* 1:35 pm - I have to be on the road soon, so I won’t be able to blog this afternoon. Please help out by updating the trial’s developments in comments. Use the links in the upper right corner of the page, plus any others you’ve grown to rely on. Thanks much. You’re the best.
Here’s the latest dispatch from the Sun-Times Blago Blog, which really ought to win some sort of national award for its trial coverage…
Sam Adam Jr. leaps back into his closing argument. The topic? The ex-governor’s $400,000 wardrobe.
Jurors learned a few weeks ago that Rod Blagojevich spent $400,000 on clothes during his six years in the governor’s seat — largely on custom suits and pricey ties.
“You know why he spent $400,000 on suits in six years?” Adam says. “Because he’s a politician. A CEO for the state of Illinois. He’s on the front page of the paper every day. They have media every day. You gotta look the part.”
“Why did Sarah Palin spend $150,000 on her wardrobe?” he says. “Now she’s getting $150,000 for a speech.”
“He’s broke, man, BROKE! When I say broke, I mean BROKE!”
Adam brings up that Blagojevich paid $500,000 in federal taxes while he was governor. That was really his No. 1 expenditure during those years — a fact the government failed to tell the jury, Adam says.
* David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, did a conference call with reporters this morning. From the Post-Dispatch…
[Plouffe] fielded some tough questions about Giannoulias’ own problems (the Illinois Republican Party helpfully emailed a suggested list to reporters just before the conference call), including his bank’s failure and its alleged ties to organized crime.
I’ve seen more of these “helpful” e-mailed questions this year than ever before. The other side will typically send out the usually loaded questions right before an opponent’s media event. Here is the one the Illinois Republican Party sent out earlier today…
This morning, David Plouffe will host a conference call with reporters to discuss the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. We have a few key questions for Mr. Plouffe:
1) Are you concerned about Alexi Giannoulias’ reported loans to mobsters and questionable relationships?
2) Are you concerned that Alexi Giannoulias’ loss of $73 million in college savings could become a major liability in the fall campaign?
3) Are you worried about new reports of criminals or mobsters tied to Alexi Giannoulias emerging between now and Election Day?
4) Are you concerned that Mark Kirk holds a 4-1 cash-on-hand advantage over Alexi Giannoulias right now?
5) How do you strategically square the President’s statement in Massachusetts that “bankers don’t need another vote in the U.S. Senate” with backing a former banker who made the kind of risky loans the Administration has criticized and whose risky decision-making led to the failure of a bank and a $394 million loss to the FDIC?
* The Question: What do you think reporters should do with such suggestions? Ignore them? Use them and admit it? Etc.? Explain.
* As we’ve discussed before, Gov. Quinn is relying on almost non-stop “non-campaign” events to bolster his campaign. He did it again yesterday when Ford unveiled its new Explorer in downtown Chicago. The video is from our old buddy Simon. Watch it…
* Quinn will have another, albeit smaller, “victory” to announce today when word gets out that the Illinois Racing Board has approved parimutuel wagering at the State Fair. It was looking like there would be no racing at the fair this year because the state hadn’t paid winners premiums from last year. Those premiums were finally paid and a deal was worked out and racing will return next month.
* And while tying furlough days to paid holidays may not go over well in Springfield, it’ll probably find at least some favor with voters…
[Rep. Rich Brauer] said he had “heard from a pretty good source” that the Quinn administration is considering eliminating holiday pay for the nonunion workers, effectively making those holidays – 13 this year and 12 next – unpaid furlough days. […]
The Capitol Fax newsletter last week reported the possible use of holidays as furlough days, though Brauer said he had also received similar reports from within state agencies.
“It’s ridiculous to take a small segment of society and say we’re going to make you suffer, and that’s exactly what this has done – not only once, but twice,” Brauer said, referring to the nonunion workers. While about 2,700 people are in that category in the state workforce, some are exempt from furloughs because they are paid with federal dollars, or for other reasons.
Whatever the case, the governor should’ve just rescinded his pay raises for top staff and not messed with this can of worms. He really screwed this one up.
Republican Mark Kirk is proposing seven debates and candidate forums in the race for President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat.
Kirk on Tuesday proposed that the debates begin Aug. 21 in Ottawa with the candidates talking about foreign policy. They would continue through Oct. 21 with a wide-ranging debate in Carbondale. Other debates and forums would focus on Middle East policy, agriculture and jobs.
