* Mother’s Day is this weekend, so I’m looking forward to seeing my mom. Also, my brother Doug is coming up from Texas and we’re going to the Sox/Rangers game. Should be a good one.
Authorities say winds that reached 100 mph and included possible tornadoes snapped trees and downed power lines in southern Illinois.
Carbondale Township Fire Capt. Mark Black says trees are down and siding from homes is strewn everywhere. He says his firefighters are cutting trees out of the roadway so they can get their trucks out.
My brother Devin lives near Carbondale and my mom just called to say his house is wrecked. He wasn’t home at the time, thank goodness. Neighbors have lost roofs and the roads are jammed.
* 3:33 pm - “My neighborhood is a disaster area,” Devin just said. “This is insane, man.” Part of his house, which is in Carterville, actually separated from the rest of his house. His house was surrounded by very tall trees and now they’re almost all gone.
Devin said he drove 45 miles home from a meeting and there were trees down and damage the entire way.
Rep. John Bradley was just on local radio and said he has already called the governor to seek assistance.
“Carbondale, Marion, everywhere, there’s no power,” Devin said.
* 3:38 pm - Two reported deaths in Missouri, but nothing yet in Illinois, thankfully…
A TV station in Carterville, Ill., has suffered damage to its roof and has gone off the air temporarily, KFVS reported on its Twitter feed.
Illinois State Police have reports of storm damage in seven counties. Police are reporting tornados in Jackson and Perry counties.
According to the National Weather Service, winds were blowing between 70 and 90 miles per hour in the area at midday Friday. And wind gusts near the southern Illinois community of Carbondale reached 100 miles per hour.
*** 3:51 pm *** Rep. John Bradley described the storm as a “hurricane.” His own house lost its roof and he’s out now with neighbors trying to clear the roads.
“We need state resources down here. It’s a disaster area,” Bradley told me. He said Gov. Quinn’s office is “on top of it, I think,” but he added, “We need help. There’s a lot of damage.”
Bradley also said he was sure the locals would accept any sort of assistance from central Illinois communities that can spare it.
* An official with Gov. Quinn’s office says they’re on top of things and are now working on an official disaster declaration. IEMA is coordinating with locals and the guv’s office has been in touch with Rep. Mike Bost as well as Bradley.
Carbondale Township Fire Capt. Mark Black said the “winds were just amazing. They were howling and the siding on the trailers was flying through the air and there was a pretty hard rain.”
Trees were down and siding from homes strewn about, he said. Firefighters had to clear trees off roads to get their trucks out. Black said he’s heard of some injuries but had no details. He said some people abandoned their cars and sought shelter in the fire station.
IEMA claims there have been no local requests yet for state resources, but they have dispatched people in the area to identify those needs. IEMA has pulled in people from various agencies, including IDOT, state police, CMS, etc. to the central emergency center.
* 4:35 pm - From Ameren…
Severe storms have left about 52,000 Southern Illinois Ameren Illinois Utilities customers without electrical service, while downed electrical wires and debris have created hazardous conditions. […]
The Ameren Illinois Utilities have activated their Emergency Operations Center, which is directing the service restoration work. AIU personnel are now assessing the damage to both high voltage lines and the electrical distribution system that brings power to homes and businesses. When this process is completed the Ameren Illinois Utilities will be able to determine estimated restoration times.
Health officials say a truck driver who had to be extricated from an overturned semitrailer was in serious condition at a [Carbondale-area] hospital.
Rosslynd Rice of Southern Illinois Healthcare says about six other patients with minor injuries were being treated at the Memorial Hospital of Carbondale.
* 4:53 pm - I’m about to shut things down for the weekend, so here’s an automated news feed…
* The Tribune takes a look today at one of the reform commission’s proposals: Giving state’s attorneys and the attorney general more tools to prosecute corruption. This opinion was telling…
Besides, some judges and prosecutors say, the state’s criminal code, with its laws for conspiracy, bribery, theft and official misconduct, already gives prosecutors ample tools. County prosecutors, they say, simply do not use them.
“There’s all this whining when there are statutes on the books right now that let them do their jobs,” said Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Locallo, a former county prosecutor.
Some county prosecutors covet the ability to use wiretaps without informing targets. The commission also wants a new law that would make lying to a state or local investigator a crime, like it is with the feds. But the judge is right that they do have plenty of tools already.
