Unsolicited advice
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Dear State Board of Elections,
Your website still sucks.
The Illinois State Board of Elections’ site continues to be a horror show. Remember this e-mail from Executive Director Dan White after our last round of complaints almost 17 months ago?…
In response to comments about problems with the SBE website, we hear them, we are aware of these issues and are working hard to establish both near term and long term solutions. Suggestions are always welcome and we continue to incorporate constructive recommendations to improve the website. Our goal is to provide access and avaiability to all of the thousands of users who rely on our information systems. As with any new system, there are new problems and issues to be addressed and resolved. Please continue to comment and utilize our website.
We will have significant improvements in place shortly and we look for your comments as we continue to implement these changes.
Thank you,
Dan White
Executive Director
We still can’t open links in new tabs. Visited and unvisited links are the same color. The Javascript-laden site continues to cough up “cookie timeout” readings and other major problems. For instance, using a Firefox browser I am having trouble reloading a page to see if it’s been updated. More often than not, a more recently opened report from a different candidate appears in its place. Hugely frustrating.
The Board has been promising to upgrade its site since at least December of 2006.
This is absolutely unacceptable behavior.
* Dear Rep. Jack Franks,
Raising $1.2 million of your $1.3 million over the last six months from just six people including yourself, doesn’t bode well. And then there’s this…
Eileen Franks, Eileen, Occupation: retired, Marengo - $450,000
Herbert H. Franks, Occupation: attorney, Marengo - $250,000
Deborah Franks, Occupation: housewife. Marengo - $200,000
That last name looks awfully familiar.
Are you planning to show soon that you can raise serious money outside your family and a couple of rich friends?
* Dear Sen. Bill Brady,
Do you remember saying this back in mid-May about Gov. Quinn’s campaign making fundraising calls to lobbyists?
“We are in the closing days of a legislative session centering on a budget and the need for serious ethics reforms,” Brady, of Bloomington, said. “This kind of fundraising effort has no place in Illinois today or any day.”
Do you find it at all ironic that you were also raising money from Statehouse interest groups at the same time you were blasting Quinn for doing so?
Also - and I know this is contrary to what I just wrote - but are you ever gonna show you can raise the big bucks? $250K in six months? Huh?
* Dear Senate Republicans,
Have you ever heard of copyright law?
The Senate GOP Caucus is posting and permanently archiving entire newspaper articles and columns on its government website. That would be a serious no-no.
* Dear Gov. Quinn,
Although some might say traveling to Iraq is less dangerous than staring down Speaker Madigan, please, try to keep your lid on and your head down and come home safe. Those bombs and bullets are real, man.
* Your turn.
…Adding… Dear Sen. Matt Murphy,
Many Republican pals of mine claim you have big bucks behind your gubernatorial campaign. Are those big bucks actually large male deer? I ask this after reading your latest campaign finance disclosure…
Total Receipts $21,057.15
Dude, kick it in gear.
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* As I told you last week, today is the filing deadline for six-month campaign finance reports. As of this moment, Gov. Pat Quinn has not filed. I’m not sure when he will, but I’m figuring it’ll be later in the afternoon or evening. So, hopefully, this little QOTD won’t be mooted right away.
* The Question: What’s your over/under on how much Quinn reports raising? I’ve been told it’s higher than we might think, so there’s a hint. [Please scroll down for our new question]
*** UPDATE - 12:42 pm *** The Quinn campaign just called. They’re releasing the report in a few minutes or so, but they’re claiming to have raised about $860,000 in the first six months, with cash on hand of about $700k.
Contest over.
Just about everybody guessed way too low. One person was too high.
…Adding… Here’s the press release…
Taxpayers for Quinn, Governor Pat Quinn’s campaign organization, today announced contributions totaling $860,000 for the first half of 2009, ending June 30.
“As we work to bring honest, effective government back to Illinois, we are greatly encouraged by the level of support we have received,” Governor Quinn said. “These resources will help us to bring our message of reform and responsibility to the people of Illinois.
