Where’s the coverage?
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 5th Congressional District primary election is three weeks from today, yet the paucity of media coverage is quite puzzling to me. I mean, we’re talking about a major open seat battle featuring all sorts of colorful characters and lots of Democratic and union and other infighting, yet there’s almost nothing for the average voter to read.
The Tribune did an online piece about Rep. Sara Feigenholtz missing the ethics committee vote last week, but I don’t think the story ever actually made it into the paper. The story I highlighted yesterday about Rep. John Fritchey slamming Rep. Feigenoltz was buried deep in the Sun-Times. The CS-T had a nice little feature on Mike Quigley this week, but there wasn’t much news in it. Fox Chicago ran a couple of stories a while back on Feigenholtz’s poll causing controversy. But there hasn’t been much else.
The best coverage by far has been online. Prairie State Blue has done a quite respectable job of putting things together, including an interesting piece by Bored Now today. Progress Illinois has a good roundup today and they’ve done some reportage as well. Gapers Block has a fun piece today about the candidates using Twitter.
Take all of those blogs, add it to this one and a relative tiny number of 5th District voters are getting any sort of information on a regular basis about this campaign.
It would be nice to see the Chicago media, which supposedly loves to cover politics, finally get engaged here. The clock is ticking.
* On to the news. As expected, SEIU endorsed Rep. Feigenholtz today. From a press release…
“Sara Feigenholtz will help President Barack Obama get this nation’s economy going again and that means creating jobs,” said SEIU Illinois Council President Thomas Balanoff. “Her get-things-done reputation means working families will have the right person, at the right time, fighting for their needs in Washington. She knows this recovery must begin in our neighborhoods,” he added.
* There was a bit of a dustup in comments yesterday between an SEIU official and others over just how many union members each side has in the district. The Illinois AFL-CIO has endorsed Rep. Fritchey.
The State Fed won’t release individual union membership totals by district, but they claim there are about 38,000 union members in the 5th CD, and about 24,000 of those are registered to vote. Both those numbers are probably understated because the AFL-CIO apparently has lower totals for SEIU than the union itself claims. Jerry Morrison of SEIU wrote on the blog yesterday that his union has 8,000 members in the district. He didn’t say how many of them were registered voters, however..
So, figure maybe about 40,000 or so union members overall, with SEIU having 8,000 of them. I sent Morrison an e-mail a bit ago asking for his registered voters total. I’ll pass his answer along if I hear back from him. Also, there are about 6,000 teachers union members in that district and almost all are registered voters.
I hope this clears up at least some of the confusion.
…Adding… Morrison just called and said he has 8,000 registered voters in the district.
* Meanwhile, another day, another whack on Feigenholtz. From a press release…
Mike Quigley’s campaign is calling today on state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz to return money that she collected at a downtown fundraiser last week— an event which she attended instead of voting on a bill to reform state government in the wake of the Blagojevich scandal.
Feigenholtz was the only member of the Illinois House to skip the vote last Thursday on SJR 1, a bill to create a new panel of lawmakers who will work with Gov. Pat Quinn “to restore integrity to State government.” Every other member of the state House voted on the bill.
Instead of carrying out her legislative duties in Springfield, the Chicago Tribune reported that Feigenholtz chose to attend a campaign fundraiser that same afternoon. (An invitation to the event shows that it was held at the offices of a downtown firm that lobbies the State of Illinois on behalf of its clients).
Today, the Quigley campaign urged Feigenholtz to give the money back. […]
Bowen added that, in addition to answering whether she will return the money raised at last Thursday’s fundraiser, Feigenholtz should also explain her decision to contribute $5,000 to Rod Blagojevich in June 2006, a contribution nearly a year after Blagojevich’s campaign, key fundraisers and administration had been identified in the media as targets of federal investigations.
Considering the lack of coverage, I’m not sure anyone else will ever see that creative slam.
* Other stuff…
* Fritchey Woos Bloggers in Illinois 5th CD Special Election
* Race to fill congressional seat draws wide attention
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As you know by now, billions of federal construction dollars have been sitting idly in DC while Illinois politicians decide how to come up with the state matching money to capture those buckaroos.
There is no existing state money available for this. It will have to come from some new revenue source, whether that be motor fuel taxes, driver fees, income taxes, sales taxes, some other taxes or things like leasing assets or gaming expansion.
