Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Apr 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The personal attacks are increasing in the comments section again.

Frankly, I’m tired of being a blog policeman. I’ve got better things to do with my life, and I simply don’t have time to check on the blog during session days.

This is the end for comments. Other blogs have no comments and they seem to function just fine.

I’m pretty bummed about this, but I’m sick of dealing with the small handful of insistent jerks who have nothing better to do than post anonymous personal attacks on people, and I’m tired of apologizing for things that happen here which are beyond my control.

I may rig up a way to pre-screen comments via e-mail, but I’m not thrilled about that, either. I’ll miss the comments a lot, but feel free to e-mail me any time, unless you’re a moron or a hooligan.

1 Comment

The wallflower attacks

Thursday, Apr 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Bradley fires back:

For the second time in less than a year Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, is on the offensive against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The latest conflict began following a morning radio segment aired Tuesday on the Illinois Radio Network where Blagojevich claimed legislation introduced by Bradley to eliminate the state’s nine riverboat casinos was nothing more than an attempt to raise taxes. Bradley’s House Bill 1920, a plan that eliminates riverboat gambling in Illinois and provides retraining to former employees, sailed out of the state government administration committee last month by an eight-to-one margin.

“Of course I expect the governor to object to my legislation,” Bradley said. “Just last week he announced his proposal to increase the state’s reliance on gambling. It is ironic that last year he attacked me because I wouldn’t support his tax and fee increases, and now he is claiming I want more taxes. He and I disagree on the way government should operate.

“For me, this is about public policy and what is best for the future of this state. This is absolutely not an attempt to increase any tax or fee on the hardworking residents of Illinois.”

The governor’s office then responded with a written statement:

“The Governor’s comments were not directed at Representative Bradley, he was simply answering a question about his position on legislation that would eliminate all of the riverboat casino licenses.”

4 Comments

Indiana payday loan reform works for consumers, business

Thursday, Apr 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

(The following is a paid advertisement)

The Indiana Law that resulted from negotiations with the Community Financial Services Administration, a payday loan industry group, enacted strong consumer protections and has resulted in a viable short-term loan industry in that state.

Contrary to the claim of opponents to the Monsignor Egan Payday Loan Reform Act (HB 1100), regulations similar to those proposed in Illinois have not cost jobs and business in the payday loan market. Since passage of the law, the number of payday loan stores has increased from 310 to 470.

In Indiana, like in Illinois, the CFSA negotiated in good faith. According to J. Philip Gordon, Deputy and Chief Counsel, Indiana Department of Financial Institutions, “It was the efforts of the CFSA that recreated the industry into a viable and law compliant industry that causes us little or no concern.”

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Question of the day

Thursday, Apr 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Which victorious candidate in this week’s municipal election is most likely to move up the political ladder? Why?

UPDATE: All posts about Peggy Fuller and/or her “enemies” will be deleted from now on. Since they can’t play nice, they can’t play. Apologies to those her minions attacked.

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Big money for big pharma

Thursday, Apr 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Apparently, he smacks them with one hand and gives them money with the other.

Despite his public criticism of the drug industry’s pricing practices, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been showering Illinois pharmaceutical companies with tens of millions of dollars in grants and tax breaks to help them expand their operations in Illinois.

Blagojevich’s office on Wednesday announced its latest round of incentives: $15 million in tax credits, job training money and other grants to Japan’s largest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. The company will use the money to assist with an expansion here and relocate from offices in Lincolnshire to a new, larger U.S. headquarters in north suburban Deerfield.

It’s the fourth time in the last seven months Blagojevich, through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, has awarded certain incentives to drugmakers. In all, nearly $40 million in incentives are being awarded to Takeda; Lake Forest-based drug and device maker Hospira Inc.; Deerfield-based Astellas Pharma U.S. Inc.; and the Illinois Technology Innovation Campus, a proposed redevelopment of the vacant G.D. Searle & Co. drug research facility in Skokie into a biotech center.

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Overwhelming majority of tax hikes failed

Thursday, Apr 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

From the Associated Press:

Two-thirds of the Illinois school districts seeking more money were turned down by voters in elections this week, an outcome that at least one advocate interpreted as a call for more state support.

School districts asked for permission to raise taxes in 69 elections Tuesday. They won only 22, according to figures released Wednesday by the Illinois State Board of Education.

In 29 referendums where districts sought to borrow money for construction or other expenses, voters approved only 12.

In all, 65 percent of the referendums failed, following a trend in recent years. Last fall, 75 percent of 51 tax questions failed.

Meanwhile:

A group wanting to change how schools are funded by raising state income taxes and lowering property taxes released a poll Wednesday showing two out of three voters back the concept, but Gov. Blagojevich was unswayed.

