“David Axelrod has always been skillful at creeping into your room in the middle of the night and slicing out your heart, somehow without leaving behind a single fingerprint or drop of blood that ties him or his candidate to the crime,” said Obama biographer David Mendell of Obama’s top political aide.
* Of course, the first thing to come to mind would be the Blair Hull scandal, and Mendell addressed that as well…
Axelrod, Mendell and others have reported, had asked about divorce records of a wealthy Democratic candidate, Blair Hull, when he considered working for Hull, and been rebuffed. The Chicago Tribune, his old newspaper, sued to unseal the records of Hull, who was Obama’s Democratic primary opponent, and later to unseal Republican Jack Ryan’s. Ryan, the 2004 GOP nominee in the Illinois Senate contest, ended up having to quit the race.
Axelrod denied to POLITICO, as he has many times before, that he suggested either approach to the paper. “I and we have zero to do with it,” he said. (Suggesting such a line of inquiry, incidentally, would hardly have been out of bounds in an ordinary political campaign, but to keep the move fingerprint-free would have reflected a certain dexterity.)
“Axelrod and the Obama Senate campaign played no public role in unsealing the Hull or Ryan divorce records. But the behind-the-scenes machinations were more complicated,” said Mendell, who broke the Hull story for the Tribune in 2004, in an email, adding; “You really have to connect the dots to pin things on Axelrod.” [Emphasis added.]
Nevertheless, Hull’s ads were working. And when Hynes’ quick hit of television had no effect, the Hynes brain trust began worrying even more about Hull. Hynes’s campaign spokesperson, Chris Mather, stepped up her phone calls to me and other reporters in hopes of slowing the Hull momentum. However, the intense lobbying effort actually had the opposite effect with me. Hynes’s obvious fear gave Hull even more credibility.
At about this time, I met with a Hynes operative for lunch. When I had gone to meet Mather earlier in the campaign season, we convened near Hynes’s office. But this operative wanted to come to me, so we gathered at a North Michigan Avenue restaurant just a couple of doors from the Tribune Tower. Before I had taken a bite of my grilled chicken sandwich, I was handed a folder of opposition research on Hull. Among the papers was a copy of the outside sheet of the filing of one of Hull’s two divorces in Illinois. Hull, in fact, had been divorced three times. He was married to his first wife for nearly thirty years, raising three children with her. After moving to Chicago, he then twice married and divorced the same woman. The rest of the divorce file had been sealed, and this vague court order was the only document publicly available.
The order contained only one salient fact: Hull’s second wife, Brenda Sexton, had once been granted an order of protection against him. [Emphasis added.]
So, in his book he clearly blamed the Hynes campaign for the Hull leak, but now Mendell is putting the blame on Axelrod? Weird.
U.S. Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL-2) tonight said in a statement that he does not think President Obama’s “American Jobs Act” will work. […]
“The President’s plan will help - assuming Republicans help to pass it - but it is short of the need.
His Democratic primary opponent Debbie Halvorson sharply criticized Jackson for not fully supporting the president. Today, he sent an e-mail message to supporters…
I am in full support of President Obama’s jobs plan and building a airport for our future. Help me help President Obama.
A Democratic congressman compared the NCAA to the Mafia over how it controls the lives of student athletes.
“I think they’re just one of the most vicious, most ruthless organizations ever created by mankind,” Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said of the NCAA at a congressional forum on college sports Tuesday. “I think you would compare the NCAA to Al Capone and to the Mafia.”
Rush made the accusations at the forum called to look at the impact of “back-room deals, payoffs and scandals” in college sports. The congressman spoke after hearing from a couple of mothers of former student-athletes who complained of ill treatment by schools after their sons suffered injuries. […]
One mother, Valerie Hardrick, said the University of Oklahoma refused to grant a waiver for medical hardship that would allow her son, Kyle Hardrick, to play basketball at junior college after transferring from OU. Prior to Tuesday’s forum, Hardrick’s family provided to The Associated Press documentation showing that team doctors diagnosed him with a torn meniscus in his knee and wrote down on practice logs that he should be held out because he was hurt. Hardrick’s family said the university has refused to pursue the waiver unless the family agrees to a settlement that would prohibit him or his family members from enrolling at Oklahoma or any of the universities governed by its board of regents. The proposed settlement also would prevent the Hardricks from filing a lawsuit against the university.
