* Enjoy the debate. I’m gonna relax. Had trouble answering the alarm all week, so I’ve felt perpetually behind. Not sure why. Must be getting old or something. Hope not.
Anyway, blah, blah, blah, you know the Friday drill by now. Go buy a classified or calendar placement ad at InsiderzExchange. The place to be seen. And keep close watch on Illinoize, where it’s going on.
* 10:42 am - The Illinois appellate court has ruled against Blagojevich administration. The justices ruled the governor cannot expand, fund and operate a state healthcare program without General Assembly approval.
Ultimately, we hold, in accordance with the trial court, that, to receive medical assitance under [Medicaid], a would-be recipient must qualify under the limited eligibility requirements of TANF. As the FamilyCare Program admittedly does not limit itself in this regard, defendants’ operation of it is not proper under the statutory law upon which it relies.
The governor issued a “Peremptory Rule” back in April attempting to comply with the trial judge’s original decision, but that was tossed out as well.
* 11:09 am - This part could be very important to future cases. The appellate justices seemed to back the notion that the legislative Joint Committee on Administrative Rules is a legitimate check on the governor’s power, which is something the governor has forcefully denied…
Such a decision [to include permanent FamilyCare recipients in the “temporary” TANF program] is for the legislature… not for the executive defendants. […]
This, in addition to the fact that both JCAR and the Illinois Secretary of State have already twice suspended and prohibited defendants’ Emergency and Permanent Rules creating the FamilyCare program, raises severe concers - ones we find are more than sufficient to demonstrate, on a prima facie basis, that plaintiffs have raised a fair question concerning their rights as taxpayers…
With unemployment numbers up across the state, Gov. Rod Blagojevich Thursday blamed House lawmakers for not putting people to work by paying for a huge state construction program. […]
‘’Yet even in the face of soaring unemployment, the Illinois House has stalled the jobs plan that would put hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans to work,'’ the governor said in a statement. […]
House Speaker Michael Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said Blagojevich should have urged the Senate to approve the lottery plan [which would fund the capital spending plan] this week while lawmakers worked on other matters in Springfield.
‘’Maybe the governor’s not able to multi-task, I don’t know,'’ Brown said.
Federal Housing Secy. Steve Preston acknowledges there have been some people urging him to consider a 2010 bid for governor, but trying to resolve a national housing crisis and rescue the Republican Party in Illinois may be a bit too much multitasking.
“I haven’t ruled anything out, but I am really very, very heavily focused on the job at hand in Washington,” Preston told the Tribune’s editorial board on Thursday. […]
“I’ve had a couple of people tugging on my sleeves,” he said, declining to name them.
Despite his presence in the presidential Cabinet, Preston is not well known in the state and some Republican leaders privately questioned a potential candidacy. Others said he could be the political outsider that the state GOP badly needs.
It’s not just that he’s an unknown. He’s an unknown who works for President Bush, who ain’t exactly popular in this state.
Judy Baar Topinka actually led Gov. Blagojevich in 2006 post-primary polling. The guv’s campaign ran a TV ad linking JBT to GWB, and she sank like a stone, never to rise again.
* We’re coming a little late to this story, but a well-written AP investigative piece got a lot of recent national play…
Serious crime is up but arrests are down in Chicago, and some police officers say they are working the streets less aggressively out of resentment toward their new chief and fear of being second-guessed by him.
“People are doing just what they need to get through” their shifts, said Lt. Robert Weisskopf, president of the Chicago police lieutenants union, “and not any extra.”
The reporting did not rely solely on the word of the cops involved in what appears to be a work slowdown. Instead, the AP pulled up some startling statistics…
Through the end of August, the department made 103,589 arrests (not including arrests for outstanding arrest warrants) compared with 117,971 for the same period last year, according to the department. The 5,600 guns recovered is roughly half as many as police seized in the same period in 2007, internal documents show.
