* Several of Brian’s friends and even some complete strangers have asked about a trust fund for Brian’s kids. It’s being set up. Here’s the donating info…
The Brian Monahan Children’s Trust Fund
c/o Pat Monahan
2800 W. 111th St.
Chicago, IL 60655
Brian Monahan was one of the kindest, most gentle, decent free spirits I’ve ever known. He was one of the only people I’ve ever met who had no animosity in his heart. He believed strongly in his principles and he fought like hell for what he thought was right, but he never hated anyone. Ever.
We went through some crazy times together. Flat broke, no furniture in our Rockford apartment and then our tiny little house in Springfield, recycling cigarette butts into roll-your-owns, drinking beer out of gallon jugs, hitch-hiking to campus. It was Brian’s idea to call our favorite radio station to request one, last song before our electricity was shut off. That’s the way he was. Let’s make a rainbow even in the darkest hours.
The Chicago funeral arrangements aren’t finished as I write this, but we’re having a potluck supper in his memory this Sunday night around 7 at the Brewhaus in Springfield. He left behind two beautiful daughters, Molly & Wendy, his wife Rachel and his stepson Kaleb…
We’ll also pass the hat for his kids.
Needless to say, I’m not sure that we’ll be updating this site on Monday. I’ll let you know.
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
Would you hear my voice come through the music,
Would you hold it near as it were your own?
It’s a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,
Perhaps they’re better left unsung.
I don’t know, don’t really care
Let there be songs to fill the air.
Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty,
If your cup is full may it be again,
Let it be known there is a fountain,
That was not made by the hands of men.
There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night,
And if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone.
Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.
You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall you fall alone,
If you should stand then who’s to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home.
* The House came up several votes shy today of passing the ever-controversial SB 600, a proposal to force the Republican Party to elect its state central committeepersons. The bill received 59 votes, but it has an immediate effective date, so it required 71 for passage.
The bill had already passed the Senate over the strong objections of the Illinois Republican Party, which threatened to sue if the legislation became law. The proposal was supported by insurgent Republicans, like sponsoring Sen. Chris Lauzen, who believe elections will open up and democratize the party, even though the Democratic Party of Illinois - which also elects its central committee and is run by Speaker Madigan - is anything but a democracy. Then again, there’s only one Mike Madigan in this world.
Just four Republicans voted for the bill. 47 voted “No” and a few had already left town. There’s no roll call because the bill was put on “Postponed Consideration.”
John Patterson was able to jot down some of the “No” votes, but only made it to “J” before the roll call was dumped…
Gov. Pat Quinn has hit a roadblock in his bid for more time to present his budget address to state lawmakers next year.
The full House, after approval of a House committee earlier, today voted 66-49 to support House Bill 1409, which would push back Quinn’s budget proposal to late March. The bill needed 71 ‘yes’ votes to pass but could come up for another vote.
Under state law, governors are supposed to spell out their budget plans to lawmakers by the third Wednesday in February. But that’s been regularly delayed for various reasons in recent years.
* The Paul Simon Institute has a new statewide poll [fixed link]. The gubernatorial head-to-heads will probably get the most coverage, but there’s something more important that we should look at first.
Check out the highlighted results from these job approval ratings…
House of Representatives Minority Leader Tom Cross
Strongly Approve 4.1%
Somewhat Approve 21.8%
Somewhat Disapprove 6.8%
Strongly Disapprove 2.8% Don’t Know 64.6%
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton
Strongly Approve 3.4%
Somewhat Approve 19.8%
Somewhat Disapprove 9.4%
Strongly Disapprove 6.1% Don’t Know 61.4%
Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives Mike Madigan
Strongly Approve 8.3%
Somewhat Approve 32.1%
Somewhat Disapprove 20.8%
Strongly Disapprove 21.8% Don’t Know 17.1%
The “don’t know” answer was prefaced by this statement from the pollster: “If you don’t know enough about that person, just tell me that.”
It’s long been said that Speaker Madigan couldn’t be made an issue in campaigns because voters don’t know who he is. That’s definitely true of the other leaders, but it doesn’t appear to be the case with Speaker Madigan.
For example, far more voters don’t know who Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is, or don’t know enough about him to make a judgment (46.8%) than Madigan (17.1%). The same goes for Comptroller Dan Hynes (41.0%).
About an equal number say they don’t know who is/enough about Roland Burris (16.4%) when compared to Madigan. And the difference isn’t all that great between Speaker Madigan’s “don’t know” numbers and Gov. Quinn’s (12.8%). The pollster said he was astounded by the Madigan results because most people in other states have little idea who the House Speaker is.
Also, obviously, Speaker Madigan’s support amongst the populace is quite soft, while his disapproval rating is far more intense.
