*** * 2:28 pm - I told subscribers about the possibility of September special sessions earlier this week. Today, the governor confirms it himself…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Thursday he wants state lawmakers to return to Springfield every day for three days a week after Labor Day to come up with a better way to fund education.
* 3:05 PM - John Patterson takes us on another trip down memory lane…
One of the biggest fights between Edgar and Madigan came in the mid-1990s when Republicans controlled the Capitol. Edgar and the GOP pushed construction-spending plans. Madigan refused to put votes on the proposals and thereby blocked them.
Question: Who was a loyal Illinois House Democrat in the mid-1990s, voting alongside Madigan to help block hundreds of millions of dollars worth of spending on roads, universities and dilapidated state buildings?
Answer: State Rep. Rod Blagojevich.
*** 4:01 pm *** I just got off the phone with Rev. Sen James Meeks: “September sessions are fine with me.”
Also, Meeks says 2,500 people showed up at a rally today demanding school funding reform and in support of his first day of classes boycott.
More in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax.
*** 4:21 pm *** Charlie Cook reassesses IL 11…
Once considered on the verge of being a lost cause for the GOP, this race to replace retiring Republican Rep. Jerry Weller in Chicago’s southern suburbs has quickly become one of the marquee races of the cycle. Pitting Democratic state Sen. Debbie Halvorson against GOP concrete businessman Marty Ozinga, it is also already one of the most expensive and contentious.
More than any other race in the country, this race is about guilt by association: for Halvorson, the task at hand is to tie Ozinga to unpopular President Bush; for Ozinga, it is to tie Halvorson to even less popular Gov. Rod Blagojevich. An especially aggressive Ozinga press shop and quick fundraising on the part of the GOP candidate has helped put the race back on the map.”
That’s true about Ozinga’s press shop. I can’t remember the last time I heard from the Halvorson campaign. More…
“Republicans say Halvorson’s status as a party leader during the Blagojevich administration will doom her campaign. Thanks to ethics scandals in his inner circle and support for an unpopular gross receipts tax, Blagojevich’s approval ratings currently languish in the teens. Ozinga’s allies say Halvorson stalled an ethics bill in the legislature and supported the gross receipts tax. They also hammer her for her associations with ‘Chicago politicians’ such as city state Sen. Emil Jones, who has favored Cook County (Chicago) representation on a board for a proposed Will County airport.” […]
“If it weren’t for the DCCC’s large cash advantage and the fact that Ozinga himself has contributed to Blagojevich, this race would be in the Toss Up column. For now, Halvorson maintains the narrowest of advantages.”
*** 4:37 pm *** No suprise here. The guv won’t march in tonight’s parade. From the governor’s press staff…
The Governor will not be at the Twilight Parade tonight in Springfield.
This afternoon he had a press conference regarding a major public safety initiative and is currently working with the legislative leaders regarding the upcoming special session and the revised Capital Bill. Finding a way to get the Capital Bill passed - and the 400,000 jobs it would create - is a top priority for the Governor and he is working with the other leaders to pass the measure.
The Governor will be at the ribbon cutting tomorrow morning and will take part in a number of parade activities throughout the week.
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Sweet bloggy goodness *** UPDATED x1 ***
Thursday, Aug 7, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You may have seen this Washington Post story today…
Spread John McCain’s official talking points around the Web — and you could win valuable prizes!
That, in essence, is the McCain campaign’s pitch to supporters to join its new online effort, one that combines the features of “AstroTurf” campaigning with the sort of customer-loyalty programs offered by airlines, hotel chains, restaurants and the occasional daily newspaper.
On McCain’s Web site, visitors are invited to “Spread the Word” about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor’s screen name. The site offers sample comments (”John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .”) and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into “conservative,” “liberal,” “moderate” and “other” categories. Just cut and paste.
* OK, so I go to the site in question and check out the talking points…
The Issue: Jobs for America
John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan that will create millions of good American jobs, ensure our nation’s energy security, get the government’s budget and spending practices in order, and bring relief to American consumers.
There’s a gray-blue “Suggested Blogs” box in the center of the page with a pulldown menu. Click “Other,” and you’ll see that The Capitol Fax Blog is on the list.
Oy.
I’ve said this many times before, but now that I’m on some target list it’s worth repeating: Please, don’t post canned DC talking points on this blog.
I hate DC talking points more than just about anything in the world.
