Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias will enter the 2010 race for U.S. Senate and officially launch his campaign during a seven-city statewide swing beginning Sunday in Chicago and Springfield. Since forming his exploratory committee in March, Giannoulias has received an outpouring of support from Illinois residents throughout the state who are hungry for leaders who will take on powerful special interests in Washington, get our economy back on track and restore opportunity for every American.
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Place: Hilton Chicago
720 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Place: President Abraham Lincoln Hotel
701 E. Adams St.
Springfield
On Monday, Giannoulias will also make stops in Carbondale and the Metro East area. On Tuesday, Giannoulias will visit Rockford, the Quad Cities and Peoria. (Details about events in these locations will be announced later this week.)
* 1:25 pm - It appears that Cook County residents might see some sales tax relief soon. The county board just approved rolling back half of the one-cent sales tax increase with 13 votes. It’ll take 14 votes to override, but Commissioner Forrest Claypool was absent and he’s expected to vote against any veto by President Todd Stroger.
Tony Peraica has already sent out a victory e-mail…
“What a difference a year makes: when I first introduced a sales tax rollback last year, many of my fellow commissioners scoffed. Now, with election season right around the corner, those same commissioners have found religion and passed this tax rollback.
“Whatever their reasons — today’s vote is a victory for the taxpayers.
“Todd continues to insult the taxpayers by promising to veto this tax relief ordinance. Fortunately, we believe we have the fourteen votes necessary to override his veto. Good for the taxpayers — bad for Todd.”
…Adding… Peraica live-Tweeted the vote, so the roll call is here.
Quinn is a “bad boy” on the Illinois political scene. A gadfly. An energetic, committed man, who, depending on who you talk to, is either slightly naive, or is, very simply, a ruthless demogogue. Most will agree, however, that he is clever.
Publicly, Quinn fancies himself a self-styled Howard Jarvis, firmly of the belief that the public dog should wave the bureaucratic tail and not the other way around. They laughed a year ago when Jarvis got Proposition 13 on the California ballot, Quinn said. They stopped laughing when it passed. Quinn is ultimately trying for the same kind of citizens’ initiative in Illinois. The object of Quinn’s ire, however, is not the tax structure but the shape of Illinois politics and the need, he says, to keep the politicians honest and their fingers out of the public till. […]
And while he cringes when hearing criticism, Quinn says his group will win someday. “If you’ve got a bill you want passed, I wouldn’t advise hiring me as your lobbyist,” said Quinn. “I haven’t exactly endeared myself to the politicians in Springfield. Our group is not even as quote “respectable” unquote as Common Cause. But sometimes it’s necessary to open some boils if you want to cure things.”
Quinn sees his work as an example of 1960’s activism applied to the more inner-directed 1970’s. “At first the activists wanted to change the world,” Quinn said. “When that didn’t work, they decided to try changing the nation. Now the emphasis is on state and local issues. The issues may be the more mundane, but the problems are more relevant to people’s day-to-day lives. “There was a survey that showed there are more members of public interest groups like Common Cause and the Ralph Nader group than there are dues-paying members of the Republican and Democratic parties. We’re in the mainstream. This is where politics is headed.”
* Best response wins a ticket to the August 17th Chicago White Sox game vs. the Kansas City Royals. The White Sox Caucus bought up 200 seats and I snagged [as in “purchased”] a bunch of them, so I’ll be giving them away from now until then. The seats are in left center field.
If you’re not a Sox fan [horrors!] or can’t make it to the game, you can elect to give the ticket to someone else or put it back in the pile for another day.
* Democrat Dan Seals, who lost two consecutive races for the 10th Congressional District against Republican incumbent Mark Kirk, just sent out a blast e-mail to supporters…
I am writing to tell you that today I am indeed announcing my candidacy to represent the people of the 10th district.
