At seven o’clock tonight, CBS 2 will broadcast a live debate (Internet-only) between Jim Oberweis and Chris Lauzen, the two Republican candidates for the open 14th Congressional District seat.
Those two guys really don’t like each other, so this should be a fun one.
* The governor was at an upscale Lake Shore Drive senior center today for a town hall meeting on his amendatory veto of the transit bailout bill.
The response wasn’t completely what he had hoped for, apparently. While the Tribune claims that “most seniors expressed appreciation” for his proposal, there were several questions about why there wasn’t means testing in his transit AV.
Most seniors at the gathering welcomed the free-rides plan. But when Blagojevich asked who would oppose such a benefit, several seniors in the audience of around 30 raised their hands.
*** UPDATE *** Chicago Public Radio has the audio of the governor’s event, featuring some interesting questions from seniors. Or just listen below…
* A recent statewide poll commissioned by Forest County Potawatomi, an Indian tribe in Wisconsin, asked a lot of questions about how Illinoisans felt about gaming expansion.
I’ll have more for subscribers tomorrow, but here are a couple of interesting results to tease you with today…
Now, as you may know, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn has called for a ballot referendum to directly ask Illinois’ voters if the State should allow an expansion of casino-style gambling in Illinois.
Would you Support or Oppose the State of Illinois placing a referendum question on the ballot to determine if Illinois should allow an expansion of casino gambling?
77 percent support a statewide referendum, eh? Interesting.
* And then there was this completely unsurprising yet still troubling result…
Now, I’m going to read you the names of several people who are active in politics. I’d like you to rate your feeling toward each one as either very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative or very negative. If you don’t know the name, just say so.
Rod Blagojevich...
Very Positive: 6
Somewhat Positive: 14
[Total positive: 20]
Neutral: 13
Somewhat Negative: 21
Very Negative: 42
[Total negative: 63]
Do Not Recognize: 2
Don’t Know 2:
Ouch.
[Fako & Associates poll of 801 registered voters, conducted January 3 - 6, 2008, with a margin of error of +/- 3.46.]
* Buried at the very bottom of an AP story about the upcoming trial of Tony Rezko is this bit of ominous news for Barack Obama…
The upcoming trial is starting to attract a national media spotlight because Rezko also was a contributor and fundraiser for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Reporters from The Los Angeles Times and NBC News as well as local newsmen were on hand in Judge Amy J. St. Eve’s courtroom Tuesday.
* And the Times of London points the way to a new website…
The website www.hillaryis44.com, widely viewed as an unofficial arm of the Clinton war room, has taken up the [Rezko] scandal with gusto and is offering a Rezko for Dummies guide on its site. “Imagine this,” it crows. “A Chicago politician wants things he can’t afford. Wifey likes expensive things and wants a big mansion to live in.”
* Brian Ross of ABC News had this report the other day about the Rezko matter…
* MediaMatters, however, claimed Ross broadcast a “misleading account of Obama statements in order to assert inconsistency.”
* And on a somewhat related note, WBBM Radio had a report today on an overlooked bill that passed both chambers last week and is heading to the governor…
llinois is on the verge of joining a plan to elect the U.S. president by popular vote instead of by the all or nothing vote of the electoral college. […]
Under the National Popular Vote plan, the Illinois electoral college would put all its votes behind the candidate with the most votes nation-wide instead of behind the candidate with the most votes within Illinois.
Illinois House Sponsors Robert Molaro and Leshawn Ford say this would have two benefits:
1. When enough states sign on, the President would then be picked on the basis of the popular vote, not on the basis of the electoral votes. This would eliminate the 2000 situation where Al Gore lost the election to George Bush even though Gore had 500-thousand more votes nationwide.
2. And Molaro and Ford say Presidential Candidates now ignore Illinois after the primary because it’s generally considered a democratic state….secure for democrats, lost for republicans, and thus no place for presidential candidates who’ll focus their energy and attention on just a few battle ground states where the electoral vote is in doubt like Wisconsin, Iowa, or Michigan.
