After leading several popular ‘80s cult bands in and around his hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, Chuck Mead landed on Nashville’s Lower Broadway where he co-founded the famed ‘90s Alternative Country quintet BR549. The band’s seven albums, three Grammy nominations and the Country Music Association Award for Best Overseas Touring Act would build an indelible bridge between authentic American Roots music and millions of fans worldwide. With BR on hiatus, Chuck formed The Hillbilly All-Stars featuring members of The Mavericks, co-produced popular tribute albums to Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, guest-lectured at Vanderbilt University, and became a staff writer at one of Nashville’s top song publishers. In 2009, he released his acclaimed solo debut album, Journeyman’s Wager, and toured clubs, concert halls and international Rock, Country and Rockabilly festivals with his band The Grassy Knoll Boys.
Friday, May 18, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
While our opponents have been telling legislators the fiction that coal plant closures were “simply speculation,” Tenaska has been using facts to warn of what’s to come.
The Chicago Tribune yesterday focused on some of those facts for its lead business story:
“Residential electricity prices are expected to spike by more than 10 percent beginning in 2015, with consumers paying between $150 and $330 a year more than this year, as coal plants, the least expensive producers of electricity, continue to close.”
But aren’t closing coal plants “merely speculation” as Taylorville opponents have claimed? Not according to the Tribune:
“The closings of 319 coal-fueled generating units totaling 42,895 megawatts, about 13 percent of the nation’s coal fleet, have been announced nationwide since January 2010, according to the Sierra Club.”
—–
Independent Study Finds Taylorville Project Now Saves Ratepayers With Below Market Pricing
Earlier this week, independent analyst Pace Global used US Department of Energy data to analyze Tenaska’s new “Power Block First” approach and found that because the market has tightened, the Taylorville Energy Center will actually SAVE consumers $437.7 million over 20 years, including more than $250 million in the first five years.
* The Crosstown Classic begins today. They’ll play three games at Ricketts Stadium… um… I mean, Cub Park. With the Flubs’ owners all over the news, I thought fans of both teams might like a little trash-talking opportunity.
So, rather than a question, let’s go at each others’ throats in comments. Civility is out the window today (this is baseball, not politics). But keep your language clean.
Cardinals fans will get an opportunity next month when their club hosts the White Sox.
* A reform group reacts to a proposal that would lift campaign contributions for all candidates in a race when unlimited independent expenditures reach at least $250,000 in statewide races or $100,000 in other races…
Rey López-Calderón, executive director of the Chicago-based political reform group Common Cause, called the current bill “disgusting”.
“It’s an evisceration of the original bill,” López-Calderón said.
“This allows rich people and billionaires to game the system. There are so many ways you can get around it [campaign spending laws] now,” he added. “We’re trying to take the money out of politics.”
You wanna take money out of politics? OK, then go to government financing. Otherwise, campaign caps won’t do it. And, as I’ve said before, candidates ought to have the right to defend themselves when Big Money starts spending tons of cash against them.
That Currie’s plan is moving forward so easily is a troubling indication of lawmakers’ commitment to protections that went into effect only a little more than a year ago. Those protections emerged after years of study and debate, including hearings by the state House and Senate and a report by a wide-ranging task force set up by then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. What could possibly be the hurry in dismantling them so quickly?
True, one might argue that removing caps now would help protect a candidate gearing up for the November election. But one could just as easily wonder about the degree to which PACs will emerge in Illinois legislative or municipal races over the next five months and whether they will actually have an impact so quickly in a given race.
And the degree to which they do or do not can be one factor in the longer-term, expansive study that needs to be undertaken on this issue. In a letter to the state House Wednesday, the CHANGE Illinois! coalition noted that the legislation establishing Illinois’ campaign funding limits created a task force specifically “to evaluate this kind of proposal.” That panel, the coalition said and we agree, “is the logical place to begin a discussion of how court decisions impact the limits system and how best to respond,”
The simple fact is that the reformers don’t have an alternative plan, so they’re trying to delay this one.
toilet seat at Chicago apt needed be replaced because the hinges had deteriorated (age & water calcium). I bought a new seat in Spfld (sales tax cheaper outside of Chicago) & took it to Chicago. This is my Facebook & I’ve decided to post what my life is really like, not what some expect to hear. Putting on the new toilet seat I need to tell you that when cleaning around the bowl to be sure & take off your neck tie; if not it will definitely end up in the bowl water when you lean over.
Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka on Thursday said she supports a proposed cigarette tax increase for Medicaid provided that it is tied to significant spending cuts and approval of a gaming expansion bill that includes a Chicago casino and slot machines at horse racing tracks.
The proposal offered by the state fiscal officer represents a compromise in the ongoing state budget and Medicaid negotiations.
“I am not inclined to support any tax or fee increases, but can back the cigarette tax provided that critical spending cuts are made and much-needed support of the horse racing industry is passed,” Topinka said. “Our biggest problem in this state is spending, and that has to be addressed. But the reality is that increased revenue also has to be a part of balancing the budget, and this compromise accomplishes that as well.”
The Governor and members of the General Assembly have been at odds over the proposed tax and gaming expansion. Republican legislators have opposed the cigarette tax, saying the state should focus solely on spending. At the same time, Gov. Pat Quinn has said he will not support gaming expansion legislation.
But given an estimated state bill backlog of $8.5 billion and the urgent need to pass Medicaid reform legislation, Topinka emphasized the importance of finding common ground.
“This is a common sense fiscal solution,” Topinka said. “And most importantly, it will provide important spending cuts and revenue enhancements to help put the state back on track to fiscal stability.”
That statement makes her the first Republican to back the tax hike. But she may not end up being the only one. From the Tribune editorial page…
On Medicaid, lawmakers sound like they’re close to a $2.7 billion deal to resuscitate the ailing health care program for the poor. The cornerstone: $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion in cuts, including limits on prescription drugs and certain surgeries. The deal being discussed late Thursday would be relatively good news for hospitals and nursing homes: A proposed 8 percent rate cut has been whittled to 3 percent — $240 million — with protections for safety-net hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of Medicaid patients and for critical-access hospitals that serve large rural areas.
Republicans are signaling that they can live with a $1-a-pack cigarette tax as part of a deal that includes significant spending cuts. That would raise about $700 million, leveraging federal funds. It’s a reasonable way to spare more Medicaid cuts, and higher cigarette prices would encourage thousands of people to quit or never start smoking.
Also in the mix is a state waiver that could add 100,000 patients to Cook County’s Medicaid rolls. This provision would mean a windfall of federal reimbursements for the county’s cash-strapped health care system, but it wouldn’t cost the state a penny it isn’t already paying to care for those patients. It’s win-win.
All of this is in flux, but the lawmakers we’ve talked to hope that the Medicaid reform bills will be filed in the Illinois House on Monday and come to a vote as early as Tuesday. That’s an ambitious schedule for a Legislature content to kick this reform down the road too many times in the past.
* I had a story in yesterday’s Capitol Fax that detailed, among several other things, how Gov. Pat Quinn didn’t explicitly say “No” when asked about slots at tracks during a meeting earlier this week. That was seen as a slight sign of progress because Quinn has always been a “No.” The Post-Dispatch followed up…
Are “slots at the tracks” back in play in Illinois?
The on-again, off-again proposal to allow Illinois horseracing tracks to host slot machines may be under discussion in state budget negotiations. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has been a hardcore opponent of the idea, and he still hasn’t endorsed it. But during one closed-door meeting with legislative leaders this week, he reportedly declined to reiterate his earlier entrenched opposition.
Capitol Fax, a Springfield political newsletter, reported on the meeting [yesterday] morning, citing unnamed sources. We asked the Administration to knock it down, and they wouldn’t. In an emailed response, Quinn’s office called the slots proposal a “distraction”—but didn’t reiterate the flat-out opposition (and veto threat) that Quinn has previously expressed on the issue.
We asked a second time if Quinn is still completely opposed, and got the same non-answer.
* The Daily Herald also got the same non-response from Quinn’s office and then interviewed some of the players, including the two sponsors…
State Sen. Terry Link said Thursday that he expects any effort to expand gambling in Illinois will include slot machines at Arlington Park.
Link, a Waukegan Democrat and top gambling-expansion supporter, said allowing for slot machines at Illinois race tracks is the only way to get lawmakers to approve a gambling expansion package that also likely would include new casinos, including in Lake County and in Chicago. […]
Slots at the racetracks have been a sticking point, though. The idea of a subsidy paid from casinos to the horse racing industry has been discussed seriously but mostly dismissed by Arlington Park.
