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She’s out now
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller The big hush-hush story of last fall was that right-wing, anti gay rights Republican Alan Keyes had a lesbian daughter. It was hush-hush because she wasn’t totally “out.” No longer. From the Equality Maryland website
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They’re just so darned cute
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller My Carbondale nieces, Rosalee and Isabel, got to meet Barack Obama today. Their proud father, Devin, sent some photos this afternoon.
All my nieces are unbelievably cute, by the way. I don’t play favorites. But these pics are politically related, so I’m posting them. UPDATE: A photo of Rosalee and Isabel made it into the Marion Daily Republican’s story about Obama’s visit.
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Ouch
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller The chairman of Rockford’s airport authority apparently doesn’t mince words. The governor didn’t mention that city’s airport in his State of the State address yesterday, instead throwing his support behind building a third airport in the south suburbs. Rockford’s airport is growing, but is still a backwater enterprise. “It’s hard for me to believe that any governor could be less informed about the potential of the Rockford airport than George Ryan. However, here comes Rod Blagojevich,†said Mike Dunn, airport authority board chairman. Harsh. Mayor Doug Scott, a former state Rep. and a friend of the governor’s, was more diplomatic (although it wouldn’t be hard to be more diplomatic than Dunn). “I think there are things the state will do with our airport, and the fact that it didn’t merit a mention in the State of the State speech doesn’t mean they’re not going to work with us,†Scott said.
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They want ideas
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller I hope they didn’t pay some politically connected advertising “expert” too much for this slogan: Governor Rod Blagojevich, Illinois State Fair Manager Amy Bliefnick and Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke today announced the theme for the 2005 Illinois State Fair and Twilight Parade — “All Roads Lead to the 2005 Illinois State Fair.” […] Get to it.
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Friday Topinka blogging
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller This surreal photo was snapped at a conference in Bloomington. It’s been hanging on Kurt Erickson’s Statehouse office wall for a while, and I thought it would be perfect for our weekly ritual. Many thanks to Erickson, the Pantagraph’s Statehouse bureau chief, and to Daily Herald state government editor John Patterson for scanning the pic and e-mailing it to me.  She kinda looks like the Wizard of Oz. “I’ll grant your wishes. But first, bring me the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West!”
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Yeah, but wait until they hear his lame jokes
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller If you can’t pass a bill in Illinois, maybe Vermont will cooperate (from a press release). Governor Rod Blagojevich today sent letters to Vermont House Speaker Gaye Symington and Governor Jim Douglas urging them to pass and sign legislation that would authorize Vermont to join the I-SaveRx prescription drug program. […]
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The QC’s Hatfields and McCoys
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Did Mike Jacobs try to end the feud between his family and Rep. Mike Boland (D-East Moline)? (Thanks to a commenter for the tip): Mike Jacobs said he hopes to bury the political hatchet with Rep. Boland. Um, I can. Mike ran an opponent against Boland in the primary last year, and the guy has already announced that he’s running again. Boland’s reluctance to talk might be understandable. But this feud has been going on for almost 20 years. Maybe they should both get over it. Jacobs will be appointed soon to replace his father, newly retired state Sen. Denny Jacobs.
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Say one thing…
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Buried way down in the Tribune’s State of the State story today was this tasty little tidbit (emphasis added): Perhaps one reason for a change of heart is the lack of legislative success that followed last year’s education focus, where he held up a sheaf of 2,800 pages he said represented the state’s burdensome school regulations. The legislature gave him only modest powers to reshape that bureaucracy. He complained so loudly about the board’s overstuffed staff, but he’s only managed to reduce the headcount by three? I wonder if gross payroll has risen, since many of his new hires were political hacks brought in at high salaries.
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Southern story outlines DNR problems
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Les Winkler at the Southern apparently never got the directive to go easy on the Blagojevich administration. Winkler, the paper’s outdoors writer, continues to complain about the governor’s cuts to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources budget. Winkler snagged an internal DNR memo with some explosive content. The memo, written by Mike Conlin, Director of Resource Conservation and Wildlife at the request of IDNR Director Joel Brunsvold, addressed the critical issues and concerns for Fiscal Year 2006. Winkler constrasts this memo to public statements by DNR spokesman Joe Bauer back in December: “We picked positions that we thought we would best be able to absorb with other IDNR personnel… That means we would be able to carry on the duties of those laid off with other people picking up the slack, in their respective departments.” But Winkler goes on to quote from the memo about the problems facing the department. The memo said staff and budget reductions would affect a wide range of services including: Reduction in fish production; deer and wild turkey harvest reporting; chronic wasting disease surveillance; natural area stewardship (including eradication of invasive species); and monitoring, management and recovery of threatened and endangered species. And it gets worse: “Staff levels are so low that we are being forced to think about giving up programs that bring in hundreds of thousands of federal dollars simply because we no longer have the staff to administer the program nor enough staff to implement the program,” the memo said.
