Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2009

Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This article comes at an appropriate time since I’ll be speaking later today about the Intertubes, social media and politics. It’s entitled “Campaign Web sites a must, even for local races,” and looks at the Bloomington area for examples…

Tari Renner, another Bloomington mayor candidate, said Web sites allow candidates to “communicate with people more effectively. You still need the day-to-day, face-to-face contact with constituents, especially in local races,” he said.

Bloomington Mayor Steve Stockton said a Web site is a nice supplement.

“(Residents) can find information about a candidate and communicate ideas to a candidate. But I don’t think it’s a substitute for face-to-face contact,” he said.

Like Renner and Stockton, Normal Mayor Chris Koos had a Web site for previous elections, but this year’s is much more sophisticated.

“This is more interactive, you can donate and see video,” Koos said. “You need to do it. Most people are comfortable with the Internet and it’s a good way to get a lot of information to people.” […]

Redfield said the quality of the Web site is important — especially since younger voters have a sophisticated set of criteria. Candidates also need to avoid being overly aggressive with e-mails and text messages.

“There’s no question is going to continue to grow … they’re going to get more sophisticated,” he said.

* The Question: What would you tell a candidate about setting up his or her Website and social media outreach efforts? Not only what they should do, but what they should avoid.

And please put some serious thought into your responses so I can use them later today. Thanks much.

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Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Chicago’s toxic political brew

Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Most of the Chicago media focused on Mayor Daley’s awkward press conference yesterday where he kinda sorta apologized for the Al Sanchez conviction and dodged reporters’ questions about what he knew about illegal patronage hiring and when he knew it…

* Chicago Mayor Richard Daley Takes Questions from Reporters on Sanchez

* Daley on hiring fraud: ‘I am sorry’

* Clean it up, Mayor …

* Mayor Daley Deflects Questions Regarding Sanchez

* Brown: Still refusing to explain city patronage

* Politics Explained. The not so ‘accessible’ mayor

* Fitzgerald on Hiring Fraud: Don’t Trivialize the Harm

* But Carol Marin writes a second column this week about the humungous parking meter rates negotiated by Daley…

Your raging e-mails came roaring in after my Sunday column, in which I noted what you apparently noticed, too. That suddenly there are scads of empty metered parking s-p-a-c-e-s downtown where cars just a month ago were bumper to bumper. Could this, I asked, signal a citizen boycott, or was boycott too strong a word?

“Personally, I’m in full boycott mode,” replied a computer consultant who does business in the city. “I’ll stand on my head to . . . spare myself an onsite visit if street parking is involved.” […]

Mayor Daley was quoted in the Tribune a couple of days ago as saying, “Let’s not blame this new company. There will be complaints, but like anything else, they will get to those complaints.”

They don’t seem to be in much of a hurry, mayor.

She ended her column with this…

In 1979, lousy snow removal sparked a voter rebellion and booted a mayor.

Could parking meters be the new snow?

* CBS2 also has a report…

CBS 2 called the company, too; twice to New York, another to Chicago. They didn’t call back. We also called the city. They called back but basically said, ‘not our meters anymore, not our problem anymore.’

Enter a guy who calls himself ‘Mike The Parking Ticket Geek.’ He contacted us via Twitter and showed us his website, theexpiredmeter.com, which he used to give people advice on how to beat parking tickets. The site has become a lightning rod for peoples’ complaints about the new rates and operators.

Mike says the people who are writing to him have a sense of “anger, frustration, rage in some cases.”

To the point where some, it appears, are vandalizing the meters. Pictures on Mike’s website show meters deliberately smashed, taken apart, spray-painted, or deliberately jammed.

As I’ve written before, Chicago and Cook County voters are willing to put up with political shenanigans, but they’ve also demanded sound governmental decisions. That doesn’t seem to be happening any longer. High taxes, high fees, unresponsive, bloated and corrupt government are all combining into a toxic political brew.

But do you think it will make any difference?

