* OK, make sure you’re not eating when you read my Sun-Times column this morning. Please, put down that bagel. Set aside your croissant. You’ll thank me later. Ready? Begin…
I was thinking the other day about what sort of governor Pat Quinn ought to be now that the election is over, and for some odd reason I flashed back to an old buddy I haven’t seen in a decade.
Years ago, I had a little cabin in the Missouri woods. My neighbors would get together on weekend evenings around a campfire, drink beer and tell stories.
One of my neighbors was a factory worker who had been laid off from Boeing and eventually ended up working at a different factory for half the pay. He wasn’t ever bitter, though, and he’d do anything for anybody.
My friend also had a fascinating ability to mimic a hoot owl. He’d hoot for a few minutes and pretty soon all the trees surrounding the campfire would be filled with owls, hooting back at him, their eyes glowing from the reflection of the blaze.
It always gave me a spooky rush, and I begged him more times than I can remember to do it again. He never once failed.
One evening, my buddy showed up at the fire pit with a big bandage on his left cheek. I asked him what happened.
He said he had been out hunting with his dogs in a field not far from where we were sitting. He was slowly making his way through a stand of tall grass when suddenly a copperhead snake jumped up and bit him hard on his cheek.
Talk about a spooky rush. I didn’t know copperheads could even leap, and because we weren’t far from where my pal was attacked, I nervously scanned my surroundings before asking what he did next.
“You mean after I screamed?” he said with a laugh.
Yeah. After you screamed.
Well, he said, the snake wouldn’t let go of his cheek, even though he tried and tried to pry its head loose from his face. Nobody could help him because he was alone except for his dogs. So, he said, he grabbed that snake with one hand, pulled out his hunting knife with the other and cut the copperhead’s body off from its head.
Then he walked back to his car, with the copperhead’s fangs still embedded in his cheek, and drove himself to the nearest emergency room.
I almost fainted just listening to his tale. I bet I’ve probably lost a few readers by now as well. You don’t expect to see a crazy scary snake story when you pick up the Chicago Sun-Times.
But if I could force Quinn to model himself on anyone, it would be my long-ago friend.
Figuratively, of course. Quinn doesn’t have to learn to hoot like an owl, but the governor does need to do a far better job of attracting state legislators to his side whenever he speaks.
Quinn’s post-election boasts about his supposed “mandate” for a tax increase did nothing but shoo away the General Assembly’s hoot owls. It seems like he loses support every time he opens his mouth. The object is to pass your bills, not kill them.
And some of those Springfield bosses make angry, leaping copperheads look downright tame.
Quinn has a galling habit of flip-flopping whenever they bite him, which is the Statehouse equivalent of lying down to die.
Nobody ever helps him out when this happens because he annoyingly refuses to lay any groundwork and do any real planning before he acts.
So, he’s left alone to deal with his wounds, and it ain’t pretty.
Please, governor. Learn.
* In other news, the gaming expansion bill has hit a new roadblock. Black Caucus members won’t support it…
It’s never easy to expand gaming here, and that’s just one reason why. By the time you please everybody who can kill your bill, it’s too heavy to move. Or, in the local parlance, the Christmas Tree collapses under its own weight.
State revenue from gambling in the past fiscal year was the lowest in 10 years, the result of both the poor economy and Illinois’ indoor smoking ban, a new report said. […]
“However, the numbers continue to suggest that the biggest contributor to the drop in Illinois casino revenues is the indoor smoking ban,” the report concluded.
Since the ban took effect in January 2008, adjusted gross receipts at Illinois casinos dropped 28 percent. The report said both admissions and receipts took hits after the ban went into effect.
“Illinois riverboat totals are significantly worse than the riverboat totals of states surrounding Illinois,” the COGFA report says. “Therefore … it appears that the indoor smoking ban has continued to have a major negative impact on the riverboat industry.”
* Roundup…
* Disclosure Fight Looms in Springfield: Open-records advocates are preparing for a fight in Springfield next week over the lingering effort to make performance evaluations of public employees exempt from the state’s freedom-of-information law. State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia, Democrat of Aurora, is leading the effort to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s amendatory veto of a bill that would have exempted the evaluations. Mr. Quinn sent the legislation back to the House in July, narrowing the exempt list to law-enforcement personnel.
* Did aliens take over the Chicago Tribune editorial board? The reason I ask is the paper ran two editorials today about state politics that were actually well-written and on an even keel. They didn’t once go all nutso on us.
There are two significant distinctions between what happened in Iowa and what [state Rep. Greg Harris] seeks in Illinois.
First, this would not be a case of the courts creating a right that’s not supported by the public. Harris’ legislation would be an expression of the public through their representatives in the Illinois House and Senate. […]
We do not think lawmakers in most parts of this state would face a backlash for a vote in favor of civil unions. The public largely is supportive. This doesn’t engender as strong an emotional response as gay marriage. A vote for civil unions in Illinois would be a remarkable step, a fair step.
