Conaty’s contract was not renewed, a station spokeswoman confirmed. His last Channel 32 appearance is expected to be on this weekend’s “Fox Chicago Sunday,” which was to be taped Friday and air Sunday morning at 8:30.
Of those who launched WFLD’s news operation under Fox in 1987, Conaty was among the last remaining few still at the station along with 9 p.m. anchor Robin Robinson and reporter Anne Kavanagh, whose contract was not renewed in July but has remained a regular contributor.
“We appreciate all of Jack’s hard work and dedication during his time with Fox Chicago,” a station statement said.
Citadel Broadcasting Corp., the nation’s third-biggest radio company and parent of Chicago’s WLS-AM 890 and WLS-FM 94.7, is preparing to file a prearranged bankruptcy before the end of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal and later the New York Times.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the newspapers said the proposal presented this week to creditors — and reportedly supported by many — would have lenders trade a substantial amount of the $2 billion they’re owed for 99.5 percent equity in the reorganized company, which would have about $760 million in debt. […]
Citadel loaded up on debt to fund its acquisition of Walt Disney Co.’s ABC Radio stations, but not Radio Disney or ESPN Radio, in 2006, not a particularly good time to be in radio acquisition mode, it turned out.
Apparently, the bad karma from giving Rod Blagojevich his own show was just too much for the company. [/snark]
Reports of Roe Conn’s demise — like that of another Midwestern humorist — have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, the Chicago radio veteran is close to signing a new deal to continue as afternoon personality on Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890).
Barring a last-minute snafu, sources said, Conn is expected to sign a two-year renewal any day now, superseding his current contract, which expires June 1. In exchange for the additional security, he’s likely to accept a reduction in his previously reported seven-figure salary.
The only obstacle to finalizing the deal could come from Citadel Broadcasting’s top bosses, who were reported to be preoccupied Thursday preparing to file for bankruptcy by the end of the year. Such a move would allow the company to restructure its $2 billion debt.
Word of Conn’s renewal comes despite speculation that his days are numbered at WLS. After the latest Arbitron survey showed him significantly underperforming the rest of the station, the Sun-Times’ Lewis Lazare cited unnamed “observers in the local radio market” who asserted that “the high-priced WLS talent might not be able to hold on at the station much longer.” My friends at the ever-vigilant ChicagolandRadioandMedia.com went even further, declaring it “the end of the line for Roe Conn at WLS,” and identifying three potential replacements for him.
Roe is the coolest, most down-to-earth millionaire I’ve ever met. Glad he’s staying put.
“Why should the voters of Cook County have confidence in a poll conducted by a newspaper whose owner and chairman of the board has made sizable campaign contributions to political opponents of President Stroger? We believe this owner has been the driving force behind the Chicago Tribune’s relentless negative reporting of President Stroger and his administration,” the Stroger campaign statement read.
In the weeks preceding the 2006 Democratic primary, Zell, a real estate magnate with no interest in Tribune at the time, donated $75,000 to Cook County Board Commissioner Forrest Claypool, D-Chicago. Claypool was running against Stroger’s father, John, who was seeking a fourth term as president.
John Stroger was incapacitated by a stroke before the primary, but won, and the Cook County Democratic Party put his son, Todd Stroger, on the general election ballot in his place. Todd Stroger went on to defeat Commissioner Tony Peraica, R-Riverside, to whom Zell donated $30,000.
WUIS/Illinois Public Radio statehouse reporter Amanda Vinicky is back in the United States after spending a week in Germany learning about media and culture.
Vinicky was one of 16 young journalists from the U.S. selected by the German-American Fulbright Commission to visit the country. Journalists from radio, television, newspapers and web outlets all took part in the trip.
“The whole thing was absolutely amazing,” said Vinicky.
* MWRD President Terry O’Brien is releasing his own polling results today in an attempt to counter the Tribune’s poll showing him in last place in the Cook County Board President’s race and trailing badly.
The O’Brien poll was conducted by Cooper & Secrest November 11-17 of 605 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of +/-4%.
The polling memo, which can be downloaded by clicking here, claims that “Dorothy Brown is likely a temporary frontrunner” and, of course, claims that O’Brien is “positioned to emerge as the ultimate winner.”
O’Brien’s head-to-heads compared to the Trib’s.
*** UPDATE *** I don’t know how I did this, but I screwed up the poll numbers. Preckwinkle is at 16 and O’Brien is at 15. Oops. Sorry about that…
Brown 29% (80% name rec) - Trib: 29% Preckwinkle 16% (52% name rec) - Trib: 20% O’Brien 15% (39% name rec) - Trib: 11% Stroger 13% (96% name rec) - Trib: 14%
More from O’Brien’s pollster…
Just 13% of all primary voters are strong Brown voters… 16% are weak
The memo also touts O’Brien’s second place finish despite being the least well known of the candidates. And it points to Preckwinkle’s four votes for pay raises.
Friday, Dec 11, 2009 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
PAC groups and other issue advertisers already get it. They’re not hung up solely on CNN or Fox News Channel. What’s up with political consultants telling Republican candidates to buy only Fox News and Democratic consultants telling their campaigns to buy only CNN and MSNBC?
Republicans here in the Land of Lincoln also like to Discover, watch the Weather, love the USA and History, love their sports on ESPN sports, dig HGTV, eat FOOD, well you get the idea.
As we say in Chicago, deze Dems don’t just watch doze news nets. You’s guys is also watchin’ TNT, Discovery, A&E, TBS, and don’t forget sports on ESPN and on and on and on.
A well placed advertising schedule on Comcast Spotlight can add the winning punch to a political campaign. For further information on how Comcast Spotlight can add the winning element to your campaign, please click on the banner ad to the right for Comcast Spotlight. Or contact Richard Brehm at 312-327-5622 or via email: richard_brehm@cable.comcast.com.
Friday, Dec 11, 2009 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
A new social media platform, eVoter.com, is delivering a cost effective way to leverage online social media for political campaigns. As voters gain polling and ballot knowledge, candidates like John Dalton are taking advantage of opportunities to reach supporters and raise funds.
“eVoter enables candidates, regardless of budget size, to compete in ways they could not before,” said Dalton, a Candidate for Kane County Judge.
“My campaign includes a commitment toward increasing efficiency for tax payers by using online platforms to save time and money. It simply makes sense to employ the same logic in my own campaign.
I feel good about eVoter because it starts with democratic principles that level the playing field for all candidates within any race, running on any budget.
eVoter is great social media for everyone. It provides a valuable service to my constituents, who can search for polling locations and create sample ballots. At the same time, I get a sophisticated profile, optimized for search engines, where I am able to share my message and raise campaign funds with engaged and empowered voters.”
Learn more about eVoter and View Dalton’s profile here
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Illinois voters finds Giannoulias ahead of Kirk 42% to 39%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and 15% are undecided.
In October, the two men were tied at 41% each. In mid-August, Kirk held a modest 41% to 38% lead over Giannoulias.
So, Giannoulias has managed to flip the numbers since August. The other Democrats still trail Kirk, but they’re closing the gap…
Kirk remains ahead of another Democratic hopeful, Cheryle Jackson, president of the Chicago Urban League and a former top aide to disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich, but his lead has shrunk dramatically. Ahead of Jackson by 17 points – 47% to 30% - in October, he now leads just 42% to 39%. Four percent (4%) like another candidate, and 15% are not sure.
The Republican holds a similar 42% to 38% lead over Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, another contender for the Democratic senatorial nomination. Kirk led Hoffman 43% to 33% in October. Seventeen percent (17%) are undecided, while three percent (3%) favor another candidate.
* Meanwhile…
Fifty-one percent (51%) approve of Governor Pat Quinn’s performance. Forty-seven percent (47%) disapprove. But Illinois voters are nearly three times as likely to strongly disapprove rather than strongly approve of the job he’s doing.
President Obama’s Illinois approval/disapproval numbers are 58-42, and that’s way better than Rasmussen’s national number of 47-51. Running against Obama is not a great idea here.
