An attorney for one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s closest friends denied Friday that his client ever wore a wire or made recordings of the governor for the FBI and was unaware of any such recordings.
“Any allegation or insinuation to the contrary is simply untrue,” Zachary T. Fardon, attorney for lobbyist and Blagojevich friend John Wyma, said in a statement.
His statement followed a report in Friday’s Chicago Tribune that Wyma has cooperated with federal investigators in their probe of corruption in the Blagojevich administration and quoted unnamed sources as saying that the assistance provided by Wyma “helped lead to recordings of the governor and others.”
The Tribune never reported that Wyma had worn a wire or made recordings.
Fardon declined to answer questions as to whether his client, a former Blagojevich staff aide who is now a lobbyist, was cooperating with the government.
As part of this undercover effort, one of the governor’s closest confidants and former aides cooperated with investigators, and that assistance helped lead to recordings of the governor and others, sources said.
Some of us initially interpreted that wrong, including myself, unfortunately. Thanks to Fardon for clearing it up.
* It’s been another one of those weeks. Illinois politics is like a very good political novel. It’s hard to put it down. But we’ve arrived at the weekend, so all things must come to an end. I’ll see you Monday.
Keep heading to Illinoize for bloggy fun, and buy yourself a classified or calendar ad at InsiderzExchange, the place to be seen.
* Let’s announce some Golden Horseshoe winners, shall we?
* Best legislative staffer: Nick Bellini and Nick McNeely. This was how a commenter explained his/her vote….
Because in an election year based on the concept of change, they got [Rep. Ron Wait] a 20-year incumbent who bailed a sex-offender out of jail re-elected.
Can’t argue with that.
* Best legislative secretary/admin assistant: Marcia Simmons. She really does do a great job. Sen. Munoz’s Springfield secretary got a bunch of votes, and here’s one…
It makes your visit to Springfield easier when legislative assistants want to not only help you but do it in a pleasant manner.
* Best state legislator: Senate President-in-waiting John Cullerton…
I can’t believe this transition went as smooth as it did.
* Best political bar/restaurant. Saputo’s wins this hands down, according to readers…
We all know who sits in the corner and it’s a sure thing to see dozens of legislators. It looks like the location has treated Cullerton pretty well also.
* Best Agency Director: Doug Scott…
Hardly ever in the news. Just keeps the agency running with no major scandals or screwups, which is what a good director should be.
* Best statewide official: Lisa Madigan. Both Madigan and Alexi Giannoulias had lots of support in today’s runoff, and it was a very tough decision. Madigan won last year, and I was just about to give it to Alexi when I read this comment by Jake from Elwood…
Simply put, very few politicians in my lifetime have exceeded my expectations when they have first taken office. She is one of them.
Then way south of the border wrote this…
Her early work (which dates back at least two years) on mortgage fraud has paid off beautifully this year, with landmark lawsuits and settlements that are a model for the nation.
I appreciate Alexi as a young, energetic idea guy, but Lisa’s focus and foresight puts her in front of the whole pack of constitutional officers. She has really delivered, when we need it most.
* Best congresscritter: Dick Durbin. I went into today’s runoff figuring that the George Ryan commutation uproar would doom Durbin against Mark Kirk. Boy, was I wrong. Kirk had a lot of intense support, but Durbin gets the win because the odds were so heavily stacked against him today…
I cannot agree with his position on Ryan. I can understand it.
More next week.
* This song seems to be appropriate on a whole bunch of different levels…
Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn demanded today that Gov. Rod Blagojevich immediately explain himself to the public following the Tribune’s disclosure that the governor has been covertly taped by federal authorities investigating corruption in state government.
“I think the governor has a short period of time to come forward and level with the people of Illinois,” Quinn said. […]
“The governor owes to the people of Illinois a full and complete explanation,” said Quinn, who defended Blagojevich while serving as his running mate in 2006, when the federal probe already was going on.
Quinn said Blagojevich should open himself up to questions raised by the Tribune story and his relationships to convicted political insiders like Stuart Levine, whom Blagojevich kept on state boards where corruption flourished, and Tony Rezko, whose federal conviction followed a trial where the governor was repeatedly linked to allegations of pay-to-play politics. Blagojevich and Wyma have not been charged with any crimes.
“He should immediately find a forum and stand there for however long it takes and fully and completely answer all questions raised,” Quinn said.
An apt forum might be a House impeachment hearing.
Just sayin’.
* Meanwhile, we now know about how many staffers that Gov. Blagojevich took with him to Philadelphia to meet with fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama…
According to the governor’s press office, Blagoejvich and 7 or 8 staffers took a state owned twin turbo jet to Philly.
That’s a heckuva lot of staff. Compare that number to other governors at this link.
Back to the story…
We checked into how much more expensive it was to fly the private plane compared to a commercial flight.
According to the state auditor’s office, it costs $9.81/mile to fly the private plane. A round trip from Chicago to Philadelphia is 581 miles. That means it would cost an estimated $7,880 to fly round trip betwen Chicago and Philly.
We then priced a commercial flight from Chicago to Philadelphia. According to Southwest.com, a round trip flight would cost $440.
Therefore, it would cost the governor and staffers $3,520 to make the round trip. That’s a difference of nearly $8,000.
A spokesman for the governor tells us flying the private plane allowed the group to meet while in air and it has phone access as well.
The math here is really screwed up.
