This just in, Part 2… Sorich conviction upheld
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
*** 1:32 pm *** Bob Sorich’s conviction was upheld today…
In a key win for federal prosecutors, an appellate court in Chicago on Tuesday upheld the convictions of four former top aides to Mayor Richard Daley [including former patronage chief Robert Sorich] who were convicted of rigging hiring and promotions at City Hall. […]
On appeal, lawyers for the former city aides argued that they could not be convicted of criminal fraud because they took no bribes or kickbacks in the scheme. But a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.
This has got to send a chill down the governor’s spine. There are several tracks to the federal investigation, and Rezko is just one of them. Hiring practices are another.
*** 1:51 pm *** Read the opinion by clicking here.
The centerpiece of their appeal is a challenge to the government’s theory of prosecution: they contend that their behavior, while dubious, is not criminal, and that the honest services mail fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, is unconstitutionally vague. We conclude that the defendants’
actions do constitute mail fraud, and that the statute is not unconstitutionally vague as applied to the facts of this case. The defendants also argue that they did not deprive the city or the people of Chicago of any money or property, but the jobs that they wrongfully gave away were indeed a kind of property, so we reject this argument. Individual defendants also challenge the sufficiency of the indictment, the connection to the mails, and the sufficiency of the evidence against them, while one defendant argues that he was entitled to a sentencing
adjustment for playing a minor role.
Finding none of these arguments persuasive, we affirm on all counts.
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* 10:43 am - A Cook County judge has ruled against the Governor’s authority to expand health care programs without legislative approval.
More in a bit.
Background here.
* 10:55 am - The judge’s ruling can be downloaded by clicking here.
* 11:02 am - The judge ruled that the arguments against the governor’s Family Care expansion have a likelihood of succeeding at trial. So, a preliminary injunction was granted “based on the failure to abide by the elibility criteria required by law,” according to the judge. A similar argument against the expansion of the breast and cervical cancer screening program was denied.
* 11:05 am - This is gonna be a mess. The administration went ahead and enrolled a bunch of people in the expanded Family Care program (the governor expanded eligibility from 185 up to 400 percent of the poverty level) last year. What’s going to happen to those people now? We don’t have an answer from the guv’s office yet, but I’m sure he’ll blame somebody else.
* 11:23 am - What the judge essentially ruled is that the administration claimed it had the authority under existing state laws to expand the Family Care program. The judge claimed that they followed some laws, but not one in particular. So, he didn’t have to rule on the main argument - that the governor exceeded his authority to implement a program without an appropriation or specific legislative approval - because the administration’s new and expanded Family Care program didn’t meet the federal TANF requirements. It’s a punt, but the same result is reached.
* 11:30 am - From the Tribbies…
[Cook County Judge James Epstein] also placed a stay on the order for seven days in order to allow the governor’s lawyers to review the order and perhaps appeal. The ruling comes in a lawsuit seeking to halt the expansion.
A state legislative panel has twice refused to approve rules for the expansion and lawmakers did not include funding in the state budget. But the administration contends it can grow the program anyway.
“We are clearly unhappy that he ruled on this basis,” said attorney Larry Blust, a private lawyer retained by the Blagojevich administration.
As he dashed into the governor’s office at the Thompson Center to consult with his client, Blust added, “We’ll decide in the next seven days what we are going to be doing about it.”
* 12:24 pm - Richard Caro, the lawyer who initially brought the lawsuit, just told me that the administration is “free to amend the regulation to comply” with the judge’s ruling. However, he said, they’d be right back in front of the judge to get approval and the judge could open up all those other issues - including the constitutionality of the governor’s move - that the judge was able to ignore because the guv didn’t follow the TANF requirements.
*** 12:52 pm *** Another judge, another legal setback for the governor…
Judge Leo Zappa today said Senate President Emil Jones should be added as a defendant to a lawsuit over Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s power to set the date and time of special sessions.
Although he didn’t make a ruling today, Zappa strongly indicated he will do that in another week, despite objections from Blagojevich’s lawyer.
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” Zappa said. “If the governor has the right to set the date and time, it will have as much impact for senators who do not show up as representatives.”
Blagojevich sued House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, because Madigan did not have the House meet in special session at the exact date and time set by the governor. The lawsuit did not name Jones, a Blagojevich ally, as an defendant.
That’s a pretty funny development.
*** 12:57 pm *** Stu Levine is finished testifying, at least for now…
“You do not need to return unless you receive further notice,” U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve told [Levine] after 25 minutes of questioning.
