* The Statehouse press room is no more. The room is being eliminated to make way for a new stairwell so the capitol building can be brought up to modern fire codes. For the next year or so, the media will be stationed at the Stratton Building. Supposedly, we’ll be back at the Statehouse when the construction ends, but some have their doubts.
I never really got too attached to the press room because I work out of my house when the Legislature isn’t in session. And when the GA is in session, I’m usually out and about around the capitol complex. But, I will miss that ratty, old place. I had a pretty sweet office, too. It used to belong to United Press International, back when they were a big deal in Illinois. The UPI staff dwindled down to one, so I moved in with Greg Tejeda. UPI eventually closed up shop and the Daily Herald moved out of its tiny closet-sized space and in with me. I’ll share space with a Downstate TV station and BlueRoomStream.com at the new digs across the way.
Anyway, Chris Wills at the AP has posted a few pics of the press room’s finale. Check ‘em out.
* I’ve been listening to a lot of Joe Walsh tunes in my spare time this week, forobviousreasons. And I don’t think there’s a greater beginning to any rock song than this one…
* Springfield state Senate Democratic candidate Bill Clutter has already come up with three different ideas for a constitutional amendment. He eventually discovered that all three wouldn’t pass muster, so he dumped them. Here is part of Clutter’s fourth draft…
One Senator and two Representatives shall be elected from each Legislative District for a term of two years. […]
Each political party shall nominate in a primary election no more than 2 legislative candidates selected by electors of the same political party. Cumulative voting will determine the election of Senator as the person who receives the most votes in the General Election, with the 2 Representatives being determined by the 2nd and 3rd place finishers. General electors may vote for no more than three candidates.
That’s quite the Rube Goldberg contraption, Billy. How are you gonna explain that process to people? And how does it make things better? His explanation…
This petition restores the system of cumulative voting that made Illinois government unique; […]
Cumulative voting existed in Illinois since 1870, but was repealed with the 1980 cutback amendment which reduced the number of legislators by a third. The Chicago Tribune in 1995 ran an editorial calling for the return of cumulative voting stating, “Many partisans and political independents have looked back wistfully at the era of cumulative voting. They acknowledge that it has produced some of the best and the brightest in Illinois politics”.
Sorry, but this concept is far different from the way things were done before. I’d like to go back to cumulative voting as well. But this is just too far out for me.
* The I-Team ran a report last night about out-of-state materials being used in the work on the Illinois Statehouse…
But the I-Team has found that some of the sole-source suppliers working on the Illinois Capitol are not even from Illinois.
Yes, because failing to use the lowest bidder wouldn’t prompt just the exact opposite story. I can see the headline now: “Bids denied, Statehouse costs higher than they should be.”
Look, I’d like all the contractors, workers and materials on this project to be from Illinois. Same goes for our road and bridge projects. But there are laws against that sort of thing, and for good reason.
* Anybody can sue anybody for anything in this world, but thankfully justice is usually served…
A lawsuit against the blog news source Illinois Review was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly for a blog post that the Illinois Review wrote over two years ago. Illinois Review is represented by the Thomas More Society in Chicago.
The Illinois Review’s blog post included documents showing that former Illinois State Rep. Paul Froehlich sought campaign contributions from individuals who won property tax relief with his assistance. After that story ran, the Cook County Board of Review reversed the tax breaks, and Satkar sued Illinois Review for defamation.
In the decision, Judge Kennelly said that Satkar “failed to show that the [Illinois Citizen Participation Act] is unconstitutional or inapplicable to Satkar’s claims against the Illinois Review …. Satkar brought these claims in response to these defendants’ acts in furtherance of their right of free speech ….”
We are pleased that the Court recognized that Illinois Review, by bringing to light a story of great public interest, did nothing wrong and that this lawsuit was meritless and frivolous,” said Peter Breen, Executive Director & Legal Counsel of the Thomas More Society, who is representing the Illinois Review.
Democrats in the 10th congressional district are dubious of a recent award given to U.S. Rep. Bob Dold (R-10) by environmentalists. Earlier this week, Dold was named as one of “America’s Great Outdoors Congressional Champions” by a coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society.
“I am honored to receive this award,” said Dold. “As a Scout master, protecting the environment has always been a priority of mine. Our national treasures, like the Great Lakes, are threatened by pollution and lack of conservation efforts. It is important for Congress to be stewards of the environment and protect our resources for generations to come.”