The survey of 600 voters paid for by the Service Employees International Union and the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability found that 69 percent favored the plan and 21 percent opposed it.

The March 2-6 poll was conducted by Lake Snell Perry Mermin & Associates, a Washington D.C. political consulting firm.

I’ll post the entire poll later today.

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Daley folds on casino

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Big news.

Mayor Daley is shuffling the deck when it comes to new sources of revenue for the city. He says he will no longer push for a casino in Chicago.

The mayor is folding his hand in the face of relentless opposition from Governor Rod Blagojevich who is threatening to veto any bill that includes new casinos in Chicago or anywhere else. Daley is saying for the first time a Chicago casino is no longer a priority or even something he cares much about. He is focusing his efforts on getting more money in virtually any other way for the CTA and the public schools.

“I want education in public transportation. That’s all we want. We want money for transportation and public education. Simple as that. If I don’t get a casino, so be it,” said Mayor Richard Daley. […]

Daley’s also willing to support virtually anything that will give the public schools more cash, including higher taxes or the governor’s plan to double the amount of gaming in the existing casinos to generate another $300 million this year.

“That would be up to him. He has to pass that. It’s a great idea. Everybody knew, nothing wrong with that. I mean, OK, he’s going to tax it. You know, just to get the money for education, public transportation, that’s what we want. Forget everything else,” said Daley.

Daley’s decision to stop pushing for a Chicago casino is bitterly disappointing to his partners in the lobbying effort. Jerry Roper from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce says you gotta swing for the fences if you want to hit a home run on the tough issues. Dennis Gannon from the Chicago Federation of Labor says the mayor should have had the courtesy to let him know he was pulling the plug.

In Springfield, Senate President Emil Jones is planning to push for a Chicago casino with or without the mayor’s help.

The mayor’s decision, if it holds, may breathe new life into the governor’s casino plan. The reason? It provides more money for the city. Still, it will probably have to be changed to pass.

20 Comments

Get well soon

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Best wishes.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert had kidney stone surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital on Wednesday, the day he had been scheduled to leave for Pope John Paul II’s funeral.

Hastert’s spokesman, Ron Bonjean, said the 63-year-old Illinois Republican was recovering well. Hastert was to stay in the Maryland hospital overnight and return to Illinois on Thursday, Bonjean said.

The speaker was expected to resume his normal schedule when the House returns next week.

Also, Rep. Mike Boland was hospitalized this week after suffering a nasty virus. Best wishes to him, too.

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Good news

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Illinois Republican Party has one of the best daily Illinois news wrap-ups in the bidness. Kinda like a free “Hotline” for Illinois.

The bad news is you have to subscribe to an e-mail version (free), so not many people see it. The good news, which I’ve just heard, is that the party plans to put it online soon.

I’ll let you know when it’s up.

4 Comments

Booed?

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Click here for a very long thread over at IlliniBoard.com about the governor being booed at the post-final pep rally.

(Hat tip to Illini Pundit for the link.)

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Monsignor Egan payday loan reform bill (HB 1100) shows government at its best

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

(The following is a paid advertisement.)

Since Monsignor John Egan sat with a parishioner in 1999 and heard how she was victimized by an unscrupulous payday lender, consumer advocates, community leaders and clergy have been fighting to regulate the industry. Year after year, theyâ€™ve fallen short of passing meaningful reform.

But last year, the Community Financial Services Association, representing lenders in Illinois and across the nation, sat down with consumer advocates to craft a bill to regulate this industry for the first time. The industry came to understand the need for stable regulation to protect consumers. Consumers accepted the legitimate need for the product and financial realities of businesses. Legislators, like bill sponsor Rep. David Miller, never quit. Negotiations were tough, often acrimonious; both sides gave, and the result is legislation that will protect consumers and the industry.

Thatâ€™s government at its best.

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More local elections

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

More local campaign news from the Tribune:

Voters did some spring cleaning in mayoral elections in the south and southwest suburbs Tuesday, pushing out incumbents in Alsip, Bedford Park, Dixmoor and Oak Forest, among others, while holding on to them in more than two dozen other municipalities.

In two major upsets, longtime Alsip Mayor Arnold Andrews and two-term Oak Forest Mayor Patrick Gordon failed to withstand challenges from opponents.

Andrews, 67, who was mayor for 30 years, was defeated by retired Alsip firefighter Pat Kitching, 55. Kitching, who during the campaign said the village was ripe for new leadership, garnered 52 percent of the vote to Andrews’ 48 percent, according to unofficial final results provided by the Cook County clerk’s office.

