The jovial nature of previous banter between two former General Assembly colleagues was gone Wednesday as House GOP Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam told President Barack Obama that Congress fears he’s leading the country to the same financial bankruptcy as the state they both hail from.
Roskam, of Wheaton, told the Daily Herald he tried to “teasingly translate” the “reluctance” heard in House Republicans’ voices in dealings with the White House during the closed-door meeting, where even a limited number of staff members were allowed to attend.
“When they hear the president talking about how he approaches the economy, they fear he’s leading in the same direction Illinois is now,” Roskam said he told the president during the meeting in the Capitol basement with 232 Republican members. “Pursuing revenues, not dealing with the underlying spending problems. Higher than average unemployment. What they hear is avoidance behavior.”
The meeting is part of the president’s aggressive outreach effort to Congress over the deficit, which has been nicknamed his “charm offensive.”
White smoke is pouring out of the chimney from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, signaling the Roman Catholic Church now has a new pope.
Vatican officials say that man will be introduced on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in less than an hour. The bells of the basilica also have begun to toll.
* The Question: What is your religion?
*** UPDATE *** From CBS News…
BREAKING: Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina announced as new #pope
Gov. Pat Quinn wants the state’s attorney general to appeal a federal court ruling that Illinois’ concealed carry ban is unconstitutional. An appeal would put the matter before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Illinois is the only state with such a ban. Quinn said Wednesday that an appeal is Illinois’ “only hope” of maintaining it. […]
Attorney General Lisa Madigan disagrees with Quinn. She told reporters Wednesday that she wants to see what lawmakers will do before considering an appeal.
This is being portrayed as a clear choice, so much so that I was considering making it a question of the day, but I decided to call the AG’s office first.
It turns out that by the time the US Supreme Court could do anything, even if Madigan files an appeal immediately (which she can’t reasonably do because these things take a bit of time and amicus briefs have to be solicited, etc.), the 180-day time limit decreed by the federal appellate court would have already expired, the AG’s office claims. And in the interim if the General Assembly passes a bill that becomes law, the case would be moot anyway.
Plus, there’s already an appeal to the top court of New York’s concealed carry law, which the US Supremes may take and Illinois could then possibly join.
* AG Madigan has, however, quietly filed a brief with the Illinois Supreme Court in a separate gun case which argues that the federal appellate court ruling was an “unsound decision,” is “plagued” with “infirmities,” uses references to previous US Supreme cases “out of context,” and commits a “failure to engage in an independent historical analysis.” The brief was sent to me by the NRA a few days ago and got lost in the usual session shuffle. From the filing…
(T)he majority opinion incorrectly marginalizes the significance of the extensive empirical evidence that supports a ban on the public carry of guns by arguing that Heller made clear “it wasn’t going to make the right to bear arms depend on casualty counts.” However, public safety was not a central concern in Heller where it involved the right to possess a gun for self-defense at home.
Neither defendant, nor the majority, dispute the fact that public safety is a relevant factor to be considered in evaluating the validity of public carry laws. Their position, though, disregards that fact that public safety, by definition, entails an assessment of whether the conduct sought to be regulated or banned places police officers and the public in general at risk of injury or death. As the dissent aptly recognized:
The Illinois statutes safeguard the core right to bear arms for self-defense in the home, as well as the carry of ready-to-use firearms on other private property when permitted by the owner, along with the corollary right to transport weapons from place to place.
Guns in public expose all nearby to risk, and the risk of accidental discharge or bad aim has lethal consequences. Allowing public carry of ready-to-use guns means that risk is borne by all in Illinois, including the vast majority of its citizens who choose not to have guns. The State of Illinois has a significant interest in maintaining the safety of its citizens and police officers.
The dissent, thus, properly found that the Illinois General Assembly “acted within its authority to conclude that its interest in reducing gun-related deaths and injuries would not be as effectively served through a licensing system,” and instead enacted a statutory scheme that prohibited most forms of public carry of ready-to-use guns. Accordingly, this Court should hold that the AUUW statute passes constitutional muster under any level of scrutiny.