* Another widely heard push-back on the bill…
“States attorneys are political. The assistants are beholden to a political officeholder,” said state Sen. William Haine (D-Alton), who was a state’s attorney Downstate for 14 years. “Giving them a hammer and a saw is one thing. But giving them a large crane and a backhoe is something else.”
There are 102 state’s attorneys in this state and many of them are partisan animals. Is that enough to deny them these broader investigative powers? Well, that’s a big part of the debate.
* Here’s another good point, this time about the attorney general’s office…
Critics point out a potential pitfall in providing such investigative tools to an office that’s traditionally been a steppingstone for ambitious politicians. Madigan is the daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who’s also chairman of the state Democratic Party. The critics say she could investigate his political foes and ignore wrongdoing by his allies. But the attorney general has pledged to go after corruption no matter where she finds it.
Lisa Madigan is not her daddy’s handmaiden, but many Republicans don’t feel comfortable giving her these powers and it’s hard to blame them. The same goes for Democrats who probably wouldn’t be overjoyed if somebody like DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett got the AG’s job and had this sort of latitude.
[Former Illinois Attorney General Bill Scott] sued GM, Ford and Chrysler for conspiring to avoid installation of anti-pollution devices in cars. He sued the major airlines and power utilities for air pollution. He sued major industries like US Steel and Inland Steel for air and water pollution. He sued these utilities, industries, and the cities of Milwaukee, Wisc. and Hammond, Ind. for dumping toxic chemicals and raw sewerage into Lake Michigan, poisoning the largest body of fresh water contained within the United States. He sued GM for installing Chevy engines in their Oldsmobiles.
And then Attorney General Scott was imprisoned for a year and a day on tax fraud charges.
We have a habit in this state of electing corrupt people, including to the AG’s office, so giving those people the power to investigate their political rivals for corruption could be a dangerous idea.
* Semi-related…
* Do the expanding [national] pension scandals have a Chicago connection?
* Blago’s lawyers: Evidence will take 51 years to get through
“Blagojevich Democrats continue to show they cannot bring change to Illinois,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna. “These same Democrats who endorsed and enabled Rod Blagojevich for six years are still fighting to keep the Blagojevich era of higher taxes, no reform, and arrogant power plays alive in Illinois.”
* I’ve heard this through the grapevine as well, but I don’t know it it’s true or not…
Hmmm. Sneed hears White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is privately telling folks Chris Kennedy — if he runs — may potentially be the strongest candidate for the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by Barack Obama.
• • The buckshot: State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, an Obama basketball buddy, has raised buckets of cash in his exploratory push to capture President Obama’s old Senate seat . . . and is a close friend of Rahm and White House senior adviser David Axelrod.
• • The backshot: Kennedy, who runs the Merchandise Mart and is the son of the late U.S. Sen. Bobby Kennedy, is weighing his options. But top Dems are predicting Kennedy is going to run.
And wags are quietly wagging their tongues about this too…
Poll ‘em: Sneed hears GOP U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, who has been pondering a U.S. Senate run, may also be concerned about a Kennedy bid.
The upshot: Sneed is told Kirk has included Kennedy in his polls, but Kirk spokesman Eric Elk said that was not accurate.
• • The buckshot: Pundits have been all over the place recently predicting Kirk’s future. Kirk and his wife, Kimberly, are separated. Is a divorce in the near future? Does Kirk feel that may have an impact? Stay tuned.
I’m not at all convinced yet that the separation is a huge part of the equation right now, but this Kennedy thing has definitely caused Kirk to rethink the plan. Kirk spent a lot of time planning a race against Giannoulias, but Kennedy changes the game and Kirk is a careful man. He needs a bit more time to think things through, so people should take a breath.
By the way, it’s good to see Sneed getting her groove back on politics. “DId you see Sneed today?” used to be a regular question asked by people in this business. I found myself asking it again today. Made me smile.
* Sen. Roland Burris has a lame excuse for his campaign finance report’s, um, lameness…
Burris has been so out-of-the-loop on the campaign side of things that he actually expressed surprise at having to file his first fundraising report last month, as well as his personal financial disclosure.
“Those rules kind of came up on me in terms of having to file a quarterly report,” Burris said. “Nobody told me that.” […]
[Burris] raised just $845 in the first quarter of 2009 compared with another Democratic candidate who has raised more than $1 million.
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias threatened [yesterday] to drop Wells Fargo as the treasurer’s office’s money custodian and to take the bank off its list of preferred vendors if Wells Fargo doesn’t back off its efforts to force Chicago suit maker Hartmarx into liquidation.