“We are pleased by this success, and we will build on this strong foundation as we make the tough choices needed to put the Land of Lincoln back on the right track - both ethically and economically,” Quinn said.
Details of Governor Quinn’s Fundraising, Jan.1-June 30, 2009:
Total Receipts: $860,000
Cash on hand: $700,000
Total Contributions $250 or Less: 1,065
(74% of Individual Contributions) [emphasis added]
The full report is not yet online as I write this.
* ALTERNATE QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you make of this report?
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Light shined on shroomlike behavior
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* If you want to see the perfect definition of how rank and file legislators behave like mushrooms, just read Dave McKinney’s hilarious account of how the Illinois House unanimously approved a resolution on the death of Michael Jackson…
“Are you kidding me?” said Rep. Kevin Joyce, when told Friday of the House’s action, which flew by without virtually anyone noticing. […]
Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) said he also was in the dark about the resolution and would have voted against it because of all of the allegations surrounding Jackson. […]
…Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) said members should have been alerted about the Jackson resolution because of its controversial nature.
“I don’t think we should have done it, period,” said Bost, who indicated he would have voted either “no” or “present” on the resolution had he known of its content. “You’d like to say everything that goes through on a voice vote, someone has looked it over and said OK. This one was big enough, I wish I’d have known.”
The resolution was packaged with eight others on an “agreed” roll call. House GOP Leader Tom Cross signed off on it, and members are traditionally given time to object.
* You can read the list of all legislative action on that day by clicking here.
There wasn’t a whole lot going on, so members had plenty of time to scan their computers. If they had, this is a good approximation of what they would’ve seen…
All in caps: MEMORIAL - MICHAEL JACKSON. Kinda hard to miss, no?
Oftentimes, agreed resolution lists number in the hundreds of proposals. This one was tiny by comparison.
But legislators - particularly in the House - are so accustomed to their leaders looking out for every single one of their interests that many were apparently stunned to find out they’d voted to honor the dead pop star.
* The resolution itself was fairly innocuous and skips over the singer’s most controversial years. The account of his life goes from 1985…
WHEREAS, In 1985, Michael Jackson co-wrote “We Are The World” with Lionel Richie…
…To the near past…
WHEREAS, He was preparing for what would be a series of 50 concerts starting on July 13, 2009 at London’s famed 02 arena…
As written, the resolution itself was no big deal. The fact that legislators are admitting that they didn’t even bother to look at the list before voting is far more illuminating.
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2010 campaign roundup
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It’s starting to look like former Sen. Roger Keats will be the slated GOP candidate…
Former state Sen. Roger Keats tells Sneed he intends to toss his hat in the ring for Cook County Board president . . . and appears to be, at the moment, the lead Republican candidate. “I’m probably going to announce at the end of the week,” he told Sneed.
* I haven’t listened to the program yet, but I can’t help but wonder if Congressman Mark Kirk mentioned Don & Roma’s blatant shilling for Rod Blagojevich while using their show to announce his US Senate candidacy…
During an interview on WLS Radio’s “Don Wade and Roma Morning Show'’ on Monday, Kirk said he’s announcing his candidacy and hopes to “restore ethics and integrity to Illinois government.'’ Kirk says Burris hasn’t been able to be effective in Washington because of the controversy over his appointment and it’s time to change that.
* Speaking of Kirk, he apparently got an earful from some constituents over the weekend about his “Cap and Trade” vote…
The 39-year-old policy wonk gave a 30-minute (stretched in more ways than one) answer to the first prepared question of “why did you do it?” with a defense that walked all over US energy policy, national security and the best interests of the men and women of the US Navy. (That last point he indicates is the pervasive motivation for his votes on a wide variety of issues - evidently!) He brought out his charts and maps to outline America’s need for energy independence, which sparked shouts of “why then do you vote against ANWR?”
* Democrat Alexi Giannoulias responds to Kirk’s announcement this morning via press release…
“If Mark Kirk and I are the respective nominees of our parties, then voters will have a clear choice: go backwards to the reckless Bush-Cheney fiscal policies Kirk supported that cost this state hundreds of thousands of jobs and created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, or move forward to fundamentally change our economy and create the next generation of good jobs here in Illinois.