* Madigan filed the brief with Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, who made headlines recently when her aide claimed that the General Assembly wasn’t bound by a federal appellate court ruling. However, AG Madigan argues in the brief that the Illinois Supreme Court isn’t bound by the appellate ruling until the US Supreme Court weighs in…
This Court is not bound to the Moore/Shepard decision. It is well-settled that “[bjecause lower Federal courts exercise no appellate jurisdiction over State courts, decisions of lower Federal courts are not conclusive on State courts, except insofar as the decision of the lower Federal court may become the law of the case.” People v. Kokoraleis, 132 111. 2d 235, 293-294 (1989). This Court has recognized that “[ujntil the Supreme Court of the United States has spoken, State courts are not precluded from exercising their own judgments on Federal constitutional questions. Kokoraleis, citing United States ex rel. Lawrence v. Woods, 432 F.2d 1072 (7th Cir. 1979).
Accordingly, this Court should conduct an independent Second Amendment analysis in this case. Such an analysis establishes that Moore/Shepard was wrongly decided, and that it does not control the outcome of this Case.
* Comments made by defense attorneys yesterday have apparently prompted a gag order in Cook County Commissioner Bill Beavers’ federal trial…
The judge in the tax-evasion trial of an influential Chicago Democrat has imposed a gag order on attorneys a day after a defense lawyer said jury-pool selection was “rigged.”
The judge in William Beavers’ trial on Wednesday did not refer directly to the comments made by the Cook County Commissioner’s lawyer, Sam Adam Sr.
Beaver’s defense attorneys say they were shocked when the pool of 50 potential jurors filed into Judge James Zagel’s courtroom and there wasn’t one African American man among them.
“I am outraged, outraged, by what happened today,” defense attorney Sam Adam said. “I thought I was in Mississippi, I thought I was down there in Money, Mississippi, trying Emmett Till’s killers.”
Defense attorney Sam Adam, erupted in anger, after Judge James Zagel refused to request a new pool of potential jurors for William Beavers’ trial for failing to pay income taxes.
The 50 jurors from which 12 will be selected include just three black women and no black men.
“Commissioner Beavers is a black man and of 50 prospective jurors, not one black man,” defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky commented. “How is that a jury of his peers?”
“We were astonished,” Beavers attorney Victor Henderson said to Zagel after the jury was excused from the courtroom. “There is not one black male and just one or two black females.”
After hearing from Henderson, Zagel acknowledged it was rare to have a panel without a black male, but he also said there are potential legal problems with dismissing a properly-selected random panel.
Zagel declined the defense request and instead instructed both prosecutors and defense attorneys to confer with the U.S. Clerk’s office for the Northern District of Illinois to ensure the selection process used to put together the larger panel was done according to established protocols. […]
Outside court, Beavers’ attorneys called the process “rigged” and said they had no confidence that checking with the clerk’s office would make a difference.
Zagel said he would keep the names of jurors sealed until after the trial ends — a rare move normally reserved for mob or terrorist trials, or for especially high-profile cases.
In explaining why he opted for an anonymous jury, Zagel noted the case had drawn major media interest in the Chicago area.
“I’m trying to ensure there are no outside contacts with jurors,” he said.
* Beavers, by the way, continues to insist that he will testify…
Beavers, a former Chicago alderman who has described himself as “the hog with the big nuts,” has contended federal prosecutors charged him only because he refused to cooperate three years ago, when they asked him to wear a wire on fellow Cook County Commissioner John Daley and then-Board President Todd Stroger.
“What they’re really all about is that they tell some tall tales, you know? And I’ve got to straighten them out,” Beavers said Monday.
Prosecutors allege Beavers borrowed more than $225,000 from his campaign fund and converted it for personal use – including trips to a riverboat casino – and filed tax returns on the money only after learning he was under federal investigation.
Beavers and his team of lawyers say the money taken from the campaign fund was paid back and tax returns were amended.
Prosecutors allege Beavers made those moves after he learned he was under investigation. The defense denies that.
“Once you hear what happened here and find out the time period when receipts are given, the time period when money is given back, and you go through it, you’re going to see there’s only one answer here as to why a prosecution came at all: and that answer is going to be because he wouldn’t cooperate with the government,” said Beavers’ attorney Sam Adam Jr.
