This is gonna be a heck of a primary
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pat Quinn tied Bill Daley to his brother today when responding to criticism over Frank Zuccarelli’s appointment to the CTA board…
“People who are complaining about Frank Zuccarelli, they should look at their own family,” Mr. Quinn said. “The campaign manager of our former mayor was appointed to the CTA board, right after the campaign was over.”
His reference was to former alderman and Chicago Housing Authority chief Terry Peterson, who indeed was made CTA chairman in 2009.
But that was about 2 1/2 years after Mr. Peterson managed Mr. Daley’s 2007 re-election campaign, and it came at a time when the CTA was facing lots of fare-hike turbulence and the job was not considered much of a plum.
Mr. Quinn also strongly defended Mr. Zuccarelli as “a man of the people” who faces no legal impediment to joining the CTA board.
“I’m not going to allow him to be a punching bag,” Mr. Quinn said. In fact, Mr. Zuccarelli is a military veteran who came back to dedicate his life to public service, deserves the pay he gets for running “the largest township in the state” and will provide needed representation to the south suburbs on the CTA board.
As I’ve told you before, the Daley name is one of the biggest polling and focus group negatives that Bill Daley faces in this primary, so we’re likely to hear much more of this from the governor.
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* Taxpayers United President Jim Tobin, who believes Abraham Lincoln fought the Civil War over taxes and has long wanted to abolish the Illinois State Police also believes that Illinois will declare bankrupty in 2015…
“Illinois will be the first state to go bankrupt, unless pension reforms are implemented,” said Tobin.
And Tobin’s numbers suggest it’ll be sooner rather than later.
“Yeah, 2015 is about right,” said Tobin.
Tobin totaled up lifetime salary and pension costs to assert a plan for hiring 200 new Illinois state police could cost $38 billion as he called for a state hiring freeze until the state’s pension system is reformed.
States can’t declare bankruptcy, and pension costs are projected to rise $200 million in FY 2015, a far cry from the recent billion dollars a year increases of the recent past. But, other than that, yeah, we’ll be Detroit in two years. That’s about right. For sure.
* The far more likely event, I think, is that Mayor Emanuel might “encourage” one of the city’s pension funds to declare bankruptcy. He refuses to raise taxes to make up for years of zero-funding the city’s pension systems, and a legislative solution doesn’t yet appear in sight.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pat Quinn and Thornton Township Supervisor/Democratic Committeeman Frank Zuccarelli at a February event…
* The Question: Caption?
Funniest commenter wins a free Illinois State Fair beverage with yours truly.
Yesterday’s winner was “Hopeful“…
“Think it’s funny? I can stop your pay too..”
The winner should contact me via e-mail.
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Feds indict former IDPH chief of staff
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I really don’t like the idea of federal prosecutors leaking indictment details ahead of time. Yesterday at 5:15 pm, I received this e-mail from the US Attorney’s office in Springfield…
James A. Lewis, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois, will be joined by representatives of the federal investigative agencies that comprise the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Public Corruption Task Force: the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Chicago Division; Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, Chicago Field Office; and Illinois Secretary of State Office of Inspector General to announce the indictment of the 13th defendant, to date, related to the task force’s ongoing investigation of state grant/contract fraud.
* By late last night, the Tribune and Sun-Times both had detailed stories posted about the indictment of Quinshaunta Golden, the former chief of staff to Dr. Eric Whitaker when he ran the Illinois Department of Public Health.
* But, whatever. It’s out there now, and man it’s a whole lot of alleged criminality. From the Tribune story…
Golden, the niece of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, is the 13th person to be charged in a federal task force’s ongoing investigation of state grant and contract fraud. The probe already has claimed the political career of former state Rep. Connie Howard, who pleaded guilty last month to diverting as much as $28,000 from a scholarship fund she created to benefit needy students.
According to the new indictment, starting in 2006, Golden directed grants to an unidentified security firm to do background checks on potential residents of nursing homes, which are overseen by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Under Golden, the state agency also issued grants to nonprofits run by Leon Dingle Jr.
