A federal appeals court ruling today makes it more likely that Illinois voters on Nov. 2 will decide on an interim U.S. senator who will serve just a few weeks in office, while also voting on a U.S. senator for a full six-year term that begins in January. […]
The court ruled that state election laws and timetables regarding special primary elections had to give way to the federal Constitution and that a federal court judge could order the state to disregard existing election laws.
The ruling effectively means that voters could see two U.S. Senate contests on the general election ballot: one to elect a senator to serve from Nov. 3 to Jan. 3 and one to elect a senator to serve from Jan. 3 for six years.
The district court has the power to order the state to take steps to bring its election procedures into compliance with rights guaranteed by the federal Constitution, even if the order requires the state to disregard provisions of state law that otherwise might ordinarily apply to cause delay or prevent action entirely. It is elementary that the Seventeenth Amendment’s requirement that a state governor issue a writ of election to guarantee that a vacancy in the state’s senate delegation is filled by an election is an aspect of the supreme law of the land.
How that means Illinois can get around the question of whether holding a primary is required or not isn’t addressed.
* In other campaign news, the governor has been fond of saying recently that he’s focused on governing now and will get to campaigning eventually.
As they say, good governing is good politics, but sometimes things go awry…
Gov. Pat Quinn announced more than $500 million in funding for mass transit projects during a rowdy morning press conference attended by protesters who say the state needs to invest more money in black communities.
The funding includes $422 million for the Regional Transportation Authority, which will give $253 million to the Chicago Transit Authority, $157 million to Metra and $32 million to PACE, which provides door-to-door service for the disabled. Another $85 million will go to transit districts downstate. […]
Fewer than a dozen protesters held a large “Dump Quinn in 2010″ banner and repeatedly tried to interrupt the news conference, demanding Quinn talk to them and answer why the state has not done more to bring jobs to minority communities.
I wonder who’s behind that? I’m hearing they looked like pros.
* Speaking of unemployment, this just came in from the Department of Employment Security…
Some relief in some places, but not nearly enough to soothe the anger out there.
* There might be more transit-related construction jobs if the state had more money…
Transit officials blamed politics for the delay but said they are just happy to get some of the $2.7 billion that Chicago-area transit was promised over five years in Illinois Jobs Now.
Asked when more might be forthcoming, Mr. Lavin said that depends on the General Assembly.
While lawmakers authorized the entire Illinois Jobs Now concept, they only approved bonds to cover a portion of the cost, bonds that now have been entirely issued, Mr. Lavin said. The Legislature will have to authorize more bonds before the CTA, Metra and Pace get more money, he said.
* Back to politics. Bill Brady’s campaign has a new new Internet video. Rate it…
* A good friend of mine and I were talking recently about how legislative salaries have gotten so high that maybe some members were just too eager to stick around.
Now, I’m not one of those people who thinks that legislators work only during session. Most work quite hard when there is no session. It’s also a thankless job. I wouldn’t do it.
* But the Illinois Policy Institute has a new report out that ought to be given some notice…
Today, Illinois state representatives and senators earn a base salary of $67,836—the fifth-highest legislator salary in the country. Only California, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania pay their legislators more.
Illinois state representatives and senators earn around 47 percent more than the average Illinois resident, who earns $46,110 a year according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupations in Illinois receiving comparable compensation to legislators include microbiologists, physics professors, credit analysts and tax examiners.
It wasn’t always this way. Up until 1897, Illinois legislators received no salary and were paid by the number of days in session, starting at 2 dollars per day for the first 42 days and dropping to 1 dollar each day after, along with 10 cents per mile for travel. In 1909, salaries increased to $1,000 and have since gradually increased. Since 1967, legislative leaders have acquired additional compensation, and since 1989, so have committee chairmen and minority spokesmen.
Their full report has a chart plotting this gradual increase…
* They also played with some numbers and came up with this…
A survey by the Illinois Policy Institute found that the 10 states with the lowest legislator salaries only had budget deficits of 19 percent in their general funds for the last fiscal year. In stark contrast, the 10 states with the highest legislator salaries had budget deficits for the last fiscal year that amounted to 30 percent in their general funds.
I’m not sure that really means a whole lot. Texas, for instance, is on the low end of the salary scale, but they have huge oil and natural gas reserves that generously pad its state budget. And California’s 64.5 percent deficit plays heck with that average. Also, if you want to live in Arkansas, Nebraska or Mississippi, be my guest.
