Morning shorts
Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* Pennsylvania governor backs IL power plant
* John Kass: Public’s trust hinges on two big appeals
In the separate cases of two convicted and corrupt politicians, Republican George Ryan and Democrat Robert Sorich, the federal judges on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have to decide where they stand.
Do they throw out the convictions and stand with the boss hogs that run the bipartisan Illinois political combine, the same combine that brags publicly that it put some of the justices on the federal bench?
Or do they uphold the convictions, and stand with you, the taxpayers of Illinois, the folks who work hard and make sacrifices, only to get hammered, year after year with tax increase after tax increase, as the combine and its soldiers feed from the public trough?
* Mark Brown: “Free poker” vets at odds with state
In an effort to stay within the bounds of Illinois’ gambling laws, organizers of the poker league charge no fee to play in their tournaments, ban wagering and offer only nominal prizes to the winners such as gift certificates from the host establishment.
And that’s why Signore can’t understand why the Illinois Liquor Control Commission has effectively shut down the “free poker” league by cracking down on liquor licenseholders that host the games.
“We should have a right to play as long as we’re not gambling,” says an angry Signore, who lives in West Beverly and owns a catering business.
State officials don’t quite see it that way.
* Tribune Editorial: Fast trucks, stop right there
Maybe some legislators bought that argument. But safety experts sure don’t. “There’s no way you can argue that letting large trucks go faster makes the roads safer,” said Russ Rader of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “Study after study shows that, in general, when you increase travel speeds, you increase deaths on those roads.”
Illinois last year logged the lowest fatality rate on its roads since 1924. That’s impressive.
So why would anyone want to put that success at risk?
Why would the House vote to kill people?
* Editorial: Big rigs should drive 55
* Tax day is every day in Chicago
“This is a growing list,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a tax watchdog group. “The city and some of the other units of government in northeastern Illinois have sought out new sources of revenue. Those are appropriate use taxes if you are able to make the case you are providing services related to the tax. In the case of the tire tax, the cost of recycling or servicing local roads can be connected.
“[But] I don’t think most Chicagoans are cognizant of who is responsible for which of the government services they receive, and there is little opportunity for citizens to get a comprehensive list” of what they pay.
* 19 new Chicago public schools wanted in next two years
These are part of Renaissance 2010, a plan to create 100 new schools by 2010. About 55 have opened so far. Fifteen of the 19 schools hope to open next fall if approved by the Chicago Board of Education Oct. 24.
The proposed Chicago High School for the Arts would put Chicago on par with New York, Los Angeles and most other large cities that have public performing arts high schools.
* Some Chicago teachers file unfair labor charge
* City fire unions battle over leadership
* Russ Stewart: 2008 U.S. Senate race analysis
- Leroy - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 8:57 am:
I like how John Kass is still waiting to determine if the ‘public trust’ has been violated or not yet with respect to George Ryan.
The guy was corrupt, was convicted years ago, and hasn’t spent a day in jail, (nor will he ever, IMHO) and is out partying at social events, book signings, etc.
But I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see when the public trust starts to crater on this case.
Talk about journalists out of touch…..
- Greg - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 9:02 am:
“Why would the House vote to kill people?”
That’s an embarassing conclusion for a usually level-headed board.
- Cassandra - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 9:07 am:
Msall is right. Most citizens don’t know how much they are paying and for what. They know little about the agencies or private sector firms that provide those services such as the number of employees, the number of management employees, employee salary/compensation packages, annual raises, pension plans, their connections to politicians, their political contribution history, and so on. The desire of citizens to bury their heads in the sand an pay up when it comes to government services is truly astonishing. No wonder so many people are living on the edge financially, or claim they are.They don’t know what they’re spending or what they’re getting for it.
Maybe the Civic Federation should take this on.
Or ICPR. Every time I pay a bill or hear of some disaster at DHS, DCFS, Corrections, etc. I should be able to pull up a website that tells me all this information instantly. The results would be electrifying, no doubt. Luxury reigns at the the upper levels of the state, county, and local civil service, combined with virtually no accountability. Collecting this information would be tedious, but perhaps worth the trouble.