“I believe in fair trade, an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, and tax cuts for middle-class families. Mark Kirk takes the opposite view. He voted to give tax breaks to corporations that ship our jobs overseas, but against cracking down on China’s unfair trade practices. He voted for a massive bailout of the biggest banks in the country, but against raising the minimum wage. Mark Kirk voted against middle-class tax cuts by opposing President Obama’s economic recovery plan, but supported George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest. It’s a simple choice between the failed past or a promising future – a clear choice between the right course and the wrong one.”
As does Republican Eric Wallace…
“With Mark Kirk’s entrance, the stage is now set to begin the Illinois Republican Party’s next phase. For a while now, the Illinois GOP has been experiencing a grueling metamorphosis. As the standard bearer for the inspiring LIFT principles, this election cycle will be pivotal in shaping the direction of the Illinois GOP,” Wallace said. “In this cycle, the IL GOP’s base will show that from the top of the ticket down they want a new crop of principled Republicans who will challenge the status quo.”
“For far too long the rank and file of the party has been relegated to the back of the bus while the party lords steered us away from enduring traditional governing principles. We saw we were headed towards party deterioration and those at the wheel ignored our concerns. The party adopted a conservative platform, only to nominate people who vote contrary to that platform.”
* Laura Washington talks about potential black candidates for US Senate…
Yet there’s still only one announced Senate aspirant. Giannoulias has $1.65 million in his campaign war chest and 60 elected officials on board. His list of endorsers includes a few African-American players such as state Senate Majority Leader James Clayborne, who brings a diverse Downstate power base; state Sen. Kwame Raoul, a rising star based in Hyde Park, and Larry Rogers, a Cook County Board of Review commissioner.
Just a handful. Giannoulias has not corralled one black congressman, alderman or committeeman.
Wonder what they’re all waiting for?
I think many are probably waiting to see if a truly viable African-American candidate announces.
* Carol Marin also looks at race and a couple of campaigns. Congressman Danny Davis say’s he’s in for Cook County Board President, which shakes up that race and creates a vacuum for his own seat…
The political risk is that each office, long held by an African American, is vulnerable to a white or Hispanic challenger.
Call it the Reverse Harold Washington Effect.
Marin has a list of possible candidates for Davis’ seat…
Potential black candidates include state Representatives Karen Yarbrough and LaShawn Ford; state Sen. Rickey Hendon and Deputy Recorder of Deeds Darlena Williams-Burnett.
Potential white candidates being mentioned are 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti and state Sen. Don Harmon. Harmon, for one, says he’s not running, arguing, “We should not be trying to erode the representation of the African-American community.”
* Republican National Committeewoman Demetra DeMonte is just one candidate eyeing the lieutenant governor’s race. State Rep. Dave Winters is also preparing a bid. And I hear he’s planning to do a fly-around. I hope he uses a different plane.
Carbondale Brad Cole is another…
Despite earning only $9,000 a year as mayor, Cole said he treats it as a full-time job, living off that salary and savings.
“I’m skinny and single,” he joked. “I’ve saved every dollar I’ve ever made, so I don’t have a lot of expenses.”
I mean no real offense, but didn’t that quote strike you as just a wee bit odd?
* Related…
* GOP’s Durkin bows out of statewide races: After mention as a potential candidate for governor, U.S. senator and attorney general, state Rep. Jim Durkin, R-82nd, of Western Springs, said Friday he will seek re-election to the Illinois House next year.
* Dennis Hastert son running for dad’s ex-seat - Schock headlines funder
* GOP bypasses regulars, puts faith in 28-year-old to regain 56th House District seat: Schaumburg Township Republicans have placed their hopes in a young lawyer and political novice to recapture the Illinois House seat held by party defector Paul Froehlich. Ryan Higgins, 28, who’s never held elected office, beat out two seasoned office holders - local school board member Char Kegarise and library board member Anita Forte-Scott - to win the endorsement from precinct captains for next February’s GOP primary for the 56th House District.
