Question of the day
Tuesday, Jun 26, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From an e-mail that I just now received…
Celente Launches 2nd American Revolution:
Puts His Money Where His Heart Is
KINGSTON, NY, 26 June 2012 — Gerald Celente’s forecast is clear – The 2nd American Revolution is on the horizon. And this American Patriot has done more than just sign up to join the fight, he’s established its headquarters.
Inspired by its potent symbolic value, Celente has purchased the 1750s “Franz Roggen House,” a stately stone colonial set on the northeast corner of John and Crown Streets, in Kingston’s historic Stockade District. This is the only intersection in the United States that boasts pre-revolutionary stone buildings on all four corners.
“Kingston played a critical role in the 1st American Revolution and was, for a short while, the capitol of New York State,” observes Celente. “Here is where I’m taking my stand to start the 2nd American Revolution.”
And how is Celente going to win the 2nd American Revolution? With a voter strike…
“Stay Home, Don’t Vote!”
Celente’s Revolutionary call to arms begins with a voter’s strike. “Stay Home, Don’t Vote” is his campaign slogan. “People have been conned into believing that if you don’t vote you’ve lost the right to complain. That’s political baloney,” fumes Celente. “The true case is exactly the opposite. This is a two-headed, one party system. Republican or Democrat, considering their track records, it’s clear nothing can be expected from either Presidential candidate other than the perpetuation of the destructive and criminal policies that have brought America to its current state of perpetual crisis and socioeconomic decline. Ditto for Congress.”
“What self-respecting person would cast a vote for a lesser of two evils?” asks Celente. “Not only is it immoral and undignified, it’s destructive. Lesser or greater, evil is evil. By supporting one evil or the other, the voter becomes an accessory to the crime. Only a true intellectual revolution can restore dignity, trust, morality, decency and compassion.”
“Anything else is just more of the same. Stay Home, Don’t Vote!”
* The Question: What other off-the-wall political ideas have you heard lately?
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* Some candidates are being kicked off a southern Illinois county’s ballot, and the GOP is crying foul…
A Democrat-controlled election board in a southern Illinois county has kicked four Republican candidates off the November ballot for using paper clips instead of staples on their filings.
The Jackson County GOP calls the action by the county’s election board undemocratic.
The appointed board is comprised of State’s Attorney Mike Wepsiec, Sheriff Robert Burns and Clerk Larry Reinhardt. It disqualified GOP candidates for county board, circuit clerk, coroner and state’s attorney.
* The Illinois Republican Party has got itself in an uproar about Speaker Madigan-style “bully tactics.” From a press release…
Southern Illinois Democrats use Madigan’s bully tactics to kick women off ballot in local races
Examples of the complete disregard Southern Illinois Democrats have for open and transparent elections continue to surface. We already know that the Democratic chairmen in the 12th Congressional District are knighting their candidate behind closed doors, but this week we learned Speaker Madigan’s “Chicago-bully” practices of the 1970’s has now been exported to local races in Southern Illinois.
Speaker Madigan’s allies in Jackson County are resorting to backroom tactics to remove legitimate candidates from the ballot in local elections. “This is also an apparent ‘war on women’ Madigan has launched in Southern Illinois. This is the first complete slate of candidates on the ballot by the GOP in Jackson County, led by Chairwoman Gloria Campos and includes Illinois Federation of Republican Women member Terri Bryant,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady.
“I’m not surprised by this move at all,” added Brady. “Mike Madigan and Pat Quinn have already exported all of the jobs out of Southern Illinois, the only thing they could import is their ‘1970’s Chicago-style’ form of democracy.”
* OK, this is what Illinois state law has to say about petition sheets…
Such sheets before being filed shall be neatly fastened together in book form, by placing the sheets in a pile and fastening them together at one edge in a secure and suitable manner, and the sheets shall then be numbered consecutively.
* From an old buddy who is an election law attorney and has worked for both Democrats and Republicans…
“The statute does not say staples and most of the pros do not use staples.
“Whether they are securely fastened together is sometimes tested by grabbing a portion and holding it up and see whether the rest of the package follows. Anything with paper clips will not. Binder clips, maybe, etc. I use ACCO binders, heavy gauge wire, nylon reinforced athletic shoe laces, etc.”
Like it or not, paper clips just don’t really cut it under state law. Maybe the law should be changed. I don’t know. We have a whole lot of election laws that almost look like they were designed by lawyers to guarantee plenty of income opportunities for themselves and to disadvantage candidates who can’t afford attorneys. But it is what it is.