Illinois would be the third state to sign onto this plan. New Jersey and Maryland are the others.
The bill can be read here. Zorn has more, including this…
The idea appears to be a nifty way around the difficulty of totally abolishing the electoral college — an idea I’m open to but, honestly, haven’t given much thought in the last 7 years.
* The Chicago Tribune began rolling out their endorsements today with their picks of Democratic congressional candidiates. After spending much of their piece on the 3rd Congressional District zapping Mark Pera for claiming that incumbent Dan Lipinksi “works too well with Republicans,” they got to the meat of the matter…
We were tempted to wash our hands of this race. But the 3rd District is going to be better served by someone who rolls up his sleeves and gets things done, than by someone who goes to Washington spoiling for a political brawl. Lipinski wins that calculation hands down.
There are two other candidates in the race. We like Jerry Bennett, the longtime mayor of Palos Hills, who has been involved in south suburban development efforts. He may surprise us, but based on fundraising and organization it looks like Pera presents the stiffest challenge to Lipinski, and Pera’s campaign style leaves us cold. James Capparelli, a Chicago attorney, also is running.
So, Lipinksi will “roll up his sleeves,” but they “like” Jerry Bennett and Pera will probably put up the “stiffest challenge” to the incumbent. Looks like all three could do a mailer from that one.
* The massive DailyKos website, along with some others, are pushing for 5,000 new contributors for Pera this week. So far, Kos’ Blue Majority page shows a bit over 1,000 contributions, but that doesn’t appear to be just from this week. Kos has been pushing Pera for quite a while. More here and here.
* Aaron Schock was hammered by his fellow Republican candidates on “family values” at last night’s 18th Congressional District debate…
“I think having those conversations that I’ve had with my wife at our kitchen table about our children’s grades, about worrying about the moral climate, about getting them to church on time, informs me in a different way,” Morris said during a televised debate Monday held at WEEK-TV studios and sponsored by that station, the Journal Star and the League of Women Voters.
Throughout the debate Morris continued to promote his family background as a benefit to the job.
* Jim McConoughey wouldn’t go so far as to criticize the unmarried Schock for being sans family, but got in a dig nonetheless…
“As an experienced family man and a father, my life is richer and I make different types of decisions based on having a family.”
* Schock’s response made sense…
“What I think is important to note is that you can’t be everything to everybody,” Schock said. “You can’t be 60 years old and represent seniors, you don’t have to be a farmer to represent farmers and you certainly don’t have to be married with children to represent families or have family values.”
* WEEK-TV has more on the debate here. The debate will supposedly be posted sometime today on WEEK’s website. It’s not there as I write this.
* The Peoria Pundit thought McConoughey won. C.J. Summers at Peoria Chronicle wrote: “I thought Schock really shined at this debate.”
Schock does not run from his age. His campaign plays up his advanced life story, which includes his election to the Peoria School Board at 19 and the state House at 22.
“People want to know, at 26 years old, are you prepared to run for Congress, are you capable of serving in Congress,” Schock said. “In many cases, I think I’ve had to work harder and perform better than my colleagues simply to prove that I’m up to the task.”
* From a press release…
Today the campaign of Bill Foster for Congress announces that NARAL Pro-Choice America endorses his candidacy for the 14th Congressional District seat.
I think we’ll make this a weekly thing until primary day.
What sort of mail or other contact have you received from you local legislative/congressional candidates since I last asked this question? Describe the contact(s) and tell us if it influenced your vote at all.
* In the laws of unintended consequence of new laws department…
The Safe Rides program, in which teenagers in suburbs north of Chicago offered rides home to other teenagers on weekend nights, stopped this month because [a new state law] made it illegal for drivers younger than 18 to be on the road after 11 o’clock on Fridays and Saturdays.
Most volunteer drivers were 17.
Oops.