But some of Dold constituents don’t find him to be that green. The Wheeling Township Democratic Organization finds Dold’s record in Washington to be “far less than stellar when it comes to protecting Americans and our environment from pollution and toxic waste,” according to a press release.
…Adding… Yes, Congressman Walsh, we’re protecting President Obama because he’s black. Right. Go with that…
“This guy pushed every one of the media’s buttons,” Walsh said. “He was liberal, he was different, he was new, he was black. Oh my God, it was the potpourri of everything. They are so vested in our first black president not being a failure that it’s going to be amazing to watch the lengths they go to protect him. [The media], I believe, will spout this racist line if some of their colleagues up here aren’t doing it aggressively enough. There is going to be a real desperation.”
*** UPDATE *** This has to rank right up there with among the very worst of very bad ideas…
A Cook County Forest Preserve “resident watchman” whose duties include stopping people from growing or smoking pot in the woods has been arrested — accused of growing pot in the woods.
The carefully cultivated cannabis was found growing near the forest preserve-owned house where Cynthia Wojtanowski, 45, lives at Tampier South Woods forest preserve at 135th and Wolf Road in southwest suburban Orland Park.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Other stuff that happened today…
* Blagojevich lawyer “quite certain” ex-gov’s sentencing will be delayed: Zagel did not rule on the government’s request to bar the defense from poking into the racy past of top witness Stuart Levine. Webb said he needed time to respond to a couple of petitions put forth by the government.
* Bachmann cancels Illinois rally: Indications are that one part of the Bachmann campaign was unaware that the other part had schueduled the candidate to be in Illinois on Monday.
If Gov. Pat Quinn signs the gambling expansion bill — a big “if” given the myriad of objections expressed by the governor to date — the Illinois State Fairgrounds would join at least two other state fairgrounds nationwide in having slot machines.
The fairgrounds in New Mexico and Delaware have full-fledged casinos at the racetracks on their facilities. The casinos provide revenue streams that help those state fairs to be mostly self-sustaining, instead of depending upon millions of taxpayer dollars, as the Illinois State Fair does.
Quinn has said that he worries the 366-acre state fairgrounds in Springfield will become less family friendly if gambling on slot machines is permitted for most of the year, as Senate Bill 744 would allow. […]
But William DiMondi, general manager for the Delaware State Fair, said the casino there has not been a detriment to family fun in Delaware.
“We heard the same arguments that it would be the ruination of the fair, on the basis of mom and apple pie, but in all candidness, the fact that we had gaming (horseracing) — and in our case have had gaming since the late ’30s — kind of diffused a little bit of the entry of expanded gaming,” DiMondi said. […]
“We barely had barns that were held together by paint, let alone nails and decent wood,” DiMondi said. “We’ve spent in excess of $100 million on our grounds. The fair and its fairgoers, and in particular our livestock exhibitors, have been huge beneficiaries. … It has enabled us to replace all of our barns with state-of-the-art, multi-use facilities. The money is reinvested right back here in the community.”
Half the revenues from state fair slots would go to the fairgrounds’ infrastructure improvement fund. The other half would go to county fairs, Future Farmers of America and 4-H programs.
* The Question: Do you support slot machines at the Illinois State Fairgrounds? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
* Catholic Charities’ lawsuit against the state over the cancellation of its contracts is about more than whether the group should be able to provide foster and adoption care services solely to married couples, it’s also at least somewhat about money…
Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Springfield will lose half of its revenue if the state cancels its foster care and adoption contracts with the agency.
That’s just one of the consequences outlined by executive director Steven Roach in court documents filed by Catholic Charities agencies associated with the Springfield, Peoria, Belleville and Joliet dioceses. […]
In the documents, Roach said he asked his staff to prepare an accounting of the financial impact to the agencies if the contracts are terminated. They determined it would eliminate about $5 million of Catholic Charities’ projected $10 million in revenue for the 2012 budget year.
“Financially, for Catholic Charities in Springfield, it would be devastating,” Roach said in an interview Monday. “We believe Catholic Charities would be able to survive it, but our presence would be greatly diminished in a number of communities.”
