Feds respond to Blagojevich filing
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Prosecutors have responded to a new argument that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich submitted this week to a federal court considering his appeal. […]
Blagojevich’s lawyers say an April ruling by the high court found that soliciting contributions is corruption only when a politician makes explicit promises to take official action for a donation.
But prosecutors say that’s a misreading of the ruling in McCutcheon v. the Federal Election Commission. They say the high court didn’t conclude an exchange had to be explicitly stated to constitute corruption.
* The full response…
Pursuant to Fed. R. App. 28(j) and Seventh Circuit Rule 28(e), the government hereby responds to defendant-appellant Rod Blagojevich’s July 16, 2014 letter citing McCutcheon v. Federal Election Com’n, — U.S. —, 134 S.Ct. 1434 (2014) in support of his challenge to the jury instructions related to the quid pro quo element of criminal extortion in the context of campaign contributions. See Br. 51, quoting Tr. 5544.
As argued in the government’s brief at 55-57, the challenged instructions stated the applicable law consistently with this Court’s 2012 pattern instructions, and with the instruction approved in United States v. Giles, 246 F.3d 966, 971-73 (7th Cir. 1992). Where campaign contributions were involved, the instructions (like the instructions related to bribery and fraud) correctly conditioned a finding of guilt on proof that defendant attempted to exchange a specific requested exercise of his official power (including the Senate appointment, signing of the Racetrack bill, and implementation of the Medicaid reimbursement increase) for money or property in the form of such contributions.
In McCutcheon, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that campaign financing Constitutionally may be regulated to combat quid pro quo corruption or its appearance, but determined that the regulations challenged in that case— provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) related to aggregate contribution limits—were not appropriately crafted to meet that permissible objective, or to avoid unnecessary abridgement of associational freedoms protected by the First Amendment. 134 S.Ct. at 1441-42, 1456, 1462. Nothing in the decision suggests that an exchange of contributions for specific official acts is quid pro quo corruption only if the arrangement is stated “explicitly” or expressly. Accordingly, the decision provides no support for Blagojevich’s argument on appeal.
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* Remember the America’s PAC radio ad we talked about the other day?…
Americas PAC has just released a new radio ad running across Illinois highlighting the wage gap between men and women working on Dick Durbin’s Senate staff […]
Analysis of Senate Staff payroll by the Washington Free Beacon found that in 2012 Durbin “paid men $13,063 more, a difference of 23 percent.” [Link http://freebeacon.com/politics/senate-dems-betray-lilly/]
“The average female on his staff was paid about 77 cents for every dollar earned by his male staffers,” Donelson said.
* Well, US Sen. Dick Durbin’s has contacted at least one radio station about it…
Quincy’s WTAD-AM, which is owned by STARadio along with Quincy Journal, has been running the ad. STARadio was contacted by someone representing Sen. Durbin.
“WTAD received an email and phone call from a firm representing Senator Durbin earlier in the week,” said STARadio VP/GM Mike Moyers. “A letter attached to the email implied that the commercial being aired by Americas PAC contained false information and that WTAD would be liable should we continue to air it. Sources provided by Americas PAC were checked and proved to be in line, so the commercial in question is still on the air.”
* America’s PAC response…
“If anything, we’ll increase the buy,” Donelson said. “And even if the stations knuckle under to the threats of Senator Durbin and his lawyers, Americas PAC will continue to run ads highlighting Senator Durbin’s and the President’s wage gap problems and hypocrisy. We’re scripting an even harder hitting ad already.”
* Here’s the ad, in case you’ve forgotten…
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* I have a feeling this is gonna become so commonplace that by late October it might not even be newsworthy. Rick Pearson…
Republican Bruce Rauner plowed $1.5 million more into his campaign for governor against Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, newly filed reports with the State Board of Elections showed today.
The latest donation brings to nearly $8.1 million the amount of personal funds Rauner has given to his first-time bid for public office.
*** UPDATE *** From the Quinnsters…
Bruce Rauner Donates Another $1.5 Million to Himself
Rauner Continues Hiding Complete Income Tax Forms from Previous Three Years That Would Disclose Sources of Income to Public
CHICAGO – One day after proposing a tax plan that would decimate public education and create a whole new tax on services across Illinois, Bruce Rauner today contributed another $1.5 million to himself, bringing the grand total of Rauner’s mostly self-funded campaign to $8.1 billion.
However, despite calls from the media and Governor Pat Quinn to release his complete income tax return documents like other candidates have done, Rauner is continuing to hide the information that would shed light on his sources of income from the public. Governor Quinn, nominee for Lt. Governor Paul Vallas and even presidential candidate Mitt Romney released their complete income tax records.
