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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: This just in…
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Americans for Prosperity promotes big lie and Edgar kicks Brady when he’s down
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * Americans for Prosperity is jumping into the non-fray over seating Mark Kirk now with an online petition…
* Let’s go through this goofy petition piece by piece, shall we? 1) Kirk did not win a term to fill all of the remaining days of Obama’s unexpired term. A federal judge and the appellate court ruled that the state board of elections must certify the winner by November 24th. Under that late July federal judicial order, whoever won the special election would miss the first week of the lame duck session. 2) Alexi Giannoulias’ concession holds zero legal weight. 3) Unless Americans for Prosperity wants the Illinois State Board of Elections to violate probably two dozen state and federal laws, it cannot certify this election for Mark Kirk. The ballots are not all counted yet (see the Republican counties of Lake and McHenry for just two examples). Some military ballots may not have arrived in the counties yet. Does AFP want to deprive armed forces members of their right to vote? Just a few weeks ago, the Illinois Republican Party wanted to extend the time period to count those ballots and threatened to file a lawsuit. Now, it’s patriotic to not count them? Huh? I’m getting whiplash here. The official state canvass does not begin until next Wednesday, after the deadline for receiving and counting absentee ballots ends. This is a big state. That takes a while. 4) Unless Roland Burris decides to step down, he is most definitely a Senator until Mark Kirk is sworn in. The red herring of West Virginia and Delaware does not apply here. There is no vacancy here. That’s due to both Burris and the federal judicial decree. There is simply no seat for Mark Kirk to take. Even Tom Roeser kinda/sorta admitted error today. AFP has vast sums of cash and, presumably, staff. You’d think they would know better. But the Washington Examiner wants the Senate Republicans to use this non-issue as an excuse to filibuster everything next week. Thankfully, Drudge is too focused today on groped stewardesses to take notice, or Fox News would surely jump in with both Right feet. * Speaking of things we should ignore…
And…
If this was so important, you’d think maybe Edgar would’ve been out there campaigning for Brady. Maybe appearing in the ‘burbs and calming down moderate women. Then again, to my knowledge, Brady’s campaign never asked him to do that or cut a TV ad. That could’ve helped in the suburbs.
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Quinn cool on gaming, but will he change his mind?
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * Gov. Pat Quinn talks about casino expansion and slots at tracks…
He’s right that we can’t gamble our way to prosperity. But I don’t think anyone is talking about making Illinois “the Las Vegas of the Midwest.” What they’re talking about is adding four new casinos, one in Lake County, one in Chicago, one in southern Cook and one in Danville, plus slots at tracks. Las Vegas has 1,701 casinos. We’d need to do a whole lot more expanding to get to that level. * Sen. Mike Jacobs makes sense…
Jacobs was referring to Iowa boats in his calculation, but it’s still true. And it seems a bit silly to me that the Quads have three boats and Chicago has zero. It also seems ludicrous that we’re allowing all those south suburban people to stream across the Indiana border to hand over their gambling losses to the Hoosiers. * So, will Quinn change his mind? Sen. Syverson also makes sense…
* From a press release…
Anyone else see the irony in that quote? * Look, gambling is not exactly popular. And I, for one, am not fully comfortable with the government being an active participant in a scam. And make no mistake, gambling is a scam (for everyone but my wife, that is, who always wins). They don’t build those fabulous casinos because they lose. It’s a tax on people who can’t do math. But it’s an almost purely voluntary tax. Nobody forces anybody to go to those casinos. I also don’t think adding four casinos and slots at tracks puts us on any sort of slippery slope to becoming the next Vegas. We’ve had boats for twenty years and there are only ten licenses, and it took years to find a home for that tenth license. Any expansion takes a huge effort. And expansion attempts fail about 99 percent of the time. It’s been a decade since the last one. * There are also real concerns that more gaming could mean less consumer purchasing here. And considering the lack of current retail demand in our economy, that question should be addressed. All in all, though, governing is inherently a balancing act. If new casinos do little real damage and help us balance the budget a bit without new taxes, then the scale tips in their direction. Some have real moral qualms. But Illinois is hardly Sodom and Gomorrah, and neither is Iowa, Missouri or Indiana, the three states we compete with. What we need is some sober, rational analysis and thought, not bizarre scare tactics by a petulant governor who demands that the General Assembly pass his tax increase before they do anything else. * Meanwhile, Comptroller-elect Judy Baar Topinka and Treasurer-elect Dan Rutherford have a warning for Gov. Quinn. No short-term borrowing unless they believe it’s a decent plan that the state can afford…
* Related…
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * A quote by Robert Gilligan, the executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois…
The legislation in question is a bill to provide for civil unions in Illinois. The Sun-Times editorialized on behalf of the bill today. * The Question: Regardless of how you feel about civil unions and gay marriage and even gay rights, is Mr. Gilligan correct when he says that civil unions and gay marriage are “practically the same,” or are there significant differences that ought to be recognized by the General Assembly? Explain. Again, let’s not debate the merits of the bill here. Let’s try to only stick to Gilligan’s statement.
