GOVERNOR’S PUBLIC SCHEDULE
**Saturday, August 7, 2010**
CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn will encourage shoppers to take advantage of Illinois’ first-ever back-to-school sales tax holiday and help distribute donated backpacks to children in need.
WHO: Governor Quinn
Students from Inner Voice Chicago
Kelly Hiller, Regional Vice President, Office Depot
WHEN: 9 a.m.
WHERE: Office Depot
352 West Grand Avenue
Chicago, 60610
CHAMPAIGN - Governor Pat Quinn will encourage shoppers to take advantage of Illinois’ first-ever back-to-school sales tax holiday.
WHO: Governor Quinn
WHEN: 11:15 a.m.
WHERE: Sears Company
2000 North Neil Street
Champaign, 61820
MARION - Governor Pat Quinn will encourage shoppers to take advantage of Illinois’ first-ever back-to-school sales tax holiday.
WHO: Governor Quinn
WHEN: 1:15 p.m.
WHERE: Fred’s Hometown Discount Store
1008 West Cherry Street
Marion, 62959
BLOOMINGTON - Governor Pat Quinn will encourage shoppers to take advantage of Illinois’ first-ever back-to-school sales tax holiday.
WHO: Governor Quinn
WHEN: 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: The School Shop
1224 South Towanda Avenue
Bloomington, 61701
GOVERNOR’S PUBLIC SCHEDULE
**Sunday, August 8, 2010**
CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn will encourage shoppers and teachers to take advantage of Illinois’ first-ever back-to-school sales tax holiday.
WHO: Governor Quinn
WHEN: 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: Chicago Teacher Store
1855 North Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, 60647
*** UPDATE *** From a statement by Bill Brady’s campaign…
“[Yesterday] before an audience of more than 1,000 Hispanic business and civic leaders, Governor Pat Quinn had the greatest opportunity of his campaign to outline his position on immigration reform at the state and national level,” said Brady spokesperson Patty Schuh.
“Unlike Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Brady, Governor Quinn failed to do so. While Bill Brady reaffirmed the need by the federal government to fulfill its obligation to control our borders and to promote legal immigration, Pat Quinn buried his head in the sand. Why? Because, Governor Quinn was rushing to board his taxpayer-funded state plane to campaign in support of a sales tax holiday he’s trumpeting while proposing the largest tax increase in Illinois’ history – all at the same time.” [Emphasis added]
And from the front page of today’s Moline Dispatch…
* State Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) has a new book out called “Backstabbers: The Reality of Politics.” The New York Times’ Chicago edition has just published a review of what it refers to as Hendon’s “unbridled political primer”…
Mr. Hendon’s book provides local political wannabes with a tour d’horizon of the game, at least as played in his neck of the woods, including pages of dos and don’ts of petition drives. For example, it advises aspiring candidates to personally double check that their petition circulators aren’t producing “garbage.”
There are tips on the best places for billboards and posters; on rehearsing for debates in front of a mirror but not feeling compelled to answer a moderator’s questions; on using low-cost buffets for fund-raisers rather than pricey sit-downs; and on how to uncover “saboteurs” and “informants” in your organization.
When it comes to a politician’s most important moment — Election Day — the stylistic devotee of the upper case urges candidates not only to “GRAB SOME LAST MINUTE CASH” to have on hand, but also to be wily in procuring the favor of election judges, especially in a close race.
“If you’re in a situation where you must do these kinds of things, remember that men will let their guard down with attractive women, especially if the woman flirts with him and pretends to like him.”
No one, certainly not any board of elections, can be trusted. “IF THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH CHEATING YOU, THEY WILL CHEAT YOU,” Mr. Hendon wrote.
I get a feeling that “tour d’horizon” is not the sort of language used in Hendon’s tome. But, whatever. All publicity is good publicity when you’re trying to move units.
* I called Sen. Hendon this afternoon and asked if he had a song request to celebrate his newly elevated literary notoriety. I mean, it isn’t everybody who gets his book reviewed in the New York Times - even if it is the Chicago edition. Rickey chose the obvious tune…
A jury consultant said during interviews with media outlets Thursday she is not surprised the 12 decision makers in the Rod Blagojevich trial have requested Friday afternoon off.
Being on a jury in a major trial such as this can be emotionally draining, said consultant Theresa Zagnoli.
“They know they’re going to have to justify the verdict,” she said. “Not necessarily to the press, but just to their neighbors, their spouses, their families; they need to have a solid reason for why they raised their hand at a certain time.”
* If you’ve lost any faith in juries over the years, then make sure you watch this Chicago Tonight interview with the foreperson of Scott Fawell’s jury.
She talks about how they worked out a problem with people talking all at once (which may come from an old American Indian tradition of passing a sacred object from speaker to speaker), how the original vote went and how jurors were convinced to focus not just on the prosecution’s points but also look at the defense’s arguments. They run a Fawell clip during the interview where he makes some good points about how the jury probably wasn’t qualified, but if you’re looking for something to restore your faith in humanity a bit, watch this…
It now appears that the Blagojevich jurors plan to deliberate into next week, and though it’s awfully hard to guess what’s going on in the jury room, conventional wisdom is that long deliberations tend to yield convictions, as the jurors, mindful of the gravity of finding a person guilty, go over everything with extreme care and work to eradicate the reasonable doubts of a few potential holdouts.