The 581 miles used in the story is actually nautical miles. 581 nautical miles x2 for a round trip is 1,162 miles, x$9.81 = $11,399.22, not the number in the story.
The Auditor General has also decreed that the billing rate for the state plane should be $1.85 per seat-mile. If it was the guv plus eight staffers (we’ll take the high end) that’s $16.65 for each mile.
So, using nautical miles, that’s 1,162 round-trip miles, times $16.65 = a recommended $19,347.30 pricetag.
* I can’t make a decision on the following Golden Horshoe contests…
1) Best statewide official: Lisa Madigan or Alexi Giannoulias
2) Best congresscritter: Mark Kirk or Dick Durbin
Vote for only one in each contest. No further nominations will be accepted. Please explain your reasoning, but keep it positive. I’m not interested at all in why you’re for somebody because of how much you’re against the other. I’ll just delete that sort of comment if I’m around.
* Steve Huntley and I agree on Dick Durbin’s possible motive for asking President Bush to commute George Ryan’s sentence…
A few weeks ago, Durbin’s daughter, Christine Ann, died at age 40 after a lifelong struggle with a congenital heart condition. As we enter one of Christianity’s holiest seasons, Durbin understands how fleeting the joys of life are, how closely death shadows our lives, and how precious family life is.
Durbin, a fiercely partisan liberal, and I, a conservative, don’t agree on a lot of things. I can’t find myself agreeing with him on this one, but I also can’t find fault with him.
Mrs. Ryan is said to be more ill than has been reported, by the way. That certainly played into Durbin’s thinking.
Congresswoman-elect Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) and U.S. Reps. Judy Biggert (R-13th) and Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd) said they oppose commuting former Gov. George Ryan’s prison sentence. […]
Two other Southland members of Congress - Bobby Rush (D-1st) and Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) - did not return calls for comment.
* Man, if Wyma has flipped, is there anyone at all whom the governor can trust?
Federal investigators recently made covert tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the most dramatic step yet in their corruption investigation of him and his administration, the Tribune has learned.
As part of this undercover effort, one of the governor’s closest confidants and former aides cooperated with investigators, and that assistance helped lead to recordings of the governor and others, sources said.
The cooperation of John Wyma, 42, one of the state’s most influential lobbyists, is the most stunning evidence yet that Blagojevich’s once-tight inner circle appears to be collapsing under the pressure of myriad pay-to-play inquiries.
We’re talking about one of the governor’s very closest political and personal friends here. This ain’t no low-level guy.
* Did they get this meeting on tape?
Wyma, Blagojevich’s chief of staff when he was in Congress, has long been one of the few advisers trusted by Blagojevich and kept in the loop on matters of policy and politics. As the federal probe intensified, Wyma met privately with the governor and his former chief of staff at the governor’s campaign headquarters on the North Side for 90 minutes on Oct. 22.
Confronted outside that meeting, Wyma declined to talk to Tribune reporters about what the meeting was about before jumping into his car. The next day, the Tribune was the first to report that Wyma’s name appeared in a federal subpoena delivered to Provena Health, a former client of his.
Blagojevich might’ve been comfortable enough in that meeting to say anything. Oof.
…Adding… Lon Monk was the “former chief of staff” listed as attending that campaign headquarters meeting in today’s Trib article. Some background on Provena and that meeting can be found at this link…
Pushing further into Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s inner circle, federal investigators have subpoenaed records involving a lobbyist friend who represented a hospital company that won a favorable state ruling.
The company’s for-profit affiliate donated $25,000 to Blagojevich’s campaign a month after the state’s action.
John Wyma, a top fundraiser and former Blagojevich aide, was named in a federal subpoena delivered two weeks ago to Provena Health, according to sources. It sought records about Provena’s lobbying relationship with Wyma, the donation and the company’s efforts to win approval for a new heart program. […]
On Wednesday, Wyma met for about 90 minutes with the governor and another fundraiser and state lobbyist, Lon Monk, at Blagojevich’s political offices on the North Side. When asked after the meeting about the subpoena, Wyma said, “I have no comment.”
Monk, who was Blagojevich’s chief of staff during his first term, also declined to comment.
Doug Scofield, a spokesman for the Friends of Blagojevich campaign committee, described the meeting as “routine.”
“I don’t think anything big happened,” he said.
Lisa Lagger, a spokesman for Provena Health, said, “We are not parties of interest here.”
If Provena isn’t a “party of interest,” then that might leave at least two others: The guy who solicited the standard $25,000 contribution and the guy who accepted it.
Wyma, 42, now a top lobbyist, has also been named in a federal subpoena delivered to Provena Health, a former client of his.
The subpoena sought records about Provena’s relationship with Wyma, the hospital’s efforts to win state approval of a new heart program and a $25,000 donation the company’s for-profit affiliate gave to Blagojevich’s campaign fund, the newspaper reported.
Wyma had no comment about the story.
Wyma doesn’t lobby the General Assembly much at all. He mainly uses his exclusive access to Gov. Blagojevich to make money.
* This story from a year ago might help explain some things as well…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s wife received the real estate commission in a $650,000 condominium sale from a businessman who since has won $10 million in no-bid state contracts.
The seller was Mark T. Wight, owner of Wight & Company, an architecture firm that won three new contracts with the state’s toll highway authority after the 2005 sale. The buyer was John R. Wyma, Wight’s tollway lobbyist and a longtime Blagojevich insider.
The governor might wanna make that US Senate appointment before it’s too late.
