* Gov. Pat Quinn held a press conference today to tout his new $2,500 tax credit for each new employee hired by companies that have 50 or fewer workers. State Sen. Bill Brady has a different jobs tax credit proposal. It’s lower, $2,100, but it applies to all companies, large and small.
According to the AP, the governor accused his Republican rival of wanting to “lower the overall tax credit so he can help big businesses,” and then added…
“Big businesses we have programs for in Illinois,” Quinn said. “We don’t have to take some of the largest corporations on earth and hand out tax incentives to British Petroleum or someone like that. We want to target our tax credit in a very focused way to our small businesses that are right here in Illinois, not multi-national corporations.”
“He knows all about layoffs,” Quinn said of Brady. “He’s applied his chainsaw to his real estate development company and laid people off. He hasn’t created any jobs at all.”
Yikes. And the retort…
“It’s the ultimate hypocrisy for Pat Quinn to attack a family business for making difficult decisions when he’s been a life-long politician who’s never directly created a job in his life,” Brady spokeswoman Patty Schuh said.
Here we have a governor who has presided over a budget that has resulted in countless job losses among private human service agencies, schools, police departments, state contractors, etc., and he’s calling Brady, whose very successful company suffered because of a national economic crisis, “an expert at layoffs“?
That’s a bit much, if you ask me.
Maybe Brady should’ve just followed Quinn’s lead and given his staff huge raises instead of laying them off. Yeah. That would’ve worked.
Another Illinois lawmaker says that if the St. Louis Rams need a new home, and folks on the Missouri side aren’t willing to help, then the team should look to the east — the Metro East.
First it was State Senate President John Cullerton, now it’s Democratic State Representative Jay Hoffman of Collinsville.
“I believe that Illinois would work in conjunction with Missouri to keep the Rams,” Hoffman tells KMOX. “We need to keep them here.” […]
“And even though they only won one game last year, we’re seeing good things on the horizon,” Hoffman says, “and understand the economic tool that the Rams are, and any sports franchise is.”
* Bill Brady and others took a little heat for appearing this past Saturday on the same stage as a very controversial activist…
Chicago immigrant rights activists and religious leaders are upset that the Republican candidate for Illinois governor, state Sen. Bill Brady, and other Republican politicians are scheduled to share the stage Saturday with a woman who is the founder of the Illinois Minuteman Project and has made controversial comments about immigrants, Catholics and Muslims.
Rosanna Pulido, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress, is scheduled to speak at a Tea Party rally in Bartlett this afternoon hosted by the Tri-Count-Teas. They also have invited Republican politicians, including state Sen. Randy Hultgren, a candidate for Congress in the 14th District , Angel Garcia, a candidate for Cook County Clerk, and Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.
Click here for the press release announcing the event. We’ve been over this before, but here’s a sampling of Pulido’s comments…
Responding to the post by someone else: “Oh I don’t know, those pictures of dozens of men in mosques kneeling on prayer rugs with their heads down low always looks pretty funny to me,” [Pulido] says: It reminds me of my dog, smelling butts.” December 28, 2003
“Cardinal George is responsible for every illegal immigrant who dies while crossing the border coming over here because he is luring them.” March 23, 2008
Referring to the gay community: “Face it, its better to be in a meat packing town than in a fudge packing town.” (post #42), November 7, 2008
“Great! Now the gays can indoctrinate the other kids who are struggling, they will be told that they have gay tendencies and be lead along like sheep to the slaughter.” (post #3), November 18, 2008
Brady’s own speech can be seen by clicking here (Part 1) and here (Part 2). Pretty standard stuff. He didn’t address Pulido’s charges, but he entirely avoided talking about immigration.
* Meanwhile, Brady’s campaign has named state Rep. Ron Stephens chairman of Veterans for Brady/Plummer. From a press release…
Springfield, IL…On Sunday, a group of veterans and elected officials gathered at the Illinois State Fair to announce the formation of “Veterans for Brady/Plummer,” a volunteer organization of supporters who believe Bill Brady and Jason Plummer are the right choice to protect and preserve veterans’ benefits and opportunities over the next four years.
“Our fiscal problems at the state level have affected each and every person in Illinois, including veterans and their families,” said State Representative and U.S. Army Veteran Ron Stephens. “I’ve known Senator Brady for twenty years, and I assure you, veterans and their families will always be a top priority of his administration. We need a real advocate in the Governor’s office, someone who stands by his word and someone who will protect the interests of the men and women who so bravely protected our freedoms abroad.” Representative Stephens will be serving as chairman of “Veterans for Brady/Plummer.”