The Giannoulias campaign says they reached out to Kirk’s campaign last week about debates and have accused the Kirk people of “litigating debates in the media.” From the Giannoulias camp…
We reached out to the Kirk campaign last week and asked to sit down and talk about debates - instead of working with us they pulled this classless stunt.
* Meanwhile, the Kirk campaign has issued two barrages in two days against Alexi Giannoulias. This one’s from yesterday afternoon…
Background: [Yesterday] morning, during a radio appearance on WGN-AM, Alexi Giannoulias made several statements that contradict previous accounts by him and his brother with regard to loans made to convicted mobsters while Alexi Giannoulias was Senior Loan Officer at Broadway Bank.
New Misleading Giannoulias Said: “Now, you know, there are some people who in a perfect world we never would have done business with.”
* FACT: Broadway Bank was aware of Michael “Jaws” Giorango’s mob record when they loaned him money. “Demetris Giannoulias said the bank learned of Giorango’s bookmaking and prostitution promotion convictions from a spring 2004 Tribune report detailing those cases… He said he asked Giorango about the convictions and Giorango said, ‘It’s in the past. I don’t do that anymore.’” (Chicago Tribune, 4/2/10)
* FACT: Alexi said he knew Giorgano had “legal problems.” “Giannoulias insisted he only knew that Giorango had ‘some legal problems’ while he was servicing the loans, declining to say whether he knew they were criminal in nature.” (Chicago Sun-Times, “Giannoulias: I Take It Back,” 4/27/06)
* FACT: Alexi knew about Giorango’s past and thought we was “a very nice person.” “He described Giorango as ‘a very nice person’ and questioned whether Giorango actually was a criminal. ‘Is he a crime figure?’ Giannoulias asked. ‘I don’t know what the charges are that makes him this huge crime figure.’” (Chicago Tribune, 3/15/06)
Misleading Giannoulias Statement: “You look at the credit worthiness of the borrower, you look at the appraisal of the property…You don’t do criminal background checks on who they give loans to.”
* FACT: Alexi made loans despite full knowledge of criminal backgrounds. “‘If every time someone got arrested the bank threw them out, I think it would be a problem,’ Alexi Giannoulias said. ‘We look at the commercial viability of loans, and that’s where we make our credit decisions.’” (Associated Press, 4/8/06)
* FACT: We are supposed to believe that a community bank helped mobsters finance a casino riverboat marina in South Carolina because it was a good investment. “‘From a commercial standpoint, it looked like a loan that should be made,’ Giannoulias said, adding he was unaware the marina was used to dock a SunCruz Casinos riverboat.” (Chicago Tribune, 4/9/06)
Misleading Giannoulias Statement: “I wouldn’t know what a mafia guy looked like if he walked down the street.”
* FACT: Alexi Giannoulias visited mobster Michael “Jaws” Giorango in Miami. “Giannoulias said he traveled to Miami ‘about a year or two ago’ to inspect property the bank had financed for Giorango and met with him there. Giannoulias declined to provide details of that meeting.” (Chicago Tribune, 4/27/06)
* FACT: Alexi admitted meeting Giorango at the bank “a few times.” “But Giannoulias said that since he became a full-time senior loan officer, he has met Giorango at the bank ‘a few’ times.” (Chicago Tribune, 3/15/06)
The Kirk for Senate campaign today called on Alexi Giannoulias to explain his decision to participate in a far left-wing conference that featured panels with Van Jones, marijuana legalization advocates and J-Street.
Last week, Giannoulias announced on his Facebook page that he would be “leading the Illinois Caucus” at the Netroots Nation convention in Las Vegas. The Netroots website showed Giannoulias confirmed to attend the conference’s candidate event as well.
“Alexi Giannoulias’ decision to root his campaign in the far-left should be a troubling signal to independent voters,” Kirk spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said. “Alexi Giannoulias claims to be mainstream but has no problem associating with 9/11 truthers like Van Jones and other left-wing radicals. Alexi Giannoulias claims to stand with Israel but has no problem aligning his campaign with J-Street and its supporters. The people of Illinois deserve a thoughtful, centrist leader not someone who panders to left-wing fringe groups.”
Kirk is listed as a contributor to Andrew Breitbart’s super-controversial Big Government website, so the guilt by association can cut both ways there. Breitbart ain’t very “centrist.” I’ll leave you to decide whether he’s “thoughtful.”
