Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2009

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I thought I had a good idea for the new website, but I may have changed my mind. Not sure yet. Anyway, you could help me out by answering this question…

What Illinois campaign websites have you found out there? Post ‘em in the comments, please. Thanks.

44 Comments

The start of something new and maybe the end of something old

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Curt Mercadante believes he’s seeing the beginning of the end of the traditional press release. He makes some good points…

* Earlier this year, we helped a candidate launch a statewide political campaign — and garnered statewide media attention without issuing a single press release. We relied on a short online video and a brief email to supporters. Most news outlets based their stories off of the video and email — and some simply called us directly for comment. No press release needed.

* When we helped a think-tank release a policy study last March, we knew we wouldn’t get much coverage from our press release. That’s why the centerpiece of our media strategy was the microsite we built for the study’s release. We were correct — while most of the immediate coverage came from blogs we pitched through social media outlets, other “mainstream media” outlets (such as National Public Radio) have found our study and contact information from the microsite.

* Social media tools are quickly replacing the press release as the main source of story ideas for members of the media. Many journalists are not only effectively getting pitched on Twitter — some news outlets are reporting their stories based on the Twitter updates of politicians and celebrities. Public relations strategist Sarah Evans created #journchat as a weekly Twitter discussion that connects journalists with communications professionals. And Peter Shankman’s “Help a Reporter Out” program is providing a great way for journalists to direct queries to PR professionals and get story ideas quickly, effectively and, yes, for free.

Those are all good ideas, but I see a few problems with declaring press releases dead.

In my own case, I have almost 2,000 Facebook “friends.” I can scroll down for half an hour and barely see the last ten minutes of what they’ve been doing. Yeah, and I need to somehow weed this crud out, but if you post something that you want noticed on Facebook, you’d better make sure you point it out to me.

Same goes for Twitter. I’m following over 550 people. Usually, I can keep up with that, since many of those people don’t Tweet too often. But those posts go by so fast that I surely miss a lot of them.

Frankly, I barely have time to read my e-mail. And a lot of that is because of press releases. So, there’s my quandary.

* From new media to old, Eric Zorn says corporate greed has little to do with the decline of newspapers.

Not all, but quite a lot of the papers in the worst trouble borrowed way too much money at the height of the bubble and paid top dollar for underperforming assets. Oops. That may not be greed, but it is bad business.

Eric also updates with a link to a story entitled: From Terrible To Terrifying: Newspaper Ad Sales Plummet $2.6 Billion In Q1 2009.

Yikes.

* And speaking of terrifying, I’m frightened that the Sun-Times will close and leave us with one Chicago paper. If you think Mother Tribune is high and mighty now, just wait until there’s nobody else around.

Prospective owner James Tyree’s plan to essentially gut the union of all power and toss the contract out the window is not going to do much for quality journalism, which is what he says he wants. They’re down to about 100 reporters at the Sun-Times right now as it is. Not too many more layoffs and you may as well forget it.

I’m hoping this was just a bluff and he and the union can work out a deal. But they’d better do something soon. The clock is ticking.

34 Comments

Who’s in? Nobody yet

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Patterson has wise counsel…

The political lesson that I’ll take away from these last few months is that until nominating petitions are filed at the Illinois State Board of Elections, there are no official candidates. […]

We got another example of this with Matt Murphy deciding he wasn’t running for governor but will now pursue lieutenant governor. […]

At the moment, anyone can be an unofficial candidate for anything.

Somebody asked me yesterday to help her figure out which Chicago legislative races would be the most intense. For a variety of reasons, including the fact that many people who are now circulating petitions won’t be on the ballot, and some of the big players have yet to make a decision on where they’re going.

And other than the fact that few people care, one reason why I haven’t written much about the lieutenant governor candidates is that I doubt all of them will successfully file.

We don’t know what it’s gonna look like yet.

* Having said that, Cheryle Robinson Jackson kicked off her US Senate campaign yesterday. Jackson was not a popular person with reporters when she worked for Blagojevich. Some found it difficult to get her on the phone. I rarely ever had that problem. Still, keep an eye out for a bit of payback in upcoming stories.

The Sun-Times was more than fair today I thought…

Stressing her focus on economic development and supporting entrepreneurs like her late father, Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson today formally launched her candidacy for U.S. Senate.