* Still there is no denying that in these trying times, the salaries look way out of whack. Yes, many legislators are “full time.” But this is supposed to be a citizens’ assembly, not a professional legislature. If they want to be paid like full-timers, then they probably ought to be subjected to a lot more rules on outside incomes.
Illinois Senate and House Democrats named four appointees Wednesday to a joint campaign finance task force that in the coming months will examine the effectiveness of recent reform laws and look into how the state might begin public financing of campaigns.
The Democratic leaders appointed Dawn Clark Netsch, Sen. Don Harmon, House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie and Democratic election law expert Mike Kasper. The appointments are required by state law. Republican leaders have selected Jo Ellen Johnson, Todd Maisch and John Noak. Back to the release…
“The task force is really a very important part of SB1466 because it has the responsibility to monitor implementation of the first-ever regulation and limitation on campaign contributions in Illinois, and also the responsibility to examine the issue of public financing of campaigns. That is a direction a number of states have moved forward on and which should be explored for Illinois,” Netsch said. […]
The first assignment is to make recommendations regarding the potential for public financing of elections in Illinois. That report is due by Dec. 31, 2011.
* The Question: Would you support publicly financed elections? Explain.
“Illinois is the laughingstock of the nation when it comes to politics,” Cohen said. “It’s time to change our image.”
By electing a guy who allegedly knifed a hooker, tried to rape his wife and did things like this?…
“Ever since I filed for divorce (Scott Lee Cohen) continually threatens me in writing, by leaving me intimidating notes,” she alleged. “He stopped leaving me handwritten notes on paper, when he discovered I just take them down. Now he leaves harassing messages on my mirror in lipstick, so everyone, including my grandchildren who live with me can see these notes.”
* What disturbs me about this “listening tour” of his is that reporters appear to be bending over backwards to write the usual, AP style stories on him that barely touch on the gigantic controversy which drove him from the race just a few months ago…
“As an independent, my whole campaign is based on the people of Illinois and not the parties. I could care less about the Democrats or the Republicans. My loyalty and devotion lies with the people of Illinois,” he said.
That message resonated with Starlin Stewart, a 68-year-old retiree and lifelong Springfield resident. Stewart said she did not know much about Cohen when he introduced himself to her.
But she liked what he had to say and figured an independent would be a welcome change from the usual two-party choice.
There is a responsibility in this business to report the story as it is, but Cohen is not your usual suspect. If Downstate reporters continue to write drivel like that, then they’ll be at least partially responsible for any momentum he might pick up.
* What the Democrats have done with their challenge to Cedra Crenshaw’s petitions has not only caused a short-term public relations nightmare, but will probably have longterm consequences.
As we’ve discussed before, the Democrats challenged the Republican state Senate candidate’s petitions based on a technicality. The Will County elections board ruled with the Democrats along party lines and kicked her off.
The resulting uproar has made Crenshaw a national tea party sensation. From the now thoroughly discredited “reverse race baiter” Andrew Breitbart’s Twitter page…
Memo to #TeaParty: Party of Sen. Robert ‘KKK’ Byrd Throws black female off ballot; Replaces with male Caucasoid!
In her five-page ruling, Petrungaro said state election law is unclear, but court precedent is clear and favors Crenshaw.
“There was no evidence of fraud, nor was there any evidence of voter confusion. … No evidence was presented that the petitions were circulated in an untimely manner or that the petitioner gained an unfair advantage over her opponents by circulating her petition in advance of the circulation period,” the ruling said.
Crenshaw said now her campaign can move forward.
“Now we’re able to raise money,” she said. “We weren’t able to do that before because we couldn’t answer this very important question of whether I would be on the ballot or not.”
Crenshaw raised about $11,500 in June, including $5,000 from former tea party Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski. She also loaned $1,000 to her campaign in May. That total is better than a few legislative candidates pulled in over the past six months, but she has a long way to go and only reported $4,200 in the bank.
But even the infamously crocked Tribune editorial board couldn’t bring itself to say that she has a shot at winning this campaign…
So she’s officially in the race.
It’s going to be a good one. Once a long shot in a heavily Democratic district, Crenshaw has become a tea party sensation thanks to the heavy-handed tactics of her opponents. Her story line — suburban mom standing up to the Chicago Machine — has scored her plenty of national media attention.
* However, I’ve watched Ms. Crenshaw give plenty of interviews over the past several weeks, including this one...