Track officials say the state can’t be trusted to transfer the money. A subsidy that’s already supposed to be going from the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines to the horse racing industry is being held up by the state.
Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, did not rule out lawmakers trying to move gambling legislation that already exists, instead of coming up with a new plan. A proposal that included slot machines at Arlington Park, new casinos and some of the ethical safeguards Quinn has asked for was rejected by the House late last year but could come up again.
The governor’s office was not pleased at all with my story and spent some time trying to figure out just who I talked to and then called around and made some accusations regarding revealing info about private meetings.
Whatever.
The story’s impact is yet to be determined. Opponents think it could cause Quinn to back off any support of slots at tracks. Proponents think it could help. I don’t really care either way. It was a good piece.
* Related…
* Bill Black: More gaming can help state out of money crisis
A federal appeals court is backing Gov. Pat Quinn over pay raises his administration canceled for thousands of union workers.
A U.S. District Court dismissed an effort by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to force the administration to pay the raises. The Seventh U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld that ruling.
The appeals court ruled the 11th Amendment prevents the union from prevailing because ruling in AFSME’s favor would force the state to spend money.
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
Originally the 11th Amendment only forbade actions by non-citizens against a defendant state. But Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890) extended the doctrine of such sovereign immunity, holding that the 11th Amendment barred suit even by citizens of that defendant state. All private parties were subject to the amendment, although other states and the federal government could still bring actions against a state.
AFSCME’s suit contended the state violated both its union contracts and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. The union sought a court ruling that would force the state to pay the raises. […]
The equal protection claim made by the union requires it to “plausibly allege that no reasonably conceivable set of facts supports the pay freeze as a rational instrument of cost savings,” the appeals cout added.
“Instituting cost-savings measures is unquestionably a legitimate governmental interest, particularly for a government in such dire straits,” the court said.
“The governor has a moral obligation, and under the union contract and an arbitrator’s order, a legal one, to rescind his illegal pay freeze and make employees whole,” AFSCME said in a written statement. “It is regrettable that he has provoked litigation instead of complying with the contract and the law. We … will consider further steps as we pursue the case now pending in state court as well.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** I didn’t see this New York Times report which cuts through the spin…
The president and general counsel of the Ending Spending Political Action Fund, Brian Baker, said through a spokesman that the plan was submitted to a group that included him and two of Mr. Ricketts’s sons at a meeting in Chicago last week. “I was surprised and troubled by what I saw,” he said. “It was not what we asked for.”
But on Wednesday, when Mr. Baker was asked in an interview whether Mr. Ricketts had rejected the advertising proposal, he said only that no decisions had been made.
The Ricketts family is close, friends say, but politically divided. Two of his sons, Pete and Todd, attended the meeting in Chicago last week to review the advertising proposal, which was titled, “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama.” His daughter, Laura, is one of the top contributors to Mr. Obama’s re-election bid and is a member of the campaign’s national finance committee. His other son, Tom, is the general chairman of the Chicago Cubs and said he was not politically active.
Those two sons are Cub shareholders.
*** UPDATE 2 *** With thanks to a commenter, this is also from the NYT article and is very damning evidence…
A page in the proposal about potential staff members for the effort says, “With your preliminary approval at the New York meeting, we have discussed this plan in highly confidential terms with the following proposed team members,” who, it says, are “ready to jump into action upon plan approval.”
Associates of Mr. Ricketts acknowledged that upon seeing a commercial Mr. Davis produced in 2008 for Mr. McCain featuring Mr. Wright, which Mr. McCain rejected, Mr. Ricketts said. “If the nation had seen that ad, they’d never have elected Barack Obama.” The quote was highlighted in the proposal.
The Ricketts family needs to explain this. Now.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Yesterday’s New York Times report revelation that Joe Ricketts and his family were briefed on a campaign battle plan to make people “hate” President Obama this year created a furious reaction from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been working with the team on a stadium remodeling plan. His aides sent out this e-mail yesterday…
The Mayor was livid when he read that the Ricketts were going to launch a $10 million campaign against President Obama – with the type of racially motivated ads that are insulting to the President and the Presidential Campaign.
He is also livid with their blatant hypocrisy.
The Ricketts have tried to contact the Mayor but he’s said that he does not want to talk with them today, tomorrow or anytime soon.
