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Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I’ve avoided posting about Chicago School Board President Michael Scott’s apparent suicide because a very good friend of mine killed himself recently and it’s just been too painful to deal with this story.

I had talked to him less than a week before. Another friend had talked to him two days before. His mother talked to him the night before. Nobody saw any indication about what was going to happen. He was upbeat and, as always, in good spirits. He made breakfast for his children, sent them off to school, walked down to the basement and killed himself. Just like that. No note. No nothing. It’s probably the most shocking thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life and I haven’t shared that fact publicly because it has been so incredibly painful.

I’m doing it now because of all the horribly uninformed things said and written about how Scott couldn’t possibly have killed himself, or wouldn’t have chosen that particular location, or would’ve left a note or whatever. Take it from me, it can all happen. Just like that.

I’m also writing about this because the Sun-Times’ Mark Brown has a very good, must-read column today on suicide. It’s not an act of the weak, it’s an act of the desperate, he writes. And as for that location…

Others have questioned why Scott would have chosen the forlorn location out back of the Mart Center, nine stories below the Sun-Times offices, to kill himself, as if this doesn’t make sense either.

“Why would somebody take pills and then jump in Lake Michigan?” counters Engle. “Why go to a hotel and jump off the 15th floor? Why would somebody jump in front of a train?”

Brown is absolutely spot on with his conclusion…

(S)uicide defies reason. It runs counter to our most basic instinct, that of self-preservation. It makes sense only to the victims through the distorted prism of their mental illness.

At some point, we might learn some additional detail about the circumstances of Scott’s life that would offer an explanation we can more easily accept for why he would have caused his own death.

It still won’t make any sense.

I gave the eulogy at my friend’s funeral and I went to great lengths to advise all who were present to stop asking themselves that most human of questions: “Why?” It’s in our very nature to ask that question, but we’ll never know why Brian killed himself. Ever.

* The Question: I know this may be very tough, and it may even be inappropriate for some of you or just too personal for others. I understand if you don’t want to answer the question or to even read the comments. That being said, have you ever experienced a suicide among your circle of friends and family?

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Andrzejewski poll has Jim Ryan way out in front

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski has released the results from a statewide poll of 500 likely Republican primary voters. Wilson Research Strategies conducted the survey November 15-16. It has a margin of error of +/-4.38 percent.

Here are the head to heads, which shows former attorney general Jim Ryan with a commanding lead. The numbers in parentheses are taken from the poll’s topline page and are the “definitely,” “probably” and “lean towards” responses. There is a bit of rounding here…

Jim Ryan 30% (10, 13, 7)
Adam Andrzejewski 11% (6, 3, 2)
Bill Brady 11% (3, 4, 4)
Andy McKenna 10% (3, 3, 3)
Kirk Dillard 7% (3, 3, 2)
Bob Schillerstrom 3% (1, 1, 1)
Dan Proft 2% (*, 1, 1)

Initial favorables/unfavorables…

Adam Andrzejewski 10/2
Bill Brady 33/6
Andy McKenna 29/7
Jim Ryan 58/16

Notice how high Ryan’s favorables are. Huge, even.

The pollster then read a long list of nice things about Andrzejewski and the candidate jumped way up. But since the pollster didn’t read anything positive about the other candidates, that final number doesn’t mean much. It’s also debatable whether Andrzejewski will have the cash to make his positives well-known enough to matter.

* Likely GOP voter ideology…

Very Conservative 45%
Somewhat Conservative 27%
Moderate 23%
Somewhat Liberal 3%
Very Liberal 1%
DK/Refused DNR 2%

* Top issues for Republican primary voters…

Economy – Unemployment/Lack of Jobs 39%
Government spending - Budget deficit 15%
Health care - Cost 8%
Government spending – GM/AIG/Corporate Bailouts 5%
Economy – Inflation/Value of dollar/Cost of goods and services 4%
Health care – Availability/Quality 4%
Political Corruption 3%
International relations - Iraq and Afghanistan Wars 2%

Notice how low corruption is on the scale.

