* Here we go, kids. Our last weekend before all that is nasty hits the Statehouse fan. Rest up well because next week is gonna be a rough one. And have a happy and wonderful Father’s Day!
* For Sen. Burris…
You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte
Burris is expected tonight to announce in Chicago that he will campaign to hold onto Barack Obama’s former seat in 2010.
Storms in Chicago delayed Burris’ arrival on a flight from Washington. He is now expected to hold a news conference at O’Hare Airport shortly after 3:30 p.m. He is expected to revel in the decision by Springfield’s prosecutor John Schmidt not to lodge perjury charges against Burris.
* 4:03 pm - The comedy writes itself. I didn’t notice this at the bottom of the story…
Tonight’s election announcement by Burris is set for a nightclub called “Vain” at 2354 Clybourn in the city.
I’m speechless.
This is gonna be one fun campaign to cover. Delmarie Cobb strikes again.
*** 4:18 pm *** OK, I shoulda known it was all too good to be true. I’m getting that the CBS2 story linked above is not accurate and there’s no announcement coming.
* The news has been so relentlessly bad lately that I think we need a respite. Statehouse reporter Scott Reeder sent me this earlier today…
Small Newspaper Group statehouse intern Kevin Lee saved the lives of two people over the weekend. While canoeing down rain-swollen Sugar Creek in Indiana’s Turkey Run State Park, he came across a brother and sister whose canoe had capsized and were clinging to a log in The middle of the stream. He jumped into the swift current and pulled the pair to safety. Apparently the girl didn’t know how to swim and her brother was too frightened to act.
* From the the editors of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune comes news that Jeff Meitrodt, a top-notch Statehouse reporter recruited from New Orleans and then abruptly laid off by the Chicago Tribune, has found new employment…
We are pleased to announce that Jeffrey Meitrodt, a hard-charging journalist with a long track record of exemplary investigative work, will become our next Investigations Editor. […]
Jeff is deeply committed to the kind of investigative work that we consider a top priority in the newsroom. He will lead our I-Team projects, supervise our expanding Whistleblower initiative, and help reporters around the newsroom develop investigative stories. He’ll also play a big role bringing our investigative work to life in an ambitious new way online that will be unveiled soon. Projects work by our Health and Business reporters will continue to be led by Kate and Eric Wieffering, respectively.
Jeff will be moving soon to the Twin Cities with his wife and two young daughters from Springfield, Illinois. He will start work in late July.
State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) says Gov. Pat Quinn must start convincing those who disagree with an income tax increase that a tax hike is the only way to solve the state’s budget woes.
Lang referenced several whirlwind trips Quinn has made, stopping around the state to rally support for additional state revenue to save state-funded social programs.
“He’s still not doing it in the places where legislators voted no,” Lang said. “He’s not doing it in Du Page County which has a dozen or 15 or 20 legislators. Not a single one of them, not one, voted for the income tax increase. Did he go Downstate to rural Illinois where, obviously they are very conservative but don’t understand that if their daycare center closes they wont be able to go to work? The person who is against taxes but their husband, who is a substance abuser, won’t get his services? Did they talk to those legislators? No. What the governor has been doing lately is preaching to the choir.”
* The Question: Should the governor take Rep. Lang’s advice, or do you think Quinn is on the right track? Explain.
* After checking around a lot yesterday, I don’t think Lisa Madigan demanded these pledges from the president…
I reported on Wednesday that Madigan had two conditions she wanted if she ran for the Senate: an immediate Obama endorsement and for the Democratic primary field to be cleared. Madigan political director Mary Morrissey told me Thursday Madigan and no one in her camp set down any conditions.
* Also after checking around, I think Sheriff Dart is leaning very hard towards a run for Cook County Board President, how that Forrest Claypool has dropped out. The rest, I dunno yet…
Names potentially in contention now include Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who, according to a source close to the sheriff, is “very, very interested and seriously considering it.”
County Assessor James Houlihan said Thursday that he was currently “re-evaluating his options.” And county Commissioner Larry Suffredin is forming an exploratory committee for the job. Already declared is the candidacy of Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), and Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown has already commissioned polls.
Another source says there was an “understanding” that if Claypool didn’t run against Stroger, Dart would.
