FLASH: Administration sources, RTA Chairman Jim Reilly and House Speaker Michael Madigan all claim the federal government has approved the governor’s temporary mass transit bailout proposal.
* CTA calls off “doomsday”
* Blagojevich again calls for capital plan in conjunction with transit deal
* Raw audio of the governor’s press availability from Metro Networks…
[audio:GovernorBlagojevich1102.mp3]
* The governor wants a leaders meeting on Tuesday
* “BIMP” bill expected to be on governor’s desk by the end of today
Scroll down for more info.
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* 10:10 am - The House’s nine o’clock session is about to start. Listen here.
* 10:46 am - Transit fare hike on the way? From WBBM Radio…
Senate Republican leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) wrote RTA Chairman Jim Reilly this week that “a modest and reasonable fare increase for riders who benefit must be part of the solution.”
In his reply, Reilly wrote Watson, “Certainly if the Governor and four leaders agree on that approach we would most definitely implement it.”
How much, or when, the fare hike would occur is unclear.
RTA Executive Director Steve Schlickman reiterated that position Thursday.
“If the legislature decides to actually mandate a specific fare increase for next year, obviously we will adhere to that,” Schlickman said before leaving for Springfield to join Reilly and CTA President Ron Huberman, in making last-minute pitches for votes.
You can read Chairman Reilly’s entire letter to Sen. Watson here.
* 11:30 am - I’m not sure if we had this here or not. From Hiram’s blog…
Yesterday’s Daily Journal reports that Robert Gorman will be dropping out of the 11th District Democratic Primary, leaving Illinois State Senator Debbie Halvorson uncontested in the primary to succeed outgoing Congressman Jerry Weller.
*** 11:38 am *** The Tribune has some details of the governor’s proposed temporary transit bailout proposal and react…
Seeking to avert a transportation “Doomsday,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich today authorized a direct grant to the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace for $27 million to maintain operations until the end of the year, according to a letter he sent to lawmakers today.
Blagojevich made clear that the short-term funding is not a loan. “It is new money we are providing them to keep serving their riders,” he wrote. […]
CTA Chairman Carole Brown said the governor had offered $21 million to her agency from a federal grant for capital expenditures.
But she said it was not yet clear if the federal government would allow money that is supposed to go for capital expenditures to be diverted to operating expenses.
The governor also sent a letter to House members regarding this proposal. Read it here.
* 12:57 pm - The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s monthly state revenue report is out. Read it here.
* 1:42 pm - I meant to post something about this and got distracted. From the AP, the House has passed a BIMP bill…
In another twist in the state budget drama, the Illinois House has approved legislation to spare schools from financial hardship.
The measure authorizes spending about $550 million in additional education money. It passed 111-0 and now goes to the Senate, although there’s no guarantee the Senate will act soon. […]
That measure has been held up for months amid arguments between the House and Senate.
* 1:47 pm - From a brief House debate on transit today…
On the House floor, Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), who leads the House mass-transit committee, said she understands the governor’s proposal would take “leftover” money available from a bond fund. Because bond funds are usually used for things like buying buses or construction projects, there are technical questions that must be reviewed and approved by federal officials before the money can be used by the transit agencies, she said.
“I personally wish the governor might have checked with them first,” Hamos said. “That would have been better. But we’re waiting . . . because I think this whole ‘Doomsday’ scenario depends on this one critical fact.”
* 2:04 pm - I just talked to a House Democrat from Chicago who made a pretty good point and gets our “Quote of the Week” award…
“We’re waiting on a Republican administration in Washington, DC at 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon to bail out a Democratic governor.”
* 2:09 pm - Despite the above pessimism, a Blagojevich spokesperson just claimed that progress was being made in the negotiations.
* 2:19 pm - Man, this is like watching paint dry on a bomb that’s about to explode.
*** 2:23 pm *** Two administration sources claim the federal government has approved the governor’s short-term bailout plan. An official announcement is expected shortly.
