* Schilling moves into an ignominious first place…
Rep. Bobby Schilling, R-Colona, now has spent $446,000 on mass mailings in the last two years, the highest amount of any member of the House of Representatives.
The number is revealed in the latest disclosure of congressional expenses and means that Rep. Schilling has distributed over 1.1 million flyers in the 17th District since he took office in 2011.
He has surpassed Nevada Republican Congressman Joe Heck to take the number one spot in the House in terms of money spent on mass mailings, according to the expense report for the House that covers the period up to June 30. Rep. Heck has spent $422,000 on mass mailings. […]
Terry Schilling, Rep. Schilling’s campaign manager, said the mailings have led to a doubling in the caseload handled by the Republican’s offices.
Trotting out his campaign manager to defend taxpayer financed mailers in the face of criticism that the mailers are actually campaign pieces was probably not a good idea.
Just sayin…
* From his opponent’s campaign…
“It’s clear that Bobby Schilling’s number one priority is keeping his job in Washington, not creating them here in Illinois. Congressman Schilling chose to spend nearly half a million dollars of taxpayer money to keep his job while voting to send American jobs overseas,” said Allison Jaslow, campaign manager for Cheri Bustos for Congress. “It’s clear where Schilling’s true priorities lie.”
* Meanwhile, Democrat David Gill has a new TV ad called “Dishes.” Rate it…
* And Republican state Senate candidate Barbara Bellar is getting massive YouTube love for some very funny remarks about Obamacare. When I posted this video for subscribers yesterday, it had over 770,000 views. It now has over a million views…
That has to be a record for an Illinois state legislative candidate’s video.
* Other stuff…
* Jackson, Kirk still absent as Congress ends recess
* Surprise bipartisanship: Walsh bill also pushed by Obama: On the chamber floor, Missouri Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson extended congratulations to Walsh, noting “I suspect that he is as surprised as I am that one of his first bills to reach the floor was proposed to Congress by the Obama administration.”
* Tammy Duckworth says she’s not a rubber stamp for Obama: “There’s a lot of work to do and I think that we need to let the Bush tax cuts for people who make more than a million dollars expire, it’s one of the places where I disagree with the President. He would set that number at $250,000. I think that everyone should have their shot at making their first million, but then after that let’s let the Bush tax cuts expire on your second million dollars.” Duckworth said she would work to ease the Obamacare tax burden on small businesses who employ between 50 and 100 workers.
* Massive Database to lay bare organizations’ politicking: The Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org today plans to unveil a database profiling the politicking of more than 20,000 corporations, unions, nonprofits, trade organizations and other special interests. The profiles — several years in the making — will include information about the organizations’ campaign contributions, lobbying and outside spending, as well as the campaign contributions of their employees. Expect it to go live mid-afternoon.
* VIDEO: Plummer: Repeal Progressive Income Tax (Franklin County Town Hall, July 14, 2012)
* VIDEO: Plummer: Flat Tax and “Fair” Tax Both Superior (Franklin County Town Hall, July 14, 2012)
* House Speaker Michael Madigan has already said that he didn’t believe his chamber would override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto of the gaming bill. Senate President John Cullerton is of a like mind…
Cullerton said he does not think Senate lawmakers could override Quinn’s veto of a major gambling expansion, and that they should focus instead on working with the governor to come up with a package both sides could support.
Quinn vetoed a measure last month that would have legalized five new casinos, including one in Chicago, and allowed slot machines at horse tracks. Quinn said more work needs to be done on oversight issues, arguing that more gambling dollars should be funneled into schools.
“We agree that lawmakers cannot override the governor,” [Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson] said. “As the governor has made clear, we are willing to work on a better bill.”
Cullerton also said he didn’t believe that pension reform would be voted on until after January 1st. No surprise there.
* “A pox on both their houses,” is basically what Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth said when asked about the Chicago teachers strike…
A Democratic congressional candidate with heavy union support says the Chicago teachers strike is the result of “a failure on both sides.”
Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates went on to say that the Chicago Teachers Union could learn from suburban teachers unions and school boards, many of which have successfully hammered out issues without disrupting classes.
“It didn’t have to happen,” Duckworth said. The weeklong Chicago strike “shows that there’s a failure on both sides.”
