* A day after Republican Congressman Mark Kirk took Bill Brady to task for not paying his taxes, Gov. Pat Quinn returned the bipartisan favor and dinged fellow Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for not paying income taxes…
“I believe in the principle that if you get a public salary, you are an elected official, you get a public salary, you should pay income taxes to the state and the federal government. I think that’s a fundamental principle that I believe in,” Quinn said.
Quinn avoided referring to Giannoulias by name. But when reporters asked Quinn whether there was a difference between the tax situations of Brady and Giannoulias, the governor said, “My principle: I don’t think there should be a Brady loophole where people who make millions of bucks then end up paying no taxes whatsoever.”
Moreover, Quinn said, “I think that voluntarily those that are in high office should make it their business to pay taxes” to help fund the military and veterans at the federal level and local schools at the state level.
In his most pointed criticism of Giannoulias, Quinn indicated that instead of the treasurer sending his $30,000 income-tax refund check to charity, it should go to the state, which is facing a $13 billion deficit and $5 billion in unpaid bills.
* Meanwhile, a couple of local bloggers hit Mark Kirk for his sweet tax break today…
But if he is going to slam Giannoulias for simply following the tax code, Kirk should remember that he has also benefited handsomely from tax breaks available to certain homeowners. Ellen Beth Gill reminded us of this fact last night
Kirk gets a large tax break for having purchased a rehabbed property that was sold by the federal government on the cheap to developers who turned it into housing for the wealthy.
While just about everyone else in Lake County is crushed under a huge property tax burden (sometimes over $8,000 per year for a modest house and over $4000 per year for a small condominium), Kirk pays about $700-$800 each year for a pretty swank place in Ft. Sheridan. Now, Kirk will argue that he’s entitled by law to that tax reduction, but isn’t Giannoulias also legally entitled to his tax losses? […]
I haven’t noticed Kirk donating the difference between what he pays in property taxes and what he normally would pay to the local schools. They need the money badly too.
The short version is that Kirk and his neighbors used a very clever interpretation of Illinois’ historical preservation tax break to lower the assessed values of their Highland Park homes by about 90 percent.. The total savings [of the tax break between 2003 and 2007] add up to more than $35,000 during that period:
* Rod Blagojevich’s defense attorneys have filed yet another mistrial motion…
In a motion filed overnight, attorney Sam Adam argues that the defense was denied the right to engage in “meaningful cross examination” of FBI agent Patrick Murphy who testified yesterday.
Zagel chided defense lawyers for suggesting in their motion that the agents were under some obligation to disclose to Blagojevich all the evidence of illegal activity they were investigating when they questioned him.
Zagel said it was a red herring for the defense team to raise the fairness of the interrogation as a reason for a mistrial, especially since Blagojevich wasn’t closeted alone with his interrogators but was surrounded with his own lawyers at the time. If Blagojevich’s lawyers want to suggest that the former governor came to feel entrapped, they are free to ask him about it when he takes the stand in his own defense — something Blagojevich has vowed to do, Zagel said.
Much of the defense plea for a mistrial amounted to “a needless waste of time,” Zagel said, because it was based on being blocked from refuting charges unrelated to the government case against Blagojevich.
“It’s a common thing for criminal defense lawyers to re-characterize the accusation and then try to refute the accusation that the government isn’t making,” Zagel lectured.
Defense attorneys for both Blagojevichs submitted the list of tapes they plan to play when they present their case. Zagel told them to go over their lists again and choose the conversations with the most significant passages, as the lists they submitted would have the jury listening to tapes for two to three weeks. Zagel said that would be a waste of time.
An explanation for why they wanted some of those tapes played…
Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys say they are basing his defense on the idea that the former Illinois governor had no intention of violating the law and acted only after getting advice from lawyers.
His lawyers had said that before but outlined it in their clearest statement to date in papers filed late Tuesday. It is designed to show Judge James Zagel why FBI wiretap tapes they want to play at Blagojevich’s corruption trial supply evidence for their defense.
The prosecution asked Zagel to ask the defense teams to make it clear soon what witnesses they plan to call to testify. Zagel determined the defense has until Monday to do so.
Expect another fight over that, and probably another mistrial motion.
* Related and trial roundup…
* Mayor Bloomberg’s Secret Weapon: A source close to the mayor puts it more bluntly: “Not only does he want Bradley on his team, he wants him to be a quarterback.”