*** 2:25 pm *** RTA Board Chairman Jim Reilly just told reporters that it’s a done deal.
*** 2:27 pm *** House Speaker Michael Madigan is speaking on the floor of the House about the temporary bailout plan. Listen here.
Madigan confirmed the above reports. Madigan will adjourn the House today. Madigan said he and Tom Cross have already met today on the gaming and capital plan and will meet “quite frequently” over the next seven to ten days to work out a final deal.
Madigan said the House will not meet Monday.
Madigan: The governor will transfer $27 million of Series B bond money to RTA. It will then offset the use of federal capital money for operating purposes, which they’ve been doing for a few years.
*** 2:40 pm *** Governor Blagojevich will hold a news conference outside his office at 2:50.
*** 2:58 pm *** Statement from RTA Board member Judy Baar Topinka, who ran against Gov. Blagojevich last year…
“To give him and the leaders yet another extension is just to give them more time to waste. I can’t believe that he has allowed the issue to come to this when there was plenty of time to straighten it out early on. To make people dependent upon public transportation ride this roller coaster of they have a bus, they don’t have a bus, is really insensitive and sad as it leaves nothing but anxiety and fear out there. He didn’t have a transportation component in his campaign, he has no plan now.”
“We are not moving forward with the service cuts and fare increases,” Karen Rowan, the general counsel for CTA, told reporters Friday afternoon.
*** 3:11 pm *** Blagojevich statement…
Governor Rod R. Blagojevich announced this afternoon the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace accepted a $27 million direct grant to maintain operations until the end of the year. The short-term financial assistance package will ensure that transit riders in the Chicago area will be able to continue relying on the service they need while lawmakers work to pass a plan that provides long-term funding for mass transit as well as funding for infrastructure projects statewide.
“Now that the CTA and Pace accepted the $27 million in short-term assistance I authorized today, transit riders in the Chicago area will be able to continue relying on the service they need while we continue our negotiations on a plan that will ultimately result in stronger and safer roads, bridges, schools and mass transit systems across Illinois,” said Governor Blagojevich. “There is general consensus that a mass transit plan for the Chicagoland region should be passed in conjunction with a capital plan that would meet infrastructure needs across the state. The leaders believe that this can be completed in the near future.”
The $27 million grant will come from state transportation capital funds. $21 million will be directed to the CTA and $6 million to Pace. The additional state capital funds will free up allocated federal capital money that can then be used for operational needs related to preventative maintenance and para-transit. The transit agencies have used federal capital funds for preventative maintenance and para-transit operations in the past. By replacing the converted federal capital money with State capital money, there will be no loss to either CTA or Pace’s capital plan.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) said the stopgap funding is “in the interest of preventing a shutdown.”
“This may not be the best solution, but it is what is here and now and available,” Cross said.
*** 3:30 pm *** Raw audio of the governor’s remarks, kindly provided by the fine folks at Metro Networks…
[audio:GovernorBlagojevich1102.mp3]
*** 3:32 pm *** The governor did not answer questions, but says he’s invited the four legislative leaders to a Springfield meeting next Tuesday at 11 am.
*** 3:52 pm *** The Senate Executive Committee has passed the BIMP bill. The full Senate is expected to pass it later this afternoon. Exec is discussing mass transit now and then the full chamber will meet. I’m told that’ll be in about 45 minutes or so.
*** 4:25 pm *** The Senate is convening. Listen here.
*** 4:32 pm *** The BIMP passed the Senate without debate.
* Yesterday, I told you that the comptroller’s office was claiming that the governor had not followed through on his September pledge to provide a temporary bailout to the RTA/CTA. An initial $37 million was paid, but the rest was not distributed, according to the comptroller. RTA Chairman Jim Reilly also said that all the promised cash hadn’t been received.
The revelation was important because the governor is planning to announce the details of yet another temporary transit bailout today. The CTA’s “doomsday” is Sunday, and the RTA/CTA say they don’t want another temporary fix, which the governor derided yesterday as ridiculous.
