* DCCC 10th District: “How’s that working out for you?” - Fairly standard, looks almost cookie cutter…
* The RNC has a new anti-Obama ad that once again includes Bill Daley…
Script…
The Chicago Way. Shady politics.
That’s Barack Obama’s training.
His teachers?
Tony Rezko convicted of corruption, money laundering, aiding and abetting bribery.
Rezko got Obama in on a shady land deal.
William Daley. Heir to the Chicago machine. A top Obama advisor.
And William Ayers. Leader of a terrorist group that bombed the US Capitol.
Obama’s first campaign was launched at a gathering at Mr. Ayers’s home.
There’s more you need to know.
Lynn Sweet fisks the ad at this link. And here’s a brief, off-the-cuff AIM conversation between myself and a political consultant pal about the above ad…
CAPITOLFAX: why do the repubs keep putting bill daley in TV ads? are they trying to dirty him up before the ‘10 il election?
MY PAL: no
MY PAL: it’s a standard political practice
MY PAL: you need 3 things
MY PAL: 2 things just don’t work, so they’re reaching around for the 3rd one
CAPITOLFAX: but why him?
MY PAL: there’s really not anything else in IL that’s obvious to other people
MY PAL: and can be made dirty
MY PAL: If they put emil in there it’s a race thing
MY PAL: Rod and Rezko are kind of the best you get
MY PAL: and you have Rich Daley or Bill
MY PAL: Bill was a lobbyist, so you go with him
*** SATURDAY UPDATE *** Dan Hynes and Alexi Giannoulias were featured in a Newshour with Jim Lehrer report yesterday. Here’s the video…
* Obama responds on the Ayers stuff…
* Another whack on Obama’s Illinois state Senate voting record by an independent group…
Asked about the accusation, Obama’s campaign said the Democrat had simply registered his vote incorrectly and corrected the record that same day.
The state Senate floor transcript from the day, March 11th, 1999, includes this from Obama: “For purpose of correction. I pressed the wrong button on that. I wanted to vote Yes.”
The Politico quotes Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope” book in which Obama discusses the vote with media consultant David Axelrod after Axelrod has shown him some internal research…
“Wait a minute… I accidentally pressed the wrong button on that bill. I meant to vote aye, and had it immediately corrected in the official record.”
Axelrod smiled. “Somehow I don’t think that portion of the official record will make it into a Republican ad.” He gently retrieved the poll from my hands. “Anyway, cheer up,” he added, clapping me on the back. “I’m sure this will help you with the sex offender vote.”
* I was gonna shut down for the Monday holiday, but that wouldn’t be any fun with the election coming up, would it? We’re almost to the point where I’m going to keep the blog open on the weekends. Maybe next week. Not this one, though.
So, you’ll have to satisfy your fix with regular visits to Illinoize. And, hey, bubbas and bubbettes, go place a classified ad or calendar announcement at InsiderzExchange. Like I always say, it’s the place to be seen.
As many city homeowners complain about their new, higher property tax bills, Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday called on state lawmakers to increase and make permanent breaks designed to soften the effect of rising home values.
In Chicago, those property tax exemptions are being phased out and are set to expire in 2010 unless the General Assembly renews them.
The CTA’s announcement Thursday that the agency must hike fares next year was greeted with frustration by riders who are already stressed over the high cost of commuting and the ailing economy. […]
Free rides for seniors and selected other riders, instituted in recent months by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the legislature, turned out to be the last straw, they said. […]
“The CTA got a sales tax hike approved . . . [that is] more than enough to cover what was lost by letting seniors ride free,” Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero said.
The suburban bus line is looking at a 25-cent increase in fares, which would bring its base fare to $1.75 in a move to raise badly needed money, officials said. […]
Budgets are being drained by the increased cost of fuel and other operating expenses. In addition, sales tax revenue is lower than expected, and transit agencies are feeling the loss of fare receipts and state subsidies for senior citizens and the disabled.
Lake Forest-based Brunswick Corporation says it will cut 1400 jobs. The boat manufacturer says the plan comes as a last resort in a poor economy.
