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Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The setup…

Alan Keyes, who was recently beaten 3-to-1 for the Constitution Party nomination for President, has decided to continue his run for President as an “Independent”. In order to facilitate with ballot-access, Keyes is trying to start a new party called “America’s Independent Party”. He has groupings of supporters in Texas, California, Florida, New York and Missouri. […]

Next Keyes will be attempting to complete petitions in Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, Colorado, Conneticut, and Illinois—and it is unlikely he’ll get on the ballot in any of these states except for Colorado.

* The Question: Come up with a new name for Alan Keyes’ party. Snark heavily encouraged.

71 Comments

Dump the grandfather clause or apply it to everyone

Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I see a huge problem with this US Senate development…

The Senate Thursday night voted to nullify a Federal Communications Commission rule that allows media companies to own a newspaper and a television station in the same market.

The unusual “resolution of disapproval,” sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and 26 other senators, was approved by a voice vote. The measures sponsors include both Democratic candidates for president, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has described the agency’s action as a “relatively minor loosening” of broadcast media ownership restrictions. The rule was approved by the FCC on a 3-2 party-line vote in December with both Democrats dissenting.

The FCC decision allows one company to own a newspaper and a broadcast station in the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas. The TV station may not be among the top four in the market, and post-transaction, at least eight independent media voices must remain. The rule replaced an outright ban on cross-ownership.

* In Chicago, the Tribune is grandfathered into the law so its parent company can own WGN TV/Radio and CLTV. That means the Trib can better weather a downturn in newspaper ad revenues. The Sun-Times, which was once owned by Marshall Field and long ago sold off Channel 32, is not insulated. If you take even a quick look at the Sun-Times Media Group’s financial statements, you’ll see what dire straits that company is in right now. A buyout by a TV station or cable company could save it.

I’m far less worried about cross-ownership than I used to be. The Tribune has shown that it can be a healthy thing for the market.

So, my opinion is either get rid of the unfair grandfather clause, or expand it to everyone else.

What do you think?

14 Comments

Cell phones and concert tix

Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This seems like a no-brainer…

Secretary of State Jesse White said Thursday he plans to propose a ban on text messaging while driving.

* And there’s more coming down the pike…

White and the state’s Distracting Driving Task Force revealed a five-prong set of recommendations this week that would curb distracted driving in Illinois.

Suggestions include a ban on cell phones in construction and school zones, a new set of penalties for cell phone related collisions and requiring that the hazards of distracted driving be taught in commercial driving schools.

* There are some problems, however…

The catch is proving a driver was actually using a cell phone, Blackberry or other electronic device on the road or during a crash.

According to Ed Maloney, of the Illinois State Bar Association, the state can’t require cell phone companies to give up a driver’s phone records to police in the event of an accident. However, he said the bill’s language could compel drivers to produce those records to police.

* Meanwhile, a feel-good bill zoomed out of the House last week…

When parents complained to state Representative Karen May earlier this year that they missed out on tickets to the teen pop sensation’s Chicago concert, she decided to go after the culprit: online ticket hoarders.

The Illinois House voted 94-0 Friday to make it a misdemeanor for anyone to use software that gives them an edge when trying to get tickets over the Internet.

May says people used software to jam the ticket system, essentially cutting in line to grab large numbers of tickets. The concert sold out in minutes, and tickets were selling for hefty profits shortly afterward on other Web sites.

The bill would make it a misdemeanor for people to use the jamming software.

Thoughts?

16 Comments

No trust

Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Today’s Tribune editorial is partly right…

Illinois FIRST expired in 2004, and the state hasn’t had a capital plan since. It’s not because Illinois has all the infrastructure it needs and certainly not because of a dwindling demand for band uniforms and bocce courts. It’s because lawmakers are afraid—with good reason—that Gov. Rod Blagojevich will hijack the money, axing the goodies meant for lawmakers’ pals and passing out prizes to his own friends instead.

