This just in…
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * 2:24 pm - House Speaker Michael Madigan has just informed the House that he will call them into session beyond tomorrow’s scheduled adjournment if the Senate passes the constitutional amendment for recall on Thursday. Members are wondering if they need to be in town before the final 3rd Reading vote. It appears, of course, that they do. Madigan was asked whether he would propose any amendments to the Senate proposal. He said he didn’t plan to do so, but he didn’t know what the sponsor - who will likely be Rep. Jack Franks - will do. Madigan pointed out that if this proposed constitutional amendment is amended in the House, then it would have to be read three times in each chamber again. Sunday is the deadline to get the measure on the November ballot. *** 2:25 pm *** Madigan was just asked by Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) why this proposal has become such a high priority. Madigan replied that, at least among House members, “This has become such a priority because of Governor Blagojevich.” Ouch. * 2:39 pm - Rep. Jack Franks spoke to reporters a short time ago about the Senate’s recall proposal, which he calls “a better bill” than his own. He said he won’t amend the bill. Here’s the audio…. [If the audio player isn’t working for you, click here to download the mp3 file.] * 2:43 pm - John Patterson at the Daily Herald no longer has a “bloggy type thing.” He’s got a real blog now with comments and everything. His latest post…
…Adding… Rep. Fritchey just said that the ethics deal is still a deal. He’ll be holding a press conference with Sen. Harmon, House GOP Leader Cross and others at 4:30 this afternoon. The 1 pm press conference unveiling the deal was delayed so Fritchey could make extra sure that the deal was really a deal. * 3:03 pm - The SJ-R has more…
* 3:26 pm - With about an hour to go before the press conference, negotiators are still “tweaking” the compromise ethics bill. So, things could still go wrong, but the train appears mostly on track.
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A complete lack of trust
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * One thing I hear a lot from the governor’s allies and flaks is, “I don’t know why you don’t trust us.” I usually just chuckle and walk away, but they do need to be reminded of the depth of mistrust they sow on an almost hourly basis…
* The Blagojevich administration has been pulling stuff like this since Day One. Last year wasn’t the first time a budget deal was broken. Blagojevich broke one in the summer of 2003 - his first year in office. The governor negotiated and agreed to a budget and then vetoed out a bunch of stuff after the GA had passed the legislation and left town. It’s been all downhill since then. * The big issue now is the capital plan. Last year, the governor vetoed almost all House Democratic line items from the budget, and, as you are well aware, the Senate refused to override the vetoes. Now, the governor believes that the House Dems should just trust him to sign a capital bill without changes and distribute the funds in an even-handed manner. “Oh, sure we’ll do it,” they always say, with a dismissive wave of the hand. “He’ll have our word.” And that word means what, exactly?
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Ozinga claims to raise big bucks
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * This first bit isn’t huge news because he’s had a virtual lock on the slot for weeks…
Martin Ozinga III will end weeks of speculation and officially kick off his campaign at 11:30 a.m. today as the Republican candidate in the 11th Congressional District. * But a new e-mail from Ozinga’s campaign is interesting…
* Early fundraising is usually the easiest because the cash is often from friends and family. We also don’t know how many of those early conributors maxed out, and, therefore, will not be allowed to contribute again. * Halvorson has been raising money as well…
Ozinga has said that he won’t put in more than $350,000 of his own cash, beyond that level would allow his opponent Debbie Halvorson to accept larger campaign checks. …Adding… There’s some useful info in this Associated Press story…
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Video Competition in Illinois Has Already Created More Than 1,400 New AT&T Jobs
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] AT&T has been introducing its cable alternative, a cutting-edge service called U-verse, in parts of Illinois since January. Thanks to the support of Attorney General Madigan and General Assembly members who fought for the Cable and Video Competition Law, consumers in Illinois are beginning to enjoy the benefits of competition. Senator Clayborne and Representative Brosnahan sponsored this because people were tired of annual rate increases and poor customer service with few alternatives. They, along with Senate President Jones and House Speaker Madigan, understood this was an important vote for our consumers and our economy Since it was signed by Governor Blagojevich on June 30, 2007, AT&T has created more than 1,400 Illinois jobs related to U-verse’s rollout. They have also started on a more than $1.3 billion investment plan in its Illinois network over the next several years to bring new services, including state-of-the-art television, to consumers. AT&T has consistently rolled out new services to as many customers as possible - as quickly as possible. AT&T is working hard to deliver on that promise with U-verse, which is currently available in parts of more than 230 communities. This legislative collaboration is convincing evidence that the public and the private sector can create a framework that encourages investment and innovation at a time when our economy can certainly use a boost. AT&T has clearly demonstrated it’s committed to connecting people to their world. These connections are made possible thanks to elected officials who’ve created a new era of opportunity in Illinois.
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller Caption?
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Here we go…
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* So, how will it be financed?