In another development, FBI agents searched two Joliet businesses owned by Harish Bhatt, a longtime Blagojevich supporter.
Agents descended upon Basinger and Essington pharmacies early in the morning and combed through paperwork. The FBI would only say it’s part of an ongoing federal investigation.
Bhatt told reporters agents weren’t looking into him, adding, “We have nothing to do with it.”
Last year, the Tribune named Bhatt as being part of an ongoing investigation into Blagojevich’s administration. The paper reported state police were looking into whether Bhatt solicited campaign donations in exchange for state favors.
Bhatt and Blagojevich go back years. Bhatt has raised thousands of dollars for the governor. And just this year, another Blagojevich fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, was convicted on pay-to-play corruption charges.
* More from the Joliet Herald News, which broke the story yesterday…
Rice said the warrant was connected to “an ongoing federal investigation,” but would not disclose details on what the agents were looking into.
Both the complaints and warrants were under seal, Rice said.
It appeared, however, that the feds’ visit to Bhatt’s pharmacies was not connected to the Blagojevich probe. “They are looking into somebody else,” Bhatt said Thursday. “We have nothing to do with it.”
Bhatt would not disclose whom the feds were interested in, saying agents asked him to be quiet.
We’ll all know soon enough.
* More bckground on Blagojevich and Bhatt is here.
A photo of Blagojevich and Bhatt…
And here’s one of Wyma [center] and Blagojevich in Texas from back in August. They apparently held a funder down there…
Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana has delayed beginning construction of its $236 million expansion project for at least six months.
Hunt says for all practical purposes, there is no bond market for hospitals. He says until the market opens up again, expansion won’t start because the institution wants to borrow money at a favorable rate
The federal government has approved sending more than $775 million a year over the next five years to Illinois hospitals and other medical providers to help care for Medicaid patients.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Thursday that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the five-year deal with the state.
As a result, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services will distribute more than $1.5 billion a year in Medicaid payments. Half of the money will come from the federal government and half from the state.
Six vacant city jobs will be eliminated as part of the effort to offset Gov. Blagojevich’s plan to pull back state-shared money.
Faced with possibly $2 million less in state income tax dollars, Aurora finance officials in the late stages of setting the 2009 budget scurried to absorb the reduction.
Mayor Daley’s $163,656-a-year budget director abruptly resigned Thursday, leaving a giant void as Chicago struggles to survive its worst financial crisis in recent history.
“Look at the history of budget directors. It’s two budget seasons and out. That’s just the way it goes. It’s a tough and demanding job. I’ve done a lot to try and help the city, but it’s time to move on. It is truly and absolutely for my own personal reasons,” said Bennett Johnson III.
City Hall could spend more than half of its $1.2 billion check within a few years, but a private company that agreed to pay that huge sum to lease Chicago’s parking meters now will get to collect the cash for the next 75 years.
Although the 36,000 meters generate almost $20 million a year in net income—and rates are set to rise sharply next month—Mayor Richard Daley contends the city is better served in these tough economic times by taking the money upfront.
Under a deal approved Thursday by a 40-5 City Council vote, the cost to park at two-thirds of the meters in Chicago will quadruple next month. Neighborhood spots that cost a quarter an hour will cost $1 an hour and will increase to $2 an hour by 2013. The top meter rates in the Loop will go from $3 an hour to $6.50 within five years.
The net decline of 3,689 students last year was less than 1 percent of Illinois’ nearly 2.1 million public school students, according to the state school report card released this fall. What’s more significant is that the decline was widespread. Enrollment dropped in 63 of the state’s 102 counties last year, according to a Tribune analysis. The state education agency is monitoring the shifting population, a spokesman said.
Cook County drove the decline, with a drop of more than 25,000 students from 2003 to 2008, Tribune research shows.
The Chicago Public Schools lost more than 45,000 students in the last five years, according to the state report card, and a city school spokeswoman said they’ve seen no “significant reversal of the downward trend.”
Bureaucratic wagons are circling against Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ clear-headed approach to the state’s public employee pension mess.
Illinois has five separate pension funds managed by three separate boards. Together, they have 300 employees.
Giannoulias proposes merging administration of these funds to cut overhead and reduce the impact of political influence and corruption.
Already, some of the employee groups are reacting predictably with complaints that can be summarized thusly: Leave us alone. We can get along fine by ourselves.
But they aren’t by themselves. Several analyses rank Illinois’ unfunded pension obligations as the worst in the nation. Unfunded pension debt — the amount expected to be owed to future retirees versus the money expected to be paid in — exceeds $43 billion. So, taxpayers have to kick in to help cover the $1,900 to $3,100 per month in retirement payments guaranteed to about 270,000 retired teachers, judges, legislators and other public employees.
* We were told yesterday that Gov. Blagojevich took a state plane to this weeks’ governors meeting with President-elect Barack Obama. An Akron radio station has now taken a look at how other governors traveled to Philadelphia…
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland was among those making the trip to press for more money from Washington, but his spokesman Keith Dailey noted the visit by commercial jet was paid for out of Strickland’s campaign money and not with state funds. The Governor didn’t take the state plane because the trip wasn’t bipartisan business, as he attended a Democratic Governor’s Association sponsored event Monday.
Gov. Blagojevich also attended that Democratic event. Hmm.