* Tom Ricketts, the Cub Chairman, issued this statement…
As chairman of the Chicago Cubs, I repudiate any return to racially divisive issues in this year’s presidential campaign or in any setting—like my father has.
My focus is on one of the great American pastimes, baseball. And our team and every other Major League Baseball team are great examples of people of diverse backgrounds working together towards a common goal. I shall have no further comment on this or any other election year political issue. My full-time focus is on making the Chicago Cubs a World Series champion preserving Wrigley Field and making the Chicago Cubs a great corporate citizen.
* Joe Ricketts’ guy at his Super PAC also weighed in…
The political consulting firm that drafted the proposed ad campaign against Obama, Strategic Perception Inc., said the Ricketts family never approved it and “nothing has happened on it since the presentation.”
Brian Baker, president of the Super PAC Ending Spending Action Fund, which is heavily funded by Joe Ricketts, issued a statement today saying the attack ad against Obama won’t go forward.
“Joe Ricketts is a registered independent, a fiscal conservative, and an outspoken critic of the Obama Administration, but he is neither the author nor the funder of the so-called “Ricketts Plan” to defeat Mr. Obama,” Baker said. “It reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects and it was never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take.”
The threat to resurrect the Wright controversy that Obama thought he put to rest during the 2008 campaign is poorly-timed for Joe Ricketts’ four children, who now run the trust that their parents set up and the kids used to buy the team. While Joe Ricketts has described himself in public forums as a Cubs owner, and there’s a YouTube video of him talking about the process of buying the team, a family spokesman says he has separated himself from the operation.
The Cubs were hoping for a vote on a state borrowing plan to bankroll the Wrigley renovation using tax-exempt bonds during the final two weeks of the Illinois General Assembly’s spring session, paving the way for construction to begin in October. The team needs the mayor’s support, because the bonds would be retired by new advertising, sponsorship and concession revenues at Wrigley and a variation of the financing scheme that Emanuel once called a “non-starter” — forfeiting 35 years’ worth of amusement tax growth.
Before the Joe Ricketts controversy erupted this week, talks with Emanuel were continuing with a “sense of urgency” to accommodate the Cubs construction timetable, City Hall sources said.
Asked Thursday whether the proposed attack on Obama would derail a deal, Emanuel said, “I’ll have some conversations on that later — comments, rather.”
But later, City Hall sources said they still expect a Wrigley deal to get done because it’s a job creator and because Emanuel is all about “putting points on the board,” as the mayor likes to put it. The controversy could slow down the team’s accelerated construction timetable and empower the mayor to drive a harder bargain, however.
Ricketts founded T.D. Ameritrade and built the financial empire that enabled his family to acquire the Cubs for about $900 million. According to materials leaked to the New York Times, he also was looking to spend $10 million on a series of racially charged attack ads aimed at President Obama, in hopes of “Ending His Spending.”
God Bless America, where everyone has a right to express their views according to their means. There’s nothing wrong with opposing excessive government spending, although it seems an odd stance for someone seeking a hefty government handout.
It looks even worse when the person you’re negotiating with to get those millions was chief of staff for the president on whom you’re planning a hit job.
And in Chicago, a city of 2.7 million where the U.S. Census Bureau says 20 percent of people live in poverty, should the wealthy folks who own Wrigley Field really top the priority list?
Probably not, but eventually they will. This scandal will fade. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will start taking the Ricketts’ phone calls again – although I wouldn’t want to be the first one to get through.
This might push back the Cubs’ timetable for renovating the crumbling, musty ballpark. But when it gets down to it, even if Mitt Romney himself owned the Cubs, no Chicago mayor would deny him if he threatened to move the team.
Besides, Joe Ricketts isn’t running the Cubs, and doesn’t really care about baseball – Tom Ricketts is the chairman of the team. And the Cubs aren’t asking for all that much, relatively speaking.
* The following letter to the editor appeared in the State Journal-Register the other day…
This is in response to State Capitol Bureau reporter Doug Finke. He needs to understand the difference between a “perk” and an “earned benefit.”
A perk would be like getting air travel miles for using a credit card, getting free meals and hotel rooms at a Las Vegas casino for gambling in said casino, etc.
I hired on with the state of Illinois in 1985. I took almost an $800 per month cut in salary for this job. The reason I did this was for the state benefits, which at that time included a decent retirement and medical benefits.
