Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, also dismissed as Blagojevich-like criticism from his Democratic rival, Gov. Pat Quinn, that an appearance with a member of the Bush family was a sign that Brady would return to the fiscal policies of President George W. Bush.
“It seems to me that this current governor’s hallucinating the same way that the governor on trial is,” Brady said at the Chicago Club.
“He’s talking about raising tax rates on a recessionary economy that’s losing jobs faster than almost every state in the nation. He’s talking about borrowing on the backs of human service providers, educational institutions, colleges, cities and county government. He’s ignored dealing with the budget while he’s gallivanted around the state when we’re in a fiscal crisis,” Brady said.
“He’s a professional naysayer, we know that,” Quinn said of Brady. “All he does is preach doom and gloom, that’s not going to get Illinois out of the economic turmoil that George Bush created. You know, Sen. Brady was a George Bush delegate, he was a cheerleader for George Bush, George W. Bush, and all these policies that ran the American economy into the ditch.”
Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush beat up the Democrats with Jimmy Carter for 12 years, and it worked for about 9 of those 12 (they’ve used it again against Barack Obama with little success). The Democrats successfully used Herbert Hoover against the Republicans for almost two decades.
“W” was horribly unpopular in Illinois pretty much throughout his two terms, but particularly in that second term, when Blagojevich successfully whacked Judy Baar Topinka with a TV ad linking her to the president.
Whether this sort of thing will work in Illinois this year is up for debate, but I would like to see some polling data before making any firm pronouncements.
…Adding… One oppo dump deserves another in the US Senate campaign. From Matt Lewis, a “writer, blogger and commentator based in Alexandria, VA” and via the Kirk campaign…
According to his website, Alexi has taken a hard-line stand against BP, noting “the unreasonably low liability cap could enable BP to evade paying for long-term damages. Alexi supports raising the liability limit under the Oil Spill Prevention Act from $75 million to at least $10 billion.”
Zemenides appears to be working as an unpaid adviser to the campaign, but he is clearly a top counselor to Giannoulias, and is frequently identified as a “top aide” or “political director.”
A groundbreaking partnership which will enable BP to extend and improve its service station network across Europe in a more cost-effective manner has been formalised with Bovis.
Under the partnership agreement - which will run for five years - Bovis will build and maintain BP’s retail sites in Europe and will derive its profit solely from the savings it achieves. By the end of 1997 at least 150 service stations will be built under the new arrangement.
BP is beyond radioactive at the moment, of course, so we’ll see if this former lobbying contract takes hold.
* Related…
* God Apologizes To BP For Putting The Gulf Of Mexico In The Way Of All That Oil
State budget records, however, reveal that 70 percent of the money allocated for the first year [of the capital bill] is still unused, surprising even the Illinois budget director.
“That’s my attitude exactly, what’s the hold up?” said David Vaught, Illinois budget director. […]
“We sold $4 billion in bonds to get the program moving. The money is available, the projects are authorized, as soon as the agencies, the non profits, you know, the hospitals, as soon as they get their grant applications in and get the paperwork done, or as soon as the bids go out, and people bid on the projects, the cash is flowing,” said Vaught.
According to state records, there is almost $3 billion available for approved Illinois projects and the jobs that go with them; $2.61 billion is currently unclaimed by offices and agencies that include:
# Stateville Prison in Joliet: $4.5 for construction of a new prisoner housing unit
# shoreline stabilization at a state park in Lake County: $1 million
# a new heating and air condition system at the Thompson Center: $4 million
# a back up generator at Reed Mental Health Center: $1.4 million
Vaught isn’t just the budget director. He’s the director of Management and Budget. Vaught needs to find out what the “hold up” is today.
And while the unemployment picture improved ever so slightly last month, those capital bill jobs are still desperately needed. From a press release…
The Illinois seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped -0.4 point to 10.8 percent in May, according to data released today by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The over-the-month decline is the largest since October 1983. The three-month moving average decreased -0.2 point to 11.2 percent in May, its first decline since November 2006. Illinois has added 70,000 jobs so far this year.
Closing in on 60 votes, Senate Democrats trimmed billions more from their once ambitious jobs and economic relief bill Wednesday in hopes of winning over swing Republicans and breaking the stalemate this week.
The spending reductions — estimated near $20 billion — are accompanied by tax changes tailored to the small-business concerns of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) as well as venture capital and real estate interests with influence in both parties.