It’s not just that they fear the governor will whack their pork, the bigger fear is that the governor will refuse to release money for much-needed projects in their districts. The solution that the Tribune gets behind won’t assuage their fears…

The Metropolitan Planning Council has a good answer. Alarmed that Illinois has fallen behind other states in its transportation investments, the council proposes a new system for evaluating and ranking capital projects using objective criteria.

Just because something is ranked high doesn’t mean that the governor will release the funding. This is a truly huge problem of the governor’s own making. He simply cannot be trusted on anything.

* Meanwhile, like I told you earlier, I’ve been telling subscribers about these budget developments for the past ten days or so, and reported Friday about this particular point…

Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, told a group of budget negotiators Thursday that the Senate Democrats intend to pass a “limited growth” state budget and adjourn by May 31. Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield, the House Democrats’ representative at the negotiations, confirmed the statement.

The House, meanwhile, is putting together its own budget, which will start working its way through House committees next week.

* Actually, there’s more to it than that. A noon budget briefing on Friday revealed that the House has more than one plan. The Daily Herald gives us a brief look…

House Democrats say they’re looking at approving different versions covering a bare-bones maintenance budget to keep the state running once the current budget expires on June 30, and then offering expanded versions as agreement can be found.

The bare-bones version would likely offer no funding increases except where required by law, legislators said. It’s unlikely to please those calling for increased education spending, and advocates of the poor and disabled who say the state isn’t meeting its responsibilities in key areas.

That may not be the budget which surfaces this week. Things have a way of changing. Stay tuned.

* Related…

* State aid could be delayed for Illinois schools

* Estimated proceeds from casino license too high?

* EDITORIAL: Lawmakers must overcome lack of trust

* Veterans Home staff to march against mandatory overtime

* Lawmakers’ odds on adjournment

* Legislature hopes to avoid overtime

* Editorial: They want to . . . pimp us‘

* Kids still face unsafe roads as state holds U.S. funds

* Everything Blagojevich touches does not turn to gold

* Complete study, plan needed before closing prisons

* Legislators push halt to prison closures

* We need new jobs, not a shell game

* If you build it…

* The costs of delay

16 Comments

Governor unpopular

Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My syndicated newspaper column takes a look at a couple of polls that I told subscribers about early last week…

A new statewide poll has found that 59 percent of Illinois registered voters want the Illinois Legislature to begin impeachment hearings against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The Glengariff Group poll had Blagojevich’s job approval rating at 26 percent, while his disapproval rating was a mind-boggling 65 percent. The number of voters supporting impeachment is somewhat striking since the “I Word” has not been discussed much in the media.

* The governor’s own party has turned against him…

Even a plurality of Democrats supports holding impeachment hearings. Democratic voters said they supported the idea by a margin of 49.4 percent to 41.5 percent. Independents overwhelmingly like the proposal, backing it 63 to 24. And it’s probably no surprise that Republicans love it. A whopping 73.5 percent of GOP voters said it was a good idea, compared to just 16 percent who said it wasn’t.

* While a clear majority of Illinoisans supports holding hearings, they’re not yet convinced that Gov. Blagojevich should be removed from office, although they do appear to be moving in that direction…

A plurality of 45 percent said they supported “impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich forcing him to leave office,” while 35 percent said they were opposed. Eighteen percent didn’t know.

House Republican Leader Tom Cross has gone out of his way to downplay impeachment talk in the past few weeks. Yet, 57 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of independents want the governor removed. Those numbers ought to give Cross serious pause.

* And here’s the other poll…

Ask Illinois, a group that conducts automated polls, asked 2,301 registered voters this question last week: “If you were given the choice between former Gov. George Ryan and current Gov. Rod Blagojevich, which do you think would do a better job running our state?”

More than half, 52 percent, chose Ryan, the imprisoned former governor. Blagojevich scored 48 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus/minus 2.19 percent.

You know things are bad when you’re losing a popularity contest to a federal inmate.

Read the whole thing.

* Meanwhile, the News-Gazette editorial board has this thought…

The best way to clean up Illinois’ tawdry government is not in limiting who can contribute how much to candidates, but in strengthening disclosure laws as they apply to political candidates and people who do business with the state.

