Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2010

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A little Humble Pie for all you “Greater Chicagoland Area” folks caught in that wicked storm that’s blowing through. Stay safe, stay dry and, for crying out loud, stay inside. Then turn it up…

Hey, get off my window

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*** UPDATED x1 *** NY Times: Kirk merely “played with the children” - “He was never, ever considered a teacher”

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* It turns out that Mark Kirk wasn’t a nursery school teacher, as he and his campaign have both claimed. Instead, he apparently assisted a woman who ran a “play group” for kids in a church basement and just played with the kids…

A leader of the church where Representative Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, a Republican candidate for the United States Senate, claimed he worked as a nursery school teacher said on Friday that he had overstated his role there. […]

“He was never, ever considered a teacher,” Ms. Grubb said in an interview after researching the history of Mr. Kirk’s association with the nursery school for two days. “He was just an additional pair of hands to help a primary teaching person.”

The Methodist church in Ithaca, N.Y. has been trying to determine whether Mr. Kirk worked there after The New York Times reported on Thursday about the brevity of Mr. Kirk’s teaching experience. Eight longtime members of the church, including two former pastors, said in interviews this week that they did not recall having a male nursery school teacher in 1981 when Mr. Kirk said he worked there. […]

In an interview on Friday, Ms. Grubb said that she told a representative of the Kirk campaign of her concerns when they reached out to her on Thursday to try to verify Mr. Kirk’s time at the nursery.

Ms. Grubb said she spoke to the teacher who led what was then a “play group” organized by parents that met in the church basement. The teacher had a “vague recollection” of having Mr. Kirk as a work study student, but she did not remember his name. She added that Mr. Kirk did not have any major responsibilities at the play group, such as creating lesson plans, and he was only an assistant who played with the children.

This is what Kirk’s campaign spokesperson was quoted as saying yesterday…

“One of his jobs was a nursery school teacher with the responsibilities one would expect.”

I “expect” a teacher to, you know, teach. Not play with kids.

It just gets weirder and weirder with this guy.

…Adding… I’ve moved this here from a previous post. I do agree with the Giannoulias campaign about this point…

The Kirk campaign did take issue with a portion of The New York Times story that quotes a 2006 speech by Kirk on the House floor about school safety where he recalled “the kids who were the brightest lights of our country’s future” and “those who bore scrutiny as people who might bring a gun to class.”

The New York Times reported that a Kirk campaign spokeswoman said the congressman was referring to his nursery school students - not his students at the London private school. However, campaign spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said Tuesday, the clause “brightest lights of our country’s future” referred to nursery school students while the “bore scrutiny” clause referred to a few students at the prep school in London.

[Giannoulias campaign spokesman Matt McGrath] countered, “That’s even more absurd. They’ve gone from bizarre to absurd.”

That was a high-class private school in a hoity-toity London neighborhood. There’s just no fathomable way that people were concerned about kids bringing guns to that English prep school in the early 1980s.

Also, will the Sun-Times now retract today’s goofy editorial?

*** UPDATE *** From NBC5’s Mary Ann Ahern…

“He was never, ever considered a teacher.”

That’s a church leader from upstate New York talking to The New York Times about her memories of Mark Kirk’s stint as a work study student. […]

Kirk declined to talk about his teaching history today as he left an endorsement session with the Illinois Education Association.

When asked about his history he said “not doing anything today.”

“Not doing anything” except meeting with the IEA on the same day that yet another “teacher” story broke. Oh, the irony.

79 Comments

You’re not out of the woods yet, Alexi

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Alexi Giannoulias needs to remember that just because Mark Kirk is in some hot water these days, that doesn’t mean he is somehow absolved. Statements like this are bound to be attacked…

Giannoulias, who was joined Thursday by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on a tour of a Chicago community center and at private fundraisers, countered that “the other side” is trying to politicize the economic downturn’s effect on community banks.

There was more to his family bank’s collapse and FDIC seizure than simply ” the economic downturn’s effect on community banks.”

