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Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A couple of days ago, Lynne Sweet excerpted a passage from a new book about the Obama White House written by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor...

…[Michelle Obama] particularly resented the way power in Illinois was locked up generation after generation by a small group of families, all white Irish Catholic — the Daleys in Chicago, the Hynes and Madigans statewide.

* Drudge and others have been having a field day by taking the comment out of context in order to once again make Michelle Obama look like a white-hater…

* I Googled a bit and discovered that Media Matters quotes the entire passage from Kantor’s book…

She particularly resented the way power in Illinois was locked up generation after generation by a small group of families, all white Irish Catholic — the Daleys of Chicago, the Hyneses and Madigans statewide. “Someone doesn’t have the right to be elected because of whose womb they came out of,” she would say a few years later to Dan Shomon, her husband’s political advisor. “You shouldn’t have a better chance if you’re a Kennedy than if you’re an Obama. Why is it that they have the right to this?”

* I’ve known Dan Shomon since he was a UPI reporter, so I asked him if Michelle Obama had ever said anything like “white, Irish Catholics,” or if those words were added by the author. Shomon’s response…

I never said White Irish Catholics or specifically referenced the Daleys. Nor did Michelle Obama.

Michelle raised the concern, which a lot of Chicagoans shared, that it was much easier to run for office in Chicago if you were from a political family.

What about the Madigans, et al, I asked. Shomon’s response…

Nope. It was a general comment.

In other words, a bunch of hype over nothing.

* Also, Kantor utterly fails to mention that white Irish Catholics aren’t the only ones with dynasties in Illinois politics. The Jacksons have one going. And anyone named “Collins” on the West Side has had an advantage for years. Then there’s the Berrios family. For whatever reason in Illinois, and particularly in Cook County, names mean a lot. Just look at the number of people who’ve changed their names to make them more Irish-sounding when they ran for judge.

…Adding… Also, as a commenter rightly points out, the Stroger family, the Steele family and the Jones family all have (or had) the dynasty thing going. Kantor’s passage is just goofy.

* Meanwhile, in other Illinois-related DC news, I hadn’t noticed these developments because I’m really not keeping track…

On the last day to submit paperwork, Santorum filed only 41 candidates for national convention nominating delegates out of 54 possible slots among the state’s new 18 congressional districts. Perry, the Texas governor, filed only one delegate candidate. Romney, Paul and Gingrich filed full elected-delegate slates.

Not making the ballot or filing delegate candidates was former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has made a strong showing in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary a priority.

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Question of the day

Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* It’s kind of a slow news day today, so let’s have a little fun. From the Old Town School of Folk Music’s ribbon cutting ceremony for its new facility. Pictured left to right are Bau Graves, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, State Rep. Greg Harris, Chairman of Old Town Board of Directors Meredith Mack, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Ald. Ameya Pawar and State Sen. Heather Steans…

* The Question: Caption?

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Campaign Updates: Manzullo; Raja-Duckworth; Walsh; Nugent

Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Congressman Don Manzullo is doing his very best to use his incumbency and experience as an advantage oer Republican primary challenger and freshman Congressman Adam Kinzinger, including holding out the possibility that he is in line for a plum committee assignment, according to Chuck Sweeny…

I asked Kinzinger, a freshman on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, why voters should choose him over Manzullo, who has 19 years of experience, including six years chairing the Small Business Subcommittee. Manzullo has a reputation as a relentless fighter for U.S. manufacturing.

“Don is going for his 21st year in Congress. He’s been a committee chairman, and usually after you’re a committee chairman you’re kind of in the wind-down part of that session,” Kinzinger said. “He’s maybe going to be there for another two or four years.”

But Rich Carter, Manzullo’s spokesman, said that should he win re-election, the veteran representative may become Foreign Affairs Committee chairman in the next Congress.

* Manzullo is also attempting to “prove” that he is by far the more conservative candidate in the primary. From a press release…

An analysis of Congressional votes shows that U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-16) continued his strong conservative record of voting against wasteful Washington spending in 2011 while his opponent voted much more often for big government.