Bookings in the Cook County Jail - where the vast majority of inmates come from Chicago - are down, too. In all but one month this year, the number of people booked into the jail was down from the same month a year earlier, sometimes by hundreds, according to data obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request.
* This, however, is the most telling number…
But among the slew of statistics kept by the department are “self-initiated” calls, or those in which officers stop and question people about possible drug or gang activity. Department figures show the total is down by more than 3,700 from the same period last year.
* Anyone who skims through posts and comments at the unofficial, but very high-traffic Second City Cop blog can plainly see a problem. Cops, like soldiers, are infamous for grumbling about their jobs and their superior officers, but some of this stuff goes way beyond the usually expected complaints.
* The biggest complaint, at least publicly, is that officers believe Police Superintendent Jody Weis - the department’s first “outsider” who comes from the FBI ranks - will not back them up when they’re in a tough spot and treats them like they’re the enemy…
The mistrust grew after the department announced recently that every police car would be equipped with electronic tracking devices and officers would be asked to submit DNA samples at crime scenes.
“If you don’t feel your bosses support you, are you going to stick your neck out?” Weisskopf asked.
* But the police are also upset at how their union contract negotiations have stalled. From the Washington Post…
The slowdown is known as “de-policing,” and Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, says it could result in more crime and more guns on the streets. […]
In addition, there is bad blood between the officers and the superintendent stemming from negotiations over a new contract, which Donahue said “are not going well.” The main issues in the contract, which would replace one that expired in June 2007, involve pay and benefits.
Forcing union members to work that long without a contract can lead to all sorts of problems, including “work strictly to the rules” job actions. Much more attention needs to be paid to this issue.
The Chicago Police Department is down hundreds of officers despite pledges by City Hall to boost the force to combat growing violent crime, police union and department officials confirmed Wednesday. […]
With retirements, firings and resignations, the department is down 250 officers and could be down more than 400 officers by the end of the year, said Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing patrol officers. The department has lost about 375 officers and hired only 125 since the beginning of the year, Donahue said.
Mayor Daley is urging Iowa Gov. Chet Culver to pardon Chicago Police Officer Michael Mette, who has sat in an Iowa prison for nearly a year for punching a man who repeatedly attacked him outside a 2005 party in Dubuque.
“Mr. Mette’’s response to the physical assault he experienced was not pre-meditated, but merely a matter of self-defense in reaction to a very real threat,” Daley wrote in an Aug. 20 letter to Culver.
Some aldermen, though, are quietly suggesting that Donahue’s union could pay for a few more jobs if it were willing to give up a few costly perks. On top of their regular pay, officers receive $730 every three months for “duty availability”—that is, simply being on call, even though they get additional overtime pay if they actually have to take an extra shift. They receive another $600 every three months to pay for new uniforms, and they can take a check for any furlough time they deserve but don’t use. These benefits add up to about $73 million a year.
“Apparently the aldermen grumbling about such things don’t see the hypocrisy of their grumblings,” Donahue says. “The average police officer coming out of the police academy onto the force is going to make an investment of $7,000 to $9,000 dollars—the department doesn’t buy the uniform, doesn’t buy the guns, doesn’t buy the shoes. What would the aldermen say if we proposed cutting the money for their staff and expenses?”
* Mayor Daley ducked questions yesterday about the police vacancies, but promised to talk to reporters today. We’ll see what he says.
The last time we had a call for a Constitutional Convention was 1988. The Secretary of State at the time was Jim Edgar. I pulled the ballot page from our digital archives and found that the language contained far less, shall we say, commentary than the language on the current question. You can view it here.
“This was not an argument on the merits of the complaint. This was a first step,” said Springfield attorney Don Craven, who is representing nine Springfield-area plaintiffs trying to stop the move.
Three of those county employees receiving payouts even have some clout. Patricia White, Francisco Garcia and Mark Johnson’s names also showed up on the infamous clout list of Mayor Daley’s convicted patronage chief Robert Sorich.
