* Gov. Pat Quinn announced grant money for a new Port of East St. Louis the other day. The governor’s office originally posted a video of the occasion, but it’s since been “privated.” I downloaded it over the weekend, however, and cut it to give you yet another look at our meandering governor on the stump. You really should watch this…
I do have to say, though, that the governor’s meandering ways are starting to grow on me a little. Better late than never, I suppose…
“The biggest river in our country and one of the biggest rivers in the United States of America.”
An absolute classic.
* President Obama is doing a robocall for Alexi Giannoulias. Listen…
Script…
This is Barack Obama calling on behalf of Alexi Giannoulias.
With polls showing my good friend Alexi in a close race, your vote is crucial.
Early voting is already underway, and I strongly urge you to go vote today.
Also, for the first time ever you can vote by mail.
To learn how you can avoid lines and bad weather by voting early visit alexiforillinois.com or call 312-603-5656 (a second version uses 312-269-7900).
* Personal PAC’s big fundraiser was at the Hilton today. Unfortunately for the group, hotel workers went out on strike…
* The American Action Network (one of those 501(c)(4) groups) is spending big bucks on this TV ad in the 10th Congressional District attacking Democrat Dan Seals…
* The Seals campaign is pointing to this Washington Post article about the group’s chairman, Fred Malek…
The documents about Malek’s work as Nixon’s special assistant are part of formerly restricted material from personal files that the Nixon library made public in January. A note posted on the National Archives Web site mentions Malek’s reputation under Nixon as “the hatchet” because of his tenacity, and says the documents show that Malek “supplied Nixon with a list of thirteen people he thought had Jewish surnames” at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the time, according to Nixon’s Oval Office tapes and other official documents, the president was enraged by what he and his aides called a Jewish “cabal” at the bureau, and they blamed the group for making gloomy economic forecasts.
While more than 40 percent of voters agree or strongly agree with the Tea Party, only a third said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate affiliated with the grassroots political movement.
In comparison, 45.5 percent said they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate, according to a recent statewide poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. […]
Of those polled, 24 percent agreed with the movement and 17 percent strongly agreed. Sixteen percent said they disagreed; 20 percent strongly disagreed and more than 19 percent said they had no opinion.
* Both Gov. Pat Quinn and Sen. Bill Brady talked to reporters after their debate last night. First up, Bill Brady, who talks about the allegations of conflict of interest (several times), early release, “forensic audit” vs. “business audit” (which he claims could be completed in 50-75 days for 80 percent of the government) and how he will deal with his company after he’s elected. Watch…
* The Quinn campaign sent out press releases throughout the debate last night which responded to Brady. Zorn gives us Brady’s response to a Phil Ponce question about whether he’s “seriously out of step” on gay employment rights and civil unions…
I don’t belive so. My beliefs are what they are. And I believe a lot of people in Illinos respsect those believes. But unlike Governor Quinn my agenda is focused on solving the economic crisis and bringing jobs to Illionios by balancing our budget without raising taxes. Gov. Quinn’s agenda is to promise that he’ll pass a civil unions bill as his first priority after he’s elected. Now I believe that the people care deeply about bringing jobs back to Illinois That’s what I’m focused on, and as governor of this state that will be by first and highest priority.
And here is the Quinn “rapid reaction” team’s response…
Senator Brady claimed tonight that social issues weren’t his first priority. However, his actions after the February primary belie that claim.
Two days after the Republican primary, Senator Brady introduced a bill to permit mass euthanization of dogs and cats in gas chambers (SB2999, Filed 2/4/10)
He proposed two other bills that week:
* The first was his third attempt to ban gay marriage and civil unions (SJRCA 95, Filed 2/10/10; SJRCA
* The other would allow religious organizations to discriminate in hiring against people based on sexual orientation, gender identity or religion (SB 3447, Filed 2/10/10).
He transferred sponsorship of all three bills after their appearance in the media and public outcry.
After the primary, Brady’s first priority was animal euthanization and restricting LGBT rights.
