Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Friday, Sep 3, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

Posted by Barton Lorimor

Rich should be back next week to do the name “Capitol Fax” justice. In the meantime, thank you for the e-mails, the comments and just generally putting up with me this week.

I hope you all have a great and safe holiday weekend. I am headed home (Carlock, Ill., which is also home of the best breakfast skillet you’ll ever have if the campaign trail leads you to the Bloomington-Normal area) to see some old pals I still talk to from high school and my younger brother, who just finished his first week at Elmhurst College. Sam & Dave will be leading me there….

“Hold on, I’m comin’. Hold on!”

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QOTD: Gang summit

Friday, Sep 3, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

Posted by Barton Lorimor

This story has been everywhere. I think it’s time the CapFax commenters take a crack at it…

Reputed gang members are the latest to come out against top Chicago police and federal prosecutors’ so-called “gang summit” strategy to curb gang violence in the nation’s third-largest city.

Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding the meeting last month, even though several police departments across the country have relied on that approach for decades to help reduce crime.

Weis held a meeting with the reputed leaders of several West Side gangs over the weekend. At the meeting, prosecutors warned that gang members could be charged under federal racketeering laws if killings were traced back to gangs with members attending the meeting.

Question: Do you have a quarrel with the ‘Gang Summit’? If you were Weis, would you have met with the crime syndicates? If not, what would you have done differently?

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The Best Game in Town

Friday, Sep 3, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* We interrupt this vacation to once again bring you our exclusive advanced copy of WBEZ’s new weekly series “The Best Game in Town.” From the producer…

WBEZ’s Rob Wildeboer on the politics of violence.

And a roundtable discussion featuring:

Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune
Kitty Kurth, Democratic Strategist
Chris Robling, Republican Analyst

Topics: Gangs/Weis, Brady’s budget plan and Obama dissatisfaction

Click here to listen. Subscribe to the iTunes podcast by clicking here.

Enjoy. And thanks again to WBEZ for giving my readers this weekly first look.

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Quinn’s focus back on third airport; FBI didn’t know about Blago auction files

Friday, Sep 3, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

Posted by Barton Lorimor

From Greg Hinz…

Gov. Pat Quinn has launched a major behind-the-scenes effort to revive long-grounded plans to build a third metropolitan Chicago airport in far south suburban Peotone.

In recent weeks, both the governor’s budget director, David Vaught, and his operations chief, Jack Lavin, have held meetings at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago with Will County officials, key legislators and emissaries from the office of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Chicago — all of whom hold widely divergent views on what should be built and who should be in charge.

On Wednesday, the governor himself met privately with Will County Executive Larry Walsh, who credited Mr. Quinn with doing “probably more to bring the parties together than any governor before him.”

Why now? Could Quinn be after Jackson’s support for the upcoming? The Will County Board chairman hopes not…

Will County Board chairman Jim Moustis said the county has to protect itself from any pre-election, politically motivated decisions about the proposed third major airport. […]

In the past, the county board battled with U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd), of Chicago, over control of the airport, which would be built on about 5,000 acres near Peotone.

Though the debate has died down during the economic recession, Moustis (R-Frankfort Township) said Thursday at the board’s executive committee meeting that he feared airport maneuvering may be happening behind the scenes. That could prompt Gov. Pat Quinn, who is in a close re-election race with state Sen. Bill Brady, to make a “knee-jerk” decision, Moustis said.

“I think he would like to make a statement, but it would be premature,” he said of Quinn.

When contacted for a reaction to Moustis’ comments, Quinn’s budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft said that a south suburban airport is one of the governor’s “top priorities,” and the airport could create “an estimated 15,000 jobs.”

Another possible motive for the delay was Jackson Jr.’s potential involvement with Rod Blagojevich’s trial. It does seem ironic that these talks are begun now that the first trial is over.

Speaking of Blagojevich, ABC-7’s investigative team has dug up a couple stories regarding the ex-governor. The more recent being about FBI officials being caught-off guard when a bunch of Blagojevich’s old legal files turned up at an auction…

On that day in December 2008 that former governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested, the FBI went through his Northwest Side campaign office and carried out records. But the Friends of Blagojevich committee had been boxing up and storing records for years in an Arlington Heights storage facility.

When the campaign could no longer pay for storage, the company held an auction.