* Notes from the circular firing squad. Doug Ibendahl tries to turn up the heat on SB600, which requires the Illinois Republican Party to elect its committeepersons…
An in-party fight among Illinois Republicans that has been percolating quietly out of sight of most voters is starting to bubble to the surface, helped along by a GOP activist who [yesterday] compared his state party’s chairman — unfavorably — to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. […]
One of the leaders of the GOP rebellion is Chicago attorney and former state GOP general counsel Doug Ibendahl, co-founder of “Republican Young Professionals,” which is among the most rebellious elements of the party. Ibendahl today emailed reporters with a link to an essay he wrote comparing GOP state party Chairman Andy McKenna to the Iranian president — who, of course, is currently being accused by demonstrators in Iran of stealing that country’s recent election.
“What do Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Andy McKenna have in common?” asks Ibendahl’s essay. “Answer: Both have constituents who want their vote back.” Ibendahl goes on to suggest that McKenna is “dividing and destroying our party on the idea that Republicans should have lesser voting rights than even the Iranians enjoy.”
“Good grief, at least they had an election their voters can demonstrate about,” writes Ibendahl.
* While much of this Tribune “Clout Goes to College” series has been overblown nonsense, today’s story shows how the U of I’s admissions system may have been gamed for political ends…
A relative of Chicago Ald. Frank Olivo’s didn’t have the required grades for a specialized accounting program at the University of Illinois but got accepted anyway after Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office intervened.
Another applicant — the relative of a prominent attorney who, along with his firm, contributed more than $120,000 to ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign — got into the law school despite objections from the admissions dean.
A relative of convicted Blagojevich influence peddler Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s was going to be rejected until a series of powerful patrons got involved, in a case previously reported by the Tribune.
While these scenarios suggest that admissions at the state’s flagship university may have been used as a political plum, the connections may not be apparent to a special commission looking into how influence affects admissions at the U. of I. The commission has decided not to press for the names of more than 800 politically connected applicants given special consideration at the Urbana-Champaign campus during the last five years.
Retired federal judge Abner Mikva chairs the governor’s commission. I can’t help but wonder if he ever made any calls to law schools on behalf of students while he was a judge.
* Meanwhile, Senate President John Cullerton has promised to get more aggressive in defending the GA’s reform record. Today’s op-ed in the Tribune is an opening shot…
When the commission completed its work in April, it offered reform ideas — not actual legislation, just ideas — in six areas: campaign finance, procurement, enforcement, government structure, transparency and what the commission called “inspiring better government,” a catch-all for miscellaneous reform ideas. As commission chairman Patrick Collins, acknowledges, the General Assembly implemented the commission’s procurement, transparency and “inspiring better government” ideas.
As for the other three ideas, Collins claimed that the General Assembly viewed them as a “grave threat” and our decision to not accept them whole cloth revealed an “unwillingness to get to the core of the culture of corruption.”
That’s simply not true. The General Assembly was already striking at that culture of corruption before the Reform Commission was created. Let’s be honest. We rejected some parts of the commission’s campaign-finance proposal for good reason. First, the proposed contribution limits — which mirror federal contributions caps — are too low. That’s not just our view. It’s also the opinion of the most vocal reform advocates, the Chicago Tribune and other editorial boards. The commission’s proposal also would favor wealthy, self-funding candidates, not the average citizen running for office.
More…
Patrick Collins is incorrect that we “outright ignored” the commission’s legislative rule-changes idea. Early in my presidency, the Senate adopted rules changes that provide members with greater ability to advance and control their own bills. In addition, I reversed the policy of my predecessors by assigning virtually every bill and amendment to a substantive committee. At no time did the commission ever propose actual language for these rule changes. As I’ve said before, the General Assembly enacts legislation, not press releases.
As to the “legislative leader term limits” recommendation, the commission’s report fails to explain how it targets “the core of the culture of corruption” or even relates to the rampant and bipartisan corruption in the executive branch over the last decade. If anything, the “reform” idea smacks of a personal or partisan animus toward House Speaker Michael Madigan, rather than a proposal supported by evidence. Of the scores of legislative leaders elected in the last 100 years, only two have served for more than 10 years — Madigan and former Senate President Phil Rock. There is no need for term limits as a fair reading of history proves.
