The poison pen: Disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich reportedly spent 12 hours Tuesday writing his tell-all book on a legal pad and wearing a special “writer’s jacket” to get him in the correct frame of mind, according to his publicist, Glenn Selig.
Writer’s jacket or straight jacket? And, seriously, he spent 12 hours doing just one thing? He never did that when he was governor, unless it was pace around his home office and jabber at the wall, pretending he was president or maybe Secretary of Energy.
• • A Blago blackout? But the book’s publisher, Michael Viner, tells Sneed there will be no media appearances by Blago until the book is finished. “Well, that has yet to be determined,” Selig told Sneed. The tome is due to be published by Phoenix Books in October.
Great. At least we’re getting a respite from the insanity. And, hey, the book will be published just in time for Halloween. How fitting. I think I’ll scream. Also, he’ll probably still be on his book tour when the February primary comes around. That’ll be joyous fun for all Illinois Democrats.
• • The backshot: Viner, who once served as an advance man in Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, helped produce several hits by the late singer Sammy Davis Jr.; was once married to actress Deborah Raffin, and produced TV miniseries based on author Sidney Sheldon’s books.
The publisher may have had a fine career, but Blagojevich’s literary agent is Jarred Weisfeld of Objective Entertainment. Here’s the guy’s bio, via Larry, provided without comment except for the obligatory: “Oy.”
• • The foreshot: Viner, who hopes the book becomes a classroom text, tells
Wait a second. Back up there. He hopes the book becomes a classroom text? With all those stories about boozed up philandering politicians? So, it’s for colleges, then? He can write at that level? Do we want our children reading this drivel?
• • The foreshot: Viner, who hopes the book becomes a classroom text, tells Sneed: “the book is not a question of his guilt or innocence, but not being treated fairly. It’s much more a rainbow story than a black and white story. He [Blago] understands that part of his downfall was caused by him — but it does not justify the treatment he received.”
So, he won’t explain how he broke the law, he’ll just fill two hundred pages whining about how badly he was treated by that mean Madigan guy. I can’t wait.
And, by the way, what the heck is a rainbow story? I looked that up on the Google and couldn’t figure it out. I’m sorry, your annotator is stumped.
A buckshot? Although Viner tells Sneed he has not been contacted by hotshot Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — rumors surfaced Ari may have been trying to put the “kibosh” on the book’s publication.
• • The upshot: A phone call to Emanuel’s Endeavor Agency netted a “no comment.”
The book ain’t even written yet and they’ve already cooked up their first cheap publicity stunt.
* Bloomberg has a very scary story about pension bond schemes, including an ill-advised Chicago Transit Authority deal that has crashed. This is a very long story, so make sure you read it all. Here are some excerpts…
With stock market losses this year, public pensions in the U.S. are now underfunded by more than $1 trillion.
That lack of funds explains why dozens of retirement plans in the U.S. have issued more than $50 billion in pension obligation bonds during the past 25 years — more than half of them since 1997 — public records show. […]
The CTA concluded it could borrow $1.9 billion, paying an interest rate of 6 percent to bondholders, and invest the proceeds to receive its expected rate of return of 8.75 percent. Such an annual return would add $52 million a year to bolster the fund.
The CTA chose to ignore not only Illinois’s auditor general but also its own actuarial firm, Detroit-based Gabriel Roeder Smith & Co. The company had determined there was just a 30 percent chance of earning 8.75 percent.
“We executed the best transaction we could, given the legislative and political restraints,” says CTA Chairman Brown, who is also co-head of municipal finance at Chicago-based Mesirow Financial Inc.
Since the bond sale, the authority has held the money as cash, earning 2 percent. And, with the credit crunch forcing municipal bond interest rates up to attract buyers, the CTA wasn’t able to sell bonds with a 6 percent return.
A team of underwriters, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, sold the CTA bonds in August 2008, at a yield of 6.8 percent, so the fund had to pay bondholders more than it had expected.
“There is negative arbitrage,” Brown says. “It’s better than having dumped the money into the equity market.”
I’m afraid to even call the state pension funds to see how Blagojevich’s scheme is holding up.
Again, go read the whole thing. But let’s try not to get into some goofy debate about the stock market and the president and whatever, OK? This isn’t just about the current stock market conditions. The CTA was warned not to do this and they did it anyway. Let’s try to keep the talk as focused as possible.
* Meanwhile, the Tribune is one of the first newspaper editorial boards to actually propose or at least suggest some large-ish budget cutting ideas, even if they were cribbed from the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago…
Reforming how Illinois does business may well require unpopular steps: moving Medicaid recipients into managed-care programs; outsourcing food, janitorial, technology and other internal services; slimming revenue sharing and grants to local governments.