I am running to help the families of our community get back on solid ground. I have been struck by how this economic downturn has hit people of all communities and economic strata. I will work to make healthcare and energy costs more affordable, while focusing on job growth for our community. I know that President Obama shares these values, and I look forward to the opportunity to join President Obama in working towards a brighter future for our children and our community.
You also know that I have raised the alarm about our national debt. Once we have put out this economic fire, we must put our fiscal house back in order. In the long run, if we don’t control our costs and reduce our debt, we risk not only our prosperity but that of future generations. I support President Obama’s commitment to reduce the deficits and I will work with him to achieve it.
Abroad, we must continue to engage with the world to combat global warming, support human rights, and contain belligerent regimes such as Iran and North Korea. And I will continue to be a strong ally in Israel’s quest for a sustainable and secure peace.
I look forward to talking and working with you on these and other issues in the coming months. If we can keep the focus on problem solving instead of partisanship, there’s nothing we can’t do.
* Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has paid off a big debt - to himself.
Stroger’s latest fundraising report showed he cashed in three certificates of deposit worth over $526,000 and paid himself $350,000.
President Stroger loaned his campaign $500,000 during his first countywide race. His D2 report is a bit of a mess (no surprise). The report claims he still owes $115,000 in debt to others, including Senate Majority Leader James Clayborne. But it looks like the total is more like $181K $131K to others and $150K to himself.
Stroger reported raising about $180,000 in the first six months of the year, but drilling into the report you find that $48,000 of that was transferred in from a now defunct Stroger campaign committee.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is vowing to veto the latest plan to cut back on the penny-on-a-dollar sales-tax hike that he pushed through a year ago. But a key opponent says he may have the votes for an override.
The veto threat, confirmed by Mr. Stroger’s office, came after Commissioners John Daley and Lawrence Suffredin met with Mr. Stroger last week and asked him to halve the tax hike by early 2010.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s office now plans to release cellphone records as soon as later today of the four people at the center of a hiring scandal in his administration: Stroger himself, his chief communications officer Gene Mullins and ousted county employees Donna Dunnings and Tony Cole.
That’s according to the Better Government Association, which sued Stroger for failing to turn over those cellphone records between Nov. 30, 2008, to April 30, 2009.
Stroger is hiring a new campaign manager soon, but to say he faces an uphill climb is an insult to hills.
* Potential Stroger challenger Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown loaned her campaign fund $70,000 and raised another $160,000, which is more than Stroger, believe it or not. Unsurprisingly, quite a few of those contributions came from Cook County employees.
* One of the more formidable challengers in the contest, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, raised about $365,000 net for twodifferent committees. Treasure Island Foods was her biggest contributor, giving $15,000. She also transferred in $25,000 from her aldermanic campaign fund.
* Congressman Danny Davis could be the big dog in this contest. Davis’ local campaign fund pulled in $67K, spent it all and had $20K left. His federal committee, which he could use for the local race, had about $580K on hand at the end of the last quarter. [Notice change. That’s ten times more than I first wrote. Wow.]
* MWRD President Terrence O’Brien raised no money, but had about $147K stashed in two committees.
* Sheriff Tom Dart says he’s not interested in a run, but he did raise $101K and had $216 in the bank.
* Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin has been talking about running, but he raised no money other than a $30,000 loan to himself. He had just $9100 on hand.
* The most likely political reason behind Gov. Quinn’s long-awaited signature of the capital bill, which was a reverse flip-flop…
On the strength of strong union support, Comptroller Dan Hynes reported $3.5 million in his political fund Monday, representing a five-to-one fund-raising lead over Gov. Quinn. […]
[Hynes’] largest donor was the Illinois Pipe Trades political action committee, which donated $50,000. International Union of Operating Engineers Local 649 in Peoria gave Hynes $43,000.
With the capital bill signed, that union money is now withing Quinn’s grasp. Keep an eye on his fundraising, which was better than expected and will only grow…
Gov. Pat Quinn has traditionally been a poor fundraiser, but state campaign finance records filed Monday show that once he replaced the ousted Rod Blagojevich and vowed to run for governor next year, his contributions skyrocketed to more than $860,000.