Still, Bill Daley might wanna take this job offer rather than run statewide in such an environment…

• • To wit: Sneed hears rumbles [Bill] Daley may become the next U.S. ambassador to China.

• • The backshot: Daley, who has been eyeing a bid for a U.S. Senate seat in 2010, may be on President Obama’s short list for the ambassador’s post.

• • The upshot: If Daley decides not to run for the Senate, it provides a clearer track for state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who’s already formed an exploratory committee for the Senate race.

• • Postscript: Sneed also is told Daley is also planning to wed his fiancee, Bernie Keller, some time this spring.

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Honeymoon sunset?

Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The state constitution is pretty limited on how it can be amended by popular referendum. So, this threat by Gov. Quinn to gather petitions to amend the constitution to require campaign donation limits is mostly empty rhetoric, but it won’t go unnoticed at the Statehouse…

“The Legislature should know that if they don’t pass sufficient reforms to clean up politics, this governor — and, I think, the people at large — will take matters into their own hands,” Quinn said in an exclusive interview with the Post-Dispatch.

Quinn predicted that “a ‘clean-government’ constitutional amendment” limiting campaign contributions would be “enthusiastically received by the public” in the wake of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s ouster in January for alleged corruption. […]

“Until May 31 (the end of the regular legislative session), the ball’s in the legislative court,” Quinn said. “If on that day … we come up with something that’s insufficient … then, in the summer, fall, we’ll have to go to the people. And I think legislators should all be aware of that. I’m not here to run in place.”

The response…

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown on Tuesday noted that contribution limits are still under consideration by the committee, but he also reiterated the concerns. “Can you show me an instance where limits have turned a crook into an honest man?” Brown asked.

Ironically enough, Quinn was in Collinsville for a fundraiser to retire old debt from his 1996 US Senate campaign.

* Meanwhile, this story doesn’t go into the angle, but several legislators are quite upset about these closures…

A decision by the Illinois Department of Human Services to close its longstanding office here in the seat of tiny Stark County has provoked shock and outrage from city and county officials.

“It is disappointing that the state of Illinois makes these types of decisions that affect taxpayers without any consultation from the local communities that this office serves,” said Toulon Mayor Kyle Ham. “With this decision, the entire county will be without essential services for those who need it the most.”

Numerous downstate office are on the chopping block.

* And Gov. Quinn’s proposed sales tax expansion is starting to gain more notice…

Illinoisans suffering from dry, flaky scalps and chafing rashes could soon find themselves paying a bit more for shampoos and lotions on store shelves touting relief.

Drinks like iced tea and Starbucks beverages found in stores could cost more, too.

It’s part of Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed overhaul of state sales tax laws that impose a 1 percent rate on shampoos and other hygiene products promising to provide relief, while similar products are hit with the full 6.25 percent state sales tax.

* As are his proposed DNR fees…

If paying a little extra is necessary to keep the park open, Davis said he would be willing to purchase a season pass but thought $5 per car was too expensive.

* And this Blagojevich-style response probably won’t go over too well…

A dozen officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation got raises averaging $6,000 a year during the waning days of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration, even as the state drowned in debt, The Associated Press found.

The raises - the largest amounting to an 11.5 percent increase, or nearly $10,000 - came on top of a routine cost-of-living boost most IDOT employees received Jan. 1. They took effect Jan. 16, two weeks before new Gov. Pat Quinn replaced Blagojevich, who was thrown out of office amid corruption allegations.

IDOT spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said the raises were necessary to keep “seasoned management and staff” on board. The agency’s personnel chief and director of finance and administration were among the managers who got the extra money.

IDOT officials initially denied anyone at the agency had received a bonus. Then the agency wouldn’t comment, saying Quinn’s office was handling all salary matters.

* Related…

* House passess bill to prevent appointing big donors to state boards

* State falls behind on its CWLP bill

* Ralph Martire: Quinn has allies in fight to reform tax structure

* Will the “cutting committee” cut much?