* But if you really want to see harshness, check out this mocking, but well-done video posted to YouTube yesterday…
* A relatively meaningless special US Senate election is all but ordered…
Acting after a series of directions from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Judge John Grady said he is inclined to hold a special election to fill the rest of Mr. Obama’s term on Nov. 3, the same day as the regularly scheduled election.
Judge Grady also is inclined not to hold a special primary election but to allow the political parties to fill their ballot slots by vote of their central committees.
Also appearing on the ballot would be independent candidates who already have qualified for the six-year vote by filing petitions with at least 25,000 signatures, Judge Grady indicated.
Appointed Sen. Roland Burris is already attempting to turn this into yet another Illinois political spectacle…
Tom Wright, an attorney representing Burris, said using the nominees already on the ballot for the special election would deny Burris and other interested individuals the opportunity to serve the 60-day period.
Wright went on to say he believed Burris at least deserves the opportunity to see out the remainder of the term.
“No one else can come up to speed like that. No one else has the staff that’s already on top of these issues. No one else would be in a better position to finish this office,” he said.
But Grady emphasized that legally, Burris cannot receive preferential treatment in retaining the Senate seat and must be considered the same as any other citizen interested in the 60-day term.
Burris might be expected to push the state party to hold open hearings on whom they appoint to the ballot. That would be just one more opportunity to show to the world how thoroughly screwed up the Democrats are here.
Sam Adam Jr. cranks up the volume right from the start, telling jurors in his closing argument that he decided not to put Rod Blagojevich on the stand — despite his promise that he would — because the government didn’t prove its case against him.
It’s what he refers to as the “big pink elephant in the room.”
“I promised each and every single one of you that Rod was going to get up there and take the stand,” Adam says. And at opening statement I gave you my word and I meant every word of it,” he says. “I had no idea no idea that in two months of trial (the government) would prove nothing.”
He argues that the government proved the defense’s case — that Patti got paid for legitimate work she did for Tony Rezko, that “Rod didn’t take a dime,” that government witness Lon Monk pocketed envelopes of cash from Rezko.
Sam Adam Jr. briefly focuses on testimony of Bob Greenlee, Blago’s former deputy governor.
“He looked like Tom Arnold and Buddy Holly had a baby … remember those glasses?” Adam says, recalling Greenlee’s thick plastic frames. A female juror in front row crosses her arms and can’t suppress a smile.
“He took more than $100,000 a year to advise this man … and what does he come in here and tell you? Ridiculousness,” Adam says. “The most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard before: ‘Yes, I said those things, yes, I gave you encouragement… you know why? Because I was trying to disagree by agreeing.’ Who are you kidding?”
Adam is referring to Greenlee’s testimony that he told the ex-governor what he wanted to hear - that placating his boss was often easier than arguing with him.
*** UPDATE 4 - 12:11 pm *** SAJ states the obvious…
Ripping apart prosecution witnesses, Adam says to #Blagojevich, “You’ve got absolutely horrible judgment on people.”
18 times: Number of objections from prosecution on SAJr’s closing argument in defense of #Blagojevich
[ *** End of Updates ***]
* After all the hooplah late yesterday when Sam Adam, Jr. vowed to risk a contempt of court citation and jail time for insisting on pointing to the absence of Tony Rezko and other witnesses the prosecution didn’t call, we have this short report from inside this morning’s hearing…
Zagel to #Blagojevich attorney Sam Adam Jr: “To put you at ease, Mr. Adam, jail is not in the picture and never was in the picture.”
Prosecutors had mentioned some of those witnesses, including convicted fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, in their closing argument, and Adam argued the defense should be able to do the same.
“Your honor, I have a man here that is fighting for his life,” Adam said, turning red and raising his hands.
Zagel responded: “You will follow that order because if you don’t follow that order you will be in contempt of court.”
“I’m willing to go to jail on this,” Adam shot back.
Zagel said he was giving Adam the night to rework his closing arguments, given his “profound misunderstanding of legal rules.” He said Adam could designate another defense attorney to give the closing if he couldn’t follow the rules.
“The jury has to decide based on evidence,” Zagel ruled, “and the fact that someone wasn’t called isn’t evidence.”
Adam raised objections, as the lack of testimony was expected to be a cornerstone of his closing to cast doubts on the government case against disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich and his fundraiser brother Robert Blagojevich.
“You will not argue it. You will argue evidence,” Zagel insisted.
He said other legal jurisdictions might permit the tactic where if “the law’s against you (and) the evidence is against you, then attack the opposing lawyer,” but federal court and his courtroom do not.
“I can’t follow your order,” Adam said.