This was promised to me and all state employees employed at that time. This was never a perk.
In case you do not know this, you have to be employed by the state for a minimum of 20 years to receive these benefits. Maybe for you at The State Journal-Register benefits are a perk. State employees had to put up with all the political garbage in order to earn a moderate retirement, which, by the way, ranks 48 out of 50 states, to earn the benefit of paid insurance.
How would you feel if, after 20-plus years, The State Journal-Register decided not to honor any of its commitments to you? Or how would you feel if the SJ-R took a percentage of your pay toward your retirement benefits and used it at their whim? Private-sector management would be up on charges for what our government has done to state employees.
— Keith Pierce, Springfield
Yeah, because people who work for newspapers know absolutely nothing about massive layoffs, elimination of retirement plans, reductions in health insurance benefits to almost nothing, major stock losses after parent corporate bankruptcies and annual pay cuts.
Sheesh, Mr. Pierce, try working for a newspaper and see how comfortable you feel about your future. Trust me, most of the reporters I know who’ve moved over to government aren’t all that upset about pension reform.
* That being said, I have a lot of very good friends who work for the state. Almost all of them are conscientious employees who generally confide that the people who do the most complaining (and take the least action) about the Statehouse are the ones who do the least work. I also have an uncle who’s a retired state employee. He was furious when he first heard about the health insurance premium changes, but he calmed down after the situation was explained to him.
* The Question: How would you rate the legislative performance of rank and file state employees so far this year? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Whenever people say they’ll never buy another (fill in the blank) if taxes or fees are increased on that good or service, it’s probably not a good bet to believe them. Yes, it happens sometimes, but Illinois hiked tolls and barely saw any impact…
There were about 4 million fewer passenger vehicle transactions January through March as a result of tolls nearly doubling on Jan. 1. In the first quarter of 2011, 169 million passenger transactions occurred compared to 165 million this year, a 2.4 percent drop, the agency reported.
But mainly because of the toll hike, revenues increased from $157 million in the first three months of 2011 to $223.8 million in 2012.
The decline in traffic was less sharp than expected, officials said, noting planners had projected a 5.9 percent decrease in passenger transactions.
* In other transportation-related news, a proposal by state Sen. Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) to extend the length of yellow lights by one second is apparently dead because it’s still stalled in the House Rules Committee…
[House Speaker Michael Madigan], as well as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others in the city, have opposed the plan citing safety concerns over extending yellow lights.
Duffy said that stance was “concerning,” and that studies have shown extending yellow lights have sharply decreased the amount of accidents at intersections. He said their opposition was simply about money being generated by tickets.
“This is safety versus revenue issue, which isn’t something that should be occurring,” Duffy said.
Drivers who get caught speeding more than 31 mph over the limit on the highway or 25 mph over in urban areas wouldn’t be eligible for court supervision under a plan now awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s review.
State Rep. Sidney Mathias, a Buffalo Grove Republican, sponsored the plan following reports that a girl last year was killed in a car accident by a driver who received court supervision for speeding seven times without his license being taken away.
The Illinois House approved the plan by a 92-11 vote Wednesday.
Now, drivers are eligible for supervision unless they’re going more than 40 mph over the limit. With court supervision, a violation is removed from a driver’s record if he or she does not have another violation within a set time.
Discuss.
* Related…
* Cops: Rock throwers damage nearly dozen cars on Stevenson: In at least the third such incident in about a week, rocks rained down on motorists between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Wednesday near the Pulaski exit in the Archer Heights neighborhood, according to Illinois State police. At least 11 motorists reported cracked windshields and other damage to their vehicles, authorities said.
If proposed Medicaid cuts become a reality, more than 10 percent of the state’s nursing home employees could be out of work, the head of a state nursing home organization said Wednesday.
Pat Comstock, executive director of Health Care Council of Illinois, said a further reduction in the Medicaid rate Illinois pays to health care providers could be a crippling blow to nursing homes, and could result in the loss of 13,000 jobs. To help close the state’s $2.7 billion Medicaid funding gap, Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed a reform package that includes about an 8 percent reduction in the rate paid to providers.
“The effect is, facilities will close,” Comstock said. “We’re concerned a disproportionate share of those may be in Southern Illinois.
“… It is easy, when you’re focusing on budget numbers, to only focus on those numbers and not the people behind those numbers.”
