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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY (Part 2) - Ray Harris says “thanks”

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - HPV; Halvorson; Ameren; Haine; Hawthorne; Jackson; Will County; Predators; May; Taxes; Murphy; Interesting bills (Use all caps in password)

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Question of the day

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

Today is the last day for U of I sports mascot “Chief Illiniwek,” overshadowing the last home game for the Illini’s senior class. Media hordes are preparing to descend upon Assembly Hall, but they probably won’t find any protests by the anti-Chief crowd, and there’s still debate about what to do with the logo.

But I don’t care about any of that.

Question: Let’s come up with a new “mascot” for the U of I. Snark is heavily encouraged, debating the Chief’s demise is strongly discouraged. We’ve already been there, done that. It’s over. Let’s move on…

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Say it ain’t so, Doogie

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

I remember the first time I met Dick Kay. I had watched him on TV for much of my life so when I saw him at the Rathskellar (the cafeteria in the Statehouse basement) I cautiously approached him and told him how much I always enjoyed his hard-hitting political reports. He was gracious and kind, and after that we developed a pretty good relationship.

You may have heard that Kay has signed on as a spokesperson to help Gov. Blagojevich pass his health care proposals. Carol Marin, who knows everybody (she has George Clooney’s private number programmed on her cell phone, for crying out loud), replaced Kay as Channel 5’s political editor after Dick retired last year. Her Sun-Times column today (Marin has about fifty different jobs) is about Kay’s surprising move…

I am struggling to imagine Dick Kay on the other side, standing in front of a bank of microphones, facing a crush of cameras at a news conference, answering questions instead of bellowing them out.

It gives me a headache.

“Doogie,” as he is called by everyone who really knows him, has just left the retirement he only months ago entered, at age 70, to be hired this week by Gov. Blagojevich as his special advocate for health care.

Yes, that’s right: The guy who was a fixture on WMAQ-Channel 5 News for almost four decades reporting on politics in Chicago has gone over, as we who are still in the business like to say, to the “dark side.” The same Dick Kay who in 1985 won a prestigious Peabody Award for his investigation of government boards and commissions that served no public purpose other than loading the state payroll with the wives, girlfriends, husbands and kids of legislators, is now on the state payroll himself.

Thoughts?

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Reform and Renewal - Canary blasts the guv

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

Cindi Canary was an outspoken proponent of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s reform ideas early in his first term. She has since come to realize that Blagojevich is all talk, little action (I hate to say I told her so, but…).

Canary, who runs the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, penned a column for Crain’s the other day which was headlined “As other governors tackle corruption, what is ours doing?” As Canary details, he’s not doing much. This is how her column ends, but go read the whole thing…

Instead of asking government contractors for campaign contributions, Gov. Blagojevich could spend his time persuading legislators to vote for the comprehensive package of reforms he proposed more than a year ago.

Like Gov. Spitzer, Gov. Blagojevich could voluntarily live by the limits he has suggested: $2,000 per individual, $5,000 from political action committees and zero from corporations or labor unions.

Gov. Spitzer understands why action like this is important. “We are not going to play by the same old rules, because they are corrosive,” he has said.

Becoming a corruption-buster like Gov. Spitzer may be too much to expect from Gov. Blagojevich. But he should be able to follow Mr. Spitzer’s lead and stop playing by the same old rules of campaign finance in Illinois.

Hat tip: David at Illinoize.

Meanwhile, if you want to see how much gubernatorial candidates from 15 “key” states spent per vote, Governing Magazine’s blog has the list.

IL Topinka $6.80
IL Blagojevich $15.10

And…

* Unsurprisingly, Michigan’s free-spending Republican nominee, Dick DeVos, spent the most at almost $26 per vote. But if I’d been looking at primaries too, California’s Steve Westly would have far surpassed him at $40.6 per vote. Both lost.

* Maryland was the most expensive state, with Republican Bob Ehrlich ($21.7 per vote) and Democrat Martin O’Malley ($15.9) both spending freely. Other top spenders included Nevada’s Jim Gibbons ($20.4) and Massachusetts’ Kerry Healey ($16.0).

* In contrast, Minnesota was the land of frugal candidates. Even though Governor Tim Pawlenty decided to decline public funding so he could break the state spending cap, he did so rather sheepishly, spending only $3.9 million or $3.8 per vote. His Democratic opponent, Mike Hatch, went even lower at $2.7 per vote.

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Local Elections Roundup

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson

* Vi Daley announces her endorsements [press release]

* Roudâ€™em up: In a sea of angry commuters Tuesday morning, one aldermanic hopeful couldn’t help but grin.

Scott Waguespack, a 32nd Ward challenger, was passing out campaign fliers alleging poor CTA service when the Blue Line’s inbound trains stopped running during the morning rush.

* Troutman in trouble with loss of support from Bishop Arthur Brazier

She may survive getting charged with bribery by the feds, and she may not need Brazierâ€™s endorsement to win reelection against a couple of previously unknown candidates, but now that both have happened, Iâ€™ve got to think sheâ€™s a long shot to hold onto her seat.

* City Clerk candidates take aim at corruption

* Summing up the Chicago mayoral race

* Wheaton mayoral candidates look at city concerns

* Political power play roils 12th Ward

* So what does an alderman do?

* Natarus’ new TV Ad…

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Morning Shorts

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson

* Surprise push to bring first Mayor Daley’s expressway dream to life:

House Speaker Michael Madigan breathed new life Tuesday into Mayor Richard J. Daley’s unfulfilled dream of building a cross-town superhighway to ease traffic gridlock.

* Sun-Times Editorial: We need to get moving on public transit

* Dawn Turner Trice: Let us bury the Chief, not praise him

* Ryan lawyers highlight unfair jury management

Sending former Gov. George Ryan to prison would be “one of the great injustices in the history of the American legal system,” his attorney said Tuesday.

* Stroger, board near compromise: Todd Stroger and the commissioners who have just seven days left to pass a $3 billion budget.

* Tribune Editorial: Crunch time for Cook Co.

The question now is who’ll take the biggest hit from the county’s 2007 budget reductions: either frontline workers in such areas as health care and law enforcement, or layers of Democratic patronage lackeys in administrative jobs.

* Stroger and Devine battle it out

* Commissioners find ways to raise more cash

* Pollution tax eyed by Cook Co. Board

* Protests planned over Cook Co. medical cuts

* Cook Co. budget fight getting tough

* Commissioner goes without office to voluntarily cut own budget by 17%

* County breaks talks with hospital billing firm: Cook County has reversed course again and ended negotiations with a controversial consulting firm because it wouldn’t cut a nice enough deal for the cash-strapped county.

* Three alderman push for airline passenger’s bill of rights

* Illinois, other states Bush administration over mercury emissions

* Blunt hails bridge proposal, IL unsatisfied

Mike Claffey, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation, said the proposal calls for $3 tolls, even at rush hour. “We’ve said all along we’re opposed to a toll bridge,” Claffey said.

* Blagojevich calls IL a national leader in child support collection [press release]

* Transit ills fail to hurt Daley

* Businesses prepare for smoking ban

* Daley rebuts $14.8 million lawsuit from ex-inmates

* ComEd and the city to help with bills:

The new program will provide one-time grants of up to $400 and is expected to help 3,000 to 5,000 households. About 19,000 ComEd residential customers in Chicago have had their service cut for non-payment, although some might no longer live at the listed addresses, officials said.

* Springfield to expand public Wi-Fi, learns from California example

* David Broder: Early primaries blot out the sun

* Small Chicago paper given Polk award for Bronzeville Center probe

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