“You will follow that order,” Zagel replied. “Because if you don’t, you’ll be in contempt of court.”
Presuming they weren’t the signs of a meltdown, experts say Adam Jr.’s histrionics at the end of court Monday ultimately proved to be an unwieldy way of accomplishing two simple goals:
1. Stall for time so that he could give his entire closing argument on the same day.
In fact, records show that nearly half the people sentenced for unlawful use of a weapon receive probation in the Cook County courts. Last year, 2,264 people were sentenced for unlawful use of a weapon. Of them, about 54 percent got prison time and the rest got probation or some form of punishment other than prison, such as boot camp or court supervision, court records show.
On a single weekend in 2008 — 59 hours — 40 people were shot in Chicago, seven of them fatally. In each case, the police swooped in and interviewed neighbors and witnesses, took statements and collected evidence. They even made arrests.
But two years later, reporters Konkol and Main found, not one shooter has been charged and convicted, and just one suspected shooter is awaiting trial.
* Analysis: Home sales up in Elgin, entire metro area
According to an analysis of housing transactions for the first six months of this year conducted by RE/MAX, sales continued a steady rebound last month. RE/MAX looked at data available through Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the multiple listing service for Chicago and its Illinois suburbs, and it showed home sales in June were 26 percent higher in the seven-county metro area than they had been a year earlier, with 9,022 units changing hands.[…]
The average price of a home sold in the seven-county area in June reached $274,217, up 2.6 percent from the $267,338 average recorded in June 2009 and 5.6 percent higher than the $259,573 average of May 2010. However, the median price of homes sold declined 2 percent, from $213,500 last June to $209,000 in June of this year.
It’s just possible the Cook County Board of Review is hearing more tax appeals this year than any other tribunal in the United States, says spokesman Scott Guetzow.
A verbal sparring match between the board and retiring Assessor Jim Houlihan over whether the county property tax bills will be sent out before the Nov. 2 election has been going on since spring.
Houlihan sees a conspiracy.
But if the bills don’t make it out by then, Guetzow said, it won’t be the Board of Review’s fault.
“The process itself was not bad,” said McDonald, who initially plans to buy a .45-caliber handgun for his Morgan Park home. “But the unreasonable thing was the $100 many people will not be able to afford. And that’s a shame because they will continue to be vulnerable to the drug dealers and gangbangers.”
Kenneth Klee, appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to review the Tribune deal, said in a report submitted late today that fraud may have occurred in late 2007. That’s when the Chicago-based Tribune finalized $3.6 billion in financing to complete the $8.2 billion acquisition that came overwhelmingly from debt.
The old proposal set a target of $635 million in operating cash flow for a year. The new one raises the target to $685 million. Reduced bonuses, totaling $16.5 million and about half the level of the original plan, would be paid if the company reaches $500 million in operating cash flow.
The company’s most recent financial reports, filed with U.S. bankruptcy court, indicate it is short of bonus thresholds. For a two-month period from late March to late May, for example, it reported about $50 million from operating cash flow.
A company that wants a deal to attract corporate-sponsored holiday displays on Chicago River bridge houses told aldermen Monday that City Hall could net more than $10 million a year.
Corporations each would pay up to $1 million to decorate the houses at each of the city’s 14 most prominent bridges around Easter, Independence Day, Halloween and Christmas, said Philip Lynch, president and owner of Lincolnshire-based Fresh Picked Media.
The company would coordinate the effort and keep 25 percent of the profit, leaving $10.5 million for the city if the projections work out, Lynch said.
The river is currently just past the 17-foot level as measured at Lock and Dam 15 in the Quad-Cities, according to the National Weather Service. Flood stage is 15 feet.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Fawell told Bakalis that Caudill was not a flight risk and that his client had “some psychiatric hospitalization in the past.” Fawell declined to elaborate out of court.
While some contributors have already given the maximum $2,400 to either Kirk or Giannoulias for the midterm campaign, they would be able to pony up thousands more, ostensibly for the separate special election, Federal Election Commission spokeswoman Julia Queen said.
“It’s separate from just the primary and the general,” Queen confirmed.
What this means is that both candidates could go back to their maxed-out contributors and ask them to give again. It’s doubtful that there will be a special primary, but that would mean even more money could be raised.
* Mark Kirk was in Peoria on Friday and got grilled by the local media. Have a look at how he dodged a simple question: How can voters trust your word? The video is from the Giannoulias campaign. Have a look…
Judge James Zagel interrupts Michael Ettinger, asking how long he has left in his closing. The attorney for Robert Blagojevich says he has about 30 minutes to go.
