* Something seemed vaguely familiar about this Associated Press story released this afternoon…
What a difference a few months can make.
Not long ago, Gov. Rod Blagojevich would rarely venture out in public. When he did, he would bolt afterward, eager to avoid questions about the federal corruption trial of his former fundraiser.
Now the trial is over — although with a conviction for Blagojevich money man Antoin “Tony” Rezko — and Blagojevich is seeking the spotlight again, reminiscent of his early time in office before federal authorities cranked up the heat on his administration.
A feisty Blagojevich has challenged opponents and flaunted his veto power. He has been chatty with the media again after months of ducking when he couldn’t escape questions about Rezko.
It’s a switch for a governor who just a few months ago couldn’t keep Rezko from stealing attention from the issues and agenda he wanted to advance, something that didn’t help the gridlock in Springfield.
* So, I used the Google and found an eerily similar Associated Press story from June 20th by the same reporter…
When Gov. Rod Blagojevich stopped to visit volunteers filling sandbags to fight floodwaters threatening this Mississippi River town, the spotlight was not on impeachment. Or his ongoing feud with lawmakers. Or the conviction of his top political fundraiser. […]
The floods that have devastated the Midwest couldn’t have come at a politically better time for Gov. Rod Blagojevich. After months of staying mostly out of public view, the governor has spent the week touring flood-ravaged areas and lobbying for relief for homeowners, businesses and communities. […]
The attention is a switch for Blagojevich, who has had difficulty getting lawmakers and the media to focus on issues important to him, in large part because of the corruption trial of his former fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko.
* Today also isn’t the first time that Blagojevich has been labeled “feisty” by the AP. This story is from August 7th…
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.”
* One other point from today’s piece…
It’s a move straight out of Blagojevich’s early playbook that draws on the John Wayne Westerns the Democratic governor loves where every hero needs a foil.
That paragraph referred to Blagojevich “casting himself as the good guy and Madigan as his foe in a fight over how to come up with the money to build roads, bridges, schools and other projects.”
* You have to go back to 2006 for the AP’s first John Wayne reference…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is more than a casual John Wayne fan. When he rattles off Wayne’s movie titles, his list of favorites includes the little-known B-Westerns the Duke made before “Stagecoach” made him a star.
The Western’s world of black hats and white hats appeals to the Democratic governor.
“John Wayne was for truth and justice, the American way,” the governor said on a recent afternoon, taking a break from politics to talk about movies over a fried chicken lunch at a West Side soul food restaurant.
“John Wayne was on the right side against the wrong side in his movies.”
OK, after four stories I think we get it. The governor is having more press conferences now that the Rezko trial is over, he’s “feisty” and he’s back to his John Wayne caricature.
Thanks, AP.
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Question of the day
Monday, Sep 8, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The White Sox are trying to cope with some recent player injuries and the Flubs are slumping,
* Question: How do you see the rest of the season playing out for both Chicago teams?
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No big cuts at CTA
Monday, Sep 8, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fare hikes and/or service cuts were rumored to be in the offing for the CTA today to patch a $66 million budget hole, but the transit agency went in a different direction at a morning news conference…
The measures include the recent elimination of 43 positions and cuts to 80 administrative positions before the end of the year. The move involves both layoffs and the elimination of vacant positions, the CTA said. The cuts will save $4.9 million, according to the CTA.
Further, the CTA is outsourcing garbage collection at its facilities, for a savings of $500,000 per year. The CTA also plans to defer non-critical contract spending, changing the labor mix, cutting bus maintenance costs through upgrades and preventative measures, using technology to make bus supervisors mobile rather than stationary.
Altogether, the measures are expected to save about $40 million, the CTA said. […]
This is despite the fact that ridership is way up.
Last week, the CTA reported that high gas prices and a poor economy have driven ridership on the CTA up 5.3 percent compared with last year. For the month of August, ridership was up 9.5 percent compared with a year earlier.
* What’s causing the budget shortfall? The Tribune explains some of it…
The budget crisis has been caused in part by soaring fuel and energy costs, which will be $37.3 million higher than last year.
The budget crisis was exacerbated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s decision to provide free rides for senior citizens and low-income disabled passengers. That will cost the agency at least $30 million this year.
The governor also vetoed more than $16 million in reduced-fare subsidies this year for the CTA in the state budget.
