* Malcom McLaren wasn’t one of my favorite people growing up. Yeah, without his management there would be no Sex Pistols. But McLaren took far too much credit for the Pistols’ success and treated its members like a second-rate boy band, which led directly to their split.
“For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you.”
My brother Denny and I played in a band in high school that did “God Save the Queen.” It was one of the few Pistols tunes we could get away with playing at school functions and on base (we were in Germany at the time, living on a military base). After I moved to Munich for college, I was at a buddy’s apartment when somebody from back home who was visiting my friend said he had a tape of one of our gigs. I am bummed to this day that I didn’t get a copy of that tape. We were pretty good. At least, we thought so at the time.
* 1:00 pm - As I told subscribers weeks ago, Rep. Julie Hamos has been picked to direct DHFS…
Gov. Pat Quinn today named an unsuccessful Democratic congressional candidate to lead the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
State Rep. Julie Hamos of Wilmette, succeeds Barry Maram, who resigned this month after seven years in the post. Maram, a holdover from ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration, will help in the transition. […]
Hamos pledged to make Illinois a nationwide health care leader by bringing people from around the state to the table to listen to how to best implement national health care reforms locally.
“We need to really hear the disparate voices,” Hamos said at a luncheon with Quinn to announce her appointment at the East Bank Club.
DHFS is almost without a doubt the most complicated state agency in Illinois. This will be a huge challenge for Hamos.
Robyn Gabel will reportedly be appointed to the Hamos seat soon. Gabel won the Democratic primary to replace Hamos in February. She’s a longtime Statehouse hand who I think will be a solid legislator.
* The old saying that anecdotes aren’t data may apply to this Tribune story. Here’s the anecdote…
After his prison sentence came to an end in April 2007, child sex predator Ronald Dubbins was supposed to undergo one year of tightly controlled supervision as he transitioned back home — with electronic monitoring, mandatory therapy and frequent meetings with a parole officer.
But because he could not find a place to live that met Illinois’ ever-expanding sex offender housing restrictions, Dubbins served parole behind bars and then was released into Cook County without monitoring.
Dubbins returned to his old ways after his release.
But here’s the data…
Of the 1,292 sex offenders discharged in fiscal 2008 after serving parole behind bars, 28 percent were listed as missing, not having registered their address or not being up-to-date with their registrations, compared with 23 percent of the 1,868 sex offenders paroled into the community.
Another 21 percent of the discharged offenders returned to prison, a slightly higher rate than those who were paroled. But in most cases, offenders monitored in the community were sent back to prison for technical parole violations, in many cases housing-related problems, while the discharged offenders were convicted of new crimes.
That’s not a huge difference, but I do see the point. Releasing them from parole served behind bars straight into the community needs to be rethought, for sure. Also, this Dubbins character had his parole shortened due to good time credit. That needs to end or be rethought. Since Dubbins wasn’t required to undergo counseling, who’s to say he wasn’t a threat because he didn’t get into any trouble in prison?
Definitely time for some statute tweaks, but overreactions should be reined in.
* I’ve become more of an agnostic on concealed carry laws. I, for one, thought that Florida’s concealed carry law, which allows people to pack heat in taverns, would be a disaster. Florida has some pretty wild spots, so I figured we’d see some old-time gun battles. That didn’t happen, however, and now I’m far more open-minded about the idea. But this sort of rhetoric is a bit much…
[Valinda Rowe of IllinoisCarry.com] drew laughs in making her point about how women should be able to carry a gun for self-defense, describing advice given on the Illinois State Police Web site for handling an assault. It advises scratching an attacker with car keys or a rat-tail hair comb, or making yourself vomit to repel them (she handed out tongue depressors with the Illinoiscarry.com label, calling them a “tactical self-defense weapon.”)
“If these are so effective, why do we not see them in the Illinois State Police’ holsters?” she said, holding up a comb and keys.