Monday’s pre-trial court proceedings, however, found defense attorney Aaron Goldstein trying to find other ways to address Beavers’ claims that the misuse of campaign funds he’s charged with was actually a loan he eventually repaid, and that he is being subjected to “vindictive prosecution” for refusing to wear a wire against Cook County Commissioner John Daley (D-Chicago). […]
“An offer was made, so to speak,” Goldstein said, and asked about the possibility of cross-examining federal agents on that subject.
Judge James Zagel has previously ruled Beavers can’t cite how he amended tax returns, or claim he is being subjected to retribution for not wearing a government wire, unless he takes the stand in his own defense. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Getter argued it would “sour the jury” for defense attorneys to suggest federal agents had indulged in “strong-arm tactics” against Beavers.
Zagel drew a sharp line between questioning a federal agent’s trustworthiness in cross examination and suggesting Beavers was being subjected to “vindictive prosecution.” The first was a normal part of trial, he said, the latter something for the judge, not the jury, to determine.
The ruling that Beavers has to testify to bring up the amended tax returns or suggest the trial is pure retribution was left standing. But both Beavers and Adam made clear they intend to pursue that argument.
* On Monday, I told you about a Crain’s story about alleged ties between Bruce Rauner and the notorious Stu Levine. From that Crain’s piece…
In testimony during the 2008 trial of Blagojevich pal Tony Rezko, Mr. Levine and others said Mr. Levine had had a $25,000-a-month contract “consulting” for CompBenefits Corp., an Atlanta-based dental and vision benefits company once known as CompDent. According to its website, CompBenefits at the time of Mr. Levine’s contract principally was owned by four private-equity firms, including GTCR LLC. Mr. Rauner, a founder of GTCR, is the “R” in the acronym.
Mr. Levine said his job was to get work for CompBenefits through whatever means were needed, including payoffs. A 2005 Sun-Times article says the firm then held contracts covering tens of thousands of workers at Chicago Public Schools and with the state.
Mr. Levine testified that he’d paid a bribe to obtain the CPS work, worked with insiders Bill Cellini and Ed Vrdolyak on other deals (both men later were convicted in unrelated federal cases) and plotted with Mr. Rezko to get work with Cook County via Orlando Jones, a key insider who later committed suicide.
Messrs. Levine and Rezko eventually went to prison on other matters, and prosecutors never took any action on CompBenefits. Perhaps that’s because they could not corroborate Mr. Levine’s testimony, or perhaps it’s because some major figures were going to prison anyway. I don’t know. Neither do I know whether Mr. Rauner or GTCR knew the details of what the firm was up to prior to the federal probe.
But I do know that Mr. Rauner, GTCR and Stu Levine had another interaction. That came in 2003, when the board of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System—on which Mr. Levine served—first tabled and then approved GTCR’s bid to get a $50 million investment from the giant pension fund.
According to a Sun-Times account, the bid stalled at the board’s February 2003 meeting after Mr. Levine objected but then was zipped through in May, when Mr. Rauner attended the board session. Now-retired TRS Executive Director Jon Bauman corroborates the gist of the newspaper report. He adds that he believes the February flop mostly was because of a bad presentation by GTCR but also says he does not know the particulars of Mr. Levine’s motives
The timing is an issue here. If Levine got that CompBenefits gig after the first unsuccessful TRS vote and before the second vote, then there’s a very serious problem. If not, then it’s not as bad. Neither article has that info, and I wasn’t able to find it online.
* Rauner’s spokesman Chip Englander responded via e-mail late yesterday…
Here’s the answer: Levine’s contract with CompBenefits started in the late 1990’s, years before the 2003 TRS vote.
Here’s the backstory. CompBenefits in the late 90s bought an Illinois company that was co-owned by Stuart Levine. As part of that purchase agreement Levine got a consulting contract. Fast forward, years later when CompBenefits discovered Levine was accused of wrongdoing they terminated the contract and assisted with the investigation against Levine.
I hope this helps.
So, if that’s all there is and Rauner’s flak is telling the truth, then there’s no there there.
As friends and foes assess Ed Rendell’s tenure as governor, few events better illustrate his record in one contentious arena - campaign fund-raising - than his 2001 trip to see a Chicago businessman.