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Not enough
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians is not happy (from a press release): The states went to war against the tobacco industry with a lawsuit, suing the manufacturers for knowingly deceiving the public about the harm of tobacco use and hooking people on a product that caused the premature and painful death of millions. In 1998, the $209 billion tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was signed between 46 states and the U.S. tobacco industry. […]
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More SOTS
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller If you missed the State of the State address, you can watch the streaming video or read a transcript here. Thanks to a commenter for reminding me about this.
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React
Friday, Feb 4, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Media reaction was decidedly mixed to the governor’s State of the State address. For months, the Southern Illinoisan has beat up the governor for ignoring its forgotten part of the state, but the paper completely changed its tune after the governor spent a couple of days touring the area.
It’s all I can do to resist calling the Southern’s staff a bunch of hayseeds for allowing themselves to be wowed by a single visit by Dear Leader. I definitely have to give credit to the guv for turning that paper around, though. Whatever he did, he needs to keep doing it. “Legislators say Blagojevich all talk, little action,” is the headline in the Morris Daily Herald. The best lede of the day was in the Sun-Times: Gov. Blagojevich on Thursday outlined a modest vision for the spring legislative season in a State of the State address that lacked demons as much as detail. Nice turn of a phrase. The Daily Herald headlined their story, “Legislators left looking for details.” The State Journal-Register’s story was headlined, “Low-key, low-cost plans; Blagojevich takes a more modest tone this year.” Its editorial was more skeptical: It always is difficult to critique State of the State speeches. It’s kind of like trying to judge a car by the quality of its wax job. We won’t start to see what’s really under Blagojevich’s hood until Feb. 16, when the governor delivers his annual budget address, where he will need to start matching dollars to his State of the State vision. The Bloomington Pantagraph’s headline was, “Governor sticks to positives,” but the subhed was, “Lawmakers: Address short on key details.” The paper also ran a positive editorial: Did we hear a new Gov. Rod Blagojevich Thursday? A governor more willing to be cooperative? A governor who singles out others for praise? A governor who is more punctual and more to the point?
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Thanks
Thursday, Feb 3, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Just a quick note to say thanks for all the comments so far this week. Also, a hearty welcome to some of the governor’s supporters who have finally begun to assert themselves here. I’ve been fascinated by most of the debate. Keep it up. (And I hope I didn’t just jinx this recent comment uptick by writing about it.)
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State of the State
Thursday, Feb 3, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller I’ll have much more in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax, but the governor obviously toned down the Elvis routine today. Maybe he’s finally listening to the roar of his many critics. That would be a good thing. What did you think?
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Longo holds press conference
Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller I’m amazed that he actually went through with it. And I’m not surprised at the reaction by the governor’s office. With a guy who has been knocked around by the press as much as Dominic Longo has, the most effective response is ridicule. A convicted felon who worked on some of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s past campaigns says the governor is defaming him and trying to hide their friendship.
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Rubbing his nose into it
Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller UPI/Washington Times has an excellent analysis of Comptroller Dan Hynes’ refusal to pay a $2.5 million bill for 256,000 unused flu vaccines from Europe. (If the link doesn’t work, just copy and past this into your browser: http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050201-031000-4302r.htm ) An attempt by Illinois’ governor to obtain unapproved flu vaccine directly from Europe at the height of last fall’s vaccine shortage has backfired, turning into a statewide embarrassment. […] Heh.
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“Not so fast”
Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Here’s the link to the Ungaretti & Harris analysis of Illinois’ new gay rights law that I wrote about today in Capitol Fax. Here, again, is the last paragraph written by the firm’s attorney Nicholas Anaclerio, which is now being used by the religious right to condemn the new law for allegedly forcing churches to hire and retain gays and lesbians: “Thus, while adding another protected status to Illinois’ Human Rights Act, the measure may ultimately force courts to consider and balance its ban on sexual orientation discrimination with State and Federal constitutional safeguards of religious freedom.” Go here and here to see how the anti-gay Illinois Family Institute uses Anaclerio’s analysis to tear into the new law as an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of religious institutions. (And, yes, it’s “anti-gay” not “anti gay rights” because IFI routinely uses terribly harsh language to describe homosexuals and homosexuality.) By signing into law SB 3186-a bill that, according to its sponsor, would ban churches from ‘discriminating’ against homosexuals-Gov. Blagojevich is signing away the First Amendment freedoms of churches and anyone who disagrees with homosexuality, Illinois Family Institute Executive Director Peter LaBarbera said today You can also go here to see a bunch of links to stories, blogs, etc. that are using Anaclerio’s analysis to bash the gay rights law. And since this thing is exploding all over the Internet, and because Anaclerio’s analysis is being misused so much, I thought I’d break my usual rule and provide a quote from today’s subscription-only edition: “I didn’t then and I don’t now take a position about whether it does affect the abridgment of religious liberties.” Anaclerio also said he is not claiming that the law is an unconstitutional infringement on religious liberties. “That’s not what I said. And I wouldn’t have said that without a whole lot more study of it.” Subscribers already know that there’s much more to today’s story which refutes the religious right’s contention that the law abridges their churches’ freedoms.
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