* This is the argument I made yesterday when I called the state plane usage a “stupid” idea…
Some of the state leaders obviously took a page from what happened when the Detroit top executives were roundly criticized by federal lawmakers and pundits for taking private jets to Washington to appear before Congress to press for relief in the form of up to $25 billion in assistance.
You’d think there’d be a learning curve on 15 16. You’d be wrong.
California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, flew on a private jet, but paid his own way, New Jersey’s governor took a train and the governor of Michigan drove.
Ahnold is rich, NJ is close by, but the Michigan governor drove? Interesting.
In all, 11 governors took a commercial flight, eight flew on a state plane, officials in Kentucky and Mississippi said their governors flew on a plane, but wouldn’t specify whether it was a private or commercial jet and five governors didn’t go. There were 22 state offices that did not return our phone calls.
At least eleven took a commercial flight, but that was apparently not on our governor’s agenda.
* Here is part of the station’s list…
Florida - Governor Charlie Crist flew in a state plane and took his Chief of Staff, Communication’s Director , two security officials and an aide.
Illinois - Governor Rod Blagojevich flew to Philadelphia on a state plane; no other details were provided.
Indiana - Governor Mitch Daniels flew to see Obama on a state plane.
Iowa - Governor Chet Culver took a commercial flight.
Kansas - Governor Kathleen Sebelius took a state plane.
Maine - Governor John E. Baldacci took a commercial plane, flying US Airways.
Maryland - Governor Martin O’Malley took a state plane. (Annapolis, MD is a 126-mile trip taking approximately 2 hours, 27 minutes according to Mapquest.com)
Massachusetts - Governor Deval Patrick flew on a commercial plane.
Vermont - Governor Jim Douglas flew on a commercial plane to D.C. then traveled by train from D.C. to Philadelphia.
Virginia - Governor Tim Kaine flew to Philadelphia on a state plane.
Washington - Governor Christine Gregoire flew on a commercial plane.
West Virginia - Governor Joe Manchin III took four people, including security, via a state plane.
Wisconsin - Governor James Doyle took a commercial flight to Philadelphia.
I still say it was a stupid idea to take a state plane to Philly.
* Rasmussen Reports has a couple of new polls out today. The first has Attorney General Lisa Madigan leading all candidates for US Senate…
Among all Illinois residents, Madigan attracts 25% support, closely followed by [Congressman] Jackson with 23%. Duckworth is next with the backing of 21%. Schakowksy has seven percent (7%) support, with [Emil] Jones at three percent (3%). Twenty-one percent (21%) are undecided.
Among Democrats, however, Jackson leads…
The Chicago congressman who has been openly campaigning for the job has the support of 36% of Illinois Democrats, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state taken Tuesday night.
Tammy Duckworth, director of Illinois’ Department of Veterans Affairs, is next with the backing of 29%, followed by state Attorney General Lisa Madigan with 17%.
Frankly, it’s interesting to see Duckworth doing so well in a statewide poll.
* More…
Madigan is the leader among men with 28% support, while Jackson is the favorite of a plurality of women (29%). Next for women is Madigan with 22% backing. Second for men is Duckworth (24%), who gets 19% support among women. Just 15% of men support Jackson.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of African-Americans favor Jackson, compared to 10% of whites. Madigan gets the highest level of white support (31%), followed by Duckworth with 22%. Statistically, Madigan has 0% support among blacks.
* And the guv still isn’t popular…
Just 15% now say Blagojevich is doing a good or excellent job as governor, while 61% rate his performance as poor.
Two-thirds of adults in Illinois (66%) are opposed to a presidential pardon for former Governor George Ryan, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state.
Just 23% say Ryan, the Republican convicted on federal corruption charges in 2006, should be pardoned. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided. […]
Twenty-eight percent (28%) of men favor a pardon for Ryan, compared to 19% of women. Seventy percent (70%) of whites oppose a pardon, compared to 22% who support it. Blacks are closely divided, with those opposed to a pardon having just a four-point edge.
Members of Ryan’s own political party are more unforgiving than his former political opponents. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Republicans oppose a pardon versus 59% of Democrats. Twenty-six percent (26%) of both parties favor pardoning Ryan. Among those unaffiliated with either major political party, just 15% support a pardon, while 77% oppose one.
Opposition to a pardon generally rises with income level.
Except Ryan isn’t asking for a full pardon, so the poll is flawed.
*** UPDATE 1 *** [Posted by Kevin Fanning] Joe Birkett enters the debate over Ryan’s possible commutation with a letter to President Bush:
While we empathize with Ryan’s family and their plight, I do not believe the hardships they face in his absence are reason enough to free inmate George Ryan. All inmates have families, not just those who led privileged lives prior to their incarceration. The suffering faced by former Governor Ryan’s family is no greater than that experienced by the families of thousands of other inmates across Illinois. That Senator Durbin would ask for special treatment for a man who for decades enjoyed special treatment at the expense of taxpayers is a slap in the face of justice.
[…]
Please help Illinois restore its once proud image of open, honest government by denying Senator Durbin’s request for leniency for a pubic official who has disgraced himself and the great state of Illinois.
Turns out, Gov. Rod Blagojevich had a nose for corruption back when he was in Congress.
The Chicago Democrat sat on a House committee looking into President Bill Clinton’s last-minute pardons, including the controversial pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.
Rich’s wife gave more than $1 million to the Democratic Party and nearly $500,000 to Clinton’s presidential library.
