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Off the bus
Thursday, Apr 5, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller I elected to stay with my brother last night instead of continuing with the Blagojevich bus tour. Three days in Vegas? Time to go. Three days in New Orleans? Time to go. Three days on a bus with Gov. Blagojevich? Gotta run. They’re somewhere around Danville right now, I’m heading home soon. Perspective is all-important with any sort of analysis, so learning some of the governor’s private perspective on people, events, etc. will only be helpful in the days, months and years to come as I write about the Statehouse scene. I’ve spent a lot of private time with other leaders - legislative and otherwise - but governors usually build a wall around themselves. I gotta hand it to the guv for taking the chance of allowing me into that circle. A couple of funny stories… * After the raucus event in Quincy, I decided I needed some alone time, so I went to the hotel desk and asked directions to a tavern that, legend has it, was an Al Capone hangout during Prohibition (the locals say Capone had a house in Quincy back when it was a wide-open town). While the clerk was helping me out, a guy came up and said he had seen the tour bus outside and wondered whether the governor was staying at the hotel. Because of the earlier trouble at the event, the clerk only hesitantly admitted that the guv was, indeed, at the hotel. “Can you get a letter to him for me?” the man asked. The clerk said she’d try, but couldn’t guarantee anything. So I told the man I’d deliver it for him. The man looked me up and down and asked, “Are you the bus driver?” I really need a haircut. * Last night, the governor’s staff knew that my brother was meeting us at 17th Street BBQ for dinner. After we arrived at the famous restaurant, I was sitting at the bar with my brother and a couple of staff members. I introduced my brother to some, but not all, of the staffers. In walked a rather strange-looking man carrying a stuffed skunk. He proceeded to introduce himself to the governor and I turned back to my beer. A bit later, the governor said, “Hey, Rich, come here. This guy supports the GRT!” As we left the bar to go order dinner, one of the staff members who had been sitting with us asked, “Rich, was that guy with the skunk your brother?” I should probably get my beard trimmed as well.
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- leigh - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:24 pm:
Love 17th Street. I usually order a to go tray of about 5lbs of pulled pork to bring back north, til my next trip down. The problem is I have shared with others and I am going to have to get a bigger cooler or convince those folks to open a franchise in the ‘burbs!
- Carl Nyberg - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:26 pm:
“Food or Tax?” This seems like a strange protest sign for a tax that kicks in at $2 million of receipts.
- Anon and for a good reason - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:29 pm:
Capone also used to own a cleaners in Quincy my Dad worked at. I’ll tell you the story some time Rich.
- Curious - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:38 pm:
Rich,
If it is at all possible can you disclose the subject and or details of the letter you were given by the man in the bar?
Thanks
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:39 pm:
“Curious,” I didn’t read the letter.
- steven - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:41 pm:
perception is everything
- steven - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:42 pm:
After 3 days on the road, I am sure everyone on that bus could have been mistaken for the bus driver.
- Little Egypt - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 2:42 pm:
To all die hard Southern Illinoisans, 17th Street is a sacred place, both Marion and the original in Murphysboro. How did it happen that Public Official A was allowed into that “inner sanctum”?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 3:00 pm:
Rich,
Maybe you’re brother needs a nicer skunk
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 3:03 pm:
Better “off the bus” than “under the bus.”
Thanks for the Ken Kesey/Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test reference:
“There are going to be times when we can’t wait for somebody. Now, you’re either on the bus or off the bus. If you’re on the bus, and you get left behind, then you’ll find it again. If you’re off the bus in the first place—then it won’t make a damn.”
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 3:11 pm:
You people downstate need to get out more. 17th Street BBQ ? Been there, done that, fool me once.
- Poolside @ Hotel Ibiza - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 3:26 pm:
So Rich what did you really learn about our governor?
- Capone - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 3:27 pm:
Rich, I spent some time in Quincy, What’s the name of the bar that capone hun out at
- Doodles - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 3:36 pm:
About the guy who left the letter for the Gov, did he use a new forever stamp? Because whatever he wanted from the Gov, it’ll probably cost more in the end.
- Greg - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 3:37 pm:
Rich,
Hippie.
The Ken Kesey comment works sooooo well…
- Illini Lover - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 4:38 pm:
I’ve actually seen the letter, as the author sent a copy out via email to several friends. I’ve sent him an email to request permission to post the letter on this site.
- Been around - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 4:59 pm:
Ive worked for several elected officials, and it is not unusual for strangers to try to give them letters. It happened to each of those I worked for. Usually tinfoil hats kind of stuff, but occasionally something really meaningful. The meaningful stuff is always responded to by the elected official. The tinfoil hat stuff gets roundfiled.