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Bean needs a miracle, while Walsh vows to fend off attempts to “steal” election
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * The only thing that will save Congresswoman Melissa Bean is a miracle. Lake and McHenry counties won’t even start counting late-arriving absentee ballots until next Tuesday the 16th, which is the statutory deadline. From Lake County’s website…
This, by the way, is yet another reason why the state cannot certify Mark Kirk’s election. Anyway, back to Bean. With Cook County’s absentee results mostly in, Bean trails Republican Joe Walsh by 347 votes. That’s down from her 553-vote deficit late last week before Cook started counting late absentees, but it isn’t nearly enough. She picked up just three votes on Walsh yesterday in Cook, which has now stopped counting until next Tuesday as well. And keep in mind that Bean actually won suburban Cook County 54-43. She lost Lake County 50-47 and got stomped in McHenry 52-43. It’s likely that a higher percentage of Democrats voted by mail in those counties than voted on election day, partly because of the Democrats’ coordinated committee efforts. But that difference will have to be truly vast for Bean to catch up or even get close enough to realistically expect that a recount will make much of a difference…
The Cook “unaccounted for” line is a bit vague. The county mailed out 500 more absentee ballots than they’ve so far received back. Some will never be sent. The ones that are sent in will likely be postmarked after last Monday’s deadline. * In the meantime, Joe Walsh is heading to DC for freshman orientation. He appears to have earned that right. But, as usual, he went over the top in a message to supporters…
…Adding… From Bean’s campaign…
It suggests nothing of the sort since she won Cook County. * Related…
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Kankakee has a lesson for the city
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * I was born in Kankakee. Like many small cities, Kankakee installed parking meters downtown decades ago to generate revenue and prevent people from parking too long in front of stores. And, like many small cities, Kankakee’s downtown quickly went to pot. It didn’t take long before they had no more stores. Some Chicago businesses are now starting to freak out about what could happen to them…
That’s an excellent point. For shops which sell low-priced items like sweet rolls, who’s gonna pay through the nose to park? And get this response from the alderman…
Such empathy. * Parking meters alone didn’t destroy Kankakee’s downtown. Shoppers’ preferences shifted to malls. But the town’s oldtimers are still upset at the way those meters were installed, and that’s been maybe 40 years ago. So if Kankakee is any guide, then this is not an issue that will ever go away in Chicago. And the way the contract is written, those meters will continue to spread throughout the city. The company will have two ways to increase revenues, jack up parking rates or install new meters. It’s not gonna be pretty either way, and it’s going to be both ways. I don’t think many people care about the meters in the Loop. You can actually find street parking at times now. But the Loop is essential. People have to go there. They don’t necessarily have to stop in for quick roll at North Shore Bakery on Touhy, although in my view it’s an excellent place to find tasty treats. * I derided the study conducted last year which found that Chicago could’ve made more money if it had just raised parking rates itself without contracting it out to a private firm. The fatal flaw with the study, I wrote, was that aldermen would either never have been so foolish as to raise the rates and vastly expand meter placement themselves, or they would’ve been forced to instantly annul the ordinance once the public figured out what happened. But by going this privatization route and by spending pretty much all the company’s money up front, the city is now stuck. What it needs to do now is figure out how to get itself out of this contract or drastically modify it or little Kankakees are gonna sprout up all over the neighborhoods. And, take it from a Kankakee native, that’s not a good thing.
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Morning shorts
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * Tribune Co. asks court to approve $43M in bonuses * Hiring remains slow even as economy picks up * Chicago Public Schools sees $700 mil. deficit next year * Estimate of corn crop lowered again * A third of Chicago-area homes underwater * Congressmen pay wives from campaign funds * Panel approves TIF for company’s 650-job expansion downtown * Shrink City Council committees, alderman says * Daley takes credit for fire department audit’s findings * Preckwinkle seeking help from Stroger administration * Why Preckwinkle plan to save $55 million a year might not work * Even Toni Preckwinkle has health insurance worries * Tinley Park enjoys budget surplus at mid-fiscal year * Aurora police union speaks out on budget cuts * Arlington Hts. plans tax increases * Stengren: 20 years on Arlington Hts. board is enough * Three vie to replace Morthland on R.I. County Board * Peoria council considers more budget cuts * Peoria Budget Deficit Reduced * Sangamon County board approves budget including raises, layoffs * Sangamon County Board Passes $95 Million Budget, Only Funding Coroner’s Office Six Months * SJ-R: Take cautious budget course * Champaign council begins work on long-term plan for city’s development * District to explore possible sales tax * Mike Neill will fill Carbondale City Council vacancy
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
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