The governor’s PR staff worked overtime yesterday to convince other reporters not to write about the alleged failure to disburse the original temporary bailout money. I also received this e-mail last night from one of the governor’s spokespersons…
The funding is being disbursed according to the agreement the Dept. of Transportation signed with the RTA: $37 million was immediately released in September when the agreement was reached. We agreed to release an additional $18 million a month in October, November and December. Last week we forwarded the Comptroller’s office the paperwork they need to get the October payment process started. The $18 million November payment will be vouchered to the Comptroller tomorrow.
The comptroller’s office’s specific response to the Blagojevich administration statement that the paperwork was sent last week is unprintable, but it started with a “Bull” and ended with a “t.” And it wasn’t “bullet.” Please, no guesses in comments.
Take a gander at this link. It’s IDOT’s contract obligation document to fund the temporary bailout announced in September. Scroll down and look at two things…
1) It wasn’t signed by IDOT’s bureau of accounting and auditing until Monday, October 29th. That’s this week.
2) It was received by the comptroller’s office yesterday. I’m told it was hand-delivered after I wrote about the snafu on the blog yesterday.
So, the paperwork wasn’t sent to the Comptroller “last week.” It was sent yesterday. And not all the paperwork has been sent. As of yet, no payment voucher has been submitted by the governor’s office, according to the comptroller. No voucher equals no payment.
As long as there’s no voucher, I stand by the story.
*** UPDATE *** The payment vouchers for the October and November temporary bailout payments were hand delivered to the comptroller’s office shortly after this post was put online. So, apparently, the only way that the RTA is gonna keep getting its money is if I bug the governor’s office every month. (Just kidding… kinda)
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* Meanwhile, as I told you yesterday, Downstate Senate Democrats said they couldn’t support a transit bailout until a capital projects bill is approved…
Long-standing rifts between Chicago lawmakers and their downstate brethren were on full display in the Illinois Statehouse Thursday.
As Chicago officials scrambled to put together a plan to bail out their financially strapped mass transit systems before a Sunday deadline, lawmakers from the midsection of the state complained that they also need money for road, bridge and school construction projects in their districts.
Some of the rhetoric was way overheated…
“Why should I help out Chicago when they haven’t helped out my area for the last umpteen years?” added Republican state Rep. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth.
Rep. Mitchell, who has received thousands of dollars from Ameren and its affiliated companies over the years, was bailed out of a big mess by Chicago legislators this year when they helped Downstaters roll back the company’s exhorbitant rate increases. Rep. Mitchell’s rhetoric is not exactly helpful, or true.
* More transit stories….
* Editorial: Day of reckoning in legislature for politicians, state
* I always have a problem when someone wants to blame all woes on just one factor. That being said, noted TIF-hater Ben Joravsky predicted this on Oct. 25th…
I suspect the bulk of the [Olympic Games] will be financed with money from the city’s TIF accounts. That’s why Daley’s proposed tax hikes are so critical. TIFs work by freezing the amount of property tax revenue the parks, schools, county, and other taxing bodies can draw on. As property values rise, the TIF funds get all the additional tax money the property generates. By calling for a hike in the property tax rate, Daley’s accelerating the amount of money pouring into TIF funds at the same time he’s looking to impress the IOC with Chicago’s ability to pay for the games—a master stroke.
City Hall Wednesday took the first formal step toward acquiring property that now is home to Michael Reese Hospital — a 37-acre site that could figure prominently in the city’s plans to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
* And the kicker…
The city also did not specify how it would finance acquisition of the land, which is located west of Lake Shore Drive between 26th and 31st streets. But the property is included within the Bronzeville tax increment financing (TIF) district.
It’s also next to the 47th and King TIF, the 40th and State TIF, the 41st and King TIF, the 35th and State TIF, and the 43rd and Cottage Grove TIF. State laws governing TIFs allow the city to “port” TIF funds — that is, move TIF money from one district to an adjoining one. Including Bronzeville, these TIFS had about $19.3 million in their accounts as of last December.