As the recreational boating market sinks, manufacturer Brunswick needs to find a way to make ends meet. By early next year, the company plans to shut down four plants and temporarily close three others. Brunswick spokesman Dan Kubera says boats just aren’t selling in this economy.
State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-12th), chairman of the Commerce and Economic Development Committee, also weighed in on the federal [rescue/bailout] legislation […]
“It is evident that HB 4050 that House Speaker Michael Madigan and I sponsored, and which Gov. Blagojevich suspended, was ahead of this crisis,” he said, asserting that the pilot program that mandated credit counseling for homebuyers in certain circumstances “would have protected many of our neighborhoods on the Southwest Side of Chicago.”
Blagojevich suspended that legislation at the behest of some ministers who appeared to be in the tank with predatory lenders.
* Blagojevich’s legal troubles and erratic behavior means his ability to govern is just about nil these days. God help us…
Sneed hears rumbles political fund-raiser/fixer Tony Rezko, who is now singing sweetly to the feds from his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, has been talking about his “dealings” with a Chicago bank, which has political connections.
The ads hit Morgenthaler as a “top lieutenant” of Blagojevich and accuse her of trying to help Rezko land a multi-million contract in Iraq. Morgenthaler called the ad “a blatant lie.”
Morgenthaler served as the deputy chief of staff for homeland security for Blagojevich from December 2005 until October 2007.
The ads cites as a source a letter Morgenthaler wrote on behalf of a company that had ties to Rezko.
Morgenthaler said she has never met Rezko nor accepted campaign donations from him.
“I don’t know the man,” she said.
And she said she had no idea that Rezko had behind-the-scenes ties to the firm she introduced to the Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity in 2006.
* In another race, Democrat Dan Seals blasts Republican Rep. Mark Kirk on the Iraq war.…
In a new broadcast ad starting today, an unnamed Iraq war veteran says Kirk was “irresponsible” in voting for the war and then voting to cut veteran health care funding.
“We fought for our country and Mark Kirk turned his back on us,” the man says.
Republican candidates Steve Greenberg and Steve Sauerberg along with GOP U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert landed on the Center for Responsive Politics list of “Wall Street’s Favorite Candidates” Thursday. […]
Greenberg, who is challenging incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean in the northwest suburban 8th District, was listed as the tenth highest candidate for congress in terms of Wall Street backing.
He has taken in more than $125,850 from the finance sector, nearly 20 percent of his total haul as of mid-year.
Biggert, who has a lot of banking interests in the west suburban 13th District, made the 10th slot for incumbents. The Hinsdale Republican raised $398,015, or 42 percent of her campaign fund, from the financial sector.
Meanwhile, Sauerberg took in nearly 16 percent of his campaign fund, more than $54,000, from the financial sector, giving him the 4th slot for U.S. Senate challengers. He hopes to unseat Democrat Dick Durbin of Springfield.
* Related…
* ADDED: Ill. Democrats expect boost from Obama, not magic
* Newspaper Endorsements Continue to Roll in For Mark Kirk
“Dr. Sauerberg would be a change in Washington,” Durbin said. “At least a change in face, but he would bring the same politics. It’s sad for students who are here because this is a debt that you will pay for.”
Durbin calls the gridlock among his fellow Democrats at the state Capitol embarrassing. […]
“This mess is our creation, Democratic creation, and there are no excuses for what has happened,” [said Durbin]…
Durbin said he’s tried to work more closely with Blagojevich on key issues, but doesn’t get his phone calls returned regularly. He said he doesn’t know what it will take to fix the problems or whether he or anyone else in Washington could help cut through the morass.
“I don’t know that I could ride to the rescue of our state government,” Durbin said. “They have to own up to their own responsibility.”
That may end up in a GOP mailer or two.
* On another front, here’s a quote from Sauerberg during the Tribune editorial board “debate” with Sen. Dick Durbin earlier this week…
Sauerberg acknowledged that Durbin has “done a great job on some of these issues” dealing with veterans.