A proposal has been made to house some Guantanamo prison inmates in Illinois at the Thomson correctional facility. Do you favor or oppose housing Guantanamo prisoners at the Thomson correctional facility in Illinois?
39% Favor
51% Oppose
10% Not sure
No surprise there. The crosstabs show that Republicans oppose the plan 70-28, while a plurality of Democrats support it, 49-37.
His support remains soft, but the opposition is strengthening.
Afghanistan is becoming somewhat of an issue in the Democratic US Senate primary, with Cheryle Jackson and David Hoffman questioning the president’s new plan. But the crosstabs show large support for the president’s proposal among Democrats. 62 percent of Democrats “overall” favor the plan, 60 percent of liberals back it and 82 percent of African-Americans support it as well. Jackson is the most opposed of all the candidates, but that issue doesn’t appear to work well with African-American voters.
How it was done…
This telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters in Illinois was conducted by Rasmussen Reports December 9, 2009. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From a Mark Kirk press release…
Kirk Widens Lead over Giannoulias among Key Independent Voters to 34 Points in Latest Rasmussen Poll
Survey Shows Kirk and Giannoulias Remain in Statistical Dead Heat despite Democrat’s Network TV Ad Blitz
Northbrook, Ill. – A non-partisan poll released by Rasmussen Reports today shows Republican Congressman and Navy veteran Mark Kirk widening his lead over Democrat Alexi Giannoulias among key independent voters to 34 points despite Giannoulias’ early launch of network television ads to boost his numbers.
Responding to TV ads launched by Democrat David Hoffman, Giannoulias launched his own network television ad campaign at the beginning of the month to boost his name recognition and favorable ratings. But according to the Rasmussen survey, Kirk maintains a 50-32 favorable to unfavorable rating compared to Giannoulias’ 48-36 fav/unfav. Kirk holds a net positive strongly favorable/unfavorable rating of 13-8 while Giannoulias holds an even intensity ratio of 14-14.
The survey released today shows Kirk leading Giannoulias among key independent voters 54-20. In October, Rasmussen showed Kirk leading Giannoulias among this group 53-24. While the October poll showed both Kirk and Giannoulias at 41 with a 4.5-point margin of error, the survey released today shows Giannoulias with a slight 42-39 edge – remaining a statistical dead heat within the margin of error. A November 3rd poll by Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies showed Kirk with a 44-38 advantage.
“Despite more than a week of Giannoulias network television advertising, Congressman Kirk widened his lead over Alexi Giannoulias among key independent voters to 34 points without any television advertising from his own campaign,” Kirk spokesman Eric Elk said. “In addition, the survey shows Congressman Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias remain in a statistical dead heat. With a proven record of fighting tax increases, reining in spending and spurring economic growth, Congressman Mark Kirk brings the experience, integrity and reform-minded leadership Illinois needs to create jobs, end corruption and get our state back on track.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Giannoulias spokesperson Kati Phillips…
“Bizarre press release aside (which shows him losing), Mark Kirk can’t hide the fact that voters tend not to like flip-floppers who put politics before principles. Whether it’s having it both ways on earmarks, women’s rights, cap n trade, or Sarah Palin’s endorsement, voters know a pander bear when they see one.”
It almost goes without saying that Illinois Democrats have a whole lot of problems on their hands.
They gave us Rod Blagojevich and Todd Stroger. Their state government stewardship has resulted in bone-crushing budget deficits and threats of higher taxes.
Their control of Cook County resulted in the highest sales taxes in the country for parts of Chicago. Their control of the mayor’s office resulted in a short-sighted sale of the parking meters, which then resulted in skyrocketing user costs and the emptying of a permanent trust fund for a one-year government bailout.
Blagojevich’s federal corruption trial will catapult him — and the Democratic Party — back into the headlines every day throughout next summer if all goes as planned.
Stroger will probably lose the Democratic primary come February, but he’ll still be in office all next year, no doubt generating ever more controversy and woe for his party.
The horrific state budget deficit isn’t going to get any better. The General Assembly probably won’t increase taxes soon, but an easy case can be made that they’re planning to do it right after the November election.
We just found out that some of those fancy privatized parking meters don’t work in the cold, and one can only guess what the next bungle will be on that front.
Add to all of this the utter cluelessness of the national House and Senate Democrats, who have obviously failed to understand the lesson that the 1994 Republican landslide was brought on as much by the Democrats’ failure to enact real health-care reform as anything else, and you’re looking at serious, serious trouble.
But, of course, there’s more. There’s always more. One thing that few have discussed so far is who might be on the Democratic statewide ticket next fall.
For instance, every Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor is a potential land mine.
Rep. Michael Boland (D-East Moline) awarded a legislative scholarship to the daughter of his largest campaign contributor. After the University of Illinois admissions scandal, Boland is particularly vulnerable to attack.
Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) has been a favorite media target for years. He makes no bones at all about using his office to help his friends and supporters. While he gets points in my book for blunt honesty, the media will have a field day with the guy.
Rep. Art Turner (D-Chicago) has been a member of the House Democratic leadership forever, and part of that job is taking a huge number of “bad” votes — which will be problematic if he steps into the limelight.
Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan) was dragged into a petition fraud case back in 2008. Even though he was never charged and it doesn’t look like he was involved, it won’t be tough for the opposition to use that ugly episode to smear him, along with whoever is at the top of the ticket. Like Turner, Link is a longtime member of the legislative leadership, so his voting record and his fund-raising history are undoubtedly full of land mines.
Even an unknown could bring trouble. Scott Lee Cohen’s money comes from a string of pawn shops — not exactly a beloved business.
Individually, most of these issues probably aren’t enough to sink the ticket. But considering the already dangerous climate for Democrats, they could add to the overall picture of a once-proud party in meltdown.
The campaigns of Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes are so focused on winning the gubernatorial primary that they’ve barely had time to think about gaming out the scenarios when one of the “lite guv” candidates is nominated. But they are definitely nervous, and they should be.
* The Question: What state and local Democratic woes did I miss? Explain.
* I’m not sure why WBEZ is being blocked from accessing some juvenile prisons where the station has eye-witness reporting that shines a negative light on the facilities, but WBEZ isn’t happy about it…
You may not think what goes on in Illinois’ youth prisons affects you. Think again. Thousands of teenagers from all across the state cycle in and out of Illinois’ eight juvenile prisons each year. What happens to them inside goes back with them to their communities. Taxpayers are footing the more-than-$100 million budget for these places. We want to be able to see for ourselves how they’re run and bring that information to you. But Governor Pat Quinn says no.
From the story…
Eighteen-year-old Brandon, who asked that we not use his last name, has spent nearly a third of his life in jails and prisons for kids in Illinois. He avoided solitary until this year, when he got in a fight near the end of his sentence. He says the harsh conditions made solitary confinement at the St. Charles facility west of Chicago something he’s unlikely to forget. For example, he says your food is handed to you through a small slot in the door. It’s not on one big tray, it’s on several small trays and they come through quickly. The first day he learned not to set the trays on the floor.
BRANDON: Rodents kept climbing on my food. When I set it down, they ran across the floor, ran over my food and ran around the room like six more times and I didn’t see it after that. There’s rats in there. Rats, there’s roaches all in there. On average, you’ll see like seven rats a day. Nine, 10 rats a day, yourself. Not including what everybody else din saw. […]
Brandon says there was feces smeared onto the tiles. He never took a shower during his two week stint in isolation. Brandon doesn’t have too much good to say about the education he received either. He graduated from the prison high school system but he says it was a joke.