Not quite. Cullerton didn’t include minority leaders in that calculation. Senate President Emil Jones, for one, served 16 years as a leader when his minority leadership is taken into consideration. House GOP Leader Lee Daniels served for well over a decade as minority leader.
* This won’t go over well, but it seems reasonable, and it’s from a Republican state’s attorney, so it’s tough to scream politics….
A four-month investigation by the Sangamon County state’s attorney’s office has found insufficient evidence to charge U.S. Sen. Roland Burris with perjury. […]
Sangamon County state’s attorney John Schmidt said some of Burris’ statements were vague, “but vague statements cannot support a perjury charge.”
“Moreover, an individual does not commit perjury if he corrects the known falsity before the adjournment of the tribunal,” Schmidt said in a letter delivered today to House Speaker Michael Madigan explaining the reasons behind his decision. […]
“These were not substantive discussions concerning how to get the appointment, but rather Sen. Burris imploring the listener to tell Gov. Blagojevich he was interested,” Schmidt wrote to Madigan.
When Representative Durkin asked Senator Burris if he spoke to members of the Governor’s staff or family members regarding his interest in the senate seat, Burris responded, “I talked to some friends about my desire to be appointed, yes.” Transcript House Impeachment Committee January 8, 2009 page 941 lines 9-20. This is a truthful answer. While Senator Burris failed to mention the phone conversations with Rob Blagojevich or John Harris, he did say he spoke to friends about his interest. The Illinois Supreme Court has consistently held the burden is on the questioner to pin the witness down as to the specific object of the questioner’s inquiry. People v. Robert Willis, 71 Ill 2nd 138 (1978). Next, Senator Burris was asked:
REPRESENTATIVE DURKIN: I guess the point is I was trying to ask,
did you speak to anybody who was on the Governor’s staff
prior to the Governor’s arrest or anybody, any of those individuals
or anybody who is closely related to the Governor.
MR. BURRIS: I recall having a conversation meeting with Lon Monk about my
Partner and I trying to get continued business . . . Transcript January 8, 2009
Page 941-942
Senator Burris answered the question by recalling a conversation with Lon Monk. The fact he did not mention others does not make the statement perjerous. It makes it incomplete. Again, the burden is on the questioner to ask specific questions. Senator Burris truthfully stated he had a conversation with Lon Monk.
The same analysis applies to Senator Burris’s responses to Representative Tracy. Senator Burris is asked to whom he expressed senate seat interest and the time frame September of 2008 or as early as July of 2008. Transcript 998 Lines 13-17. Burris responded that one person he spoke with was his law partner. Chairwoman Currie stated, “Is that when you talked to Lon Monk?” Then Representative Tracy asked, “Was it Lon Monk was that the extent of it Lon Monk.” Transcript pages 998-999. Senator Burris reiterated his conversation where Lon Monk told him he was qualified to be in the U.S. Senate. Transcript page 999. Senator Burris was asked, “So you don’t recall that there was anybody else besides Lon Monk that you expressed an interest to at that point?” He responded, “No, I can’t recall because people were coming to me saying Roland you should pursue the appointment . . .” Id. Moreover, Senator Burris volunteered to give names of individuals the committee could contact regarding his interest in the senate seat. See Transcript page 1000, Line 17-21.
Burris’ responses cannot support a perjury charge. He said he could not recall anyone specific because there were many individuals urging him to run. The answer was incomplete, but that is not perjury given the form of the questions.
This is not a criticism of the questioners. The committee was finding facts concerning the possible impeachment of Governor Blagojevich. Asking broad questions allowed a great deal of information to be discussed without the need to constantly ask follow-up questions. However, such questioning makes difficult the prosecution the crime of perjury which is a knowingly untruthful answer to a precise question. Case law clearly mandates very direct specific questions be asked and knowing false answers be given to support perjury. Answers subject to different interpretations or incomplete are insufficient to support perjury.
The two affidavits signed by Senator Burris dated January 5, 2009 and February 4, 2009 are not inconsistent, thus do not support a perjury charge. The January 5, 2009 affidavit only describes the actual appointment process of Governor Blagojevich appointing Roland Burris to the vacant senate seat. It is insufficient to support perjury charges based upon Burris’ testimony before the House Impeachment Committee.