Rendell was in the early stages of the governor’s race. Aides had dispatched him to the Windy City with what they thought was a reasonable goal - a $50,000 check, according to one who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rendell left the meeting buoyant, but confessed to aides he never asked the would-be donor for a set amount. Rendell “just had a feeling,” he told them.
A week or so later, the Chicagoan, Bruce Rauner, sent a check for $200,000. Another check, for $100,000, came just before the election.
At the time, Rauner’s private-equity firm had business with the state of Pennsylvania. GTCR L.L.C. was managing $110 million in pension funds for the State Employee Retirement System, records show.
After Rendell became governor, the state doubled its stake in GTCR funds, to $226 million. That meant at least $4 million more in management fees to the firm.
As was the case with my column this week, there is no proof in the Philadelphia story that giving led to getting. “There’s nothing improper about the (pension) contract, nor anything to suggest Rendell influenced it or even knew about it,” the paper said.
Indeed, though Mr. Rendell did push an income tax hike when he was governor, he also did a lot of other pro-business things as governor, and earlier as Philadelphia mayor, that might appeal to Mr. Rauner.
As Rauner spokesman Chip Englander emailed me when I asked him for comment on the Philadelphia story, “The vast majority of (Mr. Rauner’s) donations have been to Republicans and conservative and government reform causes, but Bruce is an independent guy, and he has supported some Democrats who he knows personally, or who have pursued education reform or pro-business policies.”
Mr. Englander adds, “Pennsylvania invested in GTCR funds starting in 1997, four years before Bruce ever contributed (to Mr. Rendell). Pennsylvania invested in them, under Republican and Democratic governors alike, because of GTCR’s strong returns and great reputation.”
As with the Levine stuff, that could make for a good TV ad blasting the supposed “outsider” as a possibly corrupt insider. But they ain’t got him yet.
* The Windy City Times took a close look last week at where the roll call stood on same sex marriage. The Illinois Review published it in a more unreadable form, apparently unaware that they were getting their source information from a gay publication.
I looked at the list, which purports to show that gay marriage is ten votes shy of passage. I’ve talked to some of the House members on that list and I think some of the “No” votes are now leaning in favor of the bill.
But it isn’t going to be easy. One House Democrat I talked with last week wants to vote for gay marriage, but his strongly Catholic wife is absolutely, completely dead set against it. Sometimes, these things happen. Legislators are human beings, after all. He said he’d likely push for an amendment strengthening the protections for religious institutions.
Even with a generous tilt, I think it’s still maybe one to five votes shy of passage, depending on whatever the prevailing winds are at the moment. But proponents are pretty darned sure they can pass this thing, so expect a very strong final push.
Paul Caprio, Family PAC’s director, provides the voice in the robocall and says, “Your state representative Mike Smiddy has received $6,500 from Chicago homosexuals.”
Henry County Republican Jon Zahm works as a field director for Family PAC and sent a statement to local media about the robocall.
Mr. Zahm initially said he did not know which “Chicago homosexuals” the robocall referred to.
But in a subsequent interview he pointed to donations to Rep. Smiddy’s election campaign from two groups that advocate for equal rights for gay people and to a contribution from Fred Eychaner, who Mr. Zahm said is “openly gay.”
Smiddy is an avowed liberal. No way will a robocall move him off that bill…
“This is an issue primarily about the welfare of the children, protection of children, and what effect same-sex marriage has on that welfare and outcome,” Family-PAC’s Caprio said Sunday, claiming that children would less likely know their cultural and medical history if their parents were gay.
“Is it possible that what they call Parent 1 and Parent 2 could raise a child in a loving manner? Sure. But don’t you think it’s important a person know who their biological parents are?” he said.
Smiddy said adopted children can seek out their biological parents regardless of the parents’ orientation and called Caprio’s assertion “ridiculous.”
“I honestly thought it was a very ridiculous comment and a very untrue comment,” Smiddy said.
Caprio’s statement that he has been taking money from “Chicago homosexuals” is “greatly offensive.”
With a vote looming in the Illinois House, Rev. James Meeks is taking a stand against same-sex marriage by sending an “emergency message” to Illinois households.
Meeks, pastor of Salem Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side and former state senator, said the pre-recorded call that reached roughly 200,000 households in 14 legislative districts beginning Friday was sent mostly to African-Americans.