I’ve noticed a strong sense among the most fervent concealed carry types that they could battle it out with the gun-toting bad guys. Some even appear to want the chance to do so. But the bad guys just don’t throw down from a distance and challenge you. An unspecting gun or club to your head or a knife to your back doesn’t give you much time to react.
That being said, I can definitely see the deterrent factor from criminals knowing that their victims might be armed. Still, Miami’s violent crime rate is significantly higher than Chicago’s. So, maybe that’s a fallacy as well.
* Meanwhile, Exelon appears to be fighting hard in Springfield to stop some wind power projects. Progress Illinois fills us in…
Last month, we noted how Chairman Mike Jacobs (D-Moline) shelved key “green” legislation on the eve of a critical legislative deadline while unexpectedly giving a pass to some legislation benefiting the energy industry. At the time, State Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) — whose wind-related bill remained stalled — attributed the incident to a “miscommunication.”
Now Crain’s is reporting (subscription required) that energy industry lobbyists were indeed engaged in a behind-the-scenes effort to thwart Harmon’s measure (SB 3686), objecting to one provision which would require that utilities fulfilling their obligations under the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard procure renewable energy from Illinois sources before turning to neighboring states.
Wind advocates have launched a counter-campaign, arguing that the bill is key to launching some shovel-ready Illinois wind farms over the next year. “[I]f Exelon is successful,” Illinois Wind Energy Association’s Kevin Borgia wrote yesterday, “the Illinois projects remain in limbo, and the new jobs, tax revenue, and other economic development likely go to Texas, the Dakotas, and even Manitoba.”
The Operating Engineers union has 400 members working on wind projects in Illinois, with the prospect for many more, so they’re gearing up for a big fight against Exelon.
Crain’s explains that Exelon is battling the jobs, property taxes and economic development the wind farms bring over a fear for its profits…
But a continued influx of homegrown wind power could hit Exelon where it hurts the most, reducing wholesale power prices in Illinois. That’s because wind tends to blow hardest at night, when power demand is lowest. In recent years, real-time prices at night have turned negative at times, requiring generators to actually pay to unload their juice, because supply has outstripped demand. More local wind power likely would exacerbate that effect. Exelon’s nukes run around the clock, making them more vulnerable to these price swings, while natural gas- and coal-fired plants can shut down when demand is weak […]
Joseph Dominguez, Exelon’s senior vice-president for state governmental affairs, acknowledges more wind power in the market could hurt prices the nuclear plants could charge, but he said it could hurt higher-cost coal-fired plants more.
Change is tough, but it needs to happen. And Exelon’s pricing concerns are balderdash. The estimate is that these projects would cost households 40 cents a month. That ain’t much considering past ComEd rate hikes.
Part of the problem here is the way this bill is being lobbied. Sen. Jacobs’ father, former state Sen. Denny Jacobs, lobbies for ComEd. These two guys really need to be careful about this stuff, particularly with the feds nosing around the building.
A Buffalo Grove atheist claims that $2.3 billion worth of construction grants are unconstitutionally going toward religious organizations.
That lede is just flat-out false. [ADDING: I didn’t notice that the story was written a couple of weeks ago, but the premise remains. The topline claim by Sherman is unsupported by the facts.] Here’s most of the reason why…
The suit names Gov. Pat Quinn as a defendant, saying the governor was allowed unconstitutional authority to spend a grant worth $2.23 billion as he sees fit. The grant is the largest one listed in the suit.
So, almost all of the spending challenged by the suit has nothing whatsoever to do with religious organizations.
* But, wait, there’s more. Reporters aren’t drilling down even a little bit into this sut. For instance, the first grant on Sherman’s list is $45 million for “early childhood construction grants to school districts and not-for-profit providers of early childhood services.” The reason this grant was challenged? “Grant not limited to the secular programs.”
Sherman doesn’t show any examples of how the state Constitution’s separation of church and state provision is actually being violated. He just thinks it might be violated one day.