Nothing to see here folks — move along.
- Illini Lover - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 5:09 pm:
The author would be considered “highly qualified” to offer insight to the Governor. It’s a very good letter.
The author is a rather poor judge of bus drivers and preeminent reporters.
- GettingJonesed - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 5:17 pm:
Great report for Tavern Weekly Now on to the news. Indy sources say the crowd at Marion was only 150 and dropped to 100 when the GodRodTax spoke. He slipped out the back and took no questions. Only person with a vote was Jumpy Jay Hoffman.
- Illini Lover - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 5:22 pm:
Here’s the letter that was handed to Rich for the Governor:
April 3, 2007
Governor Blagojevich:
I am staying at the Hampton Inn in Quincy tonight and saw your bus out front of the hotel. I asked a person in the lobby if you were staying here and learned that he was Rich Miller of Capitol Fax who confirmed that you were. I asked him to personally give you this letter as you drove from Quincy to the Metro East in the morning.
I am in Quincy to do the keynote address at the Tri-State Development Summit in Canton, MO on Wednesday morning. I will be talking about my research and book BoomtownUSA: The 7 ½ Keys to Big Success in Small Towns. I do about 100 talks/year around the USA on the subject of economic development in rural America.
I am a small business owner and have been involved in trying to recruit in manufacturing and high tech companies into small towns. We started in Effingham and have expanded to over 12 states, having done over 50 projects and helping to facilitate approximately 5,000 jobs, many of those in Illinois. We currently have manufacturing and distribution projects under construction in Effingham and Taylorville that will employ 300 people.
I have also been on the SURS board for the past dozen years and seen the impact of underfunding for our system. I will be leaving that board in June, but am more concerned than ever about reaching a “tipping point†at which it becomes impossible to fund the retirement payments for our retirees.
I am extremely concerned with the direction the state is taking with the Gross Receipts Tax. We already encounter great difficulty in trying to recruit in new businesses to Illinois because of our much higher workers compensation, state fees and other costs of doing business in Illinois. This new tax will be devastating in trying to recruit in new businesses and I’m afraid, will cause an exodus of small businesses from the state.
One example, is a company that we have been working with for over six months to move a manufacturing plant to Illinois. They were looking at buying an existing building for $1 million, creating about 50 new jobs, mostly in the areas of welding and assembly. However, they calculated that this new tax would cost them $200,000 per year and are now reevaluating such a move. Unfortunately, this is one of many such examples that you could find around the state.
I urge you to not implement this new tax for the good of the citizens of Illinois. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at anytime.
Sincerely,
Jack Schultz
CEO
Agracel, Inc.
217-342-4443 (o); 217-254-4443
jschultz@agracel.com
- Larry McKeon - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 6:04 pm:
What did the skunk order to drink? Did the skunk need a haircut? Is the skunk a Democrat or Republican? Does the skunk support the GRT?
Something smells here. It must be me.
- GettingJonesed - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 7:09 pm:
BTW the news from Decatur showed about 30 folks and 20 reporters. GodRodTax may attacked Flider, but crowd was too baffled by the comments on Elvis and Harleys to remember. GodRodTax forgot to talk about helmets and the Ameren rate freeze. Probably forgot Decautur has been hosed by his ICC screw up.
No reports from Danville
And there have been zero reports on menu or entertainment. Both were part of the pre tour hype
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 7:40 pm:
“GettingJonesed” the governor took reporters’ questions in Marion.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 7:50 pm:
Illini Lover,
Party foul!
How could “Jack” have known while writing the letter that he was later going to meet a bus driver-appearing investigative reporter?
- Jack Schultz - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 8:23 pm:
I was the one who mistook Rich for the bus driver. Not one of my better questions, “Are you the bus driver?”
I was in Quincy to do the keynote address at the Tri-State Summit and staying at the Hampton Inn. The governor’s bus was in the front parking lot when I arrived. Rich let me know that the governor was staying there and I asked him if he would deliver a letter to him personally from me.
I then composed and wrote the letter above and hand printed it because I didn’t have a printer. I slipped it under the door of Rich’s room and left a copy of my book at the front desk for Rich and the Governor.
The next morning I addressed about 450 people at the Summit and mentioned the letter that I had composed and written the night before. I told them of the one company that probably wasn’t going to be coming to the state because of the new tax. I told them that I thought there would be many others that wouldn’t make the move to Illinois and that in fact there would be a mass exodus from the state. My comments on that subject were met with thunderous applause.