If I catch you posting these talking points from McCain’s site, I’ll delete your post and probably put you on the “hold for approval” list. And the same goes for Obama’s stuff. Thanks.
*** UPDATE *** IlliniPundit was listed under “Conservative Blogs,” and responds thusly…
I have no idea why they think this is a good idea, or what the “points” awards are good for. IlliniPundit.com is listed with “conservative” blogs, and I have no idea why we’re listed at all and, say, IllinoisReview or McLean County Pundit aren’t. […]
I’m not really into comment moderation or deletion, but if someone is repeatedly copy-and-pasting talking points from McCain or Obama (or anyone else) on here, then that’s a pretty shallow corruption of the whole idea of community discussion we’re trying to foster on here. Our readers and commenters are the most politcally aware people in this part of Illinois, so if you can’t think of something original to say, pasting crap like this isn’t going to persuade anyone, so please don’t do it.
Agreed.
* Bob Reed scoop?
Valerie B.Jarrett, a trusted adviser to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, may also be a candidate to succeed him in the U.S. Senate if he should win the White House.
In recent weeks, Jarrett’s name has surfaced within the state’s tightly-knit political and financial circles as a viable possibility for the Senate slot, according to a highly-placed Obama source. Those discussions were confirmed by another high-level Democratic Party operative and corporate source. […]
I don’t mean to make this sound more mysterious than it merits. But I’ve agreed to keep my sources on background. Also note that it’s unclear where this “Jarrett-for-Senate” push originated, or if Obama has participated in any of the recent discussions.
* Dave helps solve the riddle of why Paul McCartney was spotted in Joliet and Springfield by linking to this article in the London Telegraph…
Sir Paul McCartney has hit the road with Nancy Shevell, touring the legendary US Route 66.
The former Beatle, 66, and Nancy, 47 will travel in the classic 1989 Ford Bronco in which they were first spotted kissing.
Their trip takes them from his holiday home in The Hamptons, New York, across country almost 3,000 miles along the most iconic road in the country. They will pass through St Louis, Oklahoma, Amarillo and Albuquerque before ending in Santa Monica, California.
Since leaving last Thursday, they have travelled almost 1,000 miles, and ended up posing for photographs at a service station in Springield, Illinois.
* I have a bunch of FaceBook friends. I don’t require that you actually be a “friend,” but if you send me a FB friend invite and I don’t know you or I barely know you, please have at least something on your FaceBook page that identifies who you are. Thanks.
* I love the fascinating A. Lincoln Blog. The lastest post is no exception…
Little story here about the display of a rather gruesome bit of American history: the 36 star flag used to mop up the blood from Lincoln’s wound on the evening of his assassination.
* Short takes…
* RedEye’s CTA blog asks riders to be online spies
* Prairie State 2.0’s haranguing of Steve Sauerberg produces results. Sort of.
* Hiram Wurf: What Blagojevich got right in Illinois transit
* IlliniPundit: Some of us have been wondering for a long time if any of the mandated reporters in Urbana’s School District would be charged for failing to report suspicions about Jon White when they were first reported.
* From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign: Illinois and other states garner praise for efforts to end poverty
* PI: Tribune Right On Meeks, Wrong on Unions
* Hypertext: The biggest online blunders
* I love my nieces to pieces…
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Question of the day
Thursday, Aug 7, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The setup…
…the governor is considering installing speed cameras in each direction of every interstate in the 20 State Police districts across Illinois to raise $50 million a year in revenue — enough for 500 more troopers. The money could support an “elite tactical team” and bolster everything from crash investigations to cold-case murder probes, Trent said.
Currently, camera-equipped vans nab speeders in construction zones, but state law does not allow speed cameras on interstates, Trent said.
* The question: Setting aside whatever feelings you have about the governor (comments that focus on the guv will be deleted), what do you think of this idea? Explain fully.
…Adding… I put this in comments, but please read it before commenting on this QOTD…
I’ve already deleted about a half dozen comments on this thread because some people cannot read. I specifically asked that this not be about the governor. Stop making my life more complicated. I have other work to do this morning. Thanks.
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WMD
Thursday, Aug 7, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Best lede of the day…
In a move that jeopardizes a tamer health insurance expansion plan, Gov. Rod Blagojevich launched a fresh assault on House Democrats by rewriting a measure to force insurance companies to cover dependents well into their 20s.