The sum of $5,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the Capital Development Fund to the Department of Natural Resources for upgrades to lodges, camps and campsites, including but not limited to previously incurred costs.
That, too, was challenged because it doesn’t specify that no money goes to religious groups for non-sectarian purposes.
There’s more. Including a $100,000 construction grant for the Boys & Girls Club of Mississippi Valley for a teen center.
My conclusion is Sherman and Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney (Sherman’s attorney) bulked up this lawsuit for maximum media impact. And the media mostly fell for it.
A group seeking to keep religion out of government is singling out the Illinois House for starting each session day with a prayer.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, asking that the prayers be stopped after the organization received a complaint from one of its Illinois members. The group claims the prayers violate the U.S. Constitution because they alienate non-Christians and nonbelievers.
“Do it yourself is our philosophy,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, the foundation’s co-president. “Don’t beseech some supernatural being in the sky to do your work for you.”
* No surprise here. Embattled Democratic US Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias is losing ground in the Rasmussen Reports poll. But Republican Mark Kirk is not gaining anything. Instead, voters appear to moving to undecided and “some other candidate.” That combined number has risen from 14 percent in February to 21 percent in the new poll. Here are the latest results, with two previous Rasmussen polls from March and February in parentheses…
Mark Kirk 41% (41%, 46%)
Alexi Giannoulias 37% (44%, 40%)
Some Other Candidate 8% (5%, 4%)
Not sure 13% (10%, 10%)
Kirk holds a double-digit lead over his Democratic rival among male voters, but Giannoulias has a slight edge among women. Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the Republican by a four-to-one margin.
Giannoulias is now viewed very favorably by just eight percent (8%) of Illinois voters and very unfavorably by 21%. This marks little change from last month.
Seventeen percent (17%) have a very favorable opinion of Kirk, while the identical number (17%) view him very unfavorably. Both findings are up from a month ago.
At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.
* Rasmussen actually has a slight majority for repeal of the new health care bill, with 51 percent favoring and 44 percent opposed. However, a plurality of 48 percent thinks the legislation will be “good for the country,” while 44 percent think it’ll be bad. 52 percent say they support requiring everyone to buy or obtain health insurance.
When you think about the major issues facing the country, whose views are closest to your own President Barack Obama or the average tea party member?
50% President Barack Obama
38% The average Tea Party member
12% Not sure
How concerned are you that those opposed to President Obama’s policies will resort to violence?
27% Very concerned
29% Somewhat concerned
21% Not very concerned
20% Not at all concerned
3% Not sure
56 percent are concerned about violence? Fascinating.
…Adding… The more Republican you are, the less concerned about a violent reaction to Obama’s policies you may be, according to the crosstabs.
61 percent of Republicans were “Not very concerned” (33) or “Not at all concerned” (28) about the prospect of violence. Just 22 percent of Democrats weren’t concerned, while 65 percent of Dems were “Very concerned” (37) or “Somewhat concerned” (38) about violent reacts. 36 percent of Repubs were concerned.
* Related…
* ADDING: Preckwinkle’s campaign manager takes post with Cook Dems
* ADDING: Giannoulias Campaign Not Letting Kirk Off The Hook
* About 100 air frustrations with health care at Walsh forum: Walsh also has opposed the health care law and on Thursday repeated his promise to repeal the law if elected to the House. “It can be repealed,” he said. “It can be defunded.”
* No winners in America where citizens can’t talk to one another: Ultimately what’s troublesome here is the tone. One can certainly disagree with Hare on this or any issue; he’s a big boy who ought to be able to handle the heat. That said, we’ve known Hare for a few years now, he’s an amiable and well-intentioned sort, and he didn’t have this treatment coming. It’s quite a stretch to suggest this military veteran “doesn’t care” about the Constitution. Given his vote, nothing he could have said would have satisfied this crowd, which has every right to - and almost certainly will - express its displeasure with him at the ballot box. When Americans can’t talk to one another anymore, then it’s difficult to have a functioning democracy. Who would be surprised if Hare were far less eager to engage with such a group in the future?