More…
State Senator Jeffrey Schoenberg, Democrat of Evanston, said he would introduce a bill this week in Springfield to rescue the program.
But there’s a problem with Schoenberg’s idea, too, as explained by Sen. John Cullerton, who wrote the original bill…
“We have to make sure we draft it tight enough,” Mr. Cullerton said on Monday, noting that the program has critics who accuse it of encouraging teenage drinking.
OK, good point. Then again…
The program, which the Boy Scouts of America sponsors, has been at New Trier for about 15 years.
* Late yesterday, I told you that Rep. Julie Hamos was hinting at possible changes to the governor’s amendatory veto of the mass transit bailout proposal, or at least a trailer bill. She opened up a bit more to ABC-7…
Hamos says that what she is willing to do is possibly alter Governor Blagojevich’s proposal and maybe give free rides to seniors at a certain income level or giving free rides to seniors during off-peak hours.
The Constitution doesn’t specifically stop legislators from rewriting an amendatory veto, but it does allow the governor to decide if the changes conform to his suggestions in the orginal AV. Then again, they might just run a companion bill that contains the changes.
* The Metra and CTA fare hikes could give the General Assembly some political cover for limiting the senior discounts, without completely doing away with them…
But free rides for senior citizens — a benefit that could kick in as soon as April 1 — may require a “modest fare increase” in 2009, said Ron Huberman, Chicago Transit Agency’s president.
* And this little revelation doesn’t help the governor’s case much….
Chicago Transit Authority president Ron Huberman says Governor Rod Blagojevich never discussed plans with him to offer free rides on public transportation to senior citizens.
* Without a doubt the most underreported aspect of why the mass transit bailout was having so much trouble in both legislative chambers was the Realtors Association’s lobbying effort against the real estate transfer tax. The bill allows the Chicago city council to approve the tax hike, but the Realtors and many legislators (including Rep. Kevin McCarthy) were worried that the idea could spread to the suburbs. Not only that, but with the real estate crisis going on right now, the Realtors believed this was the wrong tax hike at the wrong time.
* Even so, most aldermen knew about the proposal, or at least should have known, so their surprise is a bit disingenuine…
Chicago aldermen who pushed Springfield for a Chicago Transit Authority rescue plan are close to getting what they wanted. But if the deal receives final approval from the General Assembly this week, they’ll also get a political hot potato some had not bargained for: a vote to raise a tax that’s triggered whenever a house or other property is sold. […]
“I won’t vote in favor of it, but I can’t vote against it,” Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) said Monday. “I’ll just walk off the [council] floor.”
Spoken with true courage, I’m sure. Stone is up for reelection as ward committeeman next month, and it shows. His opponent, Sen. Ira Silverstein, supported the bailout bill.
“It’s going to be a very difficult thing to ask people who have just gotten through voting for our budget to come back and increase the tax on an industry that is already crippled,” said Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s unofficial City Council floor leader.
“People are not buying and selling homes right now. They’re losing homes. If the market is going to be dead for as long as they’re saying it’s going to be — at least another year — this is not a tax that’s going to perform the way they need it to perform. It might be better to look elsewhere.”
* But…
Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) predicted that aldermen would “swallow hard” and approve the increase to keep CTA buses and trains rolling. […]
Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) predicted that the transfer tax would pass with more votes to spare than Daley’s property tax increase. That 29-to-21 vote was reminiscent of Council Wars, the 1980s power struggle that also split aldermen 29 to 21.
“You don’t actually feel this tax until you buy or sell something. … If it’s going to help the CTA and help seniors get free rides, it should be an easy” vote, Munoz said.
* More transit stuff, compiled by Kevin…
* Rich Miller: Governor’s new transit plan proves it’s always about him
* The AP’s John O’Connor has a great preview story today of Tony Rezko’s trial. Go read the whole thing, but I’ll post some excerpts here.