The state’s Medicaid liability has increased from $4.5 billion in Fiscal Year to $10.9 billion in FY12, but the nursing home Medicaid liability has only increased from $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion in the same timeframe, according to HCCI. With that in mind, Comstock said she believes the state should work on tightening its eligibility requirements and cracking down on fraud before going after hospitals and nursing homes.
“We think the state should get its act together on that before it starts making cuts to providers,” Comstock said.
The problem is that there is a $2.7 billion Medicaid hole. You can crack down on fraud, limit eligibility and slash services and you still can’t get to $2.7 billion without making some very draconian cuts. As the governor says, everybody gets a haircut. The providers almost surely won’t be exempt.
A new study warns that state government’s costs could actually rise if Illinois reduces Medicaid funding for home care services in order to balance next year’s budget.
The Chicago-based Health and Medicine Policy Research Group said that people who receive home care services could be forced into nursing homes or other institutions if Medicaid funding for home care is reduced.
“It is cheaper for the state to pay for home-based services than to pay for more expensive institutional-based services,” Lisa Hardcastle, president of the Illinois HomeCare and Hospice Council in a statement. “This study shows states that invested in home care programs achieved savings for taxpayers while states that cut home care suffered from increases in long-term care costs.”
The real problem with cutting Medicaid is making sure that one cut doesn’t mean that costs will rise in another part of the program. The home care folks make a very persuasive case that they ought to be exempt. But you can only cut nursing homes and hospitals so much and there is a finite amount of money.
* Related…
* Illinois Senate President talks Medicaid (VIDEO)
* Republicans blame Quinn for child-care funding shortfall: “We appropriated that money, the governor shorted another line and used your money to fund that line,” House Minority Leader Tom Cross said to child-care providers watching the vote from the House gallery. “He used you, and we’re going to take care of it. But we can’t let that go on anymore.” Some Republicans accused Quinn of intentionally underfunding the program so there would be a reason to ask for more money. They said that the move erodes trust as they are working with the governor on the budget for next fiscal year.
* Two polls show that despite all the media hype and rampant doom and gloom forecasts, Chicago-area residents support hosting the NATO summit this weekend. First up, Tribune…
A total of 59 percent of voters in the six-county metropolitan area and 58 percent of city voters agreed that hosting NATO would improve Chicago’s international standing, the poll found. About 3 out of 10 surveyed disagreed. […]
More than 6 in 10 polled said that regardless of whether they agreed with the protesters’ varied messages, they had a right to protest. The survey of 1,180 regional voters, including 700 in Chicago, was conducted May 2-10. It had an error margin of 2.9 percentage points overall, and 3.7 percentage points in the city.
The poll also found that 61 percent of Chicago-area residents thought that the protesters “should be protesting” NATO.
Thursday, May 17, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
ComEd is excited to announce the winners of our “Powerful Design” contest, in which Chicago-area architecture students were invited to created design concepts for a new training facility on Chicago’s South Side.
The winning design, Seed of Light, was submitted by Daniel Caven and Andrea Zuniga from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
Each member of the winning team will receive a paid summer internship at Design Organization, the Chicago architecture firm selected by ComEd to direct and manage design implementation. The winning team also received a $1,500 cash prize.
ComEd will build the 62,000 square foot LEED-certified building, as well as a 240,000-square-foot outdoor training center, as a direct result of the historic Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act enacted last fall. The construction of the training facility and the jobs it will bring also will give a welcome boost to the local economy. The facility will showcase Smart Grid technologies and will train a new generation of utility workers by providing them with the skills needed to modernize our electric grid.
The “Powerful Design” contest and the new training facility offer unique opportunities for the workforce of tomorrow. Both are great examples of how ComEd is transforming the way it serves its customers and Powers Lives. A video of the May 1st press conference announcing the winners can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9XJcT_P9VU. For more information on the contest and to see the student designs, please visit: http://www.comed.com/powerfuldesign
* It’s more than a little ironic that the Ricketts family wants President Obama’s former chief of staff to provide them with a subsidy for their wreck of a ballpark while the family and its patriarch schemes to spend a fortune to defeat Obama via some pretty nasty political advertising…
A group of high-profile Republican strategists is working with a conservative billionaire on a proposal to mount one of the most provocative campaigns of the “super PAC” era and attack President Obama in ways that Republicans have so far shied away from.