* Durkin, Schillerstrom speak out against early release of Illinois prison inmates
* Private-equity exec Kirkpatrick running for state treasurer: Kip Kirkpatrick, co-founder of Water Street Healthcare Partners, said he’s decided to run for the Democratic nomination for treasurer because “I’m tired of being a critic (of Illinois government) like everyone else — on the sidelines.”
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Kicking the can down the road
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My syndicated weekly newspaper column takes a look at the mess…
The budget - if you can call it that - which passed the General Assembly last week has as much as a $5 billion hole in it, borrows more than $7 billion from Wall Street and state vendors, disguises huge cuts to some private social service agencies with 87 percent funding for others and sets up the state for a surefire disaster next fiscal year.
Break out the party hats.
There is just no way on Earth that you can call that budget “balanced” or “serious-minded.” It is, at best, a punt until next year. Actually, it’s more like a blocked punt with a big loss of yardage.
Senate President John Cullerton said last week that he wants to help balance the budget by renewing a push for a tax increase in January, when a simple majority again will be required to pass it. But a tax hike midway through the fiscal year won’t provide nearly enough revenue to heal this budget’s gaping hole unless the increase is far larger than anything proposed to date.
The governor held a news conference shortly after the budget passed to tout his alleged success. He surrounded himself with employees of his budget office and praised their work, but he refused to directly answer reporters’ questions about any budget details.
How many state employee layoffs would be required? No answer. What sort of cuts was he planning to make to manage his way through this gaping hole? No answer. Instead, every question was addressed with a meandering, filibustering, nonanswering style. He wanted to project an upbeat mood, but this budget is as close to a fiscal nightmare as one can get.
Quinn did finally say he was issuing 2,500 layoff notices, which is 100 less than the number of layoffs he said would be required even if a tax hike passed. He wouldn’t say if more were on the way but said he wanted to talk with the unions about freezing their pay and taking furloughs. That’s just not facing reality. If he truly believes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will roll over and play dead, he ought to look at Chicago, where the union has been standing firm against give-backs.
Quinn’s office privately guesstimates the hole in this budget to be somewhere between $4 billion and $5 billion, which goes to show just how little anybody really knows about the bills that passed. It relies on about $3.5 billion in borrowing to cover the state’s payment to the pension systems and does not even touch the $3.6 billion in debt owed to vendors and providers. From what I was told last week, the state actually will extend the time it takes to pay back those vendors and providers, making their situations even worse.
If you count the hole in the current budget, the new debt that hides base spending obligations, the debt service payment for next fiscal year (somewhere around $800 million), the $500 million increased pension payment for next year, the one-time federal stimulus cash that won’t be replenished and other one-off items (like debt restructuring), you are looking at a starting deficit for fiscal year 2011 of maybe $10 billion. Or maybe more. And that doesn’t even include unforeseeable problems like continued revenue troubles.
Some private social service agencies were frantic last week because they were unable to counter the spin from the governor and the legislative leaders that their programs would be funded at 87 percent of last fiscal year. Some programs, including community-based health services for things like rape treatment, battered spouses, etc., already were looking at steep cuts in Quinn’s original budget. The “50 percent” budget proposal from several weeks ago actually slashed their funding by 75 percent. As of late last week, they still had no idea how bad the final damage would be, but they weren’t optimistic.
And now the credit ratings agencies are starting to move against Illinois the way they have against California. Moody’s lowered its California general obligation bond rating to just two steps above junk status last week, then announced it was putting Illinois’ debt under review.
“The state has essentially kicked the can down the road in terms of making decisions,” a Moody’s analyst told Bloomberg News.
That’s pretty much exactly what Moody’s decreed about California before whacking its debt rating.
If Illinois gets the California treatment, another big hole will be punched in this budget.
Wonderful.
* The above column was taken from a subscriber story published last Thursday. Have a look at the Illinois Education Association’s “Capitol Buzz”, published later that day…
The budget lawmakers passed Wednesday is unbalanced by as much as $5 billion. In addition, it borrows more than $7 billion from Wall Street and state vendors, disguises huge cuts to some private social service agencies with close to 90 percent funding for others and sets up the state for a surefire disaster next fiscal year.
