A wave of yellow is poised to wash over the Capitol this afternoon during the Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day.
“It’s a gathering of gun owners in the state of Illinois to speak to their legislators one on one about the Second Amendment rights,” Illinois State Rifle Association president Donald Moran said.
“We’ll flood the Capitol, and everyone will be wearing yellow shirts and yellow caps, so they’ll know who we are.”
Between 8,000 and 10,000 gun owners from across the state were expected to show up at the Prairie Capital Convention Center to march on the Statehouse, Moran said.
*** UPDATE *** Amazon has already sent out termination notices…
Hello,
For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of Illinois residents. Unfortunately, a new state tax law signed by Governor Quinn compels us to terminate this program for Illinois-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers - including but not limited to those referred by Illinois-based affiliates like you - even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.
We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It was supported by national retailing chains, most of which are based outside Illinois, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.
As a result of the new law, contracts with all Illinois affiliates of the Amazon Associates Program will be terminated and those Illinois residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to April 15, 2011 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of April 15, 2011, any final payments will be paid by July 1, 2011.
You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If you are not currently a permanent resident of Illinois, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state after April 15, please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.
To be clear, this development will only impact our ability to continue the Associates Program in Illinois, and will not affect the ability of Illinois residents to purchase online at www.amazon.com from Amazon’s retail business.
We have enjoyed working with you and other Illinois-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to Illinois residents.
Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Despite opponents claims that they’d move their companies (and their jobs) out of state if the bill was signed, Gov. Pat Quinn put his signature on what he calls the “Mainstreet Fairness Bill” today. From a press release…
Governor Pat Quinn today signed legislation to require all companies doing business in Illinois to collect and remit the legally required sales taxes. House Bill 3659 – the Mainstreet Fairness Bill – was a bipartisan initiative that passed both houses of the General Assembly with overwhelming support.
“Illinois’ main street businesses are critical to ensuring our long-term economic stability, which is why they must be able to compete with every company doing business online in Illinois,” said Governor Quinn. “This law will put Illinois-based businesses on a level playing field, protect and create jobs and help us continue to grow in the global marketplace.”
* The Illinois Retail Merchants Association explains its position in favor of the bill…
Under current state law, consumers are faced with paying back taxes and fines because these out-of-state companies did not collect the sales tax which is due and owing on every purchase. Also, Illinois business - particularly brick-and-mortar retailers - are at an extreme disadvantage because these out-of-state companies are using tax avoidance as a competitive advantage. With razor-thin margins already, that unethical advantage is lethal to Illinois retailers and has cost our state many key jobs when the economy is struggling.
* Amazon and others have said they will fire their Illinois affiliates if the bill becomes law. Some of those affiliates make big bucks. The American Booksellers Association has some harsh words for them…
“Those companies that would fire their affiliates simply to maintain an inequitable competitive advantage over retailers that obey the law clearly show their true colors. A belief that laws apply only to those who are smaller or who are unwilling to resort to threats or loopholes is characteristic of the worst sort of corporate citizen. We certainly hope companies like Amazon.com rethink their decision to fire affiliates, and we remain grateful that the governor took the tough, principled stand on behalf of in-state retailers. We hope other states follow his lead.”
* But Scott Kluth, Founder and CEO of CouponCabin.com, says his company is “actively exploring moving to Indiana.” From a press release…
“The Governor’s approval of HB 3659 is deeply disappointing. As a result, Illinois will lose jobs, many thriving businesses like CouponCabin and other affiliate marketing firms will be forced to move to other states, and most important, this law will not generate the tax revenue Illinois thinks it will collect.
“Those of us who opposed HB 3659 made every effort to persuade the Governor that it is a misguided attempt to bring ‘fairness’ and new revenue to Illinois by requiring out-of-state merchants who advertise on websites operated in Illinois to collect sales taxes from Illinois customers.”