In the bargaining now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, up for reelection in cash-strapped Nevada, is still holding onto a $24 billion, six-month extension of federal Medicaid assistance from January to June next year.
The money is vital to the finances of states like Reid’s, hit hard by the economic downturn, and he has the support of President Barack Obama. But the cost of the Medicaid funding makes the program an easy target, and the dollars may still have to be scaled back to win the swing vote of Snowe’s fellow Maine Republican, Sen. Susan Collins.
U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, who’s been featured in GQ magazine and whose six-pack abs were featured in a photograph that made the rounds on the Internet, got another dash of pictorial publicity this month — to which he has reacted.
Gawker.com posted a picture of the congressman at a White House picnic last week in which Schock was wearing bright white pants, a tight red-and-white shirt with cuffs neatly rolled up, and a teal belt.
Schock responded this week on his Twitter account, twitter.com/repaaronschock: “Never thought a pic of me w/ my shirt on would go viral. Learned my lesson and burned the belt.”
The pic…
* The Question: Caption?
And make extra sure that you keep it clean. Violators will be banned for eternity. That’s a very long time, in case you were wondering.
* As we already know, Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign was in Bloomington yesterday for a counter-rally during Jeb Bush’s fundraiser for state Sen. Bill Brady. The Quinnsters were decked out in buttons displaying a message that will surely be a theme for the rest of the campaign…
“Bill will have a big challenge in front of him, but leadership matters and I have confidence he has some big ideas and can restore growth to Illinois,” he said.
Brady said that in order to get Illinois finances back in order, the state must change its philosophy.
“We have to start living within our means,” Brady said. “We have to live up to our obligations, but we don’t have enough funding for schools, human resource providers and county governments.”
The economy also was the focus of Simon’s speech, and she wasn’t shy about taking shots at Brady’s featured guest. Brady’s private event featuring Bush required $500 per ticket.
“Our event was free and open to the public, and we drew a huge crowd,” Simon said. “This is Bill Brady’s hometown and yet it’s obvious that people want to hear our message and want to support our cause.”
* In a long, torturous opinion, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decided yesterday that Illinois is supposed to hold a special election to fill the US Senate seat vacancy created when Barack Obama was elected president…
As the case now stands, the plaintiffs take the position that the Seventeenth Amendment requires Governor Quinn to issue a writ of election calling an election to fill President Obama’s vacancy in the Senate, and the state is arguing that he is under no such obligation. Our analysis of the Seventeenth Amendment convinces us that the plaintiffs have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits. The governor has a duty to issue a writ of election to fill the Obama vacancy. That writ must include a date, but it appears that the Illinois legislature has provided only one date from which Governor Quinn may choose: November 2, 2010.
But the court also ruled that the plaintiffs did not make their case that they would be irreparably harmed if an injunction ordering the governor to call a special election is denied…
The fact that the plaintiffs leave us essentially in the dark about the irreparable harm that they confront makes it impossible for us to conclude that the district court abused its discretion when it denied the preliminary injunction.
The conclusion…
There is still time for the governor to issue a writ of election that will call for an election on the date established by Illinois law and that will make it clear to the voters that they are selecting a replacement for Senator Obama. The district court can easily reach and resolve the merits of this request before any of the harm that the plaintiffs forecast comes to pass. Moreover, circumstances change: Governor Quinn might issue a writ of election tomorrow, or next week.
Go figure.
*** UPDATE *** I couldn’t access NBC5’s site for a while this morning, so I didn’t see this one until now. Mary Ann Ahern looks at the Scott Lee Cohen race…
Election lawyer Burt Odelson says he’s not a betting man, but he doesn’t think Scott Lee Cohen will have enough valid signatures to get on the ballot for governor in November.
Furthermore, Odelson says established case law effectively negates Cohen from even running.
“This is a case of what we call a case of ‘first impression,’” he said. “If you partook in the primary, you couldn’t change parties during the election cycle and switch over to another party.” […]
But Odelson contends that anyone who voted or took part in the last primary will also be knocked off. And he said that limitation extends to those collecting signatures: prove the collector is ineligible and all the signatures they’ve acquired are also deemed invalid.
“I would like to know what his reasoning is,” Cohen later questioned. “I took the time to research the candidate’s handbook for 2010. There was nothing in there stating that. In fact, it clearly, in black and white says that if you signed a position in the primary for a candidate, whether it’s Democrat or Republican, you are still able to sign the ballot of an Independent during the General.”
I’ve heard these arguments as well and I suspect Cohen will be tied up in court for a while if he has enough valid signatures to make the ballot, which isn’t exactly guaranteed, either.