*** UPDATE - 12:01 pm *** Statement from Sen. Burris…
“I am obviously very pleased with today’s decision by State’s Attorney John Schmidt. His investigation was both thorough and fair, and I am glad that the truth has prevailed,” Burris said in a statement emailed to my colleague Manu Raju.
“This matter has now been fully investigated; I cooperated at every phase of the process, and as I have said from the beginning, I have never engaged in any pay-to-play, never perjured myself, and came to this seat in an honest and legal way. Today’s announcement confirms all that,” he said.
* One of the things that the Republican legislative leaders have argued for is treating the “50 percent budget” as if it is only a six-month budget. But former Gov. Jim Edgar told reporters yesterday that’s not a good idea…
[Edgar] cautioned them against passing a temporary budget fix.
EDGAR: I don’t see any way Governor Quinn could approve a budget that he knows isn’t going to last for the full year. You just can’t manage. And we’ve had enough mismanagement in Springfield over the past few years. We need to do things right.
* And Republican Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica warns the two Republican leaders not to cut a deal on tax hikes in exchange for redistricting reform…
Afraid of being the party of “no” -– some Republicans are anxious to cut a deal with Pat Quinn and the Democrats that supports some “reform” concessions in exchange for a tax increase.
This is wrong. It will enable the Democrats’ continued mismanagement of state government. It will hurt each and every Illinois taxpayer.
“I thought we had gotten rid of the (former Gov. Rod) Blagojevich threats and bluff and bluster, but evidently we haven’t,” Black said. “How silly can it be to close Lincoln’s Challenge when there’s $38 million to literally build a new campus in the capital budget?
“I don’t think Lincoln’s Challenge is going to close. It’s just more threats for if he doesn’t get his income tax increase. I would have thought he learned a lesson in all his years as lieutenant governor, watching Blagojevich threaten and bluff and bluster. But evidently he didn’t learn a thing.”
Black voted for the tax and fee hikes (and gaming expansion) to pay for that Lincoln’s Challenge capital project, but he voted against the tax hike to fund its operations.
“The thing that really I see as more likely is that they won’t get it done, there will be these draconian cuts, real live human people will suffer dramatically, and then they’ll come back and do what they should have done.”
How long will that take?
“I have no idea,” he said. “One would hope not very long.”
* The Daily Herald editorial board shows its cluelessness once again…
An excellent analysis by Daily Herald Staff Writer Dan Carden showed that Illinois has far fewer state workers per capita than many other states, including those similar in size. We understand that laying off thousands of state workers would cause horrible problems that would quickly compound in the private sector. But we also noted with interest that most other states are much farther along toward cutting state worker pay and requiring furloughs.
Gus van den Brink, executive director of Sertoma Centre Inc. in Alsip, said he would be forced to shut down employment and recreational services to 250 of its clients if $2.2 billion in current cuts from the Illinois Department of Human Services cannot be restored with Quinn’s proposed 50 percent income tax hike. […]
He said the state is already ranked 47th in the nation in terms of the tax dollars allocated for the developmentally disabled and that the proposed cuts would virtually decimate the programs that exist.
[Clete Winkelmann, president of Children’s Home] estimates $6.7 million in cuts to his total $20 million budget that translates to 119 jobs. Catholic Charities Diocese of Peoria is facing $3.15 million in cuts out of a $12 million budget and as many as 100 positions eliminated. Lutheran Social Services of Illinois estimates $1 million in local cuts in the total $5.3 million budget that could affect up to 12 staff members. The $3.5 million budget for Counseling and Family Services will be slashed nearly in half, resulting in the loss of roughly 35 jobs, officials said Thursday.
An estimated 10,000 children between the four agencies would be affected in the Tri-County Area.
Mike Brown, vice president of operations for Charleston Transitional Facility, said the proposed budget cuts would result in the elimination of CTF’s autism and children’s services programs.
Cuvo addressed the crowd about the importance of the autism center and the role it plays in Southern Illinois. Through state funding, the center has assessed more than 460 children from the region, provided therapy to more than 120 of them, helped many autistic children transition into regular classrooms and affected the lives of families from about 115 communities across more than 30 counties, he said.
“They will have to go out of the region, including out of the state, to get diagnosed,” Cuvo said of the effect the closure of the center, which would happen under the state’s worst-case scenario budget. “It will be a very sad day for children with autism and their families throughout Illinois.”