* Steve Huntley looks at the crop of GOP gubernatorial candidates and concludes his column thusly…
“I’m not sure the party knows what they are looking for,” says Doug Whitley, the president of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, who recently ended his bid for governor largely because of a money shortage. “It’s not a highly centralized structure. You’ve got the so-called money people, the county chairmen, the state central committeemen and [state chairman] Andy McKenna. But there is no statewide officer holder who is an obvious leader, there’s no obvious council of decision-makers.”
Whitley says his travels found voters frustrated with the lack of leadership in Springfield and a political class “who don’t care about jobs lost, about companies going to other states.” The question: Can the GOP get its act together?
* As I told subscribers today, Speaker Madigan’s “fumigation” bill will likely be changed. Rep. Gordon urges people not to believe that the legislation unveiled yesterday is the final word and Sen. Dahl has a valid point that I believe will also be addressed…
“It’s a good starting point to look at,” said state Rep. Careen Gordon, D-Morris. “I don’t think that this is going to be the final bill by any means. But I think it’s definitely something to start negotiations with.” […]
State Sen. Gary Dahl, R-Granville, expressed concern of the timeline outlined in the legislation — Madigan wants the process done in 60 days.
“We’ve tried to do things around here for years and can’t get it done,” Dahl said. “I just hope that if they’re going to put a time limit on it and it gets to crunch time that they’re taking a serious look at what they’re doing and not just chopping to get it over with.”
Double exempt folks are likely in line for fumigation. The rest - mostly professionals - may not be. And I doubt it’ll be a 60-day time frame.
I usually don’t divulge subscriber-only stuff, but the online debate is so heated on this matter that I thought I’d try to settle people down a bit.
* And for all you folks who immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was a shot at Quinn, you’re wrong…
“I think it’s a good idea,” Quinn said. “I think it’s one we need to use to reassess everything in state government, and if we see anything that is improper, we can act accordingly.”
The governor has said previously that he would like to keep some Blagojevich appointees, and he didn’t see the legislation as an attempt to hinder his power to appoint people to boards and commissions.
“I think it will pass, and I’m open-minded to that for sure,” Quinn said. “Because it gives us a thoroughgoing opportunity to look at all of those who are appointed and even those who have terms that don’t expire for several years.”
The governor loves this concept for a whole lot of reasons.
Madigan also justified the General Assembly getting involved with executive branch operations on the basis that it was the General Assembly that ousted Blagojevich and allowed Quinn to become governor.
“Quinn is governor only by the extraordinary action of the legislature,” Madigan said.
Yet Madigan’s move represents another indication of how leading lawmakers are driving the state’s agenda more than Quinn as the new governor approached his 100th day in the office Friday.
Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere, said that if mass firings did occur, he questions what role Madigan would have in the selection of the new hires.
“Madigan would have his pulse on all these openings,” he said. “If they were replaced, hopefully they would hire competent people, and not just patronage people.”
Republican bills that would have overhauled only specific boards–where problem Blagojevich appointees were suspected–were shut down this week in the House. That would have been a better plan, according to [GOP state Rep. Mike Bost]. […]
“This is truly Madigan at what Madigan does,” Bost said. “He can now go out and tell people, ‘I was for radical reform. if you vote no you choose not to do that.’”
* My Sun-Times column takes a look at our state’s lousy predicament…
I’ve been talking about Illinois’ mess lately with an old-timer named Jerry Shea.
Shea has been around forever. He served five terms in the Illinois House, beginning in the early 1960s. He was a majority leader and Mayor Richard J. Daley’s floor leader. He has been on the RTA board of directors, was a member of the the U. of I. board of trustees, taught law classes at John Marshall and has a Statehouse lobbying client list that’s more than a mile long.
Shea knows everybody and remembers everything. But he’s not exactly the type of person who would hang around with “reformers” like Gov. Quinn.
As Shea remembers it, Gov. Richard Ogilvie helped pass the state’s first income tax by agreeing to allow legislators to roll all of their local government pension credits into the General Assembly’s retirement plan. Because lots of legislators worked for the City of Chicago and Cook County, or were former mayors of suburban and Downstate towns, that pension bill secured a whole lot of income tax votes.
Was it what we would now call a corrupt bargain? Sure. But it worked. The state desperately needed the revenues, and if a handful of hacks got a pension bump in the process, well, that’s just the way it had to be done.
Today, that deal would be an abomination, of course. The FBI might even start poking their noses around.