Really? Ron Stephens? The pharmacist who got busted for doing drugs several years ago, then nearly lost his pharmacist license after being popped for a DUI earlier this year? He has an honorable service record and I’ve always firmly believed that a simple (not aggravated circustances) DUI ought not be the end of the world. But Stephens’ misbehavior far transcends those two public sanctions, so putting him front and center ain’t exactly the best idea I’ve ever heard. Maybe the Brady campaign will help administer his random drug tests.
The revelation came after Kelly Klopp, the spokesman for 10th District congressional hopeful Robert Dold, accidentally sent an e-mail to a Daily Herald reporter Wednesday with instructions to “please get some positive comments up” in the comments section attached to a story about a Dold television commercial.
In the e-mail, Klopp suggested possible messages for the volunteers to post, including “Heard the ad and liked it” and “Nice to see the candidate talk about himself without just attacking his opponent.” […]
“Volunteers write letters to the editors for us, put up yard signs, hand out literature - we’re always encouraging supporters and volunteers to join the public debate,” [Klopp] said. […]
The Dold campaign uses college-age volunteers to post comments on the Web about the candidate, Klopp said. The team she intended to activate Wednesday is based at DePaul University, she said.
Yeah, well, there’s a fine line between encouraging supporters to join the public debate and downright deception. For instance, during the primary I posted Dold’s first TV ad. Here’s one of the comments…
- paul the blue lib - Thursday, Dec 17, 09 @ 3:09 pm:
Dold had a good ad, kinda energy like he is actually going to get some stuff done—not that I hope he gets anything done, but the ad is pretty good.
The message for politicians cuts more to the quick: When you do this, when you allow your campaigns to do this, it may just seem like standard electioneering, but it is fundamentally dishonest.
It may be a small lie, but it is a lie all the same. It tries to pretend that a testimonial is spontaneous when in fact it is orchestrated by the campaign. And that’s a falsehood.
It is fundamentally dishonest and inherently unethical.
You cannot gain the public’s trust by engaging in untrustworthy political practices.
* 10th Congressional District: Israel forum participation debated: “Dan greatly respects Protect our Heritage and shares their commitment to strengthening our special relationship with Israel. Unfortunately, the nature of the forum changed significantly from our original agreement, leading us to decline to participate in a situation that had become inherently unfair and uniquely weighted against Dan,” according to a campaign statement.
* Press release: Governor Quinn Celebrates Veterans’ Day at Illinois State Fair
Judge James Zagel has called in the attorneys from both sides for a hearing on the question. Robert Blagojevich’s attorney Michael Ettinger said neither of the defendants will come to the courthouse for this hearing.
“Not yet,” Ettinger said.
*** UPDATE 2 - 11:45 am*** From Susan Berger’s Twitter page…
Jury wants Bradley Tusk transcript in its entirety… [Blagojevich attorney Sheldon Sorosky] objects to request. Judge will give transcript to jury… Judge will inform jury that cerain portions will be blacked out - those reflect outside presence of jury… Judge calls request “less than earth-shattering”
Among other things, Tusk testified about a $2 million grant that then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel wanted for a local school, but that Blagojevich wanted to hold up until Emanuel’s brother hosted a fundraiser…
Asked by the prosecution about the $2 million grant for the Chicago Academy, Tusk delivered what amounts to the biggest smoking gun yet in witness testimony. He told the jury that in the late summer of 2006, after receiving pressure from Emanuel, Tusk spoke with Blagojevich on the phone to urge him to authorize the grant money for the school. He said he told Blagojevich that Emanuel was “very upset” that the money had yet to be disbursed. In response, Tusk testified, Blagojevich told him that before he would release the grant money, he wanted Emanuel’s brother Ari, a wealthy Hollywood agent, to host a fundraiser for him.
“I got off the phone as quickly as I could,” Tusk testified, saying that he felt the directive was both “illegal and unethical.” Ultimately, he said he never conveyed the message to Emanuel, but instead contacted Blagojevich ally John Wyma and the governor’s legal counsel and ethics chief, Bill Quinlan. He said he told Quinlan, “You need to get your client under control.”
That the jury requested Tusk’s testimony after last week’s note could be a better sign for the prosecution than the defense. Tusk’s testimony about a state grant to the Chicago Academy corresponds to one of the predicate charges in the racketeering count against Blagojevich, as well as Count 14 of the attempted extortion charge against the former governor.
More links to coverage of Tusk’s testimony are here.