We’re clearly behind schedule. The judge wanted to finish all the closing arguments in one day, but with Sam Adam Jr. and the government wrap-up to go, that’s looking increasingly unlikely.
Instead, Zagel says, closings will carry into tomorrow. Ettinger will wrap up for Robert Blagojevich this afternoon and then Sam Adam Jr. will present about half of his argument for Rod Blagojevich. He’ll finish up in the morning, to be followed by the government’s final argument.
Niewoehner finishes his argument around 2:05 by calling on the jury to find the defendants guilty on “each and every” count.
“(Rod Blagojevich) knew exactly what was happening,” the prosecutor says. “And now you do, too.”
When the prosecutor finished, Rod turned to his daughters, smiled, and mouthed something to his youngest daughter, Annie, as Patti passed her hand over the 7-year-old’s hair.
Robert Blagojevich, the one-time head of the Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund, did not mix politics and fund-raising, his lawyer said as the defense began presenting its two-pronged closing arguments this afternoon.
Michael Ettinger, the defense attorney for the ex-governor’s brother, described Robert Blagojevich as a “person of honor, a person of character” during his four-month stint heading Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
Ettinger said Blagojevich gave up a successful business career in Tennessee in 2008 to help revive his brother’s depleted campaign fund and to help lessen tensions with his brother - and was unaware of any illegal activity.
Ettinger dwelt on Robert Blagojevich’s background in the military and business and raising funds for the YMCA and the Red Cross. Initially, he was reticent about answering his brother’s call for help running his struggling fund-raising operation.
“Robert didn’t want to do it, but he did. When Robert gives a commitment to do something, he keeps his word,” Ettinger said.
Perhaps nearing the conclusion of his closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Niewoehner again tackles what has been a key idea of the defense — that Rod Blagojevich was unsuccessful in carrying out any of the alleged schemes and is therefore not guilty.
Niewoehner takes the allegations surrounding Jesse Jackson Jr. as an example. He argues that even if the ex-governor didn’t really plan to appoint the congressman to a vacant Senate seat, he is still guilty of trying to accept a bribe of $6 million in campaign cash from his supporters.
“What is bribery?” Niewoehner asks the jury. He says a key point is that the bribery can be “indirect” — “It does not have to be ‘x’ for ‘y.’”
“You do not have to say to (Jackson supporter) Raghu Nayak, ‘I will give you a Senate seat only if you give me $1 million,” he says. “People do not talk that way. You flip $1 million on the table, wink and say ‘I’d like to be senator.’ Is there any doubt what you mean?”
The government doesn’t have to show that Blagojevich actually intended to appoint Jackson, Niewoehner says — just that he tried to convince Jackson’s supporters that he did, so they would give him the money.
“These bribe attempts don’t have to work. Attempts are fine,” Niewoehner says.
“Again, you don’t have to be a successful criminal to be a criminal,” he tells them.
Niewoehner pointed to hundreds of thousands of dollars that Patti Blagojevich was paid by Tony Rezko to allegedly do nothing in real estate deals.
“How many dimes are there in hundreds of thousands of dollars?” Niewoehner said.
Early on, Niewoehner took on Sam Adam Jr.’s opening statement promise that by the trial’s end, jurors would know in Rod Blagojevich was innocent.
“You were going to know in your gut that Rod Blagojevich is as honest as the day is long,” Niewoehner said. “Now is the time to answer those questions.”
While Adam in opening statements criticized prosecutors for charging a man who is broke, Niewoehner said the reason he was broke: the federal investigation cut off the former governor from Tony Rezko. Rezko’s payments to Patti Blagojevich stopped in 2004, when state board member Stuart Levine was interviewed by the FBI, he said.
Prosecutors dropped Count 13, Wire Fraud, against the head of the Blagojevich fund raising arm. The charge related to a December 4, 2008 phone call in which both brothers allegedly schemed to receive political donations from Jesse Jackson Jr. in exchange for an appointment.
It’s unclear why the prosecution dropped this count against Robert, but not for Rod.
Last week, Niewoehner said he’d take about two hours for his closing argument. At this point, accounting for breaks, he’s going on 2-1/2.
Judge James Zagel wanted to get through all the closing arguments today. If that’s still the case, we may be in for a long day.
Attorneys for the defendants said they would need 2-1/2 hours for their two closing arguments, and once they’re done, the prosecution gets a last shot to address the jury. That’s supposed to take an hour.