The former Obama administration member said she is “in an interesting situation” since she has both union backing and a close friendship with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is at odds with union leader Karen Lewis. […]
Duckworth said the Chicago negotiators could learn from suburban schools, citing “instances of managing to avert strikes by real, honest discussion.”
* But Republican incumbent Joe Walsh pounced anyway via press release…
Thursday, Tammy Duckworth spoke to the editorial board at The Daily Herald. The board pressed Duckworth for her thoughts on the Chicago Teachers Union strike. In response, Ms. Duckworth stated that due to her strong backing and close relationship she enjoys from both the teachers union and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the strike put her “in an interesting situation”, in which she did not want to upset either side.
Congressman Joe Walsh later stated, “Ms. Duckworth should be less concerned about which campaign supporter she offends. She should instead worry more about siding with the children and families of Chicago and seeking good policy that will reform these broken schools and put the system on sound financial footing.”
Actually, Joe, she offended both sides.
* Speaking of which, I asked spokesperson for the governor and four legislative leaders to react to the strike earlier this week. I already told you the governor’s response…
We want the parties to negotiate in good faith and reach a resolution quickly that puts the students first.
* From House Republican Leader Tom Cross’ spokesperson…
We hope a fiscally responsible settlement is achieved quickly so that the children can return to school.
From Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesperson…
He’s simply encouraging all parties to stay at the table until a solution can be reached Chicago’s kids can return to the classroom.
Responses from the other two leaders were almost identical.
Almost nobody wants to take sides in this war. Getting dragged into such a huge fight is never a good thing, politically speaking, except when you’re so far removed from the fight that sticking your nose into it will only likely help you back home. From an Illinois Policy Institute press release…
Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon), Senator Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) and Representative Joe Sosnowski (R-Belvidere) stand with the Illinois Policy Institute and call for the creation of opportunity scholarships (also referred to as vouchers) and the removal of caps on the number of Illinois charter schools.
“There is no better time than now to provide opportunities to children in Chicago by ensuring that they have an excellent education. Vouchers and charter schools are the opportunities that we can provide today to better their education. In the midst of a Chicago Teachers Union strike, hundreds of thousands of children are being displaced amongst their peers, while those in charter and private schools are advancing daily in their educations,” said Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon).
Senator Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) noted, “The way to improve performance in our public schools is through market-based solutions which expand choices for parents, improving education opportunities for all children while having the added benefit of increasing parental involvement in their children’s education. All children should receive a quality education regardless of the income level of the school district. We can accomplish this by eliminating the cap on charter schools that meet accountability standards. Another important aspect of this solution is in providing parents tuition vouchers, which empowers them by allowing them to ‘vote with their feet’, while incentivizing teachers to constantly strive to improve.”
Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) stated, “Being a parent, legislator and former teacher, I see the need for a strong educational system for our children. Giving parents the ability to choose the best education for their children should be foremost. I support opportunity scholarships in Illinois along with removing the cap on charter schools, and I strongly urge my colleagues to do the same. While the CTU and other suburban teacher strikes are currently depriving an education from hundreds of thousands of children, over 30,000 charter school students are learning today and becoming the leaders of tomorrow.”
Representative Joe Sosnowski (R-Belvidere) stated, “If Chicago teachers’ true concern was educating children then they would still be in the classrooms, not in the picket lines. CTU’s decision to fight for huge raises is indicative of them being out of touch with what average Americans are dealing with in these tough economic times. This current situation highlights why we need to empower parents to choose an education for their children, whether that be public, charter or private schools.”
* The Community Media Workshop’s rating of Chicago news sites is now out. Here’s how they established rankings for “news quality”…
* Website covers a range of topics or geographic areas within its area of focus.
* Website’s coverage is thorough.
* Website coverage attempts to reach and cover multiple points of view in storytelling, especially those whose viewpoints are not necessarily heard from.
* News writing is strong and engaging (not scored for aggregators).
* Aggregation practices are fair (with clear links to sources and not excessive reuse of content) (for aggregators only).
* The source of aggregated content is clear and understood (for aggregators only).
* Website is well designed and takes advantage of all the tools of online/multimedia to tell stories.