But Illinois desperately needs to create the government it can afford to replace the government it has now. A new report from the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago puts the state’s unfunded present and future obligations at $116 billion—almost $10,000 for every man, woman and child. The report says that total could be increasing by as much as $10 billion a year.
We hope Illinois lawmakers, from Gov. Pat Quinn on down, caught this comment from committee Chairman W. James Farrell: “We need someone to take action, and that action has to be reform [and] cut costs—what responsible people do when they can’t live within their means. You really can’t tax your way out of this problem. If you tax your way out of this, businesses would be leaving the state in droves.”
Think that’s an idle threat? Illinois has trailed the nation and the rest of the Midwest in job creation for years. Piling on taxes will put more people out of work.
Illinois still has not officially submitted a list of shovel-ready road and mass transit projects to the federal government for funding under the economic stimulus package, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday, warning that time is running out.
“The law requires us to get the money out the door very quickly,” LaHood said. But “we have not received a list from the state or from Chicago.”
State transportation officials vowed to get moving with the application process, but they expressed no concerns about possibly losing federal aid. […]
The deadlines vary depending on the different modes of transportation. But the stimulus legislation aimed at putting Americans to work requires Washington to distribute funding to the states for highway, bridge and transit projects by March 10, which is 21 days from the law’s enactment.
Illinois would not be eligible to receive any money until the General Assembly approves a special appropriation totaling $693 million to cover contracts for the first round of stimulus projects in the spring, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Once the money is spent, the federal government would reimburse the state.
* Now, on to some frivolity because I’m too depressed from reading all this gloom and doom. This could be pretty cool…
One thing is for sure, security will be tight if the Fenwick boys basketball team makes it to the Class 4A Farragut Regional Championship to face Whitney Young on Friday night (March 6, 7:30 p.m.). After all, the governor may be on hand, as well as His Airness.
But before the Friars can have the pleasure of playing in front of Gov. Pat Quinn, the brother of Fenwick head coach John Quinn, and Michael Jordan, the father of Marcus Jordan, who plays for Young, they’ll need to find a way to get past Farragut on its home court tonight (Wednesday, March 4, 8 p.m.). Even though the Admirals are having a bit of a down year - they’re 15-9 and seeded eighth in the Morton Sectional - a first-round win won’t be automatic for the Friars, who closed out the regular season last week with a 61-33 slashing of Northside Prep. Fenwick is 16-9 overall and was awarded the 10th-seed in the sectional.
“We’ve had an up and down season, but we’ve managed to stay on the positive end of things,” said Fenwick head coach John Quinn. “Our tendency to have a bad quarter in a game just can’t happen against the teams we could possibly face early in the playoffs.”
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column takes a look at a biennial GOP war…
Every two years, the Illinois Republican Party tears itself apart over a piece of legislation that supposedly would allow rank-and-file party members to have more say in party affairs. This year may be worse than usual, however.
Senate Bill 600, sponsored by Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora), would stop the practice of allowing Republican township, ward and precinct committeemen to elect state central committeemen. The bill would instead force the GOP to adopt the same rules as the Democrats and allow primary voters to elect the state central committee.
Most people don’t care about this, and I can understand if you’re with them. But since this tiny little change has been one of the most divisive issues in the Illinois GOP’s recent history, it’s worth a closer look.
The concept has always been vigorously opposed by the Republican establishment, partly because of who is pushing it. Lauzen is among a large handful of “insurgent conservatives,” whose most prominent member is ultraconservative activist Jack Roeser. The insurgents have sharply criticized the state party for its allegedly top-down insider ways and its refusal to allow them a seat at the table.
The “powers that be” have complete disdain for the Roeser/Lauzen types. The insiders view the insurgents as troublemakers who can’t win elections and instead blame party leaders for their own failures. They worry the bill would spark endless intraparty battles and divert precious financial resources away from their attempts to fight the Democrats. Plus, they simply don’t want to give up any power to “those people.”
The ultraconservative activists say they want elections because the insiders have locked them out of the system. They were enraged last year at the state GOP convention in Decatur, when delegates voted to pass a resolution in favor of retaining the status quo. The insurgents claim the vote was rigged.
Republican state legislators are put smack dab in the middle of this fight every time the bill is introduced. Two years ago, the bill was unanimously passed by the Senate, but House GOP leadership strong-armed the House Republican sponsor into giving up the bill, then sat on it until the session clock ran out. That, of course, infuriated the insurgents.
The state Senate’s new GOP leader has been put into an awkward position by the legislation. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) is a moderate Republican who was allied with the “insider” faction and was vigorously opposed by the insurgents. She hasn’t yet fully consolidated control over her caucus, and this legislation is not making her task any easier. Complicating matters further, Radogno has taken a strong stand in favor of calling a special election to fill Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat. That means opposing a bill to open up the party process to voters would appear hypocritical.