WBEZ wanted to get into the St. Charles facility, but the governor’s office wouldn’t grant it, instead offering access to another facility…
These are certainly troubling allegations that merit further investigation to see if they’re true, or partially true, or if the kids are telling tall tales. But Governor Quinn is refusing to let WBEZ inside the Department of Juvenile Justice facilities to see how they’re run, for both the kids and the taxpayers of Illinois. After four months of meetings, emails and phone conversations, WBEZ was invited to go on a single supervised tour of the prison in Chicago, which kids say is much much better than St. Charles in the western suburbs. Quinn said no to WBEZ’s repeated requests for a reporter to spend four days during business hours sitting in classes and visiting other parts of the prison in St. Charles. That’s the same facility where a 16-year-old committed suicide in September.
You can hear the governor’s office response by going here. The answers are pretty weak, particularly considering the allegations…
[Guv’s spokesman Bob Reed]: Let me be clear. We didn’t bar them from all facilities. We offered a tour of the Chicago facility. Your editors decided that that was not the necessary access the station needed to tell its story.
[WBEZ reporter Rob Wildeboer]: Ok. So, do you think that, on a one tour of one facility, we will get a comprehensive, in-depth insight into a $100 million department that services thousands of kids every year in facilities across the state? Do you think we’ll get an in-depth understanding of that department in one tour?
REED: I don’t think you would get an in-depth understanding of that if you toured every facility you wanted, whenever you wanted, for any length of time. This is a long, long process and one of the reasons the governor’s staff wants to take a look at the system is to make sure it has an understanding of what is occurring there.
WILDEBOER: And, again, how would WBEZ doing the same thing at the same time interfere with that at all?
REED: We don’t think it’s appropriate for the press to go in, talk to juveniles who are in our charge. We’re really concerned about protecting their identities, their privacy.
WBEZ has been working on this story and attempting to negotiate with the administration for four months. It’s easy to see why the station is so upset here, particularly since Vinny Schiraldi, who runs the juvenile prison system in Washington, DC, was so open with the station and ridiculed the governor’s reasoning…
SCHIRALDI: Too many juvenile justice systems use those confidentiality rights to protect themselves as ways to protect themselves as opposed to protecting the confidentiality of the kids.
As I’ve been researching juvenile prisons over the last few months, a number of people have suggested I visit D.C., it has a good reputation for rehabilitating kids. I contacted them this week and Schiraldi called me back the same day.
WILDEBOER: I was hoping to come down and visit you guys there. Would that be possible?
SCHIRALDI: Yeah. Absolutely. Come any time you want. Yeah, I told Reggie that, just set it up for, I think next week, you wanted to set it up for? Or this week? I don’t know. Reggie’s going to deal with you on that.
Reggie is Reggie Sanders, the public information officer.
SCHIRALDI: There’s a great school at the facility. You know, you can hang around there, be where the kids are playing basketball. There’s a bunch of cool stuff you can take pictures of, but you’ll pretty much have free reign when you come.
And yet the state says “No way.” This is open government? C’mon.
* After a rough patch when he was talking about Barack Obama being a “socialist” and catering to the tea party crowd, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard seems to be softening his hard-line stances of late and returning to his more moderate roots.
“I have no designs to raise any taxes,” [Dillard] said.
But Dillard, unlike his fellow Republican candidates for governor, maintained that all options should be considered, including tax increases.
He said it doesn’t make sense to eliminate an option, like his opponents mostly have.
“I’m saying that some of them are pandering,” said Dillard.
Rival Republican state Sen. Bill Brady shot back…
“I believe any politician that opens the door for a tax increase puts in jeopardy Illinois jobs,” said Brady.
Illinois Review claimed this week that Dillard had sought the endorsement of the Illinois Education Association. If he did, yesterday’s comments make even more sense.
If former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan wins his bid for governor, the Elmhurst Republican says he will focus on cutting spending, but be open minded to tax hikes once the recession clears.
“If we do everything humanly possible,” Ryan said of the spending cuts and landmark reforms he is proposing, “then I would look at revenue enhancements.”
“But not before the recession is over,” Ryan quickly added during a tapping of WBBM 780AM’s At Issue program on Thursday.
During the program, Ryan didn’t identify a single state program that should be cut. He also backed away from his previous support of SB750, the tax swap plan…
Ryan had previously endorsed a plan to reduce property taxes in exchange for an increase in the income tax, but he says now that is a bad idea given the economy. He also says he has looked at other states that have a similar tax structure and seen the switch, intended to better fund education, doesn’t work as well as promised.
* The Tribune has finally uploaded the video from its editorial board “debate” between Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes. You can watch the two-part video by going to the main editorial page and looking at the lower right side.
I excerpted one pretty testy back and forth between Hynes and Quinn. Hynes is usually a pretty placid guy, but he went off several times during this exchange and really showed some passion. The excerpt is definitely worth a look and it gets more interesting as the video goes on, so stay with it…
* Some of that back and forth had to do with Hynes’ refusal to approve Quinn’s $500 million short-term borrowing plan. ABC7 ran a story yesterday about an AARP press conference that you should definitely watch. For some reason, I can no longer get the station’s embed script to work, so it’s just words on this end again today…
The state of Illinois, with an estimated $11 billion to $13 billion deficit, owes an estimated $4.5 billion to its vendors. AARP says the creditors include 200 agencies around the state that serve the elderly that could be forced out of business within weeks.
“I have no funds to make payroll next week for my staff,” said Champaign Senior Care Provider Carol Acord.
“For our last payroll, our family had to deplete all of our savings,” said Norman James of Family Home Services, Inc. “So that we can keep our employees out there working and providing the service that the seniors need.” […]
But the worst-off providers want the state to use whatever means to pay what it owes now and save the politics for later.
“Put aside our partisan differences, our political aspirations, and take emergency action now,” said Democratic Rep. Greg Harris who represents Chicago.
* Comptroller Hynes claimed in the above Tribune debate video that fully a third of state revenues will have to used to pay off existing short-term loans come March and April. And as I told you yesterday, S&P downgraded Illinois’ general obligation debt and retained its negative outlook on the state’s credit. More on that from Reuters…
S&P said the negative outlook was retained because of the state’s “questionable” willingness to implement difficult and politically unpopular measures to restore a budget balance.
“There’s been very limited action on addressing the shortfall,” said Robin Prunty, an S&P analyst.
In its downgrade affecting $19 billion of outstanding Illinois GO debt, S&P said Illinois rolled its fiscal 2009 budget deficit into fiscal 2010, which in turn was balanced “with various spending reductions and a plan for debt restructuring to provide budget savings; the savings from both are uncertain at this time.”
The state also turned to one-time measures, such as a plan to issue $3.5 billion of pension notes to raise money for its fiscal 2010 payment to pension funds. That “might create out-year budget pressure,” S&P said.
The governor says in the excerpted Tribune video that the financial situation here is “stable.” Hynes responded: “If that’s stability, I’d hate to see chaos.” How right he is.
Faced with widespread voter dissatisfaction, embattled Cook County Board President Todd Stroger trails Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown and Chicago Ald. Toni Preckwinkle in the race for the Democratic primary nomination, a Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
Brown had the support of 29 percent of likely Feb. 2 primary voters, ahead of Preckwinkle’s 20 percent, in the poll of 502 likely voters. Stroger received 14 percent and Terrence O’Brien, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, had 11 percent.
But the survey found that 26 percent of primary voters are undecided in the race or for someone else — meaning plenty of room exists for the contest to become even more fluid in the post-holiday sprint to the ballot box. […]
O’Brien is the lone white candidate in the race, but the prospect of three African-American candidates splintering the black vote to enable him to win isn’t borne out in the survey.
What is surprising is that for the first time that I can recall, the Tribune has released its questions, toplines and some crosstabs. Click here to download.
Toni Preckwinkle already has a press release out…
We are exactly where we expected to be at this point in our campaign. We entered this race 11 months ago and have been building positive momentum since. We are confident that, as voters continue to hear Toni Preckwinkle’s message - her commitment to repeal the Stroger sales tax increase and bring real reform to County government, that we will win the only poll that matters - on election day.
Our own recent polling shows that Dorothy Brown had a 2:1 name recognition advantage. Yet polling shows even though voters know her, they are unconvinced she deserves a promotion.