Legislative action is “an expression of the public through their representatives in the Illinois House and Senate”? Well, yeah, but I haven’t seen the Tribune say that in I don’t know how long. Usually, legislators are corrupt, arrogant and completely unrepresentative of the public interest.
Whether you agree with civil unions or not, this editorial was, indeed, “a remarkable step, a fair step” by the paper.
* Hey, I’m not complaining. I’m just shocked, that’s all. Pleasantly shocked, but shocked nonetheless. Check out the end of today’s other editorial opposing the current policy of allowing seniors to ride free on mass transit…
We hope legislative leaders deliver to Quinn a more sensible means for handling senior riders. If Quinn issues a veto, we hope legislators override him and bring this notion of free rides to an end.
Not “We demand,” or “We insist,” or “We’re gonna stomp Madigan and Cullerton into oblivion if they dare disobey us,” but “We hope.”
We hope?
Seriously, was there a coup over there or something? Whatever happened, I’m all for it. Reason, moderation, logic, intelligence, facts. The high road rather than the high hat.
I could get used to this.
* And I’m so ecstatic that I’m not even going to think about cynically suggesting that the Tribune Company’s 5 percent interest in the Chicago Cubs has anything to do with this new editorial board attitude. Nope. Not in the least. Not gonna go there. Nobody ever influences that editorial board.
Heck, this new Ricketts Field bond plan which will be sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton isn’t even a horrible deal for the state. See? I hate all things Cub, but this $300 million borrowing proposal to renovate the park has no direct state cash involved. The city and county might say different, but that’s their problem…
In 2009, the Cubs paid $16.1 million in amusement taxes to the city of Chicago and Cook County through a 12 percent levy on each ticket. The team proposes that the city and county would be guaranteed this amount for the duration of the bonds. But the incremental growth in amusement taxes beyond $16.1 million, either through increased ticket sales or increased ticket prices at Wrigley, would pay the bonds over time, Ricketts said.
The Cubs owner, though, is seeking a safety net in case the amusement tax does not cover the bond payments. Ricketts would like the bonds to be backed by revenue streams that are assigned to the facilities authority, including a 2 percent hotel tax.
The financing plan requires the approval of the Illinois General Assembly. Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, will sponsor the legislation and plans to move it forward in the veto session that begins next week, said his spokesman, John Patterson.
“The state has no credit risk here,” Ricketts said. “No one is losing anything. It’s not a new tax, and it’s not increasing taxes. It will allow us to keep some of the growth in a tax.”
I’d prefer they just bulldoze that decrepit stadium into the lake, which would be a whole lot cheaper, but I guess they could at least fix it up a bit.
“The Civic Federation would urge caution before embracing any plans for $300 million in borrowing by a state agency if it does not relate to the overall financial stability of the state,” said President Laurence Msall. “The state of Illinois faces an enormous financial crisis and will be needing all of its borrowing power just to pay its bills and to continue to operate.”
Meh. Since when has the Tribune ever listened to Msall.
* Yesterday, I praised Gov. Pat Quinn for his cheesehead beatdown over federal high speed rail money, and for his laudatory push for wind power jobs.
But how about we take care of our existing businesses as well? For instance…
The Rialto Square Theatre was promised $2.2 million in the state capital bill passed 16 months ago. The Rialto still doesn’t have the money and won’t get it any sooner than spring or summer.
Getting it then may not be a sure bet either.
“We do live in the state of Illinois,” said Rialto Executive Director Randy Green, alluding to the state’s financial troubles when asked how sure he is that the money is coming.
The amount of overdue payments the state owes to providers of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs increased by $12 million in the span of a month.
According to the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association (IADDA), the state owed $34 million at the beginning of October, and it now owes $46 million — in some cases, on bills that are seven months overdue.
Sarah Howe, spokesperson for the IADDA, said providers throughout the state are in danger of soon being unable to pay employees. “The next payroll out, the one after that, they are potentially going to have to miss it.”
Howe said that many providers have stopped offering essential services, such as detox programs, sending individuals seeking help to local emergency rooms. She said specialized substance abuse treatment providers are more equipped to handle such procedures, and sending those in need to hospitals costs taxpayers more and clogs up emergency medical treatment facilities. “I cannot think of a provider that hasn’t had to do something as far as curtailing services,” Howe said.
* And while Quinn one-upped those crazy badgers to the North, we’re losing out - again - to the Hoosiers…
A new study found Illinois is not keeping up with some neighboring states on job creation in the solar power industry. […]
According to the report, as of August 2010, more than 93,000 people nationwide work in solar power, and half of companies in that field expect to hire new employees in the next year. Those jobs include manufacturing, installation and sales. There are solar companies in every state, but the industry is mainly concentrated in the western and northeastern parts of the country. California leads the nation with 30 percent of all solar related businesses and more than 36,000 solar jobs.