* Executive: Afraid when FBI came to ask about Blago
* “The Tollway Was Connected to My Campaign Contributions”: Witness
* Mark Kirk received generally positive reviews last week for owning up to not telling the truth about his past…
The past few weeks, Congressman Mark Kirk has been on the defensive about his military resume. Now the Republican Senate hopeful is owning up to his mistakes with full disclosure.
He certainly sounded contrite for inflating his military and school teaching records…
“I am not perfect and was careless. I will do better and I will make sure that this never happens again.” […]
“But I take this all very seriously. This is a high office, great trust is put in the people that we entrust with this office and I think the scrutiny is absolutely appropriate.”
“I have made mistakes concerning certain aspects of my accomplishments and experiences, and I apologize for those mistakes and I pledge to correct those errors.”
* Carol Marin was mostly unimpressed with Kirk’s performance, but she wrote last week that it was time to change the subject, with one, major caveat…
Unless there are new revelations to come, it’s time to move on.
Earlier this year Kirk told the Sun-Times, “Last year, I was with a Dutch armor unit in Kandahar, getting shot at and being calm, cool and collected. We each had this kind of Dutch candy called ‘drop.’ I went through about 3000 calories getting what they call ‘nervous in the service.’”
But Tuesday, when asked several times at his news conference if he stood by that assertion, Kirk would only repeat that from now on he would say nothing beyond what’s in his fitness reports when it comes to his war record.
That claim is absolutely untenable. He’s no longer going to answer questions about his service record? And all he will do is point to his fitness reports? Not enough…
There is no mention in those reports of Kirk coming under fire during that time period.
You cannot on the one hand promise never to let these things happen again, and then refuse to clear up your record a week later. You cannot say media scrutiny is just fine and dandy with you because you’re campaigning for a “high office” and then a week later refuse to answer any and all questions on a specific topic.
REPORTER: You once told the Sun-Times, this was your quote: “Last year, I was with a Dutch armor unit in Kandahar, getting shot at.” Can you tell me a little bit more about it- when did it happen, what were the circumstances?
KIRK: Well as I went through my speech last week, I’ve made mistakes in my military record. I apologize for them and going forward will make sure that never happens again. But the way I’ll answer that is I released my fitness reports…The way I will go forward is I released my officer fitness reports for all 21 years of service in the Navy and will let the official record stand.
REPORTER: But you’re not saying this was a mistake then are you?
KIRK: No but I would refer you all to the officer fitness reports.
REPORTER: They might not have that detail…
KIRK: For me, going forward I will speak through the voices of the commanding officers in the field that assessed my performance, and you will be able to have that if you don’t already.
REPORTER: So that kind of goes as a non-response response?
KIRK: No, for me the officer fitness reports are the official record.
REPORTER: So anything you’ve said in the past, we should just disregard?
KIRK: No I’m saying that let’s stand on my official record to the United States Navy.
REPORTER: So anything you’ve said before, if you’ve said it just forget about it?
KIRK: As I stated before in the speech…
REPORTER: Do you have a record that will show where the question came up?
KIRK: So the record talks about the…just go through the detail…and especially my officer fitness report from my Afghan service…
REPORTER: Do you think your campaign- are you going to stop using photos that imply you’re a pilot? There are pictures of you sitting in a plane with pilot gear on. Are you guys going to stop using those or…
KIRK: They don’t…there is no issue because there…on many aircraft you have aircrew, and often times, in fact most of the people on the squad- in my squadron that I served in are not pilots. There are three other people on the aircraft who flew along.
Officer fitness reports do not represent Kirk’s full military record and he knows it.
* And these dodges aren’t just confined to his military record. As Lynn Sweet reports, he won’t talk about a lot of things. Remember, for instance, how he said he would “lead the effort” to repeal the national health care bill earlier this year? Kirk’s quote from mid-March…
“I’m Mark Kirk and I can’t wait to vote against the health care bill next week,” he told the crowd at the Friday evening dinner. […]
“There is one thing about the bill not commonly known: All of the pain of the bill is upfront and all of the gain is later. What do I mean? The bill includes 10 new federal taxes, and dramatic cuts for senior health care under Medicare between 2010 and 2014,” Kirk said. “The actual benefit of the bill doesn’t start until 2014. In between this time and then, is a presidential election. If we can win in the White House — and we’re on the way to making this guy a one termer — then if we move to repeal this bill in 2013, all you’re doing is removing the pain and not a single American would have benefited from it yet. And so, as your senator, I would lead the effort, if it passes, to repeal this bill.”