Giannoulias was responding to a Republican attack on another campaign statement this week…

The spokesman said Giannoulias, who also sought an extension for his personal income taxes, wants to have a “more accurate picture of his personal finances, which have changed considerably since the sale of Broadway Bank.”

Sale? Yeah, the bank was sold, but first it failed and was then seized…

DuPage County state’s attorney Joe Birkett claims Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is deceiving voters by calling the takeover of his family’s bank a sale and criticized him for not releasing financial information. Birkett said Thursday that he was speaking on behalf of Republican Mark Kirk’s U.S. Senate campaign.

Video…

Um, Joe, how about practicing those lines before you talk? You rendered those gems useless for the teevee and radio.

And even though the Sun-Times editorial today was based on incomplete information and was, therefore, ludicrous, I still agree with this part…

It comes down to this:

Mark Kirk gets carried away when talking about his accomplishments, but he does have accomplishments to get carried away with. He was in fact a teacher, even if not for long. He is in fact a respected officer in the Navy Reserve.

Giannoulias, in contrast, worked for his dad for four years at the family bank. Then he was elected state treasurer. And this spring, the bank went bust.

[Section deleted and moved to a different post for clarity.]

* From Public Policy Polling…

Giannoulias and Quinn are getting a lower level of support from people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 than any other Democratic candidates across the country we’ve polled on since the beginning of April, and it’s not even close. Only 50% of Obama supporters are currently committed to voting for Giannoulias and just 48% say they’ll cast their votes for Quinn.

No other Democrat we’ve polled on recently has been getting less than 60% of the Obama vote- the one at that level is Roxanne Conlin, running what has to be seen as an incredibly uphill battle against Chuck Grassley in Iowa. Even politicians with sub 30 approval ratings (Chet Culver at 68%) or who are pretty much completely unknown (Vincent Sheheen at 70%, Rodney Glassman at 65%) are doing a far better job of locking up the Democratic base vote.

There is a partial explanation…

Obama did way better in 2008 here than any Democratic presidential candidate in many a year. He scored a higher percentage than Lyndon Johnson did in 1964, which is pretty darned amazing.

So, as politics returns to a bit more normal level here and voters return to their more traditional behaviors, it’s understandable that Democratic candidates wouldn’t be doing nearly as well with Obama voters as Obama did.

Even so, those numbers are just horrible for both Quinn and Giannoulias. Horrible.

And their Democratic support is almost as bad…

* More from PPP...

PPP’s most recent national survey found that while Obama had a positive approval rating at 48/47, only 33% of voters were more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by him while 48% said support from Obama would make them less likely to vote for someone. That’s because only 64% of voters who approve of the President say his endorsement would make them more inclined to vote for a candidate, but 91% who disapprove say Obama’s support makes it less likely they would vote for one of his preferred candidates.

To put into perspective the perils of having Obama out on the campaign trail, consider the numbers in his home state of Illinois. Even there just 26% of voters say they’d be more inclined to back an Obama endorsed candidate while 40% say his support would be more likely to turn them against a candidate. It’s another example where the intensity of feeling about Obama is much stronger on the GOP side- 80% of Republicans say they’re less likely to vote for someone with the President’s support while only 49% of Democrats say they’re more likely to. If Obama’s support isn’t a net positive in Illinois it’s hard to know where he should be deployed.

The Illinois results with the national results in parentheses…

* Do you approve or disapprove of Barack
Obama’s job performance?
53% Approve (48%)
41% Disapprove (47%)
6% Not Sure (5%)

* Are you more or less likely to vote for a
candidate endorsed by President Obama, or
does it not make a difference either way?
26% More likely (33%)
40% Less likely (48%)
34% Doesn’t make a difference either way (17%)

* Are you more or less likely to vote for a
candidate endorsed by Bill Clinton, or does it
not make a difference either way?
25% More likely
38% Less likely
37% Doesn’t make a difference either way

* Do you have a higher opinion of Bill Clinton or
Barack Obama?
32% Bill Clinton
39% Barack Obama
30% Not sure