But here we are once again faced with a horrific budget problem and the need for a tax increase and — unlike during Ogilvie’s time — major budget cuts to boot. So, what’s our reform governor to do?
Gov. Quinn rightly recognizes that Illinois is facing two bone-crushing crises at the same time. The first is fiscal — the government is flat broke. The second is ethical — our last two governors got pinched by the feds.
Illinois has something in the neighborhood of $12 billion in red ink to deal with. There’s no way to tax ourselves out of this mess, and there’s no way to fully cut our way out of it, either. The solution has to be a combination of both, plus some borrowing, either from the pension funds or through the bond houses. That three-pronged approach of taxes, cuts and borrowing is exactly how California got out of its deep financial hole this year. But it wasn’t easy.
The governor has appointed a reform commission, which has now proposed all sorts of ideas — some good, some goofy and some in need of tweaking. The “sexiest” stuff revolves around campaign finance reform. The commission wants to cap contributions at the current federal level of $2,400 for individuals and $5,000 for political action committees so we can be as clean as Washington, D.C., is.
Hooray.
The commission also wants to limit the terms of, and cap the fund-raising by, the all-powerful state legislative leaders, who run the Statehouse and raise the money to fund most of their members’ campaigns.
Pressure is building to a fever pitch in the media to pass the commission’s recommendations and clean up government. The governor has said he is in full agreement.
But how do you persuade legislators to raise taxes and cut precious spending programs, and then force them to commit yet another political suicide by capping their campaign contributions and hobbling their legislative leaders so they can’t easily defend themselves against outraged taxpayer/ voters — and get it all done in a way that shuns old-style horse-trading and is completely ethical, moral and aboveboard?
“You can’t do it,” Shea told me Thursday. “There is no way to do it.”
The session ends on May 31. We’re about to see if Shea is right.
* Related…
* Deep deficit demands permanent tax courage : No one wants a tax increase, but Illinois needs it.
Surveyors from the Illinois Department of Transportation have asked sheriff’s deputies to stand watch as they inspect the properties of homeowners hostile to the airport plan. Meanwhile, officials in rural Will Township and a local roads commissioner have drafted stern letters to lawmakers in Springfield, calling the proposal a disastrous waste of taxpayer money that would forever change Peotone’s rural character.
On a recent Friday, more than a dozen airport opponents staged a rally at Governors State University where Gov. Pat Quinn was scheduled to appear. A confrontation was avoided when the governor failed to show, but the residents didn’t leave without making their stance known.
“It’s nothing short of a total betrayal by Gov. Quinn, who is supposed to be the people’s advocate,” said Peotone area resident George Ochsenfeld, president of STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down).
Commissioner Earlene Collins missed Tuesday’s surprise vote. At a committee meeting today on a different topic, she made a point to bring it up.
COLLINS: If we talking about saving money, getting rid - and especially now. Everybody want to lay off everybody. I don’t know how you going to violate these union contracts you already signed on to next year when you find out you don’t have any revenue coming in.
After her speech, when asked what she thought of the sales tax repeal, Collins laughed and walked away. Collins has been a key Stroger ally on the board.
“There’s no corroboration — no reliability or verification of any of these complaints. Yet, we’re chasing ‘em and making pie charts and graphs and all kinds of gibberish to prove their productivity,” Allen said.
“These are asphalt guys. They’re not scientists. They’re not clerks. When they get done on a street, they’ve got to count how many potholes they fixed. They should just fix ‘em. I’m not saying shut down 311. “
“When you talk about a glimmer of hope, I don’t know what that meant,” Daley said. “I don’t know where you see it. Maybe you see it in Washington, D.C., but I don’t think you’re seeing it across the country.”
Mayor Daley said today he cannot agree to a no-layoff guarantee — even if organized labor joins 3,600 non-union employees in taking two weeks off without pay by Dec. 31 and comp time instead of cash for overtime.
Last month, Daley threatened to lay off 1,600 city employees — none sworn police officers and firefighters — unless organized labor agrees to another round of givebacks to erase a $300 million shortfall.
Chicago is taking another step toward Mayor Richard Daley’s goal of opening 100 new schools by 2010. The district is calling on community groups, teachers, and school operators to submit proposals for its next round of schools.
The state will pump nearly a million dollars into developing two parks in suburban Loves Park.
City and Rockford Park District officials announced two grants of $400,000 each, obtained through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Program, at a news conference this morning.