The storage manager tells the I-Team that about 30 buyers purchased boxes of Blagojevich records and memorabilia a few weeks ago, including a Northwestern professor and a south suburban tow truck company operator.

FBI spokesman Ross Rice says they “did not know” about the stored Blagojevich records until the auction was “publicized in the news.”

Whoops.

And earlier this week, the team put the spotlight on one of the files in the storage facility sold at auction. This one was about the 2002 Blagojevich campaign trying to find a way for the then-candidate’s name more memorable…

If “you can’t say my last name” Blagojevich was to tell black audiences, “just call me ‘B-Rod.’”

“It’s nuts, it’s crazy, it’s dumb. And, it’s insulting more than anything else, insulting,” said Prof. Robert Starks, Northeastern Illinois University. […]

The governor did command substantial black support during both elections. And he frequently played up his participation with the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the release of American prisoners of war in Serbia. “Plan B-Rod” called for Blagojevich to use that episode as the basis for helping “develop his ‘home-boy’ persona.” The message: “home boy brought soldiers back”.

“All he had to say was ‘I was Iwith Reverend Jackson when the soldiers came back from Serbia,’ that’s all he had to say. People know that. I mean, homeboy brought the soldiers back? Insane&.he didn’t bring them back. They brought them back. He was on the trip with them,” said Prof. Robert Starks, Northeastern Illinois University.

Other state news…

* Rising School Fees a Result of Illinois’ Late Payments

* Critics: Ill. lottery contract cloaked in secrecy

* Pantagraph: State schools should still race for improvement

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*** UPDATED 1x *** QUINN APPOINTS GLADYSE TAYLOR; Editorials regret Randle’s departure, point fingers at Brady

Friday, Sep 3, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

Posted by Barton Lorimor

***UPDATE 1x (1:15 p.m.) ***
That didn’t take long…

Quinn named Gladyse Taylor, a ranking official in the Department of Corrections, as acting director of the agency. She had been named acting assistant director in May and previously served as deputy director of the governor’s budget office. […]

A Chicago native, Taylor said in a statement she hoped to implement programs that would reduce the cycle of inmates who repeatedly bounce in and out of prisons.

*** End update ***

You probably remember from yesterday that Gov. Pat Quinn accepted a letter of resignation from state Corrections chief Michael Randle effective Sept. 17.

It was also revealed yesterday that Randle has been offered a position in Ohio…

Randle will head a community corrections facility for the not-for-profit group Oriana House in Cleveland. […]

Oriana executive vice president Bernie Rochford says he’s unconcerned about Randle’s Illinois experience.

He says Randle maintains a good reputation in Ohio. Randle was assistant director of the state prison system there.

The SJ-R editorial board was skeptical in its editorial about Randle’s resignation. They want to know more about what happened to MGT…

There is no disputing that, while Randle was at the helm of IDOC, the early release program known as MGT-Push (named for “Meritorious Good Time”) became a confusing administrative tangle that greatly embarrassed the administration. It’s still not clear what Randle knew or didn’t know about prisoners released under the program and where exactly in the IDOC bureaucracy things went wrong. Some, most notably Quinn’s Republican opponent, have said that alone should have led to Randle’s immediate firing.

But the problems faced by Illinois’ corrections system neither started nor ended with the now-suspended MGT-Push program.

Because of the politics surrounding Randle and how the early-release program has been used against Quinn’s campaign, you had to figure this would come up…

Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday that he did not force his embattled corrections chief to resign over a botched prisoner early release program and defended Michael Randle’s job performance during his short time in Illinois. […]

“I think highly of Mike Randle,” said Quinn, who addressed the departure at a Forest Park event welcoming troops home from Iraq.

The governor cited Randle’s major changes to the state’s troubled supermax prison and focus on ways to cut recidivism as plusses of his tenure.

“He admitted he made a mistake, he took responsibility for that mistake and I took accountability,” Quinn said of the early release program. “But you don’t just dwell on mistakes. You correct mistakes and you move forward.”

Naturally, the Brady Camp was there to attack…

Brady spokesman Patty Schuh said Randle should have been fired “long ago.” She said letting Randle leave without any discipline shows the Quinn administration is a “revolving door of reckless ineptitude.”