* But here’s an interesting, if loaded and very leading question…

12. Still thinking about next year’s election, I’m going to read you a constitutional amendment that may appear on the ballot:

The Bambenek Put-Back Amendment shall convert the legislature to a unicameral body with three-member districts, establish term limits, reform legislative compensation, decentralize legislative power, establish transparency in the legislative process and other reforms.

Would you support or oppose such an amendment to the state constitution?

TOTAL SUPPORT 59%
TOTAL OPPOSE 13%

Definitely support 20%
Probably support 25%
Lean support 14%
Hard undecided/DK DNR 28%
Lean oppose 2%
Probably oppose 5%
Definitely oppose 6%

Crosstabs can be found by clicking here.

Thoughts?

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Quinn and Hynes face off in first debate

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This interpretation of Gov. Pat Quinn’s comment during a debate with Dan Hynes this morning is a bit of a stretch, but it may come back to haunt Quinn…

But it was Quinn’s use of the term “missions accomplished” that was unusual for a Democrat. For years, Democrats nationally used the term to deride former Republican President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq War — a reference to the “Mission Accomplished” banner that hung behind a flight-suit wearing Bush as he addressed members of the military from an aircraft carrier.

“You’ve got to have a governor who gets things done. That’s what I’ve done. I took over at the worst time Illinois could ever have in our history, a very dark, dark hour,” Quinn said. “And we’ve, day after day, got missions accomplished whether it’s in ethics or getting things done for ordinary people in the budget or getting jobs.”

Hynes was on the attack this morning at the Union League Club…

“One of the problems with getting something done is you need to have credibility. You can’t be inconsistent. You can’t flip flop. You can’t be changing course every other week,” Hynes said. “When that happens, members of the legislature start charting their own course. We need to have strong leadership and consistency to get things done in Springfield.”

This Gitmo thing is a prime example of Quinn’s serious problems with leadership and governornance. It’s turned into a PR disaster because the governor didn’t bother to lay even a little groundwork. Instead, it’s all blown up in his face. Many have said that Quinn is in over his head, and the prison debacle certainly shows it.

More…

Hynes accused Quinn of relying on the same “gimmicks” that got the state into a financial mess in the first place.

I’ll update this post with more debate stories as they come in.

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Attempting to lower the decibel level

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Congressman Don Manzullo has clarified and apologized for his remarks…

In an interview with television station WREX in Rockford, Ill., Republican Rep. Donald Manzullo said of terrorism suspects: “These are really, really mean people whose job it is to kill people, driven by some savage religion.” An aide said Tuesday that Manzullo, who opposes the possibility of housing detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the Thomson Correctional Center in northwestern Illinois, received about 20 complaints about the remark. The Obama administration has identified Thomson as a possible site for the detainees.

In a statement, Manzullo said he was not referring generally to Islam, but to terrorists who practice a violent, anti-modern version of Islam. He said Islam is a “religion of peace” and that the vast majority of its adherents are “men and women of goodwill.”

He added: “Nevertheless, I apologize for any misunderstanding of my comments and I will endeavor in the future to clarify my remarks to make it absolutely clear that America is not opposed to Islam, but that we are fighting terrorists who believe in a savage, perverted, and violent form of Islam.”

But Congressman John Shimkus didn’t get the memo…

“I am more concerned about bringing these terrorists onto American soil than about prison safety,” Shimkus said in a news release. “Will radical Islamic elements migrate to the area surrounding the terrorist prison?”

I used to live not far from Thomson. I don’t think “radical Islamic elements” would find living there all that comfortable.

* It’s hard to argue with today’s Daily Herald editorial, which kicks off with a quote by House GOP Leader Tom Cross: “”There ought to be a debate. There ought to be a discussion,” about bringing the Gitmo detainees to Illinois…

But in the simmering atmosphere of a young election campaign, discussion appears to be the last thing Cross or any other political leader really wants. Partisan battle lines were drawn virtually the moment it was proposed to shift more than 100 Guantanamo Bay detainees to the underused prison in tiny Thomson, and the only talk either side appeared to want to engage in was to show how far it could puff out its chest.