* The two sides also talked about the budget last night. Not many specifics were offered up, despite the best intentions of the questioners. But Zorn has Brady’s answer to a question about a specific budget cut…
Well, the Medicaid program under Governor Quinn allows people like Governor Quinn to walk in and receive an eligibility card. We don’t verify eligibility in the Medicaid program. It’s costing other human service providers and educators and other people in state government.
* Earlier this afternoon, I sent the governor’s office some questions, without alluding to last night’s debate: “Does Illinois verify income eligibility in the Medicaid program? If not, why not? If so, how?” The response from Stacey Solano, who is the communication manager for the Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services…
Yes, HFS verifies income information when an individual applies for Medicaid benefits, as it is both state and federally required. At application, HFS checks paystubs as well as federal data for income sources, such as Social Security. We also identify unemployment benefits and coordinate with DHS for any income information received in conjunction with SNAP or TANF programs.
So, according to this response from HFS, Brady appears to be wrong.
…the team of auditors in the Lone Star State also recommended raising a number of taxes and fees that were deemed too low.
That’s the risk with backing the idea of a forensic audit. After millions of dollars and thousands of hours spent analyzing state spending, the pencil pushers could recommend that some taxes actually need to rise.
John Sharp was the comptroller in Texas when a forensic-type audit was launched there in 1991. He told me the process was tough, but it worked. Cuts outlined by his team helped fill in a $3 billion deficit, and a tax hike was avoided.
But, he said, “I never caught more (crap) than that in my life.”
* Speaking of the budget, the Paul Simon Institute has released some new polling results about the budget. 83 percent opposed cuts to programs for people with mental or physical disabilities. 82 percent opposed cuts to education, 74.5 percent opposed cuts to public safety, 66 percent opposed cuts in state spending “on programs for poor people,” 57 percent opposed cuts for universities and 53 percent opposed cuts for state parks and conservation.
But here’s one answer that kinda surprised me, considering that public employee unions are this year’s “Cadillac-driving welfare queens”…
Do you favor or oppose cuts in state spending on pension benefits for state workers’ retirement?
The state takes in plenty of money to pay for public services but wastes it on unnecessary programs. We can fix the problem by cutting waste and inefficiency in government.
And that agreement holds up pretty much everywhere in Illinois. Click the pic to see a larger image of the xtabs…
[Sen. Bill Brady] held a 35 percent to 29 percent lead over Quinn in suburban Chicago in a poll of 1,000 registered voters last week by Southern Illinois University’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. That survey, which gave Brady a nearly 9 percentage-point lead statewide, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points […]
With slightly more than two weeks until the election, some of Quinn’s allies still regard this as a race for the hearts and minds of suburban voters. Link would like the governor to spend more time in the collar counties, noting he hasn’t been in Lake County since before Labor Day.
“I think he can run very good in the collar counties,” Link said of Quinn. “Obviously, he has to work them a little better. His message has to get out here. He himself has to get out here more.”
Rod Blagojevich beat Judy Baar Topinka in Lake County by about 6400 votes four years ago. Blagojevich lost to Jim Ryan in the county by almost 16,000 votes four years earlier. It’s competitive turf, and it’s pretty surprising that Quinn hasn’t set foot there in months. Not even in Waukegan? Well, it turns out, he has been in Waukegan recently. From the Lake County News-Sun’s Quinn endorsement on October 11th…
We also like Quinn’s jobs plan, which he outlined this week while in Waukegan during a campaign stop.
Still, that’s the only visit I could find.
* Related…
* Evidence that our next governor will be unable to answer a question
Which of the following three statements comes closest to your position on the legal rights of gay and lesbian couples in Illinois?
* Gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to legally marry 33.6%
* Gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to form civil unions, which would give them some legal rights 33.9%
* There should be no legal recognition of relationships between gay and lesbian couples 26.5%
* Other/Don’t know 6.0%
* Well, now we know why Gov. Pat Quinn spent so much time during the debate last night on Bill Brady’s alleged conflict of interest. It’s the subject of Quinn’s new TV ad. Rate it…
* Also, the full debate audio has now been posted by WBEZ. Listen here.