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* Way back in October of 2011, the Indiana Business Journal did a story on the Hoosier State’s attempts at poaching businesses from Illinois. The story included this number…
So far this year, 16 Illinois businesses have said they plan to consolidate or locate operations in Indiana, creating a projected 1,564 jobs in the state, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. That includes four consolidations or relocations in central Indiana that are projected to yield as many as 424 jobs. [Emphasis added.]
Back then, Indiana officials were crowing constantly about their attempts to woo businesses and jobs from Illinois…
Within three days of Illinois’ decision to raise personal and corporate income taxes, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. received 30 unsolicited e-mails from companies interested in exploring business opportunities in Indiana. One of the e-mails, said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Mitch Roob, lamented: “The new marketing slogan for Illinois must be: ‘Come for the higher taxes, stay for the corruption.’”
Also from back then…
Daniels told WLS Radio’s The Don and Roma Show, that while Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants a casino to stop Chicagoans from gambling in Hammond, Indiana, Emanuel should have other concerns.
“What he ought to worry more about is the stampede of businesses leaving Illinois. You know your traffic gal Wendy left out one traffic hazard, you stand near the state line now you might get hit by a moving van,” Daniels said Thursday.
“We are talking and signing up businesses left and right…”
* But Indiana has a new commerce secretary these days, and he’s being a bit more diplomatic about his state’s activities…
Indiana Commerce Secretary Dan Hasler, a former executive at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and an Illinois native, said Indiana never had a goal for the number of businesses it wanted to poach.
“I think it’s about what we expected,” Hasler said of the 1,563 jobs and $294.1 million in investments that firms with Illinois connections plan to make in Indiana. “The situation for a business operating in Illinois and Indiana is so dramatically different. [Emphasis added.]
“I was just with a group of site selectors this morning. I said, ‘You know what, everyone wants Illinois to do better.’ We are better served by a strong Midwest than just a strong Indiana.
“I can guarantee you most people in China don’t know about Indiana. But they have heard about the Midwest, the breadbasket, the heartland of America, Chicago, that’s what we need strong, and we will all benefit from that. But some of our neighboring states need to get their game on.”
And check out the numbers highlighted in the first and last excerpts. In October of last year, Indiana officials claimed their state had poached 1,564 jobs from Illinois. Several months later, their number is one job less than that: 1,563.
Kinda makes you wonder whether Indiana’s poaching effort has stalled, or their numbers can’t be believed.
*** UPDATE *** Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is also taking a far more conciliatory approach these days…
Mr. Walker sought to downplay recent friction with Mr. Quinn, which arose after the two governors battled over who would be home to specific companies and plants.
“I’m not here to poach businesses,” Mr. Walker said. In fact, “it’s in our best interests to have a strong Illinois and particularly Chicago.”
The reason is that Chicago’s international stature helps lure companies to the region that otherwise never would have considered locating in Wisconsin, Mr. Walker said. If they come to Chicago, they may expand north of the border.
Will wonders never cease?
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* The Sun-Times’ Abdon Pallasch takes a look at the disparities caused by the state picking up the employer contribution tab for suburban and Downstate schools, while not doing so for Chicago…
Most Chicago property taxpayers pay $164 a year more than their suburban and downstate counterparts under the state’s uneven teacher pension funding system, according to numbers the Chicago Public Schools provided to the Sun-Times. […]
(E)very year through state income taxes, sales taxes and other fees paid to the state, the average Illinois resident — including Chicago residents — pays $110 a year to fund the pensions of suburban and downstate teachers, according to estimates Gov. Quinn’s budget office provided to the Sun-Times. […]
In Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools funds its teacher pensions without help from the state based on money it collects from taxes on Chicago property owners.
That means the average property owner in Chicago pays $164 a year, according to estimates by the Chicago Public Schools.
That means Chicago residents pay twice — once to the state for suburban and downstate teachers and once to the city for Chicago teachers.
Suburban and downstate residents pay only once.
The CPS’ pension fund does get some state money, but that wasn’t calculated in the report.
Discuss.
* Related…
* School officials dispute governor’s take on ‘reserve’ funds: Carol Baker, Urbana’s director of business, said the data doesn’t take into account that the school district is holding onto money from Carle Physician Group’s property taxes, which are being disputed in court. “We can’t spend it,” Baker said, because the school district may have to pay it back on short notice. Plus, Baker said, money intended for transportation or building improvements can’t be spent to pay for pensions. “It’s a huge generalization to say that money is available,” Baker said.