In his continuing rush to embrace the rhetoric of the right, U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk, the one-time moderate Republican 10th District congressman from Highland Park, said the proposal would make northern Illinois “the center of jihadi attention in the world” and painted a picture of a steady stream of terrorist family and friends pouring into Thomson for regular visits.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, on the other hand, dismissed all criticism as an attempt “to scare people” and portrayed the placement in Illinois of some of the world’s most dangerous terrorist suspects as a virtually worry-free jobs bonanza with the potential impact of $1 billion on the state economy.

Is it any wonder that Illinois citizens have so little faith in their elected officials?

They’re right on all counts. And, as I’ve pointed out several times before, Kirk’s screaming is rapidly turning off his most reliable base: The Chicago-area media. This is the Daily Herald we’re talking about, not the Chicago Reader. It ain’t exactly liberal Democratic turf.

* Another GOP-leaning paper, the Peoria Journal Star, weighs in…

This could have been a debate on the advantages and downsides of the proposal, one that used reasoned arguments, backed up with facts. Alas, blame, mudslinging and fear-mongering are usually easier than leaving politics at the water’s edge, where they belong in foreign affairs and national security.

* SJ-R…

Terrorists in our neighborhoods? The biggest homeland security question here since 9/11? Illinois singled out for terrorism?

In politics, we expect a certain amount of hyperbole. What we have heard in opposition to using the Thomson Correctional Center to house Guantanamo terror suspects, however, amounts to unadulterated hysteria. […]

We find the fear-mongering about housing Guantanamo terror suspects to be a fairly stunning contrast from the message this country has worked so hard to send after 9/11. Where we once preached that the “terrorists would win” if we deviated from routine out of fear, are we now to be afraid to house them in a prison rated a “supermax” — a security grade from which no inmate has ever escaped?

And the paper makes the same point I’ve been trying to drive home all week…

We do have concerns that the state, at this early point in the talks, does not realize that this is a seller’s market and is giving the federal government a bargain. The figure of $120 million — what it cost to build Thomson — has been bandied about as a selling price. Given the state’s investment and the federal government’s need, that strikes us as an outrageously low asking price.

* Mark Kirk has singled out the Exelon nuclear plant about 30 miles from the Thomson prison as a possible terrorist target, but the company says it’s not worried…

For its part, Exelon doesn’t plan any security changes at the plant, which is guarded 24 hours a day.

“We really don’t believe there would need to be any changes to the security program at all,” Cordova plant spokesman Bill Stoermer said Tuesday.

* Phil Kadner takes a major whack at the fear-mongering…

Here are Americans - who claim to be the roughest, toughest people on the face of the planet - crying that their government can’t be trusted to safely house alleged terrorists in a maximum-security prison in the heartland of the United States.

If that’s true, if that’s really the way Illinois residents think, we ought to surrender right now and beg President Barack Obama for mercy.

I understand the “not in my back yard” mentality.

As a newspaperman, I’ve heard it many times - when group homes were created to house disabled people, when a domestic violence center for women tried to expand and when social workers were seeking a site for a homeless shelter in the Southland.

But this is really different. This is about terrorism, and terrorism is all about fear. If you’re afraid, they win, we lose.

* Related…

* FACT CHECK: Guantanamo detainees and US prisons

* Republicans seek to block funds for inmate transfer: Illinois House Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Peoria, introduced legislation Tuesday that would prohibit federal funding from being used in the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to an Illinois prison in Thomson.

* Shimkus: No Gitmo prisoners in Illinois

* No town vs. town battle for Gitmo detainees – yet

* Thomson area Democrats split on decision to sell prison

* Schillerstrom not ‘No’ on Gitmo

104 Comments

Morning Shorts

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray

* Schaumburg giving in to a property tax

One of the largest holdouts against a municipal property tax in the Chicago area is caving to new financial pressures.