Below is a statement from Quinn for Illinois Communications Director Brooke Anderson:
“Until Bruce Rauner releases his complete income tax returns, the public is left in the dark about how he made the millions of dollars he is now using to bankroll false television ads against Governor Quinn.
“The people of Illinois deserve to know the facts about their candidates’ finances.
“What exactly is Rauner hiding?”
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Arghh!!! The earworm!!! It burns!!!
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* “Thanks” to our commenter “soccermom,” I now have a near terminal case of George Michael-induced earworm.
I was gonna save this for later, but it must be done now in case some of the rest of y’all are suffering from the same condition.
* The late, great Johnny Winter. Turn it up so loud your co-workers complain…
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Personal PAC wants more answers
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
Today, Personal PAC called on the Republican and Democratic candidates for Governor to publicly state their positions on the June 30, 2014 Hobby Lobby U.S. Supreme Court decision. In addition, Personal PAC wants to know if these candidates support legislative measures to address the horrible situation in Illinois that now allows for-profit employers to invoke a privately held religious objection in refusing to cover prescription birth control as part of their employees health insurance compensation package.
“In light of yesterday’s defeat in the U.S. Senate of the “Not Your Boss’ Business” Act to correct the disastrous Hobby Lobby decision, it is more critical than ever that candidates for the two highest offices in Illinois tell voters where they stand on addressing this issue at the state level,” said Terry Cosgrove, President and CEO of Personal PAC.
Personal PAC has sent each Democratic and Republican candidate for Governor and Lt. Governor the following four questions with a deadline of 5 p.m., Thursday, July 24th, 2014 for a response from each candidate. Cosgrove continued, “With upward of 96% of Illinois women using birth control at some point in their lives, 25% of whom for medical reasons such as controlling fibroid tumors, voters have a right to know who is standing with women in keeping their health care choices private and out of reach of their bosses.”
It is time to save birth control in Illinois and the referendum question on the November 4th ballot dealing with this issue will guide elected officials in adopting laws to put the decisions about birth control back in the hands of women. “It is hard to believe we even have to discuss women being allowed to have access to birth control in 2014” concluded Cosgrove.
* The four questions, with a couple of non-content edits to make it easier for us to read here…
1. Do you OPPOSE the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Hobby Lobby case?
2. Will you SIGN legislation containing these three provisions in order to reverse the impact of Hobby Lobby in Illinois and protect access to birth control in our state?
As a result of the serious threat to women’s health from the Hobby Lobby decision, legislation will be introduced in the Illinois General Assembly seeking to (1) require disclosure to current employees and job applicants to ensure that women know whether a particular employer refuses to provide full preventive health care coverage, including birth control; (2) ensure that employers cannot retaliate against employees who make reproductive health care decisions that conflict with the employer’s beliefs; and (3) ensure that low-income women without adequate health insurance coverage have access to affordable birth control through safety net providers.
3. Will you vote “YES” on this ballot question?
The following referendum will appear on the November 2014 general election ballot: “Shall any health insurance plan in Illinois that provides prescription drug coverage be required to include prescription birth control as part of that coverage?” The purpose of this referendum is to demonstrate strong public support for full access to birth control and for the three provisions described above.
4. Will you publicly state your SUPPORT for the birth control ballot measure?
Obviously, Gov. Quinn will be answering to Personal PAC’s liking. I’ll let you know if Rauner comes up with a response.
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Rate Rauner’s new social media ads
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* “This is slightly embarrassing” wrote a friend of mine this morning…
I had an ear worm of this song, and decided I might be able to cure it by listening to the whole thing.
So I went to YouTube — and got a Rauner ad?
Weird….
The song was “I’m Never Gonna Dance Again” by George Michael. Don’t click here. Seriously, I mean it. Don’t. I accidentally let the thing play after the ad and now I’ve got the same horrific ear worm.
Uuuuuggghhhhh!!!
* Rauner’s campaign explains via e-mail…
Bruce Rauner’s campaign launched a new digital campaign highlighting some of Pat Quinn’s biggest broken promises as governor.
The effort features targeted online advertising and encourages folks to add to the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #PatQuinnMoments.
“With massive tax hikes and a terrible economy, Illinoisans can’t celebrate Pat Quinn’s time as governor,” Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said. “Pat Quinn is simply a champion tax raiser and made Illinois the Midwest’s leader in lost jobs.”