*** UPDATE *** Comments were off last night when I posted Bill Brady’s new TV ad which attacks Gov. Pat Quinn. It occurred to me that you should have a chance to rate it…
A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed over the weekend in the Southwest Side’s Marquette Park neighborhood.
The shooting happened at 8:25 p.m. Sunday in the 2500 block of West Lithuanian Plaza Court, according to a report from police News Affairs. Officers responded to a call of shots fired, and when they got to the scene ,they discovered the victim on the sidewalk, according to police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer.
Back in 2006, it took 36 of 56 points — about 64 percent — to pass the fifth-grade reading test. Now, it’s 31 points, or 55 percent.
The third- and fourth-grade reading tests used to require 61 percent of possible points. This year, it’s 54 percent.
Compared with 2006, fewer correct answers are required to pass 11 of 12 Illinois Standards Achievement Tests in reading and math, state data show, raising questions about how much students really have to know.
Meanwhile, passing rates on the exams have risen, assuring parents and the public that schoolchildren are making gains.
Twenty-two of the city’s 50 aldermen also would be eligible, when they retire, to keep some or all of their campaign funds, a Chicago Sun-Times review finds. The amounts they could walk away from office with range from as little as $629 to $2.4 million. […]
The amount of campaign money that the aldermen could keep is largely a matter of whether they took office — and took in campaign contributions — before June 30, 1998.
An Illinois law enacted that year barred state and local officials from converting campaign funds to personal use but also left an exception: Anyone who had money in their campaign accounts as of the 1998 date could keep the amount they had in the bank then whenever they eventually might retire.
n a 34-page filing Thursday, prosecutors said Sam Adam Jr. and Sam Adam Sr. made statements to the media that included made-up numbers and outright lies, all in an effort to speak to the next jury. Blagojevich was convicted of just one count — lying to the FBI. He faces retrial on 23 other counts next year.
The filing takes the Adams to task, saying they made up numbers, telling TV crews a retrial would cost the government up to $30 million.
Prosecutors say that sum nearly equals the annual budget of the U.S. attorney’s office, including rent, civil cases and salaries and expenses of more than 150 non-Blagojevich prosecutors.
Near the end of an otherwise uneventful hourlong debate on KSL Radio Thursday, Democrat Peter Corroon compared the influence of contributions to Gov. Gary Herbert on the award of government contracts to the disgraced Illinois official.
“You know the person who did the research on this issue said it was the worst they’d seen since Rod Blagojevich in Illinois,” Corroon said after Herbert asked him to apologize for suggesting he helped a contributor get a federal permit.
That led to the candidates arguing on the air.
* Marin: Justice finally catches up to ‘Fast Eddie’
Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said he has received about 250 e-mails about the quiet car idea since the Bi-Level issue came out. Passengers are “overwhelmingly in favor of it and we’ve received some really thoughtful responses.”
Metra asked passengers to comment on issues like whether the designated quiet car is needed on non-rush hour trains, and whether it would work on crowded Burlington Northern trains. Metra also asked riders how it would be enforced — whether peer pressure alone would keep the noise down or if conductors would need to be called in to mediate noise disputes.
The proposed law would require those delivering to private residences to get a permit and would make it illegal to deliver to homes with “no soliciting” signs posted. Those without signs would still get unsolicited papers and handbills, but the new law would require distributors to secure them, to keep them from blowing away in the wind.
The law would also prohibit newspapers and other printed material from being delivered to vacant homes, and would also make it illegal to affix any printed matter on public property, including telephone poles and lampposts.
Most of the $500,000 that city officials set aside to help residents with down payments on homes in the city was used up, and the rest is staying in the city’s capital projects fund.
According to city officials, 56 people used the program to help them buy homes in the city, spending about $340,000. About $15,000 was spent on marketing, advertising, copying and other items, according to documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request.
Answer: On Zion Elementary School District 6’s calendar.