In addition, the City Council legislated free rides to disabled military veterans and active service men and women in uniform.
* Bus and train fares don’t cover the full cost of running the system. So when ridership and costs soar like they have this year and the subsidies don’t keep pace, then shortfalls result.
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* Crain’s reports that a group of bigtime Illinois Republican donors - mainly corporate types - are working with the state GOP chairman to put together a friendly statewide ticket in 2010…
“We want to put together a meaningful ticket of fresh faces, without baggage,” says Mayer Brown LLP partner Ty Fahner, chairman of the Illinois GOP’s finance committee. “That’s where we’ll put the money.”
Some members of the finance committee have been meeting privately with potential candidates over the past year.
* More details…
Mr. Fahner won’t say who’s involved besides state party Chairman Andrew McKenna Jr., president of Schwarz Paper Co. in Morton Grove. But insiders say the finance committee includes top donors Michael Keiser, CEO of Recycled Paper Products Inc., Edgar “Ned” Janotta, chairman of William Blair & Co., Oak Brook investor Peter Huizenga, Goldman Sachs & Co. Managing Director Muneer Satter and Bruce Rauner, chairman of Chicago private-equity firm GTCR Golder Rauner LLC.
* About eight to twelve corporate titans have been meeting with prospective candidates. Some members of the secret “Star Chamber” tribunal are also potential candidates, like GTCR Golder Rauner’s chairman Bruce Rauner…
Another who might fit the bill is Mr. Rauner. He gave the party $50,000 this year and dropped in to meet Illinois delegates at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., last week, adding to the buzz that he’s considering a run for governor. Mr. Rauner declines to comment.
Steve Preston, the U.S. secretary of housing and urban development, could appeal to both social conservatives and the business community. He is the former chief financial officer of ServiceMaster Co., a company known for its Christian orientation, which moved last year to Memphis, Tenn., from Downers Grove. […]
Chicago executive Ron Gidwitz, who lost a primary race for governor in 2006, has been mentioned as a possible contender in 2010, as well. His own initiative to help the party this year has raised more than $1 million from Chicago-area executives for the Economic Freedom Alliance, an independent political action group he formed under Section 527 of the tax code to buy television and radio ads aimed at some of the state’s tightest congressional races this year.
* The SJ-R has more on the possible gubernatorial run by Illinois Chamber President Doug Whitley…
He said the state hasn’t had a “true CEO” since about a year into former GOP Gov. George Ryan’s single term, when the scandal that eventually landed him in prison became a distraction. […]
Whitley, a one-time Democrat who says he has always been very independent, also found fault with the potential of the state’s Republican establishment.
“I see a Republican Party that is dysfunctional, just like state government,” he said. “There’s no true leadership in the Republican Party. They’ve lost their way since the George Ryan scandal, and they truly need fresh ideas and new people and people who have a desire for a better future.”
* Jim Edgar spoke highly of Whitley…
“Doug is a former member of my cabinet, he knows state government well, and he would be a very credible candidate for Governor should he decide to run,” former Gov. Edgar said in a statement Friday.
* Tejeda has reservations…
But too many of the business types who try to run for government office act as though they can be the all-dictating boss, running the government in the same strong-arm manner that they run their companies.
* Illinois Review has some questions for Whitley…
* Since your political conversion in 2000, why have you personally donated to Democrats Melissa Bean, Jerry Costello and Dick Durbin’s federal campaigns?
* As head of the Transportation for Illinois Coalition, why would your group oppose a Republican-led effort to provide federal gas tax relief this past summer?
* Also as head of TFIC, why would you promote Chicago Mayor Daley’s plan to re-route a considerable amount of rail traffic out into the western suburbs via the controversial EJ & E?
* And Tom Roeser has these reservations about Whitley…
I have four other reservations about Whitley. First, his conflict of interest of candidate and business lobbyist, a manager of an institution which to serve business ends must deal with Democrats as well as Republicans baffles me. He is a president of a business trade association which technically, in some aspects at least, is 501© (3). If he is running while drawing pay as a trade association prexy he should make a decision soon one way or the other. Second, Whitley as a working stiff would be dependent as a candidate on contributions purportedly from business interests he is supposed to be representing anyhow. How does that work? As a former longtime lobbyist myself (a vice president of Quaker Oats), suppose I had set up an exploratory committee for my hoped for future candidacy while working as a lobbyist. Very strange contortion.