- BlunderBoy Biographer - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 9:13 am:
This just in:
The Committee of 100 (Blaggo’s top secret fundraising cult) just announced their new theme.
They have abandoned “We Don’t Know & We Don’t Care!”.
The replacement: “We’re Dumber Than They Think!”
BTW did Cassandra ever tell us how much her Oak Park crib is worth? Remember she was whining about tax hikes and the need for Houli’s solution.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 9:16 am:
Russ Stewart’s analysis of the 2008 Senate races is absurd. His select facts are often bogus. This is a guy who seems to be writing about the future in order to get a paycheck.
Utter nonsense. While I believe it is safe to believe that the Democrats should do well and may pick up a few Senate seats, it is ridiculous and preposterous to be predicting a route before campaigning even begins.
Finally, I’ve been around for several years and when Republicans were building their majorities, you didn’t read these kind of stories very often. Instead I clearly recall these same pundits writing as though they were stunned at GOP successes.
These people really have no clue and are too damn biased to report politics, aren’t they?
- Man Who Grew Up Reading Chicago Today - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 9:32 am:
As I have stated previously, Mr. Kass’ columns are the only reason I read the Tribune (which came on Sunday with our Today subscription, back in the day. Remember the “Find the Ball” Bears contest?)
But the 7th Circuit’s duty is to rule on procedural errors alleged to have been committed by the judge, not to send political messages.
That is what the 9th Circuit does every day, and it is wrong, and raises my ire.
I am not a George Ryan apologist. I just do not want to see him, Rod, or any other slimeball go down as if he were in a Third World Court.
Sorich (Shakman) was a violation of a civil decree. Why the criminal charges? At least he had the built-in protections of the criminal justice system. before he lost.
Comparing him to the Prince of Peace is more ridiculous then nominating George Homer Ryan for the Nobel Peace Price. But is that a violation of a criminal statute or a consent decree? Maybe the lifetime appointed appellate court judges should address this, as there is a big difference.
Mr. Kass is writing for us. No question. I am actually sitting at my kitchen table right now.
He is a true Chicagoan and his work resonates with true Chicagoans and beyond.
But, there were serious errors in that trial.
And, in almost (if not every) other federal trial, which non-ex-governors are parties, a mistrial would have been declared early.
I speak from first-hand experience.
And, if they were gangbangers, illegal immigrants, or (insert cause celebre here) the MSM, New York Times, American Bar Association and Katie Couric would be screaming bloody murder 24/7 on how the justices should uphold the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and not use the appellate process to send a “political message.”
- Anon 9:39 - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 9:41 am:
Wonder Kass did not mention the WI decision that forms the basis of why Sorich and maybe Ryan gets to walk?
And if the USA is on such a tight budget why did they millions on the mobsters who basically spend their time killing one another?
- No Smokes for You! - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 11:28 am:
FINALLY! California is starting to ban smoking in private homes!
http://www.nbc11.com/news/14307719/detail.html
Paying attention Springfield? We need this here.
- Tom - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 11:30 am:
Once again Kass makes absolutely no sense. He creates a false dichotomy that holds that if the 7th Circuit does not rule as he wants, it must be corrupt. The 7th Circuit contains some of the most profound legal thinkers currently on the bench (Posner and Easterbrook) as well as seasoned judges, yet Kass, who wouldn’t know a Federal Reporter if it hit him in his head, decides, without considering the arguments of the parties or the law on the subject, that a reversal of either verdict would be necessarily wrong notwithstanding the law, and would amount to an injustice that would shake our confidence in the legal system as a whole.
What a crock. If Kass wants write columns on what it is like to participate in an injustice, he might well reprint the articles that he wrote about Gary Dotson.
- JonShibleyFan - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 11:37 am:
VM,
You suggest Stewart’s facts are often bogus, but provide no examples. In addition, I don’t know that anyone pays him to write - I think he’s an attorney by trade, is he not?