The contrast with her main rivals couldn’t be clearer in the venue Jackson chose: a neighborhood restaurant at 87th and Stony Island.

B.J.’s Bakery owner John Meyer said Jackson’s Urban League helped him grow his business. Democratic front-runner Alexis Giannoulias launched his candidacy from the Hilton Hotel downtown, and Republican front-runner Mark Kirk launched his from his boyhood home in Kenilworth.

State Sen. James Meeks said “I think Cheryle Jackson is the only person who can beat Mark Kirk.”

The Daily Herald was pragmatic…

Chicago Urban League president Cheryle Jackson launched a campaign Wednesday that could make her the only black member of the U.S. Senate if she manages to overcome concerns about her former boss, disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

ABC7 was positive…

The first thing Democratic party voters will notice about Cheryl Robinson Jackson is that she’s the only woman in the race. Her campaign signage has a definite feminine color and look about it and she’s going all out to make herself the favorite of female voters who make up 53 percent of the statewide electorate.

“If it takes a woman to be in Washington to fight for parity and make certain that we don’t lose ground and speak up boldly on behalf of that, then I’m happy to be that woman,” said Jackson.

The channel also included a big applause line at the end of their piece…

* Meanwhile, Democratic US Senate hopeful David Hoffman was on Chicago Tonight yesterday. Go have a look. It was a relatively brief interview and he came off pretty well.

* Related…

* Ill. AG seeks Burr Oak control

* Ill. Senate legislation could shake up Board of Trustees

* Quinn reverses some probation services cuts

* Quinn to restore funding for probation services

* Press release: Quinn finds probation money

* State seeks stimulus cash to reduce rail jams

* Press Release: Cheryle Robinson Jackson Formally Kicks Off Campaign for U.S. Senate at Small Business

* Krishnamoorthi pledges online info - Comptroller candidate cites Texas program as approach that can save money

46 Comments

“It has nothing to do anymore with black or white”

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Delmarie Cobb, Roland Burris’ chief media strategist, wins our rarely bestowed Quote of the Month award. Cobb was interviewed for an ABC7 story about Cheryle Robinson Jackson’s US Senate campaign. Have a listen…

In case you can’t watch videos where you are, this is the text from that ABC7 story…

“When you dig one grave be careful you don’t fall in. And the Democrats dug a grave in terms of Roland and now we have fallen in as the Democratic party because the Republicans are going to take this race. It has nothing to do anymore with black or white,” said Delmarie Cobb, political consultant.

Now she tells us that race shouldn’t matter and that the Roland Burris disaster dug a “grave” for the Democratic Party?

I really don’t know what to say.

Should we take a walk down memory lane? Let’s do it…

Now, Cobb says, Burris’ enemies are trying to bloody him up and weaken him with mounting legal bills.

“And then it won’t be called racism,” said Cobb.

And then there was this gem…

Veteran political consultant Delmarie Cobb is a top adviser to Exhibit No. 1 of the old strain, Sen. Roland Burris. I visited her Bronzeville office last week during a pause in her winning battle to keep Burris in office.

“All of a sudden, we’re into this young thing, and anybody who’s been out here needs to be put out to pasture,” she vented. Cobb resents “that somebody would take this kind of knowledge and put it out to pasture.”

And who could forget this one?

“They keep trotting out these marquee names to scare Roland,” said Delmarie Cobb, the senator’s media and political adviser, adding that some Democrats are out to “lynch” Burris and turn him into a “whipping boy.”

I could go on for a long time, but I’d rather not.

* Ms. Cobb is very good at what she does. She fights like the devil for her clients. She kept Sen. Burris in place and untouched by the Illinois powers that be. And even though I think she may have been saying that it was the Democratic Party’s fault that the Burris thing got out of hand, I hope she’s finally realizing that there are limits when doing one’s job.

This state was needlessly divided over the Rod Blagojevich’s Burris appointment and the resulting racial morass. There were wrong people on all sides, but the record is clear that Ms. Cobb did her very best to fan tiny embers into massive flames.

* Now, a warning to commenters. Do not use her past quotes as an excuse to go all racist on us in comments. I’m in no mood.