She’s good. Very good, in fact. Crenshaw is a natural and whatever happens in November, she has a future in Illinois politics. I would bet she runs for something else in two years, maybe Congress, and/or statewide in 2014.
The Democrats have taken a candidate whom almost nobody would’ve cared about and turned her into a national hero with a very bright political future.
On Thursday morning, the defense took issue with three specific charges: The government’s allegation that Blagojevich conspired to land a job at the non-profit organization, Change to Win, in exchange for the U.S. Senate seat; the charge the ex-governor made false statements to the FBI; and the charge that Patti Blagojevich was paid real estate fees by Tony Rezko for doing no work.
Per the false statements charge, the defense argued that Blagojevich telling an FBI agent that he maintained a “firewall” between government and politics was “ambiguous.”
“I don’t think there is anything particularly ambiguous about ‘firewall,’” Zagel said. “In fact, I think there is nothing ambiguous about ‘firewall.’”
On Patti Blagojevich’s fees, Zagel said: “There is circumstantial evidence that the fees were disproportionate to any work that was done, and I am not sure there is any evidence of any work that is done.”
Zagel summarily dismissed the defense’s argument on the Change to Win allegation, simply saying he was “unpersuaded.”
Zagel also said today that closing arguments could finish Monday and the jury may get the case on Tuesday, .
Is former first lady Patti Blagojevich still in the line of fire? Is there fear her real estate dealings with Tony Rezko fall within the realm of indictability?
Stay tuned.
Judge Zagel sure appears to think that Mrs. Blagojevich’s actions could be construed as crimes. From late yesterday afternoon…
Prosecutors showed that Patti banked $12,000 a month from the Rezmar development company, and also accepted tens of thousands in other checks and home improvements.
The defense is now trying to get the Patti accusations knocked from the indictment, saying there was plenty of evidence that she did legitimate work for Tony Rezko and earned those commissions.
“The government has not come close to proving that those real estate fees were anything close to a bribe,” defense attorney Shelly Sorosky said.
Judge Zagel cut in and offered a historical comparison.
“Do you by any chance know who the Everleigh sisters were?” They were madames in a high-class Chicago brothel around the turn of the 20th century.
The Everleigh sisters gave cash to various police officials in order to protect themselves and their business, Zagel explains.
“I think that that would constitute bribery, even though you might not be able to point to a single specific action or inaction taken by those police officers,” Zagel explains. “It might be bribery over a dozen years. Here, hypothetically, six years. … It’s still a bribe, even though it’s very difficult to point to what the quo was for the quid.”
“I think you’re construing it too narrowly,” the judge tells the defense.
* Meanwhile, Mark Brown credibly writes that yesterday’s guilty verdict in the retrial of former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez is ominous for Rod Blagojevich…
Sure, the Blagojevich allegations are completely different, and the Blago media coverage was at a whole other level of intensity, but what Sanchez learned the hard way is that the public doesn’t like politics as it is practiced in Illinois.
And when 12 members of that public finds their way onto a jury for a government corruption case in the Northern District of Illinois, they tend to let the defendant know it.
The Sanchez jurors didn’t like it when they learned how he had used City Hall’s sham hiring system to bypass cloutless applicants in favor of his foot soldiers in the Hispanic Democratic Organization.
And the jury in Blagojevich’s trial most certainly did not like what they heard of our former governor’s conniving on secret government wiretaps.
Even more basically, it’s hard to believe that any of those jurors didn’t develop a strong personal dislike for Blagojevich after listening to his uncensored scheming.
The ex-governor’s practice runs — with prominent criminal-defense lawyers acting as cross-examiners — were troubling, sources with knowledge of the sessions told the Tribune.
The sources said the former governor had difficulty wrapping words around the concepts he wanted to use to defend himself.
Blagojevich allegedly schemed to get campaign contributions in exchange for actions such as boosting the state reimbursement rate for Children’s Memorial Hospital and signing a bill to aid Illinois horseracing tracks. The phone calls played in court back that up, [Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar] said, perhaps giving a bit of a preview of the government’s closing argument on Monday.
In scenarios such as the attempted swapping of the Senate seat for an Obama Cabinet post or a high-paying job as leader of an issue-advocacy organization, Blagojevich was a central player, Schar said.
“He actually made the extortionate phone calls and requests himself,” Schar told Zagel. “This wasn’t just talk. It was implementation of his plan.”
Perhaps stealing a page from the defense team’s upcoming closing argument, Zagel described the former governor as “desperate” and “out of touch with reality” in the months leading up to his arrest.
