* While we wait for the start of tonight’s 7 o’clock debate [click here for the ABC7 livestream], let’s take a quick look at the new Public Policy Polling poll….
42% Bill Brady
41% Pat Quinn
6% Scott Lee Cohen
1% Lex Green
3% Rich Whitney
6% Undecided
* I asked PPP to check Speaker Madigan’s fave/unfaves and they did…
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Michael Madigan?
18% Favorable
52% Unfavorable
30% Not sure
Oof.
Methodology…
October 14-16, 2010 Survey of 557 likely voters. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.2%.
* Please help us live-blog tonight’s debate in comments. Y’all did an excellent job last night. Let’s try it again. Click here for the livestream. The debate begins at 7 pm.
* Brady gets to early release, um, early in the debate. Just a quick mention, but a nice pivot.
* After months of ignoring Sen. Dan Kotowski’s budget reform proposal, Quinn has finally started using it in debates, including twice tonight. It also helps that Brady voted against the proposal - because it was attached to a budget bill.
The same goes for legislator furloughs, which Quinn just mentioned. It was in a budget-bill. Brady voted against the bill, so he voted against all that other stuff as well.
* LOL. Quinn has constantly used the phrase “perish the thought” whenever he mentions the possibility that Brady could be elected. Brady just said: “Governor, perish the thought that you’d tell the truth.” The man understands pivots. Very crucial in debates if people are watching.
* Brady: “Gov. Quinn has used the social issues to divide Illinois.”
* Andy Shaw: “Sen. Brady let me see if I can get an actual answer to the question.” Asks about social issues. Brady says he supports “parental notice,” 2nd Amendment. Tries to be as innocuous as possible.
* “Leaders lead, they don’t punt. Gov. Quinn has punted on issue like he has punted” on everything else, Brady said about death penalty reforms. He’s clearly getting the better of the guv.
* Brady again brings up the allegation that Illinois is deemed to be one of only 7 states to be in a recession. That was on MSNBC a while ago. I’ll be doing a fact check tomorrow on this.
* Quinn brings up George W. Bush and Brady’s support for him in yet another debate. Talks about rail car company that’s expanding and Groupon. Nippon and Groupon, if you’re keeping score at home.
* From Clout St…
Quinn claimed Brady voted against a bill that would have barred spouse abusers from having guns. Do not have a bill number to verify at this point.
So, I asked the Quinn campaign…
Brady Voted Against Denying Domestic Abusers Guns. Brady voted against a bill that required applicants for firearm owner’s ID cards to certify that they had not been convicted of domestic battery or similar offense. It also allowed the police to deny or revoke ID cards if the holder had been convicted of such crimes. [HB 127, Adoption, 92-22, 5/31/97]
There you go.
* Brady: “If you want an Illinois that looks more like an Indiana or a Tennessee…” vote for me. [Miller: Look, man, it’s not that I hate Indiana and Tennessee, but I don’t want to be like them.]
* Quinn shout-out to Lisa Madigan on how he’s working with her on transparency. LM is the most popular person in politics these days, so that can’t hurt. Also, third mention of Sen. Kotowski’s “budgeting for results” bill.
* Brady again brings up an audit. I wonder if anyone showed Quinn the quote from the auditor general about whether he knew what a “business audit” of the state would be. His response? “No.” Apparently not because Quinn didn’t mention it in his response. He used to read this blog. Maybe he’s just too busy now.
* Brady: “You’ve racked up record deficits and debt. $13 billion.” “Slashed” public safety. “I never said I’d slash Veterans Affairs.”
“It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve cut $3 billion it’s still not true.”
* Quinn brings up the “drive through deliveries” bill that mandated more than 24 hours hospital time for new moms, but doesn’t explain it very well at all.
* It’s a good thing that this debate isn’t being watched by a majority of the voters or the guv would be toast.
Keep that in mind, by the way. We’re watching, but not a huge number of people are. This isn’t like a presidential debate.
* Brady: “Let me remind you, governor, that it was you who introduced the bill to cut education by a billion dollars.” Zing.
* Quinn now trying to explain those three Brady “conflict of interest” votes. Actually, it wasn’t much of a “try.” The governor doesn’t seem to know the specifics. Bizarre.
Brady brings up the AFSCME deal in response. “Ethically challenged?” he asks before each point, including “secret pay raises.”
* Moderator asks Brady to explain the votes. Brady glosses over them.