Even if no tax money is directly used, the impact on state and local tax coffers should also be examined. Zell is a financial wizard when it comes to taxes and Mother Tribune is no slouch either. Will this involve some sort of tax break for Zell? * Thompson did offer this hint…
I’m not sure what that means, exactly, but there will be a real problem convincing legislators to vote for a bill that would change the name or look of Wrigley Field. * Thompson wouldn’t say how much the state would offer to pay for the decrepit ball park, but he did manage an Olympics tie-in, which is something that everybody is doing in Chicago these days…
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Recall Roundup
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * I live-blogged this yesterday, so let’s do a quick wrap-up of what we already know and move from there…
* Quinn’s reaction…
* There’s no guarantee yet that this will pass…
* And there’s also a disagreement on when Gov. Blagojevich might be recalled if the voters approve it in November…
* There is some hope among Blagojevich allies that this recall proposal might lance the boil and stop or slow talk of impeachment, and Quinn seems to be helping that along…
* On a related note, Michigan has a recall law, and some angry voters in that troubled state are raising money and organizing to recall the House Speaker and other state legislators….
* There’s also a recall move against Detroit’s mayor…
* The Senate’s somewhat about-face on recall was due in no small part to exploding voter anger. And that helps explain why a constitutional amendment to do away with the state’s flat-tax mandate failed so miserably yesterday. Here are a bunch of stories on that front…
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Witness: Rezko shared cash with Blagojevich
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * Take some caution with this one…
* The reasons you should be careful about assuming too much are several-fold, including this one…
First, this is Tony Rezko allegedly telling Ata why he wanted the money. We don’t know if Rezko told the truth to Ata or if Ata concocted the story to help hi stay out of prison. And even if Rezko did tell the truth, there’s no guarantee that Blagojevich knew about it. * But the judge will allow the testimony…
* And, of course, there’s more…
Notice there was no denial that Kelly might have received cash for other purposes. * And the governor’s statement…
Man, this is crazy stuff.
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Morning Shorts
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning * State may sue school in sex harassment case
* NIU won’t raze Cole Hall * 450 U of I Extension jobs on the chopping block
* Parking cops on booting binge
* Cook County Realtor hired by Stroger demoted after questions of his qualifications * Stroger to skip Palatine secession meeting
* No-show Stroger’s disdain for suburbs * Cook Co.’s public defender fights to keep his position * Media take R. Kelly appeal to Illinois Supreme Court * City receives $153M in federal funds for traffic * ID law disenfranchises voters * Medill’s dean says he made a mistake * Fremd High takes top honors in state journalism competition
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
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this just in…
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * 4:45 pm - The Senate Dems have come up with their own recall proposal. SJRCA 70 adds judges and local officials to the pool of recallable politicos. That’s considered a poison pill. Senate Exec is meeting at 5:30 to take up the proposal and then the full Senate will reconvene tonight. Also today, a con amend proposal to do away with the flat rate income tax received just 19 votes in the Senate. And another con amend in the House to change redistricting passed by a large margin. *** 4:56 pm *** Also in the Senate’s recall proposal is a provision that would tie the Lt Governor’s fate to the guv So if the guv is recalled Pat Quinn would go down with him. Ouch. *** 5:33 pm *** Oh this is rich. The SDems have attached this con amend to a bill that’s on first reading. Bottom line is even if it passes it’s highly unlikely if not downright impossible to pass this in the House by the final deadline. So this proposal is purely an empty gesture. They get to vote on something that will never be on the ballot. *** 5:54 pm *** HOLD EVERYTHING *** A spokesman for Speaker Madigan just said that the House is prepared to stay in session to get this Senate constitutional amendment on the ballot if the Senate passes this SJRCA in a timely manner. In other words, the bluff has been called. *** 6:18 pm *** LG Quinn just said that this was a “good” proposal. *** 6:35 pm *** SJRCA 70 Amendment 1 passed SExec 12-1. Pres. jones was the only no. The full Senate will now reconvene and vote on the amendment to the con amendment. *** 7:07pm *** If this does pass the Senate Thursday, the House apparently will have to pass it “as is.”
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No comment
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * I just don’t know what to say about this…
Words fail me.
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Must-See Video
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * Click on the pic to see how a St. Louis TV reporter learns firsthand the occupational hazards of covering Gov. Rod Blagojevich… Watch your step, dude. …Adding… The governor’s office claims Blagojevich took questions from reporters during that St. Louis-area visit for 20 minutes and the above reporter never asked his question. It still makes me chuckle because I know the feeling the story evokes, even if the piece itself is possibly disingenuous.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * As I’ve told you before, the Illinois Constitution lays down no set parameters for impeachment, except that it requires 60 votes in the House. But if someone is impeached they then proceed to an eventual trial in the Senate presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, so there probably ought to be grounds other than the “We don’t need a reason, we just need the votes” argument. * Question: What do you think ought to be the minimal requirements for impeachment of a governor? * As a bonus question, should any impeachment occur during a criminal investigation, or should the General Assembly allow those investigations to run their course before acting? By the way, this is not a question about whether Gov. Blagojevich should or should not be hauled before the House and Senate. It’s about the concept.