Hynes has a big cash on hand lead, but a governor has the power to raise huge amounts of money in a hurry. We’ll see if Quinn is up to it. Sneed says he’s looking at hiring David Rosen…
Sneed hears top Dem fund-raiser David Rosen, who has raised tons of cash for Hillary Clinton in the past, is in serious talks with the Quinn camp.
Rosen got into a spot of trouble with the G, but was acquitted. He’s a mega fundraiser who ought to scare the pants off any prospective Democratic opponents, Hynes included. If Quinn hires Rosen or somebody similar, then we’ll know he’s serious about doing what it takes to hold onto the job. Reformers are queasy about money, but you can’t win without it.
State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) raised more than $350,000 since January, including a $101,000 loan to his campaign, and had $410,000 on hand.
State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) had $101,000 available from his legislative fund, while another recently announced governor candidate, state Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), had $39,620 to spend after raising $21,000.
Republican operative and pundit Dan Proft had $16,659 on hand for his campaign for governor after raising $103,000, including a $67,000 loan.
Illinois Review has the complete list of GOP gubernatorial fundraising, including….
ADAM ANDRZEJEWSKI
Beginning Balance: $0.00
Total Contributions/Loans: $504,433.20
Total Expenditures: $147,779.45
Funds available: $356,653.75
Garrett is close with state Rep. Julie Hamos (D), who she said will move from Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s (D) neighboring district into the 10th district to run. Hamos did not return a call for comment on the race, but Garrett said she would be likely to support her at some point in the campaign.
“I won’t rule anything out. I’m going to look at it and go from there,” [state Sen. Terry Link] said. “I’m going to look at the candidates, and if I think I’m the best one, I will consider it strongly.”
Link said he doesn’t feel rushed about making a decision. “I’ve put campaigns together pretty quickly,” he said.
I do have to agree with Team America Blog, however…
I think the real chances of Link actually making a bid for Congress are about 0%.
* Despite his poor fundraising effort last quarter, Sen. Michael Bond is the only “real” Democratic candidate who has announced to date, but Dan Seals is still out there...
Most Democrats, however, are waiting to see what marketing consultant Dan Seals, the 2006 and 2008 Democratic nominee, will decide about the race. Seals clobbered his 2008 primary opponent and would bring solid name identification to the race; however, national and local Democrats have expressed serious doubts about giving him a third shot at winning the seat.
Congressman Kirk spent millions of dollars just to hold on to this seat, President Obama won this district with over 60 percent of the vote, and Senator John Kerry carried this district in 2004,” said Gabby Adler, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats. “There is no doubt Illinois’ 10th Congressional District presents a great opportunity for Democrats this election cycle.”
* Is Republican state Rep. Beth Coulson in or not? CQ Politics says no. Roll Call says she’s still thinking about it.
Dick Green, who has a background in business and runs the stock market analysis service Briefing.com, is one Republican who is likely to enter the race. […]
“In particular, I think there is now too much government involvement in the economy,” he added. “I am an unapologetic defender of free markets, free trade and capitalism.”
Green should be joined in the GOP primary field by Patricia Bird, a business owner who was decisively defeated in an April bid to become mayor of Mount Prospect, a Chicago suburb in Cook County.
Another businessman, Bill Strong, has also expressed interest in the race. A former finance chairman for Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign in Illinois, Strong would also be able to put a significant amount of his own money into the race.
Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. says its second-quarter profit fell 66 percent as the global recession continued to dampen sales of its machines and engines. But it boosted its 2009 profit outlook.
Caterpillar’s broad reach and diverse line of products — ranging from backhoes and bulldozers to turbines and cargo ship engines — make it a bellwether of the global economy.