* State Capitol Q&A: Quinn’s first budget proposes bold cuts

* Quinn Pitches Plan To Make State Pay Its Bills

* Editorial — Time to pay up

* Illinois Jobs in Jeopardy if Tax Hike Used to Camouflage Spending Problem

* WIU hopeful, but prepared for Illinois budget

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Morning Shorts

Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray

* Feds probe Cicero cops

Federal authorities are investigating several Cicero police officers for allegedly trying to thwart FBI agents running surveillance on an Outfit associate and high-ranking member of the Outlaws motorcycle gang who ran a pawn shop in town, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Cicero police allegedly ran car license plates, pulled over cars they suspected were driven by federal agents and tried to find hidden surveillance cameras around the business of Mark Polchan, according to recently unsealed court records. Polchan is awaiting trial on charges he bombed a business for the Outfit.

* SJ-R Opinion: Shatter state police’s culture of secrecy

* Prisoners returned to Pontiac Prison

* Illinois February jobless rate hits 8.6 percent

* Big Jump in Illinois Unemployment

The unemployment rate in Illinois has increased at a historic pace. That’s according to a jobless report out Tuesday.

* Ill. unemployment at 17-year high

* Illinois’ unemployment rate reaches highest level since 1983

* ‘Thousands’ line up to apply for 300 hotel jobs

* St. John’s to lay off 38 employees, reduce costs in other areas

* Hog cooperative files for bankruptcy

* Catering firm closes doors after loans called

* Stays at rescue mission’s homeless shelter increase 20 percent

* City to help Chicagoans find out if eligible for foreclosure assistance

“We want to help homeowners get into affordable, sustainable fixed-rate mortgages,” Mayor Daley said of the event co-sponsored by the city and two not-for-profit groups, the MacArthur Foundation and Neighborhood Housing Services.

Last year, Chicago was hit with 20,592 foreclosure filings, a 48 percent increase over 2007. If properties remain vacant, they can have a “devastating impact” on the surrounding neighborhood, the mayor said.

City Hall estimates that as many as 8,000 Chicagoans whose homes are in foreclosure will be eligible for the federal program.

* Hard times affect health care

* Highland makes deal for oil pipeline under Silver Lake

* Chicago Tribune, LA Times merge foreign ops

* State gets ‘A’ for teen protection measure

A teenager in Illinois who feels threatened by a significant other, a parent or anyone for that matter may turn to the courts and file an order of protection.

Over the past six years, hundreds of teens, both male and female, in Peoria, Woodford and Tazewell counties have taken advantage of the state law that allows them to obtain protection orders just like adults.

Illinois is one of only a handful of states that have responded to teen dating violence with this law, an advocacy group stated in a national survey.

* Children’s health: Will County a focal point of national study

* Chicago gun violence: Feds warn against straw purchases

* Municipal candidates rake in campaign bucks

* Money makes Aurora’s campaign go ’round

* Workers welcome layoff delays as candidates open fire on Mayor Stockton

* Chicago’s Olympics team prepares for its big pitch

* Chicago 2016 gives glimpse plan

* Time to give up fight, OK Chatham Wal-Mart

* Chicago Police Using Military Style Rifles

The Chicago Police Department continues to move forward with a plan to equip rank-and-file officers with rifles that were originally designed for military use. Chicago, like other big cities and some smaller towns, has made such weapons available to tactical officers. Now they’d go to cops on the beat. Superintendent Jody Weis says around 500 officers have gone through the training that allows them to use the semi-automatic gun on duty. One group of young people has continually opposed giving Chicago cops the increased firepower, but they’ve not had much luck changing Weis’ mind. WBEZ’s Robert Wildeboer reports on the stalemate and the powerful weapon that’s behind it.

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Radio daze

Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Did anyone listen to Rod Blagojevich on WLS this morning? I caught part of it. Usual stuff. Forgot to put up a live blog post. Oops.

So, post-show thoughts?

* Related…

* Blago: It’s alive! It speaks! It’s on the radio!

* Is Rod Blagojevich talking too much?

* Blagojevich blasts Quinn’s income tax plans while hosting radio show