And, don’t forget that the feds will likely do another transportation bill in a year or so, and Illinois will have to come up with even more money.
* The Question: How would you come up with approximately $2 billion to capture the existing federal money, plus find even more money in a year or so?
And, please, don’t say “cut the budget.” The budget will have to be cut in order to help put it into balance. There’s just no way to cut the budget for that purpose and also come up with money for a capital program.
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* Sometimes, a bit of pointed meannes works. Kurt Erickson’s column from the other day…
Sure, it’s been less than three weeks since Roland Burris was sworn in as Illinois’ new senator, but shouldn’t he – or at least someone in his office – respond to questions about how he’s going about his new job?
It took an impolite e-mail to Jason Erkes, a Chicago-based political strategist who apparently works for Burris, to get a response.
I asked Erkes if Burris was a chicken, afraid to answer questions from Illinois-based reporters. Was he taking a page from the now-impeached governor who appointed him to the office amidst a great deal of controversy?
Amazingly, after weeks of silence from the Burris camp, it took less than five minutes for Erkes to respond.
Erkes was clearly concerned about how Burris’ image would be portrayed in the media. He explained that the rookie senator has been too busy to do interviews. He’s been going to senator school. He’s been doing ethics training, which, after the way he was appointed, is probably not a bad thing.
In short, Burris has been just too busy learning how to be a senator to explain himself.
* Kurt Erickson today in the Pantagraph…
Illinois’ new U.S. senator is planning to visit a troubled downstate veterans’ hospital in the coming weeks.
A top aide to Roland Burris said Monday that the senator hopes to tour the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Marion during an upcoming break in congressional action.
No date for the visit was available Monday, but Burris’ acting chief of staff, Darrel Thompson, said the tour will be part of the Democrat’s role as a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. […]
Thompson said Burris isn’t going to Marion for publicity purposes. Rather, he said, “We’re going there to learn.”
At least Erickson got through to the chief of staff. Burris’ first Illinois press conference ought to be a hoot.
In fairness to Burris, however, I should note that Sen. Dick Durbin the other day offered up some pretty good reasons for the seeming confusion at Burris’ office, including the lack of staff, no posted e-mail address, nobody answering phones for a time, etc.
Senators usually pick staffers from people who worked on their campaigns, Durbin said, pointing out that Burris had no campaign. Senators also have three months between the election and their swearing in to make sure everything is in order. Burris had pretty much no time.
As far as the phone problem was concerned, Durbin said that the complaints arose during a period when conservative talk radio hosts were ginning people up to call their Senators against the stimulus bill. Burris, like almost everybody else, was swamped.
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Vive la différence
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Sneed…
What a difference an impeachment makes: Where once you could have thrown a bowling ball through a crowd and not hurt anyone at Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn’s fund-raisers, it would now knock a lot of people over. Hundreds stood in line to have their pix taken at Gov. Quinn’s fund-raiser Monday night at Fulton’s on the River, according to a Sneed source. “He never knew he had so many new friends,” the source added.
* From a reader…
-Hundreds lined up at Fulton’s on the River last night. It was jam packed. Plenty of drinks, not much food.
-Handful of politicos present including David Orr, Ald. Joe Moore, Art Berman, Billy Marovitz and a few others…
-Dennis Gannon and other big union types were all there.
-Every social service special interest was there.
-Many of the ciy’s big name lawyers were there, including Joe Powers.
-This was the biggest who’s who ever at any Quinn fundraiser.
* For Thursday…
On Thursday, Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday, Gov. Pat Quinn will host an open house from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Executive Mansion in Springfield.
“The Executive Mansion belongs to the people of Illinois,” Quinn said. “There is no better day to open up this beautiful house to the people than the day marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of our state’s greatest resident, Abraham Lincoln.”
* This is surely a different approach…
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has picked former assistant U.S. attorney Theodore Chung to be his new general counsel. Quinn says Chung’s commitment to reforming Illinois’ government made him the right choice for the job.
Chung says he doesn’t have any previous ties to the new governor. Chung says that’ll be an asset to the administration.
CHUNG: I don’t have a lot invested emotionally in this man [Quinn]. A lot in the office, it’s true of it. But, I don’t feel like there’s going to be kind of an inner conflict within myself, in terms of giving him the best possible legal advice, exercising the best possible judgement.