Remember, TIFs are property tax dollars diverted from the schools and parks and county into slush funds controlled by the mayor. He could use them to rebuild the CTA, hire more teachers, or help offset the city’s $196 [million] deficit, which instead has him calling for a $300 million increase in property taxes and fees. Instead, he’s pouring money into his pipe dream.
Cook County prosecutors are seeking any e-mail correspondence between Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration and a private auditing firm hired by the state to investigate a politically connected drug-testing company accused of stealing more than $2 million from the state.
Cook County Criminal Court Judge James Obbish Thursday ordered that the e-mails be turned over to the court as part of the criminal case against Anita Mahajan, the indicted owner of the now-defunct K.K. Bio-Science.
But Stevens could have decided after just looking at the brief from Ryan’s lawyers that there wasn’t enough to proceed, so the fact that he has asked the government to respond bolstered the hopes of Ryan’s lawyers.
‘’It’s encouraging,'’ said former Gov. James R. Thompson, Ryan’s attorney.
* Sen. Schoenberg urges schools to fight moment of silence law
* How did your school do on state tests? Check and compare
* WurfWhile: Why candidates should work with bloggers
What does a good blog campaign strategy look like? It has a story, the campaign’s story, and it develops it. It respects bloggers by not throwing bogus crap at them and engages bloggers by informing them with regular contact, making them part of the campaign and leveraging their ideas to achieve the campaign’s goals.
*** 3:08 pm *** OK, let’s start a new thread. To refresh your memories, the governor said today that he’s willing to provide another temporary bailout for mass transit in case a permanent solution isn’t found by Sunday; the RTA’s executive director said he won’t accept another temporary bailout; and Comptroller Dan Hynes says the governor has only given the RTA/CTA $37 million out of the promised $91 million temporary bailout.
Clear? OK. Now, onto our next update…
Downstate Senate Democrats are holding a press conference as I write this to say they won’t vote for a transit bailout bill until a capital projects bill is passed. They say that even though they realize transit is important, capital projects are as or even more important, particularly to them.
Also, RTA Chairman Jim Reilly just called. Reilly said that the RTA has “completed all the paperwork” for both parts of the temporary bailout proposal originally promised by Gov. Blagojevich, but that the governor’s office has not yet sent the RTA all their promised cash.. So, any leftover money that hasn’t yet been disbursed yet would not be “new” money.
Asked about his exective director’s comment about not taking another temporary money infusion, Reilly said, “I can’t imagine our agreeing to anything further, but it’s hard to comment until we actually get a proposal from the governor. ” The longer this gets delayed, he said, the more drastic the cuts or the fare increases have to be.
* 10:06 am - Another secret plan perhaps? From a press release…
Prior to departing for Springfield for legislative negotiations, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich will hold an availability with the media to discuss his efforts to resolve the mass transit funding issue and avoid service cuts and fare hikes on Sunday.
WHO: Governor Rod R. Blagojevich
WHAT: Governor Blagojevich will hold media
availability in regards to mass transit funding.
WHEN: 12:00 pm
WHERE: Signature Flight Support O’Hare Airport (VIP
Room)
Patton Road, Building 800
Chicago, IL. 60666
* 10:28 am - This morning, the Pantagraph reported that military veterans were losing guard jobs at National Guard sites in Illinois. Ironically, according to a press release from the governor, November is “Hire a Vet Month”…
Building on his commitment to help the state’s Veterans get the opportunities they have bravely earned, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today encouraged employers to hire the state’s military heroes during “Hire a Vet Month” in Illinois. The state will host several job fairs for Veterans this month and the Governor reminded employers of the new state income tax credit available of up to $600 for every qualified Veteran they hire.
* 10:30 am - Very, very bad news. A thousand high-paying factory jobs in Illinois are about to disappear…
On Thursday, Chrysler planned to announce the elimination of third shifts at the Toledo North plant in Ohio and the Belvidere plant in Illinois in the first quarter of 2008, according to two congressional aides with knowledge of the announcement. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The decisions will eliminate 750 jobs in the Toledo plant, which makes the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro, and 1,000 jobs at the Belvidere plant, where Chrysler assembles the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot.