The company says it earned $371 million, or 60 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30. Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar earned $1.11 billion, or $1.74 per share, during the same period last year.
U.S. machinery maker Caterpillar Inc. posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday and raised its full-year outlook, citing signs of stabilization in the world’s credit markets and economies.
Shares in the Peoria-based manufacturer rose 12.1 percent, or $4.42, to $41.07 in early trading…
Stripping out costs associated with layoffs and restructuring, Caterpillar made 72 cents a share. Since the end of 2008, Caterpillar has cut 17,100 full-time workers.
Analysts, on average, had expected the company to report a profit of 22 cents a share on sales of $8.36 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America will bring its “Save The Dream Tour” to McCormick Place starting Friday. Chicago is the fourth stop on a 10-city tour.
The workshop allows homeowners in trouble to meet with their mortgage lender to restructure their existing loan, either through permanently lowering the interest rate, dropping the principal balance or changing the terms.
The services are free and the workshop is open to the public.
Hotels in Chicago, as well as other big cities, are offering dramatic bargains to draw visitors during this economic lull.
Here, the prestigious Drake Hotel, famous for hosting Princess Diana during her only visit to Chicago 13 years ago, started the price war among Chicago hotels last January that continues today.
The Drake started offering a $95-a-night rate in January that dared others to follow, said a rival hotel executive who declined to be named. That rate ended in mid-April, but Chicago’s hotels continue to offer deals.
Wal-Mart launched a Web site Monday to try and generate grassroots support for its controversial plan to build a South Side super-store.
It’s the latest in the company’s five-year battle to build a second Chicago location in the Chatham neighborhood.
But the plan has faced strong opposition from unions and community groups. Elce Redmond is a community organizer with the South Austin Coalition. He says he wants Wal-Mart to provide worker health benefits and higher wages.
Now that Chicago has filled in the “missing links” in the Wacker Drive riverwalk, it’s time to design the rest — even though the city still doesn’t have the money to build it.
The Daley administration has issued a “request for proposals” from firms interested in designing the final phase of the San Antonio-style riverwalk — the six-block stretch between State and Lake streets.
“We have secured funding for most, if not all of the remaining design, but we still need to identify construction dollars,” said Transportation Department spokesman Brian Steele.
Chicago 2016 leaders gave their regular presentation Monday, telling a community forum in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood that the Olympics would be a privately funded spectacle that would raise the city’s profile globally.
But unlike a string of recent meetings, after the bid team put its best foot forward, it was immediately hit with counter-presentations from critics who fear that the Summer Games could gravely damage the city.
While bid officials hoped to allay fears particular to Lakeview residents, such as the impact of venue construction to a lakefront bird sanctuary and further congestion to a crowded neighborhood, they had to defend the bid from attacks on multiple fronts.
Sharing the stage with bid officials were Tom Tresser of No Games Chicago, which opposes the games, and Erma Tranter, president of Friends of the Parks. While Tranter doesn’t oppose the Games outright, her group fears that the current plan would permanently mar some parks and burden the Chicago Park District with facilities it later won’t be able to afford to operate.
ROCKFORD —Union representatives negotiating a new labor agreement for police officers plan to file today for arbitration with the Illinois Department of Labor, union representative Doug Block said Monday.
Faced with a financial crisis, city officials have pushed for concessions in negotiations with unions representing Rockford police officers and firefighters. Those concessions include wage freezes, insurance contribution increases and staffing reductions.
Ten months after the CTA pulled seats out of a number of Brown Line cars to make room for more riders, they are pulling the plug on the idea, saying customers want to sit, not stand.
This fall Illinois will start publishing data about hospitals’ performance on a public Web site, according to officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The data will include rates of hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA, the ratio of nurses to patients, and information about the cost and volume of 30 leading procedures performed by hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
MOUNT VERNON — An executive affiliated with a southern Illinois group home where a sheriff’s deputy allegedly zapped three children with a stun gun says he’s “alarmed'’ by the allegations.