* But, now, let’s get to the meat of things. This profile of Quinn’s new chief of staff Jerry Stermer was penned by Bethany Jaeger…
Jerry Stermer of Elmhurst said [yesterday] that he accepted the chief of staff position because the administration would put “children first.” That’s rounding out Quinn’s agenda that, so far, has prioritized a capital construction program, a plan to chip away at the state’s $4 billion in unpaid bills, a yet-to-be announced education plan and an ethics reform package.
Stermer is the founder and 22-year president of Voices for Illinois Children, a privately funded group based in Chicago that advocates for health care and education. The group worked with former Gov. Jim Edgar in a failed attempt to change the state’s tax structure to fund public education, relying more on state income taxes and less on property taxes. The measure has been proposed numerous times in various forms since then, but Senate President John Cullerton, who now controls the flow of legislation in his chamber, is a proponent.
Stermer and Quinn acknowledged during a Chicago news conference this morning that taxes are on the table as part of a “rescue plan” for the state budget, but they also used the words “fairness strategy” to indicate tax breaks or deductions for low-income families. “We do want to have in Illinois a tax code that is fair to parents raising kids,” Quinn said. “I think I saw once that our state gives more tax breaks to those raising thoroughbred horses than it gives to parents raising children. We’re going to change that.”
Those three grafs give you a pretty darned good idea of where Quinn is going. Tax reform and tax hikes to fund education and social programs.
* Related…
* Scott Reeder: Illinois’ identity and the Land of Lincoln
* Quinn in position to push ‘reform’ agenda
* Gov. Pat Quinn appoints child activist as chief of staff
* Gov appoints chief of staff, general counsel
* Quinn says tollway needs review
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The Blagojevich clown show continues
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rod Blagojevich finds himself up against the full might of the US Attorney’s office without a lead criminal defense attorney…
After one top Blagojevich lawyer quit, there’s just one attorney officially representing him now — his longtime friend Sheldon Sorosky.
Sorosky was never going to be the lead lawyer. He’s more of an advisor.
* More…
With a massive indictment due in April, he’s looking for more. So Blagojevich and his wife, Patti, met with Chicago lawyers over the weekend about adding to their legal team. One possibility for team leader is defense lawyer Tom Breen, lawyers involved in the case say. He has vast experience in federal court and at the criminal courts at 26th and California. […]
Sam Adam Sr. and Sam Adam Jr. handled some of Blagojevich’s impeachment issues. But the father-son team hadn’t committed to the federal case as of Monday, said attorney Michael Ettinger. He represents Robert Blagojevich, the ex-governor’s brother, who oversaw the governor’s campaign fund. He has not been charged. “No decision’s been made yet,” Ettinger said.
* This is tellling…
Breen declined to comment Monday, but was said to be interested in taking the case if the Adamses drop out.
The Adamses were the ones who encouraged Blagojevich to boycott the Senate impeachment trial and go on national TV instead. They also boxed out Ed Genson, who is one of the most sought-after criminal defense attorneys in Chicago. The moves were viewed with horror by other members of the defense bar, so getting them out of the way will probably be a must-do no matter who Blagojevich brings in.
* Wow…
The problem worsened right after Genson announced that he would withdraw. Adam was approached by a television crew and asked why Genson had dropped out.
Adam pointed to his head and said: “Cuckoo.'’
Adam said afterward he was only joking and imitating Mayor Richard M. Daley, who had said earlier that Blagojevich was “cuckoo.'’ But Genson wasn’t laughing.
“We want Sam in the case,'’ Ettinger said. “He is involved. But we don’t know at this point the extent of his commitment.'’
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The circular firing squad
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Comparing the Illinois House Republican Leader to the Vichy leader who surrendered France to the Nazis is a bit much, especially considering the lack of evidence for the charge. This press release was handed out at the Statehouse press room yesterday…
The Illinois Alliance for Growth announced today that it was awarding a Philippe Pétain Award for Collaboration to House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego).
The award comes for comments signaling the surrender of the loyal opposition in the General Assembly just as a $9 billion “corruption and mis-rule” bill is being presented to the tax paying public.
