Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Always scroll down *** UPDATED x2 ***
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Always scroll down *** UPDATED x2 ***

Thursday, Sep 25, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Whenever your heart starts palpitating after reading a lede like this….

A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.

You should take a deep breath and always scroll down for the buried nugget…

Madigan’s office has notified Obama’s presidential campaign of the probe, which was launched this week. But Obama’s actions in awarding the money are not a focus of the investigation, Smith said.

* Same with stuff like this

After helping Cicero’s town president win a close election, political strategist Dan Proft received no-bid contracts worth $578,000 a year to serve as the mouthpiece for the town and two local school districts.

Not only is Proft’s firm receiving $180,000 a year to boost Cicero Town President Larry Dominick’s agenda, but the town—in a highly unusual move—also agreed to pay the company another $308,000 a year to promote the new Municipal Complex.

Proft argues that if ever a town needed positive public relations, it’s Cicero.

Scroll way down to almost the very bottom and you’ll see this…

Proft said the town will spend less than 1 percent of the project’s $60 million budget on public relations. The contract will expire next month when the municipal complex is complete.

The money Urquhart collects is not pure profit, he said, noting it is distributed to subcontractors and a staff of three in addition to paying for the expertise of Proft and his partner, Jeff Davis.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Here’s another example

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration said Wednesday that it has taken the first formal steps toward recovering a $1 million grant given to a politically connected private school that has yet to open its doors.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity wrote to officials at the Loop Lab School and told them they were in violation of their grant agreement.

Scrolling downwards…

But school officials have said Blagojevich himself promised the money to them, and have publicly thanked the governor for his kindness.

The school used the money to buy the second floor in a downtown office building near the Sears Tower and renovate the space for classrooms.

Aside from the general cover-up in this thing, how is the state gonna get its money if it’s already been spent? Are we as taxpayers going to own that second floor now?

*** UPDATE 2 *** A funny example from the New York Times

CHICAGO — In this state with a history of corruption at the highest levels of government and little history of meaningful reform, lawmakers and the governor have embarked on a sudden, surprising scurry to enact ethics legislation this week.

Scroll down…

Further, some said they were certain that it would die in the House, where the leader, John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.

Fritchey is the leader of the House, eh? Anybody tell Madigan yet?

* Related…

* Cicero PR Guy Getting More Than $300K A Year

* School ordered to return $1M mistakenly given by state

       

16 Comments
  1. - JakeCP - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:24 am:

    Look at Madigan making a name for herself.


  2. - Snidely Whiplash - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:32 am:

    I did scroll down. And I fouond this:

    “Obama and Kenny Smith announced the “Englewood Botanic Garden Project” at a January 2000 news conference at Englewood High School. Obama was in the midst of a failed bid to oust South Side Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush for a seat in Congress. The garden — planned near and under L tracks between 59th Place and 62nd Place — fell outside of Obama’s Illinois Senate district but within the congressional district’s borders.

    “Obama vowed to “work tirelessly” to raise $1.1 million to help Smith’s organization turn the City of Chicago-owned lot into an oasis of trees and paths. But Obama lost the congressional race, no more money was raised, and today the garden site is a mess of weeds, chunks of concrete and garbage. The only noticeable improvement is a gazebo.”

    After a bit more scrolling, I read this:

    “Obama spokesman Michael Ortiz said Wednesday the senator’s staff in Washington will monitor the Madigan probe and an additional review under way by Gov. Blagojevich’s administration to make sure “the taxpayer funds allocated for the construction of the garden are recuperated from CBHA if the agencies determine that the funds were not properly spent.”

    My conclusion? When spending other people’s money on a project and claiming credit for it was a great press pop for Obama during an election, he was fine with it. When he lost the election and the project was never even begun, Obama either failed to follow up, or did follow up, but took no action because it would reflect negatively on him and his former worker. No other alternative explanations.

    Now? Well, he’s running for higher office again, so NOW he’s gonna keep an eye on this, to make sure he can do damage control as needed.

    Well, it would appear that Obama broke his promise to “work tirelessly” on that project, doesn’t it? Why? Because he lost the election, it was outside of his senate district, so it wasn’t worth any votes for him. Why should he bother?

    Anybody still care to believe his empty promises?


  3. - EmptySuitParade - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:51 am:

    Speaking of scrolling down the Naperville Sun does a near complete peal back on the GOP effort to defend their candidate from being too cozy with controversial developer and supporting tax giveaways. Next time the paper might do a little fact check before reporting the GOP rant. Headedline should said “Opps” or “Correction” …
    McGuire defends campaign ads
    Cites survey as source of abortion stance

    By TED SLOWIK tslowik@scn1.com
    Democratic state representative candidate Dianne McGuire on Wednesday defended her campaign’s use of mailers that her opponent’s supporters characterized as sleazy attack ads.