Let’s take a look at Stu Levine and his desire to remain on the Teachers Retirement System and Illinois Health Facilities Planning boards, so he could continue receiving kickbacks and other graft…
In a telephone conversation taped by the government, Levine’s reason for “accommodating” the new [Blagojevich] administration through Rezko was simple.
“He could knock me out and I need his people to get the stuff done,” Levine said, meaning he could be bounced off the boards without Rezko’s backing. “But I brought him stuff that he didn’t know existed and he’s makin’ money.” […]
But Blagojevich came in, promising to clean house, and Levine knew his time was short. He would not get reappointed to the TRS board unless he shared the spoils with Blagojevich’s people. And soon, with board appointments expiring, Rezko would be able to stack the boards with his candidates, Levine said. After the April 2004 meeting with Rezko, he thought his new friend was grateful to have Levine as a “player.”
“I could have succeeded without him, but of course only for a limited period of time,” Levine said in a taped conversation. “He said, ‘Well, what do you need to do to proceed?’ I said, ‘Your permission.’ (He) loved that.” […]
The strange political hybrid that allegedly masterminded the scheme began when Levine and another supposed conspirator approached Rezko and Kelly in 2003 about Blagojevich’s proposal to consolidate several pension funds, including TRS, according to the filing. The merger would have left Levine on the street.
Rezko and Kelly stopped the merger and made sure Levine was reappointed when his term ended in 2004 in exchange for a piece of the action, the government says.
O’Connor’s story is a marvelous refresher course for anyone who is interested in the Rezko trial. Like I said above, go read the whole thing.
“State Comptroller Dan Hynes reports that as of Jan. 1, Illinois had more than $1.7 billion in bills it couldn’t pay. That total never before has been so high at the midpoint of a state fiscal year.”
* Early voting blitz — 3,990 breaks record; more here
* IHSA approves steroid tests for student-athletes in postseason
* Illinois AG releases MySpace sexual offender report
[T]he previous high for first-day balloting during Early Voting in Chicago was 890 ballots cast before the Nov. 2006 election. The daily average for that election was 1,378 ballots during Early Voting.
Today, the first day of Early Voting for the 2008 General Primary, an unofficial total of 3,990 ballots were cast in the City of Chicago. Historically, the lowest counts of ballots have been the very first few days and on weekends.
That sound you heard was incumbents all over the city gulping very hard. Barack Obama’s candidacy may be a blessing to some, but his very powerful “change” message might prove fatal for a few entrenched incumbents who have thought for months that their reelections are in the bag.
* 5:57 pm - The Illinois House will return at eleven o’clock on Thursday. I’m figuring the Senate comes back that day, too, to deal with the governor amendatory veto of the transit bailout bill. CBS-2’s Mike Flannery has this update…
The bill’s chief sponsor, Evanston’s Rep. Julie Hamos, warned CBS 2 that as many as six members who voted for it last week are now saying they may vote no on Blago’s rewrite.
Remember this valuable lesson: Legislators are a lot like soldiers. They grumble very loudly but, in the end, usually do what they’re told.
* 6:04 pm - Jim Oberweis goes way negative on Chris Lauzen in his new radio ad…
* 6:11 pm - Larry at ArchPundit criticizes Illinois NOW for their attack on Barack Obama in a post entitled: “Illinois NOW, the Essence of Hypocrisy“. [Note: Profanity alert.]
The essence is that I-NOW is slamming Obama and touting its refusal to endorse him when they endorsed Lisa Madigan for doing the same thing. Larry adds this bit of history…
Illinois NOW also stood by Blair Hull when information came out about domestic violence in his divorce dispute.
Present votes engineered by Planned Parenthood? Very, very bad, except when it’s somebody else making those same votes. Spousal abuse? Why, that’s no problem at all.
*** 8:38 pm *** I just got off the phone with Rep. Julie Hamos. She claimed she never said that six members might flip to “No” on the transit bill. Hamos said that was the number of people she gave to the governor’s office to flip to “Yes” last week.