Brady offers lamest defense/explanation yet of 3 votes he cast in Genl Assembly to spend tax dollars to benefit his interests nr Champaign
Yeah, but Quinn’s explanation was even lamerster. (OK, my drinking game word was “budgeting for results,” so I may be getting a bit tipsy too.)
* Latina panelist Rebecca Sanchez asks Brady about a story I wrote for subscribers a few weeks ago regarding a fundraiser attended by two former Rod Blagojevich cronies. Brady says he doesn’t know what she’s speaking of. She says Juan Ochoa and Dean Martinez. Brady says they’re “good people.” Quinn points out that he fired Martinez. That ought to push the story into the mainstream if anyone is paying attention.
* Brady: “Governor, you didn’t even have the backbone to stand up to Mike Madigan and John Cullerton” on your own reform commission’s ideas.
* Quinn talks about companies “taking” jobs from Indiana and Missouring and “bringing them to Illinois.” This was in context of Brady not paying taxes, believe it or not.
* Quinn uses Bush again in his closing statement. From Clout St…
*Brady closing statement: Illinois is a crossroads, but we need new leadership. Quinn has run state into the ground the past two years. Jobs lost. If you want to continue down that path, vote for Pat Quinn. If you want a difference, lower taxes and more jobs, vote Brady.
*Quinn closing statement: He stabilized government on ethics when he took over. Blamed Bush killing economy. Said he’s creating jobs. Important to have a governor with a heart.
* Joe Berrios is up with his new TV ad. It blasts Forrest Claypool for parking garages, pay raises and stuff, but, frankly, it’s so wordy and the announcer’s cadence is so odd at times that I’m not sure anyone will get it. I could be wrong, though. I’m kinda in a hurry these days and not paying really close attention to all these ads. Then again, neither are most people.
The spot ends with “Support the Democrat,” which is unusual for any ad this year, but Claypool is running as an independent, so that’s mainly what Berrios has going for him. Rate it…
…Adding… Republican congressional candidate Joe Walsh just sent out another weird e-mail to his network about tonight’s League of Women Voters candidates forum at Grayslake Central High School…
Dear Friends:
Get there early tonight. Ms. Bean may very well bus in people from outside of the district. We sure don’t want to miss that. Let’s be respectful, but let’s make sure that our voices are heard. Remember, this woman has been hiding from us and avoiding our questions for months. This “debate” will be rigged in her favor so let’s make it clear to her that she no longer represents us and needs to answer our questions. If not tonight, sometime before the election.
“This woman”?
I predict many breathless cell phone video posts on YouTube tonight.
* Public Policy Polling has just released its latest Illinois survey and finds Mark Kirk ahead of Alexi Giannoulias by two points 42-40. PPP’s last poll three weeks ago had Kirk ahead by four. From the pollster…
You would assume that for Mark Kirk to be running ahead as Republican in Illinois that he would be winning a good amount of crossover support from Democrats and that he would have a massive lead with independents. In reality he is doing neither of those things. He’s only getting 10% of the Democratic vote, about average for GOP candidates across the country this year. And he has just a 9 point advantage with independents, below average for what Republican Senate candidates across the country are getting. To put it into perspective when the GOP won another Senate seat this year in a state Obama won by 25 points- Massachusetts- their nominee took independent voters by a 32 point margin.
So how is Kirk ahead if he’s not doing those things? The final outcome in Illinois, perhaps more so than any other state in the country, is going to be determined by the ability of Democrats to mobilize their base in these final two weeks. We find that likely voters there only voted for Barack Obama by a 9 point margin in 2008, compared to his actual 25 point victory in the state. If what Democrats are dealing with on a national basis is an enthusiasm gap then what they’re facing in Illinois could perhaps be better described as an enthusiasm canyon. The only state where we see a bigger disparity between who voted in 2008 and who’s planning to vote this year is Obama’s native Hawaii.
The competitiveness of this race is completely predicated on paltry Democratic turnout. If that proves to be the case it’s about 50-50 as to who will win on election day with perhaps a small advantage for Kirk. If Democratic turnout exceeds current expectations there’s almost no doubt Giannoulias ends up as the winner.
Crosstabs are here. This is a relatively “old” poll since it was conducted Oct. 14-16, so some of these numbers are almost a week old.
Green Party nominee LeAlan Jones has 4 percent and Libertarian Mike Labno has 3 percent. 10 percent are undecided.