* Sauerberg during last night’s Illinois Radio Network debate…
Only days after backtracking on questioning Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s patriotism, Republican challenger Steve Sauerberg reheated the issue Thursday by accusing him of actions that “embolden the enemy” and “put our soldiers in danger” in Iraq.
The facts are I go around the state and people question Dick Durbin’s patriotism. These behaviors are unpatriotic. I see the ramifications of his poor judgment.”
Sauerberg also supported his plan to eliminate Medicare and instead allow citizens to buy individual health care from private venues. He said this plan will give all citizens health care, regardless of preexisting conditions or health care benefits through employers.
On health care, Sauerberg proposed dismantling employer-provided health care in favor of an open market system that eliminates pre-existing condition restrictions and tightens a patient’s ability to sue their doctors.
But he offered no specifics on the size of the tax breaks and vouchers he backs to help the uninsured.
* Yesterday, the Washington Post ran one of the better analyses I’ve seen yet of Barack Obama’s history in the Illinois Senate. You should definitely go read the whole thing. While it covers some overly familiar territory (poker games, clashes with black Senators, white friends, etc.), it is overal quite nuanced - until it gets to the end…
There remained only one problem with Obama’s résumé, a rare hole the politician himself had never foreseen, friends said. Obama voted “Present” 129 times in the state Senate, all during his six years in the minority. His political opponents have used those votes as proof of cowardice. By refusing to vote “Yes” or “No,” they argue, Obama avoided casting votes on controversial issues in order to protect his record.
But Obama placed more than half of his “Present” votes along with other Democrats in organized protest of Republican legislation, voting records showed. Allies said many of his other “Present” votes reflected his tendency toward analysis and precision: He voted “Present” whenever he liked a bill but felt uncomfortable with its wording, they said.
“Nobody ever thought the ‘Present’ votes would become an issue,” Lightford said. “Obviously, he never thought so, or he probably would have voted ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ ”
Nobody thought the votes would be an issue because “Present” votes are pretty common in the General Assembly.
* I requested the following charts from a Democratic entity. The first has the summary of the top seven “Present” voters in the Senate during the time Obama was in Springfield…
As you can see, almost every one of those Senators is (or was) highly respected at the Statehouse.
Here’s the breakdown by year. Click the pic for a larger image…
Obama’s “Present” votes appear to closely track with other Democrats on the list. So, while Obama certainly had more “P” votes than lots and lots of other Senators, he wasn’t out of line with people like Vince Demuzio and John Cullerton.
* One more thing. Former GOP Sen. Steve Raushenberger has repeatedly made an issue of Obama’s “Present” votes and once told me that his total was nowhere near Obama’s. In fact, the Democratic researcher found that Rauschenberger voted “Present” 82 times between 1997 and 2004. That isn’t too far below Obama’s total.
* My Sun-Times column this week was written in direct response to a Sun-Times editorial this past Tuesday which formally endorsed a “No” vote on the constitutional convention referendum. The Sun-Times has always been very accomodating whenever I’ve wanted to openly disagree with the official viewpoint on their own editorial page, so I give them major props for green-lighting this piece, which actually quotes their own flawed reasoning…
“No Negro or mulatto shall migrate to or settle in this state after the adoption of the constitution.”
If you think Illinois politics is bizarre, nasty and brutish now, it ain’t got nothing on the past.
That above passage was approved by the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1862.
That’s right.
Illinois.
The Land of Lincoln.
1862.
The Civil War.
Amazingly enough, the proposed ban on “negroes” and “mulattoes” was drafted just weeks before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
The 1862 constitutional convention was dominated by radical southern Illinoisans, widely reviled as “Copperheads,” who sympathized with the Confederacy to the point of advocating secession from the Union.
Times were tense and very tough in Illinois at that time. The war wasn’t going well. Most of the state’s banks had collapsed. The Mississippi River was closed to barge traffic, so farmers couldn’t easily export their crops. Family legend has it that one of my own ancestors was deployed to deep southern Illinois to help quell an armed revolt.
