Question of the day
Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This tragedy is just unreal…
Members of the Illinois National Guard who fought alongside Polish forces in Iraq and Afghanistan gathered with Gov. Pat Quinn at Chicago’s Polish Consulate this morning to pay their respects to the eastern European country still reeling from a weekend plane crash that killed the president and some of the nation’s highest military and civilian leaders.
“It has been rough,” said Lt. Colonel Matthew Voyles of the Illinois National Guard, who served with one of the generals who died in Saturday’s crash. (Separately, Mayor Richard Daley expressed his condolences to the family of Polish President Lech Kaczynski.) […]
“Our hearts are heavy,” said Quinn, who said that he had visited Poland twice. “The people of Poland know firsthand how precious democracy and freedom and liberty are. They have struggled under oppression for many centuries, resisted the fascism of the Nazis. They resisted the Communists. They resisted all of those who would take away the right of the people to speak.”
* I’ve struggled to come up with a way to deal with this here. Illinois has so many Polish immigrants and they’ve been such an important part of our history that this unspeakable event demands something be done. But what? Maybe that should be the question: What should Illinois’ response be?
Keep it serious, people.
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* If history is any guide, the governor will soon be riding his white horse to the rescue of the MAP grant program…
Illinois higher education officials next week likely will stop approving applicants for the state’s largest need-based college scholarship program.
The state awards money from the Monetary Award Program to students on a first-come, first-served basis until the amount of money they think they’ll have available runs out.
It could run out as early as next week, said Illinois Student Assistance Commission Executive Director Andrew Davis.
Whether Quinn rides to the rescue of this program probably depends on the attention the cuts receive…
University of Illinois Extension offices are on the move.
As part of a cost-cutting measure, 76 county offices will be reduced to 30 by April 2011. The Extension’s current budget of $65 million was reduced by $5.5 million for 2011.
Extension offices have until May 10 to submit proposed multicounty partnership plans, said Roger Larson, director of the Peoria County Extension office.
* More budget woes…
Troopers on two wheels could become a thing of the past if lawmakers approve Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget proposal for the Illinois State Police.
Along with laying off 460 troopers and closing several Illinois State Police regional headquarters, Quinn’s budget plan would idle the state’s fleet of Harley-Davidson Police Electra Glides.
Those motorcycles are extremely cool. Yes, budget problems are budget problems, but I, for one, would be sad to see them go.
* Let’s turn to economic development, or the lack thereof.
I did some research on plasma arc technology years ago and found it to be pretty darned incredible. Why the NASA-developed process is really being stalled is anybody’s guess…
A group of south suburban mayors will head to Springfield on Wednesday in hopes of resurrecting a plan that would bring a new type of municipal waste-to-energy plant to the south suburbs.
Blue Island Mayor Donald Peloquin, Alsip Mayor Patrick Kitching and state Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) will be among those who will attempt to change the minds of state Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island) and other opponents of a proposal to build a plasma arc gasification plant in Blue Island.
A plasma arc gasification plant uses a plasma arc like a lightning bolt to vaporize solid waste at very high temperatures. There are two byproducts, a glass-like granular slag that can be used in road paving projects and a synthetic combustible gas that can be used to fuel electric turbines and generate electricity.
The bill died last month in committee, but Rep. Davis is trying to revive it. Exelon, of course, is attempting to kill off a wind power program, so that might possibly be the case here as well. More on the technology can be found here.
* Chicago Public Radio ran a very good story today about a plan to lessen the schooling requirements for African-style hair braiders…
State law says that hair braiders like Wague must have a full cosmetology license. That could cost about $10,000 and includes 1,500 hours of training. Like many hair braiders on major streets in Chicago such as Halsted or 79th, Wague doesn’t have a license. Some observers say only 10 percent do have one. Women less as bold have shuttered their businesses.
WAGUE: We don’t feel safe operating when the government is really saying to us to close. We want to respect the law but the law is not easy to follow.
She says it’s not easy to follow because it’s too cumbersome. Hair braiders say hours of cosmetology training are unnecessary because they don’t use chemicals or do anything unrelated to braiding. Wague’s shop doesn’t even have a shampoo bowl.
She’s hoping a new law gets on the books that would require only 300 hours of training in sanitation methods to receive a hair braider’s license. Current hair braiders with experience would be able to get grandfathered in. Later they’d have to get yearly continuing education.
* Don’t count on this one passing, though…
Illinois is looking to become the 15th state to allow medical marijuana.
The measure’s chief sponsor, State Representative Lou Lang (D-Skokie), said Saturday that he is working behind the scenes to line up the needed votes, and is waiting for the right moment to call it for a vote in the Illinois House.
The bill—already passed by the state senate—would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to chronically ill patients in lieu of narcotics like oxycontin and vicodin. Patients who receive the prescription and garner state licensing would end owning up to three plants under the proposed legislation according to WBBM.
House members are pretty timid sorts and this is an election year.