But both the Tribune and Sun-Times editorial boards flipped the issue and blamed Randle’s departure on Brady.

The Sun-Times…

As of Thursday, we really do have an early release scandal in Illinois’ prison system.

The scandal is the early departure of state Corrections Director Michael Randle.

Randle, a forward-thinking administrator, had good ideas about improving the state’s dismal prison system, but became a victim this week of election-year critics who sought to portray him as inept.

Gov. Quinn announced Thursday that Randle is resigning as of Sept. 17. The Republican candidate for governor, state Sen. Bill Brady, had criticized Randle for an essentially manufactured scandal over a “meritorious good time” program that moved up release dates for some prisoners, including some with violent histories, by up to 61 days.

And the Tribune challenged Brady to come up with a better way to save money…

Acting on Quinn’s directive to cut costs, Randle created MGT Push, an extension of the state’s existing early release program called Meritorious Good Time. Inmates were given credit for good behavior, which translates into shortened sentences, before they even arrived in prison. This made some of them eligible for release after as little as 11 days. On average, they got out 36 days earlier, not because they’d earned a break but because Illinois is broke. Of roughly 1,750 who benefited from the program, more than 400 already are back in prison.

We’re all lucky it didn’t play out much, much worse. But we take no joy in Randle’s departure. This isn’t a good time to be chief of anything in Illinois. He arrived a little over a year ago with a big reputation and some good ideas, and he deserves credit for quickly addressing questions about the warehousing of mentally ill inmates at the state’s only supermax prison. But he’ll be remembered for MGT Push.[…]

Quinn’s Republican rival, Bill Brady, has had a lot to say about MGT Push. What he hasn’t done is tell us what a Gov. Brady would do instead. He’s promised not to raise taxes and vowed to cut state spending by 10 percent, but so far the only expendable item he’s identified in the prison budget is cable television. That’s not going to get the job done.

Related…

* Nice guys finish last; Pat Quinn tries to win votes by being honest about bad news

* Quinn: Prisons chief Michael Randle wasn’t forced out

* State Head of Corrections Takes Job in Ohio

* Quinn Says He Didn’t Force D.O.C. Director Out

* Randle Resignation Points To Political Problems For Quinn

* Illinois: Corrections Chief Leaving

* Gov. Quinn’s embattled prisons chief resigns

* Quinn on Corrections: ‘We will march on’

* Rich Whitney: The Best Choice for True Conservatives?

* Underdogs or Not, Write-In Candidates Press On

* Lots of Lawmakers on the Ballot, Few Races Close

* Candidates discuss state’s disabled

* Candidates talk about solutions to state deficit

* New Cook County ethics proposal aimed at Berrios

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Tribune poll: Giannoulias, Kirk tied; 22 percent undecided

Friday, Sep 3, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

Posted by Barton Lorimor

A poll of 600 likely voters conducted by the Tribune and WGN resulted in a tie between Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk, but the same survey showed a high amount of indecisiveness…

The softness in support opens the door for third-party candidates to play a spoiler role in the close contest. LeAlan Jones, the Green Party candidate, had 6 percent and Libertarian Party candidate Mike Labno had 3 percent in the survey. The poll has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Many Republican-leaning voters are undecided about the previously little-known Kirk, whose ability to push his credentials has been hampered by revelations that he embellished his military record. Kirk, who has not been warmly embraced by conservatives, could lose much-needed support if Labno can raise his name recognition among disaffected voters.

Twenty-two percent of the participants said they were undecided.

POLITICO picked up on the trend as well as Constitution Party candidate Randy Stufflebeam fights to get back on the ballot…

In recent Illinois statewide contests, third-party candidates have not had an impact on the final vote, but the Democratic stronghold has not seen a close gubernatorial or Senate contest in more than a decade. Public polls show an extremely close race between Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, and the most recent Rasmussen Reports survey from late August showed the candidates tied with 45 percent each and 6 percent planning to vote for other candidates.

Furthermore, after a lackluster performance in the GOP primary downstate, Kirk needs to do well there with Republicans to boost his bid. Not only is Stufflebeam from that region, but he’s also more conservative than Kirk on several issues: He is anti-abortion, while Kirk favors abortion rights, and Stufflebeam is against the cap-and-trade legislation that the congressman voted for in 2009.