The state requires students to attend school for a minimum of 176 days a year. But a thicket of state laws, rules and waivers lets local districts chip away at class time, clip school hours and cut the number of full-length days kids come to school, Tribune reporter Diane Rado wrote recently.
According to arrest numbers from the police department, DUI arrests have been down since September of last year, with sometimes dozens fewer arrests made over the same month in the previous year. Last year saw DUI-related arrests sometimes topping 80 in a month and never falling below 43. This year had some months with 70 arrests, but several with as few as 28.
The FutureGen Alliance, a partnership of coal companies and utilities, announced Friday that a request for site proposals would be released no later than Oct. 25.
* Danville to discuss wage freezes for mayor, treasurer
* Tax auction key issue in Madison County treasurer election
It’s not every day that a group almost nobody has ever heard of gives $175,000 to a single legislative candidate. But that’s just what happened on October 7th when Stand for Children Illinois PAC handed over that gigantic check to Republican Ryan Higgins, who is vying to replace retiring state Rep. Paul Froehlich (D-Schaumburg).
In fact, Stand for Children’s $175,000 check represents the largest single contribution to a legislative candidate - other than from a caucus leader, party organization or candidate loans to themselves - since contribution records were put online 16 years ago. It’s probably a good bet that the group’s contribution to Higgins is the single largest “outside” legislative campaign check in modern Illinois history.
Yet Stand for Children has received almost zero press coverage. Fox Chicago followed up on a story I wrote earlier this month, but that’s it, even though the group has contributed $650,000 to rank and file legislative candidates since October 4th.
Republicans had hoped to receive nearly all of the group’s prodigious contributions this fall, but the majority of its money went to six Democrats. Rep. Jehan Gordon (D-Peoria) received a $100,000 check. State Reps. Bob Flider, Mark Walker and Keith Farnham and Sen. Toi Hutchinson have all received $50,000 contributions, and House Democratic candidate Daniel Biss [received $10,000]. Three Republicans received money from the group.
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan met with the group after hearing what it was up to, said his spokesman. Madigan can be a very persuasive man.
Huge contributions have been the norm in Illinois for decades. Usually, though, when we see big checks run through the system we have a general idea what the group wants. So far, though, Stand for Children has not established any sort of public presence here. There have been no editorial board visits or public relations blitzes. Their campaign finance filings show that their money is coming from their parent organization, which doesn’t have to list its contributors. So we really don’t know who is actually bankrolling this group.
After several tries, the organization did send me a flier about how it intends to “Improve Illinois Public Schools.”
“Our vision is to dramatically increase improvement for all Illinois children by building a powerful, independent, statewide voice asking that we make what’s best for public school children the center of all education policy,” the flier states.
Um, OK, but what do they want? They say they want to “redefine” teacher tenure so that it is a “benefit that is earned and kept based on high expectations and student achievement.” Their website indicates that the group strongly backs testing to gauge achievement. And they appear to want to apply those test results to teachers. They also want to make sure that administrators and teachers have “exhausted every possible avenue during contract negotiations before resorting to a strike.” Details about how they would do that were not available.
“Certainly, any time you see a new group not from Illinois dropping significant dollar amounts into legislative races, it does raise some red flags,” said a spokesperson for the Illinois Federation of Teachers. “Where is their money coming from, who is funding them, what are their objectives? We’re certainly curious to see what their agenda is.”
While they don’t seem to be explicitly saying so, it looks like the group is taking advantage of a peculiar situation in Illinois politics.
The two teachers unions are furious at legislators for voting for a major pension reform bill, so many of those incumbents are not receiving the unions’ endorsements. Plus, the unions’ contributions, along with everybody else’s, will be capped at a much lower level starting January 1st, and that could hinder their influence.
The thinking is that Stand for Children is now filling a unique void created by the relative lack of teacher contributions.
But that theory doesn’t totally hold up. For instance, Rep. Farnham and Sen. Hutchinson were both endorsed by the IEA. And Rep. Flider has sponsored three bills making it easier for teachers to receive tenure more quickly.