Golden is alleged to have had Dingle hire a person, identified in the indictment only as “Individual A,” as a paid consultant. Individual A also was a paid consultant of the security firm.
The consultant collected more than $1 million in grant and contract money originally given to Dingle’s groups and the security firm, the indictment states. The consultant was supposed to kick back half of the money to Golden, who collected $433,000 in the scam, according to the indictment.
* Sun-Times…
Part of Golden’s alleged scheme involved getting kickbacks from a security company that employed Roxanne B. Jackson, who worked under both Whitaker and Golden as human resources director for the health department in 2003 and 2004. Jackson then left that job and became “director of legal services” for V.I.P. Security & Detective Services, which got about $2 million in health department money starting in 2006 to do criminal-background checks on nursing home residents under a new state law.
The indictment identifies the company only as “Security Firm A,” but details within it make clear that the company is V.I.P. Security. The document also cites an unnamed “Individual A” who was “an associate of defendant Golden” and “an associate and paid consultant” to the security firm.
V.I.P. was paid $300 per background check, but “Golden required Individual A to pay Defendant Golden kickback payments of approximately $35 to $40 for each” check. All told, Golden got about $109,500 through that arrangement.
* From today’s press release…
In addition to the charges of bribery and taking kickbacks and mail fraud (five counts), the indictment charges Golden with one count of obstruction of justice. Golden allegedly met with Individual A on multiple occasions and falsely denied receiving improper kickback payments from A. Further, the indictment alleges that Golden encouraged and instructed Individual A not to tell the truth concerning the kickback scheme and to conceal the truth from Individual A’s attorney, and to create a false story by saying that Individual A used the grant and contract funds for gambling and other personal expenses.
The indictment includes one count of criminal forfeiture seeking forfeiture of property Golden derived from any proceeds obtained as a result of the alleged offenses, as well as a money judgment in an undetermined amount representing the net proceeds obtained as a result of the alleged offenses.
If convicted, for the offense of bribery and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, the statutory penalty is up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. For each count of mail fraud (five counts) and for the single count of obstruction of justice, the statutory penalty is up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 as to each count. The defendant may also be ordered to pay restitution to victims of the alleged offenses.
The U.S. Clerk of the Court will issue a summons to Golden for her initial appearance date, scheduled for Aug. 23, 2013, at 11:00 a.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron G. Cudmore in federal court in Springfield.
Whitaker is not charged, and there’s no indication yet that he knew anything, but he’s a very close friend of President Obama, and Obama wanted Whitaker appointed to the state job, so the story will probably go national.
Discuss.
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A lack of interest
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yesterday was a light blogging day because I was on the road, speaking to a large group of insurance agents in Rosemont for their annual legislative/political conference.
During the speech, I asked for a show of hands of who reads the Chicago Tribune editorial page.
Just three people raised their hands, out of a hundred or so participants.
I was shocked. These were not liberals, and they’re politically engaged or they wouldn’t have taken time off from work to attend the conference.
Just for fun, I asked how many of the people who read the Trib’s editorials actually believe them. Nobody raised their hands.
Heh.
* As fun as that story is, anecdotes ain’t data. So that brings me to a Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll I commissioned back in early June. One of the questions I asked was “How would you describe the influence the Chicago Tribune’s endorsement of a candidate has on your voting?”
Just 11 percent of subscribers said the paper’s endorsement was “very influential,” while 45 percent said it had no influence and 41 percent it was somewhat influential.
Only 9 percent of non-subscribers said it was “very influential,” 62 percent said it had no influence and 18 percent said it was “somewhat influential.”
How can non-subscribers be influenced by the Trib? Well, they can buy a copy or read it online. They will also likely see such an endorsement in campaign advertising.
There were 1,489 respondents for a margin of error of +/- 2.85 percent. 41 percent of the universe were self-described Tribune subscribers.
* I also asked this question…
Recently, the Chicago Tribune endorsed a state public pension reform bill that would save taxpayers billions of dollars, but which public employee unions claim is unconstitutional and cuts too deeply into their pensions. The unions have proposed an alternative plan that doesn’t save as much as the Tribune-endorsed plan, but which they claim is constitutional. Do you agree, or disagree with the Tribune’s endorsement?