Blagojevich said at the time he thought the pardon was shady. He apparently could see a conflict of interest at that time when it came to massive donations and the distribution of government largesse.
“I think the pardon would not have happened if not for the campaign contributions,” Blagojevich was quoted as saying then.
Blagojevich also made clear then that he thought Rich’s pardon was an abuse of presidential power. He called it “indefensible and reprehensible.”
* Here’s round 2 of our Golden Horseshoes award. As I told you yesterday, voting is based on intesity of the opinion, not the sheer numbers of votes, so make sure to fully explain your positions, please. Also, no snark and no negativity. I don’t want to have to babysit this thread all day…
* Has everyone had their say about George Ryan yet? Probably not, which is why we have another thread on this topic today…
When Sen. Dick Durbin first floated the idea that he might ask President Bush to commute former Gov. George Ryan’s 6 1/2 year prison sentence, we thought that he simply was sending up a trial balloon.
Politicians sometimes do that. Put out an idea, see what the public reaction is, but leave yourself room to back out. Dutifully, we put forth an editorial explaining why a commutation was a bad idea as did many Illinois newspapers, columnists and pundits. Even our letter writers fired up their pens and expressed their displeasure.
To say that we were disappointed when Durbin decided to follow through and write Bush a letter, pleading for mercy for Ryan, would be an understatement. Durbin’s decision permanently stains his credibility.
We cannot figure out why U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, believes that commuting the sentence of our corrupt former governor, George Ryan, is an idea worthy of ignoring overwhelming public sentiment against it. […]
We consider Durbin an honorable public servant with a sterling record. His decision to write this letter is a profoundly disappointing deviation from it.
His willful criminal behavior perpetuated Illinois’ worldwide infamy for corrupt elected officials, no doubt inhibiting many good women and men who might have considered public office.
President-elect Barack Obama’s office said Wednesday that he doesn’t feel it’s “appropriate” to get involved in the controversy about whether former Republican Illinois Gov. George Ryan should get executive clemency from President George W. Bush.
But the Combine wouldn’t like it. So he punted, probably sending a tingle up the leg of Tony Rezko, the convicted influence peddler and Obama’s personal real estate fairy, now facing years in federal prison.
You can almost hear Rezko shriek, from solitary confinement, in his orange jumpsuit:
“At this time! At this time? See? He didn’t rule it out! Maybe next time is my time! Next time! Oh thank you, Barack. Next time, yeah baby!”
Democratic Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan said today that she does not agree with Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s decision to send a letter to President George W. Bush asking him to commute the federal corruption sentence of former Republican Gov. George Ryan.
* This piece is the only real news of the day, and I’m probably excerpting too much, but it’s worth it…
“When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules - one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America,” Durbin said after Bush commuted the 30-month prison sentence of Cheney aide Scooter Libby. “Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this administration should be above the law.”
Earlier in the summer of 2007 when talk of a Libby commutation was rampant, Durbin said, “It sends a terrible message at a time when we are demanding accountability from the generals at Walter Reed … to suggest anyone in our government is above the law.”
In commuting the sentence, Bush noted that Libby already paid a price by losing his respect and government positions. Likewise, Durbin said Monday Ryan will always have a “cloud” over him because of the conviction. […]
Durbin said Monday he always seeks to right injustice, though he said Ryan was not the victim of injustice. He portrayed his decision to help Ryan as one that sprouted routinely as any other problem brought by a constituent — but he couldn’t identify one previous time when he wrote a letter asking a president for commutation.
After the press conference, Durbin’s staff revealed there was one other time. Though it wasn’t made public at the time, it was likely when he urged for the commutation of another high profile politician, former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds. […]
Much like with Ryan, Durbin invoked the criminal politician’s wife as reason enough to open the prison doors.
“His wife has been in a homeless shelter,” Durbin said of Reynold’s wife at the time. “She’s been on Welfare. This has torn them apart.”
At the time, Durbin also praised Clinton’s pardoning of U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski.
It finds that 13.3 percent of 50 to 64 year old Illinoisans — 287,084 adults — are uninsured. When adults in this age range who are officially poor are considered (an individual earning $10,400 or less a year, a couple earning $14,000 or less), 44 percent are found to lack health insurance (68,406 people).
And check this out…
The report breaks down data for Illinois by the legislative districts in the state. Senate district 13 has the highest number of uninsured 50 to 64 year olds, 8,706 residents, followed by district 17 with 8,482 and district 14 with 8,170.
* Meanwhile, another new study shows that last year only 0.9 percent of estates owed federal estate taxes in Illinois. That ain’t much. The reason the study was released…
In 2009 the per-spouse exemption is scheduled to increase to $3.5 million and in 2010 the estate tax is scheduled to disappear altogether for one year. Advocates for tax fairness have called on Congress to act before 2010 to prevent the estate tax from disappearing. If the estate tax is allowed to disappear, they fear, Congress will find it more difficult to resist the lobbyists who will insist that repeal of the estate tax be made permanent.
President-elect Barack Obama has proposed to make permanent the estate tax rules that will be in effect in 2009 under current law, including the $3.5 million per-spouse exemption. This would be an improvement in the sense that it would prevent the estate tax from disappearing. But it would be a regressive and costly giveaway to the very wealthiest families in America, because it would mean that the tax would affect even fewer estates than it does now. […]
…family farms and other closely held businesses get additional breaks from the estate tax (in addition to the exemptions all estates get) including a provision that allows the tax to be paid off over a period of 14 years. The estate tax has always been confined to serving its actual purpose — reducing extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of a few super-wealthy families, and asking these families to contribute to the society that made their wealth possible.