    McGuire told The Sun that the mailers about her opponent - Naperville City Council member Darlene Senger - are accurate and were meant to inform voters about Senger’s positions on issues.

    “Everything in these fliers is documented,” said McGuire, a retired Naperville School District 203 teacher. “This is pointing out the differences between myself and my opponent. It is not a smear or an attack. It’s educational.”

    Senger, the Republican nominee seeking to succeed retiring 96th District state Rep. Joe Dunn, R-Naperville, held a press conference Tuesday with all but one of the members of the Naperville City Council to respond to the mailers about Senger. One mailing sent to households accused Senger of denying money for schools by supporting creation of a tax-increment financing district for Naperville’s Water Street development.

    McGuire produced council minutes showing that on Dec. 4, Senger voted in favor of creation of the TIF district for the Water Street project. Senger, during a separate vote, voted against the actual development, citing concerns about density and height.

    [NOTE FROM RICH: Please, do not paste entire articles into your comments.]

    So Senger was FOR the tax break and anti-choice for rape and incest victims YIKES!!!!!


  4. - VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 10:52 am:

    You are offering good advice Rich!
    It seems that as consumers of “news” and “opinions”, we must thoroughly read any material and read cynically. We must be aware of sources, note whether they are primary, secondary or crap, and find biased sources that consistently view issues so that we can understand a balance.

    Those who depend on a single secondary source of news are leaving themselves open to being misinformed. Those who consistently read sources with the same bias, are also being misinformed.

    We all must scroll, read, think, and confirm these days as we go through news sources. It is too easy to become narrowly focused. We have been indulged by educators, parents and others who lack the courage to challenge our assumptions for fear of being labeled a crumudgeon.

    So we have to do this ourselves. We can not depend on schools or newspapers to do this for us anymore.


  5. - the Other Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:14 am:

    There’s a bit of a difference between “Obama is not the target of the investigation” and Proft’s contract not being “pure profit.” I mean, some of the Cicero money is ending up in Proft’s pocket, isn’t it? And all of it is part of his firm’s gross revenue.

    That aside, though, I’m surprised that Proft hasn’t changed the name of his firm. For those who don’t get the Urquhart reference, it’s from a series of novels and a BBC production “House of Cards” about a prime minister who blackmails and murders people to achieve his political goals.

    A PR firm named after a murderer is supposed to promote the City of Cicero which has the reputation of being mobbed up? Epic fail.


  6. - wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:17 am:

    That’s an absurd amount of money being paid by Cicero.


  7. - EmptySuitParade - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:53 am:

    Capt. Fax:
    I clipped two or three grafs from the story….was that not enough?
    Sorry


  8. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 11:56 am:

    Four or five grafs top, please.


  9. - Frank Sobotka - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:14 pm:

    “Please, do not paste entire articles into your comments.]”

    I trust ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are still permissable?


  10. - Kremlinologist - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:26 pm:

    “…aside from the general cover-up in this thing, how is the state gonna get its money if it’s already been spent? Are we as taxpayers going to own that second floor now?”

    -Hello, IDOT Traffic Safety offices! :-)


  11. - OneMan - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:26 pm:

    =John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.=

    Who isn’t openly disdainful of the governor?


  12. - Greg - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:37 pm:

    What a sloppy NYT mistake. And it still hasn’t been fixed online?


  13. - Loop Lady - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:48 pm:

    RE: NYT ding: after pulling off the ethics bill passage, I’d say Fritchey is a leader, wouldn’t you say Rich?


  14. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 12:50 pm:

    “A leader” maybe. But not “the leader.”


  15. - GOP'er - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 2:34 pm:

    Those numbers are outrageous. That’s a looting of Cicero by the people who got that Larry Dominick (former Cicero top “cop” under Betty Loren-Maltese) elected.


  16. - Anon - Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 8:15 pm:

    I am surprised that no one has commented on the long term connection between Dan Proft and Tony Peraica. Does it strike anyone as funny that Peraica who tries to convince people that he is some sort of reformer (laughable!) and wants to be State’s Attorney is tied at the hip with Dan Proft and the rest of the Cicero corrupt caball?


Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.


* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* Get The Facts On The Illinois Prescription Drug Board
* Today's quotable
* Question of the day
* Protect Illinois Hospitality - Vote No On House Bill 5345
* Jak is back!
* Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work
* Top labor leaders warm to more transit funding, cool to agency consolidation (Updated)
* Support House Bill 4781
* Berlin doubles down (Updated x2 with Pritzker react)
* It’s just a bill
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - More stuff
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Live coverage
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller