The Republican candidate for Illinois lieutenant governor says he won’t let voters see his tax returns.
Jason Plummer announced Tuesday that he has decided the tax information is off limits.
He says questions about releasing tax information are a distraction from real issues.
Bill Brady’s release went so well that one can only imagine what might be in Plummer’s returns that he would be so interested in keeping from us.
My head hurts.
…Adding… I wrote a column not long ago wondering whether the issue might’ve gone away if Brady had stonewalled the tax return demands. I guess Plummer’s gonna test the theory. But now that Brady has released his own returns, this won’t go over well at all.
Also, what else do we have to ask an LG candidate about anyway? How’s your heart and cholesterol? Now, he’s given us all a perfect opportunity to tee off on him for months. Good for us, bad for him.
Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk is predicting a primary loss for longtime Senator Arlen Specter. He says today’s primary could represent “a pretty big earthquake in Pennsylvania politics.” […]
When asked this morning if the anti-incumbent attitude of voters could hurt his campaign, Kirk deflected the question, instead taking the chance to attack his opponent.
KIRK: Well, Alexi Giannoulias was inside the Broadway Bank, made the risky decisions to bet on hot brokered money and loans to convicted felons and mob figures and was the insider of our treasurer’s office.
A few years back when state Sen. Gary Forby was (again) fighting for his political life, he was asked a question on live TV about some tricky campaign issue or another and he paused for a few seconds before saying “I’m pro life.” The reporter turned to the camera and said, somewhat dumbfounded, “There you have it, folks. Gary Forby is pro life.”
I called Forby and asked why he responded that way. “Well, Rich, I had to get my message out.”
He won.
* Sometimes, I just wanna tear my hair out. Check out this analysis of the news that Dock Walls will run for governor as an independent with Ed Scanlan as his running mate…
The addition of yet another Democrat turned “independent” is bad news for Quinn.
Maybe, but first Dock and Ed have to get on the freaking ballot. Walls dropped out of the Democratic governor’s primary in December right before he was about to be tossed off for lack of sufficient signatures. Scanlan was kicked off the ballot back then because he didn’t have enough signatures. The two men only needed 5,000 valid signatures to qualify for the primary, but now they need 25,000. So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, please.
If you’re really looking for insurgent outsiders, I can think only of two who might qualify this year: Forrest Claypool for county assessor and Scott Lee Cohen for governor.
* Speaking of Facebook, Scott Lee Cohen just announced on his FB page that he wants to collect 100,000 signatures for his gubernatorial bid…
Petitions are ready! If each friend fills just one sheet, we will be almost half way to our goal of 100,000 signatures! If you are able to help out please go to www.scottleecohen.com to download a petition! Thanks so much for your support!
Cohen’s petitions have 15 signatures on each page. He has 2,073 Facebook friends. 2,073 times 15 equals 31,095. Not exactly half way to 100K, but he never claimed to be good at math.
Also, since many of his “friends” are just there to be entertained, are there to monitor his weirdness or may not even know they are his friends - Andy Shaw, the Illinois Chamber, the FAIR Map Coalition (and its arch nemesis Sen. Kwame Raoul), Jesse White, Robin Kelly, Ray Long, myself, Amanda Vinicky, Ben Bradley, Chuck Goudie, Chris Wills, Carol Marin, Illinois Review, Dan Proft, Sen. AJ Wilhelmi, Sen. John Millner, Rep. Connie Howard, Rep. Dan Burke, Rep. Will Burns, Miguel del Valle, Ald. Joe Moreno, Ald. Sandi Jackson, Todd Stroger, Sheriff Tom Dart, Dock Walls, Walter Dudycz, Congressman Bobby Rush, Chris Kennedy, Tom Cullen and our old pal Jerry Morrison from SEIU - I seriously doubt he has a chance at getting everybody on that list to circulate.
May 17, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today named Deputy General Counsel John Schomberg as Acting General Counsel for the Office of the Governor effective May 21. Schomberg is replacing General Counsel Theodore T. Chung, who is returning to private practice.
“John Schomberg is an essential member of my office’s legal team, and I look forward to working with him as Acting General Counsel,” said Governor Quinn. “In addition, I want to thank Ted Chung for all he’s accomplished as General Counsel and wish him every success in the future.”
Schomberg has been with the Office of the Governor since 2009, when he was hired as Deputy General Counsel. During his tenure, Schomberg has been involved with the major issues the Governor’s legal team has managed and worked on.
Prior to joining the Office of the Governor, Schomberg, 37, was an Assistant Corporation Counsel at the City of Chicago Department of Law and an Associate at Chicago-based Mayer Brown LLP (Background Information).