* 11:36 am - From Save Chicago Transit, here’s the “big board” totals from the first mass transit bailout vote in the House. The bill was put on “Postponed Consideration” so there’s no official roll call on record. As you can see, even if the “absent” members return tomorrow, they still have a long way to go to get to three-fifths…
* 12:19 pm - The House is now in session. Listen here.
* 12:27 pm - The House is adjourning. That was quick. They’re headed to caucus now. Mass Transit Committee is meeting after the caucus.
* 12:47 pm - Every “insider” I talked to yesterday said the exact opposite of this report from WBBM Radio…
Despite some misgivings among House Republicans, the betting among insiders on both sides of the political aisle is that House Speaker Michael Madigan can win passage of a transit bill that contains a quarter of a percent hike in the regional sales tax.
We’ll see what the week brings. Madigan has been burning up the phones, but there are serious impediments ahead, including the governor’s 5 House Democratic “No” votes in Blagojevich’s pocket.
*** 1:00 pm *** Without providing specifics, Gov. Blagojevich told reporters today that he’ll come up with another short-term bailout for mass transit if a permanent solution isn’t approved by Sunday, the CTA’s “doomsday” deadline. Blagojevich reportedly said that permanent solution is looking less and less likely as the deadline approaches.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he’s hoping he and legislative leaders can agree on a transportation bill.
But Blagojevich says - if they can’t - he has a contingency plan to give Chicago-area transit agencies the cash needed to avoid massive service cuts and fare increases slated to start Sunday.
The governor says there’s state money available to delay the crisis, but he stresses that the Regional Transportation Authority and the Chicago Transit Authority will have to accept the cash.
“I was more optimistic at the beginning of the week,” CTA Chairman Carole Brown said Thursday at a news conference after an RTA board meeting. “As we get closer to Sunday, I’m getting more nervous.”
*** 2:00 pm *** Check this out from the Daily Herald…
RTA Executive Director Stephen Schlickman said the board will not support another stop-gap solution, such as temporary funding. Without the transit bill’s passage, he promised the RTA will pull the trigger Sunday as planned.
“I suspect there is a chance for additional votes, but I have no guarantee that it will actually pass,” he said this morning.
“I’m not feeling good at all. We’ve threatened all of our riders with poorer service for higher fares and I think, if we go forward with that, it’ll be an injustice to them.”
[UPDATED: OK, I may have misread his remarks. Still, it’s weird that they would rather see those fare hikes and poorer service go through than accept some money that (see below) they haven’t even received yet.]
*** 2:13 pm *** Well, this is interesting. Most of the original promised bailout money has not yet been distributed to the RTA, according to the comptroller’s office. From a Comptroller Dan Hynes letter to the governor dated October 25th…
As you are aware, our office issued payments for $37,318,100 to the RTA/CTA on September 20 as part of the agreement approved by the Board and authorized by [IDOT]. It was our office’s understanding… that an additional $54 million would be disbursed in two installments within the following two weeks as part of an additional advance…
To date, we have received no such request or any response from your staff to a recent inquiry on the issue…
Congress put a temporary ban on Internet access taxes in 1998 to nurture what was then a fledgling industry. The idea: an Internet free from a tax burden would grow more quickly, encouraging a more productive U.S. economy.
The ban has been extended twice and would have expired Thursday but for an 11th-hour compromise between the House and Senate that will extend the moratorium for seven more years.