…Adding… Related…

The appeals court in Chicago will hear arguments today on why there should still be an election to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate. Roland Burris has Obama’s old seat but that could change if Marty Oberman has his way. He’s suing the Governor because Pat Quinn hasn’t called for a special election. Oberman says the 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires Quinn to call a special election despite an Illinois state law that allows the governor to appoint people to the Senate

21 Comments

Morning Shorts

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray

* CPS First-Day Attendance May Be Exaggerated

* City lets $61 million slip through its fingers

Through July 31 of this year alone, there were $23.3 million worth of outstanding fines on citations written by 11 city departments. Last year’s deadbeat total was $38 million.

Once again, the Chicago Police Department tops the list, with $20.2 million in outstanding fines since Jan. 1, 2008. That’s followed by the departments of Streets and Sanitation ($14.2 million), Buildings ($13 million), Business Affairs and Consumer Protection ($10.2 million) and Health ($1.4 million).

The amount of money in defaults and uncollected citations dwarfed the amount of money collected by the Police Department by a nearly 4-to-1 margin.

* Stroger, federal hiring watchdog spar over Cook County patronage

The report, released Monday, said Stroger and the board have adopted protections against illegal patronage hiring, then detailed allegations that the system is still being subverted for political reasons by decision makers who work for Stroger.
“While some county policy makers and their agents are busy drafting and adopting and implementing appropriate policies, others are busy evading and frustrating and defying policies,” the report stated.

During Wednesday’s discussion, Stroger asked if all of the allegations of illegal patronage relate to a time before he was in office.

“No,” Robinson said. She added that her job is not to prove such allegations but rather to work toward eliminating the hiring, firing, promotion and transfer of most workers based on political considerations.

* Some Cook County bosses still hire patronage workers for ‘non-exempt’ jobs: court-appoited monitor

* Mayor gets vote, park board member gets job

A Chicago Heights Park District Board member who voted to give district Supt. Alex Lopez a hefty raise was appointed to a city job that same month by Lopez, who also is mayor of Chicago Heights.

* Naperville to ban video gambling

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to draw up an ordinance proposal for opting out of the Illinois’ Video Gaming Act, which was approved by state legislators as a way to fund a large capital bill. The council will vote on the proposal Oct. 6.

The Evanston City Council voted Monday to ban video gambling, joining Rosemont and Country Club Hills. DuPage County has enacted a ban in unincorporated areas.

About 125 establishments in Naperville would have been eligible for the video gambling machines.[…]

Under the Video Gaming Act, the state will receive 25 percent of video gambling revenues, while towns will receive 5 percent. An econometrics firm calculated Naperville could have reaped $11,250 a year for each business with five machines.

* Sheriff: Layoffs of deputies may be needed

* FOP cries foul over payments to cops

The Daley administration will make cash payments totaling $600,000 to 162 Chicago Police officers denied their requests for compensatory time in a move denounced as a “blatant violation” of the police contract.

The Fraternal Order of Police on Wednesday filed an unfair labor practices complaint and a class-action grievance on behalf of officers who accumulated comp time that falls under under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The act requires the city to grant comp time requests made with sufficient notice, even if it means calling other officers in on their days off to fill the void. It applies to time earned above 11 overtime hours during a four-week period.

* Reform advocates push for overhaul of prostitution law

* Union: City cop beat bus driver unconscious

The incident is being investigated by Area 3 detectives and the Independent Police Review Authority. At the time of the incident, the officer already had been relieved of his police powers for an “unrelated matter,” a Chicago Police spokesman said, without elaborating.

The alleged beating occurred Saturday night in the Loop. At the time, the officer was riding a bicycle, and then allegedly boarded the bus, accusing the driver of trying to cut him off.

Jefferson said video surveillance shows the police officer repeatedly punching the driver, leaving the bus, and then returning to punch the driver some more.

* Woman says cops bullied her in murder probe

* Parking twist: Embattled contractor giving away free minutes at city meters

* Whitney Young principal testifies in probe

The principal of a school that’s part of a federal probe into admissions practices at the city’s elite public high schools said Wednesday that she has testified before a grand jury.

Whitney Young Principal Joyce Kenner declined to provide details of her two-hour testimony last week before the federal panel.

* Waiting for cable? You’re not alone

* Taxi fuel surcharge out

* Murdoch throws Chicago Olympics a lifeline

* Boarding schools make room for diversity

* A November to remember Payton

* Gov. Pat Quinn says compromise possible on Payton statue ahttp://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/09/gov-pat-quinn-says-compromise-possible-on-payton-statue-at-soldier-field.html