I took a look through all their categories, and discovered that this site’s rating was the second highest for all websites examined, including the Tribune, Sun-Times, Crain’s, etc. Only the Chicago Reporter scored higher, at 4.8
This is the “authoritative” news blog on Illinois politics by journalist Rich Miller. Reviewers praised the writing for its conversational quality and for inviting comments. Miller engages with readers on the website and on Twitter, and he also uses his personal Facebook page to promote CapitolFax and interact with readers.
* AFSCME’s Henry Bayer told me in an early morning e-mail that he’d been doing some research on a 2003 lawsuit filed against the state’s Department of Corrections and came across this golden nugget…
Much of the litigation focused on plaintiffs’ attempts to depose the Governor. On February 27, 2007, the state defendants sought a protective order to block plaintiffs from deposing Governor Blagojevich on grounds that it would just “disrupt a busy public official who should not be taken away from his work.”
What passed for intelligence from the otherwise unaccomplished student was merely “an uncanny knack for memorization,” which he put on display in political debates as early as college, “declaiming verbatim (Teddy) Roosevelt’s famous ‘Man in the Arena’ speech,” for instance. […]
He famously hid out in his home to avoid coming to the office, though he peppered his aides with such frequent, annoying, needy requests that former deputy governor Bradley Tusk recalls in the book barking at him ““I have to run the government. Stop calling me.”
FBI Director Robert Mueller wanted to hear some of the tech cuts himself. Walking past piles of papers heaped on the desk of Robert Grant, Chicago FBI special agent in charge, in his near West Side office, Mueller settled in. He asked his bodyguards to leave the room. With only Mueller, Grant and top FBI supervisor Pete Cullen left, the tapes rolled. Mueller, who has overseen numerous terrorism and corruption cases at the bureau, listened to the conversations for the first time.
He stopped and looked up. Who was dropping all those f-bombs? he asked.
“The judge would not let him play his tapes… there had tapes in both trials that would have established his innocence. The judge wouldn’t let us play them,” he said.
* Blago’s Advice To Fellow Inmate’s Son: “Don’t Get Into Politics”: “Your dad is a good guy. He is manning up to the mistakes he’s made. He is well liked here and has many friends. Happy birthday, good luck in school and whatever you do — stay out of politics,” signed Rod Blagojevich.
* The DCCC has a new negative ad blasting Republican Rodney Davis and connecting him to two Ryan’s, George and Paul. Rate it…
I accidentally lost access to my YouTube account and created a new one, and now I can’t seem to figure out how to reclaim the “real” one. So, for now, we’ll just have to use direct embedding. Make sure to tell me if this is working on your end. Thanks. [Finally figured it out. Whew.]
* The National Republican Congressional Committee issued this response to reporters…
So it looks like David Gill and his Washington Democrats are even more delusional than one would think. Today, a new TV ad hit the airwaves paid for by Nancy Pelosi’s campaign arm the DCCC. Yeah, so you are thinking is this the type of outside, Wall Street funded group that David Gill said he would never take money from. Bingo! But that’s another story of hypocrisy that we can get into later.
The biggest gaffe of this latest ad from Gill’s Washington attack dogs is the part of the commercial where they start talking Medicare. You would think since they begrudgingly have David Gill as their candidate, who said he supports a plan which makes Medicare no longer exist, they would steer clear of this topic. But in true Washington Democrat style they decide to look past the details.
If you decide to cover the latest false ad from David Gill’s Wall Street and Nancy Pelosi funded attack group, please consider the following quote.
NRCC Statement: “Illinois families need to know that David Gill supports a plan in which Medicare would no longer exist, Americans would be forced into government run healthcare and taxes would be raised to pay for it all. David Gill is looking out for his own radical interests over Illinois families.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Katie Prill
While Davis has told me in the past that he likes “a lot of things that have been proposed in Washington, the Ryan budget included,” he’s also made it clear he wasn’t talking about all specifics of that plan.
In a meeting I had with Davis last week, I asked about the Medicare part of the proposal, which seems to be a political flashpoint. After the GOP-dominated House passed the plan in March, a New York Times article reported that in Ryan’s budget, Medicare would be turned into a subsidized set of private insurance plans, with the option of buying into the existing fee-for-service program.
“The annual growth of those subsidies would be capped just above economic growth, well below the current health-care inflation rate,” the story says.
“I have never said that I support the Ryan budget in its entirety at all,” Davis said, adding that it has “some laudable goals that I hope … when I’m elected to be able to address.”