Theoretically, disclosure works because it shames people into doing the right thing. As I’ve been writing for years, there is precious little shame at the Statehouse. Disclosure alone is not nearly enough.

* Related…

* Recall gives people power to reform

* Patty-come-lately on recall

27 Comments

A stark lesson for all candidates

Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The New Republic has an excellent look into why Hillary Clinton’s campaign stumbled so badly these past few months. This point, in particular, deserves notice because it is an easily avoided mistake I’ve seen too many times in the past right here in Illinois…

Probably our second biggest mistake was much more operational: Making our chief strategist [Mark Penn] our one and only pollster. It is impossible to disagree and have a counter view on message when the person creating the message is also the person testing the message.”

That is exactly right. The same thing happened to Ron Gidwitz in the 2006 GOP gubernatorial primary. His pollster and his media guru were the same people. Gidwitz ended up spending about a million dollars for every percentage point he received in that primary. Bigtime candidates absolutely must have a robust debate over message and over what the polls really mean.

* Penn was an absolute disaster. Case in point…

“[Hillary Clinton] never embraced the mantle from the beginning of being a different kind of candidate. Why did the campaign not do that? Because Mark Penn wanted to do it a different way. Read his book. He thought that you have a list of policy prescriptions. Voters are into that, and that’s how you win. This came at the expense of–and it’s a decision he really pushed for–saying to folks, ‘Yes, she’s a pretty inspiring figure herself.’ … There’s no reason why she’s not a change agent also. But once the CW is set, it just doesn’t change.” […]

“Our message in fact was working very well through September. What we failed to do is pivot when we needed to. We stuck on the same thing. … We didn’t say, ‘OK, everybody gets that she can do this job.’ We never pivoted to what kind of change she could bring. We repackaged the old message and sent it back out. Instead of ‘Ready on Day One,’ we changed to ‘Solutions.’ It was a very IBM approach

* And the coup de grâce…

“Penn was preoccupied with the national polls. We were up in the national polls, but Iowa was always a challenging thing for us. Early, early on, our internals showed us a significant number of points behind. … In Iowa, Penn consistently would show polls that were of the eight-way. That was basically meaningless because it wasn’t going to be an eight-way race. The candidates that were the second-tier candidates were not going to reach the threshold [of 15%]. The real race was the three-way. But he always focused on the eight-way when we’d start going over the numbers in Iowa. It was frustrating to the state staff and other people as well. It just showed a lack of understanding and a disconnect.”

When your pollster has as much power as Penn had, he can’t be overridden. That’s a very dangerous thing. Pollsters have their place on a campaign, but giving them total control over message and strategy is never a good idea.

* Meanwhile, the New York Times takes a look ahead at who might be the first female president…

Mrs. Clinton seemed to have the most success in the last months, fighting like a mama bear for her cubs. So some people look to women who have earned reputations as tough fighters: Lisa Madigan, a Democrat who is attorney general in Illinois, and mentioned as a possible successor to the embattled governor, Rod Blagojevich.

That’s getting a bit ahead of the game, but it’s a thumbsucker piece, so the prediction can be excused I suppose. Madigan has yet to show that she can win a Tier One race, even though her 2002 primary and general election contests were extraordinarily heated affairs. I’ll have more on Madigan’s intentions for subscribers later this week.

* More political stuff…

* Suburban Republicans fear an Obama ballot: “Republicans should take into account that Obama has proven he can attract new voters,” said [Republican state Rep. Ed Sullivan] of Mundelein. “And if you fail to realize you have to get in front of these new voters, the potential is you’re going to lose the election.”

* Ozinga to face questions in downstate feud

* Ozinga lays foundation for campaign

* Bobby Rush recovering after tumor surgery

* Judge: Depose candidate

* Sauerberg answers the prolife question again

16 Comments

Morning Shorts

Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning

* The ‘piggy bank’

“From the very limited information that we’ve had access to, it’s apparent that the owners of the hotel cooked the books to conceal profits and fleece taxpayers to avoid making good on a government loan that never should have been made,” said Giannoulias, who last week turned over a 36-page report about the matter to the FBI and Illinois attorney general.