*** 1:03 pm *** From the governor’s office…
“The Court’s decision affirms the Governor’s authority to expand existing healthcare programs without new legislation. We’re delighted by the Court’s ruling on the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program. The Court upheld the Governor’s authority to provide all uninsured women access to mammograms and other cancer screenings. This makes Illinois the only state in the country to ensure all women have access to the cancer screenings and treatment they need.
“We are also encouraged by the Court’s ruling on the Family Care program. The Court ruled that the statute which authorizes the expansion of Family Care requires an additional provision that the people enrolled be employed or seeking work. We believe most, if not all, enrollees currently meet this requirement. We intend to address the issue raised by the Court so we can continue to protect health coverage for people in Family Care.”
Remember, though, that the judge enjoined the administration from carrying out the new rule and stopped Comptroller Hynes from authorizing any payments.
*** 1:10 pm *** From the Tribbies…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has repeatedly deflected questions about the federal corruption trial of his former top fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, often suggesting he’s too busy to follow details of the case.
Yet on Monday, Blagojevich abandoned that posture to take a shot at Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who has been pushing a recall measure to give voters the option of removing the governor.
Asked about the Rezko trial, Blagojevich noted that Quinn’s name arose in testimony earlier in the day.
“I didn’t know Pat Quinn had dinner with Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko at his house until I learned that today,” Blagojevich said.
*** 1:17 pm *** Man, when it rains it pours. More bad news for the guv…
The clout-heavy private school that mistakenly got $1 million from Gov. Blagojevich has admitted for the first time that one of its officials had a felony conviction — a disclosure that contradicts its earlier claims and could be grounds for the state to get its money back.
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Cutting it close
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* If they’re only shooting for 300,000 signatures, that means their opponents ought to have a good chance of keeping this proposal off the November ballot…
Supporters of a state constitutional amendment to define “marriage” as only for male-female couples are in the final stretch of a push to collect enough signatures to put an advisory referendum on November election ballots.
How close they are to their goal is unclear. Joetta Deutsch, a Taylorville resident and board member for Protect Marriage Illinois, declined Monday to say how many signatures the organization has gathered.
She said Protect Marriage Illinois is shooting for more than 300,000 signatures statewide. That figure would exceed the required number of about 270,000 signatures, but organizers want to ensure their effort survives even if some signatures eventually are thrown out as invalid.
The signatures must be submitted to the State Board of Elections by May 5 to get the advisory referendum on Nov. 4 ballots, Deutsch said. Protect Marriage Illinois has set an April 30 deadline for church groups and other supporters to submit signed petitions because the organization needs time to process the paperwork.
The usual rule of thumb is to get twice as many signatures as needed. That would be pretty tough, but an extra 30,000 (if they even get that much) is cutting it a bit too close for comfort.
Also, it would be interesting to know how many of their state legislative and congressional supporters, as well as their local pol backers, are contributing to the petition effort.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
Southwest Airlines today honored the State of Illinois with the unveiling of Illinois One, a Boeing 737 emblazoned with an artist’s rendering of the state flag. Southwest Airlines’ top Leadership celebrated the high-flying tribute to the State of Illinois at an event in a Chicago Midway hangar with Governor Rod Blagojevich, Mayor Richard M. Daley, and its Chicago-based Employees.
“We are thrilled to honor Illinois with this beautiful aircraft; it is truly a demonstration of the great relationship we have developed with our Chicago Midway Customers and a tribute to our local hard-working Employees,” said Southwest Airlines Chairman Herb Kelleher. “Our pride for Illinois will now fly high over the 64 cities Southwest serves.”
And here’s the plane…
Nifty.
* Question: Come up with a better name than “Illinois One.”
…Adding… Video is here.
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Life lessons
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
A constant complaint from bloggers is that they get no respect from the so-called mainstream media. Reporters say much the same about bloggers, who tend to pick apart their stories and columns and sometimes make them look like fools.
I’ve watched this back and forth with much bemusement over the past few years.
I started writing about the Statehouse for a company named Hannah Information Service in 1990. We were a dial-up bulletin-board system designed for lobbyists. Back then the state’s official Legislative Information System featured a 1200 baud modem and was available during business hours Monday through Friday. To use LIS in those days you needed a thick codebook and had to manually type in long “libsync” commands. Hannah downloaded all the LIS info via a nifty computer program and reposted it on an easy to use, menu-driven bulletin board system that could be accessed 24/7 via a super-fast (for then) 9600 baud modem.