There’s no doubt that Catholic Charities has done plenty of profoundly good works in this state for a century. The group pushed the state into starting foster and adoption services decades ago.
So, it’s heartbreaking that such a great organization can’t seem to reconcile itself with state law, and vice versa. I generally prefer compromise on stuff like this, but that would mean both sides will need to give in more. The state is under no obligation to follow any religion’s canons. It has laws, and its vendors have to follow them. Catholic Charities is a vendor. If it wants its state contracts, it needs to either change state law (which it failed to do this year) or find a way to give in a bit. If it did, the state might start moving as well. This very thing just happened with the hospitals…
Gov. Pat Quinn extended an olive branch to nonprofit hospitals Thursday, saying the state would temporarily hold off on further decisions about their exemptions from property taxes. […]
“It’s a temporary detente,” said Brie Callahan, a spokeswoman for the governor. “If the talks aren’t going anywhere … then the Department of Revenue will have to do what is required by law and the Constitution.”
Of course, religious principles are in a totally different world than politics. The Pope said as much today when he said religions can’t “think through or negotiate” faith. But if you get into politics (as a vendor), you have to realize that you’re in a different game as well.
* It probably also doesn’t help Catholic Charities’ cause when its lawyer gleefully participates in a weird newspaper column about a completely meaningless Muslim-American advisory commission…
And like the Quinn administration, maybe we shouldn’t be concerned that anyone on the advisory council will encourage consideration of Shariah while recommending strategies to better integrate Muslims in Illinois socially, educationally, culturally and economically.
Another question: Why, besides one advisory group addressing Holocaust issues, is the Muslim-American Advisory Council the only religion-affiliated advisory committee listed among Quinn’s appointed boards? There’s no evangelical, Hindu, Protestant or Catholic advisory group that we could find.
At least one Catholic would like to know the answer to that question. After all, Catholic Charities has been cut off from serving foster and adoptive families because its religious doctrine conflicts with the state.
“Your guess is as good as mine on that one,” Catholic Charities’ attorney Peter Breen said. “Let us know if you find out why Catholics aren’t as welcomed.”.
I never thought I’d see the day when Catholics would claim to be not “welcomed” in Illinois because they don’t have their own little toothless advisory commission.
Passage and enactment of the state’s new civil unions law has prompted Illinois’ bishops to create a Defense of Marriage department within the Catholic Conference of Illinois.
CCI’s Director of Government Relations Zach Wichmann said the new department reflects the bishops’ intention to keep the Church in the public square and in line with the Catholic faith’s mission. The Defense of Marriage department will advocate marriage as the proper home for human sexuality, as it serves as an expression of love and cooperation in God’s creative design.
Wichmann acknowledged the new department will be fighting an uphill battle against current societal trends.
“The teachings of the Church are not overwhelmingly popular everywhere, nor are they always easily explained,” Wichmann said. “But our message will be proclaimed for the sake of stronger families, secure children and an enriched spiritual life.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Catholic Charities…
Emergency Court Hearing for Illinois Catholic Charities Foster Care Battle , Monday, September 26 at 12:30 pm
Due to the newly-expressed intent of the Department for Children and Family Services to press forward with transitioning the cases of the children under Catholic Charities care prior to the October 5 court hearing on reconsideration, Judge John Schmidt has allowed plaintiffs an emergency hearing before him this Monday, September 26, at 12:30 p.m. in Illinois’ Sangamon County Court in Springfield.
Catholic Charities will ask Judge Schmidt to reinstate his preliminary injunction until he has time to rule on a motion to reconsider his August 18 order and, if necessary, for an appeal of his order to the Illinois Appellate Court. That order denied the Charities’ request to prevent the Department of Children and Family Services from barring Catholic Charities from foster care and adoption contracts because of the Catholic Church’s religious beliefs against same-sex and opposite-sex civil unions.
The Thomas More Society, which represents the Catholic Charities of the Springfield, Peoria, Joliet, and Belleville dioceses, is seeking the stay to stop the effect of the August 18 ruling, so as to allow the Charities to maintain their services during the pendency of any appeals.
* David Axelrod held a fundraiser yesterday for 8th Congressional District Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth and had this to say about her primary opponent Raja Krishnamoorthi…
“I like Raja a lot — he’s a friend of mine,” Axelrod said. “I have told him I don’t think it’s the right decision for him. I think he’s made a mistake by getting into this race but sometimes you have to make your mistakes and learn from your mistakes. Unfortunately it’s going to be an expensive lesson … I think a lot of resources are going to be squandered unnecessarily.”