Schaumburg trustees Tuesday recommended imposing the village’s first property tax.

Officials say they need a new funding source to make up for a $17.6 million deficit from dwindling sales tax revenues.

The proposed property tax would generate $23.7 million next year, coming in at 25 percent of general fund revenues.

* County Board knocks half-cent off sales tax

Tuesday’s 12-5 vote to shave a portion of last year’s unpopular penny-on-the-dollar sales hike isn’t a done deal yet: Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is vowing to veto the giveback.

Commissioners are confident they can beat back Stroger’s veto, thanks to a weeks-old law that lowers the votes needed to override a veto from 14 to 11.[…]

John Daley, the powerful head of the county’s Finance Committee, wrapped his message of “change” around an explanation for originally supporting last year’s sales tax hike. “When I had voted for the sales tax, I thought we would see some changes,” Daley said, saying the biggest chunk of money goes to running the offices of other elected leaders — the state’s attorney’s office to the sheriff.

And he told Stroger: “I urged a [hiring] freeze, and a freeze was not done. That’s your prerogative.”

* Cook County Board votes to roll back sales tax

If it holds, the latest attempt would decrease the county sales tax rate from 1.75 percent to 1.25 percent on July 1.

* How Cook County Board voted on sales tax cut

* County Board gives taxpayers a break

* John Daley: Don’t bring my nephew into this

Peraica, always the provocateur, suggested residents had fled the county after the 2008 sales tax hike, perhaps even one of the Daley clan.

“I read in the paper the mayor’s son, Patrick, has moved to Moscow and is living out there,” Peraica said, drawing the ire of the mayor’s brother and Patrick Daley’s uncle, Commissioner John Daley.

“You aren’t going to attack my nephew,” said Daley, his voice rising above the chatter and the rap of a gavel to restore order to the meeting.

* Sound bite of the day: Peraica versus Daley

* Peraica Regrets Election Tweet During Board Meeting

Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica says he should not have posted an internet comment that blurred the line between political and government resources.

* 2nd big trade show leaves to save cash

A plastics trade group announced Tuesday that it is leaving Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center for Orlando to save up to $20 million.[…]

It’s the second major trade show in two weeks to say it’s leaving Chicago. The announcement set off a cascade of events. Mayor Daley demanded yet another round of concessions from McCormick Place unions to cut trade-show operating costs.

Hours later, officials of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, also called McPier, which runs McCormick Place, announced a task force will start meeting today to come up with ways to make Chicago a more competitive destination for conventions.

“It’s a very serious loss,” Daley said. “It’s a major show. They were very upset with a lot of the rules and regulations that . . . McCormick Place has. When I met with the [trade show association] president and others, they were very concerned about the cost factor compared to Orlando, Atlanta and Vegas.”

* Daley demands union action to keep trade shows

* Chicago as Gouge City

“The total charge for four cases of Pepsi, delivered to our booth, was $345.39. The invoice breaks down to $254 for the four cases of Pepsi, a 21 percent service charge, and a 10.25 percent Illinois state sales tax, a 3 percent Chicago soft drink tax, a tax on the service charge, and a food and beverage tax. Government taxes totaled $38.06, which is more than the legitimate retail price of the soft drinks.

“Now, a nice man in a tuxedo delivered the Pepsi, along with a couple of buckets of ice and a few cups. Good service? Sure, but not worth $345.39.”

– Tim Hanrahan, CEO of a Massachusetts company that makes recycling machinery, on convention costs at McCormick Place.

* We all pay when city is up for sale

Chicago has, too, but in a different way now than in days of yore. In the old days — say four or five years ago and going back to its roots — one rented a piece of the city short-term if one wanted to do serious business here.[…]

Much of the old game has been curbed because they removed most of the truly lucrative aldermanic perks, and we now call the tips “campaign contributions.” Today the stakes are huge, the prices much higher, but you can get a very long-term lease — a virtual sale — of much of the city. And it’s all on the legit.