49 percent of subscribers agreed with the Trib’s endorsement, while 27 percent disagreed and 23 percent were uncertain.
Among non-subscribers, just 24 percent agreed with the Trib, while 36 percent disagreed and 39 percent were uncertain.
* So the next time you see the Tribune editorial board assert things like the failure to enact its own favored pension reform plan is “thoroughly disgusting the people of Illinois,” well, take it with a big grain of salt.
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Trouble ahead
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bill Daley called today for Gov. Pat Quinn to withdraw his possibly illegal appointment of Thornton Township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli to the CTA board. Quinn has so far refused to do so, claiming a loophole allows Zuccarelli to bypass laws prohibiting local government officials from drawing a paycheck while serving on a transit board.
From Daley’s press release…
“We all thought Pat Quinn, the self-styled reformer, would rise about this kind of politics, but when a powerful Cook County pol needed a paycheck, Governor Quinn was there for him. Today I call on the Governor to rescind this blatantly political and possibly illegal appointment, and if he continues to refuse to do the right thing, then the Senate must act to vote down this appointment,” said Daley.
Zuccarelli, who also serves as Thornton Township Democratic Committeeman, is expected to vote to endorse Quinn for re-election as governor at next week’s Cook County Democratic Party slating committee.
If and (most likely) when Zuccarelli votes for Quinn, this story could get a lot more intense.
…Adding… WLS Radio…
But isn’t a patronage allegation from a Daley dripping with irony?
“You may think it’s ironic. I’m talking about what I believe, not about what others may have done or believed about patronage,” Daley said.
But in a nightmare for Daley’s image-makers, a garbage truck backed into the alley behind Daley to pick up a load when he said it.
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* Treasurer Dan Rutherford supported the gay rights bill in the 1990s, back when the bill didn’t have nearly enough votes to pass. He also voted for civil unions just before he left the Illinois Senate and after he was elected treasurer. But he told Windy City Times that he’s still opposed to gay marriage…
WCT: But you have not supported same-sex marriage.
Dan Rutherford: If you don’t mind, let me put the info in-between there. Civil unions came up, and this is one of those things that I stepped back, and I really analyzed it. The part I don’t think a lot of people understand is it’s not just for same-sex but for opposite-sex.
I voted for it, of course. I was the only Republican in the Senate to vote for it. Did I get some grief? Yeah. But it was one of those things that I thought in my heart, it was the right thing to do.
Now, we’ll go to gay marriage. The difference for me there is the religious component.
Now, I think something else has happened with regards to the bill. I think the Supreme Court’s ruling did add a very fair, debatable component in this. The tax consequences, I think that is a consideration to have weighed in. So what happens is, that has added a further component to this that lends itself to discrimination.
Now, I am what I am. I support civil unions. But the religious standpoint of marriage, it’s just not where I’m at.
WCT: But we’re talking about civil marriage, here, not religious.
Dan Rutherford: I just think that it’s just not at that point yet from a religious standpoint that I can support it.
WCT: What religion do you practice?
Dan Rutherford: I grew up as a Methodist.
WCT: It sounds like you are evolving on same-sex marriage. Is that a fair statement?
Dan Rutherford: I think that there’s a lot of things evolving out there. I think that when the Supreme Court ruled, and this is a matter-of-fact accounting sensitivity… but I think that did add a component with regards to the tax situation.
* This is a pretty good interview, so let’s excerpt some more…
Dan Rutherford: …So to answer the question, yes, I think my party needs to be more tolerant. I think they need to be more tolerant of the gay and lesbian community. They need to be more tolerant to the ethnic minority community. I think they need to be more tolerant with regards to the immigrant community.
I’m not saying that to be negative on my party. I’m just saying that if we allow gay rights, guns and abortion to be the definition of the difference between a good Republican and a bad Republican, we will be the party of the perpetual minority.
WCT: So what makes a Republican a Republican?