Before being named General Counsel to Governor Quinn in February 2009, Chung, 43, served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, a Deputy Chief of Staff in the Chicago Mayor’s Office, the First Assistant Corporation Counsel in the City’s Law Department, and a partner at a private firm in Chicago.
The answer: Not a word from Chung.
Also, four days’ notice? Strange.
…Adding… From Bob Reed…
Ted gave at least five weeks notice to governor, not four days, to ensure a smooth transition.
Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk says oil companies need to have contingency plans and technology to cap a deep water well in place before they drill new exploratory wells. […]
Kirk says he isn’t concerned that liability connected to the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could put British Petroleum out of business. […]
Kirk says a company that causes a tremendous liability should be responsible to pay for it.
BP employs a whole lot of people in Chicago, but that’s no reason to protect them from legal liability, as some have supported. It’s good to see Kirk is now on board for common sense rules, which too many (including Kirk) didn’t support before this horrific disaster.
* This also probably sounded like a common sense refrain from Kirk when he spoke out on the decision by Highland Park High School administrators to cancel a girls basketball trip to Arizona…
“We should leave politics off the court and let the girls play.”
But the school has a lot of Hispanics, and this explanation from an assistant superintendent appears prudent…
“Since undocumented students may be participating on any of our extracurricular teams, we need to ensure that all of our students can travel safely, especially in the United States,” Suzan Hebson, assistant superintendent, wrote in an e-mail Thursday.
Imagine the uproar if one of their players didn’t come home from the trip. Also, do your best to keep it toned down in comments. I hate posting anything having to deal with illegal immigrants because it brings out the crazy in people. I hate crazy. Keep in mind that I’ll just delete you. So, take a breath first. By the way, i’ve read the Arizona legislation, and it’s a crock. Allowing people to sue police departments because they think they aren’t arresting enough illegals is extreme in the least.
* At least Kirk is giving some answers. Check out this goofy video of Alexi Giannoulias trying desperately to dodge the Highland Park issue by saying we need immigration reforms, but won’t even say what those reforms would be…
The clock is starting to run out on Democrats who would like Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias out of his state’s Senate race in favor of a more electable candidate.
Given the sensitivity of such a scenario, it’s no wonder that Democrats don’t want to be anywhere near a discussion of a switch.
Translation: “I say Democrats want a switch, but I couldn’t get any Democrats to talk to me about it, but that’s natural because they wouldn’t want to be anywhere near it, so just trust me.”
Nobody I’ve seen has yet put any major Democrat on the record or even on background saying Giannoulias should get off the ticket. Until they do, they should stop speaking for these ghosts, which I’m not sure even exist. I, for one, haven’t found one bigtime Dem in Illinois to tell me this on or off the record, and I talk to most of them.
* Back to Kirk, who was in Quincy yesterday at an event that - glory be - was actually open to the media. Kirk talked about jobs, among other things…
Describing himself as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate, Kirk said his visit to Quincy is part of a listening tour to give people a chance to let him know their issues. He listed completion of the lock and dam upgrades, hydroelectric generation and the completion of a Chicago-to-Kansas City Expressway as important elements for this region.
I can’t help but wonder how many of those projects he actually voted for.
* In another sign of the campaign season kicking off early, and a new focus on “jobs” for Kirk, the candidate was endorsed by the Illinois Chamber today. From a press release…
“Congressman Kirk will use his knowledge and experience to work for policies that drive job growth and prosperity,” [Calvin Butler, chairman of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors] said. “This was a clear choice for the Chamber board, which is impressed by the Congressman’s depth of experience, his pro-business proposals, military experience and extensive knowledge about international issues.” […]
“Members of the Illinois Chamber recognize Congressman Kirk’s track record of bi-partisanship and we believe his body of work and preparation show that he’s able to better embrace the challenges facing the U.S. and Illinois than his opponent,” Butler said.
* OK, let’s revisit this blowup over the release of Edjuan Payne, who allegedly murdered a Peoria woman this month several weeks after he was let out of prison.
As you already know, Payne was initially released last October under the controversial “MGT Push” program. He was put back in prison by parole agents in January after he violated his terms of release, including failing an alcohol test and living with his mother, who was not on the approved list. The Prisoner Review Board sent him back to prison for 69 days. He got out in March and allegedly committed the murder in May.
The governor and the Department of Corrections have blamed the Prisoner Review Board, claiming that Payne was required to stay in prison until July. The Prisoner Review Board, in its defense, points to a recommendation by the Department of Corrections’ parole agent that Payne serve just two months. The Peoria Journal Star catches us up on the latest back and forth…
[Prisoner Review Board Chairman Jorge Montes] added that the board ultimately relies on parole agents for 99 percent of the decisions they make regarding early release and reiterated that the agent in Payne’s case explicitly recommended a two-month term.