* Related…
* ADDED: State Sen. Michael Noland has come under fire for an e-mail that his private campaign sent out that asks for donations and also lists his taxpayer-funded Springfield and Elgin offices… “One would think that the federal corruption trial of former Gov. Blagojevich would remind Sen. Noland to show some regard for ethical standards,” Cudney said. “Instead, Sen. Noland seems to have an ongoing problem making the important distinction between his state duties and his political activities.”
* ADDED: Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Wednesday that is set to assist Illinois workers during economic recessions. The new law declares that all state-funded public works projects must employ Illinois workers to make up 90 percent of the project’s workforce during periods of high unemployment, defined as a jobless rate of 5 percent or more for two consecutive months. Projects receiving state funds or funds that are administered by the state also must adhere to the new law.
* Compromised Care: Nursing home part-owned by state lawmaker may lose its license: State health authorities have moved to revoke the license of a southwest suburban nursing home part-owned by state Sen. Heather Steans because of repeated citations for serious patient neglect. Steans does not have any operational role in the facility, Evergreen Health Care Center in Evergreen Park, and the Chicago Democrat said she has drawn little or no income from what she described as her small ownership stake in companies that manage the home.
* Bernard Schoenburg: Rutherford rolls out unconventional Facebook page: I’m writing about the Facebook page of Pongee — Rutherford’s car, a Pontiac G6.
*** UPDATE *** As pretty much everybody suspected, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush today flat-out denied that a very goofy Blagojevich-circle plot ever reached him. The plot involved having former football star Bernie Kosar contact Jeb Bush about a presidential pardon for Chris Kelly. From NBC5…
Bush denied the claim.
“It would be humorous if it wasn’t so tragic,” Bush said. “Only in Chicago.”
Zagel fell short of slapping a muzzle on the blabby Blagojevich, calling a gag order a last resort. But he took issue with the defendant’s comments in a news conference Tuesday about the testimony of a key government witness. Blagojevich called former aide Lon Monk a liar and said Monk brought shame to his family.
“It is an appeal to sympathy, which is something you are not permitted to do with the jury,” Zagel said. “I do have significant concerns.”
Zagel told the defense and the prosecution to come up with agreed guidelines by Monday on what can be said outside of court.
The prosecution’s motion is here. More from Zagel…
Judge James Zagel told lawyers the issue concerns him. He said news shows include “fairly quick cuts” that are hard for jurors to avoid when they turn on the TV. Zagel says Blagojevich’s comments were “essentially a kind of backhanded plea for sympathy,” and the judge says that kind of defense is not allowed by law.
Moments after Zagel’s decision to hold off for now on a gag order, Blagojevich was back outside the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse glad-handing and posing for cell-phone pictures with passers-by who appeared stunned to be running into a celebrity on Dearborn Street. Blagojevich thanked each one and stopped to give his autograph before stepping toward a waiting car.
The controversy over recent statements of Blagojevich and his lawyers was the latest culture clash between federal prosecutors, who want the trial to proceed with machine-like precision, and Blagojevich’s defense team, schooled in the razzle-dazzle legal style of Chicago’s Criminal Courts Building.
At “26th and Cal,” showmanship is the norm. Murder defendants there have been known to pass around a single pair of reading glasses to wear at trial in the belief it would make them appear less threatening to a jury.
In potentially crucial testimony Wednesday, prosecution witnesses described a mechanism of multiple transfers and deposits that allegedly involved Blagojevich’s inner circle. Prosecutors put up a colorful chart with arrows, dates and cash figures that purported to show a trail of money.
Blagojevich’s name did not appear, though former fundraisers Chris Kelly and Tony Rezko did. Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to scheming to sell President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat.
The name of President Obama came into play this afternoon at the political corruption trial of former governor Rod Blagojevich as an associate of political fund-raiser Tony Rezko testified that Rezko asked him to write a $10,000 check to Friends of Obama.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported in January 2008 that Glenview businessman Joseph Aramanda, who is testifying today, made the donation as part of a scheme orchestrated by Rezko.
Aramanda gave $10,000 in campaign cash to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign on March 5, 2004, according to records. The money came from part of a finder’s fee Aramanda received, but did no work for, thanks to Rezko.
The allegation is the first time Obama has been linked to Rezko through first-hand sworn testimony at the corruption trial.