Voters in Oak Forest selected former alderman and city treasurer Joanne Kelly over Gordon. Kelly received nearly 70 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, in Bedford Park, Mayor Ronald Robison failed to win re-election to a second term, losing to Village Trustee David Brady, who received 54 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results.

And in Dixmoor, acting-Mayor Martha Loggins, selected last year to fill the term of Donald Luster, who was forced out of office when he was convicted of insurance fraud and failure to file state income taxes, lost to Keevan Grimmett.

Among mayors who held on to their seats despite vocal, if not stiff, challenges during the campaign were Donald Peloquin in Blue Island, Eugene Siegel in Chicago Ridge, William Shaw in Dolton and Don DeGraff in South Holland.

3 Comments

Hale sentenced

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

From the AP:

CHICAGO — Avowed white supremacist Matthew Hale was sentenced to 40 years in prison Wednesday for trying to have a federal judge killed — the same judge whose husband and mother were murdered five weeks ago by a deranged man who had no connection to Hale.

Hale, the 33-year-old leader of a group that preaches racial holy war, was sentenced after a rambling, two-hour speech in which he claimed he was the victim and even recited part of the Star Spangled Banner. He showed no emotion and sat staring at the defense table as the sentence was handed down.

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Question of the day

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

What was the biggest surprise in yesterday’s election?

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Quote of the week

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

From the Associated Press:

â€œOrange is now my favorite color,â€ said Governor Rod Blagojevich, who declared April 5, 2005 to be Fighting Illini Day.

Now that he’s so hot about the Illini, do you think he’ll answer questions about the chief?

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Thank you, drive through

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

This is what happens when doctrinaire partisans try to predict political outcomes.

[Regarding the Berwyn mayoral race] Virtually unnoticed in all the hoopla is the Republican candidate, Anthony Castrogiovanni. His campaign is invisible. But with a core of Republican voters behind him and the massive divisions within the Democrats, he has a chance to pull a really revolutionary upset and bring Berwyn into the Reagan Revolution. The only candidate without direct financial ties to the political status quo, he is Mr. Old Fashioned Natural.

On full medical disability pay from his job as a Cook County Sheriffâ€™s officer (he has Crohnâ€™s Disease) he has promised to cut spending and reduce taxes. A true heir to Ronald Reagan, 25 years later. And if the Republicans can get the turnout numbers that George W. Bush energized, he just might do it. And that would be a true sign that FDR Democrat liberalism is dying, both demographically and politically. A trend first publically visible when Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s son Patrick turned Republican and joined the U.S. Army!

Castrogiovanni got 2.9 percent on Tuesday. (Link found via Google News, of all places.)

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Scott loses big

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

With 100 percent of the precincts counted in Rockford’s mayoral race:

GLORIA CARDENAS CUDIA (REP) . . . . 1,367…. 4.08%
DOUGLAS P. SCOTT (DEM) (inc) . . . . . . 13,709…. 40.90%
LAWRENCE J. MORRISSEY (IND) . . . . 18,397…. 54.89%

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Naperville Township

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Rick Klau concedes.

Iâ€™m disappoointed in the results, but am excited about picking up where we left off to continue the hard work of building a party to speak up on behalf of the nearly 50 percent of the Township who side with the Democratic party in primaries and national elections.

Thanks to all who supported my campaign: I promise you, Iâ€™m in this for the long haul.

Class act.

1 Comment

Woodward trounces Democrat in Berwyn

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Huge, huge loss for the Democratic organization in Berwyn as independent mayoral candidate Michael O’Connor trounced Democrat Michael Woodward.

UPDATE: Dems got trounced in just about every other Berwyn municipal and township race as well.

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Completely down

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Cook County Clerk David Orr’s election returns website is completely down as I type this. Grrr.

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Another incumbent in trouble

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

With just 22.22 percent of the votes counted, Dolton Mayor Bill Shaw trails challenger Bob Watson 50.57 - 39.46.

UPDATE: Peoria Mayor Ransburg lost 55-45.

UPDATE 2: The Sun-Times website appears to be ahead of Cook County’s own website. They’ve got Shaw ahead 47.6 to 43.2 asa of 10:27pm. Not sure what percent of the total that is, but a commenter noted that the race was already called for Shaw by Fox Chicago.

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Election stuff

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Cook County’s election results page is not working well. Overloaded, apparently.

If you’re still checking the blog, use the comments to report results and discuss.

In the Aurora mayor’s race, it looks like Tom Cross’ candidate lost big. Peoria Mayor Ransburg is said to have lost, but haven’t found the link yet (just started to look). Republicans picked up the mayor’s job in Moline by a narrow margin.

Looks like a bad day for incumbents.

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Brutal

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Just checked the Rockford mayor’s race results.

Wow.

Mayor Doug Scott is getting his butt royally kicked. More in tomorrow’s fax.