[Department of Corrections spokesperson Sharyn Elman] fundamentally disagreed.
“That’s absolutely not true,” she said. “In many cases, they do not follow what the parole agent and (Department of Corrections) says - and they’re not required to.”
* Ms. Elman actually went much further than that in a statement she wrote for this blog last night. I’ve edited it slightly for style, but here is Elman’s statement…
The Prisoner Review Board bears the responsibility for the release of this inmate. The Department of Corrections did all that it could to make sure that this offender was in custody for as long as possible.
In fact, as a result of the Department of Corrections’ intensive compliance program, this offender was returned to custody. Although the PRB claims that DOC “recommended” that the offender be released after two months, there is no evidence in the record of the PRB’s decision that they considered this—or any other—information from the inmate’s parole violation report. In fact, there is good reason to believe that the PRB inexplicably disregarded significant information from DOC regarding this offender. For example, the PRB violation order finds that Payne violated only one of his parole conditions. According to DOC and to the PRB’s own administrative hearing officer, there was probable cause to find that Payne had three violations.
There are a variety of other discrepancies between the parole violation report and the PRB’s order that illustrate that the PRB, rather than relying on DOC “recommendations”, actually ignored significant and relevant facts from the parole violation report:
* The parole violation report notes that the offender had a violent history; the PRB’s order ignores that fact;
* The parole violation report recommends substance abuse counseling, if the PRB made a finding of guilt; the PRB order ignores that fact.
Moreover, it is disingenuous and inaccurate to characterize statements from a parole agent to a parole supervisor in the context of a parole violation report—an internal document—as official DOC “recommendations” to outside bodies like the Prisoner Review Board. In fact, the PRB’s own administrative rules suggest that internal reports from parole agents regarding the length of incarceration to supervisors are NOT admissible before the PRB as evidence—the administrative code clearly prohibits this. See Illinois Administrative Code Section 1610.40.
Even if the agent’s statement was a “recommendation” that was admissible before the PRB, the PRB was not legally authorized to implement the recommendation. Under the Illinois Administrative Code, Section 1610.160, the PRB has limited and specific choices in resolving parole violation cases after a finding of guilt. The Board may do one of three things for adult parole violators:
* Release the offender from custody to parole, with or without special condition;
* Parole the offender to a halfway house;
* Keep the inmate in custody for the remainder of the inmate’s period of mandatory supervised release, which would have had him behind bars until July 22, 2010.
The Board does not have the authority to craft a mix-and-match remedy. As a result, the idea that the PRB’s decision to release the inmate after 69 days in custody was prompted by a “recommendation” from DOC is simply false: the applicable regulations do not authorize that action.
In fact, PRB made the decision, unilaterally, to release this offender from custody, without any special conditions of any kind.
* Let’s take a look at some of Elman’s claims. For instance, Elman characterizes the parole agent’s report as “an internal document.” That appears to be poppycock. The parole agent’s report is what the Prisoner Review Board gets when it is handed the case. It is no “internal document” at all.
* Elman says that the administrative code “clearly prohibits” the use of the parole agent’s recommendations in the Prisoner Review Board’s decision. She cites Section 1610.40 of the code. Here it is…
Evidence. The Board is not bound by strict rules of evidence in the conduct of a parole release hearing and will consider all evidence presented, so long as the evidence is not cumulative, repetitive or inherently unreliable (as, for example, would be testimonials of Department of Corrections employees who are not authorized to make parole recommendations) and so long as it has some relevance to the parole release decision, as described in Section 1610.50.
The prohibition applies only to DoC employees who aren’t authorized to make parole recommendations. But the Department of Corrections’ Parole Violation Report form specifically asks the parole agent for a “Recommended time to be served.” So, Elman’s explanation falls flat.
* Elman claims the Prisoner Review Board can only parole or send the person back to prison for the full time and has no authority “to craft a mix-and-match remedy.” Absolutely untrue, says the PRB, pointing to this state statute…
(730 ILCS 5/3‑3‑10) (from Ch. 38, par. 1003‑3‑10)
Sec. 3‑3‑10. Eligibility after Revocation; Release under Supervision.
(a) A person whose parole or mandatory supervised release has been revoked may be reparoled or rereleased by the Board at any time to the full parole or mandatory supervised release term under Section 3‑3‑8, except that the time which the person shall remain subject to the Board shall not exceed (1) the imposed maximum term of imprisonment or confinement and the parole term for those sentenced under the law in effect prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1977 or (2) the term of imprisonment imposed by the court and the mandatory supervised release term for those sentenced under the law in effect on and after such effective date.
(b) If the Board sets no earlier release date…
The PRB certainly appears to have the right to set an “earlier release date” under state law.