“My insurance does not cover all of Kyle’s medical bills,” an emotional Valerie Hardrick said. “The University of Oklahoma refused to pay for Kyle’s surgery, his rehab, and his medication. The university actions also allowed Kyle to be released without appropriate medical treatment before consulting his original surgeon.”
*** UPDATE *** The Catholic Conference of Illinois has responded to the governor’s comments by saying he dodged the issue…
“Governor Quinn’s statement today that he is recognizing a rape victim for her advocacy work dodges the issue. Our hearts go out to any victim of rape, one of the most personally violent crimes against women,” said Mary Massingale, director of communications.
“He is presenting an award – titled the Pro-Choice Leadership Award – at an event hosted by Personal PAC, an organization that describes itself as a ‘political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing pro-choice candidates to state and local office in Illinois.’ This action is irreconcilable with any honest profession of the Catholic faith, and it is what prompted the Bishops’ statement.”
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Yesterday, Cardinal George and all Illinois Catholic bishops issued an open letter blasting Gov. Pat Quinn for presenting an award at a Personal PAC event, saying the governor was now going beyond “supporting the legal right to kill children in their mother’s wombs” to the point of “rewarding those deemed most successful in this terrible work.”
“I am going to the event to present an award to a woman who was a victim of rape and who is a very strong advocate of helping rape victims all over our state [and] our country,” Quinn said after an appearance in Chicago to announce state funding to overhaul the CTA’s Red Line. “I really feel that’s a proper, Christian thing to do to honor someone who’s doing someone that helps the community at large.”
Asked whether he’s offended that George and the other bishops were questioning his credentials as a Roman Catholic, Quinn said, “No, I just follow my conscience. That’s all you can do in life.”
“The governor is saying a few kind words about a woman who has been raped and had the courage to tell her story,” Cosgrove said. “The Catholic Bishops attacking him for that and accusing women of killing their children is a new low in public discourse, even for them.”
Powerful stuff. Personal PAC’s ads, mailers and phone calls did more to elect Pat Quinn governor than anything else last year. Quinn defeated pro-life Catholic Bill Brady.
* Whether or not you agree with the Cardinal and the bishops, this is still a free country and they have a right to voice their opinion. If Quinn was presenting an award at a pro-life fundraiser, I’m sure Cosgrove would have something to say about it. If Quinn was an AFSCME member, he’d have lost his union card by now.
So, please, try to keep your “separation of church and state” notions in line with reality when you comment. Thanks.
* In other news, three Republican legislators from Springfield say they doubt that any major pension reforms will surface next week…
Springfield’s lawmakers said Wednesday they do not think a bill revamping pensions for current state employees will be called for a vote during the remaining three days of the veto session.
Appearing before The State Journal-Register editorial board, Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, and Reps. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, and Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, also said they might consider a borrowing plan for the state if the money could be repaid in less than a year and Gov. Pat Quinn specifies exactly how the borrowed money will be spent. […]
“I’m inclined to think it won’t occur this year, nor will it in the spring,” Bomke said.
His argument is that lawmakers face elections next year and will be running in newly drawn districts, making them reluctant to deal with a controversial issue like changing pensions.
Springfield Republicans probably aren’t the best source for news about pension reform, for obvious reasons, but they’re not alone in predicting a lack of action. We’ll see soon enough.