A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the three boys claims a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy was unprovoked when he shocked them a year ago at the Southern Thirty Adolescent Center near Mount Vernon.
The lawsuit claims a fourth child was handcuffed, threatened and thrown into a closet.
The petition names two deputies. Their boss, Sheriff Roger Mulch, says he stands behind the deputies.
* This is why the national Republicans and so many prominent Illinois GOPs love Mark Kirk…
The chants of protesters could be heard throughout U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk’s Monday morning announcement of his U.S. Senate campaign.
“Health care now,” they repeated over and over from the street, as Kirk spoke to supporters.
“Those are the left wing guys I think. We’ll have the right next,” Kirk joked shortly after the chanters began.
Later, when he answered questions from the media, he again referred to the protesters, saying “I can see from the crowd here that the Democratic Party seems to be very worried about me, which is why they’re here.”
Whether it’s reality or not, Kirk has gone out of his way to position himself right in the political middle - and made himself look courageous doing it. No mean feat.
My old buddy Paul Green used to say that a moderate Republican running statewide will always beat a Democrat in Illinois. Those days are gone, but Kirk gives the GOP more hope than it’s had in years, and for good reason.
* It looks like Kirk will probably sail through the primary. He will then have plenty of time between February and November to plant himself directly in the center and tout his good government ways…
“I will be a moderate on the divisive social issues but a fiscal conservative,” Kirk said of his political philosophy. “But at heart, (I am) a guy who would be totally dedicated to restoring the image of Illinois and ethics and integrity in government.”
“To really be effective and represent the entire state, you’ve got to have a broad appeal,” [former Gov. Jim Edgar] said. “Mark has a superb record of integrity and ethics, but he has a good record on the issues as well. We need to win in November and he can win.”
The party guys love “he can win” candidates. Independents will go for the integrity angle, which will only be helped by his military service (something Kirk has always used to its fullest extent in his campaigns).
* But what about the right wing and that cap and trade vote? A first class answer…
Kirk told me Monday he has been inundated with e-mails from Republicans unhappy with his cap-and-trade vote. So, why did he vote yes?
“We’ve sent three armies to the Middle East and I’ve fought in two of them. As combat veterans, we get to ask, ‘Are we going to still being doing this 20 years from now?’ So I’ve been in favor of anything that gets us to energy independence,” said Kirk, an intelligence commander in the Naval Reserve who was deployed in December to Afghanistan.
Energy independence and combat record all in one response. Not bad at all, even if it doesn’t completely quell the shouts.
Kirk divorced recently. When he was asked how that might affect the race, his ex-wife stepped forward to say she supports him completely.
“He’d make a great senator,” Kimberly Vertolli said.
It ain’t every day that a divorced man is so solidly supported by his ex wife. Don’t underestimate that appeal. But also notice how the ex stepping in completely quashed the line of questioning. Man, that was a good move. He can just quote her from now on.
The 48-year-old North Shore congressman chose to make the announcement outside the home where he lived as a teenager in Kenilworth, reportedly the wealthiest suburb in all of Illinois. Still, the Republican said he was not worried about being labeled the candidate for the privileged.
“This is where I grew up, and this is who I am,” said Kirk.
* It’s no wonder the national Democrats are already posting slick Internet ads whacking him…
June’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found more Americans (46 percent) blaming Bush for the nation’s federal budget deficit than Congress and the Obama administration combined. But that may not still be the case a year from now, and the more time passes, the more likely that swing voters will shift the responsibility for the nation’s economic problems to current officeholders.
Ronald Reagan, after all, rode to the White House in 1980 on a wave of dissatisfaction with Carter’s presidency, but that didn’t stop voters from spanking Republicans at the polls two years later (costing Republicans 26 House seats just two years after they won 33 seats)
* We’ll see how he does Downstate, where abortion, coal-fired electric plants and guns are viewed much differently than in the northern suburbs. But if his tour is only half as good as his roll-out, he ought to impress.