The Trib poll’s name recognition advantage for Brown over Preckwinkle - 91 vs. 62- isn’t nearly as high as Preckwinkle claims in her own polling. However, those with either a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the two is about two-to-one for Brown - 56-30. O’Brien comes in last in the Trib poll at 51 percent name rec, while just 14 percent know enough about him to rate him…
And here are the Trib’s crosstabs on the head-to-heads…
Preckwinkle absolutely needs to raise some money to get her message out. Her campaign has done a good job of leaking negative research on Brown and O’Brien to the media, but she obviously needs to reinforce that with advertising.
O’Brien needs to up his name ID, and only lots of cash will do that.
This is one reason why the reformers’ hatred of campaign cash is so misguided. Incumbents are already well-known. Challengers have to establish themselves with voters, but nobody in the reform movement is talking about making TV and radio ads lots cheaper.
Data…
This Chicago Tribune Poll is based on interviews of confirmed registered voters likely to vote in the February 2nd Cook County Democratic primary. Interviewing was conducted December 2nd to the 8th. The sample involved 502 Cook County Democratic primary voters, for a potential margin of error of 4.4% at the 95% level of confidence.
* Pat Quinn’s latest Internet promo video is probably the best yet. Quinn campaign staffer Simon Edelman is underpaid, overworked and hugely talented, and he gets better all the time. Have a look…
* Earlier this week, somebody in the governor’s office accidentally cc’d me on an e-mail that was meant for a subordinate…
Yes, it helps to email rich miller with our comments re breaking news. He’s at: capitolfax@aol.com
He may or may not use. Not a friend of the house.
I’ve never been a “friend of the house” for any governor, so that made me chuckle and wonder if they have any reporters who can be classified as such. I e-mailed him back and jokingly asked if he knew what he did. His response…
Truth to power
I literally spit out my coffee when I saw that one. Fast-thinking comedy gold, complete with an inside joke. You will recall that “truth to power” is one of Gov. Quinn’s favorite expressions and something I took him to task for in a recent newspaper column.
And, in case you’re wondering, I don’t hold that e-mail against the governor’s office. Things happen, things get said. No biggie. I’m only sharing this with you because I thought it was so funny, not to embarrass anyone.
* In other spit-take news, today’s John Kass column, “Lottery commercial redefines joy in spirit of Chicago Way,” was about a new ad from the Illinois Lottery. Among other things, Kass thought he saw glorified corruption in the spot…
Then comes a revealing voice-over that speaks directly to the heart of The Chicago Way and invokes one of the pillars of Illinois politics:
Cash kickbacks.
“Joy someone with holiday scratch-offs from the Illinois Lottery,” says a narrator. “Who knows? They might joy you back.”
That’s a kickback. You joy me, I joy you. Isn’t that what contractors call it when they’re caught on FBI surveillance tape bringing “joy” to politicians? One famous Chicago politician stored his “joy” in the freezer, right next to the rib-eyes and the lobster tails.
By early afternoon, the Illinois Family Institute had sent out an “E-Alert” about the Lottery ad…
Illinois Lottery’s “Joy to the World” Ad Promotes False Hope, by David E. Smith, Executive Director -Illinois Family Institute
The Illinois Lottery is currently airing radio and televsion ads promoting scratch-off lottery tickets during the Christmas season campaign. The new ad campaign corrupts the traditional Christian hymn “Joy to the World” in attempt to mislead Illinois citizens into thinking that the miniscule chance of winning a lottery prize could buy them happiness.
But even more than that, the song’s deep meaning celebrating the birth of the Savior as it proclaims “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” is being perverted to sell a false hope of a different kind of “savior” — money and the love of it.
Take ACTION: Click HERE to contact Jodie Winnett, the Acting Supervisor of the Illinois Lottery, to ask her to stop misusing the true message of the season to promote its predatory lottery tickets which only push people deeper into debt and despair.
Here’s the ad…
* Meanwhile, in a bizarre turn of events, Rod Blagojevich’s PR firm claims that some congressman in Georgia wants to investigate US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office. From a press release…
In an apparent expansion of a four-year congressional investigation of United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald’s office, a U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee will call witnesses today to determine if the prosecutor’s office manufactured evidence and forced witnesses to lie to obtain a 2003 conviction of a then prominent Chicago real estate developer and attorney.
Actually, the part about the hearing today is not true. At the end of the press release is this notation…
Chairman Johnson is expected to mention the Palivos case [during a hearing today] and Mr. Palivos and his wife, Vicky, will sit in the front row for the hearing. However, the hearing today is about judicial recusals, not prosecutorial misconduct or U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
Background on Johnson’s claimed investigation…
After his trial and conviction, Peter Palivos, 51, presented the committee with evidence showing that prosecutors forced witnesses to lie against him or face charges themselves.
“They wanted to frame me to get me to become a witness against George Ryan, but I have nothing incriminating to say against the man,” Palivos said in Oct. 2005.
After hearing the evidence, which includes sworn affidavits from witnesses who say there were forced to lie about Mr. Palivos, three separate House Judiciary Subcommittees asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate “possible prosecutorial misconduct” by Fitzgerald’s office. […]
Palivos alleges that he was convicted on a concocted obstruction of justice charge after he refused to lie for prosecutors in their investigation of former Ill. Gov. George Ryan, who is serving time in federal prison on corruption charges.
Palivos says he was told by federal agent Thomas Heinzer that he would be ‘framed with that crime’ unless he cooperated in the office’s investigation. When he did not, he was subsequently indicted and convicted. […]
Following Palivos’ trial, witnesses gave the House Judiciary Committee sworn affidavits “stating that they were forced to lie and the prosecutors on the case engaged in misconduct” in his case, prompting the committee to expand its investigation. […]
The documents the committee received also contained evidence, which appeared to show federal prosecutors prepared a false affidavit, falsified interview statements, threatened a defense attorney with a trumped-up obstruction of justice charge if he filed a motion, suborned perjury and withheld exculpatory evidence that would have prevented the imprisonment of an innocent man–Mr. Palivos.
Earlier this year, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Courts and Competition Policy, Congressman Hank Johnson wrote: “It appears [Palivos’] case is a good example of prosecutorial misconduct.” You can read that letter by clicking here.
I called the congressman’s office this morning, but haven’t heard back.
* A State Journal-Register reporter is sending around an e-mail asking various folks to help them put together a piece about the most important news events of the past decade. Here’s a list of suggestions from the e-mail…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is arrested and later impeached and removed from office
Former state Sen. Barack Obama is elected President of the United States
Then-Gov. George Ryan clears Illinois’ death row
George Ryan issues a moratorium on executions that lasts for the decade
George Ryan is indicted and goes to prison for corruption
A shooting at the state Capitol claims the life of a security guard and prompts new security measures
Control of state government and the legislature switches from Republicans to Democrats
Budget problems plague state government throughout the decade
The legislature and Blagojevich break several overtime records for session with continued fighting
Longtime legislative leaders Pate Philip, Lee Daniels and Emil Jones hand over the reins of power to successors
Democrats take supermajority control of the state Senate and one seat shy of a supermajority in the House
Gov. Pat Quinn proposes a 50 percent income tax increase to fix budget holes, but lawmakers refuse to support it
Lawmakers end a 10-year standoff and approve a $31 billion capital construction program
Legislators end public outrage over soaring electric rates by approving a relief plan that reduces sharp increases after a 10-year rate freeze
The state’s pension debt grows astronomically, topping $70 billion by the end of the decade
Lawmakers approve the state’s first caps on campaign contributions to political campaigns in the wake of Blagojevich’s arrest
A smoking ban in public places forces smokers at bars, restaurants and public places outside to light up
* The Question, Part 1: Is there anything missing from this list?
* The Question, Part 2: What do you think are the top four or five state politics events of the decade? Explain.