The state spending plan approved by lawmakers calls for state spending to be cut in half in some areas. That includes a hit to the fund used to pay for Monetary Award Program grants, which are need-based assistance for about 130,000 Illinois college students.
“I’ve saved the state over $300,000 by keeping my children at home where they belong,” Cathy said. “I don’t think our kids are pork. Why are they cutting that out of the budget? Cut the other pork. My kid isn’t pork.”
So do you think cash should go to livestock awards, the Illinois wine and grape industry or high-end Port-A-Potties? It’s in the budget. But if you cut it, it doesn’t come close to saving other programs.
* Related…
* Quinn calls special session to deal with state budget
* ComEd to ax 500 jobs, freeze exec pay to cut costs
ComEd parent Exelon Corp. said it is slashing 500 jobs, most at its Chicago headquarters, reorganizing its executive team and freezing executive pay to reduce costs amid economic challenges in the industry.
Roughly 400 corporate support jobs at Exelon and 100 management positions at ComEd will be eliminated, the company said. Most cuts are expected to be completed by August 31.
The company said in addition to freezing executive salaries, it will reduce annual and long-term incentive compensation.
A Florida-based credit repair company that placed unauthorized charges on the phone bills of thousands of Illinois consumers has been shut down, and victims may now apply for refunds, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Thursday. US Credit Find and its owner, Aaron Stanz, agreed to cease participating in the alleged deceptive practice, called “phone cramming.” Consumers who were victims have until Aug. 20 to file complaints with the attorney general’s Consumer Fraud Bureau to be considered for refunds.
Thirty-year mortgage rates fell this week, reversing course after three straight weeks of rising and hitting the highest level in seven months last week. The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 5.38 percent, down from 5.59 percent last week.
* LaHood Asks for 18-Month Extension of Four-Year-Old Transpo Law
* Lack of nearby grocery store takes years off life: study
Living in a food desert — primarily the city’s African-American neighborhoods with no full-service grocery stores — can shorten your life.
That’s a new conclusion drawn by food-desert researcher Mari Gallagher, who released a report Thursday showing that a full-service supermarket in the South Side Roseland community would allow that neighborhood, collectively, to gain about 15 years of life back from diabetes, 112 years of life from cardiovascual diseases, 13 years from liver disease and 58 years of life back from diet-related cancers.
A proposal for the Congress Plaza Hotel to expand at 520 S. Michigan survived a raucous crowd and a perturbed alderman Thursday to win clearance at the Chicago Plan Commission.
The mayoral-appointed commission overwhelmingly approved the same proposal it rejected on a narrow vote 18 months ago. But that earlier vote produced a lawsuit in which a Circuit Court judge held the commission’s action was illegal.
Reconsidering the expansion under Judge Sophia Hall’s order, several commission members said their hands were forced on approving the project. The proceedings occurred under watchful eyes of the Unite Here Local 1 hotel workers union, which has been striking at the Congress Plaza for six years.
Union members and sympathetic aldermen opposed the proposal on the grounds that it rewards hotel ownership that allegedly pays substandard wages. They also have complained about conditions at the hotel, which charges budget rates for downtown.
Madison County Sheriff Robert Hertz said Thursday that budget cuts imposed a day earlier by the County Board would mean longer response times to emergency calls by the sheriff’s office and could endanger public safety in the county.
“We were already understaffed before this happened as far as I’m concerned,” Hertz said.
“People want leaner government, but I don’t think they want it at the expense of first responders to emergencies,” the sheriff added.
He said the County Board had mandated a cut of $325,000 for the sheriff’s operations, effective immediately. That means Hertz cannot replace four deputies who have left recently or who are expected to leave soon by retirement or taking other jobs, he said.
Arlington Heights is applying for an energy efficiency grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, even though the bulk of the money may yield only small savings.
Village trustees directed staff this week to apply for the $714,000 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant. The village proposes to spend $460,000 of that on replacing sodium vapor lights in about 240 downtown streetlights with more efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
We’re talking about a T-shirt sold around Wrigley Field during the Crosstown Classic with a likeness of Guillen behind a lawn mower, saying “Ozzie Mows Wrigley Field.”
* Museum of Science and Industry free today, its 76th anniversary
