Starting off on the wrong foot
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
Reporters, legislators and a whole lot of others are pretty upset today because the governor will not hold any budget briefings tonight. Historically, off-the-record briefings are held the evening before a budget address, which allows reporters to get their stories ready (or simply break the embargo altogether) and allow appropriations staffs to prepare analyses for their respective caucuses.
So, no briefing means no analyses tomorrow, and no analyses means seriously grouchy legislators. I’ve talked to several today (in the House and the Senate in both parties) who all had about the same response: “This is not a good way to start off the session.”
Indeed.
…Adding… Aaron Chambers notes…
By the time state officials settled on a new state budget last fall, it little resembled the one Blagojevich introduced last spring. The governor’s ambitious plan for universal health care did not pass. Neither did his plan for a gross receipts tax on Illinois businesses (it would have been the largest tax hike in state history). Lawmakers took the budget in another direction. Blagojevich retaliated by cutting more than $400 million of their earmarks and other spending.
When Blagojevich announces his next budget plan on Wednesday, the question will be: How much does his budget plan even matter?
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The setup…
Seventeen-year-olds can serve in the military, drive cars and hold down jobs. But until they turn 18, they cannot vote.
That could change in Illinois if state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, has his way. Lang has proposed a state constitutional amendment to lower the voting age in Illinois to 17. […]
Eleven states already permit 17-year-olds to vote in the primary if they are 18 by the general election. Iowa, Washington and now Illinois have pending proposals to take that a step further and lower the voting age eligibility for all elections. […]
The U.S. Constitution, which lowered the mandatory voting age to 18 in 1971, says only that states must permit citizens age 18 and older to vote.
* The question: Should Illinois lower its voting age? Why or why not? Explain fully.
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Off and running?
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My syndicated newspaper column takes a look at some curious new developments…
The 2008 general election is almost nine months away, but you don’t have to listen too closely to hear some of the first shots of the 2010 governor’s race being fired.
The column goes on to discuss Paul Vallas poking his head up a while back, Joe Birkett’s press conference on ending the death penalty moratorium and Comptroller Dan Hynes’ editorial board tour, which was ostensibly about all the red ink in the budget…
If you think I’m being too cynical about Hynes’ motives, you should also know that Hynes went to the editorial boards armed with statistics showing that the number of uninsured Illinoisans did not decrease at all between 2003 and 2006, despite the money and effort expended by Blagojevich (Barack Obama’s presidential campaign may not have appreciated that shot, considering Obama’s claim to have insured so many people here, but the point has so far been lost in the shuffle). Hynes even talked about the decreases in higher education spending while at the Sun-Times editorial board meeting. This was obviously more than a budget horrors tour.
It concludes…
President George W. Bush has been so unpopular that candidates started actively and openly campaigning to replace him two years before the 2008 election. People wanted him gone, and that partially explains the record turnout by primary and caucus voters in both parties in several states to date. Blagojevich’s unpopularity rivals that of Bush’s, and the same early campaign scenario looks to be playing out here.
The federal corruption trial of Blagojevich fundraiser and adviser Tony Rezko will most likely only heighten interest and activity, particularly now that we know an FBI mole will testify to seeing one of the governor’s aides take a wad of cash at Rezko’s office. The U.S. Attorney’s office claims Rezko had weekly meetings with the governor’s patronage chief, and the feds have announced that Blagojevich administration “insiders” will testify at Rezko’s trial.
Discuss.
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* An entrance fee for state parks shouldn’t be surprising, since Gov. Blagojevich has never been to a state park…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s proposed budget could target everyone from people who use state parks to big businesses.
Although the final touches are still being made to the governor’s latest spending proposal, officials acknowledge they’ve considered imposing entrance fees at state parks as a way to balance the budget in tough financial times.
Word’s going around that the new budget could eliminate nearly all General Revenue Funding for the Dept. of Natural Resources. More at Illinoize.
* Also, there’s bad news on the capital bill front…
State officials haven’t approved a major capital construction plan since 1999, the first year of former Gov. George Ryan’s administration.