* Voters don’t like either of these guys…
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Alexi Giannoulias?
35% Favorable
47% Unfavorable
18% Not sure
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Mark Kirk?
35% Favorable
46% Unfavorable
19% Not sure
* And this is bad, bad news for Democrats…
Would you rather Democrats or Republicans held the majority in the next US Senate?
45% Democrats
46% Republicans
9% Not sure
Do you approve or disapprove of Barack Obama’s job performance?
45% Approve
51% Disapprove
4% Not sure
* Lots of undecided females…
* And LeAlan Jones is taking Democratic and black votes away from Giannoulias…
* The DSSC leaked a topline to Lynn Sweet yesterday showing Giannoulias leading Kirk 41-36. The pollster who shall not be named once again screwed up his numbers by using “some other candidate” instead of Libertarian Labno. Stupidity.
* Congressman Mark Kirk’s US Senate campaign has been plagued by strange internal leaks for months. And now we have one that includes a plan for a “Bejing fundraiser,” which was held the day before a House vote to close tax loopholes for companies that send jobs out of the country.
The latest leak is the internal agenda of a mid-May Kirk campaign finance meeting. Click here to read it. [Fixed link.]
The memo is chock full of interesting stuff, including his overall fundraising goals, regional goals, out-of-state goals, individual fundraiser event goals, targeted contributors, info about how much Kirk’s entire finance committee had raised to date, PAC goals, etc.
It even has a list of how the campaign’s Internet and e-mail fundraising was doing. According to the memo, the campaign had raised $423,687 by May via all its Internet/e-mail activities. Kirk’s website was bringing in the most, with $294,744. An ad on Drudge, on the other hand, brought in just $50.
* But then there was a curious item. If you can’t read the calendar, click the pic for a larger image…
Pay close attention to the May 27th event: Bejing FR. “FR” is a standard campaign abbreviation for “fundraiser.”
* The Kirk campaign says that the candidate held a “Skype” fundraising meeting with American businesspeople in Bejing, China. I’m told that 12 people participated in the event.
* And then the next day, Kirk voted “No” on a bill to close a tax loopholes that would prevent companies from “using current U.S. foreign tax credit rules to subsidize their foreign activities .”
Now, it’s not like the contributions from Americans doing business in China likely swayed Kirk much. Just about every Republican voted against that bill. And the Kirk campaign points to a story from 2008 about the Obama campaign sending people to China for fundraisers.
But Kirk co-chairs the China Congressional Working Group, and he’s taken heat several times for his ties to the nation. He infamously told Chinese officials that US budget numbers shouldn’t be believed, for instance. Kirk opposed legislation on Chinese currency manipulation.
“When you hear Congressman Kirk talk about job creation, he’s talking about jobs he created in China,” has been a standard line from Alexi Giannoulias this year. And while the campaign fundraiser looks legal, there are plenty of American businesses over there who are, indeed, exporting jobs to that country.
* The internal Kirk campaign leaks have been embarrassing. There was the leaked memo about how Kirk would like to have Sarah Palin’s support. There was the “source with connections to the Kirk campaign” leaking the Navy’s memo about his “partisan political activities during his last two tours of active duty.” Last week, Politico reported on another internal e-mail about how Kirk was worried he’d be “the next moderate victim.” And then there was the Republican-only conference call during which Kirk bragged about his “voter integrity” program that would focus on African-American areas that ArchPundit got ahold of.
You really have to wonder what’s going on over there.
* Roundup…
* Kirk’s Senate campaign troubled by embellishment: Kirk exaggerated his role in the [”Bridge to Nowhere’s”] demise, illustrating a proclivity for embellishment that appears to go beyond run-of-the-mill political puffery. The U.S. Senate contest with Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is the first statewide campaign for the five-term congressman, and the increased exposure and scrutiny have introduced Illinois voters to two Mark Kirks.
* Crossroads puts in $4M more: Crossroads GPS will spend about $1.18 million across Illinois and in the St. Louis market on behalf of GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, who trails Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in recent polls by slim margins.
* GOP Trouble On The Last Frontier: In Illinois, the NRSC dished out $825,000 on ads on Tuesday, the same day that Rep. Mark Kirk (R) and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) faced off in a debate.