“Please listen closely,” the message began. “Your state representative in Springfield is under serious pressure to redefine marriage in Illinois. If marriage between one man and one woman is redefined to add same-sex marriage, our family structure, as we know it, is in serious jeopardy.
“While being a member of the General Assembly for the last 10 years, I maintained the fact that this decision is too big for 177 people to make. If we are going to change Illinois, as we know it on such a broad scale, then your voice and input are very much needed.”
The National Organization for Marriage, a nonprofit that lobbies for defining marriage between a man and a woman, funded the pre-recorded message. The group’s backers include a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
“Obviously [Meeks is] a very well known figure in the area,” said Brian Brown, the organization’s president and co-founder. “He’s an African-American standing up for the issue. We’re very happy he was willing to make the calls and stand up for marriage.”
Then again, Meeks may only have to scare one or two votes off the bill to kill it. Stay tuned.
* From today’s Chicago Tribune editorial about pension reform, the SEC fraud allegations and the 1994 pension funding law…
Many of those politicians, having sabotaged state government and its pension system, still hold office. In the best of worlds, those who voted for the pension plan Edgar signed, or for subsequent pension holidays, would resign.
* From an August 21, 1997 Tribune editorial. Emphasis added…
Jim Edgar can rightfully claim, as he did Wednesday in a preamble to his statement of retirement, that he will leave Illinois on a much sounder footing than when he took office in 1990. A resurgent national economy helped, but there’s no gainsaying Edgar’s leadership in reforming the state’s welfare system and in returning its pension and Medicaid programs to a pay-as-you-go basis. The times demanded fiscal stability, and Jim Edgar is stability personified.
So, um, maybe somebody needs to resign from the Trib editorial board?
Gov. Jim Edgar signed compromise legislation Monday to increase the amount of money flowing into the state’s five government pension systems over the next 50 years.
Dozens of state retirees were shepherded into the governor’s State Capitol office to witness his signature on the legislation, which now gives pensions the same status as bond financing in automatically receiving the first crack at money in future state budgets.
Though a co-sponsor of the measure, Sen. Penny Severns of Decatur, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, said the legislation Edgar signed will cost taxpayers $17 billion more over its lifetime than an alternative plan proposed by her running mate, gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch.
“Jim Edgar acted today to fix the pension mess, in great part, because this is an election year,” said Severns. “We need to have active leadership protecting our retirement systems all the time, not just in election years.”
Edgar, however, defended the new law and said Netsch’s alternative proved too costly and was unrealistic given the demands for state money from education, child welfare and other social services.
“This, we feel, is fiscally realistic,” Edgar said. “What we’re talking about putting in each year in new dollars can be done with the type of growth we expect to see in the revenues in the next few years.”
* Netsch talked about her efforts to reform the pension systems during an oral history compiled by the Chicago History Museum last year…
* Rumors are apparently flying that the Koch brothers are interested in buying Tribune Co.…
Multiple sources tell L.A. Weekly that Charles and David Koch — the infamous right-wing billionaire brothers — are considering an offer on either the Tribune Co. newspaper group, which includes the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun or the entire Tribune Co., which includes more than 20 stations like WGN and KTLA Channel 5.
So, you think those Trib editorials are harsh now? It’ll be Colonel McCormick all over again.
“As an entrepreneurial company with 60,000 employees around the world, we are constantly exploring profitable opportunities in many industries and sectors. So, it is natural that our name would come up in connection with this rumor. We respect the independence of the journalistic institutions referenced in today’s news stories, but it is our long-standing policy not to comment on deals or rumors of deals we may or may not be exploring. “
Wrapports LLC, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, is exploring opportunities for expansion, including considering a purchase of Tribune Co. assets, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans.
Chicago-based Wrapports, led by Chairman Michael Ferro, has engaged New York investment bank Allen & Co. Inc. specifically to explore a purchase of assets of Chicago-based Tribune
Others who have said they’d be interested in buying Tribune holdings include News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch — who owned the Sun Times in the 1980s — as well as Freedom Communications CEO Aaron Kushner, owner of the Orange County Register based in Santa Ana, Calif., and San Diego Union-Tribune owner Douglas Manchester.
Click here for a bit of Murdoch history by Roger Ebert.