* And here’s your roundup…
* Illinois Still Behind On Its Bills
* Lawmakers Return to Springfield
* Lawmakers may let schools adopt 4-day week
* Crackdown on Debt Schemes Needs a Push
* Only one constitutional amendment moves in Senate
* Voters need say in redistricting
* Dems, time to push this through
* Illinois hospital death rates published by state
* Illinois hospital report card adds new information
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* You learned yesterday that Rod and Rob Blagojevich objected to a federal judge’s ruling that a prosecution blueprint be made public. One of the objections was that the Blagojevich brothers would be unfairly harmed in a potential jury’s eyes by the release…
It is manifestly unfair to make public only portions of sealed tape recorded conversations, which are taken out of context by the Government.
The prosecution responded today with their own brief and it includes our quote of the day…
Notwithstanding the recent airing of a national television show in which he repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, Rod Blagojevich now argues that he would be unfairly prejudiced by the publication of the actual evidence that will be heard at his trial.
Touché, federales. Touché.
* Our fundraising plea of the day award goes to Congressman Mark Kirk…
“Had Enough? Has someone laughed at you because you are from Illinois?”
Joe Ryan points out, however, that Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar recently held a fundraiser for Kirk at Bolingbrook’s “posh” town-owned golf course…
Claar has taken heat for both his campaign fundraising and spending. In 2000, in resigned from the Illinois tollway board after controversy over taking campaign contributions from tollway contractors.
Claar, whose tenure heading Bolingbrook dates back to the 1980s, has taken in more than $5 million in the last decade, a big sum for a suburban mayoral campaign, according to news reports.
A Chicago Tribune review of Claar’s fundraising showed that nearly half of his campaign cash comes from companies or individuals who have done business with the suburb. Those contributors received more than $300 million in such work, more than half of the money Bolingbrook taxpayers spent on contractors in the last 10 years, according to the August news report.
But in addition to questions about where the campaign money comes from, Claar has faced heat over how he spends it - on international trips to destinations like the Bahamas and China and on a Jaguar to get around town.
Glass houses, etc.
Runner-up goes to the Illinois Republican Party for its e-mail blasting Alexi Giannoulias for hypocrisy. On the one hand, Giannoulias whacks Mark Kirk for accepting corporate PAC money. But Giannoulias’ “campaign chairman” US Sen. Dick Durbin, rakes in the PAC cash. Among its list of questions for Giannoulias is this one…
Do you think your campaign chairman, Senator Dick Durbin, is owned by special interests since he has accepted corporate PAC contributions?
Despite his campaign pledge not to take corporate PAC contributions, the Giannoulias Campaign Chairman, Senator Dick Durbin, accepted more than $6.5 million in campaign contributions from federal PACs – $4.4 million from corporate PACs alone. (Source: Center for Responsive Politics)
The Giannoulias Campaign Chairman, Senator Dick Durbin, accepted $663,000 in campaign contributions from lobbyists, $1.46 million from Big Banks and Securities, and $1.45 million from the health care sector. (Source: Center for Responsive Politics)
That’s a fair question.
*** UPDATE *** Mark Kirk has reported raising $2.2 million in the first quarter of the year for his US Senate race. Alexi Giannoulias just released his own totals, which show he pulled in $1.2 million during the same quarter. From a campaign fundraising plea…
Together, without corporate special interest and federal lobbyist money, we raised $1.2 million, an outstanding amount that will allow us to get our message out.
The campaign disclosed in a follow-up call that it had $1.2 million in cash on hand. That’s way below Kirk’s $3 million or so in the bank. Giannouolias, of course, had a hotly contested primary.
“This is a competitive number and we’ve seen a surge in growth in recent weeks,” said a Giannoulias campaign spokesperson. The fundraising “surge” came after Kirk’s now infamous pledge to “lead the effort” to repeal the new healthcare bill.
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What’s Quinn thinking? Zorn explains
Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Eric Zorn makes an important point about polling in his column today. He notes that four years ago, much like this time around, polls showed Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich trailing his Republican opponent, Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka.
The big difference between then and now was that Blagojevich began running TV ads in mid April bashing Topinka…
Less than one month after the primary, he was on the air with a series of “What’s she thinking?” TV commercials attacking Topinka’s opposition to a hike in the minimum wage and to an assault weapons ban.
Even though Topinka was fairly well-known to voters — three-term state treasurer, suburban social moderate — the Blagojevich campaign defined her as an erratic extremist before she could define herself, thus forcing her to play defense through the summer and fall.
Those ads tanked JBT’s numbers for good. She dropped to ten points behind and never moved any closer. Another difference between then and now, Zorn rightly notes, is that Gov. Quinn doesn’t have the sort of campaign apparatus that RRB had back then. He’s also lacking Blagojevich’s giant pile of cash…
But when Quinn does finally hit the campaign trail, he’ll do so with far less money than Blagojevich had, in part because of new state ethics laws that block major state contractors from filling political coffers. Though updated campaign-finance reports aren’t yet available, we know Quinn entered the last few weeks of the primary season with a cash balance of about $3 million, compared to an estimated $14 million Blagojevich had heading into his lightly contested 2006 primary. Blagojevich ended up spending $27 million on his re-election bid.