* The Krishnamoorthi campaign’s response…
Raja was the first candidate in this race, raised over $400,000 last quarter, and worked hard to get the backing of numerous local leaders. Despite recent efforts from the Duckworth campaign, our local backing has not eroded, and our list of supporters has grown. Supporters like Toni Preckwinkle and Danny Davis have seen the dynamics of this race and they doubled-down on their support by fundraising for Raja.
It is a mistake for party elders in DC to try to impose their will upon the voters of the 8th district. This race will be decided by the voters of the 8th district who want real solutions and ideas for job creation and middle-class prosperity. Raja got in this race to give the voters of his district that option, and that fact has not changed. Raja is the only candidate in this race with real economic experience and thorough ideas on how to produce jobs for the middle class and restore prosperity to American economy.
The Raja folks do have a point. Raja was in the race months before Duckworth, so how was jumping in first a “mistake”? And, as far as resources go, they’re getting a whole lot of contributions from South Asian folks who aren’t normally on everybody’s fundraising list. Krishnamoorthi is definitely the underdog here, but it’s a free country. And I’m not sure the high-end Duckworth backers are gonna look all that great if they fail to force Raja out of the race. I’m told they’re calling Krishnamoorthi’s list and attempting to convince contributors to bolt. We’ll see how far they get. So far, however, it ain’t working.
All the speakers speculated that Walsh abandoned the district rather than face Duckworth.
“Joe is so tired of his own act that when he heard Tammy was going to run in the 8th, as you saw just yesterday — obviously I worked up this speech a week ago — Joe cut out on us,” Brandt said. “Joe, where did you go? Joe went someplace else because he knows he can’t beat Tammy.”
Axelrod echoed that.
“Joe Walsh has spent the last year and a half essentially auditioning for right-wing talk radio instead of meeting his responsibilities for the people … of his district,” Axelrod said. “I think part of the reason he left is he recognized who Tammy Duckworth is. She is an authentic American hero.”
But the truth is more of Walsh’s current district — including his McHenry home — was thrown into the new 14th rather than into the new 8th, which is designed for a Democrat to win, so Walsh may well have opted for the 14th whether or not Duckworth ran.
Walsh wasn’t ever gonna run in the 8th. The 14th is far more Republican and way more to his liking. Running in the 8th meant he’d have to either move to the center or perish. Running in the 14th means he can stay right where he is, geographically and politically.
* Krishnamoorthi’s spokesman, by the way, is Mike Murray. Many of you will remember Mike as a former Capitol Fax intern. I’ve found it a bit difficult, but still interesting dealing with Mike in his new job. Mike understands I won’t show any favoritism here, but I thought you should know about this going forward.
My first intern, Paul Richardson, just graduated from law school and founded LawBlogWriters.com. It’s a pretty cool business idea. My second intern, Kevin Fanning, is in law school and works for Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski. Barton Lorimor, who was my intern last year, is now at the comptroller’s office.
…Adding… I lost track recently of my other intern from last year, Dan Weber. I sent him an e-mail earlier today and he just replied. Dan is teaching English in Mexico. He said he’s having a lot of fun.
* Meanwhile, Duckworth is training for a marathon. Check out the video…
* Zhejiang, State of Illinois sign agreement to form school partnerships
* Chinese ambassador’s top priority: U.S. jobs: We know U.S. exports to China, in the decade 2000-2010, soared 468 percent to $91.9 billion, according to the U.S.-China Business Council. China is the third largest market for American goods and services, well behind Canada ($248.2 billion) and Mexico ($163.3 billion). But considering that the other two are contiguous to the U.S. and share a trade agreement, it’s not surprising that they would be the two largest trade partners. But, their growth rates were in the low double digits for the same decade.
* Xiamen C&D to buy 250,000 tons of Illinois corn products for $US70m
* My Sun-Times column is not intended to be a “be-all, end-all” analysis of what’s gone wrong so far, but rather a look at one particular angle. Try to keep that in mind when reading…
It’s generally considered a rule of thumb that politicians with mainly legislative backgrounds do not make particularly effective chief executives. The two worlds, and their required mind-sets, are vastly different.