Prosecutors told the judge that the government’s evidence was strong enough to let a jury decide the brothers’ guilt. In addition to wiretaps, prosecutors also had testimony from the people who participated in the schemes with them, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar said.
“Where there were conspiracies we have conspirators,” Schar said.
Prosecutors also argued that the secretly recorded phone calls in the case proved Blagojevich engaged in illegal pay-to-play politics. The judge, however, acknowledged that few of Blagojevich’s plans and directives were carried out.
“There was an extraordinarily large amount of talk in this case,” Zagel said. “But not a lot actually got done.”
The judge, however, said a conspiracy is a crime that can be accomplished only with a significant amount of communication.
“A conspiracy is a crime of words,” said Zagel, noting it doesn’t need to be carried out in order to be illegal. “You can have a conspiracy entered into with fools and bumblers and it’s still a conspiracy.”
“It’d be one thing if people were sitting around talking about things and it never got past the talking stage,” Schar says. “(Rod Blagojevich) had Mr. Greenlee researching ambassadorships … He had Mr. Greenlee researching foundations … He’s the one who had the meeting with Mr. Balonoff on Nov. 6.”
“This wasn’t just talk, that was implementation of his plans,” Schar says.
* Roundup…
* Rod Blagojevich on why he did not testify. Video
Police Superintedendent Jody Weis says officers have received anonymous tips related to the shooting of Bailey, but police have made no arrests in the case.
The FBI is aiding in the murder investigation and has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer or killers. The Fraternal Order of Police has offered a $25,000 reward.
* After Chicago Cop Killed, Weis Asks, ‘Who’s Next?’
WEIS: We don’t care if the motivation is reward money, good citizenship or whatever, just please let us get these criminals off the street. If they kill a police officer, the question comes up, ‘Who’s next?’
Originally convicted of mail fraud charges in 2009, Sanchez faced a two-week retrial after a federal appeals court judge tossed out the original conviction in December, saying prosecutors had failed to disclose the criminal background of a witness at the first trial.
At the retrial, lawyers for Sanchez and his co-defendant, Aaron DelValle — who was also convicted Wednesday of lying to a grand jury about the alleged scheme — argued that both men acted in good faith, blaming the mayor’s convicted patronage chief, Robert Sorich, for the illegal hiring.
About 79% of the state’s businesses that employ fewer than 25 workers, or 159,900 companies, are eligible for a tax credit of up to 35% of their employees’ premiums, according to Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that lobbied hard for the massive health-reform law passed this spring.
If you pay to park in a privately owned garage, a ticket on your windshield is the last thing you want to see at the end of your day.
“I am so fed up with the city ticketing cars,” said one driver.
But it happens, and a class action lawsuit found 259 garages targeted from 2003 to 2005. Almost 4,000 drivers got tickets left on their cars for not having a city sticker.
The unions countered that they were fighting to protect threatened health benefits. Under the contract that expired May 31, wages range from $35.20 to $45.10. The average number of hours worked by union members is 1,000 a year.
The Davenport-based company reported that digital advertising sales increased 24.8 percent compared with a year ago, while the decline in total revenue moderated to 3.6 percent and cash costs decreased 5.7 percent.
As a result, earnings per diluted common share were 22 cents, which compared with a loss of 55 cents a year ago. Excluding adjustments for unusual items in both years, earnings per diluted common share more than doubled to 26 cents from 12 cents a year ago.
Operating income margin was 15.3 percent in the current year quarter. Nonoperating expenses, primarily interest expense and debt financing costs, declined $4.2 million. Income attributable to Lee Enterprises totaled $10 million, compared with a loss of $24.5 million a year ago.
To make it easier and more affordable to rebuild the downtown businesses damaged by the devastating tornado of June 5, the Peoria County Board will consider three separate measures at a special meeting Thursday evening: waiving building permit fees, extending a county enterprise zone into downtown Elmwood and adopting temporary emergency building code provisions.
The owners of the damaged buildings, most of which are more than 100 years old and made of brick, support the county’s proposals with enthusiasm.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit Wednesday against a Melrose Park bus company, saying it defrauded a group of hearing-impaired students and their families.
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims Sleepless in the City Bus Service Inc. took $1,750 from the Illinois Service Resource Center, then failed to provide transportation for 55 students and their families on April 27, 2009.
Madigan’s lawsuit comes less than a year after the Problem Solver wrote about the case.