Zorn adds more context on his blog…
Topinka and Blagojevich raised nearly identical amounts of money during the stretch run, roughly $4.9 million, but Blagojevich had more than $12.2 million in the bank at the end of June, compared to $1.5 million for Topinka.
Quinn likely spent every dime he had in the primary. And because he has angered the public employee unions to no end, he doesn’t have access to their cash right now when he may need it most. And then there’s this…
Furthermore, 2006 was a good year for Democrats overall — they picked up six seats in the U.S. Senate and 30 in the U.S. House, running against the party of a Republican president with sagging approval ratings. Today, every projection has 2010 being a good year for Republicans — they figure to pick up dozens of seats running against the party of a Democratic president with sagging approval ratings.
2006 was a great year for the Illinois Senate Democrats, who picked up a super majority. Speaker Madigan refused to go on offense, believing Blagojevich would be a drag on the ticket. Blagojevich’s close pal Tony Rezko was, indeed, indicted just days before the election, but Madigan was dead wrong about the environment and he picked up just one seat. That inaction could cost him the House this fall if the Republicans manage to pull off another landslide year, but I digress.
Quinn is essentially fiddling while Rome burns.
* Other campaign stuff…
* Ill. State Rep Jumps in Chicago Aldermanic Race
* Trying to read the tea leaves: The Tea Party, the incipient movement that claims to be committed to reining in what they perceive as big government, appears to be motivated by more than partisanship and ideology. Approximately 45% of Whites either strongly or somewhat approve of the movement. Of those, only 35% believe Blacks to be hardworking, only 45% believe Blacks are intelligent, and only 41% think that Blacks are trustworthy.
* Bundle of Republicans seek national committeman’s job
* Township Democrats spurn corrupt post
* Kirk holds fundraising edge on Giannoulias
* Giannoulias tries to change focus from Broadway Bank
* Giannoulias seeks distance from Broadway Bank controversy
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Morning Shorts
Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune bankruptcy plan ‘dead on arrival’
Lenders who say they are owed more than $3.6 billion by Tribune Co. are calling a purported global settlement that the media company announced last week “dead on arrival.”
* Tribune Co. files long-awaited, contested reorganization plan
* ‘Chicago way’ at play in turmoil at CSU
Last week, Watson’s hired gun, N’Digo publisher Hermene Hartman, posted a scathing article on Huffington Post about my columns denouncing the manner in which acclaimed publisher and poet Haki Madhubuti left the university. […]
Although she picked me apart, the magazine publisher did not disclose the contract she was given by Chicago State University.
What she said was: “Dr. Wayne Watson, the president of Chicago State University, and I were vice chancellors at City Colleges together. He is my friend.”
What she should have added is: By the way, before Watson could get his bags unpacked at Chicago State, I had already landed a $19,000 contract for marketing consulting work.
* Chicago businesses given 2-year reprieve on landscaping ordinance
Defying Mayor Daley, the City Council’s License Committee agreed today to give businesses a two-year reprieve from the costly demands of Chicago’s 1991 landscaping ordinance.
* Committee waters down massage parlor ordinance
After a barrage of complaints from hairdressers, nail salons and health clubs, the City Council’s Zoning Committee on Monday watered-down the ordinance championed by Ald. Ray Suarez (31st).
* Chicago aldermen target massage parlors
* 1 inspector general could be better than 2
There are many reasons to be doubtful of the ordinance Chicago aldermen plan to put forward today for a separate inspector general empowered for the first time to investigate the City Council.
The biggest reason may not actually be in the proposed ordinance itself, but in how it’s expected to be put into practice.
It seems the aldermen are envisioning the new inspector general as a part-time job.
* Aldermen propose tight curbs on anyone who could investigate them
* Chicago reports a sharp drop in potholes
* Chicago sees fewer potholes during winter
* Parade will go on, Chicago’s Poles say
* No more free beach parking
Attention all motorists fortunate enough to find a close-to-the-beach parking spot this summer: No more free rides.
* Coast Guard putting back Great Lakes buoys
* Asian carp: Petition fights proposal to close locks to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan
* Metra train deaths force police to step up enforcement, vigilance
* Dealing with vacant homes in Southland
The south suburbs own a dubious honor. According to the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, our area is known for the highest rate of vacant homes in the state.[…]
The next step from a vacant home is an abandoned one. And abandoned properties quickly can become blights, attracting crime and vandalism. Ignored and unkempt, they make an entire neighborhood look bad.
* Consumer confidence up
Consumer confidence in the Peoria area improved a little over the last six months, but still hasn’t reached positive levels in some areas.
That’s according to the Spring 2010 Index of Consumer Sentiment produced by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Bradley University, to be released Tuesday.
* Bloomington OKs budget, but some want future spending to be cut
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