Hamos said people have been “playing games” with the bill all day, but when asked whether she thought the bill would die when all is said and done, Hamos paused for a bit and said she didn’t think it would perish.
She also said there could be another chapter written this Thursday when the Legislature reconvenes. Asked if that meant the General Assembly might send the bill back to the guv with further changes, Hamos said, “Stay tuned,” and repeated the same answer when asked again.
“I’d say today that it is not going to get 60 votes,’’ [Rep. Marlow Colvin] said Monday. “But that is before the Speaker has really started working it, and asking people to come on board. And I think he is going to be doing that to avert any kind of shutdown.” […]
Though she said she doesn’t like the way the governor is trying to strong-arm the legislature into approving the free-ride program, state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan (R-Des Plaines) said she still plans to vote for the transit bill this week. But she said it’s not like her older constituents are clamoring for her support of the bill. […]
“I don’t think anybody wants to see this blow up,’’ [Rep. Julie Hamos] said. “It’s too dangerous.”
* Apparently, the Southtown-Star moved my syndicated column back a day this week. I’m not gonna wait for them to post this excerpt…
I was assured last Wednesday night that Gov. Blagojevich is definitely running for reelection. The governor’s Thursday announcement [about seniors riding free in every mass transit district in Illinois] sure looks like his first step down that road.
* The Peoria Journal-Star takes a closer look at some claims made in the three 18th Congressional District candidate bios. Here’s the first part of Aaron Schock’s biography that’s examined…
Claim #1: Graduated from Bradley University in two years with a finance degree.
Reality: Schock entered college with two years of college-level credits. He completed all his Richwoods High School credits by his junior year. As required, he took physical education his senior year, and classes during the fall semester at Illinois Central College totaling more than 20 hours. He also took more than 20 hours in the spring.
Before entering Bradley University, placement tests garnered Schock an additional 15 hours of credit. Therefore, he entered Bradley as a freshman with junior standing.
So, since Bradley University isn’t mentioned in the ad, he should change that to three years, not two. It’s still quite an accomplishment, but resume padding is always something to look out for in any candidate.
“I’m not running for President of the United States, I’m running to be a member of Congress and if our founding fathers would have designed it to be an old men’s club, they wouldn’t have set the constitutional limit at 25,” said state Rep. Aaron Schock, 26, about what to tell his detractors who claim he’s not ready for prime time in Congress.
The U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787. At that time, the life expectancy was less than 38 years old, putting congressmen then at least above middle age. Today’s life expectancy, however, is approaching 80 years old.
To be fair to Schock, the life expectancy statistic used is a bit skewed because so many people died at birth or shortly thereafter back then. Thomas Jefferson lived to the ripe old age of 83. George Washington lived to see his 69th birthday. Ben Franklin was 84 when he died. And John Adams was 90 when he bought the farm.
* Mayor Daley asks about the governor’s amendatory veto to give free transit rides to senior throughout the state…
“Why is this thrown in at the last minute? That’s all I’m saying. Fine, I understand it; I mean, they wanted to give seniors without, you know, a free pass, fine. But again, why is it thrown in at the last minute? We’ve had all year discussing it.”
* Here’s my answer, from my weekly syndicated newspaper column….
The simple answer is: It’s all about him. It’s always all about him.
The governor loves to ride in on his big white horse and save the day, and that’s just what happened time after time on this months-long mass transit fiasco. He’s implemented two “magic money” extensions to ward off two threatened “doomsday” scenarios of layoffs and route cuts, and afterwards patted himself on the back so hard he almost severed his spine. Meanwhile, he had this trick up his sleeve that could’ve been implemented long ago if he was a “normal” leader. As we all know by now, this man is anything but normal.
Blagojevich poked his finger in the Legislature’s eye by announcing the break for seniors out of the blue. Executing it not with a joint agreement, but with the Zorro-like slash of his amendatory veto pen. Take that!
And then came the declaration that he alone had taken lemons and squeezed them into lemonade.