Interestingly enough, there was little enthusiasm to impose taxes on Internet service. You enjoy a tax break here you don’t enjoy for access to other communications, such as telephone and cable TV. But this went down to the wire because the Senate wanted to make the ban permanent and the House wanted to extend it just another four years. The Senate OKd the compromise by voice vote last week and the House voted 402-0 to go along Tuesday. President Bush signed the extension Wednesday. […]
The compromise spells out what Internet services would be off-limits for taxes, specifically prohibiting taxes on e-mail and instant messaging services “that are provided independently or not packaged with Internet access.” That leaves the door open to taxes on VOIP (Voice-Over-Internet Protocol) service. That seems fair, because it competes with traditional telephone service, which is subject to taxes. Congress isn’t looking to block local governments from tax sources they already tap. “It’s important to make sure that state and local governments are not deprived of revenues raised on services that have nothing to do with accessing the Internet,” said Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.), a sponsor of the compromise.
Now, the question: Should the Internet remain “tax free”? Explain.
* Bernie Schoenburg has react on the Tribune’s “recall” editorial from last Sunday…
“Governor Blagojevich is doing what he told people he would - coming to Springfield, fighting for working families including expanding access to healthcare and investing more money in education,” said spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch via e-mail.
She also passed along a statement from former GOP Gov. Jim Thompson, saying the Trib’s idea of adding recall would “introduce only more instability in state government and is not worthy of your editorial page.”
Thompson asks if other elected officials would also be subject to recall, and he questions the logic of blaming the governor for what lawmakers did not do.
“The last time I looked at the Illinois Constitution, the Governor had no power to initiate legislation or vote on its passage,” Thompson said.
“I am as disappointed as any other citizen at the lack of progress in Springfield,” Thompson wrote. “The Governor and the leaders of the General Assembly ought to sit down in the Mansion and not leave until they have come to a resolution of the challenges facing this state and its people, but the notion that we should amend our constitution to enable the removal of one official with one voice in the process is foolhardy and dangerous.”
Whenever three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly so direct, the question of whether a Constitutional Convention should be called shall be submitted to the electors at the general election next occurring at least six months after such legislative direction.
And then added…
This is the flaw with the Tribune’s logic. By their own admission, there is no way in hell the general assembly is going to call a constitutional convention: “it’s doubtful legislators could bring themselves to such drastic action.” Here’s a group of people that can’t even approve a budget. Which brings us back to the reason we are in this situation in the first place: the voters don’t really control the political process in this state. Until the people can put together a democratic movement to remove the governor from office, the General Assembly can’t be counted on. And unless the Tribune is going to make recall the centerpiece of their media activism, editorials like this are barely worth the paper (or pixels) they’re printed on.
I would add that since the governor was elected to a constitutionally mandated four-year term, it’s highly unlikely that even if the Constitution was changed he could be removed during this term.
Essentially, what the Trib did was take the weasel way out. The edit board never actually called for Blagojevich’s recall, they just listed a bill of indictment and then asked for comments about a solution that is likely impossible anyway. Then they hyped the angry responses they received in a tabloid-style self promotion blitz.
* Disappointingly, Chicago Public Radio is even getting into the Tribune-promotion act, belatedly discovering that Pat Quinn supports the recall concept…
Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn is making a push to let voters recall elected officials. Quinn’s announcement comes just days after the Chicago Tribune editorial board said Governor Rod Blagojevich should be recalled from office.
Four months after receiving a subpoena for the results, an accounting firm hired by the Blagojevich administration refuses to turn over its audit of a company with ties to Gov. Blagojevich — and court documents reveal the administration is controlling the firm’s legal strategy.
In January, Blagojevich requested an audit of the state’s dealings with K.K. Bio-Science, whose owner, Anita Mahajan, was later charged with defrauding the state. Prosecutors say the audit could be used to bring additional charges against Mahajan and get millions back for Illinois.
But accounting firm Crowe Chizek still has not turned over the complete results, according to court documents and sources involved in the investigation.
The governor’s office said Wednesday the records have been turned over. The monthslong delay was because the audit had not yet been completed “and an issue that arose over a provision of state law that prohibits the release of names for DCFS clients,” said Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff.
John Gorman, a spokesman for Cook County State’s Atty. Richard Devine, declined to elaborate on the court filing except to say, “We have had no difficulty receiving the information we sought.”