* The Senate Republicans held a press conference today to say they’ve studied the budget and that cuts must be made, but they adamantly refused to say where those cuts should be made. From a press release…
Radogno said a Senate Republican review of spending and revenue trends makes it apparent that it will take between $4 to $6 billion in additional spending reductions to the Governor’s proposed budget in order to put the state back on track.
Radogno and state senators Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) and Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry), the Senate Republicans’ top two budget experts, said a careful analysis of state spending and revenues shows that massive deficits will occur if lawmakers adopt the Governor’s proposed budget and adhere to “spending caps” that are in fact, far too generous and optimistic than the state’s revenues can sustain.
GOP Senators are working to identify realistic reductions, but before a discussion of cuts can occur, there needs to be a “reality check” so that the public understands how serious the situation is.
“Before you can move on to a solution, you need to define the problem. Unfortunately, too few people in the Statehouse are willing to face up to the problem,” Althoff said. “The spending plan that the Governor put before us would create a deficit every single year for the next five years – and that’s with the 67% tax increase.”
They’ve been saying for weeks that they’d come up with their own cuts, and all they really did today was punt. It’s also quite interesting that they didn’t use any of the highly specific Illinois Policy Institute’s budget cutting proposals.
* To be fair, Leader Radogno stressed today that they didn’t want to offer up their cuts because that would dominate the coverage. They wanted to get the deficit numbers out there instead.
We’ll just have to see whether the strategy worked and the stories generated by this presser will focus on their deficit projections or their refusal to identify any actual spending reductions. Here’s Radogno…
Senate Republicans are the ones that need a “reality check”. The time for Senate Republicans to begin looking for cuts has long since passed.
Governor Quinn has been asking Republicans for input and specific suggestions on ways we can reduce government spending for more than two years. And when cuts have been made in Republican districts, we have heard loud complaints about even the most commonsense cutbacks.
The Governor was the first one to say our fiscal house was on fire, and he has taken strong steps to start putting that fire out and move our state forward.
While Senate Republicans spend their time creating graphics for bombastic press releases, the Governor is continuing to work on a comprehensive strategy to fix our budget. An essential part of that plan is spending reductions, and Governor Quinn has been working with agencies - using budgeting for results measures - to identify areas of state government that can be reduced or eliminated.
As always, the Governor is open to specific, realistic, good-faith suggestions from Senate Republicans. And we look forward to hearing from them.
There has been no shortage of public opinion when it comes to the question of capital punishment, but those opinions have not been expressed at the ballot box to this point.
Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jamie Boyd believes this should change.
Boyd, speaking about Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to abolish the death penalty Wednesday, reiterated his stance that Illinois voters should determine if capital punishment should be allowed.
The same battle cry was heard after the civil unions bill passed. I know we’ve done this before, but now we have yet another call for statewide referenda, so…
* The Question: Should Illinois have binding voter referenda on policy issues? Vote in the poll and then make sure to explain your answer in comments. Thanks…
Thursday, Mar 10, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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On Thursday April 7, 2011, friends of Carlos Hernandez Gomez will pay tribute to him with the 2nd Annual Concert For Carlos at FitzGerald’s Nightclub in Berwyn, IL. Doors open at 7:00 pm. Admission to the concert is $20 in advance/$25 at the door.
When CLTV Political Reporter Carlos Hernandez Gomez passed away on January 17, 2010, after a yearlong battle with cancer, the loss was felt throughout the city and state. His friends and colleagues continue to celebrate his memory with the 2nd Annual Concert For Carlos. The event will feature a silent auction and an evening of power pop music, performed by local and national artists. Proceeds will benefit The Carlos Hernandez Award in Journalism at DePaul University.
Confirmed artists for this scholarship fundraising concert include local power pop acts The Phil Angotti Band, Eric Howell’s Greatest Hitch, and The New Fiction (featuring members of Carlos’s band The Gear). Plus special guests Ted Ansani and Mike Zelenko, performing songs of their former band, Material Issue (“Valerie Loves Me”, “Kim the Waitress”). Miles Zuniga of the platinum-selling band Fastball (“Fire Escape”, “The Way”) will headline.