* An AP reporter who doesn’t appear to cover Illinois at all nonetheless gets the job of writing one of those ridiculous “where there’s even a tiny bit of smoke, there’s gotta be a raging inferno” stories about Congressman Mark Kirk…
As Mark Kirk campaigns for the Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama, the Republican congressman casts himself as a scourge of the pork-barrel, special-interest congressional spending known as “earmarks.”
It wasn’t always that way.
Just two years ago, the four-term congressman secured more than $30 million for 19 pet projects in and around his Illinois congressional district. They included an aquarium, a planetarium and a church outreach project. In some cases, people linked to the projects reciprocated with thousands of dollars in campaign donations for Kirk’s re-election bids.
And what were those alleged reciprocations? How did this supposed pay to play game work?
Well, over the space of nine years, Adler Planetarium board members apparently gave Kirk a grand total of $23,000 and got over $1.1 million in earmarks. That’s an “eye-popping” $2,600 a year in contributions, and the AP doesn’t tell us how many board members contributed, so some might have given next to nothing. Whatever, I’m sure that money played such a big role in Kirk’s decision-making. Sheesh.
A board member of the Christian Outreach of Lutherans, which hasn’t exactly been on the US Attorney’s corruption radar screen, gave Kirk a whopping $4,600 in two years and the group received $119,000 from an earmark.
The mission of Christian Outreach of Lutherans (COOL) is to give comprehensive assistance to families in need, by reducing hunger and homelessness, while encouraging personal growth and self-sufficiency. Serving all of Lake County.
None of the contributors, by the way, were given an opportunity to respond to this smear. The story isn’t as bad as looking for hidden corruption messages in Lottery commercials, but it’s close.
Politically, though, this article will give Kirk’s opponent some ammo, either by using the contributions or the headline: “Hopeful for Obama seat changes tune.” Kirk has been repeatedly slammed for flip-flopping.
However, this point, about how Kirk decided to oppose earmarks, is more salient…
Kirk said his personal tipping point came after the furor over earmarks for the “Bridge to Nowhere.” The project, pushed by Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young, would have cost nearly $400 million and connected Ketchikan, Alaska, to an island with 50 residents.
Congress scrubbed funding for the project in 2005 — a full two years before Kirk gave up earmarks for good — but he still said it was the pivotal moment for him.
It apparently wasn’t all that pivotal if it took him two years to come to the conclusion.
“I had no interest in this race. I hadn’t considered running … then Mark Kirk voted for cap-and-trade,” said Hughes, a Hinsdale real estate developer.
More…
Kirk said he supported it as a way to wean America off foreign oil. Yet, he has since signed a pledged with a conservative group to oppose the legislation if elected to the Senate.
Hughes says he doesn’t believe global warming is caused by humans. But his platform against Kirk is bigger than cap-and-trade now.
“Our party is at a crossroads,” Hughes declared to the editorial board, before labeling Kirk “essentially a Democrat and in some respects an extraordinarily left-wing one.”
* Planned Parenthood Illinois/Action, the political arm of Planned Parenthood has announced that it has endorsed Gov. Pat Quinn. The group also endorsed Alexi Giannoulias for US Senate. Other endorsements…
Mike Boland, Terry Link
Rickey Hendon and Art Turner - Lt. Governor
Lisa Madigan - Attorney General
Jesse White - Secretary of State
David Miller - Comptroller
Robin Kelly - Treasurer
Apparently, all those legislators running for LG qualified for the nod.
* Former Gov. Jim Edgar has endorsed Rep. Beth Coulson for the open 10th Congressional District seat. From a press release…
“As governor, I worked closely with Beth Coulson,” said Edgar. “I find her to be a person of tremendous talent, integrity and compassion. The same qualities that have made her an effective state legislator will make her an excellent member of Congress. The 10th District will be well served by electing Beth Coulson to Congress.” […]
Gov. Edgar’s endorsement follows on the heels of endorsements Coulson has received from the majority of Illinois Congressional Republicans - Reps. Judy Biggert, Timothy Johnson, Aaron Schock and John Shimkus - as well as virtually every Republican member of the Illinois General Assembly - including leaders State Rep. Tom Cross and State Sen. Chris Radogno - and local elected officials and civic leaders in the 10thCongressional District.
The New Trier Democrats endorsed Dan Seals over state Rep. Julie Hamos in the 10th CD Democratic primary. Hamos was endorsed by Citizen Action/Illinois.
* In other campaign news, the 14th Congressional District GOP primary is now a two-person race…
When a candidate is running without name recognition or the money to create a big bang, being the bad guy, or the spoiler, quickly can become all there is to achieve.
Such was the case with the trio of Republicans leaving the 14th Congressional District race within the past week. In the course of five days, a field of five Republicans looking to unseat Democrat Bill Foster became a two-man contest.
Jim Purcell, Mark Vargas and Jeff Danklefsen all dropped out with about the same amount of campaign funds they had when they entered the contest. That amounted to little more than what they had in their own pockets.
The two left standing - Ethan Hastert and Randy Hultgren - already are well into six figures with their fundraising.
* As I mentioned to you the other day, Andy McKenna’s TV ads claim Illinois’ budget deficit is $11 billion and growing by $30 million a day. That would mean a $22 billion deficit by the beginning of next fiscal year. I asked the campaign about those figures, but never received an explanation.
Well, reporters asked McKenna Wednesday about the $11 billion number and McKenna claimed the deficit was actually less than half that amount…
On Wednesday, McKenna told reporters that if elected, he’d roll back state spending to 2006 levels, reverse expensive health care expansions initiated during Rod Blagojevich’s years as governor and push for pension reforms in order to save $5 billion and balance the budget.
Asked about the other $6 billion in red ink, McKenna, a Chicago Republican, questioned the figure and challenged the current administration to explain it.
But everyone from the legislative agency tasked with tracking economic activity to investment analysts who set the state’s credit rating have put the state’s deficit for the next year at $11 billion if not more. Lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn attempted to create the illusion of a balanced budget this year by borrowing $3.5 billion to make pension payments, plugging education and health care holes with billions from the federal stimulus program and not paying nearly $4.5 billion to vendors on time.
Oy.
McKenna’s running mate claimed that the money owed state vendors which is rolled over from one fiscal year to the next isn’t part of the deficit..
“You know, we’ve got at least, at this point, four-and-a-half billion dollars in unpaid bills that have been rolling over. We didn’t accumulate that in one year. You’re not going to pay that off in one year,” said Palatine Republican state Sen. Matt Murphy, McKenna’s favorite for the lieutenant governor post. “The only time it’s ever suggested that we’re going to pay that off in one year is when people down here are trying to sell a tax hike. That figure of 11 (billion dollars) is obviously inclusive of that rollover in any estimate I’ve seen. So the five billion we’re talking about, in my view, is pretty close to filling the entire hole. As Andy has said, if you don’t have the money, you can’t spend the money.”
Actually, the rollover amount is less than that. The $4.5 billion is only what’s owed right now.
Dillard, a veteran state senator from Hinsdale, said Illinois’ budget problems are driving jobs away, partly because businesses don’t know whether they’ll soon be forced to pay higher taxes and fees.
He promised to freeze state spending at current levels “for the foreseeable future.”
His campaign did not immediately respond to questions about how Dillard could freeze spending while also accomplishing his goals for schools, infrastructure and tax breaks — including what he called “the nation’s most aggressive tax credit for research.”
Quinn’s plan to borrow $500 million is half-baked, at least to the extent anyone believes it’s going to do anything but put Illinois further in a bind.
And lollygagging is a fairly apt way to describe Hynes’ refusal to acquiesce to the governor’s plan to use the borrowed money to pay the state’s bills.
OK, so Hynes is supposed to speed up his endorsement of a half-baked borrowing plan? I don’t get it.
Chicago would waive its $4-a-month employee head tax for two years — but only for newly hired employees — under a mayoral plan proposed Wednesday to stimulate job creation.[…]
Mayor Daley acknowledged that the symbolic savings of $48 a month would not be enough to persuade a struggling business to expand its payroll. But he’s hoping that a combination of local, state and federal tax incentives just might tip the scales.