* This is a fight to the death. No question. Losing this distasteful PR battle means Mike Randle, the director of DoC, could lose his job and Pat Quinn could lose the election. The DoC appears to be well aware of this fact and is fighting back on all fronts. The more they can throw at reporters, the more this becomes a “he said/she said” story with no blame assigned. And that’s exactly what they’re trying to do here.
The Prisoner Review Board has obviously been caught off guard by the attacks leveled at it by the governor and the DoC. They don’t appear to be itching for a political fight, but they are willing to defend themselves. The PRB chairman had this to say to the Peoria paper yesterday….
“The buck stops here. The board takes its part of the responsibility,” Montes said.
But Chairman Montes also indicated that the Department of Corrections ought to stand up and accept its portion of the blame. I seriously doubt that the department will ever do that. At least, not until there’s a change at the top, whether that “top” is the director or the governor, or both.
Since so many of DoC’s defenses and attacks have been successfully refuted, it seems clear to me who wins this one. We can argue all day whether the PRB should’ve let Payne out of prison before July, considering his 1988 conviction for murder. But there can be no argument at all that the Department of Corrections also needs to shoulder its own responsibility here and must immediately cease its unseemly buck-passing.
DALEY: This is the only program in the country like this. These are the forgotten souls who basically paid for the American dream. And we should not forget them.
“What can we do for the forgotten class? That’s you. You worked. You paid your taxes. . . .But, you don’t fit into all the poverty programs. And you don’t fit into all the rich programs. You’re like in limbo… . . . You’re very good workers. . . . Unfortunately, you were laid off. You’ve done everything right. [You’re saying], ‘Who’s gonna reach out to me? Where am I going? . . . What can I do? Who’s gonna hire me?’ ”
The answer, for the next six months at least, is City Hall.
Lake County was the first jail to use the fathering program. It teaches fathers how to nurture relationships with their children. Inmates write monthly letters to their kids as part of the program.
About half a dozen personnel from the Illinois Department of Corrections visited the jail Monday to observe the MD program and tour the facility.
CNA, Microsoft, Northern Trust Bank, the Joyce Foundation, the United Way and other groups are providing support and services. The state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is providing a $300,000 grant.
During the 42 month campaign, the organization spent $59.4 million. The remainder, $16.5 million, went to the bid’s legacy youth sports organization, World Sport Chicago.
Chicago 2016 also received $16.2 million in donated goods and services.
* Chicago 2016 paid six-figure compensation packages to executives on failed Olympic bid
A federal tax filing released Monday shows that Chicago 2016 spent $5.9 million on salaries and benefits in 2009, including $28-a-month health club subsidies for roughly 100 employees. The parade of six-figure executives was led by Chief Operating Officer David Bolger, with a $483,713-a-year package that includes salary, “retention” bonus and benefits and $7,871 in other compensation….Other top earners, with their salaries and benefits listed along with other compensation, included: Doug Arnot, senior vice-president of sport ($373,013 and $15,971); Chief Bid Officer John Murray ($364,482 and $24,256); Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Richard Ludwig ($342,158 and $24,256); President Lori Healy ($231,682 and $9,038) and Valerie Walker, director of marketing and communications ($226,727 and $6,542).
The list also includes: Chief Governmental Officer Kevann Cooke ($187,215 and $9,770); Olympic Village Development chief Cassandra Francis ($163,644 and $8,729) Director of Administration Patricia Rios ($150,863 and $5,366); Senior Manager of International and Government Affairs Deb Feddelke ($130,382 and $7,921); Director Robert Ctvrtlik ($120,000); Director of Events Lori Igleski ($111,047 and $18,125) and Director of Finance Mary Murphy ($102,035 and $8,089).
Robert Sorich, Mayor Daley’s former patronage chief, is expected to be released from prison today — and head to a Chicago halfway house. Sorich refused to cooperate with the feds and was sentenced to nearly four years in prison after he was found guilty of of rigging city hiring in 2006.
[Oak Lawn Mayor David] Heilmann is pointing to a two-month-old conversation between finance director Brian Hanigan and Burt Odelson in which Odelson allegedly revealed that two trustees - Bob Streit (3rd) and Tom Phelan (6th) “are out for blood” and that they wanted “Heilmann’s head on a platter.”
Hanigan said the language was never that blunt but couldn’t recall specifically what he told the mayor. He said he did relay to Heilmann that the village board’s approval of an inquiry was “an investigation with a purpose.”
After Rich Township District 227’s board denied the proposal for Southland College Prep Charter School February, the charter school team, led by Matteson School District 162 Supt. Blondean Davis, appealed the decision to the state board.
After months of review, the state board appears poised to make a decision on a school advertised as a college-prep alternative for parents frustrated with crime, low test scores and a growing dissension between members of the community and the District 227 school board.
