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Sunday, May 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My new favorite iPhone app by far is Vlingo. It’s not only a very accurate and effective voice dialer, but it’ll do voice-activated Google searches and I’ve been able to post updates at Twitter and FaceBook with my voice.

As Ron Popeil used to say: “Simply amazing.”

I’m hoping they’ll add texting and e-mailing capability and then it’ll be almost perfect.

Vlingo also apparently works with Blackberry and Nokia. Go check it out.

Are there any other apps I should be downloading?

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Sunday ethics - It takes more than a bill

Sunday, May 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Kudos to Mark Brown for pointing out something that desperately needs to be said over and over again. It takes more than a change in legislation or the process to clean up Illinois govenrment. Much more. As his prime example, Brown reexamines Mayor Daley’s widely ridiculed comment from the other day that the city is “leading by example” on ethics reform and doesn’t need to look to the governor’s reform commission for advice.

Daley has, indeed, enacted countless reforms in the past two decades…

When it comes to enacting legal and procedural ethics reforms, Daley has been a step ahead of most government officials in Illinois, if always a step behind the scandal that prompted him to take action. Time and again, the mayor has been at the forefront, whether it was putting city contracting data online, imposing his own campaign contribution limits or requiring lobbyists disclosure.

Am I trying to tell you he has run an ethical government? Far from it.

But you would be hard-pressed to name anybody in Illinois more adept at papering over corruption scandals with reform measures, some of which have even been useful.

And in that regard, Daley’s reform example is a cautionary tale on the limitations of what we should expect to result from whatever reforms are enacted by the General Assembly in the next few weeks. […]

Over the past two decades, Daley has “reformed” the hell out of City Hall — on paper — and yet I’d guess there’s not many of you who believe Chicago government is any more honest below the surface than when he started.

Exactly. Should there be reforms? Yes. Should we expect that they’ll stop crooks like Rod Blagojevich? Heck no. Go read the whole thing.

* The Daily Herald surveyed all of its legislators in its readership area and found broad support for most of the reform commission’s report…

Responding to a Daily Herald survey, suburban lawmakers overwhelmingly support the bulk of the ideas put forth in a recent ethics reform report that good-government groups are trying to enact in the wake of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s arrest, impeachment and ouster from office. […]

The most contentious issue among those surveyed was the idea of giving county prosecutors greater powers to eavesdrop and wiretap in much the same way federal authorities go after corruption. Out of the 47 suburban lawmakers surveyed, a dozen said “no” to the idea and another 10 had serious questions or were unsure. […]

“How far will ‘big brother’ go?” asked state Sen. Carole Pankau, an Itasca Republican. […]

State Sen. Dan Cronin, an Elmhurst Republican, said a central contracting person is not a guarantee against abuse, noting that Gov. Blagojevich essentially tried to do the same thing with more sinister motivations.

You can see a larger version of this flash file by clicking here…

* Related…

* Ethics commission member expresses some reservations

* Redistricting reform to wait for later

* State Employee Salaries: This searchable database contains job and salary information for over 82,000 Illinois state employees in calendar year 2008, reflecting the amount each employee made that year

* Marin: Tell legislators what’s at stake: their jobs

* AG Madigan FOIA proposal draws rapid responses

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Tax and spend roadblocks abound

Sunday, May 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The possibility of a do-nothing budget takes front and center in two weekend columns from longtime Statehouse reporters. First, Kurt Erickson…

Could Illinois lawmakers leave Springfield on May 31 without approving an income tax hike to help bail the state out of its deficit-addled condition? With two weeks to go before lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn for the spring, that possibility seemed very real last week.

Here’s an example: State Rep. Frank Mautino, R-Spring Valley, entered a hearing room in the Capitol to present a bill to a House committee.

Before he sat down to present his proposal, he told a lobbyist that Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed 50 percent hike in the income tax hike was going nowhere.

Mautino’s alternative: Legalize video poker.

Video poker would raise maybe $500 million in time… maybe. An income tax hike, whether the 1.5 percent proposed by Quinn or the alternate 1 percent floated by Senate President John Cullerton, would bring in more than $3 billion. That’s a whole lot of extra cutting.

Doug Finke…

Given the amount of work still to do, you have to figure it’s even odds Cullerton will fail [to adjourn by May 29th]. All four legislative leaders met together (a rarity) Friday and apparently agreed to go full speed ahead on ethics reforms and a capital plan, and both of those may be close to agreement.

But from the way Cullerton and others talked, the basic state budget is another matter.

Lawmakers could always decide just to punt, slap together a budget they know isn’t balanced, drop it on the governor’s desk and let him work it out. We’ve all seen how well that idea worked when they did it in 2008.

The budget is, indeed, the big problem. My own syndicated column talks about this, and quotes Cullerton on that problem. We’ll get to that tomorrow.

* Progress Illinois recently pointed to this quote by a Chicago legislator which may be quite accurate…

[Rep. Greg] Harris estimates there are currently 42 state representatives in support of the income tax increases needed to avoid programming cuts. The measure would need 60 votes to pass in the State House this month or a supermajority of 71 votes to pass after May 31.

It’s definitely an uphill climb.

* This lede is exactly why the governor and others want to exclude beer from any sales tax increase and just hike the tax on wine and liquor…

Look out, Joe Sixpack. The taxman is looking for you.

Key legislative leaders contemplated hiking the state’s tax on beer by 2.6 cents per six pack for the first time in a decade to help underwrite a proposed multibillion-dollar statewide construction program.

Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) confirmed talk of a beer tax, which would be part of a trio of liquor tax increases under consideration. Taxes of 13 cents per bottle of wine and 80 cents per bottle of hard liquor have been on the table.

“The beer people feel left out so we’re considering adding them,” Cullerton quipped.

That’s a silly thing to say by Cullerton. All he’s gonna do is make the reaction even more heated.

* And Kristen McQueary takes a look at the vote against Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s pension reform bill last week, which is hotly opposed by AFSCME and the teachers unions. The Republicans were the ones voting “No”…

Funny, isn’t it? That the Democrats, supposedly moored to labor unions, are spearheading pension reform, and the Republicans on McCarthy’s committee were the ones voting against it?

The Republicans who voted “no” were Raymond Poe and Rich Brauer, of Springfield, Dan Brady, of Bloomington, and Michael McAuliffe, of Chicago’s Northwest Side.

Now that’s political ideology upside-down. Welcome to Springfield.

Actually, that’s not so odd. Poe and Brauer both represent Springfield. Brady represents a public university and most of its employees. McAuliffe has been regularly endorsed by the AFL-CIO.

* Here’s a video I shared with subscribers on Friday. It’s Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno talking about what the leaders have decided so far on capital bill funding…

* Related…

* TANF Reform Bill On Its Way To Gov. Quinn

* Video poker, fees eyed in Illinois

* Transparency bill passes both houses, moves on to Quinn’s desk

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