* “Pat Quinn’s Great Moments: Taxes”…
Script…
Great moments in Pat Quinn history
He promised not to permanently raise taxes
Now Quinn is trying to keep his 67% tax hike forever
Pat Quinn champion tax raiser
* “Pat Quinn’s Greatest Moments: Jobs”…
Script…
Great moments in Pat Quinn history
He promised to make jobs his number one priority
Under Quinn Illinois led the Midwest in job losses and unemployment
Pat Quinn #1 in unemployment
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Spread it out, lower the rates
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner’s “plan” to lower income taxes and kinda sorta replace a few dollars of them with a new sales tax on services is part of a pattern among Republican governors. Here’s a New York Times story from January of 2013…
Republican governors are moving aggressively to cut personal and corporate income taxes, including proposals that would increase reliance on state sales taxes, setting up ambitious experiments in tax reform that could shape what is possible on a national level. […]
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal is pushing to repeal the state’s personal and corporate income taxes and make up the lost revenue through higher sales taxes. Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska iscalling for much the same thing in his state. Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas wants to keep in place what was supposed to be a temporary increase in the state sales tax to help pay for his plan to lower and eventually end his state’s income tax.
Along the way these governors are taking small first steps into a debate over what kind of tax system most encourages growth in a 21st-century economy. In particular they are focusing attention on the idea, long championed by conservatives but accepted up to a point by economists of all stripes, that the economy would be better served by focusing taxation on consumption rather than on income.
Taxing consumption has the potential to lift economic growth by encouraging more savings and investment. But the shift could also increase inequality by reducing taxes predominantly for the wealthy, who spend a smaller share of their income than middle- and lower-income people.
“The question of whether we should tax income or whether we should tax spending is really a proxy for a different debate,” said Joseph Henchman, vice president for state projects at the Tax Foundation, a conservative-leaning research organization. “Everyone agrees we’ll get more growth with consumption taxes. It’s just that some people prioritize fairness.”
If you “encourage more savings and investment” through taxation, then how does that inject any demand into the economy? Demand drives growth. By their own logic, they’d drive consumption down, which would decrease demand, which would decrease growth.
* More…
For Mr. Jindal and other Republican governors who are considering a presidential run in 2016, there are obvious political benefits to having a robust income tax-cutting record to present to conservative primary voters.
But Democrats say the approach would lead to cutbacks in education, health care and other vital services while shifting relatively more of the tax burden to those who can least afford it.
“These aren’t pro-growth policies — they’re shell games that reward the wealthiest Americans at the expense of everyone else,” said Danny Kanner, a spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association.
Cutting a billionaire’s income taxes while raising sales/service taxes on the broader economy would indeed help that billionaire.
* Even so, I generally favor broader taxation at lower rates. Rauner’s service tax idea is just a first step. It could be broadened much further to take advantage of that sector’s historic annual growth. But that ought to be accompanied by a lower sales tax rate. It doesn’t have to be revenue neutral, but people should be given a break overall.
* And the same goes for income taxes. According to the Civic Federation…
The individual income tax base is expected to grow at a rate of only 1.9% compared to the retirement income growth rate of 6.5%. […]
The Illinois Comptroller estimates that this exemption of federally taxable retirement income reduced the State’s individual income tax revenues by $2.0 billion in FY2012.
So, what does Illinois do? It taxes slow-growth individual income at 5 percent and doesn’t tax high-growth retirement income at all. That doesn’t make sense.
Spread it out, lower the rate.
Easier said than done, of course. Retirees by definition have a lot of extra time on their hands for things like screaming at their legislators.
* But, if anyone has any real guts, they might wanna challenge the constitutionality of this retirement income exemption. From the Constitution…
A tax on or measured by income shall be at a non-graduated rate. At any one time there may be no more than one such tax imposed by the State for State purposes on individuals and one such tax so imposed on corporations.
We’re only supposed to have one personal, non-graduated income tax rate for individuals in Illinois, but we actually have two, and one of them is decidedly graduated (at the rate of zero).
/rant
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Keeping the story alive
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* So far, at least, the Republicans on the Legislative Audit Commission have found nothing like a “smoking gun” to claim any illegal political actions by top-level Quinn administration officials on the governor’s anti-violence initiative. They have a couple thousand government e-mails, but nothing that shows anything spectacular.
So, they shifted gears a bit yesterday…
After Thursday’s vote, Barickman shifted focus to a cache of 2,300 NRI-related emails Quinn’s office turned over to the audit commission last Friday in response to a June 25 request.