Later I spoke with an Economic Developer from a town in Iowa near the Illinois border. She indicated that she is being inudated with Illinois companies looking at moving to Iowa.
- HMMM - Thursday, Apr 5, 07 @ 11:33 pm:
I think it was the Gov that stunk, not the skunk!
- Mr Brown - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 4:36 am:
Guys seriously, why is everyone hung up on crowds?
The Peoria event and the Decatur event were small events to highlight small business - not rallies. The public was not even invited. Do some show up? Of course, but not invited.
As far as Marion goes, there were over 400 people there. Rich, if you would have stayed on the bus you would have saw over 300 at Danville.
This plan has the support of the IEA, IFT, AFL-CIO, SEIU, Laborers, and the Hospital Association.
Most of the people who are against it do not understand it.
- Mr Brown - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 4:38 am:
BTW, the Governor took reporters questions in Rock Island, Quincy, Marion, Alton, and Danville. He may have at the smaller events, but I wasnt at those so I cant speak to them.
Half of what people take as truth is total rumors based on lies by the opposition.
- business owner - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 6:05 am:
Mr. Brown,
okay, to help better get the facts out, please calculate what the GRT would be for our local car dealer that seslls an average of $24,000,000 of new cars each year.
By my calculation, $22 miillion is taxed at a rate of .015% or $330,000. This firm make an average of $225,000/year currently.
Please let me know where I’m wrong in my thougts on this calculation.
Furthermore, if this is such a great tax, why is the Governor’s office proposing execmpting the Chicago Board of Trade and Mercantile Exchange from the tax?
Looking forward to your response.
- Mongo - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 7:44 am:
Are we missing an important point here?
Jack Schultz (don’t know him, wouldn’t know him) is passing along real information.
I want a tax of some type to meet needs we have swept under the rug. But I don’t want businesses to run over the border to Iowa, Indiana, or Wisconsin.
- Aquanet+ - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 7:54 am:
Glad the Big Bus Ride is over with. Now Comrade Rod can get down to addressing the real issues that plague our state. Like our electirc bills, escalating gasoline prices and corruption within his own administration.
But I’m sure there will another circus-like diversionary tactic soon to follow.
- vole - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 8:09 am:
So, Rich, was this circling of the wagons effective or not? And, like the Little Big Man, are you with the cowboys or the Indians? I mean, are you inside or outside the circle? We gotta know where to aim our arrows!
- political historian - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 10:32 am:
Regarding Rich’s comment that Ogilvie campaign against a state income tax in 1968 and then introduced it after the election, THIS IS DEAD WRONG! Both Ogilvie and Shapiro dodged the issue during the campaign, as there was a blue ribbon commission studying the idea with a reporting timetable in January of 1969. Also, a few days ago Rich mentioned that Ogilvie got hammered (not his word) by Dan Walker in the 72 election. Hardly so. Walker won 51-49…..
- To Anon 4/5 @ 3:11 - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 10:55 am:
Fool me once . . . SAY WHAT?? On any given night, the ribs 17th St. may be almost as good as, as good as, or better than Charlie Vergo’s Rendezvous. You probably like ketchup on your barbeque!
- Daxx - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 12:01 pm:
Rich,
I was at the Marion event. It was a staged event full of state workers and union members. The talk was all about what happened at Quincy, and that they weren’t going to let that happen in Marion. The labours came out in full force. They looked like an army marching in. There were protesters there with signs, but they were forced outside. I saw the communications guy give direction to the local news reporter on what he expected to see on TV and where and what to film. I watched the news at 10pm and sure enough, no footage of the protesters.
This event was a joke. The truth is not being reported… down here any way.
- Daxx - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 12:15 pm:
Hey I forgot to mention, Larry Woolard open the event with a prayer. Keep in mind the protesters were still inside at this point. In his prayer he asked that God give us all peace and patiences, acknowledged before God that there were some present who didn’t agree with the majority and that he hoped he (god) would let cool heads prevail throughout this event.
I was embarrassed. I go to church, this was a mockery and joke. But by the time the gov spoke, the majority of the protesters were outside. I guess his prayer worked.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 12:33 pm:
Daxx, there were protesters present throughout the event. I was there until the end. My brother took the above photo of some of the protesters. I didn’t hear Woolard’s “prayer,” but I got in a bit late. Bill Brady staged a prayer before some of his political press conferences last year. It’s not an unusual thing. Whether it belongs in a setting like that is another matter.
- At least they had Il state workers - Friday, Apr 6, 07 @ 2:59 pm:
Hot Rod filled Quincy with guys from HANNIBAL, Mo cheering !