A teachers union plagiarizing? Nah. Never. Can’t happen.
* Related…
* It’ll take time, cash to fix state’s video poker mess
* Analysis: Not much to celebrate in new state budget
* Krug:
Brother, can you spare $3.5 billion?
* On borrowed money, time
* SJ-R: Illinois sadly lacking in statesmanship
* On budget, on reform and on principles, Illinois Democrats drop the ball
* Smaller budget cuts to bring major change
* Parenting programs take big hit from budget cuts
* State leaves disabled in lurch
* Social-service groups waiting for details on future cuts
* New state budget is far from adequate
* Layoffs could cut blood donations too
* Mike Lawrence: Make corrections reform a priority
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Red herrings and lack of context
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m not sure what the first sentence has anything to do with the second sentence…
Funny how Blagojevich was excoriated for using various budgetary gimmicks to produce a “balanced” spending plan while not increasing taxes.
Blagojevich gets booted out of office and lawmakers still use the same gimmicks to proclaim a balanced budget while not raising taxes.
As painful as it is to write this, it increasingly looks like Blagojevich wasn’t the problem. At least he was far from the only one.
Besides the red herring non-connection to Blagojevich’s ouster from office, budget “gimmicks” have been around Illinois politics forever. Jim Thompson’s budget director, Dr. Bob Mandeville, was infamous for his gimmicks, to name just one.
And overtime sessions? Like Pat Quinn, Edgar went into overtime during his first year on the job.
That’s no excuse for either the ridiculous gimmicks in this budget nor the overtime, of course. I’m sick of all of it as well.
But implying that Blagojevich wasn’t the problem is like saying the Titanic’s captain wasn’t to blame because icebergs are always in those waters. It’s how you get around the icebergs that matter.
* Speaking of Rod Blagojevich and red herrings, the indicted disgrace was in full form yesterday…
On his Chicago radio show Sunday afternoon, Blagojevich said he would start by reducing administrative costs. Blagojevich also said he would offer state employees early retirement, privatize the Illinois State Lottery and close corporate tax loopholes. Blagojevich said he wouldn’t raise taxes.
And we’d still be in a gigantic budgetary hole.
More…
“I was hijacked from office. My successor who broke his promise to the people and proposed a 50 percent income tax increase just brought us 45,000 video poker machines,” said Blagojevich. “In less than six months, Pat Quinn has really stuck it to the average working person.”
Quinn, who is traveling in Iraq with several other governors, responded via conference call…
“I didn’t make any promises with my predecessor; he can say whatever he wants to say,” Quinn said. “What I do believe in is the men and women who are here in Iraq serving our country serving all of us in the land of Lincoln. I think they are much better role models for the people in Illinois than my predecessor who is under indictment, who disgraced himseld and disgraced our state.”
* Blagojevich, by the way, is losing yet another attorney…
One team member, attorney Giel Stein, wants off the case and may leave after the Wednesday hearing. The hallway whispers are that he will be replaced by one of Chicago’s most colorful defense attorneys. But that has not been confirmed.
* Related…
* Gov likes what he sees in Iraq visit
* Gov. Pat Quinn travels to Iraq
* Gov. Quinn spends weekend visiting troops in Iraq
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Morning shorts
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray
* Sun-Times suspends pension payments
Crain’s Chicago Business reported Friday that Sun-Times Media Group Inc., parent of the Chicago Sun-Times and a string of suburban weeklies, failed to make $800,000 in required payments to its five pension plans. Suspending pension payments preserves cash and improves the balance sheet of the company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 31 and is looking for a buyer. The Crain’s report said the missed pension plan payments are not related to the media company’s request to pay its executives hefty bonuses if they succeed in selling the company.
* Retail thefts here soar as economy slumps
Chicago experienced a 9.6 percent increase in retail thefts in 2008 from 2007, to 11,289 incidents from 10,300, mirroring a national trend of increased shoplifting during a period of tough economic times, according to police reports and National Retail Federation data. So far this year, Chicago’s thefts are down about 2.4 percent, but retailers and police are on alert for thefts brought on by dire economic conditions.