Three, he is unremittingly hostile to social conservatism in any form-pro-choice, pro special rights for gays, disaffection for the 2nd amendment and laugh-down-his-nose coldness ala Topinka with utter lack of sympathy for social concerns that make the GOP grassroots strong. This puts him on a par with the Lion of Anti-Conservatism Hostility, Big Jim Thompson in whose pocket Whitley assuredly would be a token. Fourth, he is an outsider to the Republican party by choice as well as solid Democratic heritage, having not crossed over either intellectually or emotionally from his past Democratic roots no matter his having served in a high appointive post by Jim Edgar.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Sen. Bill Brady has come up with what I believe is a new excuse for his 2006 GOP primary loss…
Brady blamed his showing on Edgar’s role in the 2006 primary. For months, Edgar sounded like he might make another run for chief executive. By the time Edgar closed the door on his candidacy, Brady said it was too late for his campaign to begin picking up steam
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McQueary: Vote “Yes” on Con-Con
Monday, Sep 8, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Kristen McQueary has an excellent column this week about why people should vote “Yes” on a constitutional convention this November. This important point, for instance, always seems to get lost in the shuffle…
A constitutional convention requires that any changes to the constitution be approved by voters. That’s right. You. Once the convention is over, the changes come back to the ballot for a full vetting of the electorate.
* She also pokes a bit of fun at the hyperventilating by the opposition…
Convention opponents also whisper that individual rights could be scaled back. Abortions will be outlawed. Gay couples will be allowed to marry in churches from Rockford to Carbondale. Oh, the pandemonium!
Don’t believe the propaganda. A constitutional convention is one of very few tools Illinois voters can employ to be heard. Why do you think the political establishment only allows us to do it every 20 years?
* And she makes this salient point…
You want real reform? You want a recall amendment? You want term limits? You want ballot access? You’re not going to get it without a constitutional convention.
You may not get those things with a Con-Con, but we certainly won’t without one.
* And what about the claim that a Con-Con will delay any real legislative action on big things while legislators and the governor wait to see what the voters do? McQueary has an answer for that as well…
But really - we’ve been waiting years for Springfield to do anything substantive. Lawmakers can’t even agree on a state budget. Even if you vote for new representation, the system isn’t designed for change-makers.
* She closes…
So don’t be afraid. Don’t believe the hype. Reject the special interest groups. Upset the apple cart.
* Meanwhile, more of the same from Springfield…
Rep. Mike Boland would have us believe it is just a coincidence that the “best qualified” person he directed $25,976 in state scholarships to is the daughter of one of his biggest contributors.
Just last week, he ordered the Illinois State Board of Education to yet again waive Alleyene Suehl’s annual tuition to the University of Illinois.
Generally, lawmakers give out legislative scholarships in one-year increments. This is Alleyene’s fourth one-year scholarship.
Her mom Barb Suehl has given $15,891 to Boland’s campaign.
I have no doubt that Alleyene is a bright, capable young woman. But is it the best use of taxpayer resources to repeatedly give a scholarship to a child of a family that can afford to make that kind of campaign contribution?
* Somewhat related…
* Boycott Underscores Disparities in Schools
* Alice Armstrong: Give Meeks, students credit for trying to change tone
* Statehouse Insider: Trying to get something for nothing
* SJ-R Opinion: Modest hope for solution to state’s woes
* Lottery lease: Not so fast
* Illinois Lottery reports record sales
* House lawmakers set to return to tackle lottery sale
* So you want to lease a lottery….
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* Kudos to the Tribune for doing a progress check on a big, splashy gubernatorial announcement. But no kudos for the governor, unfortunatey…
A year ago, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, frustrated by legislative logjams and eager to advance his health-care agenda, announced an expansion of the state’s All Kids program.
Instead of having benefits cut off at age 19, young people with organ transplants, diabetes and other serious medical conditions would continue to get subsidized state coverage until their 21st birthdays, he promised.
But, as the Tribune reports, the program still does not exist and the governor has yet to propose an actual plan.
* More…
In August 2007, when the governor announced All Kids Bridge, he insisted on the need for the health-care expansion. “If the legislature won’t do it, then I’m going to do it,” he said at a news conference at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago. At the time, state officials said efforts to find applicants were already under way.