That pretty much encapsulates the real pitfalls about this new “strategy” by Gov. Blagojevich. He wants to “improve” bills, but he may end up killing them. More…
But state Rep. Fred Crespo, who helped push the underlying health insurance legislation, said the governor’s move is wrong.
“Now the governor, by doing this, risks us not getting anything at all,” said the Hoffman Estates Democrat. “Many of us are getting sick and tired of this little game. It is hurting people.”
The governor was AWOL during spring session and now he wants to play legislator. A bit late.
* The Tribune had some extensive online coverage yesterday, but the dead trees edition is a bit lighter. The paper led with the other salient point from yesterday’s presser…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich lashed out at two of his fellow Democrats on Wednesday, accusing House Speaker Michael Madigan of blocking his progressive social agenda for the state and contending that Mayor Richard Daley is complicit by failing to intervene. […]
The remarks represented a return of Blagojevich’s strategy of using public appearances to criticize his opponents and underscored the dysfunction among Democrats who control the state.
It’s always somebody else’s fault.
* And this is something that I’ve been talking about for weeks, but has been mostly overlooked by “mainstream” publications…
Rep. Louis Lang of Skokie, a member of Madigan’s leadership team, said that Blagojevich’s criticism leaves “no doubt in my mind that the governor is doing all he can do to try to make it more difficult to try to elect Democrats” to the House this fall.
The governor has already said that a veto-proof majority for Madigan would be harmful to his interests, and the House GOP has allied with him on his precious capital bill, so expect him to do whatever he can to help the Republicans hold onto their seats.
* Feisty? Really?
A feisty Gov. Rod Blagojevich lashed out Wednesday at lawmakers he accuses of stonewalling his statewide construction program and even took a swipe at Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, imploring the powerful politician not to side with the “oppressor.”
This wasn’t “feisty,” behavior. This was destructive behavior.
* From yesterday’s Tribby coverage…
“You know, we did a little homework and we found out some of the things that he said when Governor Thompson was governor and Governor Edgar was governor, the same things he says now he was saying back then. These are just tactics. They are tactics, they are politics, it’s the games they play and that’s why it’s so frustrating and so disappointing that you would screw with the lives of people because you have your own political agenda.”
I’ve been making this point time and time again. Thomspon and Edgar always found a way to deal with these “tactics,” so why can’t Blagojevich? Also, other legislative leaders gave other governors tons of grief in the past, yet somehow things - sometimes big things - still got done.
* And then there’s this point…
Blagojevich said he has identified more than 50 bills he can rewrite to strengthen them.
* Back to Patterson’s article…
On three separate occasions the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled the governor does not have the unilateral ability to wholly rewrite legislation. If Blagojevich’s changes are approved, a lawsuit could follow based on those earlier rulings.
If he deliberately violates the Constitution 50 times in a row, that, in my opinion, could be construed as an impeachable offense. They’ll never base impeachment on this because it would play right into the governor’s hands.
“They want to impeach me for giving hundreds of thousands of people access to health insurance.”
Even so, serial constitutional violations should be taken very seriously.
* Related…
* Schoenburg: Session forces politicians to change fundraising plans
* Constitutional officers considering layoffs, furloughs - Budget cuts put jobs on the line
* Gov’s ‘Rewrite To Do Right’ Plan Angers Lawmakers
* Gov plans to extend age for health coverage
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Seeing through the haze
Thursday, Aug 7, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* More like this, please…
Most insulting to voters’ intelligence is the special session to address education funding. Blagojevich, ever the factual contortionist, probably plans to somehow blame the state’s education funding crisis on Madigan from a stage at the Illinois State Fair after Tuesday’s special session.
In fact, Blagojevich is the reason there have been no reforms in the disgraceful way education is funded in this state because of his refusal to consider an increase in the income taxes.
Actually, Blagojevich already did blame Madigan for the problem, even though the governor has only once offered any real ideas on rethinking how the state should fund education. And what was that? A gross receipts tax and gaming expansion.
* More from the editorial…
The sad irony of the current feud pitting Blagojevich and Jones against Madigan is that in their hearts, Madigan and Jones probably agree that a tax swap is the right solution for the state’s schools.
But Jones chooses to be Blagojevich’s chief enabler, a sad choice by a man who once seemed to want his legacy to be fixing the state’s education funding problem once and for all.
The really “sad choice” was made last year, after the governor’s reelection, when the time was ripe to wipe away decades of inaction. Instead, the governor’s massive GRT proposal - and Jones’ support for it - poisoned the waters. Jones had his shot to forever enshrine himself as the father of education funding reform and he blew it.
* Kadner weighs in…
[Blagojevich is] calling the special session primarily to embarrass his political rival, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), whom the governor contends is planning an income tax increase after the November election.
As for Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), he’s talked a lot about the need for school funding reform but has never allowed Meeks to get his bill on the Senate floor for a vote.
State Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) has never been an activist in the school reform movement that had its birth in the south suburbs.
Now she’s running for Congress. Will Jones, her mentor, force Halvorson to take a position on such a controversial issue when any vote will surely be used by her Republican opponent during the campaign?
Good point. Anytime a Majority Leader tries to move up the political ladder, every legislative action can be pinned right to her lapel.
* And Sen. James Meeks talks about how he was burned by Gov. Blagojevich on the Lottery sale, an education funding promise the governor used to get Meeks out of the 2006 gubernatorial race and then forgot about after the election…
“He never discussed with me why he let it drop,” Meeks said. “He never said, ‘I made this promise to you, but I can’t keep it.’ I just had to suffer embarrassment in front of all my colleagues, and I had to listen to reporters in Springfield tell me that I got the shaft.”
“Meeks should feel betrayed by his colleagues in the General Assembly” who have not OK’d any of Blagojevich’s school-funding plans, gubernatorial spokesman Lucio Guerrero said.
But it’s Blagojevich who has created the poisonous atmosphere of mistrust in which the legislature will convene in special sessions next week to consider his other, other lottery-lease idea (this time it’s to help pay for a $25 billion construction plan) and to address school-funding reform.
Exactly.
* Related…
* Tribune: In return for more money …
* Hey, New Trier: Solve this crisis
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Morning shorts *** Updated x1 ***
Thursday, Aug 7, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
*** UPDATE *** Ex-CSU chief OKs $18,000 book on … self…
Before leaving Chicago State University, embattled university president Elnora Daniel signed off on spending more than $18,000 to publish a tribute book honoring herself, a glossy coffee table publication featuring pictures of Daniel posing with lawmakers, university staff and her family.
The 52-page soft-cover book looks like a personal photo album, with minimal text and no photo captions. There are pictures of Daniel at a grant ceremony with President George W. Bush, smiling at U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and accepting state checks from Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, who funneled millions of dollars to Chicago State under Daniel’s leadership.
The last page features a photo of Daniel and five family members dressed in formal dinner attire and standing next to an elaborate staircase. Daniel’s university-financed family travel was the subject of a stinging state audit that found she spent more than $15,000 to attend a leadership conference aboard a Caribbean cruise ship in August 2006, where she was accompanied by five family members.
The taxpayer-financed book, titled “A Retrospective: Ten Years of Vision and Leadership,” was mailed to about 400 people, including government officials, university presidents, business executives and donors, according to documents the Tribune obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. About a quarter of the recipients are Chicago State faculty and administrators.
* NEWS YOU MISSED: The Economy Sucks
* State loses if Pontiac Prison closes
* Panel not buying IDOT move to Harrisburg
* Union: State has poor reasons for closing Pontiac
* Murder rate in Chicago up 18 percent over 7-month period of 2007
* How we surveyed Chicago students
* Kids’ fears of violence are a call to action
* Troutman pleads guilty to bribery, tax charges
* Chicago Alderwoman Arenda Troutman, Another Corrupt Democrat
* Alderman pleads guilty to fraud charges
* State officials, safety groups want to increase penalties for distracted driving
* Illinois ponders how to treat medical errors
* State fair staples to lead Twilight Parade
* CTA spending more with aim to save
* Transit system is Daley’s first stop in Beijing
Yet Daley was treated as the star of his subway ride. Curious locals, including a few of the 100,000 volunteers blanketing the city, followed the mayor and photographed him with their cell phones as he tested out the train system. No photo opportunity was too small, from using the touch-screen ticket kiosk to boarding.
* CN railroad says it will take legal action to save controversial plan
* CN to take legal action on EJ&E deal
* CN: We’ll sue to get the ‘J’
* Labor leaders press Daley for deficit details
“It would be irrational for any labor leader to stand by and watch his people get cut. We should try to preserve as many jobs as we we can. But we’re working in the dark. How can you make a deal when you don’t know what you’re dealing with?”
* Congressional hopeful offers energy plan
* Jason Wallace Interview on WJBC
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Morning video
Thursday, Aug 7, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
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