More from the Tribune poll…

So Kirk has the Independent vote right now 34-23. He’s likely to pick-up more of the 23 percent of undecided voters in downstate Illinois given that it is more Republican and probably a decent chunk of collar counties. On the other hand, Giannoulias needs to find a way to connect with Democratic heavy Cook County. He could pull 50 percent of the undecided vote from that region alone.

Giannoulias also has a chance to pick-up support from black voters, which usually goes for the Democrats. He has 58 percent now, but another 26 percent is sitting there waiting to be claimed. The trick is he can’t go out so far that he looses the white vote.

I’ll see if anyone is on campus today that might be able to provide an experienced opinion of this poll.

One more graphic from the Tribune:

Both candidates have opportunity to gain support by this break down. Roughly 20 percent of the participants in this poll said they had never heard of either candidate, which is likely to change now that the campaigns are going to pick-up steam after Labor Day.

Speaking of which, Dr. John Jackson, who is a visiting professor down here at the Paul Simon Institute, wrote about the September campaign kick-off for the Institute’s blog.

Related….

* Giannoulias, Kirk Remain Deadlocked in Illinois

* Poll: Giannoulias, Kirk are neck and neck

* If the GOP wins, let the back-stabbing and infighting begin

* Politics of Wall Street: Race for ‘Obama’ Senate Seat

* Kirk calls for new limits on federal spending

* Mark Kirk Increasingly Brings Up Greek Financial Crisis To Criticize His Greek Opponent Alexi Giannoulias

* Sen. Mark Warner to headline Giannoulias fund-raiser

35 Comments

Morning Shorts

Friday, Sep 3, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Unemployment rate climbs to 9.6%

Overall, the American economy lost 54,000 net jobs in August, as another 114,000 temporary Census workers were dismissed from the federal government’s payrolls.

Aside from the staffing changes at the Census Bureau, which has been trimming jobs added earlier in the year for the decennial population count, private-sector employers added a modest 67,000 jobs over the month.

The nation’s manufacturers, which had been growing all year and leading the weak jobs recovery, fell back in August, cutting 27,000 to their payrolls. Budget-strapped state governments shed another 14,000 jobs.

The health-care sector added 28,000 jobs in August, and construction employment was up 19,000, although about half of that was due to the return of workers on strike in July.

* Unemployment rate rises to 9.6%

* Illinois employment could improve later this year

A report released Thursday by Robert Half International said a net 12 percent of Illinois executives expect to hire more employees in the fourth quarter, an increase of 11 percentage points over sentiment measured in the third quarter. The company’s survey showed 19 percent of executives planned to staff up, while 7 percent were expecting to cut staff. Subtracting the 7 percent from the 19 percent generated the net 12 percent figure.

* Huntley: Labor Day, and too many jobless

* Stocks set to extend September rally after jobs data comes in better than expected

* Mortgage rates hit another low; now at 4.32%

Meanwhile, 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.83 percent, down from 3.86 percent last week, the lowest since Freddie Mac began surveying this loan type in 1991. Fifteen-year mortgage rates have fallen to fresh lows for eight out of the past 11 weeks.

* FEMA gives $75 million to state flood victims

* 45,000 apply for federal flood aid in Illinois

* Last day of food aid for flood victims

* New bonds help businesses

A total of $1.5 billion in tax-exempt bond authority is available for Federal Emergency Managment Agency-designated disaster areas covering 18 counties, including Lake. Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds have been authorized by the federal government as a money-saving incentive for eligible commercial, industrial, manufacturing, retail and public utility projects to help repair damage and restore jobs.

* Report: Chicago among worst for driving safety

* 4 slain in garage were bound with duct tape

Four men–with their hands, feet and mouths bound with duct tape–were found shot to death last night in a garage in Chicago’s West Lawn neighborhood.

“Multiple weapons” were found at the scene in the 6100 block of South Kildare Avenue, police said, but the motive for the slayings was not known.

* Two men charged with attempted murder after two Chicago cops are shot

* Gang members grumble over police, anger parents of slaying victims

Parents of children slain in Chicago voiced anger over a news conference called Thursday by self-proclaimed former and current West Side gang members to complain they’re being treated unfairly by police.

“My first impression was, ‘How dare they?’” said Annette Nance-Holt, whose son Blair was gunned down on a CTA bus three years ago.

