Speaking out against the legislation, Daley invoked the assassination of Martin Luther King, Junior.
“We have learned nothing from that assassination. We have learned nothing that guns are killing another generation of young people. There have to be more people to stand up. Not those that have lost their loved ones, but anybody standing up on behalf of some child lost today or tomorrow or last week.”
Dr. King was slain by a sniper using a rifle, so I’m not quite sure what the heck Daley was talking about.
Daley said he and Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel sent a letter they both signed to General Assembly members, urging them to oppose House Bill 148, which would allow people to carry concealed, loaded weapons with training and a permit. Opponents of the proposal will also be traveling to Springfield to lobby lawmakers to vote against it, he said.
“Do you want guns at your neighborhood festival or block party? Or in a park, like the one we’re here today?” Daley asked at a news conference at the Austin Town Hall Cultural Center, where he was joined by several aldermen and anti-violence advocates. “CTA buses or trains? Do you want students with concealed weapons walking around every college campus in the state?”
Daley said the bill would take away Chicago and Cook County’s ability to opt out of allowing people to carry concealed weapons, but he suggested those who want firearms should live in other areas.
“If everybody wants to carry weapons in DuPage County, if they want to carry it, and you can go and get permits, they can carry them in DuPage County,” he said. “They want to carry them in Lake County, McHenry, if they want to carry them in Will County – in other words, if you’re here and you want to go there and get guns, you can carry them in those counties. You can go to the malls and everything, just carry your weapons out there.”
Daley has a weekend home in Grand Beach, Michigan — a state that for over a decade has granted such licenses to anyone who qualifies. Does he worry about guns at local events when he’s there? At the lake? In line for an ice-cream cone?
If he were that worried, he probably would have gotten a vacation place in Wisconsin or Illinois. So maybe it’s not that scary in reality.
* Last Friday, the Chicago Police Lieutenants Association expressed its “full support” for the concealed carry bid, claiming it would “enhance citizen safety and in the end make our job easier”…
Try to avoid drive-by comments today. Make your points without using bumper-sticker slogans. It’s getting to be a bit much on this topic, and I’m more than a little bored with some of the rote responses.
* Illinois’ laws and rules just aren’t mixing well with judges these days. First, the capital plan was knocked down, then some of the McPier reforms were struck and now this…
A Sangamon County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday struck down a 6-year-old state rule that required Illinois pharmacies to dispense emergency contraception.
Judge John Belz ruled in favor of two pharmacy owners — Luke Vander Bleek of Morrison and Glenn Kosirog of Wheaton — who didn’t want to dispense or stock “morning-after” pills or help patients obtain them elsewhere. […]
Belz wrote in his ruling that the state Right of Conscience Act “was designed to forbid the government from doing what it aims to do here: coercing individuals or entities to provide healthcare services that violate their beliefs.” […]
Belz wrote that that state provided “no evidence of a single person who ever was unable to obtain emergency contraception because of a religious objection. … Nor did the government provide any evidence that anyone was having difficulties finding willing sellers of over-the-counter Plan B, either at pharmacies or over the Internet.”
Belz added that the state conceded that any health impact from the pro-life pharmacy owners’ religious objections “would be minimal.”
* It’s kinda odd that the state coppers have punted…
A day after rejecting Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s request to mount an “independent’’ investigation into the Chicago Police Department’s handling of a homicide case involving a nephew of Mayor Daley and White House Chief of Staff William Daley, Patrick Keen, the interim director of the Illinois State Police, suggested that the case should be examined instead by an agency that could convene a grand jury.
“Upon review, I have determined that the Illinois State Police is not the appropriate entity to conduct the requested review of the 2004 investigation,” Keen wrote in a letter to Alvarez made public Tuesday. “Accordingly, the case file is enclosed and is being returned for further handling as you deem appropriate, whether by naming an independent, special prosecutor who, unlike ISP, if warranted, could convene a grand jury to hear statements made under oath, or by referring the matter to another criminal justice entity with similar powers.’’
The State Police declined to comment on the letter, or why the agency initially agreed on March 24 to investigate the way the Chicago police handled their investigation of David Koschman’s violent death after a drunken altercation with Daley nephew Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko.
† To wit: Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has been reported as saying she is “surprised and disappointed” the Illinois State Police have done an about face — and decided NOT to investigate the 2004 homicide case of David Koschman, which involved Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of Mayor Daley.
Huh?
† To wit: Alvarez knew before she tossed the case to the Illinois State Police that within a short period of time (weeks) the new head of the Illinois State Police was going to be one of her top investigators, Hiram Grau, a highly respected former Chicago deputy police superintendent.
† To wit II: Alvarez also knew Grau intended to recuse himself from the Koschman case. Grau had been deputy superintendent of the Chicago Police Department’s bureau of investigative services, which oversees all detectives, when the Koschman case became a homicide probe in 2004. (Sneed hears, however, Grau may have been on furlough during the time of the initial Koschman police probe.)