* Daley wants to lift head tax on new employees for two years
TIF districts also give the mayor unprecedented political leverage.
“The mayor ultimately controls these accounts, which gives him leverage over every public entity, from the City Council to the public schools to the Park District,” the Reader notes. “[A]t least half a dozen aldermen have told us that mayoral aides pressure them on key votes - such as the ordinances for funding the Olympics or moving the Children’s Museum to Grant Park - by either promising to give their wards more TIF dollars or threatening to take TIF dollars away.
“The more TIF districts are created, the more money goes into the TIF accounts and the more powerful the mayor becomes. . . .
Mayor Daley on Wednesday cracked the door open to providing a government subsidy for cash-strapped McCormick Place, but only if the convention center cleans its own house first and ends price-gouging that has triggered a trade show exodus.
Meanwhile, chief executives from South Suburban, Ingalls Memorial, St. James and Little Company of Mary hospitals are campaigning against an ordinance proposed by county Commissioner Joseph Moreno (D-Chicago), whose district includes the city’s Southwest Side.[…]
Moreno wants to charge hospitals in the county a fee if they fail to meet county-mandated criteria for charity care - the equivalent of 4.5 percent of their annual expenses. Because most hospitals are exempt from paying property and income taxes and certain state and local sales taxes, they are expected to provide a commensurate level of free care to indigent patients.
On Wednesday, the Park District approved a $392 million budget that scraps any layoffs so long as its thousands of unionized employees agree to take eight unpaid furlough days in 2010.
Layoff notices are going out this week to Chicago Transit Authority workers. The CTA board approved the plan to help close a $300 million budget shortfall.
Saying blacks could be shortchanged by a proposed admissions policy for the city’s most coveted schools, some African-American parents are demanding that race be added as one factor in the admissions process.
A new domestic violence division will open in January. Behind-the-scenes changes are expected to speed up the process of getting a protection order and point abusers to programs designed to end the cycle of violence, said Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Tim Evans.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 26 in the case of a Knox County official accused of stealing money from the political party she’s affiliated with.
Recorder of Deeds Paula Monzo is accused of writing about $3,500 in checks on the account of the Knox County Democratic Central Committee over the past year. Galesburg Police reports indicate Monzo was having trouble paying bills and had a cocaine habit.
For school officials considering budgets, the toughest decisions come when cuts go head to head with goals to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed. Those students labeled at risk in particular need every possible advantage.
Elgin Area School District U-46 found a way to further chip away at its massive deficit by returning its three year-round schools to a traditional nine-month calendar. The move, at Garfield, Channing and Sheridan elementary schools, is projected to save $200,000.
ROCKFORD — A project that could represent the most significant economic development on West State Street in decades could get a boost of $500,000 in federal funding.
U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced in a news release today that the money is included in a 2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill expected to be considered by Congress over the next few weeks.
The board voted 13-1 to extend a hiring freeze requiring all departments to clear hires, both new and replacement, with Chairman John Evans. Evans reported to the board he has heard of people violating the same procedure that had been implemented in the previous fiscal year.
* NDK hopes some employees can return to work next week
BELVIDERE — Some NDK workers may return to their jobs at the Belvidere plant as early as next week, company officials said today.
They’ll be joined — perhaps for months — by investigators from state and federal agencies who are investigating the cause of an explosion Monday that blew out the west side of the Crystal Parkway building and left a 63-year-old Indiana man dead.
The Springfield forecast for today calls for a high temperature of 21, but winds of 15 to 20 mph will make it feel like the air is between -9 and 1. Wind gusts up to 24 mph are expected.
Counties north of here, including Mason and Schuyler, are under a wind chill advisory this morning. Wind chills there range from -15 to -20. The advisory is in place through 9 a.m.
* Some of you are heading to the Chicago “Fedstivus” party tonight to commemorate the Blagojevich arrest. I thought about hosting my own party, but, frankly, this is one depressing anniversary. I think I’ll just stay home and listen to some tunes, starting with this fine, but melancholic jam from Traffic and Jerry Garcia…
* Democratic US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is now running a second TV ad which builds on his first one. The new ad is called “Details.” Let’s rate the new one….
Spending will be capped at Fiscal 2010 levels for the foreseeable future. […] The Dillard Administration will utilize zero-based budgeting and embark on a process to rebuild state government from the ground up.
He takes a look at lots of different things, including health care…
While we wait for the outcome on the national debate on health care reform, Illinois will create a pilot program designed to encourage a small businesses and sole proprietors to pool their employees into larger groups, remove certain coverage mandates, and allow health maintenance organizations to place reasonable deductible costs on their policies.
Manufacturing modernization…
The Illinois Modernization & Retooling Program will be reinstated to assist Manufacturers in making necessary reinvestments in their facilities to enable for them to remain competitive and keep there existing workforce in Illinois.
Tax incentives…
Examples include a tax credit for new jobs created, a sales tax holiday to spur retail sales and a letter of credit program to allow projects to proceed and create jobs.
Dillard also talks the talk on education to the point where people like Mayor Daley might be OK with him…
The Dillard Administration will continue to invest in Early Childhood education and commit resources to training our workers to compete in the 21st Century global economy. Illinois needs to set high standards for all children regardless of where they live and then provide the necessary tools to teachers, administrators, school boards and parents so that they can succeed at the local level without unnecessary government interference. The state will renew its commitment to make sure that every child can attend school safe from violence and prepared to learn. And we will focus on stemming performance erosion in the vital middle grades.
Some of it is insidery, but important. For instance, organized labor will work much harder to defeat a Republican who refuses to abide by the legislative “agreed bill process” for workers’ comp and unemployment insurance. Dillard tries to set their minds at ease…
Kirk Dillard strongly believes in maintaining the sanctity of the agreed-bill process. Recognizing that the process often only promotes communication when stakes are high and stances are far apart, Dillard will form on ad-hoc basis the Illinois Jobs Creation Council. The Council’s goal will be to seek areas of common-ground interest to promote creative ideas on the creation of jobs—something that benefits both sides. It is Dillard’s belief that finding those common areas of interest will spur better and more innovative ideas on attracting and keeping good-paying jobs in Illinois.
* I get a lot of strange press releases every day, but this one from the National Taxpayers United of Illinois’ Jim Tobin was so far over the top that I thought I’d let you see some of what you’re missing…
RACIST GOV. QUINN AND CORRUPT DANIEL HYNES USING VICIOUS ANTI-PETITION MANEUVERS
CHICAGO–So-called “reformers,” Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes (D), are masterminding drives to invalidate petition signatures of other independent Democrats who have turned in the required number of signatures to appear on the Feb. 2, 2010, Democratic gubernatorial primary, charged Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI).
“By attempting to knock William “Dock” Walls, III off the ballot, Gov. Quinn displays racial prejudice by targeting Walls over all the other gubernatorial candidates. Quinn believes he is superior to the only African American candidate for Governor. This should infuriate the African-American community of Illinois.”
“Walls submitted over 9,400 signatures, far more than the 5,000 signatures needed to run for Governor. Quinn’s Cronies challenged a large number of signatures with no legal justification. An army of petition checkers flooded the Board of Elections, often refusing to talk to reporters on the scene because they were government employees working for ‘reformer’ Quinn.”
“According to the Board of Elections hearing examiner, Walls is supposedly short the required number of valid signatures by less than a dozen.”
“In addition to Quinn’s Cronies, we also have Hynes’ Hacks, who are working hard to keep independent Democratic candidate Ed Scanlan off the Feb. 2, 2010, ballot. Hynes’ Hacks are exploiting every trick to invalidate Scanlan’s 10,000 signatures, including using government employees to challenge the signatures.”
“The Illinois challenge process is inherently corrupt and a disgrace, favoring establishment candidates and placing independent candidates, regardless of party, at a disadvantage,” said Tobin. “Quinn and Hynes are the problem. They are corrupt and rotten to the core.”