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Board of Elections site appears to be functioning today *** UPDATED x1 ***
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * After our often heated and quite wonky critique of the State Board of Elections’ website yesterday, some of the problems appear to have been fixed, at least for now. I played with the site this morning and didn’t get any error messages or timeout warnings. That’s a very good thing. They also seem to have cleaned up the site a bit. Now, if they would just enable tabbed browsing and add RSS feeds to candidate filings, campaign disclosure reports, etc. they’d be well on their way to entering the 21st Century. No website is perfect. This one certainly isn’t (I still haven’t been able to get swf files to play properly here, which led to temporarily replacing that Auto Alliance ad yesterday with a jpg file). But lots of us rely on the Board of Elections’ site every day, often multiple times a day, and that clunky code was driving many of us up the wall, as the volume of comments showed yesterday. * Anyway, I thought you might like a chance to thank the Board for quickly addressing some of their most egregious problems and perhaps politely suggest ways to make the site even better. …Adding… C’mon, people. We all whacked them but good yesterday. A kind word and a helpful suggestion is too much to ask? *** UPDATE *** Well, I may have spoken too soon. A commenter pointed out that the committee search in the campaign disclosure reports is still broken. I checked and the commenter appears to be half right. If you click the “search” button, the search works. If you just hit “return” on your keyboard, you get this result…
The site is still better than yesterday - by leaps and bounds - but there are some remaining bugs.
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Expensive tastes
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * Mick Dumke has compiled an astonishing list of Chicago judgement and settlement payouts just since the beginning of this year…
In case you lost count, that’s $53.7 million just this year. The total judgments and settlements for all of last year was $47 million. In 2006, the total was $49 million. And in 2005 it was $34 million. Chicago is on a roll, baby, and nothing changes…
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Gloom and doom
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * The problem…
* A proposed solution…
* This idea has been shot down before, and the horsemen aren’t thrilled with it…
* And the proposal is coming at a time of extreme legislative gridlock…
* And…
* But there are lots of pressures on lawmakers to at least try and get something done. For instance…
So, your guess is as good as mine. Go ahead an make your guesses in comments.
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We need something better
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * This is yet another good reason to hold a constitutional convention. The completely bungled legislative redistricting language in the current document…
Except it never worked out that way. In the 1981, 1991 and 2001 remap efforts, both parties decided to play “chicken” instead of working out a deal. They allowed a drawing to determine which side would draw the maps. * As the editorial notes, there is a constitutional amendment in the hopper right now to address this issue…
But why allow the incuments to draw their maps in the first place? Even if this does encourage bipartisan compromise, that means even more incumbent protections. The maps should be drawn by computer, like Iowa does, and we wouldn’t have goofy-looking districts intended to keep people in power. Look at Iowa’s maps. Now, look at Illinois‘. * More Con-Con stuff…
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Impeach, ethics and Campaign 2010
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller * We’re not sayin’, we’re just sayin’…
* Meanwhile, the great game continues on the ethics bill…
It’s not difficult to understand why Fritchey would want such a public vow. The broken promise on last year’s budget deal has completed poisoned the Statehouse waters, and those who believe that Senate President Emil Jones would just go along with the governor again and not override a veto - which would kill the bill - are well within their rights. * Speaking of ethics, this press release just landed in my in-box…
What a stupid thing to punish college professors for understanding the ethics materials too well. * Comptroller Dan Hynes is keeping up the drumbeat…
* My intern asked me yesterday when the 2010 campaign would kick off. I said it already has. Petition filing for the primary begins in something like 16 months. Hence, the Hynes statewide tour and, possibly, Paul Vallas’ return visit to Chicago…
He’ll be starting with a very big disadvantage if he waits until next May to begin campaigning and raising the big bucks. There are reports floating around that he wants to the education job if Obama wins the presidency, and this is his way of putting pressure on Obama, who would likely support Alexi Giannoulias for the governor’s job. * More reform and renewal…
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Morning Shorts
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning * FEMA turns down Illinois’ plea for disaster aid…
* Potholes are so bad that IDOT must pay for outside help with repairs * NIU president offers 3 options for Cole Hall future
* Illinois giving colleges $3.5 million for scholarships * Treasurer secures college funds * With justices’ OK, voter ID moves ahead
* A Wrigley still in charge– for now * What Wrigley and Mars might accomplish together * ‘It’s a little sad,’ but sale won’t hurt Chicago * Buffett helps unite storied family firms
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
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