Whether they pull it off this year — amid continuing, maybe growing, acrimony in Springfield — is anybody’s guess. But even if they manage to clear their political obstacles, they may an emerging financial one. As Stateline.org reports, bonding — the type of borrowing the state must do to support a capital plan — is getting more expensive.
And here’s the Stateline story…
The problem isn’t with cities or states issuing the securities but with the insurance carriers that promise to pay interest and principal on municipal bonds in the unlikely event that states or local governments default. In recent years, the insurance carriers also began guaranteeing securities based on car loans, commercial real-estate deals, credit card debt and mortgages, including subprime loans that are now defaulting.
The bad loans are threatening to cause securities ratings firms such as Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings Ltd. and Standard & Poor’s to drop the credit rating of the insurers, which in turn would drop the credit rating of bonds they insure.
A ratings drop would drive up costs for state and local governments, forcing them to pay higher interest rates to borrow, or could keep investors away in a time of tight credit.
The story has numerous examples of failed bond sales, including this one…
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the region’s airports and runs the World Trade Center, got a rude shock this week when it tried to get buyers for a special type of bond whose rate is set at frequent auctions. They found no takers.
Bottom line: Even if there is an agreement on expanding gaming to pay for a capital bill, there might be a big problem selling the bonds.
* More budget stuff, compiled by Kevin…
* Fiscal feud
* Blagojevich. Budget. Brick wall. Bang head
* Tribune: ‘My fellow deadbeats . . . ‘
* The danger in big promises
* Lawmakers face budget puzzle
* Budget cuts threaten Pilcher programs
* Local officials say politics aren’t in our favor
* Andy McKenna: Talk of change, but not much walk
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* This is not surprising at all…
More horses are being sent to Mexico for slaughter since last year’s closure of three U.S. horse-slaughter plants in Illinois and Texas for violating state laws.
The grueling cross-border journeys stretch for hundreds of miles with horses crammed in double-decker trailers. They face deaths there that are sometimes far more gruesome than they would have been in the United States; some horses have been killed by repeatedly being stabbed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 45,000 horses went to Mexico for slaughter last year, up from about 11,000 the year before.
“People have no place to go with them,” said Wayne Earven, a former state livestock inspector who was recently selling a horse at a Willcox auction. “To be real honest with you, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet.” […]
But in Mexico, a number of recent media reports and videos show that horses were being stabbed repeatedly to sever the spinal cord.
We can pat ourselves on the back for “saving” horses by banning slaughter in this state at the behest of the “lovely” Bo Derek, but the horses appear to be worse off now than ever before. We’ve essentially exported our problem. Out of sight, out of mind.
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Needless hand-wringing
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Peoria Journal Star, which has a history of allowing some ugly, rancid coments on its site, writes about anonymous commenters…
A male teacher from an area high school stood accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage female student.
The news story, in its online version at pjstar.com, drew the collective scorn of a group of people that seemed gleefully eager to blast the teacher with comments on the Journal Star Web site. Online editor Jerry Smith watched as anonymous rumor followed anonymous rumor. Invective followed invective. Hate piled atop hate.
Smith pulled the plug.
“I took down all the comments and made it impossible for any new ones to be added,” Smith said. “I’d had enough. It was all way over the top.”
* I was shocked when I read that piece. Why allow even one hate-filled, rumor-mongering comment? One just leads to more when commenters figure the green light is on, and that will likely lead to a flood.
Comment policing can be a pain, but plenty of bloggers seem to accomplish it without too much trouble, and they’re mostly one-person shops. Counting my intern, Kevin, we’ve got two sets of eyeballs trained on comments here, but even we can’t be around all the time. Commenters do a pretty good job of restraining themselves here, but it wasn’t always this way. I moved to a WordPress platform mainly so I could block and filter the goofballs.
Instead of whining about nasty anonymous commenters, just ban them from posting. And crack down on the idiots right away, rather than let things get out of hand.
It’s really not that difficult, and it’s worth it if you want to run a respectable shop.
* The Tribune’s public editor explains why that paper shut down comments on some stories, including political stories…
Earlier this week, the Tribune shut down comment boards on its Web site for all political news stories. It also took down comments on an opinion column about Muslims, and on a story about the Illinois governor and a story about a violent crime in which a child was killed.