When I started writing for Hannah I was initially refused entry into the Legislative Correspondents Association because, they said, they didn’t have a category for what I was doing. I talked my way in, but I was apparently the subject of discussion at just about every annual meeting thereafter, particularly after I snagged some office space with my buddy Greg Tejeda at United Press International.
So, I can relate to what many bloggers are going through. To this day, there are still a few on that Mezzanine who have issues with my very existence. It doesn’t much bother me, even when they run stuff I’ve written without attribution. Sometimes, they actually do credit me, as the SJ-R editorial did today. I’ve learned to ignore most of it. Hey, I’ve got a pretty good life, and no heartless megacorporation is trying to downsize my job. I’m a happy camper. As Elvis Costello once wrote: “I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.”
Hannah was always undercapitalized, and I didn’t make much money at all, so I quit in 1993 and started the Capitol Fax. I decided to give it three to six months to see if I could make a decent living on my own. I hit my “month one” revenue target in a week, and my “month three” target in a month. It just kept going up from there.
That was 15 years ago this month.
I want to thank my subscribers for everything. You mean the world to me.
And to the grumbling bloggers: Keep at it. Living well is the best possible revenge.
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* You may have seen this story today…
The government’s star witness at the fraud trial of Antoin “Tony” Rezko testified Monday that Sen. Barack Obama and his wife attended a party in 2004 at the home of the indicted political fundraiser. Stuart Levine said the party took place in April 2004 and was held to honor Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born, London-based billionaire visiting the United States
* Obama’s spokesman implied to the Sun-Times that Obama may not have attended the Rezko party…
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said: “As he has said previously, Senator Obama does not recall meeting Nadhmi Auchi at any time or on any occasion, and this includes any event that may have been held for Mr. Auchi. Senator and Mrs. Obama have no recollection of attending any such event.”
* LaBolt gave a slightly different explanation to the Tribune…
“Sen. Obama does not recall meeting Nadhmi Auchi at any time or on any occasion, and this includes any event that may have been held for Mr. Auchi,” LaBolt said.
* The Sun-Times reports that two sources contend that Obama was, indeed, at the Rezko event, but rehashed this response from Auchi’s spokesperson…
Auchi couldn’t be reached Monday. His lawyer, Alasdair Pepper, told the Sun-Times in February his client “has no recollection of meeting Senator Obama.”
* So, I sent an e-mail this morning to Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn’s spokesperson. Levine testified that Quinn attended the party. The spokesperson confirmed that her boss was there. When asked whether Quinn remembers Obama being present, this is the response I received…
He believes so, but Quinn was there rather briefly — came late, left early to watch the NCAA final four. So Quinn wasn’t taking attendance.
Now we have to go through this Rezko goofiness all over again because Obama’s operation wants to play cute instead of just saying, yeah, he was there, but barely remembers it, or something like that.
Oy.
It seems like every time the Obama campaign comes close to nailing an issue down, or finally putting Clinton in a corner, it goes off track.
* By the way, Quinn now says that Blagojevich should have steered clear of Tony Rezko. From today’s Tribune…
“After some of the things we are hearing at the trial from Mr. [Stuart] Levine, I don’t think [Rezko] should have ever, ever been appointed to anything. And I think the governor owes the people an apology for that.”
* More Obama/Rezko stuff, compiled by Kevin…
* Sneed hears rumbles Kathleen Sebelius, the two-term Dem governor of Kansas, may become Barack Obama’s veepmate.
* Obama’s bitter lesson
* Witness At Rezko Trial Says Obama Attended Billionaire’s Party
* A meeting and a fiery exchange
* Rezko defense tries to plant seeds of doubt
* State hospital panel worries Rezko trial gives it a bad image
* Deputy Republican Senate Leader Radogno w/Berkowitz on Obama-Ayers and the Budget; Cable and Streaming
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Quote of the week
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Considering that Gov. Blagojevich’s poll numbers are beyond horrific, he’s probably not the best Obama surrogate…
“There is nothing elitist about the fact that working class families are struggling today. Our economy is sluggish. Gas prices are up to near $4 a gallon. It costs 25 percent more just to turn your lights on. A loaf of bread and gallon of milk cost a lot more than they used to. And wages are stagnant while the pay of CEOs continues to rise,” Blagojevich said on the tarmac at Midway Airport following an event for Southwest Airlines.
“So the frustration, the anger, the bitterness that Sen. Obama is talking about, that middle America is feeling, is precisely why he’s done so well in this election. People are responding to the fact that he is offering a voice to them, where in the past it’s just been a bunch of lip service from a bunch of politicians in Washington,” the governor added.