Dan Rutherford: I’ll tell you exactly what it is; government, stay out of my wallet and out of my purse. The difference between the Democrat Party and the Republican Party needs to be about government spending and economics and maybe start to get into some of these social benefit programs.
You know what I think we got to do to help the crime rate in the City of Chicago? I think we need get the employment rate down in African American wards below 80 percent. What do we need to do about school funding? I think we broaden the tax base, get more people to work. You got a bigger tax base, then you don’t have to go out and raise taxes.
* And then there was this…
WCT: Your support for the LGBT has put you in the spotlight. Conservative bloggers have speculated you are gay. How do you define your sexual orientation?
Dan Rutherford: I’m not gay.
WCT: Can you talk about your relationship to the community?
Dan Rutherford: I get it. This kind of thing happens in politics. I’ve been when I’m invited. Equality Illinois has their reception in Springfield. I’ll go to that. They hosted receptions and Republican National Conventions before. I’ll go to that. There’s an annual gala. I’ve been to it, I haven’t recently, but I’ve been to it. I haven’t been in the gay Pride Parade but I’ve been to the elected officials’ reception prior to it. I’ll go where I’m invited and be there.
Take a deep breath before you comment, folks. We don’t usually get into stuff like this here, so tread very, very carefully.
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The Chicago way
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* When people complain how difficult it is to start a business in Chicago without the right political grease, this is what they mean. A proposed $57 million, 102,000-square-foot Ford dealership has been held up for months because of one Chicago alderman…
City Council Zoning Committee Chairman Danny Solis, 25th, has twice held up a vote on a needed rezoning, requesting that Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Co. provide another dealership opportunity for a Latino — a specific Latino, who just happens to be a large campaign contributor to Mr. Solis’ ward organization. But Ford says it isn’t awarding new dealerships to anyone, and Fox, a division of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based FMG Holdings LLC, is a relatively small firm busy on the proposed 32nd Ward project.
* But the dealership company has had enough of the games and has set a deadline, according to Greg Hinz…
“Oct. 1 is the final deadline,” Monica Sekulich, senior vice president and general counsel at Fox Motors, told me in a phone conversation. “This entire situation has been quite surprising to us.”
Yeah, surprising. To an outsider, these stupid games are stupefying. Chicagoans have learned to live with it, but that’s ridiculous.
Mayor Emanuel has finally stepped in and is pushing for approval, so this project should be a “go.” But why would it need the big dog’s intervention in the first place? How many other job-creating Chicago projects are being held up for political reasons that fly below MRE’s radar? I’m betting lots.
…Adding… Via a commenter, an example of how the Chicago way is not always confined only to Chicago…
An effort by Gail Simpson to keep another business from selling alcohol in Ward 2 was defeated by her fellow aldermen Wednesday night.
By a 7-1 vote, the Springfield City Council approved a liquor license for Scandals at its new location at 1031 S. 11th St. in the old Touch of Class Sports Bar and Grill location. The bar/restaurant has been open only for food service for weeks.
Scandals used to be downtown.
Last week, Simpson put the brakes on the liquor license by chiding the other council members for thinking they knew better than her what’s best for her ward. […]
Brenda Protz, who identified herself as a friend of the owners, told the council she was concerned the anti-license effort was based on discrimination.
Protz pointed out that both owners of Scandals are gay.
Simpson, who is black, rejected that contention, saying her opposition had nothing to do with the business catering to gay people and was strictly about alcohol.
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Rate the video
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Sheila Simon campaign e-mail…
Last week was an amazing experience. I drove from Chicago to Springfield and then home to a rally in Carbondale with my husband Perry and my campaign team to announce my candidacy for Illinois Comptroller.
We saw many old friends and met even more new supporters. People in Illinois are ready for accountability.
You can see our first official video in the comptroller campaign by clicking the image below:
I am so fortunate to have such amazing support all across Illinois. I’ve been working hard to respond to all the messages and emails I received after the announcement - to everyone out there, thank you!
