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Let’s continue today with our still-unnamed annual contest. I received some late e-mail votes (I probably shut down comments too early last night) so let’s have a runoff between two people who not only received the most votes, but also were supported by the strongest statements of why they should be named as the state legislator who best epitomizes public service. You can just write the name of either favored candidate in your response.
On our second and third questions today, please back up your vote with an explanation of why you feel this way. Just typing the name won’t count.
Here we go…
1) Who best epitomizes public service: Rep. Frank Mautino or Rep. Julie Hamos?
2) Which Illinois US Congressman, in your opinion, shows true statesmanlike qualities of putting country over party? Explain.
3) Which Illinois union, association, etc. has the most positive impact on Illinois government? Explain.
As before, purely negative or snarky comments will be deleted. If you want to argue with someone else’s choice, fine, but make sure you have your own nominee.
Comments will be closed on this contest at 6 pm tonight.
By an overwhelming margin, the late Don Stephens won the “Most effective local mayor” award yesterday. Also, I didn’t really like any of the names suggested for these awards. I’ll continue to think about it.
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Not in my beautiful park
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Like I’ve said before, I keep hearing that the old Congress Hotel is a prime site for any new Chicago casino. CBS 2 reported the same thing last night, and also reported that Mayor Daley has ruled out other sites that have been discussed…
“Well, it’s not going to be near the lakefront, of course. It’s not going to be in communities, it’s not going to be I Navy Pier, it’s not going to be in my beautiful park, Northerly Island,” he said with a smile and added it would also not be at McCormick Place or Block 37.
“My beautiful park.” Yeah, it was a joke, but humor often masks hard truths.
* Meanwhile, hizzoner pushed again for an immediate transit bailout…
Reacting for the first time to a new gambling expansion package, Mayor Daley Tuesday cautioned that winning legislative approval for new casinos should not be tied to a bailout of the CTA.
The mayor warned a complicated gambling deal — even the one that emerged Monday with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s reluctant support — will take time to work out. […]
“The solution is to pass a transit bill immediately,” he said. “Pass it.”
But the Republicans aren’t buying into that yet…
“People will be very reluctant to put a vote on a massive gaming bill without knowing what benefits their districts derive, and I don’t blame them for that,” said state Rep. Brent Hassert (R-Romeoville), the House GOP’s point man on gambling.
* The Daily Herald editorialized today against Speaker Madigan’s proposal to allow middle class women and minorities to buy into any new casinos. The DH echoed state Sen. Rickey Hendon’s argument that the plan would be unfair to wealthy women and minorities…
Madigan’s plan to assure minority and female casino ownership by letting them buy into a $5,000 ownership lottery is odd on its face. It could make it difficult for women and minorities with substantial financial backing to get an ownership share.
* The Tribune, however, cuts to the chase of this argument…
Too often in Illinois, though, “minority participation” has meant the same wealthy people getting wealthier: Time and again, they land the set-asides. Poor and middle-class people? They may not share in this public-supported bounty.
Case in point: The failed Emerald Casino project included set-aside stakes for minorities and women. We’ll award a tall stack of casino chips to the political insider who first details how that group came together: Chaz Ebert (wife of Roger), former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle, auto dealer extraordinaire Al Johnson, Connie Payton (widow of Walter), Sandra Degnan (wife of longtime Daley operative Tim), and so forth.
That privileged group epitomizes one problem that can flow from mandated set-asides: The investors start to think of themselves as beneficiaries entitled to win big, even if they voluntarily put their money into a shoddily run company.
In the wake of Emerald’s collapse, the minority and women investors have been demanding to get their money back — from Illinois taxpayers, no less. And Jones has been angling furiously for a way to bail them out. […]
[Wealthy minorities and women] can band together as investors and compete with other bidders for one or more casino licenses. That opportunity is wide-open to the rich people whose alleged victimhood upsets Hendon. Madigan’s plan takes care of less-than-wealthy people who just want a stake in the game.