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.
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.
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…
* 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.
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?
“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.
* 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.
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.
* 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.”
* 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.
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.
* 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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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 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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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
* ABC7’s Ben Bradley and Charles Thomas are patiently sniffing out a story about the grisly Burr Oak Cemetery scandal that could turn into a bombshell.
Three gravediggers and a cemetery manager unearthed hundreds of corpses from a historic black cemetery south of Chicago, dumping some in a weeded area and double-stacking others in existing graves, in an elaborate scheme to resell the plots, authorities said [on July 9th]. All four were charged with felonies.
* Now, let’s turn to ABC7’s series. This one is from Ben Bradley…
The man who was selected to oversee the facility temporarily says, while problems at Burr Oak are bad, things are not as dire as he feared. […]
As ABC7 Chicago first reported Thursday, early fears that double burials were commonplace at the cemetery were chalked up to a lack of understanding at how cemeteries operate. One person said Friday that, while burying two strangers in one plot is not the standard, it does happen in gravesites where families only purchased so-called “term graves.” Those do exist at Burr Oak. The problem is that a lot of the contracts and records that might indicate the nature of the burial have not been located. […]
“There are areas of concern, but the greater majority of the cemetery looked pretty good and probably does not have a problem. Where the crimes existed, to what extent, we’re still sorting all of that out,” said [executive director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago] Roman Szabelski, the Burr Oak Cemetery court-appointed operator.
What has happened at Burr Oak Cemetery may seem like an unthinkable crime. But in some historically African-American burial grounds moving remains from plots was part of the purchase agreement. […]
When the city’s African-American population exploded during the mid 20th century’s great migration, the Jim Crow graveyards that also included Burr Oak in Alsip sold hundreds of thousands of less expensive, temporary plots called ’select singles.’ At the ends of their terms, it’s agreed the graves can be re-opened and the bodies sometimes moved to mass, unmarked burial sites on the properties.
A funeral industry source told ABC7 that most of the plots at Burr Oak Cemetery are outside the perpetual care section and that digging into old graves and moving remains would not be an unusual occurrence there or at most other black cemeteries.
Here’s part of another Bradley story from today. This one is an interview of the cemetery company’s owners and references supportive comments made by the Archdioese’s Szabelski…
At the conclusion of the ABC 7 interview Saturday morning the Perpetua team said it’s conceivable to them that no graves were dug-up and human remains discarded to make room for an off-the-books burial operation as the Sheriff and prosecutors contend. “My general sense [is that] most loved ones have not been disturbed,” Foushee said.
On Friday, new court-appointed operator of Burr Oak Roman Szabelski also said he thinks the majority of graves at the cemetery were not tampered with. Sheriff Dart has said he believes as many 300 graves may have been desecrated.
MAYOR PATRICK KITCHING, ALSIP, ILLINOIS: Remember, a cemetery is not required to hold that space forever. So at some point, some bones were probably legally disinterred. What they do with them, there’s no law that regulates that.
[Executive director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago Roman Szabelski] said things such as double-deck graves and headstone removal, while not routine, are not unusual or necessarily criminal
* The bottom line is that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart might have dug into a mass, double-decked “pauper’s grave” and assumed the worst. Also, cemeteries will sometimes bury tombstones which have errors on them in on-site dumps, which may account for some of those discoveries, as well as headstones from the “term” burials that expired.
There’s no doubt whatsoever that Burr Oak was terribly managed. It also seems likely that some financial crimes may have been committed. There could have even been a grave-reselling scheme.
But was the situation at the cemetery as mind-blowingly horrific and disgustingly widespread as has been reported? Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart appears totally convinced that he’s right. And he may very well be.
Still, it looks like everybody needs to take a very deep breath and allow the investigation to proceed. From what I know about him, Szabelski appears to be the right person for this job.