Along with the concert, the night will also feature a silent auction at FitzGerald’s including items donated by an array of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and Grammy Award winning artists. Andy Shaw, former political reporter and current President & CEO of the Better Government Association, will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the evening.
The Carlos Hernandez Award in Journalism at DePaul University will provide recognition and financial assistance to talented undergraduate students who might otherwise be unable to accept unpaid internships in journalism. “Carlos loved the city and its rich political history”, said Shaw, who is also Honorary Chair of the scholarship. “He epitomized the best of Chicago journalism–brains, curiosity, moxie and enough courage to speak truth to power. The recipients of the scholarship we’re raising money for would do well to make his story part of their studies.”
The 2nd Annual Concert for Carlos is sponsored by Yolanda Productions, Lawrence, Kamin, Saunders & Uhlenhop, LLC, Tzibur Celiac: The Jewish Celiac Association, Palmer House Hilton, Fogarty & Fugate, Attorneys At Law, Grant Importing and Distribution, Avenue N Guitars, Eric Howell, Barry LaPorte, and Russell Mallen.
FitzGerald’s Nightclub is located at 6615 Roosevelt Road, Berwyn, IL.
For information on, or to make a donation to, the Carlos Hernandez Award in Journalism, please contact Wendy Irvine, Director of Development for DePaul University’s College of Communication, at wirvine@depaul.edu or (312) 362-7135.
For information regarding The 2nd Annual Concert for Carlos or silent auction, please contact Joe Farina at joefaractor12@gmail.com.
If there was one moment when Illinois’ death penalty began to die, it was on Feb. 5, 1999, when a man named Anthony Porter walked out of jail a free man.
Sitting in the governor’s mansion, George Ryan watched Porter’s release on television and wondered how a man could come within 50 hours of being executed, only to be set free by the efforts of a journalism professor, his students and a private investigator.
“And so I turned to my wife, and I said, how the hell does that happen? How does an innocent man sit on death row for 15 years and gets no relief,” Ryan recalled last year. “And that piqued my interest, Anthony Porter.”
To be sure, by the time Porter was set free, the foundation of Illinois’ death penalty system already had begun to erode by the steady stream of inmates who had death sentences or murder convictions vacated: Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez in the Jeanine Nicarico case, the men known as the Ford Heights Four, Gary Gauger.
Ryan placed a moratorium on executions not long afterward. Prosecutors have had 12 years since Porter was released to find a real and lasting solution to the problem of wrongful convictions. They’ve mostly had to be dragged kicking and screaming the whole way. What we saw time and again was turf protection and denial, even though dozens of people condemned to die have been found to be innocent.
There’s a prevalent notion in our society that being “soft on crime” is a bad thing. Yet, to me, stopping the government from killing innocent people isn’t about “softness,” it’s about setting limits on authority. The government abused its authority (accidentally, in many cases) for far too many years. Prosecutors and death penalty proponents probably figured - as I did - that there was almost no way the General Assembly would ever enact a repeal, so they didn’t have to worry too much about real reform. And now that the repeal has been signed into law, reform or limitation proposals have cropped up which would have been immediately dismissed out of hand as wimpy liberal claptrap just a few months ago. Too late.
I’ve been fortunate enough never to have a friend or relative murdered. One of my cousins was busted for a double-murder several years back, but, frankly, I don’t care what happens to him. I hadn’t seen him in years, don’t know where he is now and his fate just doesn’t concern me. If the abolition bill had failed and he was eventually executed, I wouldn’t have shed a tear. I figure he’s guilty and he’ll get whatever’s coming to him.
The point is, I have no sympathy at all for murderers. Nobody does. But the system obviously broke down and reform was resisted at almost every, single turn.