Those are the latest on the list of volatile topics — including race, immigration and rape — that bring out anonymous writers who are so nasty, obscene and racist that the boards were beginning to read like a community of foul-mouthed bigots.
One writer started a rumor about an affair between two candidates for local office; others made salacious allegations about candidates and corruption.
Frankly, I thought the Tribune pre-approved comments on political stories, because when I’ve commented about a factual error in the pieces the comments have never appeared.
* Billy Dennis has this observation about what happened after he got tough with the morons…
Another effect is that fewer comments are being made here. And my hit counts and page views are down. That’s not making me happy, but I’m hoping the improved quality and trustworthiness of the comments translates into growth over the long haul.
That’s exactly right. Quality over quantity is the way to go. Some will complain about “censorship,” but what they’re really whining about is that somebody finally told them that their idiotic rantings are unacceptable. You don’t want people like them around anyway, because they lower the level of discourse.
For the life of me, I can’t imagine why newspapers like the PJ Star can’t figure this out. Who would advertise on a website that allowed such craziness?
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On the NIU shootings
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The day after the tragic shootings at NIU, congressional candidate Aaron Schock had this to say…
A state lawmaker says recent shooting sprees that killed people at Northern Illinois University and a Chicago-area shopping center might have had “different outcomes” if Illinois law allowed citizens to carry a concealed firearm.
* Schock told the Tribune even more and was rebutted by a Chicago legislator…
“It wasn’t until the individual at NIU turned the gun on himself that the killing stopped, and perhaps it would have stopped sooner had there been a security guard present or had there been somebody with a concealed weapon.”
[Rep. Ed Acevedo] called that kind of thinking “ridiculous.”
“What’s going to happen when someone pulls out a hairbrush that someone else thinks is a gun?’’ Acevedo asked. “Are we going to turn this state into the Wild West, where everybody gets to carry guns?”
* I just wish all politicians would take a deep breath in situations like this. Rep. Ruth Munson struck the right tone, as far as I’m concerned…
“I just ache for all these parents whose children didn’t come home,” Munson said. “I’m just really thinking about the parents and the victims right now.”
* The reason I didn’t want a discussion on the shootings last week is because when tragedy strikes everybody in the world wants to blame said tragedy on his or her pet peeve, whether it’s gun control, or increasing police response times and technology, violent imagery in the media, or Satanic tattoos, or drugs, or whatever, everyone has something to point to as the “Eureka!” moment, including snarky partisan politics…
So to extend Mitchell’s logic, I guess Kazmierczak was an Obama voter.
* For once, I completely agree with Steve Sauerberg…
“Far too often in the wake of tragedies, we see opportunistic politicians attempt to exploit the pain and suffering of others to promote their own agenda. In the aftermath of the tragedy at Northern Illinois University, I urge politicians on both side of the partisan aisle to show restraint. Now is the time that we should unite as a state and as a nation to pray for the victims, and their families and friends, of this terrible event.
“In the months ahead there will be plenty of opportunities for political debates and policy discussions about how tragedies like this can be avoided, the morning after, however, is not the time for politicians to look to score cheap election years points at the expense of the suffering of others.”
And that’s why I’m still not opening comments on this topic.
…Adding… I forgot to mention this story…
Illinois lawmakers moved swiftly after last year’s massacre at Virginia Tech to make it harder for anyone with a history of mental illness to buy guns, fortifying what already were some of the nation’s toughest weapons laws.
But the new measure does not take effect until June. And whether it would have prevented last week’s bloodbath at Northern Illinois University is far from clear. […]
The measure, when it takes effect, will require health professionals to inform state authorities about patients who display violent, suicidal or threatening behavior. Right now, such information is reported to state officials only on people who have been institutionalized, not on those who receive only outpatient treatment.