* From House Republican Leader Tom Cross’ press staff…
(T)he Illinois House’s Revenue and Finance Committee is meeting this afternoon in Chicago on HJR45. We have filed an amendment to that resolution calling for no new wage increases associated with any collectively bargained contracts throughout State government until the State has achieved two years of operating surpluses. An operating surplus would be defined as a state fiscal year in which the expenditures authorized or incurred are less than the revenues received during the same fiscal year, as determined by the Comptroller’s Office.
Under our proposed language, the state would also not approve any funds for payment increases in lieu of pay raises for health insurance benefit increases, employee cost sharing reductions, or reductions for employee contributions to the state employees’ retirement program until the threshold of two consecutive years of operating surpluses has been achieved.
* From a press release…
“Our priority is on the protection of jobs in this state and ensuring that we get our fiscal house in order above all else,” Cross said. “We should not enter into any new contracts that guarantee wage and benefit increases at a time when the Governor is talking about closing seven state facilities that serve those with mental health needs, at-risk youth, and house dangerous criminals.” […]
“We need to put the teeth back into every fiscal reform we enact in the State of Illinois in order to protect jobs and make them meaningful and accountable to taxpayers,” said Leitch. “For three years legislators have taken 12 unpaid furlough days, a significant pay cut. It’s only fair that all state employees share in the sacrifice until Illinois’ financial health is restored and we are no longer the ‘Deadbeat State.’”
* The Question: Do you support a wage/benefits freeze for unionized state workers until Illinois’ budget has had an operating surplus for two years? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
As Congressman Joe Walsh’s legal team preps for a pretrial conference in his child-support suit next week, his primary election opponent, Congressman Randy Hultgren, has taken a poll that among other issues, looks at how Walsh’s personal past might cost him politically.
The poll, the first conducted by the Tarrance Group for the Hultgren campaign, sampled residents of the new 14th Congressional District, Hultgren campaign officials said.
Of course Hultgren would put questions about Walsh’s child support issue in his benchmark survey. You’d have to be an idiot not to examine how this is playing in Voter Land. A campaign which didn’t poll the issue wouldn’t be worth a dime, Walsh’s included. But Walsh wasn’t asked if he tested the issue in his own polling. I cannot fathom why he wasn’t asked about this, since that would be important to know if he’s gonna bring up a phony issue about polling questions.
* But, of course, Congressman Walsh just has to play the aggrieved victim card…
Yet, after hearing from constituents that the poll contained a number of questions on child support and his financial past, Walsh is calling the effort a “push poll” — a political campaign technique designed to influence voters by disseminating negative and false information — and evidence of a dirty campaign.
“If he raises his voice and calls into question who I am as a father, I’ll punch him in the face, figuratively speaking,” said Walsh, of McHenry.
This is not a “push poll.” A push poll is a phone canvass of lots of voters that focuses on one issue. It’s an advocacy call, not a survey, even though some are thinly disguised as polls.
And I’m sure Hultgren is content to let Walsh’s ex-wife do all the talking about who Walsh is as a father.
* And, obviously, Congressman Hultgren doesn’t need to make this promise…
Walsh said he would “sign a pledge tomorrow” that he “won’t go personal.”
“And I’d ask him to do the same thing,” Walsh challenged.
Hultgren is a boring, conservative church-goer who, I’ve heard, prays before every vote. Walsh would have to make something up to “go personal” on Hultgren.
All Walsh did by whining about Hultgren’s poll was put his own very damaging issues in front of voters yet again. But that’s Joe Walsh. When the only tool you own is a hammer, all problems look like a nail. Congressman Walsh’s only tool is publicity about his personal and political victimization, so he constantly resorts to it.
* When Gov. Jim Thompson decided the state should lease buildings instead of building or buying them, Bill Cellini made a bundle…
June 1979: State legislators approve a plan to lease the vacant Concordia Seminary from New Frontiers, a Cellini-owned company, for $985,000 a year and use it as a state prison training facility. The proposal came with an option to buy, and legislators talked about purchasing within five years, but the state is still leasing the building. The project was controversial from the start. “I don’t think anybody would be jumping all over this if Bill Cellini were not involved,” then Department of Corrections director Gayle Franzen said. “It just so happens that he knows more politicians than the governor or I put together.” Cellini closes several more leasing deals with the state in ensuing years, and by 1984, New Frontiers is leasing more square footage to the state than any other landlord in Springfield, collecting $175,300 a month in rent.