* ShoreBank Ordered to Raise Capital and Adjust Loan Practices
ShoreBank is well known for its work routing lending dollars to low-income neighborhoods.
But regulators say it has to change the way it does business. The FDIC and Illinois’ Department of Financial and Professional Regulation have hit ShoreBank with a cease and desist order. The consent agreement says the regulatory groups have “reason to believe the bank had engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices, and violations of law.”
The order requires the bank to, among other things, cease and desist from operating with inadequate capital levels and from “engaging in hazardous lending and lax collection practices.”
* $200K jolt awaits buyer of Rezko home
A property tax bill of more than $200,000.
That’s the added cost that awaits whoever comes out on top in next month’s auction of the foreclosed Wilmette mansion of convicted influence-peddler Tony Rezko.
* Patronage hiring still plagues Chicago
Noelle Brennan has been monitoring hiring by the city of Chicago since August 2005. She notes that 290 city contractors were hired in violation of federal court rules.
Brennan also says she found several politically connected truck drivers in the Department of Streets and Sanitation received “disproportionate amounts” of overtime last year while other truckers got little or no overtime.
* He’s out, she’s still in: different endings for Laski bribery scheme
In June 2002, Laski put Traci Jones on the city payroll, hiring her as a data-entry clerk at $10.34 an hour. Two years later, she was promoted to license supervisor in Laski’s Southwest Side office. That doubled her pay, to $41,000 a year.
That’s the job she had when her husband and Laski were indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 26, 2006.
And it’s the job she still has today, though the pay is better now. After getting five raises since her husband pleaded guilty in March 2006 and was sent to prison for about a year, Traci Jones makes $54,492 a year.
Mick Jones, meanwhile, got off probation June 23. Two days later, City Hall banned him forever from getting any city work.
* Weis takes cut
* County spends to make sure you know what Forest Preserves offer
* Pre-flight check for Children’s Memorial
The controversial heliport proposed for the $1 billion new Children’s Memorial Hospital in Streeterville is one step away from final approval.
* Children’s and choppers
* Illinois Spending Stimulus Money on Construction
* Data: State spending stimulus cash on repairs
Out of about 340 Illinois projects that have received money so far, nearly 250 are devoted to road repaving and similar improvements, a recently released list from the U.S. Department of Transportation revealed.
Illinois also is using the stimulus cash to begin fixing some of hundreds of aging bridges, with more than 30 projects on the federal list for bridge repair and upgrades. Six projects were categorized as “bridge replacement,” and there was one project to build a new bridge.
* New rail money to put the ‘go’ back in Chicago
But a fresh injection of cash, including a generous slice of a new $10 billion state capital plan, means a long-languishing, $1.5 billion project to ease train traffic jams in the nation’s most important rail hub by building new overpasses and modernizing signals can begin in earnest.
The 500 freight trains that pass through Chicago each day compete for access to tracks with 700 daily commuter trains in the region. This means trains hauling everything from coal to grocery items can take more than a day to wind their way through Chicago.
The Illinois bill sets aside $320 million for the project — money that will be pooled with more than $200 million raised earlier.
“This is a very big deal — the largest single amount of money awarded to this project,” Earl Wacker, a recently retired rail executive and an authority on rail congestion, said Friday. “Earlier, I wasn’t confident this would get done. Now, I’m extremely confident it will.”
* CTA boss: No more take-home cars
Looking to cut costs at a time the mass-transit agency is strapped for cash, CTA President Richard Rodriguez says he’ll take away employees’ free take-home cars.
The agency has been providing 68 employees with “company cars” that they can take home, at no cost to them.
* CTA hearing Thursday on 2 Evanston bus routes
* Public transit’s private club
Whereas fabulous wealth was once the ticket to the Deerpath, all it takes now to hop aboard Car 553 is a Metra monthly pass and a $900-a-year membership in the innocuously named Commuter Associates Inc.
* Entries for state fair parade floats being taken
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