* On the other hand, former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle, was one of those Emerald investors and he made a good point in an op-ed this year…
Emerald was forced to sell off 20 percent of the company to minorities, so they mixed in with us their own “illegitimate minorities” — shareholders placed in the minorities category by Emerald’s management who are fronting for someone other than themselves or have undisclosed political ties. And they had us fund the entire deal. That way, if things went awry, it would be our money at stake and not their own. The press feels there’s no way we could have that type of wealth and gotten into this deal without being “connected.” I offer no apologies for having the money to invest; truth is, many Chicagoans watched me earn it. As for who is or isn’t politically connected, there is a team of Gaming Board investigators paid by your tax dollars to weed out connected and corrupt investors trying to get into gaming. They’ve already identified and announced more than a few who are corrupt. Still, the media ignore those names and continue to list mine, Chaz Ebert and Connie Payton as wrongdoers just for effect, when we’ve never been accused. Even when a clause in the new gaming bill floated in Springfield included the minorities, the press led an outcry, blurring the line between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” minorities by reporting the clause was written for “Emerald shareholders,” when the bill specifically singled out women and minorities for inclusion.
* More gaming/capital/transit stuff…
* Federal transit aid in jeopardy over gridlock
* Feds to Metra: Transit gridlock might kill rail upgrades, new projects
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Congressional roundup
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This may have sounded like a great idea at first. Combine a hockey game with a political debate for candidates in the Peoria area’s 18th Congressional District. But, as Gov. Rod Blagojevich discovered, hockey and politics just don’t mix…
Candidates answered questions from Rivermen hockey fans in a meeting room at the Peoria Civic Center during a political forum before Tuesday’s game. The cost for the event was $5, which also included admission to the game, though only about a dozen people took advantage of the incentive.
Still, credit where credit is due.
* Meanwhile, state Rep. Aaron Schock has lined up more endorsements in the 18th District GOP primary…
U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, was unable to attend [a Quincy event] due to icy roads, but spoke to the crowd at Schock’s fundraiser by telephone.
“We (Republicans) are in the minority because we kind of lost our way,” Shimkus told reporters in a teleconference.
Shimkus said he believes Schock and other young, energetic Republicans can reconnect with conservatives and with a majority of the nation’s voters.
Still no word yet from the incumbent Schock hopes to replace, Ray LaHood. He’s ducked the endorsement issue so far, but he may not be able to keep that up.
* In another district, two Democratic candidates faced off in a Tribune debate yesterday…
The two Democrats seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) from his North Shore seat clashed on the Middle East and where they live Tuesday in their first meeting of the campaign season.
Former White House adviser Jay Footlik criticized Democratic primary opponent Dan Seals for saying during his previous congressional run that he would support “peace” in a conflict between Iran and Israel.
“His statement saying that he’d ‘come down on the side of peace’ suggests to me that he may not know what to do,” Footlik said during an hourlong appearance before the Chicago Tribune editorial board. “And I don’t know if he necessarily has the experience to provide the kind of support that Israel and our other crucial allies in that region need from the United States.”
The district is 20 percent Jewish, so the Israeli question is important there.
The two candidates really don’t like each other and the Tribune editorial board “debate” is one of the first times that they’ve agreed to appear together.
* Seals lives just outside the district (as he did when he ran last year), and had a pretty good response for why he hasn’t moved into the 10th…
“If I was a millionaire I could certainly just pick up and buy a new home, [but] I’m not a millionaire, and if you want more millionaires in Congress, I’m not your man,” Seals said.
Footlik, who has made an issue of Seals’ residency, was then forced to admit that he only rents a home in the district. Oops.
* And, finally, 11th Congressional District Republican hopeful Tim Baldermann “officially” kicked off his campaign this week with a shot at one of his primary opponents, Jimmy Lee. Baldermann is vying to replace retiring GOP Congressman Jerry Weller…
[Baldermann] said he understood Lee has apparently donated to the political campaigns of both Chicago Democratic Mayor Richard J. Daley and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, also a Democrat.
“I think the reason he’s donated to those campaigns is because he’s from Chinatown - a resident of Chinatown in the city of Chicago, and it’s a fairly Democratic area,” Baldermann said.
“It’s my understanding he recently took up an address in Utica. I don’t know if he resides there. It would make sense if he has no connections with the 11th Congressional District. He’s from Chicago. I don’t know what his motivation was.”
Partisanship, race-baiting and Chicago-bashing all in one sentence. Wow.