Specifically, Barickman and Mautino asked for emails, letters and any memoranda related to the rollout and implementation of NRI between March 2010 through September 2012. The request targeted former Quinn chief of staff Jack Lavin, former Central Management Services director Malcolm Weems, former Quinn deputy chief of staff Toni Irving, former Quinn senior advisor Billy Ocasio, former Commerce and Economic Opportunity Director Warren Ribley, former DCEO chief operating officer Andrew Ross, and Reshma Desai, the former director of grant programs for the now-defunct Illinois Violence Prevention Authority.
Barickman voiced concern “about the potential that the governor’s office didn’t fully comply with our request for emails,” noting Quinn’s office asserted “a blanket privilege claim” to withhold some documents, though the senator said he was uncertain about which documents may have been protected by the governor’s office.
Barickman also questioned whether the governor’s office may have “significantly limited their scope” in searching for emails “in a way that doesn’t comply with our original request.”
Notice that he said the “potential” that the governor’s office didn’t fully comply. The administration’s response…
“Those not provided on the disc were privileged attorney-client communications between state employees and state attorneys either seeking or providing legal advice,” Quinn spokeswoman Katie Hickey said.
The Republicans did mention Wednesday that it appeared former Quinn chief of staff Jack Lavin had forwarded some state e-mails regarding the initiative to a private e-mail account. But, again, it’s just wispy smoke.
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Time’s running out fast
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The deadline for the Illinois State Board of Elections to certify the November ballot is August 22nd - 36 days from now. That’s 21 work days, counting today and the 22nd.
So, that’s why yesterday’s Illinois Supreme Court decision to not take direct appeal of Bruce Rauner’s term limits ballot initiative is so important.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Mary Mikva issued her initial ruling kicking Rauner’s initiative off the ballot on June 27th - three weeks ago today. The Supremes took their sweet time to consider direct appeal.
Rauner’s group inexplicably didn’t file any appellate motions before today, so it now has less than 21 working days to get this thing motioned, heard and decided at the appellate level and then motioned, heard and decided by the Supremes. They’re gonna need to get that ballot certification date postponed if they have any hope here.
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Raoul utterly perplexed at story
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sneed…
In the wake of Cook County Board Chairman Toni Preckwinkle’s hasty exit as a possible mayoral contender, Sneed is told there is a move to fill the void with two male contenders in the black community: State Sen. Kwame Raoul and former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr.
Some folks might actually be pushing this, but it’s ludicrous on its face. For instance, buried way down…
On Wednesday, the Sun-Times reported that Raoul had taken himself out of the running.
I called Kwame today and he said he’d been asked by a Sun-Times reporter if he was interested and he categorically declared he was not. And he was not amused with today’s story. He didn’t put himself out there and he’s not interested in running, so he couldn’t have “taken himself out of the running.”
So, forget that story.
* And Emil? Really?…
Sneed also hears a movement to draft former Illinois political powerhouse Emil Jones Jr., into the high-stakes race against Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in the works.
“Our intent is to tamp down support for CTU President Karen Lewis for mayor because there is no way she can bring the black community together on the schools issue to develop a black consensus,” said a major supporter of Jones supporter who asked not to be identified — but is well-known in the political structure of the African-American community.
“We need someone who can win,” the source said. “Emil was prominently mentioned in the mayoral election. He just needs to be cajoled and convinced.”
The man is 78 years old. He’s an old school politico. His time is long past.
If they do run him it will solely be to split the black vote against Lewis. And that’s what this is all about. Reelecting Rahm.
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Today’s number: 13,000
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Uh-oh…
Thousands of Chicago drivers have been tagged with $100 red light fines they did not deserve, targeted by robotic cameras during a series of sudden spikes in tickets that city officials say they cannot explain, a Tribune investigation has found.
The Tribune’s analysis of more than 4 million tickets issued since 2007 and a deeper probe of individual cases revealed clear evidence that the deviations in Chicago’s network of 380 cameras were caused by faulty equipment, human tinkering or both.
More…
A 10-month Tribune investigation documented more than 13,000 questionable tickets at 12 intersections that experienced the most striking spikes; similar patterns emerged at dozens of other intersections responsible for tens of thousands more tickets. Among the key findings:
Cameras that for years generated just a few tickets daily suddenly caught dozens of drivers a day. One camera near the United Center rocketed from generating one ticket per day to 56 per day for a two-week period last summer before mysteriously dropping back to normal.
Tickets for so-called rolling right turns on red shot up during some of the most dramatic spikes, suggesting an unannounced change in enforcement. One North Side camera generated only a dozen tickets for rolling rights out of 100 total tickets in the entire second half of 2011. Then, over a 12-day spike, it spewed 563 tickets — 560 of them for rolling rights.