Manzullo, who maintains a lifetime 96 percent rating with the American Conservative Union, voted 79 more times to cut spending in 2011 than Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-11), who says he came to Washington in 2010 to cut spending. An analysis of all 949 roll call votes cast in 2011 shows Kinzinger voted to spend $209 billion more than Manzullo. Click here to view the full analysis. […]

Manzullo was recently endorsed by the Illinois Conservatives, a statewide organization of about 4,000 young conservatives under 35. He was endorsed last month by Family PAC-Federal, Illinois’ leading pro-family political action committee, and he is consistently recognized for his efforts to cut wasteful spending by many national conservative organizations.

Heritage Action, the sister organization of the conservative Heritage Foundation, shows a wide disparity in conservative rating in its Legislative Scorecard, with Manzullo receiving an 83 percent rating and Kinzinger receiving a 60 percent rating.

By the way, I checked the Illinois Conservatives’ Facebook page and website the other day and couldn’t find any explanation for how the endorsement was made. I was told by the leader of the group that ten board members took a vote.

* In other campaign news, the Illinois AFL-CIO decided today not to make an endorsement in the Democratic primary race between Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi, according to the Krishnamoorthi campaign, who say they fell just a couple of votes shy of the nod. The Krishnamoorthi folks are portraying this endorsement fight as a national vs. local contest, and are basically saying that their local supporters were able to keep DC labor leaders from handing the nod to Duckworth.

* Indeed, the SEIU Illinois Council endorsed Democrat Duckworth’s congressional bid just this week…

“The SEIU Illinois Council is proud to endorse Tammy Duckworth as the next Congresswoman from the 8th Congressional District and looks forward to working with her in advancing President Obama’s agenda for working families,” said Tom Balanoff, president of the SEIU Illinois Council.

“To have the endorsement of the SEIU Illinois Council is so significant and I am honored by it,” Duckworth said in response to the endorsement. “I look forward to working with SEIU to provide a better life for working families.”

Duckworth is running against Raja Krishnamoorthi for the Democratic nomination in the 8th congressional district. Krishnamoorthi announced the endorsement of State Sen. Michael Noland (D-22) of Elgin earlier today as well.

Duckworth was also endorsed today by Teamsters Joint Council 25, which represents 20 locals in the Chicago area.

* Meanwhile, Roll Call takes a look at Google’s “autocomplete” function and how it means that some politicians can’t get away from their pasts…

And anyone looking for Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) will be reminded that he made headlines when his wife accused him of having unpaid child support.

* How the study was done…

One of the difficulties in monitoring and potentially managing autocomplete is that Google provides different suggestions to different people. As a part of Google’s ongoing attempt to personalize its search tool, autocomplete provides suggested terms based on a number of factors, including the location of the user and the previous searches from that Google account, according to industry experts.

(To ensure the searches Roll Call did for this story would be a good indication of what most users would see while searching with the same term, the searches were conducted after clearing location information, Google account information and browsing history from the computer used.)

Rob Ousbey, vice president of operations at search engine optimization firm Distilled, explained that one important factor in autocomplete’s algorithm is the search terms being entered by others.

“The more people search for those things, the more likely they are to be suggested,” he said. Those suggestions are “a genuine reflection of what people have been interested in in the past,” he said.

* And Uncle Ted is making an appearance at the usually stodgy Sangamon County Lincoln Day Dinner…

Singer, hunter and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent will keynote the Sangamon County GOP’s annual Lincoln Day event on Feb. 10, Sangamon County Republican Chairman Tony Libri said Monday.

The 108th annual event, which raises money for the local GOP will be held in the evening instead of the traditional mid-day. […]

Nugent is not expected to sing at the event, which will be held at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. Included are a private reception at 5 p.m., costing $100 per person or $150 per couple, and a dinner at 6 p.m. costing an additional $100 per person. […]

Libri said he’s familiar with the Nugent song “Cat Scratch Fever,” but doesn’t know much about him. However, he said, he’s hoping for a good turnout, and would be “very happy with 800 or more.”

That last quote shows you what sort of people run the GOP in Springfield. The party chairman knows Nugent’s biggest radio hit, but nothing else? Pretty weird.