* Related…

* Whitley adds more praise for Quinn — ‘Breath of fresh air’

* Kirk exaggerates teaching; Duncan helps Giannoulias

* Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: Brady should fully fund pensions

* Former Fla. Gov. Bush stumps for Brady

* Jeb Bush scoffs at Kelly’s quarterback-pardon play

* Jeb Bush Denies Any Interaction with Blagojevich Friend

* Congressional candidate in dispute over dog bite

* Senator’s e-mail directs donors to call district office: State Sen. Michael Noland of Elgin asked supporters recently to chip in “$25, $50, $75 or $100″ to his campaign via a blast e-mail, then he told them to call his taxpayer-funded district office with any questions.

20 Comments

Voting with their feet

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Forbes has a new interactive map that shows 2008 population movement by county. Outbound movement is in red, inbound is in black. Here’s Cook County…

Not a whole lot of black lines there.

Just to compare, here’s Dallas County, Texas…

And Wayne County, Michigan, the home of Detroit…

Go play with the map and report back. [Hat tip: Illinois Review]

* Related and a roundup…

* Illinois Debt-Default Insurance Climbs to Record High: “If the spread is the widest, it says the problem is bigger than it’s ever been before,” said Peter Hayes, who oversees $106 billion of municipal bonds for New York-based BlackRock Inc. “It’s a reaction to the inability to pass a budget. We’ve seen a greater unwillingness from Illinois and the market is reacting to that.”

* McCormick Place revitalization plan seems to be working

* Sen. Collins to probe debt broker’s pitch: State Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) is launching an inquiry into a new business that wants to make loans to social social service agencies owed money by the state of Illinois.

* Rising concern over state budget nixes bread bid

* Court move may keep Illinois State Police on the job

* Big Stimulus Grant For Local Electric Company

* AG Madigan Teams with Feds On Mortgage Fraud

* Illinois truck stop owners ready for gambling

* Travis Akin: Lawsuit reforms are vital for Illinois

* Illinois marks Homeownership Month

* Gun activists push for concealed carry law

* Our Opinion: Make medical marijuana legal, but be cautious

* State To Lift Restrictions On Visiting Doctors, Dentists

20 Comments

Question of the day

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* You’ve probably seen this by now. It’s a sign posted in Chicago’s federal courthouse cafeteria advertising a new sandwich…

The sign was quickly changed to delete references to defendant Blagojevich.

* The Question: Can you come up with a more appropriate sandwich name for Rod Blagojevich? Major bonus points for listing the ingredients.

* And here’s your Blagojevich trial roundup…

* Yesterday’s and today’s exhibits

* Judge Zagel to Sam Jr.: “Why do you do this?”: With spectators sitting on the edge of their seats, Zagel gave Adam a tongue-lashing for the judicial equivalent of running his mouth off.

* Judge, defense attorney clash at Blagojevich trial: Sam Adam Jr., whose theatrical courtroom presence is at odds with standard federal court decorum, finally got all the way under Zagel’s skin. And the judge responded by lecturing him in front of the jury and once even ordering jurors from the room so he could make a point with the lawyer outside jurors’ presence.

* Ata Testifies, Adam Challenges, Zagel Comments

* Blagojevich Defense Goes After Cari for Contradictions, Lies

* Witness: Rezko had plan to stop Blagojevich probe

* Ex-Blagojevich staffer tells of clout in hiring

* Donor: No promise of a job

* Blagojevich had strategy to trade campaign cash for state business: witness

* Blago trial sideshows: Witness decked, sandwiches yanked: [Prosecution witness Joseph] Cari landed on his back and then rolled onto his stomach, according to a WGN-Channel 9 video. He was helped up about 40 seconds later.

* Blagojevich witness collides with TV camera

* Blagojevich tapes unearth ex-governor’s methods

* Presidential ambitions

* Blagojevich’s feel-good campaign

* Blago’s lips zipped as trial resumes

45 Comments

Dear Daily Herald: How hard would it be to click over to Dold’s site, too?

