influential people in the city. At 29, I was considered too influential. Everything flowed through me, and everyone was jealous. . . . I did my job too well.”

* Local 150 sues treasurer over land deal - Profit went to him, federal suit alleges

* Suburban businessman Gerard Kenny accused of dealing with mob, ordered to divest Casino Queen investment

* University of Ill. investigates threats against Native American student

* QT (which really ought to be made into a blog with links and comments):

Gov. Blagojevich regarding his re-election with 49.79 percent of the vote:

“I read the election as a mandate for action.”

Add mandates for action to the list of things that aren’t what they used to be.

* Editorial: State can’t afford 4 years of ‘activist government’

* SJ-R inauguration photo gallery

* Editorial: Legislature should take aim at assault weapon horrors

* Editorial: Election is over; it’s time to focus on the future

* Pain expected from county budget cuts

* Layoffs set as tax bill fails - DuPage poised to cut services, 40 workers

* Hunters are reminded of new regulations in effect for 2007 Late-Winter Season

* Mongo picked to lead newest suburban arena football team

* Flood of complaints about CTA puddles

*** UPDATE *** * The Riverside-Brookfield Landmark newspaper reports that Judy Baar Topinka plans to have another “estate sale,” this time in Springfield, once her office is formally closed. I’m told the sale will be this weekend at her old house. Details will come later, I suppose.

*** UPDATE 2 *** This has been a long time coming. Foreclosure has begun against the owners of a notorious Springfield hotel that owes the state millions of dollars.

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