As of July 1, a discharge petition–the first step needed to get the matter back before the House– by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has 109 signers. The group includes Illinois House Republicans Judy Biggert, Peter Roskam, Don Manzullo and John Shimkus.
Last week Kirk said he had yet to study the repeal matter fully but since it was law, he wanted to make sure the regulations were written to the advantage of Illinois. On Tuesday Kirk told me, “I haven’t got back to that, I haven’t read it yet.”
* Buried deep within a Wall Street Journal story yesterday on who might lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was a long list of possible candidates.
The list was headed by a somewhat familiar face…
Democratic leaders in Congress say their top pick for the post is Elizabeth Warren, the high-profile Harvard law professor and an outspoken critic of what she sees as a too-cozy relationship between government and bankers.
But then a long list of others was outlined…
Other potential candidates include Michael Barr, a Treasury assistant secretary and University of Michigan law professor with a longstanding interest in consumer finance; Democratic state attorneys general Martha Coakley of Massachusetts, Lisa Madigan of Illinois and Lori Swanson of Minnesota; Susan Wachter of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, who served in the Clinton Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Nicolas Retsinas of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing studies, a former bank regulator and a low-income housing specialist.
The Lisa Madigan mention was quickly picked up by at least one local outlet…
In the most interesting political rumor of the day, the Wall Street Journal listed Attorney General Lisa Madigan as a possible director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, if and when Congress finally approves the financial reform package.
* Unsurprisingly, our attorney general isn’t interested, but here explanation wasn’t completely accepted by the Sun-Times…
Is another Chicagoan joining the Obama administration bandwagon?
Attorney General Lisa Madigan tried to put to rest speculation Tuesday that she is being considered for director of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that Congress is expected to create as soon as next week. The federal bureau’s director will serve a five-year term.
But here’s her quote…
On Tuesday, she issued a statement saying that she appreciates being mentioned in light of her work fighting “predatory and often discriminatory mortgage lending.”
But Madigan threw her support behind the perceived front-runner for consumer czar, Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren.
“Not only was it [Warren’s] idea to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but she has long understood the need for such an agency to ensure that another financial crisis doesn’t devastate the futures of millions of hardworking Americans,” Madigan said.
There’s just no way that she’s leaving Illinois. She passed up an almost sure-bet opportunity to run for US Senate. Mark Kirk strongly indicated last year that he wouldn’t run against her, and there’s nobody else out there who could’ve put up much of a fight. She’s staying in place.
* Most Illinois news outlets don’t appear to have run the full Associated Press story on the pay raises handed out by Gov. Pat Quinn to his staff. Some led with Bill Brady’s response…
The Republican candidate for Illinois governor says the pay raises Gov. Pat Quinn gave his staff show the Democrat is incapable of solving the state’s budget problems.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is defending pay raises given to his staff even though the state is awash in debt.
* But drill down into the full AP story, and you’ll see that most of Quinn’s explanations don’t hold up. For instance…
Quinn also claimed he’d reduced staff by 10 positions in the governor’s office. […]
[But] payroll records show 124 employees in the governor’s office and budget office in May, compared to 125 in July 2009 and 122 in February 2009, just after Quinn took office.
Yesterday, Quinn said he’d cut his budget by 25 percent…
“…the overall budget of the governor’s office is 25 percent lower than it was when I was sworn in.”
Quinn’s proposed spending plan had a 10 percent increase in the budget office this year, documents show.
And what about total payroll? The AP found something quite different than what Quinn was claiming…
The overall payroll for the governor’s staff and his budget office was slightly lower in May than last July - $123,000 less, or just under 2 percent, according to state payroll records.
But other records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that dozens of employees reporting to the governor’s office are paid by other agencies under Quinn’s control.
So, we really don’t know yet whether this was an actual cut or an increase. Since the AP’s crack reporter John O’Conner is on the case, I’m assuming there will be at least one follow-up.
More than 40,000 unionized state workers got a pay raise last Thursday, bringing to 7 percent the amount they’re gotten since last year. These same state employees are in line for another 7 percent by next July 1st, all at a cost of a half-billion tax dollars a year.
It’s more than the virtually bankrupt state can afford, and some Republican lawmakers say the raises need to be rolled back.
“I’m outraged,” said State Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. “It’s very difficult to buy this rhetoric that, ‘We need to borrow, we need increased revenue,’ when these kind of poor management decisions are going on.”