Republicans have tried to link Blagojevich to Democrats running for office this year, including Governor Pat Quinn and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (though both candidates stress they had little to no relationship with the ex-governor). Despite that message during the trial, [Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady] insists he doesn’t plan to make a big deal about the trial’s outcome.
BRADY: You know, we could make a lot of political hay out of it. I don’t think we will, because [I’ll] just [be] relieved it’s over.
Brady adds, though, that a hung jury or not-guilty verdicts would keep the story alive.
“Our system of justice gives Rod Blagojevich the right to remain silent. But his refusal to answer questions under oath also reveals more of the duplicity by which he campaigned and tried to govern. We shouldn’t be surprised. Rod ran as a reformer, with the full support of Pat Quinn and Mike Madigan. But it was all a sham.
Here’s a message to every Illinois political insider who’s prepared to throw up if the Rod Blagojevich trial results in a hung jury: you may hate Blagojevich, but ordinary people don’t.
From a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted July 26, 2010…
* Do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable impression of Rod Blagojevich?
3% Very favorable
6% Somewhat favorable
18% Somewhat unfavorable
70% Very unfavorable
2% Not sure
The vast majority of “ordinary people” hate the guy. Period. And that’s why I find it so hard to believe that the Illinois Republican Party won’t try to “make hay” out of the verdict, whatever it may be.
* Carol Marin looks at the stark differences between the late Dan Rostenkowski and the man who replaced him in Congress two years later…
As the now-legendary Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from 1981 to 1994, Rostenkowski was immersed in the detail and discipline of legislation. He wasn’t a scholar, but he had a graduate degree in tax codes. Plus a respect for process and the political opposition. He and President Ronald Reagan presented a powerful picture of how bipartisanship can make something big happen.
I don’t mean to romanticize the man or his methods. He could be cutthroat about power and preferred closed-door deals to the sunshine promoted by goo-goos.
Then again, Rod Blagojevich just pretended to be a goo-goo as he stepped from Congress to the governor’s office. But behind his closed door sat sleazy wheeler-dealers like Chris Kelly and Tony Rezko hatching scams they and Blagojevich couldn’t manage to pull off for big payoffs they couldn’t make materialize. Did they not know that even corruption sometimes requires some skill?
In the meantime, Blagojevich managed to alienate almost the entire Democratic Party — of which he was allegedly a member — as well as Republicans across the aisle. The result across his six years in office was gridlock on budgets and the gaping maw of a growing deficit.
The Chairman could work the halls of Congress but the Governor couldn’t work with anyone.
One was gruff but effective. The other glib but almost goofy. Rod wanted you to like him but Rosty didn’t seem to give a damn.
Abdon Pallasch looks at another angle to this. Rostenkowski called Michael Patrick Flanagan after losing the general election in 1994, then met with him and gave him some advice. After Blagojevich won in 1996? Not a word was heard…
Contrast that with the guy who beat Flanagan after one term — Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich never called after winning, Flanagan said.
Flanagan asked Rostenkowski if Blagojevich ever called him, either.
“Not only did he not call me, but I called him and offered to give him some advice — he didn’t have time,” Flanagan recalled Rostenkowski saying of Blagojevich. “He never asked my advice on anything, either. I don’t think he’s much of an advice-taker. That’s part of his problem.”
* Roundup…
* Brown: Hung Blagojevich jury a loss for feds — but not for long
* Brady wants him fired, but Quinn will have none of that…
Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady on Sunday called on Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn to fire the state’s prisons chief after an early-release plan was ripped in a report for saving money at the expense of public safety.
“I believe the highest obligation of any governor is to protect the interests of the public, the public safety. By allowing these releases to occur, Gov. Quinn failed to meet this obligation,” Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, said at a downtown Chicago news conference.
In Springfield, Quinn responded that he would not fire corrections chief Michael Randle, saying, “I don’t need a lecture from Sen. Brady.” […]
“I’m not going to change the director,” Quinn said during an interview Sunday at the executive mansion. “He did make a mistake. He took responsibility for it.”
All too predictable. The last time Quinn as asked about this was back in May, by my intern Barton Lorimor…
Quinn’s chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, said Friday he was present last summer and fall when the governor told Randle he was not to release violent offenders under MGT Push. Randle took responsibility for not supervising his subordinates closely enough to make sure they followed that dictum. As a result, he said, “It happened.”