* Some Clergy Members Slam Police Meeting with Gangs

* Gang member tells others: ‘Put the guns down’

Like the other alleged gang leaders, Barbee said he doesn’t think the strategy is fair: “They can’t hold me accountable for something other people do.”

Yet, Barbee said he’s doing exactly what the lawmen had hoped. Since the Aug. 17 meeting at Garfield Park Conservatory, Barbee said, he has been on the street talking to younger gang members in his turf along Madison between Pulaski and Cicero.

* Gang member: ‘Ain’t no more leaders’

* Safer: Facing down the gang leaders

* Sun-Times: Gangs have no right to whine

* Walter’s Perspective: Boo-Hoo To Gangbangers

* Steinberg: Weis reaches out to gang members, they bite back

* Tribune: Weis’ thin reed

* Blame game escalates as Cook County tax bills delayed

With the passing of Sept. 1, Cook County failed to make its formal deadline for mailing out second-installment tax bills for the 33rd straight year. The question is, when will the bills go out?

The issue, which has an immediate fiscal impact on schools and municipalities, has become a political football - especially in the hotly contested assessor’s race, where each camp accuses the other of foot-dragging to delay bills until after the Nov. 2 election.

That kind of delay could cost schools and other taxing bodies money. Many school districts have Dec. 1 deadlines for making payments on debt, and if they haven’t received their share of tax collections by then and don’t have reserves to cover the gap, they have to borrow, said Deb Parenti, associate superintendent for finance and operations for Northwest Suburban High School District 214.

* 911 tape in Pagano suicide released

* Metra bars riders who ignore gates, lights

* Daley wants protections for renters, condo buyers

The proposal — which Daley will introduce at next Wednesday’s City Council meeting – would increase from four months to nine months the forewarning developers have to give renters if they plan to convert apartments into condominiums. It also would require landlords to give renters at least $1,500 to relocate if the building in which they live is going to be converted.

* Daley: Give renters more condo conversion protections

* Parents Might Be Able to See How CPS Teachers Rank

* Museum passes await CPS students on 1st day of classes

Chicago Public Schools students who show up for the first day of classes next Tuesday will find more than new classmates and teachers awaiting them.

Kids in kindergarten through 12th grade will receive a family pass to the Museum of Science and Industry — an incentive to drive first-day attendance.

* Asian carp-blocking work will close Sanitary Canal off and on

* Hundreds pack church for Chicago Heights mayor’s funeral

Lopez, 44, died Aug. 27 of hypertensive cardiovascular disease and diabetes. He was watching his daughter’s basketball practice when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed. Minutes later, he was pronounced dead at St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights.

In the church Thursday, Chicago Heights aldermen were flanked in pews to the left of the pulpit, and state Rep. Anthony DeLuca (D-Chicago Heights) and state Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields) sat behind them.

* Barsanti named to 16th Circuit judge post

* Yorkville names new School Board president

* Public excluded from (Highland Park) school referendum meeting

* City, Election Commission on the outs for months

Tensions between the city and the Aurora Election Commission came to a head last week, when commissioners denied a city-sponsored referendum to abolish the election authority a spot on November’s ballot.

* DuPage County $70 mil capital plan up for vote

The 30-year borrowing plan will ultimately cost taxpayers $125 million, but would provide funding for a number of initiatives including flood control programs, new technology and road improvements.

* Will County wants to protect airport interests

Will County Board Chairman Jim Moustis said the county has to protect itself from any pre-election, politically motivated decisions about the proposed Peotone airport.

The airport project has been in limbo while the Illinois Department of Transportation gets final paperwork to the Federal Aviation Administration for analysis.

* Oak Lawn officials, firefighters at odds over overtime

* Burica new Frankfort police chief

* Huntley village board closer to downtown revamp

* Libertyville driver’s license facility may be evicted

* Good news for Quad-Cities workers: Alcoa completes staff recall

* Census change would mean $1.2 million from Vermilion County

* Pekin landfill committee formed

* Jered Shofner sworn in as DeWitt County sheriff

* Taylorville Energy Center plan gets boost from Durbin’s support

* Durbin: Ill. needs to latch onto coal projects

* Durbin supports Tenaska project

* Springfield school enrollment up less than 1 percent

* New stadium, same fun

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