* And the SJ-R riffs on the governor’s drink of choice…
Governor, lemonade is much better in May than in January.
“Mayor Daley just yesterday expressed some concern that maybe the legislators won’t get back down to Springfield to bail out the CTA and give seniors free rides on buses. Well, Mayor Daley shouldn’t be so pessimistic.”
* And…
“It’s hard to be a senior citizen in Chicago these days,” Blagojevich… “Man, it’s tough. Costs are going up. The price of everything is goin’ up. Mayor Daley just raised your property taxes.” The crowd murmured agreement.
“The margin is very slim,” Daley said [of the bill in both chamber]. He added it is unknown whether legislators can return to Springfield this week to work through Blagojevich’s demand. “That’s what we’re concerned about.”
State Rep. Sidney Mathias, a Buffalo Grove Republican, said he didn’t know if he’d vote for the deal again, citing both the need to invest in road, bridge and school building and questioning the governor’s last-minute changes.
Here’s the thing: Whether you agree with the governor or not, or whether you’re even a senior citizen and don’t think this AV is fair, the simple truth is that voting against even a little senior freebie is a political risk. And this is a big one. I doubt this AV will kill the bill. Then again, legislators can be strange sometimes.
“How many of you agree with me that the right thing to do is to give your grandmother a free ride on a bus?” Blagojevich asked.
The question brought huge cheers for the governor at the House of Hope on the South Side, especially from the older generation.
“Why not help that senior citizen on a fixed income, who’s struggling to get by? Why not give her a chance to get a break for once?” the governor continued.
A sales tax windfall would spare CTA and Pace riders fare increases, but Metra leaders pledged Friday to forge ahead with a 10 percent ticket hike in February.
* Rep. Mathias, along with several other suburban Republicans (including three in the Senate), stuck their necks out on that transit bill and then Metra had the ultimate gall to do this? Ridiculous…
“I hope the increase doesn’t affect someone’s vote,” [Mathias] said. “Some (lawmakers) felt they were voting for the bill to prevent a fare increase.”
Metra officials have said previously in a House committee that they couldn’t guarantee no fare increases if the bailout bill passed. But they couldn’t have waited six months or a year?
* More transit stories, compiled by Kevin…
* Chicago-area seniors question cost, need for Blagojevich’s free-ride proposal
* Transit bill makes sales taxes even more complicated across Chicago area
* “The Democrats ought to get their act together.” [Um, what?]
* On Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly and their relationship with Blagojevich: “I made a decision very early on in the Blagojevich administration not to be associated with what they were doing.”
* Why? “Take a look at what happened.”
* On possibly selling Wrigley Field to the state: “I’ve simply read in the media that this was the governor’s idea… What I do know is there seems to be a strong market of buyers wanting to buy the Cubs.”
* On the reason for the governor’s flip-flop on tax hikes: “I suspect that his budget director Mr. Filan told him that it would be very bad for the state budget if we were to enact the governor’s choice which would have taken money out of the state treasury for the RTA.”
* On why the transit agreement took so long: “It took so long because of Gov. Blagojevich’s politics, his style of politics… it’s a politics of confrontation, conflict. It could have been resolved nine months ago.”
* “My expectation is that the Legislature will approve the governor’s proposal for free transit rides for millionaires who happen to be over 65.”
* On his crack about the governor abandoning his campaign promise and why he didn’t just call the guv a statesman and move on: “He’s not exactly a statesman. The governor may be a practicing politician, but he’s not a statesman. Had he been a statesman, this issue would have been resolved nine months ago.”
* On animus towards him from Blagojevich and his administration: “I think there are people in the governor’s office who spend the majority of their day thinking how they can one-up Mike Madigan or make Mike Madigan look bad and they’re really wasting their time. They ought to get about the business of good government policy.”
“On Friday, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said he was worried that the Energy Department might scrap the project if its cost concerns weren’t addressed.”
* Republican candidates more likely to visit state