Leader Cross’ comments came in an Associated Press story in today’s Bloomington Pantagraph. In the story, Cross signaled surrender to Democrats intent on hiking taxes to pay for their six years of mis-rule and corruption. Many of these policies have contributed to the state’s struggling economy and have left the state largely bankrupt.
Cross’ remarks also opened a rift in the Illinois Republican Party by distancing Republican lawmakers from the anti-tax pro-economic growth positions of rank and file Republicans as well as the state party.
According to the story Cross said, “I don’t think Republicans should be going into this legislative session with their Republican hats on,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, who hosted Quinn at one of his usually private caucus meetings.”
The story went on to report that “Republican lawmakers” were on board with the surrender:
“Republican lawmakers say now is not the time to assign blame as the state wallows in billions of dollars of debt. Instead, they should [be] cooperative with Democrats.”
“With respect to Republicans and Leader Cross now is the time hold people accountable and not let them off the hook,” said Illinois Alliance for Growth President Greg Blankenship. “With higher taxes being openly discussed in Springfield, it is time for the opposition to promote its alternatives not collaborate. The Marshal Pétain Award for Collaboration is a fitting metaphor for these positions.”
So, on the basis of a single quote and the political analysis of a reporter, Cross is called a surrender monkey.
* Cross gave this response to my intern Mike Murray…
“I have never heard of the ‘Illinois Alliance for Growth’, but I do not agree with their view that I have signaled surrender to the Democrats’ intent on hiking taxes to pay for their six years of corruption and financial mismanagement.
“The Democrats, led by Gov Blagojevich, got us into the financial crisis that was highlighted by Comptroller Hynes last week. Facing a $9 billion dollar budget deficit, I have committed to working with Governor Quinn in order to create a solution that will clean up the mess left by the Democrats and put Illinois back on the right track.
“However, this absolutely does not mean that I have committed, caved, or surrendered to the Democrats and their desire for a tax increase. I am currently working with various think tanks, such as the Illinois Policy Institute, to create my own legislation which would require 3/5 of the House to approve any tax increases.”
* Look, the partisan rhetoric emanating from the state GOP and others these days serves a useful purpose. Voters ought to be reminded that the Democrats have been running every branch of state government for the past six years, and not so well, as is plainly seen.
But legislators have an obligation to their districts and to the state at large. Pure partisanship and rejection of all ideas from the other side based on rigid ideology is not exactly good legislating.
You’d think the Right would want Republican legislators at the bargaining table to prevent an all-Democratic “solution” to the very real problems Illinois faces.
Thoughts?
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Cue the chickens
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated column looks at the budget problem…
The chickens are coming home to roost.
In fact, more chickens are on their way than we’ve ever seen before.
And they’re mad.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich spent years ignoring and exacerbating the state’s structural budget deficit. What that means is he did a lot of one-time budget fixes with one-time revenue sources to stem the tide of red ink, while at the same time expanding state spending exponentially.
You can get away with that as long as other revenues are growing enough to help patch the rest of the budget holes, but state revenues have tanked along with the national economy, and we’re in big trouble. Hence, that ginormous flock of angry chickens heading our way.
Comptroller Dan Hynes predicted last week that next fiscal year’s budget deficit could be as high as $9 billion. Considering that the budget is about $60 billion, and the money the state actually controls in the budget is about half that amount, we’re looking at a problem unseen since the Great Depression. The fiscal year, by the way, begins July 1.
Hynes’ estimate is based on a $4.3 billion deficit in the current fiscal year and a relatively flat growth in state revenues in the coming fiscal year.
Flat revenue growth may be overly optimistic. The legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability’s latest report, headlined, “The patient has taken a turn for the worse,” suggests expected state revenues could be $1.6 billion lower in the current fiscal year than they were last fiscal year. And things aren’t exactly looking up for next year, either.
Hynes’ deficit projection also relies on no spending growth for the rest of state government. Every dollar of growth adds to the deficit. But expecting flat growth is probably not realistic, as recessions traditionally provoke and even require more government spending, not less.
There are two areas of hope.
First, the federal stimulus plan could bring $3 billion into state coffers next fiscal year, lowering Hynes’ projected deficit to $6 billion. But as I write this, the stimulus package has hit rough waters in the U.S. Senate. While a deal still looks likely, nobody really knows yet what the states will get out of the final package.