* Back to the Sun-Times…
The memo asserts an audit of K.K. Bio-Science’s contract with the Department of Children and Family Services has been complete since June. On Oct. 2, a lawyer for Crowe Chizek called Chmelar and said Blagojevich counsel Bill Quinlan Jr. “would handle compliance with the subpoena.”
And on “multiple occasions,” the memo states, “a representative from the Office of the Governor” contacted prosecutor Patricia Woulfe and said “he would direct Crowe to deliver the documents.”
But sources close to the investigation say that not all documents have been turned over. The subpoena ordered the firm to produce everything.
So, if not all documents have been turned over, then why is the state’s attorney saying there haven’t been any problems?
Anita Mahajan, who has had business ties to Gov. Blagojevich’s wife, used lucrative no-bid contracts to steal $2.1 million from taxpayers while lying about her company’s tax status, prosecutors said Thursday. […]
At her bond hearing hours earlier, prosecutors described the enviable position her firm, K.K. Bio-Science, held with the state until it shut down recently. The firm’s contracts with the Department of Children and Family Services “were completely disproportionate” to those of other firms performing the same services, assistant state’s attorney Patricia Woulfe said.
A Chicago banker whose wife is accused of bilking millions from a no-bid state contract has helped raise more than a half million dollars for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaigns since 2001.
Amrish Mahajan was a driving force behind his wife’s drug-screening company, now facing questions about how it kept its long-standing state contract despite troubles with taxes, licensing and years of alleged fraud.
A review of records and dozens of interviews reveal the company was built on Mahajan’s deep Chicago political connections and its government business grew along with his reputation as a power broker in the city’s Indian community.
Prosecutors also have alleged Mahajan used some of the money from her state payments to buy property in Chicago and New York. In at least three of those purchases, Mahajan used Patricia Blagojevich as her agent, but there has been no suggestion the first lady was aware of the alleged scheme.
* Somewhat related stuff…
* State worker fired for leaking report attorney said
* Editorial: Secrecy hurts Inspector General system
Illinois has a moratorium on executions. The U.S. Supreme Court has effectively imposed a national moratorium until it decides whether the most common method of lethal injection used in the states violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
No system of capital punishment will be mistake-proof — ample reason to deny government its use. But the abolition of capital punishment will require a long and arduous campaign to move public opinion.
In the interim, in light of all that we know about the fallibility of capital punishment, the burden should be on death-penalty states to prove they can administer it far better than they have in the past. It’s a burden many of them still cannot meet.
Earlier this fall, LaHood’s political fund donated $2,000 apiece to two of the three Republicans seeking the seat he is abdicating, Jim McConoughey and John Morris. By federal law, that’s the most he can give.
But by mid-October, he’d sent bupkis to Schock. Rumors started. Was LaHood sending a message? Picking favorites? Could it possibly be that someone in this world doesn’t love the young and fair Aaron?
Nope. LaHood said he’d be happy to send $2,000 Schock’s way - just as soon as Schock would formally announce his candidacy. That happened Saturday. LaHood sent his check.
In the weeks leading up to Sandi Jackson’s bid to unseat Beavers, her husband sought federal approval to channel funds from his congressional campaign into her ward battle against Beavers.
The congressman has asked the Federal Election Commission to address whether he can use his campaign funds on a local race “just to be safe,” his spokesman, Rick Bryant, said Wednesday.
The congressman’s Citizens for Jackson fund had $827,869 on hand as of Sept. 30.
* Daley takes the sweet out of his already sour budget
The mayor tightened the bureaucratic belt one more notch as aldermen introduced a flurry of property tax alternatives at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
They include: raising the fine for red-light camera violations from $90-to-$100; increasing from 15 cents to 25 cents a development fee on every square foot of buildable floor area; raising the city tax on consumers who purchase their natural gas from third-party providers and increasing — from 50 to 75 percent — a liquor tax hike that neighorhood bar owners are already screaming about.
Yet another proposal would cut in half — from a dime to a nickel — a proposed tax on each container of bottled water.