Radogno signed on as a co-sponsor of Lauzen’s bill, which surprised the heck out of party leaders. The bill was set for a committee vote last week, and legislators’ phones were ringing all day from very upset people on both sides of the issue.
Things got even weirder when Republican Sens. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) removed themselves as co-sponsors of the legislation. Brady is running for governor and Murphy is seriously considering a bid for Cook County Board president. Murphy was backed by Roeser the first time he ran, and both men are very conservative. But they apparently believed that winning support from party leaders was more important at this stage of the game.
The Democrats, of course, love this bill. With their own party facing one nightmare after another, anything they can do to weaken, divide and distract the GOP is viewed as a good thing.
Republican Party insiders completely freaked when they learned Rep. Paul Froehlich, a former conservative Republican who switched to the Democratic Party, had filed to sponsor the bill when it gets to the House. With a Democrat controlling the bill, the Republicans couldn’t slow-walk the legislation into oblivion again, so they figured that House Speaker Michael Madigan was behind the maneuver. The Republicans worry Madigan could use the bill to essentially blackmail GOP leaders to get in line when it comes time to vote on tax hikes, or anything else he chooses.
Last week’s vote was eventually delayed. But this fight is far from over. And if you still wonder why the Republicans would bother to wage a civil war over this issue, you’re not alone.
* The Tribune’s Dan Mihalopoulos does a very good job of looking at the numbers so we don’t have to…
Quigley won the most votes of any candidate in the 12-way race in the 47th, 43rd and 44th Wards, known as “lakefront liberal” bastions. He also enjoyed a plurality in the affluent 32nd Ward, where rival John Fritchey was elected the Democratic Party’s committeeman last year.
Quigley didn’t need to win every ward or even win a majority in any of them, given the size of the Democratic field. In the 10 wards with the highest vote totals Tuesday, Quigley won five and finished second in four.
Of those wards, Fritchey won only the 45th and 36th Wards, where he enjoyed the support of local Democratic bosses. But Fritchey finished far short of the vote totals that he needed there. He did best in the 36th Ward, run by his in-laws, the Banks family. Even there, however, he managed less than one-third of the vote.
Fritchey also won Ald. Dick Mell’s 33rd ward by just 110 votes over Quigley. Not nearly enough.
Vic Forys really cut into Fritchey, winning Leyden and Proviso Townships, where Fritchey was widely endorsed…
Forys also carried the 38th Ward, which includes the heavily Polish neighborhood of Portage Park, even though the ward Democratic organization supported Fritchey. And Forys won a quarter of the vote in the 36th Ward.
Ald. O’Connor won his own ward and 39. Rep. Feigenholtz won no wards.
Quigley won his own ward, the Wrigleyville-based 44th Ward. He also won Ald. Gene Schulter’s 47th Ward, even though Schulter endorsed Fritchey. Quigley won the far Northwest Side’s 41st Ward, even though Committeewoman Mary O’Connor endorsed O’Connor. Quigley won the 1st Ward, where Ald. Manny Flores endorsed Fritchey.
* Commenter “Mr. Know-it-All” had a good observation about Vic Forys, who shamed the pundits and finished ahead of Ald. Pat O’Connor…
Forys finished 4th because he tapped into a significant portion of the electorate and ran a very effective campaign aimed at them. But since he never targeted the rest of the 5th, he never really stood a chance. The Polish constituency is measurable but not a majority.
* I’ll have more about Quigley for subscribers, but this is what I wrote last week…
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley started the race way ahead in the polls, and he’s still at or near the top. That means he’ll do well with people who believe it’s their duty to vote in every election but are still vague about their final choice. He has a loyal cadre of workers, and his campaign believes they have identified more than enough supporters to win. They just have to get them to the polls.
* “LaborGuy,” who is with SEIU, had this bit of polling data in comments…
The first poll in the race has Quigley at 22%. Our tracking poll had him at 25% ten days ago and he won with 22%.
* Name ID alone wouldn’t win it, though. The reformer mantle was all important.
Quigley was the obvious, credible, poplulist, anti tax hike “change agent” in the race. And he and his staff bluntly tapped into a very real anger out there. Remember this ad? It had all the elements Quigley needed and the voters craved…
Quigley summed it up well after he declared victory. Quigley mentioned Blagojevich and Todd Stroger and all the rest, and then said…
“After all the recent embarrassments, this was first chance that the voters had to voice their desire for change and they spoke loud and clear.”
Yes, they did. Well, at least enough voters did to put a win on the board. And that’s all that matters in this ballgame.
“I know people around the governor,” said the man, who does know such people, “and they’re worried about him. They say he’s driving himself on expressways, talking on his cell phone, and they’re worried about his safety. My understanding is he’s driving a Taurus with over 200,000 miles on it.”