Republican Gov. Richard Yates, a Lincoln ally, called for troops to patrol Springfield during the convention. Gov. Yates believed that the hated Copperheads might use the convention to mount an insurrection and seize control of state government.
Thankfully, the grave injustice and permanent stain on our state’s history was avoided when Illinois voters rejected that vile “Copperhead Constitution” during a statewide referendum.
Eight years later, a new constitutional convention was convened and Illinois voters eventually approved one of the most progressive constitutions in the nation. For the first time anywhere, the railroads were subjected to state regulation. The 1870 constitution is now seen as the birth of the modern regulatory society. Several of the convention delegates, most of them young reformers, ended up running for the General Assembly and swept the horribly corrupt old guard out of office.
Then, in 1920, Illinois took another shot at a new Constitution. The United States Constitution had been amended seven years earlier to allow Congress to impose an income tax. Illinois convention delegates followed suit by proposing a new income tax for Illinois. But voters overwhelmingly rejected the constitution during a 1922 referendum, 900,000 votes to 200,000.
It wasn’t until 1972 that Illinois voters finally approved a new Constitution, which was considered a model of progressivity at the time. As with the previously successful convention, the page seemed to turn on Illinois politics as several delegates used their newfound reputations as modern reformers to springboard to elective office.
There are two points to this story.
Illinois voters are given a chance to call a constitutional convention every 20 years. This year is the year. And after 18 years of covering Illinois politics, I’ve come to the firm conclusion that a constitutional convention should be approved. Changes simply must be made.
But earlier this week the Sun-Times editorialized against convening a convention.
“The dangerous wild card in all this, however, is not so much what a convention might fail to do, but what it might do. Once the Constitution is thrown open, anything goes. A woman’s right to choose an abortion could be curtailed. Same-sex marriage could be permitted or prohibited.”
That misses a crucial point.
Any proposed constitution must be submitted to voters for final approval. And after looking at the history of far stranger times, I trust the voters to make the right decision.
Also, both successful conventions sparked a new beginning in Illinois politics. The old guard was replaced by the young, fresh reformers who populated the constitutional convention. We need to turn that page again.
So, please, vote “Yes” on the constitutional convention this November.
* Meanwhile, retired public employees, particularly teachers, are being bombarded with goofy spamlike e-mails which trash the con-con and demand a “No” vote. Here’s the latest one I’ve seen…
CON-CON is the Constitutional Convention vote that will take place on the Nov. 4th Ballot.
One of the changes that the CON-CON will provide is the taxing of pensions in the State of Illinois .
To all my retired friends and those that will retire in the future, get the word out to vote NO!!!!! For those of us that get municipal pensions, our Social Security is already cut, thank you Dan Rostenkowski.
Do not let the State tax our pensions.
Tell all your Illinois friends that on Nov. 4th vote NO to CON-CON.
Let’s get the word out.
Thanks for you help.
Notice that the core message is that pension income “will” be taxed if a convention is convened. Ridiculous.
* Here’s another chain e-mail going around…
Another even bigger concern for teachers is that if Con-Con is passed our pension can be cut drastically or totally eliminated. They can vote to no longer fund it or to erase any of the monies owed us because it would be a really easy way to help balance the budget without voter approval. They would have free reign to do whatever they want with our retirement.
Any changes can be made to our constitution through the process of making and passing amendments and getting voter approval. With Con-Con they can just make the changes without voter approval.
That is a complete, utter lie in every respect.
Pension payments to current retirees can NOT be cut not matter what happens at a constitutional convention because the current constitution guarantees the payments as a contract. Therefore, that contract is and will always be binding on the state.
That other part about a convention making changes without voter approval is probably the most disgusting lie I’ve seen to date. As I’ve said I don’t know how many times: Voters get final approval on everything.
Riling up senior citizens with lies like this is absolutely unforgivable. The perpetrators ought to be ashamed of themselves. And I’m going to start calling them out in public by name and include their full contact information if this doesn’t stop right now.