“Two-thirds of the states require only a filing fee to run for office,” said Tobin. “Illinois should follow suit and eliminate the requirement for petition signatures. That would reform Illinois politics more than anything else.”
* The Question: Leaving aside Tobin’s breathless rant, do you think Illinois should “eliminate the requirement for petition signatures”? And would doing so “reform Illinois politics more than anything else”? Explain thoroughly, please.
As he marked the anniversary of his arrest, ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich today reasserted his innocence by autographing a copy of the U.S. Constitution with his now-infamous catchphrase, “fn golden.”
The indicted politician scrawled the near-profanity on the nation’s most sacred of documents at a book signing on the University of Chicago campus. A student asked Blagojevich to sign near the 17th Amendment — the one dealing with the appointment of U.S. senators. In other words, the very type of seat that federal prosecutors say Blagojevich tried to sell and was allegedly heard describing as “(bleeping) golden” on a wiretap.
“Always remember the rule of law is sacrosanct, nay it is more — it is fn golden,” Blagojevich wrote on the page today. […]
“I’m OK with writing it,” he told reporters. “I did not write the bad word. I abbreviated it.”
When other states get hit with massive, nationally embarrassing corruption scandals, political leaders upend the status quo, throw the bums out and do their level best to ensure it can’t happen again.
In Illinois, state lawmakers have tweaked and twiddled on reform measures, in hopes voters forget what they’re mad about.
Um, they did throw the bum out. Remember that impeachment thingy? Also, as Charlie Wheeler wrote several weeks ago in Illinois Issues, most of the reforms that were approved by the General Assembly focused like a laser on Blagojevich’s many, many transgressions…
Overall, the legislative reaction to the reform suggestions followed the pattern predicted here a couple of months ago. Changes affecting executive branch operations were embraced; those that would upset the legislative status quo were not.
In so choosing, did Democratic leaders and their majorities sustain a culture of corruption? Or was that the rational approach, focusing on eradicating the opportunities for clearly documented illicit activities while ignoring certain aspects of the legislative process that some might not like but are hardly corrupt?
Instead of bemoaning what didn’t happen, naysayers might want to look again and see a glass that’s got more in it than anyone would have believed possible this time last year.
Weakening the legislative leaders is a noble cause, and should be done. But, in this context, would a weak House Speaker have been able to stand in Blagojevich’s way for two years, as Michael Madigan did?
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) on Wednesday said the campaign contribution limits legislation signed by Gov. Quinn is a significant victory for Illinois voters and should help reduce the influence wielded by big campaign contributors.
Gov. Quinn, by the way, has a new video where he talks about the past year. Take a look…
Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady responds…
“Today Governor Quinn will sign into law legislation claiming to be a significant victory for ethics reform in the State of Illinois. However, the reality is quite different. Notwithstanding the laudable efforts by numerous citizen reform groups, the legislation does nothing more than enhance the power of those who supported Rod Blagojevich. Notably absent from today’s bill signing is any legislation recommended by Governor Quinn’s Reform Committee Task Force.”
[US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald] not only went after Blagojevich, satisfying the growing political Machine in Illinois that wanted him to leave, but also check-mated Obama. How could Obama replace Fitzgerald in the wake of his taking action against Blagojevich over Obama’s old senate seat without looking like he was protecting “corruption” in Illinois?
Never mind that what Fitzgerald did was wrong. People are innocent until proven guilty in America, but not in Fitzgerald’s eyes. And, there is a process of prosecution that Fitzgerald side-stepped and avoided in going after Blagojevich to protect his own political career in Illinois. Instead of filing charges, Fitzgerald used the Chicago FBI to arrest Blagojevich one year ago at his home not on charges but on trumped up claims thatw ere not backed by evidence at all.
Imagine if the US Attorney can do that anytime he doesn’t like someone? Accuse them of a crime, disgrace them publicly? Say things to disparage someone you don’t like and set up a political movement to have him removed from office and never, ever have to provide one real bit of fair evidence in a court room where the target, Blagojevich, can defend himself?
* Lee Newspapers has more on the story about the planned state budget cuts which we discussed a bit yesterday…
In addition to calling for an increase in the income tax rate, Gov. Pat Quinn is asking some of his state agencies to cut back their spending by as much as 14 percent for next year’s budget.
Quinn won’t present plans for his next budget until the spring. But he wants agencies to begin planning to spend far less than they are this year in order to try to cope with the state’s massive deficit. […]
The planned 14 percent in cuts for next fiscal year would target only agencies of “small and medium” sizes, Kraft said. On the small and medium list sent by Quinn’s office are agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The full statement from the governor’s office…
The State of Illinois is faced with unprecedented budget challenges that will take a vigorous combination of revenue increases, budget cuts, borrowing and help from the federal government in order to come up with a solution. To that end, The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget has reached out to agencies requesting they work to balance their budget with fiscal restraint.
We have asked small and medium agencies to prepare FY11 budget requests at 14% less than their FY10 budget level. The 14% is not a firm directive but rather an analysis, exercise, and request for information as we engage in a deliberative process with our agencies to address the budget crisis while maintaining vital services to our residents. Everything will be examined on a case by case basis.
We realize that some of the larger agencies have overarching issues that will prevent them from examining the 14% reduction. Therefore, we are meeting with the large agency directors over the next few weeks where we will discuss major spending pressures and opportunities for reductions.
I’ve asked for more detail and the governor’s office sent me a list of what they consider to be small, medium and large agencies. Click here to see the xls file.
* The state isn’t the only government hurting in Illinois, of course. Local governments are really feeling the pinch. The Daily Herald editorial board notices the problem today…
A dramatic trend is evident in even a cursory review of Daily Herald pages these days. Everywhere, it seems, communities face the prospect of steep program or service cuts in order to stave off budget deficits.
A teen center in Arlington Heights. Police and firefighters in Hoffman Estates. Maintenance services in a Pingree Grove subdivision. Furloughs in Aurora. Unspecified layoffs in Palatine.
Local communities and schools, clearly, are heir to the same financial ills afflicting public bodies at the county, state and national levels. Ills also suffered, not irrelevantly, by the citizens and taxpayers from whom governments get their sustenance and whom they are bound to serve.
Indeed, we’d argue that you don’t need hindsight to recognize that it may not be the best time to slice the ranks of your police department by 40 positions, including 33 police officers. A full, overlapping patrol shift - noon to 8 p.m. - will be eliminated and investigation of gang crimes will be significantly compromised. Both come when the city’s record for murders may be safe - 19 in 1993 - but not much else is, with 14 homicides so far this year, in a decade that has witnessed as much or more bloodshed, most of it gang- and drug-related, as any in the city’s history. Pulling some funds from rainy-day reserves could have softened this blow. […]
You don’t need hindsight to sense that the city getting out of the animal control business will likely lead to more animals in the streets. We may not see 8,000 more, which is the number scooped up by PAWS in 2008. We may not see an evolutionary new hybrid between dog and cat in the River City, either. But who would be surprised if the county does the minimum required of it by state law next year?
And here’s a round-up of a few of the local budget woe stories in today’s Illinois papers…
* Peoria City Council approves $165.8 million budget: By a 10-1 vote, the council endorsed a spending plan that was once $14.5 million in the red, a deficit that council people called “unprecedented” and one that was closed with the elimination of 69 positions.
Again, that’s just a few of them. Every day we see more and more of these and it’s just impossible to post them all.
And that’s why GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan’s proposal to cut way back on revenue sharing for local governments, which we discussed yesterday, needs to be looked at very carefully.
Pushing the pain down the food chain is a common government practice. It happened quite often in the 1980s. Federal officials could point to their few tax hikes with pride, but everybody else down the line had to raise their taxes to make up for lost revenues. It’s no mere coincidence that local property tax rates skyrocketed and the state income tax was raised twice during that decade.