Several Chicago-area religious leaders are threatening to bring masses of people down to Springfield if politicians don’t stop calling for Senator Roland Burris to resign.
The Illinois attorney general today sued a defunct Chicago company run by a friend of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, alleging it fraudulently billed the state for more than $1.3 million in drug tests it never performed.
The owner of the company already faces criminal fraud charges that sprung from an internal state investigation that began after the Chicago Tribune wrote about the owner’s ties to Blagojevich.
The civil suit brought by Attorney General Lisa Madigan alleges that Anita K. Mahajan through her company K.K. Bio-Science Inc. knowingly billed the state from at least January 2004 until November 2006 for drug testing services it never performed for state child custody cases. The lawsuit seeks more than $3.9 million in damages and penalties.
Mahajan was involved in real-estate transactions that in 2006 netted Patti Blagojevich $113,000 in commissions. Mahajan’s husband, Amrish, was a major fundraiser for the impeached ex-governor in the Indian-American community.
A Frankfort auto advertising company created “false, inaccurate and misleading” radio ads tied to the recently enacted federal stimulus package, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in announcing a lawsuit against the company Tuesday.
The complaint alleges that Prime Market Targeting Inc. violated state consumer fraud statutes. The company said it would not comment on the lawsuit.
It turns out Obama did not actually nominate Duckworth on Feb. 3, but only indicated his intent to nominate the Iraq war veteran. The White House has still not sent Duckworth’s nomination to the U.S. Senate.
Hynes’ office has more than $2.8 billion of bills awaiting payment; another estimated $1.6 billion is still being processed by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. And by the end of June, the state has to pay back a $1.4 billion short-term loan it took out in December to ease a massive backlog of bills then.
That’s $5.8 billion owed on state contracts for services already rendered.
The thing that might rescue health care in Illinois isn’t the money in the stimulus package. It’s the strings attached to the money.
Illinois has been a bit of a deadbeat. The state has piles of unpaid bills—including $2 billion just for Medicaid reimbursements. Now this massive backlog, which has dogged the state for years, could be virtually zeroed out by summer. That’s thanks to the federal stimulus package. But a little-noticed technicality could mean that some people who provide healthcare might not get the benefits.
Tinley Park leaders are bound for Washington, D.C., today, armed with a 12-page packet detailing about $200 million in projects they hope federal dollars will cover.
Catholic leaders want Illinois taxpayers to pay an estimated $70 million more next year to subsidize private schools.
The current credit is worth $500 and cost Illinois taxpayers $71.8 million in 2007. Nearly half of the credit went to families earning more than $100,000 annually, according to figures provided by the Illinois Department of Revenue.
Doubling the credit to $1,000 could cost taxpayers an estimated $140 million
Regardless of the record of decision, FutureGen is eligible for the $1 billion in grants included in the stimulus package for fossil fuel research. The money could be given to one project or split up over several. Chu could hand it out as he sees fit, or several projects may be given the opportunity to compete for the money. According to a timeline on the federal stimulus Web site, agencies must start reporting on these competitive grants by May 20. Even if FutureGen got all the funding, it would not be enough to cover the plant’s estimated $1.8 billion dollar price tag.
The Daley administration on Tuesday abruptly canceled 11 public relations contracts with a $55 million pricetag to drive home the point that taxpayers cannot afford to augment the highly controlled message coming out of City Hall.
“We get it. We absolutely get it. We understand that it would seem absurd at a time like this to be using taxpayer funds for this kind of non-essential service,” said mayoral press secretary Jacquelyn Heard.
Essential support came from a college program that provides tuition assistance and other help to low-income women who have gone through divorce, single parenthood or unemployment. Many participants have been victims of domestic abuse.
In existence nearly 40 years, the program is now financially threatened, officials say. Last fall, the state eliminated support for such initiatives at 10 community colleges, including nearly $60,000 a year that had been the primary funding of the Harper women’s program. A $500,000 donation from John Canning, chairman of investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners, and his wife, Rita, kept it afloat, but Harper officials say more money is needed for it to survive.
Chicago raked in $7 million and wiped 135,000 unpaid parking and red-light tickets off the books during a 10-week amnesty that sets the stage for a booting blitz.
Sometime in April, the threshold for applying the wheel-locking Denver boot will drop from three unpaid tickets to two older than one year. When the amnesty opened, 170,000 motorists fell into that category.
* Chicago police officer pleads guilty in towing probe
The independent board overseeing Cook County’s huge health system, including Stroger Hospital, recently named a new chief, William Foley, to run its nearly $1 billion operation.
He’s a proven turnaround artist for financially ailing hospitals, here in Illinois and in California.
Park districts and communities throughout the south and southwest suburbs are expanding hours, adding machines, making renovations and offering classes (like aerobics and yoga), all to offer their residents an alternative to private gyms.