Jim Thompson reinstituted the death penalty back in 1977. Fourteen years later, Thompson left office without a single having dealt with just a single death penalty case arriving on his desk (and only then because the convict didn’t want to stop his own execution and rejected offers of help). The system is exceedingly slow, cumbersome, horribly expensive and fatally flawed. From the Tribune’s editorial…
Quinn’s critics will point to the 15 murderers he has let off death row.
One of those inmates is Brian Dugan, who confessed to killing 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville in 1983. We’ve talked to more than one person who said they supported banning the death penalty but wouldn’t mind if Dugan was executed first. That sums up the mixed feelings many people shared as Quinn mulled his decision.
This would be a good time to remind ourselves that two innocent men — Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez — spent years on death row after being wrongly convicted of Nicarico’s murder. That’s a powerful rebuttal to prosecutors’ argument that banning the death penalty robs them of the only appropriate punishment for the worst crimes. Justice isn’t served if the wrong person pays, especially with his or her life.
It’s also a good time to remind ourselves that, through all the twists and turns in that case, Brian Dugan remains alive 28 years after that terrible murder. If Quinn had vetoed this repeal, Dugan would still live many more years before he met the executioner–if he ever did. The death penalty has hardly been swift and sure punishment.
That’s exactly right.
* Roundup…
* Lawmakers proposing legislation to reinstate capital punishment
Wisconsin Senate Democrats who fled to Illinois three weeks ago are coming back.
Sen. Jim Holperin said Thursday that he was on his way home to Conover and other Democrats were either on their way back or would be leaving soon.
He says there was no reason for them to stay away any longer since Senate Republicans passed the bill without them on Wednesday night.
He says he didn’t think any of the other senators would return to the Capitol since the Senate wasn’t scheduled to be in session again until April 5.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The Wisconsin Senate last night stripped the collective bargaining provisions from their budget bill, which allowed them to vote to remove most collective bargaining rights from public employee unions without Democrats being present. Wisconsin law requires a three-fifths quorum for budget and finance bills only. Once those provisions were taken out, the collective bargaining stuff could proceed on their own.
So, now that that’s over, will the Democrats finally leave Illinois and return to their home state? We don’t know yet…
Senate Democratic leader Mark Miller of Monona says Democrats will “join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government,” but he refused to say when.
Senate Democrats met late Wednesday night to discuss when they might return. They said they would not be back on Thursday, but gave no indication when they might come home.
“We are going to watch and see how the Assembly unfolds,” said Sen. Spencer Coggs. “There will be fireworks. There will be a lot of people at the Capitol and so it will be hard to get in and out of the Capitol.”
Erpenbach says the Dems will meet Thursday to discuss whether they’ll return right away to Wisconsin and fight the unexpected Senate vote. There’s risk in returning, though, Erpenbach said.
“They could do a call of the House, they could lock the doors, and they could make us vote on the entire budget repair bill.”
Erpenbach says the Dems have contacted Walker’s office daily to negotiate and, until Wednesday’s vote, thought they were making progress via private discussions with Walker.
“We were really confused,” he said. “We didn’t know which kind of Scott Walker we were dealing with. Was it the public guy or the private guy?”
* About 6,000 people flooded the Wisconsin capitol building last night as it became clear what the Republicans were doing…
Protesters flooded the Capitol following the Senate’s vote on the amended budget repair, ignoring announcements from police that the building was closed.
The ground floor and first flood appeared nearly as full as they were during the first days of the demonstrations more than three weeks ago, and protesters stayed in the Capitol defiantly chanting “recall” and “Whose house? Our house!”
At one point, police asked protesters to leave the second floor balconies, citing their structural integrity. But protesters ignored the warning.
Those inside allowed more protesters into the building by rushing pass the single officer posted at some ground floor entrances to allow others in. When other officers would arrive, the protesters would move onto the next entrance and do the same thing.