Many of the spikes were marked by periods immediately before or after when no tickets were issued — downtimes suggesting human intervention that should have been documented. City officials said they cannot explain the absence of such records.
Go read the whole thing. Chicagoans tend to hate those red-light cams. If what the Tribune alleges is true, you can add one more horrible problem that Rahm Emanuel’s reelection campaign will have to deal with.
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Spinning and counter-spinning
Friday, Jul 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Most entertaining spin of the day on Bruce Rauner’s new tax proposal…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign quickly blasted the plan as one that would send the state into a deeper hole than the estimated $6 billion deficit that will face the next governor. The camp also criticized the multi-millionaire candidate for proposing a sales tax expansion, saying it would hurt working families and small business.
“Only someone with nine homes would propose taxing trailer parks,” said Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson.
Heh.
Rauner’s plan does, indeed, mention “trailer parks.” However, they screwed up the language…
Trailer parks - overnight
Those aren’t “trailer parks,” they’re RV campgrounds. So, Brooke’s attack is half valid, and the Rauner campaign brought it on themselves.
* Another bit of spin, this time by Rauner…
Rauner also said that new TV ads that attack him for wanting to tax Social Security and other retirement income are false. The ads were launched Wednesday by Illinois Freedom PAC, an outside group funded by a coalition of unions that opposed Rauner in the Republican primary.
“Gov. Quinn is creating another false spin. I have never, ever said I want to tax Social Security, that’s baloney,” Rauner said. “And as you can see from our plan here, we have no plan to tax retirement income. They are trying to create a false argument.”
* What the TV ad actually says…
Now Rauner says he’s open to taxing our Social Security and retirement income…making it harder for Illinois families to get by.
* From a March 14, 2014 Sun-Times story entitled “Rauner, Rutherford won’t rule out taxing retirement income”…
Earlier this month, the Civic Federation recommended that Gov. Pat Quinn and state lawmakers consider taxing retirement income to help lift the state out of its multibillion-dollar budgetary shortfall, an idea that drew immediate opposition from AARP of Illinois.
Rauner did not categorically rule out taxing retirement income when asked Thursday night.
“I don’t have position on that yet. What I would recommend we do is look at our entire tax code in Illinois, look at every tax and every tax base and every rate and then compare ourselves to other well-run states that we compete with both in the Midwest and around the country,” Rauner said.
“Look at what we tax, what we don’t tax and at what rates. The critical thing is we have got to ease the overall tax burden, the overall spending burden and make our tax code as pro-growth as possible because the real answer to our financial problems is growth,” Rauner said.
Probably close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. Plus, it’s the Illinois Freedom PAC, not Quinn making the charge.
* And, finally, FactCheck.org got a bit ahead of the facts…
Republican Bruce Rauner falsely claims in a TV ad that Illinois leads the Midwest in “job losses” under Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. In fact, Illinois has experienced job growth — albeit small — since Quinn took office.
They continue…
Rauner’s latest TV ad, titled “Remember This,” shows Quinn promising to create 400,000 jobs and then cuts to a narrator who says: “Under Quinn Illinois leads the Midwest in job losses.” Those same words are superimposed over an image of an empty warehouse that emphasizes the “job losses.” But the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which the ad cites as the source of this claim, shows Illinois had 5,803,600 total non-farm jobs in January 2009, when Quinn took office, and had 5,804,000 in May 2014, which is the most recent month with available employment data. That represents a net gain of 400 total jobs under Quinn as governor.
Certainly, 400 jobs in a state as large as Illinois (population 12.9 million) is not a lot. In fact, we calculate that the state had the lowest job growth during that period of the 12 states considered to be part of the Midwest by the BLS. Still, Illinois saw total job gains, not losses, and the state’s unemployment rate is down from 8 percent to 7.5 percent under Quinn.
How did the Rauner campaign arrive at “job losses”? By cherry-picking BLS data.
According to a document provided by the Rauner campaign to support the ad, the “job losses” claim refers to a drop in private sector jobs only in 2014 — a five-month period — not Quinn’s entire time in office. The campaign document says that Illinois has lost more than 26,000 private sector jobs so far in this calendar year. That’s accurate. Illinois had 4,996,800 private sector jobs in December 2013 and that number has shrunk to 4,970,500 in May 2014, a loss of 26,300 jobs. The Rauner campaign also is correct in saying that this is the largest job loss of any state in the Midwest during this period.
Meh. If Illinois does indeed lead the Midwest in job losses this year, then that’s a valid hit by Rauner. Period.
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