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This is a prime example of seriously lazy journalism…

The Democratic candidate for the 10th Congressional District seat has been called out for using an old endorsement.

Dan Seals was misleading voters by including a portion of a Daily Herald endorsement as part of a rotating gallery of information on his campaign home page, according to a blogger who follows the action in the 10th.

The endorsement came during the Democratic primary, as Seals dueled two other candidates. He edged state Rep. Julie Hamos for the nomination to face Republican Bob Dold in the November general election. The seat is currently held by Republican Mark Kirk, who is running for U.S. Senate.

“It doesn’t apply today,” said Larry Falbe, a Mettawa trustee and creator of Team America’s 10th District blog.

“This isn’t buried somewhere on an endorsement list. It’s front and center,” added Falbe, a Kirk supporter and volunteer for Dold who has been critical of Seals in the past.

Here’s the image in question, which has since been removed from Seals’ site and which Team America published on Wednesday…

Props to Larry for pushing that story into the mainstream, but the Daily Herald reporter and Larry should’ve both looked at Republican Bob Dold’s website before they launched into their attack on Dan Seals. If they had, they would’ve seen this…

In case you’re a little slow this morning, that would be the exact same “problem” as Seals’ website had. Dold is prominently displaying a Tribune endorsement from the primary.

Oops.

Rob thinks this is an example of media bias. If the reporter knew about the Dold site and didn’t include it in the story, then, yes, it’s bias. But we don’t know yet whether the reporter knew, so that’s why I’ve just labeled this as journalistic laziness. If it’s worse, I’ll get back to you.

33 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 *** Stupid human tricks

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* What is it about people these days who see a video camera and don’t immediately think “My stupid overreaction could be seen by thousands of people on YouTube”? Sheesh…

More rough tactics were on display last night in Washington DC as a hotheaded campaign worker for the Alexi Giannoulias campaign for Senator of Illinois confronted a man with a video camera at a fundraising event.

The event took place on the rooftop of an apartment building in Washington DC which is a public space for residents of the building and their guests. The unidentified camera man has stated that he was, in fact, the guest of a friend of his who lives in the building. Even if one stipulates that the campaign had the right to the section of the roof that was set aside for the event, the way in which the situation was handled certainly calls into question the judgement and temperment of the people candidate Giannoulias surrounds himself with.

As seen earlier this week in the outrageous response by Rep. Bob Etheridge to two college students with cameras who asked him if he supported “The Obama Agenda”, Democrats seem more and more reactionary when they see a person with a video camera near by. In the words of a seasoned DC insider: ”The heat is on.”

It’s not nearly as bad as the Etheridge incident, but it’s not good, either. The video…

* The NRSC did a nice job of pushing the video into the public domain by issuing a memo advising campaigns on how to deal with trackers…

After the second clip in a week hit the web showing a confrontation between a Democratic political campaign and a person shooting video, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a memo to its campaigns Thursday reminding them to be sure staffers don’t become “verbally abusive” or “make physical contact” with videographers.

The memo, penned by NRSC Counsel Sean Cairncross and obtained by POLITICO, warns GOP Senate campaigns how to handle video trackers, stating that “this physical confrontation took place less than 72 hours after Democrat Congressman Bob Ethridge was recorded grabbing and placing a chokehold on another videographer.” […]

The NRSC’s memo states that as long as the videographer is “on public property and not actively disrupting” the event, he or she can continue filming. The NRSC recommends that campaigns tell staffers not to insult or threaten or physically touch a videographer, and to “always be polite” with them because “your interaction is likely being recorded.”

“The video attached to the e-mail containing this memorandum is an example of precisely how not to handle a videographer – and has created potential legal liability for both the individuals involved and the Giannoulias campaign,” Cairncross wrote. “Instituting these policies will help your campaign avoid both the political embarrassment and legal exposure that accompany inappropriate responses to videographers.”

Thoughts?

*** UPDATE *** The Giannoulias campaign called to say that they had just one paid staffer at that fundraiser and that nobody in the video was a campaign staffer or a volunteer. They were event attendees, according to the campaign.

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