That’s not what the subordinates have said. Judge David Erickson’s report did not go into any sort of detail about who actually put that MGT Push program into place. From everything I’ve been told, Randle backed it to the hilt. From Friday’s presser…
Quinn’s order conflicted with a law allowing some violent offenders to qualify for early release, and Randle said that, as director, he should have seen the conflict and suspended the program before anyone with a record of violence was released.
It all looks from the outside that Randle was a passive force. Again, that’s not what I’ve been told by the insiders.
Also, we still don’t know why Randle failed or refused to tell Gov. Pat Quinn about the program until the Associated Press broke the story. I have tried and failed to get an answer to that particular question for months. Too bad they didn’t hold Friday’s press conference in Springfield. Maybe we could’ve gotten to the bottom of things because the Chicago reporters let a lot of stuff slide Friday.
* Roundup and related stories…
* ‘Serious flaws’ in prison-release program: “MGT was a dismal failure. It was totally dysfunctional,” said Judge David Erickson, Kent College of Law… “Inmates did not have to do anything to earn their good time,” said Erickson.
* Bill Brady Wants Illinois’ Prison Chief Replaced: He said Quinn’s not removing Randle shows a lack of “moral responsibility.”
* Quinn picks new inspector general: Ricardo Meza, a former federal prosecutor, succeeds James A. Wright, whose dismissal on Friday was first reported by the Tribune. Meza is the Midwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a long-established Latino advocacy group.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Republicans in this state have every reason to cheer and Democrats have all the reasons in the world to grumble.
Republicans have a fired up, angry base that can’t wait to vote. The Democratic base is morose, embarrassed at its party’s failures and is in no mood to even think about voting.
Numerous pollsters and prognosticators have pointed to the eery similarities between the public’s mood now and at the same point in the huge Republican year of 1994 - the last time we had a Democratic president facing his first midterm election.
The latest national CNN/Opinion Research poll found that the “generic” congressional ballot was pretty much the same as it was in August 1994. Voters favor unnamed Republican candidates over Democrats 48 percent to 45 percent, compared with 46-44 in 1994. Public Policy Polling’s latest survey had the national generic ballot favoring Republicans at 45-42.
Half of all voters told CNN’s pollster that they likely are to vote for a candidate who would opposes President Barack Obama. Back in ‘94, 51 percent said they wanted candidates who opposed President Bill Clinton. Obama’s approval rating is also just three points higher than Bill Clinton’s was back then.
In 1994, the Illinois House Republicans rode their party’s national tidal wave to a 13-seat pickup and a long-sought majority. The House Republicans need 12 seats to take the majority away from the Democrats this time. So, there’s a lot of hope out there that they can pull it off.
Some real differences exist between now and 1994, particularly here in Illinois. For instance, back then Illinois had straight-party voting. It was pretty easy to just walk into the ballot booth, punch the Republican number and walk out. The Republicans got rid of that just after the Democrats took back the House two years later.
Also, the state legislative district map 16 years ago was drawn by the Republicans. The current map was drawn by the Democrats and is way more sophisticated because computer technology advanced so far in the intervening decade.
The national Republican landslide of 1994 took the Democrats completely by surprise. They simply had never seen anything like it. Even during the Ronald Reagan sweep of 1984, the Illinois Democrats beat a Republican U.S. Senator. Now that they’ve seen what can happen, the Democrats claim they’ve made far more preparations than they did in ‘94.
Then there’s Barack Obama. The president is from Illinois, so the state gives him a higher approval rating than just about anywhere else, and tends to support his policies in larger numbers.
Back in early August 1994, a Chicago Tribune poll had Republican Jim Edgar beating Dawn Clark Netsch by a mind-blowing 35 points. Netsch ended up losing by almost 30 points, taking the House Democratic majority down with her.
The latest statewide poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports has Republican state Sen. Bill Brady leading Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn by 13 points - 48-35. I’ve seen another internal candidate poll taken very recently that had Brady’s lead slightly higher. A Democratic poll reportedly has Quinn trailing by seven points. Let’s say it’s somewhere in the middle, but that means there’s no good news here for the governor.
So, could Quinn take everybody else down with him?
If you figure that Netsch’s 30-point loss helped intensify the 1994 GOP landslide, then maybe Quinn’s bad numbers aren’t enough. But I’ve seen some recent private polling on voter intensity that ought to frighten the Democrats right down to their bones. Their party’s biggest lead is among people who say they aren’t interested in voting.
Plus, downstate and collar county voters appear the angriest these days, and that could really hurt a lot of the state’s freshman Democratic congressmen and several legislators in tough fights. Any Democrat involved in a race that looks even a little close should be worried sick right now.