* How about a little Tederick to end the post…

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Quinn to sign tax breaks into law this morning (LIVE Coverage)

Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Q&A after this event should be interesting because it’ll be the first time Gov. Pat Quinn has spoken publicly since the state’s credit rating was downgraded. We’ll be covering it live in this post, so make sure to come back at 11 o’clock…

Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign legislation aimed at helping poor families keep more of what they earn.

Under the bill, the state’s earned-income tax credit, which is now 5 percent of the federal credit, would climb to 7.5 percent next year and 10 percent the year after. A bill signing is planned for Tuesday in Chicago.

The new law would increase the personal exemption by $50 to $2,050. That’s the amount of money exempt from income taxes for each person. The law would also increase the amount each year by the rate of inflation.

The personal exemption won’t mean much money at all, but it will eventually be significant in the long term. The very long term. The EITC aspect is more important in the short term…

The bill doubles the Earned Income Tax Credit over time. For a family with three children earning around $30,000 annually, it will mean about 200 dollars more a year.

According to a recent study by the Heartland Alliance, more than one million Illinoisans now receive the Earned Income Tax Credit. Talbot explains that it’s a credit for those at the bottom of the pay scale who often have to make sacrifices just to keep food on the table.

“Now, parents will be able to stretch their hard-earned income just a little bit further as they take care of their kids.”

* From a press release…

In fact, as a percentage of their earnings, Illinois’ lowest‐income families paid three times as much as the wealthiest households on state and local taxes in 2007, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. That disparity would be even greater without the help of the existing Illinois EITC; a stronger tax credit over the next couple of years should help reduce the gap somewhat.

The state will be live-streaming this event starting at 11 o’clock this morning. You can watch and/or listen by clicking here.

…Adding… The press releases and related articles are starting to roll in, so I’ll just open up the ScribbleLive program now. BlackBerry users should click here, everyone else can just kick back and watch…

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More legislators opt out of scholarship program

Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A growing number of House and Senate members are opting out of the legislative scholarship program…

State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, D-Joliet, has joined the growing ranks of Illinois legislators dropping out of the Legislative Tuition Waiver Program.

The program lets legislators waive state college tuition for selected students in their districts but has become increasing controversial amid exposure of abuses. The numbers of senators and representatives opting not to participate approached half of the state Legislature in 2011 and could grow this year.

“I think it’s going to be much more widespread to the point that we might eliminate (the program) legislatively,” Wilhelmi said Monday.

“The problems of the program outweigh its benefits,” Wilhelmi said.

Wilhelmi awarded a waiver to a nephew of Will County Executive Larry Walsh, an issue raised by the state senator’s opponent in his last election campaign. Wilhelmi, however, said his waivers were based in large part on financial need. There is no requirement that waiver recipients show need.

In 2011, 26 state senators and 51 state representatives chose not to participate, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

* And two Lake County Republicans also opted out this week…

In a joint news release, Republicans Ed Sullivan of Mundelein and Kent Gaffney of Lake Barrington called the program “an unfunded mandate” that adds strain to Illinois’ already stressed finances. ]…]

Last year, prosecutors subpoenaed records regarding scholarships that former lawmaker Robert Molaro, a Chicago Democrat, gave to a supporter’s children who might not have lived in his district.

Sullivan denied any such favoritism in his prior scholarship awards. Applications are considered by a committee that did not know the students’ names, sexes or hometowns, he insisted.

“I’ve always had a blind process,” he said in an interview.

* And the public pressure is increasing…

State Rep. Jason Barickman, R-Champaign, is calling for an end to the state’s legislative scholarship program.

A number of lawmakers have stopped handing out the awards after reports that some tuition waivers were being given to legislators’ relatives, campaign donors or students who weren’t even eligible for the money.

Barickman said the scholarships are costing Illinois about $14 million a year in lost tuition, including about $3 million to Illinois State University. […]

“The fact that nearly 200 legislators are given the opportunity with absolutely no discretion to give scholarships to people who live in their districts, to me is ridiculous,” Barickman said. “We’re policymakers, not kingmakers.”

Only a few voters will cast their ballots based on this one, single issue, but the Democratic majority needs to do things this year like abolishing the program. Tax hikes, fee hikes, budget cuts, pension problems, scandals galore. They need to at least look like they’re trying to clean up the mess.

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