* Treasurer targets GOP insider

* Cahnman, lawmakers blast pair of bills as “hostile to grass-roots democracy”

* Audit: Insiders cooked Lincoln Hotel’s books

* Rezko trial jury instructions

* A lesson from the Rezko trial: the power of money

* Rezko case is all about the Benjamins

* Governor in middle of case

* Rezko case puts big question mark on Illinois politics

* California gay marriage ruling will affect Illinois: State Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican and likely gubernatorial aspirant for 2010, said Friday he will initiate next year another drive for a constitutional ban. The California ruling, Brady said, “gives more credence to the fact that we need to strengthen the constitution based on the wishes of voters and not leave it to a court.”

* Same-Sex Marriages Likely A Long Way Off In Ill.

* Gay marriage not likely in Illinois any time soon

* Unwise haste on gay marriage

* Editorial: Take a stand on same-sex unions

* Circle of life

Roughly 16 percent of babies born to African-American women weigh less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces, compared to 7 percent for whites, according to the most recent birth data released in 2005, Onwuta said.

* 2008 State of Fair Housing in the 6-County Region and Blueprint for Change

* Credit Crunch Crunches Illinois Housing Sales, Prices in 2008

ccording to the 2008 first quarter report from the Illinois Association of Realtors, total home sales (which include single-family homes and condominiums) totaled 21,576, down 27.0% from 29,553 in the first quarter of 2007.

* Food stamp recipients struggle through the month

* Heads we lose, tails we lose

* Daley: Whatever it takes

In the case of the museum, legal covenants that have kept Grant Park “forever open, clear and free” were ignored by the Daley-controlled Chicago Plan Commission.

* Taverns might be serving drinks at sidewalk cafes

* County clout for ex-cons

“This is more evidence that the ‘Friends and Family’ hiring plan is in full swing,” said Jay Stewart of the Better Government Association, adding, “It is clear that he isn’t going to reach beyond his inner circle” to fill top jobs.

* Daley’s Michigan neighbor says fire may be linked to cougar death

* Secrets from the crypt

* Why foie gras is controversial

The best weapon against animal abuse and cruelty is honest information, widely distributed. In that spirit, let us offer a brief, dispassionate description of how foie gras is produced. Emily Patterson-Kane, an animal welfare scientist at the American Veterinary Medical Association in Schaumburg, explains:

* New Scavenger Boat to Clean Chicago River

* State house passes Shib’s Law

Dubbed “Shib’s Law” after James “Shib” Miller, a Sesser firefighter who was killed in the line of duty when a bus hit him along Interstate 57 last July, the proposal would permit firefighters to close off lanes of traffic while responding to an emergency.

* Rep. Watson hopeful on Iraq

* Who’s Hiding The Hybrids?

* Timberline Knolls Supports Illinois House Bill 1432 to Provide Fair and Equal Coverage for Eating Disorders

* State Fair Grandstand Tickets On Sale

* Scholarships honor politician’s passion for civics

Receiving the 2008 Patrick S. Botterman Leadership Award were Chet Farley, 25, and Kelly Friskics, 25, founders of Northwest Suburbs for Obama. The two were recognized for recruiting volunteers, raising money, canvassing in several states, coordinating phone banks and registering voters.

* Lawmakers want to put brakes on Canadian National Railway

Congresswoman Melissa Bean, D-Barrington, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, on Friday urged federal regulators to reject this week’s request by the CN to complete the environmental review by Nov. 3 and approve the acquisition by Dec. 1.

* Piracy in Crystal Lake

* Motorcycle promoter cancels swap meet over fears of violence

* Chicago students deliver gun control petitions

* Schools in Illinois are now required to use green cleaners

* ‘Three times is three times too many’ for kids left on buses

* Safe driving is big business

* Congress picks Illinois for military program

The governor’s office says Congress has picked Illinois as one of 20 states to join a program that helps military families in need.

* LED Lighting in State Buildings

* Birkett the prosecutor out of line

* Ozzie refuses to play race card

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax

Monday, May 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

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