* “Half True” Mark Kirk campaign ads say Alexi Giannoulias lost $73 million in our kids’ college savings
* You’ve seen this ad before about the rape victim, but Personal PAC is set to announce that they’re putting it on the Chicago morning shows. They’re spending $100K so far, and hope to raise $150K more. Refresh your memory…
* The US Chamber tries to finish off Democratic incumbent Debbie Halvorson…
*** UPDATE *** Um, dudes, the next time you hire a guy to wear a goofy shark suit, make sure he has a sign that correctly spells the word “Miami.” I mean, how hard can this be? From a reader…
Chicago’s Groupon, one of the web’s fastest-growing companies ever, got a $3.5-million aid package today from the state of Illinois, land of the $13-billion budget deficit. Was this really necessary?
Both the state and the company are insisting yes. The 250 new workers to be hired at the daily dealmakers’ Chicago headquarters under the financial package announced by Gov. Pat Quinn could instead have been moved to one of the company’s other offices.
For instance, Groupon President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon told reporters that in a competitive market, with other states seeking Groupon jobs, the company did consider other locales.
“We thank Gov. Quinn and the state of Illinois for putting together an incentive package that allows us to further expand our workforce,” he said.
Said Mr. Quinn, “We want to keep ‘em here. It’s a competitive environment.”
The amount of money actually is relative peanuts — and fairly routine — divided into job-training and tax credits that are offered to many employers. But with state finances this low, you have to ask.
* The Question: Despite the massive loss of jobs in Illinois, is this too far or is it prudent?
The annual state budget is about $51 billion. But about half of that isn’t under the direct control of the governor or the General Assembly. […]
The general fund is the pool of money — about $25 billion for the next fiscal year — that we draw on to pay for education, public safety and health and human services, plus a few minor odds and ends. […]
But $25 billion really isn’t the starting point for a governor who wants to cut the budget. About $6 billion of that comes directly from the federal government. And somewhere around $9 billion is money we have to spend on education and Medicare in order to get the full amount of the federal funding. That leaves from $10 billion to $13 billion, according to various estimates, at which lawmakers can swing their axes.
In other words, that’s pretty much the entire deficit. Also, as Zorn reminds his readers, Bill Brady then wants to cut taxes by a billion dollars.
Zorn’s editorial board ought to read his entire piece before writing again about their pie in the sky ideas.
* Meanwhile, Brady repeated his claim that a “business audit” that took two to three months could help him figure out where to cut…
Asked whether the number of layoffs would number in the hundreds or thousands, Brady reiterated that he hopes that trimming the state workforce - which already has the fewest employees per capita in the nation - can be done by not replacing workers who leave or retire.
I asked Auditor General Bill Holland if he knew what a “business audit” of state government would actually entail. His reply: “No.”
* Speaking of the budget, Stateline is doing a series on states paying their bills late. Here is yesterday’s installment…
On weekday afternoons when schools let out in Humboldt Park, a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, dozens of children, ages 6 to 16, head to a community center known as the Youth Service Project. When they arrive at the center’s activity rooms, the children must do their homework first. Then they’re allowed to play, read books about sharks, throw balls at each other or just hang out with friends.
It’s a safe place in a neighborhood troubled by gang violence. Two years ago, two participants at the Youth Service Project were killed, and two more were injured, in the fighting. The youth at the center, which runs an arts education program, responded to the deaths by painting an indoor mural of their memories of that summer’s events. It shows a SWAT team van, a church cross against a blue sky and a funeral home — although the center’s staff, fearing that the funeral home would be a distressing image for the kids to see every day, have moved a bookshelf in front of it.
The center plays an important role in the life of Humboldt Park. Indeed, the state of Illinois, which provides 95 percent of the Youth Service Project’s funding, expects the center to provide all of the services under its contract. The catch is that, with all the state’s fiscal troubles lately, no one knows when the state will actually hand over that money.
In the past, the center has had to wait a month or two to get paid. This year, the center went six months without receiving a single check from the state. To get by, the center exhausted its line of credit, cut back on services and laid off seven of its 32 staff members. Only half as many children were able to take advantage of the Youth Service Project’s programs as did two years ago.
Disruptive as California’s delinquency has been to higher education, Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills is creating worse problems. Illinois lawmakers this year passed an unbalanced budget that does not bring in enough revenue to cover expenditures. Cash flow is so crimped that as of the end of September, the state of Illinois owed its community colleges and universities close to $600 million. That’s more than one-third of the state’s entire budget for higher ed.