* Methodology…
The survey of 800 registered Illinois voters was taken Sept. 8 to Oct. 9 and has a margin of error of 3.4 percent.
But the head-to-heads in the primary matchups have far higher margins of error…
Of those surveyed, 322 respondents said they would vote in the Democratic primary, and of those, 208 offered an answer. The results of the Democratic contest have a margin of error of ± 5.4 percent.
There were 201 respondents who said they would vote in the Republican primary, and of those, 89 offered an answer. Those findings have a margin of error of ± 6.9 percent.
89 with an opinion? Holy moly, that’s a microscopic sample size.
* Keeping those very tiny numbers in mind, the Dem results…
Governor Pat Quinn 33.9%
State Comptroller Dan Hynes 16.5%
Someone else 14.2%
Don’t know/No answer 35.4%
Republicans…
State Senator Bill Brady 10.0%
State Senator Kirk Dillard 7.5%
State Senator Matt Murphy 4.0%
DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillserstrom 3.5%
Radio Commentator Dan Proft 3.5%
Businessman Adam Andrzejewski 2.0%
Someone else 13.9%
Don’t know/No answer 55.7%
Also keep in mind that this poll was conducted before Jim Ryan and Andy McKenna announced and before Jim Edgar announced his support for Dillard, which (as I told subscribers today) may have given Dillard a big bump in recent polling.
And make sure you remember that the poll only picked up two days, at most, of Hynes’ TV ad buy.
* More job approval numbers…
U. S. President Barack Obama?
Strongly Approve 36.6%
Somewhat Approve 26.1%
Somewhat Disapprove 12.0%
Strongly Disapprove 22.6%
Don’t Know 2.6%
62.7 percent approval for Obama is a notch higher than the 59 percent in the Tribune’s late August poll.
58.1 percent approval for Gov. Quinn is way higher than the Tribune’s 39 percent. That is probably because the Trib appeared to ask approve/disapprove/no opinion, while this PSI poll asked strongly/somewhat/don’t know. The Tribune had 35 percent with no opinion, vs. this poll at 12.8 percent. I’ve said many times before that Quinn’s support and opposition is soft, with most in the mushy middle. This poll and the Trib poll both seemed to show that as well.
* 12:23 pm - I told subscribers about this a couple of days ago. From Rikeesha Phelon, Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesperson…
“After further review of the legislation and the possibility of litigation, the Senate President has reconsidered the need for the fumigation bill. To date, Governor Quinn has made 67 appointments that are subject to Senate confirmation. The Senate President recognizes the progress and pace of change made by the Governor. He does not intend to call the bill for a vote.”
Cullerton had said back in August that he would call the bill…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s refusal to fire two University of Illinois trustees could revive a so-called fumigation bill aimed at hundreds of state workers. […]
A spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton said after Quinn’s announcement that the president plans to call Senate Bill 1333 for a vote in the legislature’s October veto session. […]
[But] Phelon said Senate Democrats have “diverse opinions” on whether the measure is appropriate. Some lawmakers and affected workers argue it’s unfair to punish workers for wrongdoing they weren’t involved in. The trustees insist they’ve done nothing wrong.
“Based on various caucus differences in the spring, I would say that there are no guarantees that the legislation will pass,” Phelon said. “Nevertheless, it will be called for a vote.”
Gov. Pat Quinn indicated Friday morning that he supports replacing the CTA’s free rides for seniors program with a system in which seniors pay according to their ability.
His remarks on Greg Jarrett’s WGN-AM 720 radio show come a day after officials from the Regional Transportation Authority said the program is unsustainable, and said they would go to Springfield and ask legislators to make drastic changes in the 19-month-old program.
Quinn said he expected the program to be reviewed in light of the Chicago Transit Authority’s $300 million budget deficit.
“If there’s a review and it finds that the program should be based on ability to pay that low-income seniors and definitely veterans and also our military personnel receive a break with respect to public transit, I think that’s where we’re headed,” Quinn said in the WGN-AM interview. “In a crisis sometimes, that’s what you have to do. If you are wealthy, then maybe you can make do with a situation where you pay your way, but I don’t want to hurt folks who live from pension check to pension check.”
* The Question: Should all military veterans receive free rides on mass transit? Explain fully, please, and stick to the question.
* The Sun-Times has a story today about people who asked Rod Blagojevich for jobs shortly after Blagojevich was first elected governor. Some of the jobs were civil service, which weren’t supposed to be patronage-based…
Many of the clout hires got low-level state jobs like toll collector and highway maintenance worker, despite a long-standing court order that bans political hiring for such jobs.
Mary Lee Leahy is the Springfield attorney who won the landmark 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made political hiring for most Illinois state government jobs illegal. When he took office, Blagojevich hired her as a personnel consultant, but Leahy said the administration apparently ignored her advice and set up a patronage system she was unaware of.