* As some of you have already pointed out in comments, Rod Blagojevich brought his two daughters to court today so they could witness closing arguments by prosecutors and the defense.
* The Question: Smart defense move, or shocking parental abuse? Explain.
…Adding… Don’t just vent. Explain.
* The reason I can’t do regular blogging today is it takes a few minutes to open up each of these links, meaning it would be late afternoon before I could read everything, digest it and put it into normal blogging format. Thank goodness I have interns who could gather all these for me or there’d be nothing for you to comment on…
[The links have disappeared twice now. Hope this update works.]
* I suppose we’ll know when AT&T truly takes advantage of that new state deregulation law and builds out its wireless network when I can blog easily from my uncle’s house, which is just a mile from I-57. Bad AT&T. Bad…
* Rich Miller: Where should Quinn draw line between governing, campaigning?
* OK, well, I have an Internet connection, but it feels like a 1200 baud dial-up modem. For you youngsters, that’s really, really s-l-o—-w.
Anyway, today is closing arguments day at the Blagojevich trial. I’d keep a close eye on the Sun-Times Blago Blog if I were you. Here’s a link-fest roundup…
…Adding… Some of you are already doing it, but please help us out by posting updated stories in comments. Thanks.
It’s told by the wounded, the accused and the officers who were on the street during a weekend in April 2008 when 40 people were shot, seven fatally.
Two years later, the grim reality is this: Nearly all of the shooters from that weekend have escaped charges.
“You don’t go to jail for shooting people,” says Dontae Gamble, who took six bullets that weekend, only to see his alleged shooter walk free.
“That’s why m————- think they can get back on the streets and kill again. You feel me?”
So far, not one accused shooter has been convicted of pulling the trigger during those deadly 59 hours from April 18-20 of that year, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.
Chicago Police and the feds were bragging and feeling good Thursday about a bust that took drugs and guns off the city’s streets.
But the head of Chicago’s FBI said his agents were demoralized after seeing a comment from Mayor Daley in the Sun-Times that it was “about time” the feds helped out.
“It might have been an off hand, unfortunate comment but it demoralizes individuals,” said Robert Grant, Special Agent in Charge.
Bashing the federal government is easy and fun, and anyone can play. But there is a trick to it. You should be as general as possible, shaking your fist at the camera and inveighing against “Those bastards in Washington” and “Those idiots in Congress.”
If you get too specific and say, oh, “Those loafers in the Ag department in Des Moines,” it will turn out there actually is a real Department of Agriculture office in Des Moines, staffed by real people who actually do stuff and will not take kindly to the suggestion they don’t.
Williams joined more than 900 other bikers Sunday who rumbled through Chicago as part of the sixth annual Ride to Remember sponsored by Harrison Area Detectives to raise money for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which helps the families of Chicago police officers who are severely injured or killed while on duty.
Funk, 41, made his mark in the Chicago office, which he is leaving after a decade for family reasons to head to Denver. Funk, who was raised in Germany before attending college in Illinois, will join the law firm of Perkins Cole.
“Markus has worked on some incredibly important cases over the years … and done an incredible job,'’ U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said.
Funk “would go the extra mile,” said FBI Special Agent Michael Maseth, who worked with Funk on the historic Family Secrets mob prosecution.
Some committee members said Friday they are troubled by company officials’ reluctance to publicly commit to paying at least $8.75 per hour at its Chicago stores, a key concession that helped a proposal for a Wal-Mart in the Pullman neighborhood clear the council June 30 by a 50-0 vote.
Under a deal signed late last year among the state of Illinois, Sangamon County and Springfield, engineers were given 16 months to complete a draft environmental impact statement evaluating the best route for trains through the city, and the study had to be final in two years. At the time, officials said the deadlines were tight.
But the clock doesn’t start ticking until the Illinois Department of Transportation executes a grant with the Federal Railroad Administration to fund all or part of a high-speed rail project between St. Louis and Chicago. That still hasn’t happened.
When Madison County Recorder of Deeds Kyle Anderson donated his $1,651 state stipend to the county last week, his political opponent Matt Rice called it an election-year stunt.
Probably; the oversized, cardboard check that Anderson presented to County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan was a tipoff.
* Southern Illinois tourism steady, but late state money makes marketing difficult
In Illinois, Ameren reported about 16,000 customers lost power. By 6 p.m. Sunday, the utility said it had restored power to almost all of those hit by outages.