* And Brady calls Speaker Madigan a “dictator” but says he thinks Madigan trusts him…
Bill Brady, the Republican candidate for governor, said Tuesday he was ready to work with Democrats on pension reform and other controversial issues if elected, adding he thinks powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan “is looking for a leader … that he can trust” to lead the state.
“And I think Mike Madigan trusts me,” Brady told The Pantagraph editorial board.
At one point, Brady called Madigan, who has been speaker almost continuously since 1983, a “dictator,” but also said the Chicago Democrat “has a lot of respect for an effective governor.”
“We saw it with Edgar,” said Brady, referring to Jim Edgar, the Republican who served two terms as governor in the 1990s and who has endorsed Brady. “And I’m not a clone of Edgar, but I do think you can learn things from that success.”
If Brady wins and Madigan holds onto the House, this will be a fascinating battle. Madigan’s more liberal members will want an all-out revolt, but he’s never been all that fond of funding bureaucrats, so the Speaker may just give Brady all the rope he wants.
Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) is in trouble. He ran unopposed in 2008, but this cycle he trails the GOP candidate, Tea Party favorite Bobby Schilling, by seven points — 38 percent to Schilling’s 45 — and 14 percent of likely voters are undecided, according to The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll.
Perhaps even more troubling, 50 percent of independent voters support Schilling, while only 29 percent support Hare. Also among independents, 45 percent had a negative view of Hare, while only 18 percent had a negative view of Schilling, who’s never run for office and owns a pizza restaurant.
President Obama carried this district, and 57 percent of independents gave the president low marks.
Meanwhile, Hare trails by 17 points among male voters, while he only leads by two points among female voters. Schilling has a 20-point lead among middle-aged voters. Hare wins younger and older voters by a small margin.
Meanwhile, 95 percent of Republicans said they definitely will vote, while 84 percent of Democrats said the same.
And 38 percent of voters said Obama has brought change to Washington “for the worse,” while 25 percent said it was “for the better” and 34 percent said nothing has changed.
Had the National Republican Campaign Committee bothered to watch Congressman Hare’s complete statement, they would have understood he was clearly saying that we must invest in local communities to keep teachers and firefighters on the job. The myth Hare referred to is that you can’t spend at all during periods of debt. Hare even points out several budget offsets that could pay for these investments like ending tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and subsidies to the oil industry–offsets Republicans like Schilling refuse to support.
Associated Press says clip is out of context: “But add a little context and it becomes clear that Hare was not denying the debt exists. He was calling it a myth that the debt means the federal government can’t spend money on important programs.”
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) is in a tough battle for his district. He trails Republican Randy Hultgren by one point, 42 percent to 43, with 12 percent of likely voters undecided, according to The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll. […]
The poll found 26 percent of likely voters weren’t familiar with Hultgren, compared with 11 percent who didn’t know Foster. And 27 percent of independents said they weren’t familiar with Hultgren. […]
Among independent voters, 45 percent favor Foster, 39 percent favor Hultgren and 13 percent are undecided. Younger voters and female voters are leaning toward Foster, while Hultgren is popular among male and older voters.
President Obama carried this district, but 45 percent of voters said they disapproved of the job he’s doing. And 71 percent said the president would be a factor in their 2010 decision.
When asked about the change Obama brought to Washington, 35 percent said he brought change “for the worse,” 30 percent said he brought change “for the better” and 31 percent said nothing has changed.
* The Democrats are unleashing a double-barreled attack on Republican congressional candidate Bob Dold. Both ads hit him for being pro-life in a pro-choice district. Dold claims he’s pro-choice, but Planned Parenthood begs to differ. First up, Democrat Dan Seals’ ad, which claims that Dold is “hiding who he is”…
* The DCCC’s ad says “Robert Dold has been careful about what he shows us” and goes on to say he is “backed” by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life. Actually, the group “recommended” Dold in the primary. Watch…
According to Hotline on Call, the DCCC has spent $631,000 on Seals.
The Environmental Law and Policy Center says the health effects of the Fisk and Crawford coal plants in the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods are adding up.
Howard Learner is the Environmental Law and Policy Center’s executive director.
He says new research shows the pollution has caused about $750 million to $1 billion in health and related damages over the last eight years.