Quinn isn’t helping matters much with the campaign that he and his allies have been running. The Democratic Governors Association has spent almost $2 million on TV ads whacking Bill Brady as an extremist, but Rasmussen’s poll of 750 likely voters taken August 9th showed that more voters thought Quinn was an extremist than Brady.
According to the poll, 32 percent thought Brady’s views were “extreme,” while 38 percent thought Quinn’s views were extreme.
He’d better do something quick before he pulls a Netsch and tanks his entire party.
* And here’s another reason why it’s not totally 1994. From a Tribune poll of 800 heads of household in Chicago and the suburbs…
In a recent Tribune/WGN poll, 46 percent of suburban residents said they oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, while 40 percent approve and 14 percent have no opinion.
When asked their opinions on civil unions — which would provide same-sex couples with many of the same legal rights as marriage — the results switch: 54 percent of suburban residents favor legalizing same-sex civil unions, compared with 33 percent who would oppose such a law. When city residents are included, the results remain nearly the same.
The poll shows the Chicago area falls largely in line with national opinions on gay marriage, an issue that has received considerable attention lately after a federal judge in California declared that state’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Same-sex marriages could resume as soon as Wednesday in California, and the judge’s decision is expected to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. […]
The overall opinion on legalizing same-sex marriage, when city respondents are factored in, is split: 42 percent oppose it, 42 percent support it and 15 percent have no opinion. The Market Shares Corp. telephone poll of 800 male and female heads of household from the six-county Chicago area has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
No owners living in the buildings, no developer or contractor to be found. In most cases, there’s nothing of value left behind, the units having been stripped. These barren buildings endure as lures for crime and as deterrents to investment in the neighborhood.
Markowski and city housing officials estimate there are 200 such buildings around Chicago, mostly on the South or West sides, representing more than 2,000 apartments. They have banded together for a program they said is unique for American cities to put them back to productive use for housing.
With a $2.5 million grant from the city, Markowski’s Community Investment Corp. is working to gain title to the condos.
Expanding the council and the number of wards would be an expensive proposition for any city, made even more difficult during these times of lost sales tax, income tax and development fees to municipalities.
Moreover, the timing proscribed in state law actually made it impossible for local government to comply. The statute says redistricting and an expanded council has to be done 180 days before the next consolidated election, April 2011.
But the earliest census data will start to become available is in January 2011, well after the deadline.
Decatur and Springfield are being added to the list of cities considering a bid to play a role in a reworked version of a $1 billion clean-coal project after another Illinois town dropped out because of changes made to the original plan.
To fill the system’s remaining $370 million deficit, Huberman early this week unveiled a budget that included raising high school class sizes, on average, from 31 to 33 students, for a savings of $30 million and a loss of 500 teaching jobs.
Ten year-round high schools opened Monday with those larger class sizes, and, as a result, fewer teachers than normal. Huberman said schools will be getting “budgetary guidance'’ soon on how to open slashed positions.
However, it was not immediately clear whether all laid-off high school teachers would automatically be called back to their old slots.
Metracide is not an official cause of death, but it refers to suicides involving Metra trains. The latest figures compiled by the commuter train agency show 14 fatalities this year involving its trains — due to all causes, not specifically suicide — as of early July, including two people in vehicles, spokeswoman Meg Reile said. At least two other deaths have been reported since then, meaning this year’s Metra-related fatality toll already exceeds the 15 recorded in 2009. The highest number on record was 34 in 2004, Reile said.
It’s been three months since former Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano killed himself while being investigated for a variety of financial wrongs. But the taint of the financial scandal still lingers and will for some time.
That’s why we agree with those who say Metra needs an independent inspector general to keep an eye on the transit agency going forward.
A right-wing New Jersey blogger was convicted at his third trial Friday of making threats against three federal judges in Illinois in retaliation for a ruling supporting gun control.
A Brooklyn jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Hal Turner guilty of making death threats.
After an independent audit by law firm Jenner & Block recommended strengthening the commission’s controls, state lawmakers drafted restructuring legislation that Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed that requires all 13 commissioners to resign on Dec. 31 and that in 2016 will eliminate a countywide sales tax that helps fund the commission.
On Thursday, commissioners voted to start negotiations on a loan extension that would buy the commission time to generate funds to pay off the loan. Commissioner Phil Suess urged the commission’s representatives — staff attorney Maureen Crowley, retired Financial Administrator Rick Skiba and Treasurer Don Zeilenga — to shop around for a lower interest rate than the 2.5 percent rate proposed by West Suburban Bank.