Here’s the Illinois breakdown. Click the pic for a larger image…
* And it doesn’t appear as though the “wealthy” are gonna squawk much about higher taxes, at least that’s not how they voted this year. From The Hill…
Take a guess. Which demographic group doubled its share of the electorate from 2004 to 2008?
Here’s a hint. It’s the same segment that increased its support for the Democratic presidential candidate more than any other.
If you answered younger voters or Latinos, you would be wrong, though we will discuss both below.
Stumped?
Americans who make over $200,000 a year doubled their share of the electorate and, while John Kerry lost that group by 28 points, Barack Obama won them by six — a 34-point shift in the margin — the biggest movement recorded in the exit poll.
In fairness, while the wealthiest segment did double its share of the electorate, it increased from just 3 percent to 6 percent. However, those who make over $100,000 constituted 26 percent of the electorate in 2008, compared to 18 percent in 2004 — nearly a 50 percent increase. Obama tied with this quarter of the electorate; Kerry had lost it by 17 points.
* The Thomas More Society isn’t giving up its quest to force Illinois to issue “Choose Life” license plates. A three-judge federal appeals panel recently shot down their case, but the group wants a rehearing and is threatening to take their argument all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary.
A bit of history…
Secretary of State Jesse White claimed he did not have power to approve the plate himself, and when the federal trial court ruled that he did have such authority under the wording of the license plate statute, the General Assembly passed a new bill that required legislative approval for every new specialty plate.
So, now we have a law on the books that specifically requires General Assembly approval of all new specialty plates, but a conservative group wants to overturn state legislative rights? I’m not sure I get it…
“Our US Constitution, especially the First Amendment’s free speech clause, must be held to mean the same thing in all parts of our country, and it makes no sense that specialty plates that say ‘Choose Life’ whose proceeds support the cause of adoption are permitted in so many other states, yet outlawed here,” said Brejcha. “This is a classic case of what federal courts always have condemned as ‘viewpoint discrimination’ and it must be stopped.”
Brejcha warned that Supreme Court authority would be sought in the event that rehearing is not granted or enough votes are not won to overturn the panel’s decision.
* OK, but this is what the appellate court actually ruled…
Specialty license plates implicate the speech rights of private speakers, not the government-speech doctrine. This triggers First Amendment “forum” analysis, and we conclude specialty plates are a nonpublic forum. Illinois may not discriminate on the basis of viewpoint, but it may control access to the forum based on the content of a proposed message—provided that any content-based restrictions are reasonable. The distinction between content and viewpoint discrimination makes a difference here.
It is undisputed that Illinois has excluded the entire subject of abortion from its specialty-plate program; it has authorized neither a pro-life plate nor a pro-choice plate. It has done so on the reasonable rationale that messages on specialty license plates give the appearance of having the government’s endorsement, and Illinois does not wish to be perceived as endorsing any position on the subject of abortion. The State’s rejection of a “Choose Life” license plate was thus content based but viewpoint neutral, and because it was also reasonable, there is no First Amendment violation. We reverse the judgment of the district court.
That seems reasonable to me.
* More on the General Assembly’s role…
The amendment to section 5/3-600(a) makes explicit what the Secretary had argued was implicit: that the authority to approve new specialty license plates resides with the General Assembly… (”The Secretary of State shall issue only special plates that have been authorized by the General Assembly.”). We ordinarily apply the law in effect on appeal, and where (as here) a party requests only prospective relief, there is no impediment to doing so retroactively. […]
Because the General Assembly’s rejection of the “Choose Life” specialty plate was viewpoint neutral and reasonable, there was no First Amendment violation here, and the district court improperly entered judgment for CLI. We REVERSE the judgment of the district court, VACATE its order directing the Secretary to issue the “Choose Life” plate, and REMAND with instructions to enter judgment for the Secretary.
Federal highway officials told Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration Wednesday that Illinois’ new high-profile ethics law conflicts with bidding requirements that must be followed to get road money from Washington.
Backers of the state law, which takes effect Jan. 1, maintain the issue can be easily addressed with follow-up legislation but that it might mean lucrative road-construction contracts would be exempted.
The ethics reforms, which were supported by President-elect Barack Obama, aim to prevent a practice known as pay-to-play politics by banning major campaign contributors from landing lucrative state contracts.
Blagojevich, whose prolific fundraising from state contractors inspired the state ban, raised the federal concerns as he vetoed the legislation earlier this year and asked the General Assembly to accept his proposed changes, said Lucio Guerrero, the governor’s spokesman.
The governor’s concern was, indeed, in the veto message, way at the bottom. He vetoed this bill because he wanted to continue raising money from road contractors.
“These provisions are not consistent with the economical and efficient use of federal-aid funds,” wrote Stoner, who is based in Springfield. “They limit the pool of potential bidders and impose requirements unrelated to the qualifications of contractors to perform the work in a competent and responsible manner.”
The highway administration will not authorize federal funding for projects once the law and executive order take effect in January, Stoner wrote.
But…
“We think we can work out something. We just don’t know what form that will take,” [a Federal Highway Administration spokesman] said.
OK, so it may not be all that bad after all.
* The House sponsor of the ethics law adds…
“I see the (FHWA) letter as nothing more than a minor roadblock on the road to a more ethical Illinois,” said state Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago.