The company anticipates roughly 80 people will be relocated as a result of the move that will cost the company up to $58 million to make, Tate & Lyle spokesman Chris Olsen said. An additional 40 positions in Decatur will be eliminated in 12 months, he said. […]
City officials in recent months have tried to persuade Tate & Lyle to stay in Decatur. At first, they thought hundreds of jobs could be in jeopardy. Tate & Lyle has been Decatur’s third-largest corporate employer.
Decatur Mayor Mike McElroy said he thought some jobs were saved as a result of the work that was done.
“I do know that it could have been more,” McElroy said. “Through the hard work of several people, they certainly brought that number down from what we had been told originally.”
The Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County assisted the city in presenting its incentive package. Some of the incentives are still being discussed but include job training assistance, enterprise zone and qualified work force packages, in addition to infrastructure and environmental considerations, said Craig Coil, president of the organization.
Daley told reporters that a “young person was handcuffed and . . . police officers watched it and someone went over and punched him in the jaw. The superintendent immediately suspended [them] — all . . . who watched it and the individual [who] punched the individual who was handcuffed.”
A source close to the officers said Tuesday that the suspect had tried to spit on the sergeant, who “moved” the suspect’s face to avoid getting hit with saliva.
Dart, who is mulling a run for Chicago mayor, said he won’t carry out evictions by three banks that have admitted questionable foreclosure practices until they can provide proof that their evictions are legal.
Dart said he plans to halt hundreds of evictions starting Monday unless the lenders — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC unit — can provide sworn statements that “everything was done properly.”
When the history of Cabrini-Green is written, the murder of Ollie will mark the day Cabrini really died.
Ollie’s full name was Bassam Naoum, and since Saturday night, when he was shot to death in one of his two small stores, he’s all anyone in Cabrini seems to be talking about. […]
Early Parker, who’s 66, was playing chess over by the Cabrini row houses a little after 9 on Saturday night when somebody ran past and said somebody got shot.
Over on Orleans. At Munchies. It was Ollie, Parker’s boss. Shot repeatedly. In the back.
CHA wants Lathrop to be a community of public, affordable and market-rate housing. The surrounding Lathrop neighborhood, off of the Chicago River, has condos and retail activity.
Four editorial jobs were cut at the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday, four at the weekly Pioneer Press papers since Friday and two at the daily Lake County News-Sun of Waukegan in the past two weeks, said Lynne Stiefel, president of the Chicago Newspaper Guild, the union that represents employees at those papers.
Reo Jonta Thompson, 18, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony murder in the abduction and shooting deaths of Hammond residents Milton McClendon, 78, and Ruby McClendon, 76.
Thompson, 18, admitted he and co-defendant Gregory Brooks Jr., 19, of Hammond, fatally shot the couple and left their bodies in a Cook County Forest Preserve after abducting them at gunpoint from their home one year ago Monday.
Two of those school districts are suing the township school board, which educates no one. It basically hires the school treasurer to invest money. That’s it.
Joseph Bertrand Jr. was elected to the township school board in April 2007, but other board members refused to seat him - citing an obscure section of state law that prohibits two board members from representing the same school district.
Bertrand filed a lawsuit and won his seat, and the board spent more than $200,000 fighting that lawsuit.
Stone used whatever time was available to her to talk about her pet issue, the Land and Lakes Landfill, again accusing Village President Elliott Hartstein of a cover-up involving an alleged altered e-mail by former Village Manager William Brimm concerning the site.
Fifteen firefighter and 13 police officer positions remained cut from the preliminary 2011 budget after the City Council voted 9-1 Tuesday to endorse the administration’s proposed operations budget for next year.
The proposed cuts, if they stand, could potentially result in the closure of a fire station, according to the city’s fire chief and union president.
The farm, which will bring up to 223 wind turbines over 37,800 acres in Lexington, Lawndale, Chenoa and Yates townships, won final approval from the McLean County Board Tuesday.
Nuckolls, who did not attend the County Board meeting, is facing misdemeanor charges of domestic battery and interfering with reporting of domestic violence and a felony count of unlawful restraint. Under state law, he cannot be removed from the board unless he is found guilty or pleads guilty to a felony charge.
Campaigning is a top priority until Nov. 2, but U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, said Tuesday he hopes to schedule an initial meeting sometime in November. He, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, would attend and share information on how to address problems.
“Initially, we hope to get the levee district officials together with the Corps of Engineers, FEMA, local officials, state, county and other agencies,” Costello said.