However, if Speaker Madigan retains the majority and the group continues to, um, “stand” with his candidates and the unions refuse to step up, it’s possible that we could see a significant education reform push next year. Stay tuned.
Stand for Children Illinois PAC submitted its preelection report Friday night, several hours after that column was written. Here are its major contributors besides its national headquarters…
As we asked questions about Giorango, [Giannoulias] turned the tables on us, saying he found the line of questioning “offensive and hurtful,” as if we should feel ashamed for asking him to clarify how his family bank ended up as lender to felons.
The guy is running for U.S. Senate, one of the country’s most powerful posts.
Giannoulias has admitted meeting with Giorango a few times at the bank, years ago, and inspecting one of Giorango’s Miami hotels in 2006 as standard operating procedure when approving a loan on the property.
But that’s about it.
On Thursday, he couldn’t recollect a single detail about his visit to the hotel - a hotel which landed on Florida law enforcement’s radar in 2002 after a nationwide prostitution sting.
Banks don’t do background checks on people who seek loans. How could he have known, he insisted.
“Don’t you get it?” Giannoulias snapped at one point.
Frankly, I found it offensive he didn’t want to get specific when he’s running for U.S. Senate, and I told him so. It ain’t dog catcher, after all.
He couldn’t recall a single detail about his Miami trip to hang out with Jaws? Really?
We want to send Kirk to the U.S. Senate to unwind the partisanship, to leverage his independence by swinging between both sides of the aisle. Illinoisans embrace middle-of-the-road positions, and so do most Americans. It’s called common sense. It’s called compromise. We look forward to watching Kirk work more closely with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Springfield) for the betterment of Illinois than with the partisan political leaders of his chamber.
Kirk also brings unparalleled perspective to foreign policy issues. He is a go-to lawmaker on Middle East policies and remains focused on addressing Iran’s terrifying pursuit of nuclear weapons, as well as the security of Israel, our strongest ally in the region.
Rep. Mark Kirk claims credit for being a driving force behind a bill signed into law this year that requires the president to crack down on companies doing business with Iran.
But the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Howard Berman, says Kirk is guilty of “exaggeration” when he says the “Kirk bill” became the “Berman bill” so it could pass the Democratic Congress.
“We didn’t even look at his legislation at the time,” Berman said. “Our bill did so much more and went so far beyond his bill, I would have to put it in the context of an exaggeration.”
* Kirk picks up 3 more endorsements for US Senate: The (Bloomington) Pantagraph, Belleville News Democrat and (Tinley Park) Southtown Star endorsed Kirk over his rival - Democrat Alexi Giannoulias
* Six midterm races that might be headed for recounts: Rep. Mark Kirk (R) and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) have been polling close for months. In fact, there hasn’t been a reputable, non-automated poll this year that has shown either candidate leading outside the margin of error.
* Kirk, Giannoulias tout independence from party forces
“Are you ready for a significant debate on ideas and issues in this campaign?” moderator Steve Edwards asked the hundreds of students and area residents in attendance at Elmhurst College’s Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel.
Check out my live-blog of last night’s gubernatorial debate by clicking here. There was a whole lot more heat than light, but Gov. Quinn did his darndest to push that totally ignored Tribune story about Brady’s three Senate votes to help his own company. The media played it as a “he said he said” thing, but maybe they’ll look into it more this week. From the Tribune…
“You know well, governor, that I did not vote and never have knowingly voted on a conflict of interest,” he said.
Quinn contended that using the word “knowingly” is “what people say when they’re going to court and they have to defend themselves in a criminal trial.”
After the debate, Brady said Quinn’s comments were “reckless.”
“As a citizen legislator, I’ve cast thousands of votes,” Brady said, saying that Quinn should “stick to the issues.”
“I’ve made thousands of votes,” Brady said of his time in the General Assembly. “If he’s got real proof of a real conflict of interest, he ought to come forward with it.” Brady said the interchange was not contiguous to the property he owned. As for whether the construction of the interchange increased the value of his property, Brady said, “That would remain to be seen.”