They should be able to clear this up with a simple trailer bill next month, as long as the governor doesn’t use one of his patented amendatory vetoes to “improve” the new legislation.
* Meanwhile, it wasn’t that long ago when gaming expansion was supposed to help pay for a new capital bill. Big trouble is brewing in that industry, however, and the casinos make a good case that the statewide smoking ban is to blame
The struggling economy has dealt a bad hand to the nation’s usually robust gambling business, a downturn made even worse in Illinois, where the state’s nearly year-old smoking ban has proved unhealthy to casinos. […]
The big gambling states— Nevada, New Jersey and Mississippi—are off 5 percent to 7 percent in casino revenue. But the picture is worst in Illinois, where casino revenue is down 20.3 percent this year. […]
…across the border in Indiana, revenues are down by only three-quarters of a percent, according to the American Gaming Association.
“They have basically the same economy, the same weather” as Illinois, Swoik said. “The only difference is the smoking ban.”
Rather than sit and play a machine or a table game for hours on end, smokers have to walk outside to take frequent breaks. So, while attendance is down only slightly, revenues per person are way off, and that is not happening in smoker-friendly Indiana.
* And there’s more trouble for the long-dormant 10th casino license…
Rosemont shouldn’t get the state’s last available casino license because the people running the suburb have “not earned the trust and confidence of the public,” the nation’s oldest citizens’ crime-fighting group will tell state gambling regulators today.
“While Rosemont’s $435 million bid for the 10th casino license is tempting, particularly in these tough times, in our view the inability of the Illinois Gaming Board to address the concerns about alleged mob ties is enough to disqualify their application,” Chicago Crime Commission president J.R. Davis says in a statement being delivered to the board.
Internal Gaming Board investigation documents I obtained years ago claimed that putting a casino in Des Plaines would be almost as “dangerous” as siting a casino in Rosemont, because the alleged outfit guys could just drive the mile or three down the road. But that never seems to get mentioned.
The Des Plaines developer’s latest bid is about a quarter of the Rosemont bid. That developer has campaign finance ties to Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who has also strongly opposed the Rosemont bid. That’s something else which rarely gets a mention.
Rosemont Mayor Bradley Stephens, who succeeded his father after his death, has said he will pass laws banning village employees from working at the casino, village contractors from working for the casino and trustees from gambling at the casino.
Some insiders say Mr. Madigan wants to wrap funds for infrastructure into a wider income-tax hike that would serve other state needs. I consider that a bad idea for several reasons, not least among them that even now, he might not be able to pass one over a certain veto by Mr. Blagojevich.
On the other hand, Mr. Blagojevich hasn’t said much about a gas tax itself, which in some ways is less a tax than a road users fee.
Some surely would squawk. But at my corner gas station, the price of a gallon of regular is half what it was just a few months ago. Bumping the price up a nickel or a dime a gallon wouldn’t draw nearly the reaction it would have a few years ago.
Metropolis 2020, the big-business civic group, actually is campaigning for a 12.5-cent-a-gallon hike. When inflation is taken into account, the action only would put the state back where it was in 1990 and would be sufficient to fund a $14-billion statewide capital bill, according to the group.
I don’t know what the magic number is. But it sure does look like a lot of stars have aligned behind some gas-tax action now. If lawmakers don’t act soon, the next window of opportunity could be way far away.
That may well happen, but funding is only half the problem, and probably the easiest aspect to deal with. The real problem is guaranteeing that the capital plan money will be spent fairly and equitably. Nobody trusts the governor, plain and simple.
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias told the Chicago Tribune editorial board that he has started to raise money for a possible run for governor in 2010, but that he’d know within the next “two to six months” if he will pursue the office.
Two months would be OK, but six? The primary is early February of 2010 - about 14 months from now. Petitions will hit the streets in, what, August? Six months is too long to wait.
Just two years into his first term as treasurer, Giannoulias said he’s raising money to explore a bid, “though not as aggressively as I probably should be.”
I dunno about that. He raised quite a bit of money during the first six months of the year, and he has a big “young professionals” event tonight.
Giannoulias also said that staff within Blagojevich’s office have “reached out” to him as a possible candidate to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, though a Blagojevich spokesman said the governor has not contacted Giannoulias directly.
Giannoulias said he’s not pushing for the seat, but if it’s offered he’d have to take a “very, very hard look,” at the opportunity to work in Washington D.C. alongside his close friend Obama.
Alexi’s name is rarely mentioned for this seat by the DC types, and I’m not sure why that is. Just yesterday, the Politico trumpeted its top five “frontrunners,” which included Lisa Madigan. The reason for appointing her?
Selecting the popular attorney general, a rising star in Illinois political circles, would take Blagojevich’s biggest rival out of the gubernatorial picture – and she’d also be in strong position to hold the seat in 2010.
“If anybody tells you they know what [Blagojevich is] going to do, I just think that’s probably inaccurate,” Giannoulias said. “I think he changes his mind left and right, so I don’t think anybody has any idea what he’s going to do, who he’s going to pick.”
Amen to that, brother. Amen to that.
* Speaking of reading the governor’s mind, a friend of mine yesterday suggested that perhaps Blagojevich might try to appoint Secretary of State Jesse White. If and when White turns him down, Blagojevich could then say, “Hey, I tried to appoint a black person, but he said ‘No,’ so now I’m gonna appoint someone else.”