Hynes also reported that if state revenues for July and August match last year’s take from the same period, then the current year’s deficit would be lowered to around $2 billion. Still, Hynes reported last week, “Without a major infusion of cash from borrowing or another source, the state will be virtually insolvent.”
There are some very difficult choices ahead.
One option, albeit distasteful, would be to leave the Medicaid payment cycle where it is, which would be hotly opposed by nonprofit service providers of all stripes. They’re already struggling mightily to make ends meet, and some are actually going out of business while they wait for state checks that never seem to come. The deficit could be lopped further, perhaps about $1 billion, if the political heat could be sustained, which it probably can’t.
The state’s mandated pension payment will rise by $1.2 billion next fiscal year, which may get a closer look by legislators. Five hundred million dollars of that payment will be required to make up for investment shortfalls by the pension funds, according to Hynes. The rest is a mandated increase in order to eventually reach “full funding” of the systems.
So, if the General Assembly decides to shaft Medicaid providers and short the pension funds, and if revenues bounce back in late summer and the stimulus passes Congress intact and legislators completely rein in spending for next fiscal year, the budget deficit could be pared to a bit over $2 billion.
It might be possible to bond future proceeds from the recent sale of the 10th state casino license, which would lower the deficit a bit more. Huge state employee layoffs, giant cuts to schools and universities, significantly reduced services for the poor and everyone else would be required to balance the rest of the budget without a tax increase, if the General Assembly could somehow defy logic and muster up the insane courage required to do all that.
That’s a whole lot of “ifs.”
Cue the chickens.
* Related…
* Fox Chicago Sunday : Dan Hynes, Illinois comptroller talks about the report he issued this week, indicating Illinois is facing a $900 billion budget deficit.
* Doug Finke: No tax hikes? No chance
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Morning Shorts
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray
* Study Finds Inequities at Clinics Serving Minorities
Health clinics with a large percentage of minority patients tend to be more chaotic, have less equipment and more stressed-out doctors. That’s according to new research from the medical school at Loyola University.
* Illinois’ health insurance option of last resort
* Latino clergy standing up to Daley - They want Hispanics to get bigger slice of City Hall pie
Strangely enough, De Jesus says he has no complaint with the mayor himself, whom he calls his “good friend.”
“My quarrel is with the people under him,” said De Jesus, who says the mayor phoned him in advance about the news conference and agreed to meet with the clergy group at a date to be determined. No food, of course.
De Jesus said he’s not sure these unnamed underlings are carrying out the mayor’s wishes.
“I can’t believe every demotion comes before the mayor,” he said.
He might be surprised.
* Effort to trim Cook County’s proposed $3 billion budget stalls
A proposal to cut $84.4 million from Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s 2009 budget proposal failed to win approval Monday, leaving commissioners at loggerheads just 19 days before the Feb. 28 deadline to approve the spending plan.
The proposed cuts, backed by Republicans and Finance Committee Chairman John Daley (D-Chicago), would have gone a long way toward balancing the proposed $3 billion budget, which is out of whack because most commissioners don’t support Stroger’s plan to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for operating expenses.
Daley, typically a Stroger supporter, said he will abstain from voting on the borrowing plan because of business and family conflicts involving companies involved in Stroger’s proposed bond deal. When it was suggested Monday that the companies could be changed, Daley announced he would vote no in that case.
* EPA: Oil spill probe to begin after cleanup
* UC hospital plans layoffs
The University of Chicago Medical Center says the tough economy is forcing it to eliminate 450 jobs. And hundreds are to be cut through attrition.
It’s all part of a $100 million cost-cutting plan recently announced by the South Side hospital.
* Elgin spending $100K to go green
Elgin leaders on Wednesday are expected to sign off on a $100,000 deal for a consultant to review ways to make the city more sustainable.
* O’Hare remains worst for on-time departures
* It’s back to Illinois 53’s future
After years of relative calm, a decades-old debate is about to erupt again in Lake County over whether Illinois Highway 53 should be extended roughly 15 miles through the heart of the county.
* Sen. Durbin Recommends Callahan
* Illinois investigates defense costs in death penalty case
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office said Monday it is investigating whether the state was overbilled for defense costs in the Jason Smith death penalty trial in St. Clair County.
* 30 months in prison for state government theft
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