Former Democratic national fund-raiser Joseph Cari — who once was presidential candidate Al Gore’s top fund-raiser — is back on the witness stand this morning. He’s discussing a New York fund-raising trip he helped arrange for then-Gov.-Blagojevich in 2003, as well as the alleged shakedown of an East Coast investment-banking firm, JER Partners, in 2004.
Prosecutors are using Cari’s testimony to try to show jurors how Blagojevich and his top fund-raisers were trying to control consulting fees tied to state teacher-pension investments in exchange for campaign contributions and kickbacks.
In a speech on the House floor on Sept. 19, 2006, as he talked about school safety, Mr. Kirk spoke about “the kids who were the brightest lights of our country’s future, and I also remember those who bore scrutiny as people who might bring a gun to class.”
Perhaps even worse, nobody from Kirk’s staff could provide documentation that he actually worked at the nursery…
The campaign did not provide verification, and it could not be independently confirmed. A longtime member of the church who had a son in the nursery around the same time said she did not recall any male teachers.
The conservatives are gonna love this one. The chapel appears to be a very liberal house of worship. From its “Who we are” page…
We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage and the family.
We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; the improvement of the quality of life; and the rights and dignity of racial, ethnic and religious minorities.
We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others, and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; the rights to property as a trust from God; collective bargaining and responsible consumption; and the elimination of economic and social distress.
In a House Budget Committee hearing five years earlier, shortly after Mr. Kirk arrived in Congress, he talked about his time as “a teacher, both nursery and middle school.” He added, “I did leave the teaching profession, but if we had addressed some of the teacher development issues, which I want to raise with you, I might have stayed.”
Mr. Kirk left Milestone College in 1983 and began working on the staff of an Illinois congressman, John Porter, the following year and did not return to teaching.
Milestone College, a prep school, was in London, England. Not in the United States. He worked there a year after he finished his master’s degree.
* We are now in some very bizarre, dark territory in this US Senate campaign.
Mark Kirk is an accomplished, decorated Naval veteran who blew that reputation out of the water with unfathomable exaggerations about his military record. He’s an intellectual graduate of the London School of Economics who lied about his experience with liberal nursery school students carrying guns.
These accusations against Mark Kirk are no longer about mere “embellishments” or “exaggerations.” This campaign is now about whether anything he says is true, and why.
* By the way, the NYT article was perfectly timed. The Illinois Education Association is holding endorsement meetings with both Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias this week. The IEA endorsed Kirk in the primary, but not Giannoulias. If this latest NYT story kills the IEA nod for Kirk, it’ll be yet another headache for that embattled campaign.
…Adding… From a morning press release…
After one month of waiting for Alexi Giannoulias to file his Personal Financial Disclosure with the Senate Ethics Committee, the Kirk for Senate campaign today called on Alexi Giannoulias to tell voters the truth about what happened to Broadway Bank and end his “Blagojevich-style” concealment tactics with regard to his personal finances.
In a statement to the Chicago Tribune yesterday explaining why Mr. Giannoulias failed to file his ethics disclosure on May 17th, the Giannoulias campaign said the candidate wants to have a “more accurate picture of his personal finances, which have changed considerably since the sale of Broadway Bank.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** From an Illinois GOP press release…
The New York Times rebutted accusations by Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign that Congressman Mark Kirk had not been a teacher. The Times’ London Bureau confirmed reports that Mark Kirk did serve as a full-time teacher at the Milestone School in London for the academic year 1982-1983. In addition, Kirk worked as a nursery school teacher in Ithaca, New York as part of his senior-year work-study program at Cornell University.
“While Mark Kirk has worked as a teacher and backed education reforms in Congress, Alexi Giannoulias wiped out $70 million in Bright Start college savings,” Kirk campaign spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said. “When it comes to education, Illinois voters have an easy choice in this election.”
This release is nonsensical. The Giannoulias campaign didn’t say that Kirk had not been a teacher. But notice that they still have not provided any confirmation about that nursery school gig.
*** UPDATE 2 *** This is what passes for “analysis” at NBC5’s blog…
In his effort to catch Kirk in another lie, Giannoulias overreached and exposed a piece of Kirk’s biography that adds to the breadth of his experience. Teaching — especially nursery school — is not a pursuit normally associated with conservatives. It also shows a side of Kirk quite opposed to the he-man Naval officer he’s been trying to portray himself as.
Yeah. That’s the “real” take-away here. Kirk was a nursery school teacher.
The only reason I even mention that goofy piece is because the Kirk campaign sent it over a few minutes ago.