* One wonders if Jim Edgar is gonna keep this up all year. Sure looks like it…
Former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar said Thursday his party’s candidate for governor is wrong on Illinois’ budget crisis and made the case for hiking taxes - the main plank of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s platform. […]
Asked after the speech if Brady’s budget plans - cutting taxes and services to balance the budget - were realistic, Edgar said Brady needs to “flush out his budget policies” more.
Edgar has previously called Brady’s plan for a 10 percent across-the-board cut “naive,” which he conceded Thursday led to angry calls from Brady backers.
“I know that upsets their camp when I say that,” Edgar said to laughter from the students, teachers and residents.
The former governor also whacked the current governor for his frequent flip-flops, saying Gov. Quinn needs to think things through before he says things.
* My Sun-Times column today is about how Quinn appears to be doing what he can to lose this thing to Brady…
Gov. Pat Quinn is one odd duck.
Forget about the 30-year-old briefcase he calls “Betsy.” Or the constant references to his Super 8 VIP card to stress his frugality, even though Super 8 discontinued the VIP card program years ago. Or his penchant for blue-and-purple-striped ties.
That’s just quirkiness. Some of it is even endearing. Quinn also has a very big heart, and I know for a fact that he’s a decent man in private.
But he’s odd, man. Really, really odd.
Five straight polls in the past month have shown Quinn trailing conservative Republican state Sen. Bill Brady by an average of about 10 points. That’s the 100 percent pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay rights, anti-union, proud Chicago-bashing Downstater who won the Republican primary by 193 votes and who almost never set foot in Cook County Bill Brady.
Ten points. In “blue” Illinois.
Ten.
And what has Quinn been doing about this impending disaster? Well, for one, he has all but shut down his campaign. Two months since he barely won a primary that he should’ve walked away with and the guy has no campaign manager.
Dawn Clark Netsch did the very same thing after she won the 1994 Democratic gubernatorial primary. It’s not like she would’ve won anyway; 1994 turned out to be a Republican landslide. But it sure did confound a whole bunch of people when she did it.
Quinn and Netsch haven’t gotten along in decades, so you’d think the governor wouldn’t be following her ‘94 playbook during yet another off-year election of a Democratic president’s first term. Yep. Odd.
Quinn has not yet addressed the one issue that almost lost him the primary. In fact, he has made things worse. The governor stubbornly refused to fire his Department of Corrections director for concocting a secret plan to release hundreds of violent felons from prison. That single issue nearly destroyed Quinn and catapulted Dan Hynes into serious contention.
Instead of fixing the problem, Quinn swept out of the department people who had — get this — argued against the director’s early release program. And then a week ago, as if to spit in the eyes of the political gods, Quinn pardoned 147 convicted criminals in one, fell swoop. It’s a veritable Oddapalooza with this guy.
Two polls have shown Quinn’s job approval rating at a George Ryanesque 25 percent. In order to get back into the game and win some hearts and minds, he’ll need to raise a ton of campaign cash. But his staunch support for a sweeping public employee pension reform bill last month has infuriated the unions — the single largest source of campaign money and volunteers a Democrat has.
This week, Quinn sat down for a meeting with a bunch of union leaders at the Chicago Federation of Labor’s headquarters. After being excoriated by the leaders of Service Employees International Union (which contributed almost $2 million to Quinn’s primary campaign), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the teachers union, Quinn finally had enough. If you can’t convince your members to vote for me over Brady, he reportedly said, then fine. He rose to make a grand exit, but accidentally walked into the kitchen instead. He was forced to make yet another grand exit through the proper door. It was like a bad movie.
Odd, that one.
The governor is doing what he thinks is right. And he may actually be correct on the merits. But being right doesn’t always win elections, and at the moment it looks like he’s doing everything he can to lose. It’s one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen.