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Morning shorts
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* Purchase tickets here for the December 16th performance of “No-El, Or How the Blagojegrinch Stole Christmas” - Our Capitol Fax holiday party
* Editorial: Casear’s wife
No doubt Mrs. Blagojevich performed work in exchange for her real estate commissions. Personal friendships also may have helped her land business from people with state connections. She grew up in politics, so she obviously has connections of her own.
Still, it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that the governor’s family is making money from people who might expect more than just their thanks. The Blagojeviches don’t have to go as far as Julius Caesar did — he divorced his wife, Pompeia, when she was involved in scandal. But they should remember what he said: “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”
* Illinois horse-slaughtering plant plans appeal of state law
A series of lower-court decisions upheld a law signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in May that effectively shut down the plant by banning the import, export, possession and slaughter of horses for human consumption in Illinois. Cavel, which is based in Belgium, challenged the ban on constitutional grounds, claiming the law violated interstate and foreign commerce rules because the meat is shipped overseas. The plant had been in operation for about 20 years and had 60 employees.
* Don’t like sales tax hike? How about tax on booze?
* Tribune Editorial: Maria Pappas’ surprise
As Cook County Board members gather Wednesday to mull tax increases, county Treasurer Maria Pappas has a sweet surprise for them: millions of dollars in bonus revenue that she already has collected thanks to sheer imagination — the kind of imagination Cook County has to exhibit before it asks taxpayers for one more penny.
Pappas is the pariah that other county executives love to loathe. She relentlessly modernizes and downsizes. Since she took office in 1998, she has reduced her employee head count from 258 to 131. Her total budget, including a terrific automation group that did not exist back then, is lower than it was when she arrived.
Pappas will tell the board that the fees she is now generating will cover a good 60 percent of what it costs to run her office. Pending a ruling from the state’s attorney that it is legal for her to allocate the money, she will slash the amount she requests from the County Board — from taxpayers, really — by a corresponding $7 million.
* Cook Co. stops paying for non-residents prescriptions
Health services bureau spokesman Sean Howard estimated those prescriptions cost Cook County $5 million last year. The burden had become too great to continue serving those who don’t live in the county, he said.
Koehler and officials in other counties said Tuesday they are optimistic residents turned away by Cook County could participate in programs that provide federal money to assist with drug costs.
* Chicago State copier buys were inside deal
State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago), whose district includes Chicago State, was critical of the copier purchase and the lax oversight by the university’s board of trustees.
“If somebody was working there and started a business, it is wrong and it is unethical to simply give him a contract and not put it out for bid,” she said. “It is more than wrong. It is a disgrace.
* One of the ‘hardest jobs on the planet,’ Chicago Housing Authority chief; more here and here
The CHA is also broadening its work-or-study mandate. Under a policy to be decided next week, 5,000 able-bodied adults who live in traditional public housing would be required to work or attend school at least 15 hours a week immediately and 20 hours a week by 2010. Those who didn’t make a good-faith effort would be evicted, beginning in July.
* Chicago may ban chicken as pets
The Chicago City Council is expected to vote today on a proposal to ban chickens, a former barnyard denizen that is pecking its way into cities across the country as part of a growing organic food trend among young professionals and other urban dwellers.
Chicken lovers say the birds make great pets, don’t take up much backyard space and provide tasty, nutritious eggs.
* West Chicago says ex-official secretly installed spy software on city computer
* More speeders on new I-355 extension
They see the wide, open lanes. They feel the fresh, virgin pavement. They experience the light, sometimes non-existent, traffic.
It’s a perfect recipe for speeding.
“A lot of them thank me for stopping them,” Janecek said. “Because it is such a smooth road, you can get lost in your drive.”
The bucolic forests and farms up and down the road also are creating admirers.
Unfortunately, they are behind the wheel.
* Chicago Reader: A little TLC for the Reader
The new leaner, meaner, more melancholy Reader has come in for a little sympathy from New York Times media writer David Carr. A former editor of the Reader’s sister paper in Washington, D.C., the Washington City Paper, Carr’s Monday column tells the story of the Reader’s devastating layoffs last week (City Paper took the same kind of beating) by focusing on John Conroy, one of the four writers dismissed here. Last week, after the city of Chicago reached settlement agreements with four men who had accused its police officers of torturing them, Conroy received a note that may have given him some consolation.
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