In 2003, the state legislature gave the local government authority to take land for sewers along Curtis Road east of Brady’s property. A final vote to enact the law occurred Nov. 4, as Brady was securing options on the land he planned to develop. He voted for it.
Three years later, when the legislature re-authorized the sewer plans, well after Brady began acquiring the land, he again voted in favor of the measure. In 2007, Brady also voted for similar legislation allowing Champaign and other local governments to seize property to build their share of the interchange.
This wasn’t all about the interchange. It was mainly about that quick-take legislation. But here’s the Tribune’s side of the interchange stuff…
Brady’s next big project in town would be a more than 300-home subdivision called Prairie Creek designed to capitalize on plans the state announced in 2002 to build a new I-57 interchange at Curtis Road. Planners and developers saw the Curtis Road corridor as the next wave of expansion in Champaign. Brady saw the potential as well, and sought to secure options on 120 acres of farmland adjacent to the interchange site.
The homes Brady planned would lead the way for additional development that would include shopping centers, restaurants and office buildings the city had earmarked for the four quadrants surrounding the highway intersection.
During the debate, Brady charged Quinn with accepting outside income while he was lieutenant governor. Quinn said he did no outside legal work while lieutenant governor and that any outside money he received was for work he did prior to being elected.
“Hypocrisy is a word you should look up, governor,” Brady said.
What was Quinn supposed to do? Reject payments from clients for old legal work? C’mon.
* Brady hit Quinn repeatedly over his past support of Rod Blagojevich….
“You are the same governor that told us Rod Blagojevich, your partner, to save your job four years ago was the most decent and honorable man you’d met, and I quote you,” Brady said to a smattering of laughter from the crowd. “So, either you were in it for your own good, or you were asleep at the wheel, governor.”
Brady invoked the scandal-tainted ex-governor again in highlighting Quinn’s inability to improve the state’s financial lot during his nearly two years in office.
“I hate to say this, but Gov. Quinn has been worse than Gov. Blagojevich,” Brady said. “Eight billion dollars in deficits in the last two years, the worst bond rating of any state in the nation, one of only eight states deemed in a recession.”
Quinn boasted that he has persuaded companies to expand in Illinois and has cut state spending by $3 billion. But he had little to say about what further steps he would take to close a $13 billion deficit.
Brady, meanwhile, insisted Quinn is driving jobs away from Illinois with his proposal to raise income taxes.
“Gov. Quinn’s the job governor all right, but it just happens to be for Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and other states,” said Brady, of Bloomington.
“I don’t believe dogs and cats should be put in a gas chamber 10 at a time and executed. That’s what Sen. Brady sponsored,” said Quinn, who has made the pet euthanasia the subject of an Internet campaign commercial.
Brady, who described himself as a pet owner for his entire life, seemed to stumble slightly while acknowledging pushing that bill on behalf of veterinarians in his district.
“I, uh, excuse me, I was asked by a local veterinarian to give veterinarians the choice they thought they needed when it came to the health of a dog and that dog’s life,” Brady said. “I pulled the bill because Gov. Quinn made it a political issue.”
That quote isn’t quite right. It should read: “I, uh, I uh, excuse me…”
JEERS to Elmhurst College and public radio station WBEZ-FM in Chicago for the exclusion of Green Party candidate Rich Whitney from Sunday’s gubernatorial debate. They based their decision on Whitney’s low numbers in various polls on the election. But Whitney in 2006 won a ballot spot for the Green Party in this election by receiving 10.36 percent of the vote. He’s a legitimate third-party candidate with some interesting ideas that deserve to be heard. Some have argued that Whitney only did as well as he did in 2006 because voters were dissatisfied with both incumbent Rod Blagojevich and challenger Judy Baar Topinka. We’d argue that major-party-candidate disappointment is even higher this year. If Scott Lee Cohen and other, lesser known gubernatorial candidates draw in double-digit percentages Nov. 2 and run again in four years, we’ll say the same about them.