* Rate the video…
* Other stuff…
* VIDEO: Bruce Rauner: 20,000 Miles
* VIDEO: State Sen. Kirk Dillard - Public Affairs - 2013-08-03
* VIDEO: Roeser: Using Social Media
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Not soon
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Speaker Madigan was initially opposed to creating the pension reform conference committee, saying it was “an effort by the governor to distance himself from the process.” After Gov. Quinn assured him that he would stay very involved, Madigan relented.
But the Speaker still believes that this is the governor’s baby, and as subscribers already know, the governor is gonna have to round up the votes to pass any solution that the conference committee comes up with.
ABC 7…
(O)n an ominous note, he warned that if the House-Senate conference committee presents a compromise pension reform bill in the next week or so, it will not necessarily mean he’ll lead a rush to Springfield to vote on it.
“I’m prepared to go to Springfield whenever we have 60 votes in the House and 30 votes in the Senate to do pension changes,” Madigan said. “So it doesn’t make much sense to go there and to consider a bill if you don’t have the required number of votes to pass it.”
I wasn’t all that upbeat about the conference committee at first, either, but its members appear to be doing their job. The governor explained in June that while calling legislators at the end of session he’d heard over and over that there needed to be some way to find common ground between the then-deadlocked House Speaker and Senate President.
So, he should get more credit for the conference committee, especially if it succeeds in coming up with an agreement. But when Madigan says “It’s your baby,” it often means he won’t be working on behalf of the bill. He did that last year when Quinn persuaded him to hand sponsorship of the pension bill to House GOP Leader Tom Cross. The proposal crashed and burned as Madigan’s members got the hint and backed away. Quinn isn’t much of a lobbyist, so don’t expect him to find House majorities right away.
* Meanwhile…
The conference committee on pension reform may be close to an agreement, according to State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington).
“I don’t see any reason that we haven’t received enough scoring to be able to come to a consensus on a reform package that we could present as early as next week to the General Assembly,” Brady said.
The big question now is whether they slow-walk the bill until they get the legislative salary veto issue resolved. Forcing the governor to put votes on the bill alone would be one way of doing that.
* Speaking of the pay veto, the Speaker wasn’t thrilled with the judge’s hearing schedule…
“I would have appreciated a quicker schedule, a more expedited schedule, I would have appreciated that, but it’s the judge’s decision,” Madigan said.
That September 18th hearing date was a clear indication that this judge doesn’t want to get involved. Those who believed the case was a slam dunk because Madigan supposedly “controls” so many Cook County judges were just flat-out wrong. The mid-September hearing date for oral arguments was a big setback for Madigan’s case.
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Trouble in paradise
Thursday, Aug 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Monique Garcia at the Tribune…
When Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan publicly pulled the plug on a run for governor, she announced that she “never planned to run” for the state’s top office as long as her father remained House speaker, given the inherent conflict.
On Wednesday, Speaker Michael Madigan indicated his continued presence on the political stage shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to his daughter.
“Lisa and I had spoken about that on several occasions, and she knew very well that I did not plan to retire,” the speaker told reporters before delivering remarks at a closed-door meeting of real estate appraisers gathered at the Union League Club of Chicago. “She knew what my position was. She knew.”
The comments by the powerful Southwest Side Democrat added some less-than-flattering context to Lisa Madigan’s political maneuvering. Knowing her father’s intent to stay didn’t stop her from securing $1.5 million during the first half of the year from political donors who thought she might run for governor. The attorney general didn’t tell the world that she had nixed a governor campaign until after the second fundraising quarter had ended.
The attorney general’s re-election campaign declined to comment Wednesday. Lisa Madigan has denied that she misled donors who hoped she might challenge Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, saying she was upfront that she hadn’t yet made up her mind.
The lesson here is that if you publicly throw Mike Madigan under a bus, even if you’re his daughter, it had better be one big bus. Lisa obviously needed a bigger bus when she tried to blame her decision not to run on her father.
Also, if she had told donors and the voting public up front that she wouldn’t run for governor if her father stayed on as Speaker, then I doubt most of us would’ve believed that she’d actually make the race. He ain’t going anywhere.
* Charles Thomas…
Michael Madigan would not say how long he plans to remain speaker.
Yeah. Infinity is difficult to describe.
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