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Ethics board fines Assessor Berrios $10,000
Tuesday, Jun 26, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Sun-Times obtained a Cook County Board of Ethics report that blasts Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios for showing a “knowing and flagrant disregard of both the letter and spirit of the ethical standards that all public officials are required to adhere to” for hiring his sister and his son. The board fined Berrios, who is also the Cook County Democratic Party Chairman, $10,000. The full report is here. AP’s summary…
The Cook County ethics board has ordered the county’s assessor to fire two of the three relatives who work in the government tax office.
Joe Berrios was elected in 2010 to run the office. The Chicago Sun-Times reports the ethics board determined Berrios violated his fiduciary duties as well as a prohibition on hiring relatives laid out in the county’s ethics ordinance.
The Sun-Times reports it obtained a “confidential” document with the ethics board’s finding. The report, signed by ethics board chairwoman Roseann Oliver, concluded the hiring by Berrios of his family members as county employees undermined the public trust.
* But, according to the Sun-Times, Berrios is unrepentant…
Berrios, learned about the report when the Sun-Times contacted him Monday. He shrugged it off saying the ethics board doesn’t have jurisdiction over his office.
“To me it’s not big deal, because I’ve been told by the state’s attorney they have no power over us,” Berrios said, adding: “In fact the state’s attorney hired outside counsel for me in this case.”
Asked whether he’s going to consider removing his relatives from the payroll, Berrios said: “I’m not going to do anything until my attorney tells me what the hell I should do.”
He said his relatives work 40 hours a week and were “instrumental” in helping the county get second installment tax bills, set to arrive in property owners’ mailboxes in the coming days, out on time — the first time in 30-plus years. The assessor sets the value of real estate for taxing purposes.
“I expect more out of them than anybody who works for me.”
He says his relatives are more than qualified to do the job, noting that they worked for him when he was at the county’s tax appeals Board of Review and the ethics board didn’t come after him then. He also notes that he didn’t technically “hire” his relatives, but instead “transferred” them to his office.
Berrios adamantly denies he’s an old-school politician stacking the payroll with friends and family.
“If I was an old school politician, I would have picked up the phone, had someone else hire them and I wouldn’t even be answering these questions,” Berrios said.
* This is from January…
Berrios insists he cleared things with human resources officials and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, and says that while some job titles may have changed, the jobs did not
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* This was one odd press release…
U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. began a medical leave of absence from Congress on June 10 and is being treated for exhaustion, his office said on Monday.
The offices of the Chicago Democrat, who has served in Congress since 1995, remain open to serve constituents, said a statement from Jackson spokesman Frank Watkins.
“He asks that you respect his family’s privacy,” the statement said.
* So, he’s been out of action for two weeks? And he’s just now telling anybody? There’s much speculation about what caused this “exhaustion,” but the Sun-Times reports it’s about his marriage…
Exhausted and, according to a friend, fighting to save his marriage, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. announced Monday he’s been on a previously-undisclosed medical leave of absence for the past two weeks.
“I know he has been under a lot of pressure,” said a Jackson friend in Washington, D.C. “He’s been fighting really hard to save his marriage. And he had a tough election. There’s been a lot of stuff.”
* Jackson’s office is denying that the leave had anything to do with lsat week’s arrest of an old friend…
Just last week, a longtime friend of Jackson’s, Raghuveer Nayak, was arrested on federal fraud charges involving Nayak’s surgical centers. Nayak was at the center of the U.S. Senate seat scandal that sent former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to prison.
But Nayak has already flipped on Jackson, and the feds have never pursued charges against the congressman, so it seemed like the guy was in the clear, at least with the FBI. He’s still facing ethics complaints in the House. But this is still pretty odd…
News of his illness came as a surprise, as his office has repeatedly sent out press releases quoting him and his Twitter account has been active even while he has been on leave.
* Jackson has a history of being tight-lipped, by the way…
Seven years ago, Jackson took even longer to publicly disclose medical treatment. In March 2005, he ended weeks of speculation by revealing that his trimmed-down figure was the result of weight-loss surgery performed about three months earlier. Jackson underwent a duodenal switch, described as a minimally invasive surgery that involves cutting out a part of a patient’s stomach.
* Meanwhile, in other scandal news…
A House committee charged with determining possible discipline for indicted Rep. Derrick Smith will convene for the first time this week.
The House Select Committee on Discipline will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Chicago.
It’s the second step in a process that allows the House of Representatives to determine if Smith should face some kind of professional discipline.
Smith, a Chicago Democrat, was indicted in April on a federal bribery charge, after authorities recorded him allegedly accepting a $7,000 bribe. The case is pending in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois.
The first phase of the process involved the House Special Investigating Committee, which was formed to look into the allegations against Smith and determine if there was enough evidence to proceed with possible discipline. Members of that committee announced June 6 that there was sufficient reason to move forward.
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