What’s more, I think self-styled pundits often predict things that are beyond the conventional wisdom - because the beauty in making predictions is there are no consequences to being wrong, while being right can make one look like a genius.
As to pundits predicting GOP successes in the past, I seem to recall many predicting GOP hegemony would last a generation or more. Some were predicting the demise of the Democratic Party. On a local level, I think Bill Baar at Illinoize probably still is, based on some formula that he’s concocted that decrees that the party weakens with each electoral victory. I’ll call that Baar’s Law of Contradictory Wishful Thinking ™.
Finally, I would argue that Russ Stewart’s body of writing is not partisan, and if anything, leans center-right. I agree that some of his analysis in this instance is not spot on (while Dems could certainly win seats in VA and NE, I think calling them D states is more than a little premature - ditto CO).
But pundits aren’t expected to necessarily be free of bias - they aren’t reporters. Reporters are expected to be unbiased, of course even they often fail to be, shall we say, fair and balanced.
- True Observer - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:07 pm:
Broken Record
If Ryan had been a Democrat, this would have been a non-story.
The Ryan case proves what liberally biased media can do to hype a case and make a mountain out of a molehill.
There is a difference between being politicaly and personally corrupt.
There is no question Ryan was politically corrupt.
But as far as being personally corrupt, we found out that he had no assets except for his pension.
Some corruption.
Powell never made it to governor and had plenty of shoe boxes and Ryan didn’t even have one.
If Ryan and others weren’t politically corrupt, they wouldn’t be in office and instead be spending their time posting on this web site.
The blame should rest with the electorate.
In 2004, voters nominated Lane Evans for Congress after a judge had ruled that he was mentally incompetent.
In 2006 a comatose candidate was nominated for Cook County Board President.
The moral of the story is that Ryan did nothing over and beyond what most other politicians did and DO NOW.
As to the Judges who sit in judgment.
Many of them got their start by having a ward boss put them in office.
The irony is that all these breast beaters were missing when Sen. Fitzgerald needed their help to seek re-election.
- Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:07 pm:
VM,
While I think some of Stewart’s analysis is a bit optimistic on the D side, 60 seats is clearly possible (and certainly more “possible” than people thought a D takeover of the Senate was in 2006). Republican incumbents are dropping like flies (other than Larry Craig of course) and others are being forced to embrace the immensely unpopular policies of W. Whether you agree or disagree with those policies, they are clearly extremely unpopular with the country.
And before you throw out the “yeah, but Congress is even more unpopular” line, you might want to read the polls a smidge deeper. Congress is unpopular largely because they have been unable to stand more strongly against W’s policies including the war. They’re pissed at the Dems for being ineffective, not for their policies.
So Dems clearly have the wind at their backs going into. But as with everything political, you never really know what outside circumstances are going to emerge to change those winds in a big hurry. Big factors that will have an impact: the war, the nominees of each party and of course any major act of domestic terrorism.
In this case, the fat lady ain’t even in the vicinity yet, let alone warming up her voice.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:12 pm:
=== If Ryan had been a Democrat, this would have been a non-story.===
What a ridiculous notion. Whatever you think of his conviction, he was, after all, convicted. You really think the media would ignore that?
- Anon - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:27 pm:
Mr. Kass is in error to promote political agendas, however well intended, as a basis for criminal prosecution results.
I believe that each conviction, Ryan and Sorich, will ultimately be affirmed, but - unless they abolished the Constitution while I was asleep last night - it must be done on the law alone.
Conversely, Kass now is only sowing future doubt about the validity of the coming affirming opinions.
- True Observer - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:30 pm:
The judge who made all the preposterous rulings concerning the jury was being a politician like everyone else.
She was auditioning for a seat on the 7th Circuit.
Hillary Clinton received $850,000.00 in tainted money from/thru Hsu.
Hsu defrauded investors out of $60 million by showing how close he was to politicians like Hillary Clinton.
How many continuing stories are there about Hillary Clinton.
You guessed it.