Overall, 58 percent of the 1,000 likely Illinois voters surveyed by Rasmussen Reports currently favor a Con-Con. That’s just short of the 60 percent mark that would be required to vote “yes” in order to initiate the convention process. The poll found that 21 percent are opposed to the idea, with 21 percent undecided.
That’s just not true.
I was recently given the full poll results on condition that I not publish them. But if the supporters are going to mislead the public and hide the actual results, then I have no choice but to call them out here. This is the actual result…
2* Do you support or oppose an Illinois Constitutional Convention?
37% Support
31% Oppose
33% Not sure
* The pollster then asked a question about legislative job performance, a right-track/wrong-track question, asked if they are satisfied with education funding, and then posed nine “push” questions designed specifically to sway voter opinion in favor of the con-con vote. Here’s just one of them…
13* If you knew that those opposed to calling a constitutional convention have donated more than $10 million to Governor Blagojevich and the Springfield politicians since 2002, would you be more likely or less likely to support a constitutional convention?
Only after those nine push questions were asked did 58 percent say they’d support a con-con.
The point here is that there is no way on God’s green Earth that the proponents will have the money to effectively “burn” those nine points into voters’ minds by election day. No way.
“All these people in America are going to go out and vote on Election Day 30 days from now and the truth is that their vote doesn’t really count because it’s the Electoral College who will decide who the next president is,” LaHood told about 130 students Wednesday at Holy Family School.
Earlier this year, Illinois became the third state to support choosing the president by the nation’s popular vote instead of the Electoral College, which is set up by the Constitution. Maryland and New Jersey also embrace the idea, but dozens more states would have to join the effort before it could take effect.
Chicago motorists who get caught talking on cell phones while driving without a hands-free device would no longer lose their driver’s licenses, under a mayoral plan that would have spared a North Side alderman political embarrassment.
Last year, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) got pulled over and ticketed for yakking on his cell phone while driving. He was forced to hand over his license like thousands of other motorists.
Mayor Richard Daley declared eight years ago that Chicago would end “the failed policies of the past.” Yet a Tribune investigation found that the city has pumped hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars into housing complexes that preserve the very policies the plan was meant to reverse.
The largest is the Altgeld-Murray Homes, a sprawling 190-acre development built on the Far South Side for black factory workers during World War II. At that development alone, the CHA plans to spend $451 million rehabbing 1,998 barracks-style apartments, with politically connected Walsh Construction doing much of the work.
Despite the lousy report, Daley said Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi “has done a good job.” The mayor also denied union allegations that Hoffman issued the report to help Daley’s case for layoffs.
“We are going to identify these individuals. We are going to discipline and fire them,” he added.
The tough comments, typical for Daley after embarrassing news breaks, came after an Inspector General’s report released Wednesday blasted garbage workers for loafing in what was characterized as “systemic, pervasive” waste and fraud. The office spied on 77 garbage truck drivers and 145 laborers in 10 wards before drawing its conclusions.
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) is fed up with valet parking companies that damage cars, park illegally, gobble up on-street spaces and tie up downtown traffic.
Reilly wants to require valet companies serving Chicago restaurants, bars and hotels to provide enough off-street spaces to serve 25 percent of the establishment’s seating capacity. The current requirement is 10 percent.
ComEd has concluded that clout and favoritism played no role in the company’s decision to deliver a generator to the home of Chicago’s No. 2 man at O’Hare Airport to restore power during a violent August storm.
First Deputy Aviation Commissioner David Ochal resigned his $155,604-a-year job in the wake of the scandal, allowing him to escape a mandatory interview by the city’s inspector general.
Women enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program can receive insurance coverage for tests to see if they carry genetic mutations linked to breast and ovarian cancer, state officials said Thursday.
Chicago marathon organizers say they’re stepping up safety efforts this year. Runners last year said the event was mismanaged. Some complained there wasn’t enough water on the course despite record heat.
Chicagoans have a choice Sunday: either join the 1.5 million people expected to watch the Chicago Marathon — or try to avoid it altogether. But it won’t be easy, as 45,000 runners will clog up the 26.2 mile race course and more streets for a good part of the day.