Discuss.
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There he goes again *** UPDATED x1 ***
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You will recall the kerfluffle last week after atheist activist and Green Party state legislative candidate Rob Sherman wrote this on his website and then deleted it…
“Now that Negroes like Representative Monique Davis have political power, it seems that they have no problem at all with discrimination, just as long as it isn’t them who are being discriminated against.”
Sherman was referring to Rep. Monique Davis’ tirade against him during a House committee hearing, for which she was given Keith Olbermann’s daily “Worst Person in the World.” She later apologized for the remark, according to Sherman.
* Sherman, however, refused to apologize for his own comments. Sherman told me last week that he deleted those words after receiving an e-mail from 2006 Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney.
Sherman claimed that at the time he “didn’t know there was anything wrong with the phrase negro.” And in the same conversation with me he went on to explain his original comment while refusing to apologize…
“Now they are blacks and have political power, so discrimination is OK, but then, when they were called negroes and had no political power, discrimination was an outrage.”
* Last night, Olbermann aimed his dart at Sherman, giving the Green Party candidate yesterday’s “Worst Person in the World” award….
* Sherman responds today on his website…
In a desperate attempt to maintain their popularity with the non-atheist majority, several Caucasian journalists have desperately grasped at a phony excuse to criticize me by condemning me for referring to Rep. Monique Davis, who is a Negro, as being, of all things, a “Negro.” […]
Rep. Davis seemed to be OK, two weeks ago, with discrimination against my group, because her group has political clout and my group doesn’t, but she retracted those statements last week. The White journalists have demanded that I apologize to Rep. Davis for not using a euphemism that Caucasian journalists approve of.
Go read the whole thing if you have the stomach.
* Zorn wrote this last week…
Sherman’s beef was with Monique Davis, legislator. Not Monique Davis black legislator or black legislators in general.
* I agreed with Zorn then and I agree even more so today after reading Sherman’s latest bizarre tirade. Sherman was and remains way, way out of bounds.
The Green Party folks have claimed that they’ve worked hard to make sure they have candidates which reflect their party’s values. This is their first test. Rich Whitney apparently stepped up to the plate once, but Sherman seems to have since ignored his advice after once briefly agreeing with him. Let’s see if Whitney or somebody else in the Greens does so again.
*** UPDATE *** Zorn weighs in…
(E)very effective crusader needs to be able to tell the difference between when he’s fighting the good fight and when he finds himself where Sherman finds himself today, on the wrong side of a bad fight.
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Morning shorts
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* Illinois makes domestic violence an automatic violation of parole
* Crowd split on gun laws
* Illinois should take lead in campus safety
* In Defense of the Chicago Children’s “museum”
1. The Chicago Children’s “museum” is not accredited by the American Association of Museums.
2. While many argue the “museum” is unique, it is one of only 15 in Illinois, including 9 in the Chicago area.
3. The Chicago Children’s “museum” ranks 31st in the country, according to Parents.com, far behind the children’s museums in Decatur & Bourbonnais and The Magic House in St. Louis. Just two slots below the Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center in Waco, Texas.
* Children’s Museum, Option 1
Why those directors sit in silence while the reputation of their museum as a stellar citizen sinks—on their watch—is a mystery:
• Are the directors whose names grace the museum’s Web site there to direct its future? Or are they just complicit names on a list, doing a drowsy stint of civic service?
• Do they not comprehend how many longtime friends their self-aggrandizing lust for Grant Park is costing their museum?
• How can they defend to museum donors the cost of all their lobbying, advertising and public relations expenditures for the right to . . . seize a part of Grant Park?
* Museum leadership and board
* Daleys make less, give more
Maggie Daley cut her consulting work in half — bringing in just $50,000 compared with $100,000 in 2006. The Daleys combined made $238,190 after deferrals.
* RTA names new board members
* Election reform proposal stalled
* The simple, straightforward and self-evident case for a Con-Con
Under our current constitution, the Governor and legislative leaders have amassed so much power that a personal feud between them has completely gridlocked the entire state government.
* Gov. appoints head of new agency to negotiate electric rates
* Preservation agency picks Grimes to be new director
* Revenue rush just beginning
* Governors Gathering for Yale Climate Change Conference
* State looks to boost tax on Illinois oil producers
* Springfield tops 120,000
* For sale: ‘Car Kabob’ landmark
A towering sculpture of eight cars made famous in the movie “Wayne’s World” has been listed for sale on eBay.
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