* When Thompson moved from concrete to asphalt roads, Cellini and his friends made out nicely. When the Republican-controlled General Assembly allowed for the commercial and residential development around UIC, Bill Cellini expanded his reach to Chicago and built University Village. We all know about the hotel, financed with a $15.5 million state loan before it was finally foreclosed upon after its loan balance topped $30 million. And then there was the TRS investment business, which ended up leading to his downfall.
* But Cellini made his really big cash on a casino…
Cellini paid $50,000 for a state gambling license to open a casino in Alton in 1990. Three years later, Cellini and his partners took Argosy public, with Cellini selling $4.9 million in stock and keeping shares worth an estimated $50 million. When Argosy was sold in 2004, Cellini received an estimated $63 million for his remaining shares, according to State Journal-Register archives.
It’s impossible to run a government without making some people a bunch of cash. And while not condoning his behavior, there’s no doubt that Cellini was a genius. Wherever there was money to be made off the government, he was there, like an Illinois Zelig. Actually, he probably came up with most of those ideas, which is all the more amazing.
If he’s lucky, a person will have one good moneymaking idea in a lifetime. Cellini had too many to count. I just don’t think there will ever be another one like him. Not only is he a unique person, but laws and times have changed too much to do what he did now.
The organizer of the Coalition for Political Honesty, Pat Quinn has been called shallow, unrealistic and a hypocrite; yet, a large number of Illinois citizens respond when he makes a call for action. Governor Thompson will not soon forget his tea bag mail.
“Pat Quinn was one of the most personable, clearly gregarious people in the Walker administration,” commented Rep. Michael McClain (D., Quincy). “His only problem was that he loved power and was vicious in doling out patronage and taking it away. He is not politically naive. The stuff he says now doesn’t jive with the stuff he said then. He’s a guy you’d love to have a beer with and in charge of your own patronage, but he would not get the most Christian guy of the year award, by any means.” Chicago Democratic Rep. James Taylor put it more simply. “He’s got to learn that confrontation politics are out. He’s got the Walker image, and you know how popular he was around here.”
Quinn admits, however, that his reputation has cost him clout. “Lots of times, legislators won’t vote on another legislator’s bill because they don’t like the sponsor, refusing to deal with the bill on its merits. I experience much of the same attitude toward me.” […]
“You’ve got to know your enemy and organize accordingly,” Quinn said. “There’s no nice way of doing things, no subtle way.” […]
“If you’ve got a bill you want passed, I wouldn’t advise hiring me as your lobbyist,” said Quinn.
Thursday, Nov 3, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Out-of-state energy company Tenaska is still trying to win support from the legislature to build the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC). This legislation, which has already failed three times, would leave consumers paying up to seven times the market price for electricity and cost $286 million per year.
Tenaska and TEC supporters claim that we need more coal power, touting an exaggerated and inaccurate estimate that “40 percent” of Illinois coal plants could be forced to close as a result of new regulations from the EPA. But independent studies – including the EPA’s own analysis – do not support this “sky-is-falling” estimate.
What’s more, Illinois’ projected energy demands will be met even if some older coal plants now operating in the state are retired. That’s in part because Illinois draws power from two regional power pools that, combined, serve 21 states and have a power generation capacity in excess of 300,000 megawatts. The TEC, if built, would add just 544 megawatts to this total, an addition of only two-tenths of one percent.
So what would it cost Illinois consumers to pay for this drop in the bucket? Total costs for the TEC would be at least $8.6 billion. That’s why the market isn’t supportive of the TEC and why Tenaska is instead asking the legislature to push this unneeded power plant through.