It is called privatization.

It’s not the old Roman way, but the new Chicago way, whose maestro is our beloved mayor hisself — Richard Michael Daley.

* Cuts, layoffs, furloughs — but no tax hike — in new city parks budget

The $392.8-million spending plan unveiled Tuesday evening calls for all workers to take 12 unpaid days off next year, up from three this year. If employee unions agree, the district will drop plans to eliminate 11 jobs, though 42 other, now-vacant positions still would go, officials said.

Boaters and those who use district’s day care services would pay 3% and 5% more, respectively. But cultural institutions that receive money from the district, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum, would have to eat a 10% cut in public funding, as the district would keep roughly $3 million in tax receipts that ordinarily would go to them.

In a bit of fiscal musical chairs, the district also is reallocating into its operating fund $7.7 million in capital money that was supposed to be spent on physical improvements.

* Park District plans day camp, boat slip fee hikes

Fee increases for fitness center memberships, children’s summer camps and boat slips are part of a $392 million budget introduced by the Chicago Park District introduced this week.

An average 5 percent increase in fees will generate an estimated $2 million in revenues.[…]

The Park District proposed raising fees and slashing jobs to close a $23 million hole in the budget.

* Chicago park board set to raise fees

The increase would come as the park district prepares to reduce its subsidy to the city’s museums and aquarium by 10 percent next year, according to the budget. The move would save $3 million and help balance the projected $391.8 million budget, officials said.

“Our revenues are down, our costs are up, our endowment is down, our need for skilled staff is greater than ever,” Museum of Science and Industry spokeswoman Lisa Miner said. “We also anticipate that our share of tax revenue support from the park district will be down approximately $1 million.”

* $4.2 mil. sought for Grant Park design

Chicago Park District officials will ask the park board today to greenlight a $4.2 million design of a 25-acre expanse east of Millennium Park to Lake Shore Drive, said Gia Biagi, the district’s planning and development director.

* Orland Park will likely ban video gambling

Village officials in Orland Park delayed a vote on it a few months ago, saying they wanted to wait for the Illinois Gaming Board to finish writing rules and regulations for the video poker machines.

But public opposition has been mounting, even though the village could directly receive five percent of any revenue generated from the machines at a time when the village could be facing a period of budget shortfalls.[…]

Officials have scheduled a vote at the Dec. 7 village board meeting.

* Tazewell not amused by gaming law

County Board hopes to send message to state with ban

* Schaumburg Park Dist. ‘excellent’ in aquatics

* Burr Oak Cemetery set to reopen to the public

* Tinley Park tops in nation

Tinley Park is the top place in the country to raise a family, according to BusinessWeek’s annual ranking.

* Naperville reveals contents of time capsule from 1939

* Murder investigation tied to case of clerk’s bribe

* Do violence-prevention programs work? University of Chicago study hopes to find out

* Condo Owners Struggle to Salvage an Almost-Empty Building

Since 1997, Chicago has added almost 150,000 condos to its housing stock. The people who bought those units maybe didn’t fully realize it at the time, but they’re taking part in a big experiment in communal living.

Everyone has to pool their money to fix the roof or keep the elevator working. And if your neighbors stop ponying up, you’re on the hook.

Now the foreclosure crisis is pushing many condo buildings to the verge of collapse. And one expert says that here and around the country, the whole grand experiment may be falling to pieces.

* Trump Tower up to No. 6

Benefits from new way of measuring buildings, but it soon will fall to No. 7

* 2009 shaping up to be one of the wettest on record

* USDA says Illinois corn harvest lagging

About 52 percent of the corn crop had been harvested as of Monday compared to 31 percent a week earlier, but that is still well behind the 87 percent at this time last year and a five-year average of 95 percent.

* Illinois wants to hear from people with diabetes

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