Despite several requests from the Tribune, the state would not make an official available for an interview. In a statement, Susan Hofer, a spokeswoman for the Division of Insurance, said: “At this point, the administration is still working with the [insurance] board to finalize program details.”
“We are entirely committed to All Kids Bridge,” she said, saying the state had spent the last year “refining the details.”
Separately, Hofer confirmed that nine members of the 12-person insurance board were serving expired terms or awaiting Senate confirmation. That could make it extremely difficult for the board to approve a significant health-care expansion.
* Somewhat related…
* Governor’s veto of hotel tax bill no surprise
* End is near for 24 state sites
* Editorial: Save Lincoln Log Cabin
* Friday follow-up
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Peraica to Fitz: Fuhgetaboutit
Monday, Sep 8, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m not sure that dissing Fitz is such a great campaign idea…
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has asked Republican Cook County state’s attorney candidate Tony Peraica to stop passing out a campaign flier that looks to Fitzgerald like Peraica is claiming his endorsement.
The flier shows side-by-side photos of Fitzgerald and Peraica and says, “U.S. Attorney’s Office Needs Help Fighting Corruption in Cook County.”
Fitzgerald said in his letter he had never even met Peraica. “The flier creates the misleading assumption that I have endorsed your candidacy. . . . That is by no means the case. I have never endorsed any candidate in any race for anything (much less someone I do not believe I have yet had occasion to meet.)”
Fitzgerald’s letter asks Peraica how many of the fliers he has sent out “and where they have been distributed and what efforts have been made to retrieve them.”
Peraica said he will make no efforts to retrieve them.
“I don’t think the flier is inappropriate,” Peraica said. “I think any objective examination of that door-hanger piece would show that no endorsement is stated or implied.”
* The flier in question….
* US Attorney Fitzgerald’s letter can be read by clicking here.
* More…
Peraica, of Riverside, said he had the campaign piece vetted by an attorney and that there is nothing wrong with it. He said he intends to continue using the flier despite receiving Fitzgerald’s letter.
A spokesman for Democratic candidate Anita Alvarez said Peraica is trying to mislead voters into thinking he has received Fitzgerald’s backing.
“This is a race for chief legal officer of Cook County. I think it raises questions about the judgment Mr. Peraica has,” spokeswoman Sally Daly said. “It’s a reckless thing to do for a political candidate, potentially one who is running to become the next state’s attorney.”
Peraica disputed that allegation.
“There’s nothing inappropriate in that particular flier,” he said. “I have the utmost respect for U.S. Atty. Fitzgerald. I think he’s one of the few public officials who is trying to root out corruption here in Cook County, which leads to higher taxes.”
Thoughts?
* Related…
* Convicted businessman alleges scheme to give money to Bolingbrook mayor’s campaign
* Inspector general pick likely has 2 key foes
* County hiring reform needed
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Morning Shorts
Monday, Sep 8, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* Robert Novak writes of cancer treatment
* Representative Jim Watson returns home
* Water demand could increase 64 percent by 2050
* Equal Voice for America’s Families Convention in Chicago
The Equal Voice for America’s Families Campaign is holding a convention this Saturday, September 6th from 12 to 4pm at Navy Pier, Exhibit Hall A, though registration is closed at this point.
* Making the Illinois Poverty Census Data Meaningful
* Photo enforcement vans more effective than signs, police cars, U. of I. study says
* Fatal traffic accidents declining in Illinois
* Confidentiality law needs to be revised
* ‘Why is it so hard to fire a policeman?’
* Bikers, fighters lend a helping hand
* Cook real estate value doubles in a decade: Civic Federation
* State treasurer’s office holding video contest
* SIU-C enrollment drops 1.5 percent
* Maxwell Street Market is on the move again
The Maxwell Street Market was held for the last time on Canal Street on Sunday as the city moves vendors next week a few blocks away to Desplaines Street, a change that will take the market even farther from its eclectic roots.
* Blagojevich declares ‘Missouri Tigers Day’ in Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has settled his wager with Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, proclaiming “University of Missouri Tigers Day” in Illinois.
The governors made the friendly bet before last weekend’s Missouri-Illinois football game.
* Backfield bonanza
Here in the Colts’ new semi-indoor stadium — kind of a large box with a flap open at one end — the Bears displayed something just as fresh as the boondoggle building.
A running back and a quarterback.
* Miller: Thecapitolfaxblog.com
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