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio all made it into the report’s top 20 states for solar job creation, but Illinois did not.
According to the research, Illinois has about 530 solar-related jobs with a projected growth to nearly 700 jobs by 2011. That compares with Indiana — ranked 10th in the country for solar employment and growth — with more than 1,600 jobs and projected growth to more than 1,800 by 2011.
Sen. Mike Jacobs, chair of the Senate energy committee, said alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, may not yet be consistent enough to rely upon, and lawmakers should be judicious when considering tax breaks or subsidies. He is concerned about asking consumers, especially in a down economy, to pay more for power. Jacobs, an East Moline Democrat, said it is a constant balancing act to keep old power sources thriving while still encouraging development of renewable energy.
“Everybody is really interested in jobs. … I just don’t think weakening incumbent utilities who provide us cheaper power is a good trade-off for us,” Jacobs said.
A war of words is heating up between Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn over job creation.
The Republican Walker said Thursday he plans to persuade Illinois companies to come to Wisconsin. He says he’ll emphasize that Quinn has proposed massive tax increases. […]
She says even with Quinn’s proposal of a 1 percent tax for education, Illinois’ individual income tax rate would be 4 percent. Wisconsin’s ranges from 4.6 percent to 7.75 percent.
Gov.-elect Scott Walker says he wants to set up a fund to help startup companies in Wisconsin.
Walker offered no details Thursday, but he told the Early Stage Symposium at Monona Terrace the fund would represent a public-private partnership.
“We’re going to focus in on small businesses,” he said, opening the second day of the two-day gathering of young technology company leaders and investors.
Walker reiterated his campaign pledge to declare an “economic emergency” and hold a special legislative session on jobs with a package including personal income tax cuts for employers with 50 or fewer workers; streamlined regulations; and an end to the state tax on health savings accounts.
Walker handed Quinn a big public relations success, but Quinn might still learn from the guy.
* I’ve changed my mind and I’m not moving to Chicago for the mayoral election. I made my decision last Wednesday evening when I finally realized I just couldn’t take another campaign right now. And I’m feeling much better about it as I scan this week’s mayoral campaign stories.
A fourth possible candidate, Rob Halpin, said he’s been contacted by politicians- presumably Emanuel’s opponents- to make a run. He’s been living in Emanuel’s house since the former White House chief of staff left for Washington, D.C.
Halpin, 50, is a industrial real estate developer. The married father of three said he knows as much as any other candidate about what the city of Chicago needs. […]
“What I’m hearing is it may cost me some money to get some signatures and get some assistance in the other areas,” said Halpin. “I’d have to consider that when we get to that, which will be soon.” […]
“Anybody that knows me will tell you this is not a stunt, and I wouldn’t be involved with anything like that,” said Halpin.
Yeah. OK.
* Carol Moseley-Braun’s plan to fix the city’s budget and put more police officers on the street to combat gang violence made me cringe…
I propose bringing all of us together to work on these issues
Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — better known in some political quarters as “Rahmbo” — found himself the target of an incoming egg during a stop Wednesday in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, NBC Chicago reports. The egg missed Emanuel, who is expected to make an official announcement soon that he’s running for mayor — and the egg thrower remained unidentified, the TV station reported.
Actually, if you watch the video, Emanuel stayed almost completely focused on what he was doing while the egg flew by. That may be the best indication yet that he’s mayoral material.
OK, see what I mean? I’m actually suggesting that that an egg-throwing incident brings out the best in a candidate. I just can’t do it any more.
* And Emanuel’s response to the parking meter deal was a big bumbler…
“I do have a problem because the money was not used for its original intended purpose, which was to invest in key infrastructure, investments in making the city a more productive city economically so you can grow jobs,” he said.
Despite Emanuel’s comments, none of the proceeds from the $1.15 billion parking meter lease were designated for infrastructure improvements.
Lance Cpl. James Stack was in the thick of combat in Afghanistan during his first overseas deployment with his U.S. Marine unit, but he never expressed any fears to his family.
Instead, the 20-year-old former Arlington Heights resident wrote about his determination to excel at the tough job he was doing.
The body of Staff Sergeant Jordan Emrick arrived at the MidAmerica airport near St. Louis Thursday afternoon. A Marine honor guard escorted his casket on its return to Illinois.
The 26-year-old was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan last Friday while serving his third deployment. Emrick joined the Marines shortly after graduating from Nashville High School in 2002.
The two met Tuesday for the first time, after what Preckwinkle described as months of “zero” cooperation, but it was of little help. Preckwinkle would only say it was “unfortunate” the session was “very short,” but influential Commissioner John Daley, D-Chicago, was less subtle.
“It lasted eight to 10 minutes — it was not good,” said Daley, who said he had discussed the meeting with Preckwinkle.
So Daley and all his colleagues plan to put Stroger and his top executives under the spotlight at Tuesday’s board meeting, where they will be asked to detail their transition efforts.