Leahy said she’s “sickened” by what the records obtained by the Sun-Times under the state’s Freedom of Information Act reveal, and she points to a recent political scandal for perspective.
Blagojevich was using Leahy’s good name all along as a front for his patronage operation. She didn’t realize it until it was far too late. Some of us knew this would happen from the get-go, but that’s life, I suppose.
* Still, the fact that Democrats asked the first Democratic governor in 26 years for jobs is hardly surprising. A whole bunch of people who didn’t see the train wreck coming six years ahead of time are gonna get tarnished by this, including a US Senate candidate…
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cheryle Jackson, former communications director for Blagojevich. She is listed as having secured a deputy directorship for her husband, Charles Jackson, with the Department of Public Health in April 2003. Jackson’s press secretary did not respond when asked for comment.
You can see some other Democratic sponsors here, here and here.
The problem for Jackson, of course, is that this just brings her even closer to Blagojevich, if that was possible. I have a hard time seeing how she wins this thing.
* Meanwhile, The Hotline has more on their interview with Alexi Giannoulias…
– IL SEN will be a classic surrogate race, one where the fates of Giannoulias and Rep. Mark Kirk are tied to bigger names of their respective parties. While Giannoulias hopes that “name” is Obama, GOPers prefer another one: Blagojevich. (For his part, Giannoulias seems unfazed. “Folks in Illinois know I was never close to him,” he said of the ex-gov).
– Meanwhile, watch for IL Dems to return to their ‘06/’08 playbook in ‘10. Asked if tying Kirk to George W. Bush will still be a workable strategy next year, Giannoulias smiled and said, “Yes.” GOPers say they aren’t worried. Said the NRSC: “If Giannoulias wants to use a failed 2008 playbook in 2010 with George Bush out office, Rod Blagojevich on trial … this will be an easier campaign for Mark Kirk to win than we thought.”
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful David Hoffman late Thursday released copies of his federal income tax returns for the past five years and, with a sharp shot at competitor Alexi Giannoulias, challenged him to do the same.
The returns show Mr. Hoffman and his wife reported annual adjusted gross income of between $247,000 and as much as $630,000 between 2004 and 2007.
The fluctuation was largely due to activity in the Hoffmans’ brokerage account, with large capital gains and income from dividends reported in some years.
Mr. Hoffman has been a federal prosecutor most of his adult life, but an aide says the brokerage assets reflect money he and siblings received from their grandfather, a founder of Geico Insurance. The former Chicago inspector general is worth $2.8 to $6 million, according to his campaign, with a detailed disclosure to be released later this month.
I wonder how much more cash he’ll actually be able to put into that campaign.
* Back in the Fall of 2007, Democrat Dan Seals was gearing up for his second run for the 10th Congressional District and preparing to face Jay Footlik in the Democratic primary. In October, Seals reported raising $301K, to Footlik’s $193K. Seals went on to win the primary, but lost the general to incumbent Republican Mark Kirk.
Seals is back again this year for his third try, but he’s up against a far more formidable Democratic primary opponent in state Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston). Hamos reported $547K raised in her October filing. But Seals did his usual, raising $303K during the same reporting period.
Bottom line: Seals really needs to step up his game.
* On the Republican side, Dick Green raised $304K, Bob Dold pulled in $258K, state Rep. Beth Coulson reported a mere $128K and Bill Cadigan reported a paltry $37K.
Rep. Coulson is widely believed to be the GOP’s best hope of retaining this seat, but she’d better kick it into high gear pretty darned soon or she may lose this thing.
Instead of raising taxes, fines or fees in 2010, he’s risking the bond rating used to determine city borrowing costs by doing what he said he would never do: raiding reserve funds generated by city asset sales.
The mayor’s public argument for the reversal is that Chicago taxpayers are at the end of their rope.
“I understand that times are still tough for people, and I don’t feel right asking them to pay for more city government right now,” the mayor said Thursday.
The FBI is investigating how a Pullman not-for-profit group spent a $1.1 million state grant to restore the burned-out remains of Market Hall, a national landmark in the historic South Side neighborhood, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Last week, the Sun-Times reported the state agency that doled out cash from the Illinois FIRST public works program had barred the Historic Pullman Foundation — Market Hall’s politically powerful owner — from receiving future state grants after it failed to submit a required project audit. Pullman foundation officials turned in the audit after being informed by a reporter that the group had been frozen out of state grants.
After the story was published, a FBI agent assigned to the public-corruption division interviewed Charles Gregersen, the architect originally hired by the Pullman foundation to handle the Market Hall project, Gregerson said.
Gregersen said he turned over public documents regarding the project that he had obtained through Freedom of Information requests. He declined to comment on his conversation with the investigator.