The silent liberal media protecting a Democrat.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:33 pm:
That’s apples and oranges. You are assuming that she’s guilty based on some pretty iffy “evidence.” Ryan has already been convicted.
- Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:35 pm:
TO,
You don’t really mean to suggest that the media didn’t cover the Hsu story? Goodness, where do you read? There were tons of stories because they fed into the news media biases about the Clintons. The fact that there are new stories is because THERE’S NO NEW NEWS so there’s nothing to cover.
Clinton found out about Hsu and bent over backwards to give every last dime he gave or raised. That’s far better performance than Barack or anyone else has done with Rezko BTW.
And before you declare a Federal Judge guilty of that kind of malfeasance, you may want to have just a smidge of evidence.
- Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:36 pm:
Oh, and I suppose Fox News, New York Post, Washington Times and Chicago Tribune are part of that vast left wing conspiracy you seem to find. Give me a break.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:40 pm:
Any time a person says s/he is a “true” anything, I get suspicious.
That having been said, are you at all familiar with the allegations about Ryan in 1998? They were literally selling CDLs for campaign contributions. It was pretty widespread and well-documented. There was a direct link right to the top, unlike these allegations about Hsu/Clinton/Obama/etc.
The Chicago Tribune played down the CDL story, even running a front-page piece shortly before the election on how difficult it was to obtain a commercial drivers license. The Tribune and the Sun-Times both endorsed George over Poshard.
So, spare me the “If a Democrat had done this the media would’ve looked the other way” crapola. The media in this state too often “looked the other way” for GOP George, and, other than the Springfield types, barely covered Jim Edgar’s MSI problems.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 12:59 pm:
Also, TO, I noticed in a previous post that you said you were a delegate candidate for Obama. Are you posing as a Republican here in order to slam Clinton? If so, that’s a dangerous gambit. When Blagojevich’s people tried that here (posing as Oberweis supporters to bash Topinka), they wound up with a whole lot of bad press. I’d suggest you come clean right away before I have to track down your IP address.
- I.D.O.T. Bleachers - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 1:46 pm:
Hear the Illinois Tollway’s Chief Engineer Jeff Dailey is resigning and going to Texas in November. This is a good year, Tim Martin resigned from I.D.O.T. and now Jeff Dailey from the Illinois Tollway. Looks like Blagojevich’s house of cards is starting to crumble.
There will be some parties at the Illinois Tollway once Dailey departs for Texas.
Feds must be getting closer!
- True Observer - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 2:00 pm:
I want to see the business about the Obama Delegate myself.
- True Observer - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 2:05 pm:
When you got jurors being read their Miranda Rights as they are deliberating a verdict, you got to wonder about the judge’s motives.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 4:25 pm:
IDOT Bleachers-
Texas is currently a state of opportunity for highway engineers, in comparison to other states like IL. Can’t blame Jeff for making a career move.
- I.D.O.T. Bleachers - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 6:25 pm:
Good for Illinois then!
Proschi, Adieu, Arrividerci, Adios, Shalom. Auf Wiedersehen, Hey Doh to Jeff Dailey!
- archpundit - Wednesday, Oct 10, 07 @ 7:54 pm:
Ummm..is VM arguing Russ Stewart is a liberal Democrat? Because if he is, he might watch out for Stewart’s rage at being called such a name.
He’s a good predictor. Not perfect by any means, but he has a good sense of politics and where the votes are. He’s also a Republican. He just can look beyond that in making his predictions. In this case, I think he’s a bit overly rosy on Nebraska and a couple other cases since Nebraska’s version of Edgar-Kerrey—is thinking hard and deciding and thinking hard and deciding and thinking hard.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Oct 11, 07 @ 11:24 pm:
Rich,I love you like a brother, but are you implying that Sec of State employees were taking bribes for CDLs WITH GEORGE RYAN’S KNOWLEDGE? I read some pretty ridiculous things on these blogs, but if that’s what you’re saying it’s a new record.
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Oct 11, 07 @ 11:25 pm:
I apologize, that last post is mine, and I accidentally neglected to sign my name.