† Sneed’s question: Why so surprised, Anita, at the Illinois State Police suddenly pulling out? Was this a case of a hot potato being tossed in someone else’s “in-basket” knowing Grau could not run an office effectively when his staff is investigating any role he may have played — or not have played — in the Koschman case? […]
† Hmmm. Is the real reason the Illinois State Police opted out of the Koschman probe because Gov. Quinn is trying his hand at the legendary political potato toss?
The politically connected head of Gov. Pat Quinn’s Southern Illinois security detail used a racial slur against a black college student in a Carlinville bar, starting a fight that preceded the officer’s resignation, the student says.
Blackburn College senior Bryan Reynolds, 22, said in an interview that the epithet from state Trooper Ken Snider “started the … well, I wouldn’t call it a ‘brawl,’ but I guess the fight.” […]
Reynolds, a former football player, told the Post-Dispatch that he stood near Snider inside the Anchor Inn. After two bumps to his shoulder, Reynolds turned to the state trooper and “asked what his problem was, because that’s the second time he bumped into me,” Reynolds said.
Snider grabbed the student’s shoulder and called him “the N-word” and other derogatory names, Reynolds said.
When Reynolds attempted to remove Snider’s hand from his shoulder, the trooper responded with a shove, Reynolds said, which provoked him to throw a punch.
Many of us around the Statehouse know Snider. This is really a disappointing turn of events.
Illinois State Police are investigating a former trooper’s barroom altercation with a college student, who contends the law enforcer bumped him and used a racial slur. […]
Carlinville Police Chief Dave Haley confirmed he turned an incident report over to Illinois State Police involving Snider. Haley said he could not go into details.
“We are cooperating with the Illinois State Police in this investigation and do not want to jeopardize their investigation,” Haley said at the time. […]
* OK, so despite what we’ve been told, there’s money available for all of this year’s capital plan. Good…
Construction across Illinois is not in danger of stopping, or even slowing down this summer.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration says there are billions of dollars available for road, bridge, and school construction despite a legal challenge to the law the pays for it all.
There had been some question as to whether Illinois had all it needed to move ahead with the second summer of construction that is to come from 2009’s $30-billion public works package.
On Tuesday Quinn’s budget manager, David Vaught, said Illinois has close to $2 billion in the bank and still has another $5 billion in construction bonds to sell.
* The revelation took some legislators by surprise…
State Rep Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, said if Illinois has $2 billion in the bank then why was there ever talk of missing a summer construction season.
“We have not had any discussion about construction in so long, but I am kind of surprised that there is that kind of money just laying around.”
State Rep Dan Beiser, D-Alton, is in charge of the House Transportation committee. He said Vaught’s comments are the first he’s heard about $2 billion in the bank. That’s all the more reason, Beiser said, to let the court take its time with the legal challenge.
“I think we can now wait on the courts,” said Beiser.
* Lots of bills pass one chamber then disappear from view. That’s probably the case with this one…
Illinois lawmakers could be seeing a pay cut soon. Or at least some lawmakers voted to cut their pay. Whether statehouse paychecks really shrink remains to be seen.
The state House of Representatives approved a plan to reduce lawmakers’ annual salaries by about $6,800 and eliminate any cost-of-living increases starting this year. House Bill 2891 would save the state about $1.2 million, but there’s a major roadblock to it becoming reality.
The pay cut would apply to anyone who started a new term on or after Jan. 12, 2011, which is askew of the state’s constitution. The constitution states that any change in a lawmaker’s pay doesn’t start during their current term.
State Rep. Michelle Mussman, D-Schaumburg, sponsored the plan. Mussman said she was trying to follow up on a promise she made constituents during the campaign. She said she hopes the move is a sign of solidarity to residents still reeling from the recessions.
Illinois lawmakers are among the best-paid in the country, with a base salary of $67,836. Most also make more than that by serving in leadership positions or as committee chairs. Those stipends range from $10,327 (for committee posts) to $27,477 (for Senate president, House speaker and House and Senate minority leaders).
Officially, being a member of the Illinois General Assembly is a part-time job, and many legislators have outside jobs.
[Rep. William Davis, D-Homewood] said he is a full-time representative who spends many hours doing work in his district and helping constituents beyond working in Springfield when the General Assembly is in session. Davis said Mussman’s constituents should watch what a lawmaker does first-hand.
“I would encourage them to walk a day in your shoes so they can see and understand what it takes to be a representative,” Davis said.
Mussman didn’t disagree.
Your thoughts?
* Roundup…
* VIDEO: Rep. Michelle Mussman on legislative pay cut
* VIDEO: Rep. Monique Davis rails against legislative pay cuts
* Negotiators still working on details of utility rate proposal: Under McCarthy’s proposal, rate changes would go into effect in as few as 45 days, according to the Citizens Utility Board. Rates would be set by a complicated formula that allows for automatic increases. CUB and Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office have said the process will turn rate-setting upside down.