“Medicare right now is going to go broke, so what we have to do is find some ways to ensure that our overall health-care delivery system is more cost-effective for all Americans.”
When asked if he liked the Medicare part of the Ryan plan, Davis said, “I’m not committing to any part of any plan that’s out there. I’m not going to box myself into a corner and get lumped into what my opponent’s trying to do, which is to demonize me by associating me with somebody who they think is going to be a political issue.”
He added, “I can’t wait to work with Paul Ryan and I can’t wait to work with NANCY PELOSI and all the others who are going to have a say in how we actually preserve and protect Medicare as we know it, because right now, those that have been there haven’t done a good job of that.”
* Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan is being used by Democrats all over the country. The DCCC recently called Ryan a “down-ballot disaster” for the GOP…
“The reason for the momentum is very simple,” said Israel at a Thursday morning briefing with reporters in Washington. “Paul Ryan has become a down-ballot disaster for Republicans across the country.”
He argued that the Ryan pick, as well as Missouri GOP Senate nominee Todd Akin’s controversial comments about “legitimate” rape and the GOP congressmen swimming in the Sea of Galilee, had put a breeze at the Democrats’ backs. He cited several generic ballot polls that were close at the start of August in which the Democrats have now opened up leads.
Israel said the Ryan pick “gave us the debate we wanted. We’ve been spending most of the cycle talking about Medicare versus millionaires, and Mitt Romney gave us a bullhorn.”
“Our candidates across the country grabbed hold of that nationalized debate and have vocalized that debate in their own districts,” he added.
* The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has a new poll. The most interesting result is Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval ratings, which, according to this poll at least, are trending up…
Now I would like for you to tell me how Governor Pat Quinn is doing his job. Do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job Governor Quinn is doing?
There are 42.2 percent who approve of Quinn’s performance, while 49.1 percent disapprove. A year ago, only 35.5 percent approved and 56.4 percent disapproved, according to a poll taken in October, 2011 by the Institute. Quinn’s approval rating is highest in the Chicago suburbs and lowest downstate.
“The big surprise in this poll is that Gov. Quinn’s popularity is actually getting better,” said David Yepsen, director of the Institute. “The state’s problems are headline news just about every day and people aren’t in a good mood about the state but they do feel better about the way Quinn is handling his job.”
“Still, his poll numbers remain underwater because more people disapprove of the job he’s doing than approve of it,” Yepsen said.
In the city of Chicago, 47.5 percent approve of the job he’s doing while 37.9 percent disapprove. In the suburbs, 50.3 percent approve and 43.7 percent disapprove while downstate, only 25.5 percent approve and 65.1 percent disapprove.
A lot more people disapproved of Quinn’s job performance than approved of it right up until the end of the 2010 election. He won anyway. I think it’s a template for Obama in the swing states. What does that mean? Paint your opponent as an untrustworthy, extreme right-winger.
And those aren’t great city numbers for Quinn, by the way. I think the suburbs are a bit high and Downstate is probably on the mark.
Also in 2011, 74.5 percent said the state was headed in the wrong direction and only 14.9 percent said it was headed in the right direction. Today, 69.9 percent say it’s going in the wrong direction and 19.6 percent say it’s going in the right direction.
So, a little bit of progress, but not nearly enough.
• President Obama is supported for re-election by 47.1 percent of registered voters. Romney captures 33.8 percent. There are 16 percent undecided and 3.1 percent for someone else.
While that 13-point lead is a comfortable margin for the president and makes it likely Illinois is a safe state for him, that margin is less than the 24.9 percentage-point margin by which he won when he beat John McCain, 61.8 percent to 36.9 percent, in the state four years ago. It is also noteworthy that Obama’s support in Illinois has dropped below 50 percent.
• Key to President Obama’s lead may be his positive job approval ratings (55.6 percent approve either strongly or somewhat) and favorability ratings (53.7 percent view him either very or somewhat favorably). By contrast, not quite four in ten (38.7 percent) of respondents view Gov. Romney very or somewhat favorably.
The Chicago teachers strike enters its fifth day as “number crunching” apparently delayed a deal that both sides had hoped would be reached on Thursday.
Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union began the day saying they were close to a deal that could return teachers and students to the classroom on Monday, but officials left marathon negotiations early today saying they were still ironing out details.