Timed to upend the Democratic National Convention in September, the plan would “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do,” the strategists wrote.
The plan, which is awaiting approval, calls for running commercials linking Mr. Obama to incendiary comments by his former spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., whose race-related sermons made him a highly charged figure in the 2008 campaign.
“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” says the proposal, which was overseen by Fred Davis and commissioned by Joe Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Mr. Ricketts is increasingly putting his fortune to work in conservative politics.
The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts, includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.”
The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an “extremely literate conservative African-American” who can argue that Mr. Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.”
A copy of a detailed advertising plan was obtained by The New York Times through a person not connected to the proposal who was alarmed by its tone. It is titled “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good.”
The proposal was presented last week in Chicago to associates and family members of Mr. Ricketts, who is also the patriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs.
I’ll give them the fact that highlighting Jeremiah Wright might’ve worked better in 2008, but Obama’s been president for three years now. How is an obscure, defanged preacher who’s been shunned by Obama for years going to hurt the president much now?
The plan is for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., to be “jolted.” The advertising campaign would include television ads, outdoor advertisements and huge aerial banners flying over the convention site for four hours one afternoon.
The strategists grappled with the quandary of running against Mr. Obama that other Republicans have cited this year: “How to inflame their questions on his character and competency, while allowing themselves to still somewhat ‘like’ the man becomes the challenge.”
Lamenting that voters “still aren’t ready to hate this president,” the document concludes that the campaign should “explain how forces out of Obama’s control, that shaped the man, have made him completely the wrong choice as president in these days and times.”
Illinois’ campaign contribution limits would be eliminated if independent groups spent heavily in state races under legislation advanced by an Illinois House committee on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 3722 would remove contribution limits if another person or political action committee were to spend certain amounts of money for or against a particular candidate in the race. If an independent group spent $250,000 or more on a statewide race or $100,000 or more in other races, the caps, a reform measure passed after then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested, would be lifted.
The removal of the caps would apply to all candidates in the race.
But a top official with the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform suggested the Currie bill would “carve out a new legal loophole.” David Morrison, the group’s deputy director, said the Currie legislation would provide a road map for a manipulative candidate who wished to get rid of the limits. A third-party group that supports a governor candidate, for example, could put together enough money to remove all limits intentionally and time the move for maximum benefit, Morrison said.
Morrison urged for a task force to study what’s best rather than rushing through a response as lawmakers hurtle toward a May 31 adjournment deadline. But Democrats sent the bill to the full House on a 4-3 party-line vote in committee.
In a case brought by the abortion rights group Personal PAC, U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen ruled that the organization could create its own independent-expenditure PAC and take unlimited contributions.
Aspen found that previous rulings by theU.S. Supreme Courtand the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago “prohibit governments from enforcing limiting contributions to independent-expenditure-only PACs.”
Illinois’ first-ever campaign donation limitation law placed a ceiling of $10,000 on individual donations; $20,000 on corporate, labor or political party donations; and $50,000 from a PAC or a candidate’s campaign bankroll. The law also prohibited groups from having more than one political action committee.
* I totally agree that candidates should have the right to defend themselves if somebody starts dropping unlimited amounts of money into their races. The reformers don’t really have a response to this, so they suggest a delay. But a delay means nothing will be done before November. And the Ricketts story shows the sort of bigtime cash that’s gonna be dumped into races everywhere.
Thursday, May 17, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois workers need a jobs plan. Unemployment in the state stands at 9 percent, and the effects of the recession have made it more difficult for families to make ends meet. Unemployment and underemployment translate into less revenue for the state and less spending in our communities.
The single largest job-creation plan in decades is now before the General Assembly. At a time of tough choices, it requires no new taxes and no cuts to government programs.
SB 1849 is a gaming compromise that would create more than 20,000 jobs and bring in $200 million in new annual revenue to Illinois. It would be an economic shot in the arm for our state, and we can’t afford to pass it up.
The job creation boost SB 1849 would provide is why major voices from Illinois’ organized labor community support this gaming solution. Supporters include Illinois AFL‐CIO, Chicago Federation of Labor, IBEW Local 134, SEIU Local 1, and UNITE HERE Local 1.
These labor groups and over 80 members of the Illinois Revenue & Jobs Alliance know this bill would be a “win” for the state of Illinois and its residents. Legislators ought to act now and pass SB 1849 – and start putting workers back on the job.