And, for the most part, our state’s better governors and our country’s most effective presidents for the past 100 years or so have had executive experience before moving to the top of the ladder. I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about legislatures, and I’ve been thinking lately that many of President Barack Obama’s bungles can be traced right to this issue.
Obama never really ran anything before being elected. But, more importantly, he also learned over the years to think like a legislator. Judging from afar, I don’t believe he has truly changed his mind-set.
Obama scored his biggest win in the Illinois Senate by working with Republicans to pass an ethics reform bill. It wasn’t easy. Republican Senate President Pate Philip was no reformer and was also exceedingly hostile to the minority party and minorities in general. But Obama helped fashion a compromise that could pass muster with the Republicans. It wasn’t a great bill, but it was something, and something was judged as far better than nothing. Since then, two governors have been convicted of corruption, but Obama got his bill passed, so, whatever.
When he arrived in the U.S. Senate, Obama found himself again in the minority party. One of the first things he did was attach himself to Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican. He reveled in working with the other side.
Obama firmly believed his success at working with Republicans would help him be a better president. Heck, I thought the same thing during his campaign. So far, we’ve both been wrong.
After he was elected president, Obama was no longer a member of a large, mostly collegial group. Many of the same people who once gladly worked with him immediately vowed to block his every move.
Instead of realizing that the game had completely changed, Obama continued to approach Congress as if he were still a member of their club.
We all know what has happened since then. One grand plan after another was either watered down into ineffectiveness or, in the case of health-care reform, absolute confusion, or just defeated outright.
The idea always seemed to be to pass a big, sweeping, bipartisan bill, not to truly solve the problem at hand. This is a peculiarly legislative approach to life and it’s why we need a strong, involved executive to make sure things actually get done right.
Legislators regularly score points with the folks back home by talking about all the bills they’ve voted for or against, regardless of whether their vote really mattered. Sprinkle a local project here and a local project there and they’re deemed successful.
Presidents are judged on an entirely different level. Not only do they have to pass big legislation, but that big legislation has to work in the real world.
So, Obama can talk about his stimulus bill until he’s blue in the face, but the hard truth is it didn’t perform as advertised.
He can pat himself on the back for health-care reform, but nobody understands it and it’s not running yet.
And he can blame the Republicans for bringing us to the brink of default, but the president will always wear the jacket. He cannot hide within that faceless group of congressmen. He belongs to a club of one.
Legislators pass bills in order to check them off their lists. Executives have to make sure those bills actually perform as promised. Obama has never really done that, and he’s paying the price now.
I’d add to this only that one of his appealing qualities to voters — a high-mindedness rooted in an academic’s belief that if people of good will with opposing viewpoints reason together they can move beyond partisanship to find common ground and effective compromise — seems to have been one of his biggest weaknesses.
Many voters respond to such a message and claim this is the kind of leadership they’d like to see in Washington — it was Obama’s trump card over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary contest, where she was seen as a divisive relic of the past. But in the end what they really want — and, arguably, what they need given the unbridgeable ideological differences — is a fighter.
Obama has now more than taken the measure of his Republican foes and is at last striking a much more pugnacious tone. We know you can take the President out of the legislature. Now we’ll see if you can take the legislature out of the President.
Agreed.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Meanwhile, the media went a bit nuts this week when it was disclosed that Rahm Emanuel would be speaking at a bit Iowa Democratic dinner on behalf of the president. It was openly discussed whether he was positioning himself for a presidential bid himself. Nope…
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he is not interested in running for president.
Emanuel’s decision to give a speech Nov. 19 at the biggest Democratic fundraiser before the Iowa Caucuses is fueling speculation he may be laying the groundwork for a run for the presidency in 2016.
Emanuel tried to put that speculation to rest yesterday with a little prompting, saying “no, never. Not interested.”
“I’ve done two trips already at the request of the . . . president’s re-election campaign. They’ve asked me to be a surrogate. I’ll do it. [But] I’m not interested [in running for president]. I love this job. I love the people of the city of Chicago. I love working on behalf of the taxpayers. Not interested.”
Not even in 2016?
“[Not] even if you did that dance step you just did,” the mayor told an overzealous TV reporter. “I’m NOT” interested.