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Rezko angles and super delegates list
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It’s all in the perspective. Bloomberg leads its Obama/Rezko story this way…
The couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator’s $1.65 million bid “was the best offer'’ and they didn’t cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land, according to e-mails between Obama’s presidential campaign and the seller. […]
The Obamas submitted three bids: $1.3 million on Jan. 15, 2005; $1.5 million on Jan. 21; and $1.65 million on Jan. 23, according to a copy of the sale contract shown to Bloomberg News. […]
The e-mail between Wondisford and the campaign adviser also says that the sellers had “stipulated that the closing dates for the two properties were to be the same.'’ In January 2006, Rita Rezko sold the Obamas one-sixth of the lot, for $104,500, to expand their yard. She later sold the rest of the land to Michael Sreenan, who said by e-mail yesterday that he bought it in late December 2006 for $575,000.
That seems to clear up a lot. The seller didn’t just take a first bid from Obama, and it was the seller who wanted the closing dates on the same day. Also, note that Rezko sold the land for a profit - He bought it for $625K, sold a slice to Obama for $104.5K and sold the rest to Streenan for $575K. So it doesn’t appear that he paid an exhorbitant amount. One of the criticisms has been that Rezko subsidized the house purchase.
* But this is how the Tribune leads its story…
Before he bought his South Side mansion in 2005, Sen. Barack Obama took his friend and fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko on a tour of the premises to make sure it was a good deal, Obama’s campaign revealed Monday. […]
Obama was able to buy the house for $300,000 less than the listed price while Rezko, in his wife’s name, paid the full $625,000 asking price for an undeveloped side lot.
You get an entirely different and more sensational picture from that article, perhaps because the Trib wasn’t given the e-mails that Bloomberg obtained. Newspapers are jealous that way.
* Meanwhile, some of you have asked me for a list of Illinois superdelegates. Here are the committed delegates. It appears that John Rednour, the Mayor of DuQuoin, is the only Illinois “Super” for Hillary Clinton.
Uncommitted Democratic super delegates are here. Congressmen Dan Lipinski and Rahm Emanuel top that list, which also includes Steve Powell (the UFCW 881 official), Edward Smith (I think that’s the Laborers’ Union chieftain, not the alderman) and Margie Woods (Will County Board).
…Adding… The Bill Foster campaign points out that if their guy wins next month’s special election to replace Denny Hastert, he’ll also be a super delegate. And considering that Obama is doing a TV ad for Foster, his convention intentions seem pretty clear.
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Morning shorts
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Ald. Burnett discloses he is a is a “registered security agent” for D.J. Mosier Financial Services while advocating more bond business for minorities…
Burnett wanted a guarantee that 50 percent of future pension business would go to minorities. CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown, who works for the Lehman Brothers investment bank, said she couldn’t make such a promise.
* Feds probe city records on alderman’s zoning changes
* Whistleblower suspended 18 days
* Illinois politicians owe thousands in fines
* Bernard Schoenburg: Davlin gets attention with fiery pension rhetoric
* All aboard? Not quite yet
* Legislators urge staffing for juvenile justice agency
* Not many smoking ban complaints filed
* Shifts at the top
* Is there a lesson from Fenway?
Amid concerns, no matter how unlikely, that the Cubs could flee the Friendly Confines, state officials have shown interest in buying the stadium, with language written in the lease that would force the team to play at Wrigley Field for decades to come.
* Alvarez: State needs more reforms, public input before lifting moratorium on death penalty
* Our Opinion: Do not resume executions
* As the national housing crisis spreads, the Peoria area remains stable
In Peoria, home sales dropped by 5 percent in 2007 over the previous year, but that shows stability when compared with a 12.8 percent drop across the nation and a 16.8 percent decline in Illinois.
* Durbin focuses on foreclosure problems on visit to central Illinois
Some frightening numbers were released today regarding local foreclosures. The mortgage meltdown looks worse here than the national average. […]
A report released Monday predicts Peoria and Tazewell County being above the nationwide average for foreclosures
* Day-care danger: Do you leave your kids too close to a child sex offender?
* Everywhere a (digital) sign
* On Halvorson, Republican claims, and Oboyovich
* Special 14th District election voting to start
* Fifth-graders keep tabs on their candidates
* Bill Foster’s new TV ad
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