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Election results Thursday

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

From an e-mailed press release:

SEIU will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, at the UNITE HERE Hall, 333 S. Ashland, to release the results of the childcare election.

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Quarters cops a plea

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Breaking news:

A former city employee who went to prison in the 1990s for stealing $4 million mostly in quarters from the Illinois tollway pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking payoffs from truckers who wanted city business and failing to report the bribe money on his federal taxes.

John “Quarters'’ Boyle, 45, entered the guilty pleas after prosecutors agreed to drop 11 other charges against him.

In the unusual verbal plea agreement, he made no promise to cooperate in the continuing federal investigation of the city’s scandal-plagued Hired Truck Program. […]

He had sought to plead guilty to a single charge Friday but backed off when prosecutors warned there was no agreement and they intended to prosecute him on other charges. The second time around, an agreement was reached.

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Wallflower a closet tax-raiser?

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Hadn’t really noticed this logic before, but WJPF News Radio has the story:

Governor Rod Blagojevich says a bill to sink Illinoisâ€™ riverboats is really an attempt to raise taxes.

Blagojevich is wary of Marion Representative John Bradleyâ€™s bill that would repeal the stateâ€™s riverboat casino law, thereby putting the stateâ€™s nine casinos out of business. Bradley says the casinos have hurt the stateâ€™s economy more than they have helped.

Blagojevich says the loss of casino revenue would hurt education and health care, and create an outcry for other new taxes.

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Good job

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Illinois Times ran one of the best interviews of a state legislator that I’ve ever seen last month. I missed the interview of Rep. Larry McKeon at the time, but noticed the link over at DownLeft last night. A few quick highlights:

After all, McKeon has for years publicly taunted his allegedly closeted colleagues in the Legislature, whom, he says, number about a half-dozen. He has claimed many times that he is â€œnot the only gay man in the General Assembly but the only one to tell the truth about it.â€

Stopping short of naming names, he adds that there are enough gays and lesbians in the Legislature to form a caucus representing both chambers and both political parties.

â€œItâ€™s already widely rumored and well-known who these people are,â€ McKeon says. â€œWho are they fooling, other than just themselves?â€ […]

McKeon says that he only wishes he could garner such interest from Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whom he supports but describes as â€œuntrustworthy,â€ â€œextremely poorly advised,â€ and â€œquite inaccessible.â€ […]

McKeon accepted a teaching a post at Roosevelt University but found himself increasingly unable to function. Thatâ€™s when he performed what he now refers to, with some morbid amusement, as the â€œstupid tie trick.â€

â€œI tried to hang myself on a closet rail with a bunch of silk ties,â€ he says. â€œAll I did was pull down the closet, and all the books that were on top of the closet, and ruin a very good silk tie.â€ […]

He describes Daley, who began his own political career in the Legislature, as â€œa short little dudeâ€ who â€œalways pokes me in the chest.â€ McKeon told the mayor about his plans to run for Kazakâ€™s seat: â€œAnd he looked up at me and says, â€˜I donâ€™t know anybody in their right mind who would want to be in the Illinois General Assembly.â€™â€

Read the whole thing.

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Question of the day

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

What has been the most wasteful expense of state government money in the past 20 years?

(Suggested by a commenter.)

(UPDATE (Suggestion): Y’all need to try to dig a little deeper. The world wasn’t created two years ago.

34 Comments

Slamma jamma

Tuesday, Apr 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Sun-Times editorial board comes down hard on pharmacists who refuse to dispense prescribed medicine.

Pharmacists should not be the arbiters of morality for their customers. Their job is to fill doctors’ prescriptions and provide clinical information about how to take the drugs prescribed. They should not deny women access to birth control pills because they believe using them is sinful. That’s not their right. […]

A few pharmacists see birth control pills and emergency contraception as abortifacients and therefore ethically objectionable, even though studies have shown that these pills work by preventing conception, that is, preventing the fertilized egg from being implanted in the uterus. […]

Many of the pharmacists who would turn down birth control prescriptions are also those who are opposed to abortion. You have to wonder, do they feel the same ethical qualms about selling condoms or filling Viagra prescriptions?

Meanwhile, pro-life pharmacist Rep. Ron Stephens plans to fight the guv.

A Metro East lawmaker wants to allow pharmacists and other medical professionals to opt out of filling prescriptions or performing other procedures that would compromise their personal beliefs.

His proposal responds to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s new rule requiring pharmacies to fill contraceptive prescriptions.

State Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Greenville, a pharmacist, said he was furious when he heard the governor filed an emergency rule saying Illinois pharmacies must accept and fill prescriptions for contraceptives “without delay.”

Medical professionals “should have the right to opt out,” Stephens said Monday.

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