CPS Board President David Vitale, who emerged from talks around 12:45 a.m., said the two sides had “another good day” of work and there had been progress. The two were moving past work on evaluations and focusing on other key issue, the recall of laid-off teachers, he said.
“We’ve got some number crunching to do overnight and we’re going to be back here tomorrow and see if we can’t finish this up,” Vitale said.
Also incredibly sticky is the issue of a new teacher evaluation system, which eventually puts more weight on student growth than the 30 percent required by a new state law.
“The system they are using to evaluate people is based on an extremely complicated, esoteric formula to measure student growth — so complicated I think everybody on the CPS team will admit they don’t understand it,” CTU attorney Robert Bloch said. “Experts developed it but not educators.”
Of special concern is that 70 percent of CPS teachers do not teach a tested subject, yet up to 20 percent of their evaluation would be based on schoolwide test results, Bloch said.
Another at least 10 percent would be based on student growth on district-written “performance’’ tasks being used for the first time this school year.
In addition, the complicated algorithms used to determine student growth — called “value-added” — are being debated nationwide.
“The problem is, how do you hold teachers accountable for improvement when so many things that are used to evaluate them are outside their control or very complicated?’’ Bloch said.
“The science behind the student growth aspects of testing is untested and uncertain, and you’re going to risk a teacher’s career based on some guy in a back room writing algorithms or students who are not tested in the subject you’re teaching?
A good friend e-mailed me after I published a poll in my “Capitol Fax” newsletter Thursday which revealed that 55.5 percent of Chicagoans approved of the Chicago teachers strike.
My friend, a widely known pundit, wanted to tell me that he didn’t believe the poll, which was conducted by We Ask America.
After some back and forth about what the pollster could’ve or should’ve asked, I finally told him that as an older, white person with no kids in the public school system, he’s not supposed to support the strike.
The poll, taken after three full days of no school, found that a 52 percent majority of whites disapprove of the strike. Whites were the only ethnic group that expressed a majority disapproval of the strike.
African Americans approved 63-32 and Latino support was even higher at 65-32.
A majority of parents with kids in private schools opposed the strike, 52 percent to 43 percent, while parents with public school kids approved of the strike 66-31.
And senior citizens narrowly disapproved of the strike 47 percent to 46.8 percent, while all other age groups backed it. The older the person was, the less he or she supported the strike.
Indeed, a whopping 65 percent of older white males with no kids in public schools opposed the strike.
If you’ve been watching the teachers strike unfold on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, you’ve seen that a whole lot of striking teachers are bitter about their treatment by the media.
“People Who Can’t Teach, Write About Teachers,” is my favorite Tweet.
Like my pundit friend, most of the media types fall into the category of older white folks without kids in Chicago’s public schools.
Whites who didn’t flee the city after the schools were desegrated fled the schools. Less than 9 percent of Chicago public school kids are white. And few of those kids are not in charter or other specialized schools. The “real” schools, as Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called them a few days ago, have long since been abandoned by white folks.
With overwhelming poverty in black and Latino neighborhoods, parents simply can’t afford to send their kids to private schools. A whopping 87 percent of all public school students come from low-income families, says the school system.
According to the latest U.S. Census numbers for 2011, almost 843,000 Illinoisans lived in “extreme poverty,” which is defined as half the federal poverty line — about $18,000 for a family of three.
Whoa.
Can you imagine a family of three living on less than $9,000 a year? $173 a week?
The schools are all they have, and the teachers are some of the few decent role models their kids will ever see. Of course they’re siding with the strikers.
Rahm Emanuel used his close ties to President Barack Obama to win the 2011 mayor’s race with an overwhelming number of black votes. But his win was bankrolled by billionaires who are out to break, or at least hobble, the Chicago Teachers Union.
They are the very same people who pushed hard for a reform law in Springfield last year that was mainly aimed at stopping a CTU strike. Obviously, the new law didn’t work.
As an older white male who sends his kids to private school, Mayor Emanuel belongs to pretty much the same subset as my pundit friend.
Yet, Emanuel owes his job to support from black voters.
Somehow, the mayor has to improve the schools while alienating neither his political base nor his fund-raising base.
If he can do all that, my hat’s off to the man.
* On to the live coverage. BlackBerry users click here. Everybody else can just watch..