[McKenna’s proposal] could mean big cuts to state government while only addressing about half of the budget deficit. He didn’t offer specifics about the impact on services and programs. […]
Spending levels likely would need to remain frozen there for three or four years so the state can dig out of “a real deep hole,” said McKenna, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.
That means human services agencies that depend on state money also would have to live with less until the state could generate more funds. Extra money can be found through savings realized from proposed efficiencies like expanding Medicaid managed care and changing the state’s pension system, McKenna said. […]
“It would literally mean throwing people out of supportive services they are currently receiving,” said [Daniel Schwick, assistant to the president of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois], whose agency offers services to families, children, seniors and people with disabilities throughout the state.
The threat of large cuts to social service agencies this year sparked outrage among providers and sent the governor and lawmakers scrambling to avoid them.
McKenna, by the way, claims in his TV ads that the state budget deficit is $11 billion and growing by $30 million a day. If that’s true, then the budget deficit for next fiscal year would be about $22 billion. I asked yesterday for clarification and I’ll update you when I hear more.
* Not good timing, considering the Blagojevich “arrestoversary” and Gov. Quinn’s planned signing of the campaign reform bill today. But this does appear to be an innocent mistake…
The campaign of Gov. Pat Quinn has temporarily halted making automated campaign calls after it came to light that some were going to state office telephones.
The calls to those telephones were inadvertent, said Quinn campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Austin.
“Apparently some of those calls went to offices because people had used their office numbers instead of their home numbers when they registered to vote,” Austin said, and the automated calls were going to numbers listed on voter registration records.
The calls were stopped as soon as the problem was identified, according to the campaign.
* The video isn’t posted as I write this, but I’m told Gov. Quinn and Comptroller Hynes got more than a little testy with each other during their “debate” before the Tribune editorial board. I’ll post the video when the Trib does.
Quinn said the state’s current pension benefits are “far beyond reasonable” and slammed Hynes for failing to support a so-called “two-tier” pension system as both court unions for endorsements.
“I have the courage to tell the unions I am for a two-tier system. That cost me politically and I know that,” Quinn said. Hynes said he doesn’t believe the current basic pension benefits are extravagant, and he called them important for attracting a qualified work force.
As good as those lines were, Quinn will need those unions in the general election, so he shouldn’t go too far with this.
“We’re in a political contest, there should be robust contest there, robust contest of ideas,” Quinn said. “But to take this [short-term borrowing] issue and politicize it, and he has politicized it, is wrong.”
But Hynes said the state can no longer afford to borrow its way out of the fiscal mess, noting Moody’s Investors Service cited a lack of political willpower to fix the deficit when it downgraded the state’s bond rating Tuesday.
The person who really politicized this issue is Quinn. This was a carefully planned political assault and Quinn goofed by pulling the trigger too soon. If he had waited until Treasurer Giannoulias was on board, the attack on Hynes would’ve been devastating. Instead, the governor looks like a mope.
And you knew this was coming…
“They received 21 letters complaining about that [Burr Oak] cemetery and [the comptroller] failed to properly act,” Quinn said, adding he pushed pending legislation to take cemetery regulation away from Hynes’ office because “it did a lousy job.”
As I’ve written before, if Hynes really closes the gap on Quinn I fully expect a nuclear Burr Oak attack.
* Charles Thomas writes about an interesting little development in the campaign…
A sign that Quinn has lost his campaign balance happened [Monday], when the Governor missed the grand opening of a shelter for homeless veterans on the city’s southside. He stood up former Illinois and now-Federal Veterans Affairs honcho Tammy Duckworth who flew in from Washington for the ceremony.
Quinn, perhaps the hardest-working advocate for veterans you’ll find anywhere in politics, was a no-show because he was held over by west side African-American elected officials who had just endorsed him.
Sources say the black pols had the Governor cornered demanding specifics on minority participation in the $31 billion capital bill Quinn signed last summer. The conventional wisdom is that Quinn cannot win the February 2, 2010 primary without the overwhelming support of African American voters.
* Today’s campaign video is, once again, from Gov. Quinn. It’s about the governor’s endorsement by several West Side politicians. Have a look…
Employers in the Chicago metropolitan area expect to be hiring at a slow pace in the first three months of 2010, with just 8 percent saying they plan to add staff during the quarter, according to a survey unveiled Tuesday by Manpower Inc.
Calling small business the “backbone” of Chicago’s economy, Mayor Daley today unveiled plans to give Ma and Pa companies the capital and regulatory relief they need to survive the prolonged recession.[…]
City Hall has set aside $3.2 million from the Chicago Skyway windfall to provide loans of $10,000 to $150,000 to small businesses through a fund administered by the city treasurer’s office. And $350,000 in parking meter proceeds will be used to leverage another $23 million in small business loans.
The chief judge of Cook County Circuit Court is creating a domestic violence division to try to improve communication among judges and ensure that abuse victims don’t fall through the cracks.
Students at Chicago Public Schools showed little improvement over two years on fourth- and eighth-grade national math tests, despite a push to improve mathematics achievement, federal data released Tuesday indicates.
Overall Chicago public school’s 4th and 8th graders are making small but steady gains. But NAEP’s Andrew Kolstad says in the last two years it’s Chicago’s Hispanic fourth graders making the most progress.
The Tribune reported last month that 10,000 seniors in public high schools magically got there without ever being juniors. That is, they were sophomores, and then they sort of disappeared for a year, and then they popped up as seniors.
They were going to school the whole time. But by fudging their class status when they should have been juniors, their schools shielded them from taking the Prairie State Achievement Exam. The two-day test is given to all juniors and it is used, among other things, to gauge how schools are performing.
Just how much of a direct link does there need to be between a proposal before a government body, an elected official and financial interest before the official needs to step away and recuse himself? These are some questions that have been roiling for Woodford County Board member Terry Pille over the issue of wind farm development.
* I spent way too much time putting this little video together. It’s definitely not the slickest thing you’ll ever see, but I wanted to do something different for the one-year anniversary of Rod Blagojevich’s arrest. Plus, I need the editing practice. Be gentle, please. Have a look…
Governor Pat Quinn will sign a bill Wednesday to cap some political donations for the first time in Illinois.
When the legislature passed the campaign finance bill in October, Quinn called it “excellent,” but said he needed time to review it fully. Quinn’s office confirms he plans to sign the legislation Wednesday. That’s the anniversary of the arrest of his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich.
The bill signing will likely take a back seat to the anniversary coverage, or at least maybe force reporters/pundits to put the reforms into the context of what Blagojevich did, rather than the various vendettas against the Democratic legislative leaders, particularly if Blagojevich ventures out into public again like he did today…
In the midst of federal attempts to re-indict Rod Blagojevich, the former governor suggested today that he wanted to be in court as soon as possible.
“I wish my trial could’ve been held right away,” Blagojevich said to a modest-sized crowd inside a University of Chicago bookstore. “And then I’d still be governor now.” […]
Instead of considering a trial delay, prosecutors will just charge the former governor with something new.
“It’s interesting,” Blagojevich said. “My accusers like to change their story and are now giving another story and another set of circumstances. My story has never changed.”
Yeah, he’d still be governor if his trial was right away. Sure.
Sheesh.
He had a trial in the Senate and he didn’t even bother to show up.
“It’s substantial progress and I think it’ll make a great difference in making elections more competitive in Illinois and more open,” Quinn said this afternoon following an appearance before the Tribune’s editorial board. […]
Quinn said he decided to sign the bill on the anniversary of Blagojevich’s arrest to encourage citizens to look back on the past year and the changes that have been implemented since Blagojevich’s ouster. […]
Quinn said it is “progress” that leaders will face limits in primary elections, but added that the state “should also take a look at them” for the general election.
The governor also claimed “there was not a lot of enthusiasm” for keeping a proposal from the original bill that would’ve prevented the Democratic Party of Illinois from endorsing in primaries, “so I didn’t insist on it.” Speaker Madigan more than implied during the veto session that the governor dropped the subject after Lisa Madigan decided to run for reelection.