Ex-governor Rod Blagojevich has committed “crimes” against Illinois arguably worse than those of corruption. In his six years in office, Blagojevich mismanaged the state bureaucracy into demoralized chaos and projected to the world such unpredictability, instability and general buffoonery that business has come to see the state as a questionable place, at best, in which to locate or expand. […]
Under Blagojevich, the state’s reputation as a place to do business has suffered as well. We should have a good reputation. Our business taxes are moderate overall; we are at the center of a huge market, and we have a rich transportation system. Yet according to CEO magazine, the Illinois business climate ranks 46th among the 50 states; Forbes, another business publication, says we rank 44th. Part of the reason for the abysmal ratings, I believe, is the perception that Illinois decision-makers are unpredictable and unstable. Business leaders crave predictability and stability, which helps them plan for the future.
For example, in Blagojevich’s first term, he proposed a gross receipts tax on business that would have been the largest tax increase in the state’s history. Businesses everywhere recoiled, and while the tax proposal was rejected by the legislature, businesses continue leery of doing or expanding business in a state whose leaders harbored such goofy (in their eyes) ideas.
Add to all this the surreal behavior of Blagojevich, twice elected as governor by Illinois voters, and you have a state which has become the punching bag of late night TV jokesters.
* Also, Rich Samuels has a Blagojevich flash-back video/audio page that you should browse.
“We’ve got to start talking about issues,” said Pat Brady, the state party chairman in Illinois. “By mid-September, we can’t just be the party of ‘We aren’t the Democrats because people are really fed up.”
* The Question: The budget, corruption and the economy are obvious issues here, so what other issues should the Republicans focus on in Illinois? As always, explain.
* I actually agree with some of what you all are trying to do here. And as a red-blooded, First Amendment-loving American, I love to see citizen engagement and would fight to the death to preserve your right to say whatever you want.
But it’s really difficult to take you seriously when you show up to protests, like you did yesterday, carrying signs like this…
The tagline on this sign is “Ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s dangerous.” Yet, “Freedoms,” “Children” and “Losing” are all misspelled. “Loosing” is a common, though grating, misspelling, so I’ll give you that. But “fredoms” and “childen”?
Oh, the irony.
If a friend had some mustard on his chin, I’m sure you would tell him. So, if a friend brings a ridiculously misspelled sign to a protest, you should probably help her out.
…Adding… Some of you more strident types are missing the humor in this post. If the sign didn’t include the tagline “Ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s dangerous,” I never would’ve used this pic. It’s irony, people.
…Adding More… The sign in that John V. Moore photo above wasn’t a quick, hurry-up-we’re-late-finish-the-thing one-off. It’s been around since at least early July. And, yet, the owner didn’t notice the irony.
* And way to scare the heck outta people with this t-shirt…
“Babies - Guns - Jesus”?
I wonder how Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno and House Republican Leader Tom Cross feel about this sentiment, since they’re both co-hosting the big national tea party rally next month.
* News roundup from yesterday’s presidential visit…
* If school districts were hoping that the new federal aid to states bill would help alleviate the governor’s truly gigantic 42 percent cut to school transportation, they should think again. From the summary…
The amendment includes provisions to ensure that States use these funds for the preservation of jobs serving elementary and secondary education. Amounts from the Education Jobs Fund may not be used for purposes such as equipment, utilities, renovation, or transportation. S.A. 4575 prohibits States from using any of these funds to add to “Rainy-Day Funds” or to pay off State debt. [Emphasis added.]
Had Gov. Pat Quinn waited just a few days to announce his cuts, or if had used the Senate proposal as a guidepost for cutting elsewhere, he may have been able to move money around so at least some of those transportation cuts could’ve been avoided. It may be too late now. We’ll see.
A 10-day sales tax holiday kicks off Friday in Illinois, cutting 5 percent off the ultimate cost on qualifying school items. The National Retail Federation expects families to spend about $600 to get ready for school. The tax holiday would therefore save a family around $30, about the same amount it would cost to go to dinner at a casual restaurant.
However, in today’s economy, experts say, that dinner - or whatever families may put the $30 toward - is a real incentive for many shoppers. And recession-weary retailers are stoking that bargain-hunting mentality with additional promotions, discounts and coupons as a way to create a shopping frenzy similar to that seen on Black Friday, the day-after-Thanksgiving buying spree that kicks off the Christmas shopping season.
In fact, for many retailers the back-to-school period is second only to the Christmas holiday in generating sales and profits.
“The tax savings along with other sales will mean a substantial savings for the consumer,” said retail analyst Neil Stern, partner at Chicago-based McMillan/Doolitte retail consultancy. “If you’re a smart shopper, you can save quite a bit of money over the next 10 days.”
* A trip down memory lane. My syndicated column from a few weeks ago…
This sales tax holiday probably will get more publicity than any other pre-election tax cut Quinn could’ve devised. Retailers usually advertise quite heavily during back-to-school season, and they’ll surely include the automatic 5 percent discount from the sales tax holiday in their nonstop pitches to consumers. Broadcast and print news will do plenty of stories during the Aug. 6-15 tax holiday.
Not to mention all the mothers who will be thankful for a break on their purchases. Quinn knew what he was doing there, or at least stumbled into it.
*** UPDATE *** A lot of people don’t realize that adult clothing also qualifies for this sales tax break. Even, apparently, bras…
G Boutique, a Wicker Park store that specializes in lingerie, has sent an e-mail to its customers reminding them that replacing “nasty old bras that you should have thrown away months ago” and the like now are temporarily eligible for a 5% sales-tax exemption.
Under the tag line of “Thank You Mr. Governor,” the e-mail congratulates the Legislature for realizing that “charging the highest sales tax in the country is NOT helping small business.”
The e-mail then goes on to depict some goods from manufacturers like Hanky Panky — all with a goal of stimulating — sales, that is.
* Our View: Sales tax holiday more about hype than financial hope: Go ahead. Prove us wrong. We hope you prove Gov. Pat Quinn right and stimulate the Illinois economy.
