Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Rep. Bill Black was hospitalized yesterday with a blood clot.

Get well soon, Bill!

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Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I received this e-mail today:

I too enjoyed the comments and was amazed by how rude some of them were (I didn’t appreciate those).

Why don’t you appoint an editorial board of sorts to screen comments? Ask for volunteers and impose a set of criteria and let that group (of your readers) make those decisions.

Just a thought.

I like this idea a lot. Any volunteers?

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Wow

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I give the governor a lot of grief, but this is a marketing coup.

Ernie Banks played shortstop and first base for the Chicago Cubs, but he’ll soon be pitching for Governor Rod Blagojevich.

The original “Mister Cub” has agreed to serve as spokesman for the governor’s discount prescription drug program. He will appear in a series of radio, television and print ads urging senior citizens and people with disabilities to join the Illinois R-X Buying Club.

Banks says he is promoting the program because it could help his friends and family members save money on medication.

I just hope the governor’s office finally follows the law this time around and doesn’t include his own name or image in the advertising. Nobody, even a Sox fan like myself, wants to see Mr. Cub involved in a scandal.

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Kathuria is back

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

It looks like Chirinjeev Kathuria, who ran a miserably awful campaign for US Senate last year and sealed his fate when he sued the Tribune for libel, is running for lieutenant governor.

Insert snarky thought here.

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Guv signs judicial bill

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

March 25, 2005:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Thursday that he was unaware of a measure designed to diversify the bench in Winnebago and other GOP-leaning counties, even though it’s been on his desk for more than six weeks.

“Haven’t seen it,” the Chicago Democrat said when asked during a conversation about an unrelated matter why he hadn’t acted.

“Let me track it down. It just hasn’t come to me yet. What does it do?”

The measure would divide Winnebago, Boone and six other counties into subcircuits for the election of some judges. Democrats backed the measure, which apparently is designed to land more Democrats on the bench in counties dominated by Republicans.

I’m told that the governor and his staff were briefed by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s operation long before he told this to the Register-Star. His self-professed ignorance caused a lot of eyebrows to rise in the Statehouse.

April 8, 2005:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved a measure Thursday designed to diversify the bench in Winnebago and other GOP-leaning counties. […]

If Blagojevich had not signed or vetoed the measure by Sunday, it would have automatically become law.

Apparently, he figured it out.

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Clueless in Normal

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Looks like this one is gone.

A campus environmental group is kicking off a petition drive Friday aimed at forcing a Joliet businessman off the Illinois State University board of trustees.

The Student Environmental Action Coalition will begin collecting signatures at 3:30 p.m. in the Spotlight Room at Bone Student Center. The group wants Gov. Rod Blagojevich not to reappoint trustee Jay Bergman because of his oil company’s environmental problems.

Bergman, a 1970 ISU graduate and a trustee since 2003, dismissed the group’s efforts.

“From what I understand, they are so far to the left they make Jane Fonda look like Ronald Reagan,” Bergman said Wednesday. “Their concern is to promote a radical, leftist agenda. I just happen to be their target this semester.”

The group’s push comes in the wake of a Pantagraph report in January detailing how Bergman’s company, Petco Petroleum Corp., is fighting an environmental lawsuit filed by the state attorney general.

Blagojevich’s office put Bergman’s reappointment on hold pending the outcome of that case, which stems from oil drilling-related spills of salt water last year in Fayette County.

Read the whole thing. This guy is truly clueless about public relations.

UPDATE: The college president rebukes his boss:

Illinois State University President Al Bowman issued a rare public rebuke of one of his bosses Friday.

Responding to a report in The Pantagraph, Bowman said ISU Trustee Jay Bergman’s criticism of a campus environmental group goes against his belief in “student civic engagement.”

“Although I have not spoken today with Trustee Bergman, I disagree with some remarks attributed to him in today’s edition of The Pantagraph,” Bowman said in a statement released Friday afternoon.

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Job offer for Doug Scott

Friday, Apr 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’m glad to hear about this.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday said he offered a job to Doug Scott, his friend and Rockford’s lame-duck mayor.

Blagojevich said he spoke Wednesday with his fellow Democrat and they discussed options for Scott within the governor’s administration.

“He’s got an open mind. Yeah, he’s interested,” Blagojevich said when asked if Scott wanted to work for him. Then, he added: “Whoa, wait a minute. Hold on. You know what? Hold on. You should ask him.

“We had a real nice conversation. He’s a friend, and I told him he’d be a tremendous asset to our administration. I asked him to be willing to think about whether or not that’s something he might be interested in doing and think about some of the areas that he thinks he might be able to make a contribution in. And he promised that he would think about it.”

I hope he gets a real job with real responsibilities. I know he kinda screwed up that mayor’s gig (or, at least, the campaign), but I still think he’d be a great asset for the state. Personally, I’d like to see him as a top advisor, rather than just an agency head.

I’d ask you what you think, but I killed off comments. I miss them already. Bummer.

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Morons and hooligans

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.”

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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.

10 Comments

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.)

19 Comments

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.

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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.

1 Comment

Question of the day

Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

What was the biggest surprise in yesterday’s election?

28 Comments

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?

18 Comments

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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