Governor Pat Quinn points out that the got the union members to defer 2 pecent of their scheduled raises temporarily until 2011, and the union also agreed to help the state find $70 million in health care savings.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Gov. Quinn was on Chicago Tonight last night to explain his raises and his budget. Watch…
*** UPDATE 2 *** AFSCME responds to the Fox Chicago report…
As informed watchers of state government, Capitol Fax blog readers know that last night’s Fox News report was incomplete, misleading and disingenuous. It lumped together nearly four years of pay increases for frontline state workers, but failed to provide that context.
The cost of those increases over four years is about 2 tenths of 1 percent of all state spending–that is, 2 pennies on every 100 dollars the state spends. And even that is an overstatement, since Fox also failed to note that state employees are paying more for health insurance over the same period, and that thousands are taking unpaid furlough days to help the state save money.
Finally, Fox neglected to mention that Illinois has the nation’s fewest state employees per capita. Manufactured controversies like this misinform the public and insult the men and women of state government who care for the disabled, aid the unemployed, prevent child abuse, analyze crime-scene evidence, keep our prisons safe, and perform all the other essential services Illinois residents rely on every day.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Bill Brady…
“This morning, working families in Illinois woke up to learn that Governor Quinn is doling out massive pay raises as high as 24 thousand dollars to political cronies on his own staff, while the rest of us are tightening our belts, struggling just to get by.
I believe pay hikes for state government executives during a fiscal crisis is outrageous, but Governor Quinn? He defends his executive pay hikes, telling viewers on Chicago Tonight, “…that’s how it works.”
Well Governor, feathering the nests of your own political cronies while working families are just scraping by is NOT how government should work. If Pat Quinn is serious about controlling state spending, he should immediately enact a wage freeze on state government payroll, and reverse his pay hikes for his executive staff today.”
Gun rights proponents have wasted no time in filing a federal lawsuit to nullify the new ordinance passed by the City Council to replace the 28-year-old ban on handguns.
The Illinois Association of Firearms Retailers and four Chicago residents filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court against the city and Mayor Richard M. Daley.
The plaintiffs include Brett Benson, 37, a trader on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange who owns a farm in central Illinois; Raymond Sledge, 53, a public elementary school teaching assistant who owns his own home but lives with his mother, who lives near a high-crime area on the South Side, in order to take care of her; and a Chicago couple — Kenneth Pacholski and Kathryn Tyler — he works in aircraft restoration, she is a veterinarian. All the plaintiffs own multiple guns but keep them outside the city limits, the suit says.
The lawsuit says Sledge wants to be able to carry his handgun outside his home in order to defend himself, but he is prevented from doing so by the city’s one gun ordinance.
With the city’s new gun ordinance they can each possess one gun, but they’d like to be able to have more than one gun in the city, the suit says. […]
Also among the plaintiffs is the Illinois Association of Firearms Retailers, which counts among its members people who would like to sell firearms and open shooting ranges within the city, but are barred from doing so by the city’s newest gun ordinances.The suit claims that the city’s new ordinances “infringes upon, and imposes an impermissible burden upon, the plaintiffs’ right to keep and bear arms.” The suit also claims that a provision that limits gun possession to those between 18 and 20 years old only if they have the written consent of a parent or guardian who is not prohibited from having a state Firearm Owner’s Identification Card, violates the rights of those under 21 to keep and bear arms.
The National Rifle Association is supporting a lawsuit against Mayor Richard Daley and the City of Chicago’s newly adopted gun control ordinance, which violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago. Last Friday, the City Council rushed through passage of this ordinance in response to the Court’s June 28th decision rendering Chicago’s draconian handgun ban unconstitutional.
“The Supreme Court has now said the Second Amendment is an individual freedom for all. And that must have meaning,” said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. “This decision cannot lead to different measures of freedom, depending on what part of the country you live in. City by city, person by person, this decision must be more than a philosophical victory. An individual right is no right at all if individuals can’t access it.”
According to the U.S. EPA, Illinois ranks among the larger contributors to downwind pollution such as emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which largely come from coal-burning power plants, as well as fine particulate matter, which comes from a variety of sources.
There have been some 588 grade-crossing accidents involving trains, vehicles and/or pedestrians in Illinois since 2006, resulting in 98 deaths, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. The state has the second-highest number of rail-crossing accidents in the nation, behind Texas.
Stroger wants to appoint local lawyer and government lobbyist Vincent Williams to the job. Cook County commissioners typically sign off on the president’s nominations, but several elected leaders say this one isn’t going to sail through.