It’s as good a theory as any, I suppose, but I wouldn’t crawl too far into RRB’s head if I were you.
* You really should listen to US Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s pitch to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board. You can find it at this link. Scroll down a bit.
Northern Illinois University’s Cole Hall stands locked and empty as an uncomfortable reminder of the Feb. 14 shooting that killed five students. State legislative gridlock over a capital construction bill means a plan to renovate the building, retire Room 101 and build a new auditorium elsewhere is going nowhere.
State Rep. Raymond Poe wants to give a legislative panel binding authority over building closures pushed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich such as the planned move of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s traffic safety division to southern Illinois.
Poe, a Springfield Republican, has introduced a bill for lawmakers to consider next spring that would give the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability the final say on whether a closing can proceed.
A group of residents on Chicago’s North Side is suing the city and developers over a development project. The group alleges city officials are misusing tax increment financing or TIF funds.
Chicago has dozens of TIF districts where some property tax money goes into a special economic development fund. A new lawsuit alleges the city shouldn’t be spending that money for a mixed use development in the Uptown neighborhood. Tom Ramsdell is an attorney for a group called Fix Wilson Yard. He says the project doesn’t need TIF funds because the area isn’t blighted or a historic site.
Chicago parking meter holidays, including free Sundays, would end next month as a result of Mayor Richard Daley’s deal to lease the city’s spots to a private company for 75 years for a one-time windfall of nearly $1.2 billion.
Free overnight parking at some meters also would disappear as hours of operation become standard.
In most of the Loop, drivers would have to feed the meters 24 hours every day, with rates halved between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. In other business areas, most meters would be checked from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. And most neighborhood meters would need to be fed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
If the City Council approves the lease as expected Thursday, Chicago would have some of the highest big-city parking meter rates in the nation. Most neighborhood rates would quadruple to $1 an hour next year and reach $2 by 2013. Loop meters would rise 50 cents to $3.50 next month and top out at $6.50 in 2013.
When you form opinions for a living, the commodities that matter most are information and the time to assimilate it. That goes for editorial writers and, we hope, city aldermen, who are supposed to act on those opinions on behalf of their constituents.
So when the mayor drops a plan, for example, to lease the city’s parking meter system to a private group for 75 years, doubling and even quadrupling parking rates almost overnight, it seems reasonable to expect that the City Council would take a week or so to digest and evaluate the proposal.
That’s not how it works in Mayor Richard Daley’s Chicago, where a $1.2 billion deal announced on a Tuesday can find its way out of the Finance Committee on Wednesday and hit the floor for an up-or-down vote on Thursday.
The CTA has cut 29 percent of its mechanics in the last 13 years, and the union claims those cuts means unsafe buses are on the roads.
“There’s not enough people to do the job,” said Dan Hrycyk, financial secretary-treasurer for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241. Union representatives said buses are put into service with bad brakes and power-steering problems. “Buses that shouldn’t be going out … they will send out,” Hrycyk said.
Amtrak is dropping its opposition to the hotly debated sale of a suburban Chicago railway line.
The passenger service says it’s agreed with the company that’s vying to purchase the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway line that loops around Chicago.
Amtrak had worried Canadian National would stop maintaining other Chicago-area tracks if it purchased the EJ&E. It had feared that would jeopardize Amtrak service south to Champaign, Carbondale and other cities.
CN has now agreed to keep maintaining those tracks.
Canadian National Railway’s plan to purchase EJ&E Railroad and divert to it a substantial amount of freight traffic would translate into $267 million in the nation’s gross domestic product - of which Chicago region’s gross regional product would increase by $60 million - a study released Wednesday stated.
An uncooperative witness in a 2007 murder case has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for refusing to testify during the trial.
Cook County Circuit Judge Dennis Dernbach on Wednesday sentenced 22-year-old Jeremy House to prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of direct criminal contempt.
House refused to testify in the case involving his half brother Steven Hebron, who was charged with the 2004 murder of Keith Tiggs. Hebron was found not guilty in September 2008.
Defense attorney David Bickel said House agreed to the 13-year sentence, which prosecutors say is the longest ever handed down for a contempt charge.
The Supreme Court should be forward-thinking and fix its quorum problem. If it doesn’t, justice won’t be overtly denied. Without a quorum, the Illinois Supreme Court can’t establish precedent, which is a loss. But the lower court decision, where justice in an individual case is usually resolved, remains untouched.
But when a relatively simple and tested solution is at hand, there’s no reason to settle.
Republic Windows & Doors, once an emblem of corporate expansion on Goose Island, said it must shut down Friday because of inability to get financing.
It said more than 200 jobs will be eliminated. Amy Zimmerman, vice president of sales and marketing at Republic, said the shutdown was forced by Bank of America Corp., which withdrew a credit line because of the manufacturer’s declining sales.
Sears Holdings Corp. is planning to lay off 128 workers when it closes its Schaumburg-based Great Indoors store next year, according to a state report.
* AT&T to cut 12,000 jobs, or 4 percent of work force
Nearly 700 United Airlines mechanics, including about 150 in Chicago, are going to lose their jobs in early January.
The cutbacks are part of United’s plans to lay off 7,000 workers, or 13% of its work force, as it grounds 100 older Boeing 737s and reduces capacity, which will help the airline cut maintenance and fuel costs. The cuts, announced in July, were expected to take place by the end of 2009.