One employee who lost her job in a departmental reorganization saw her duties shifted to a politically connected co-worker. The co-worker was supposed to be laid off due to 2007 budget cuts but stayed on after her personnel records were backdated to show a transfer instead of a layoff, according to Nowicki.
1. found in a trunk;
2. in Franklin Park;
3. shot and strangled;
4. missing from Melrose Park;
5. last name released a short while ago - sounded like “Sanes”
We’re going to go out on a limb here and say “low level Organized Crime figure.” We’d lay money on it, but our bookie hasn’t been returning our calls since… since… 13 September now that we look at our day planner.
“She was one of the ones who inspired people like myself to go on and do things,” says Carol Bease of Barrington, former executive director of the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce. “It was people like her that you could tell really cared about the community.
The Associated Press has posted a document containing the executive summary of a state-commissioned report on how many prisoners the Illinois Department of Corrections is expected to have to house by 2016 and the cost of accommodating them. […]
How to get to the document:
1. Go to this Web site: http://onlinenews.ap.org/state–ftp. (We recommend both bookmarking and printing this page so you have the directions handy).
2. Once at the ftp://ftp.ap.org site, you will be asked for a username and password. Contact the supervisor in the Chicago bureau (312-781-0500) for those details.
2a. If you have trouble with Internet Explorer, try using Windows Explorer (right click on My Computer and choose ‘explore,’ then type in the ftp://ftp.ap.org site)
3. As noted in the directions, scroll down to StateLevel and open it.
4. Scroll down again and open the IL link (for Illinois).
5. You should see choices for documents, audio and video. In this case, choose documents and look for the NATION’S BRIDGES-ILLINOIS folder. The XLS file is there.
* If any news editors are having trouble following those AP instructions, just click here instead.
In a lengthy report that was kept under wraps by the Blagojevich administration for over a year, consultants say the state will need more than 54,000 beds for inmates within the next eight years. Currently, there are 51,300 available beds within Illinois Department of Corrections facilities.
“IDOC would need another 2,735 beds by end-of-2016 to meet projected population demand,” the taxpayer-funded report notes.
Corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said the agency disagrees with the findings. He says internal growth projections don’t show a need for additional bed space. […]
The $411,000 study, which was completed in September 2007, was released at the request of lawmakers as part of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s push to close the 1,600-bed Pontiac Correctional Center, which officials say will save about $8 million over two years.
The department had previously ignored numerous requests to make the study public. […]
The report, conducted by Peoria-based engineering firm PSA Dewberry, found that even if Thomson is opened, the sprawling prison system will have a shortage of beds in the coming years.
* Also, just in case you’re looking around for it, the Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability report on the Pontiac prison closure is at this link.
“One of the most interesting findings from the commission,” [Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy said], “was the economic loss to the state of Illinois. In order to save $3.6 million annually by closing the Pontiac facility and opening Thomson, it was found that the state of Illinois would lose between $6.9 to $17.2 million in overall economic activity to Iowa. Even on the short end, it’s still a net loss for Illinois.”
“It can’t get any better than this,” McCoy said about COGFA’s procedures. “The COGFA process worked and the truth is here in black and white. Now, I hope the Governor will give this commission and this report the respect it deserves.”
* St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Pat Gauen takes a look at a section of the recent SP-D poll which asked people to choose their single most important issue facing Illinois. At the top (22 percent) was education funding, followed by expanding health care (21 percent), balancing the budget (15 percent) and rebuilding roads and infrastructure (12 percent).
I’d have guessed this was the top priority of a lot more than 9 percent, especially since our leaders in Springfield act as if it’s the mandate of 100 percent. Lack of revenue has impacted each of the “most important issues” that rank higher on this list. But barely a soul in the statehouse dares whisper the idea of increasing income or state sales taxes.
Then again, maybe legislators can eventually overcome their fear of an unpopular governor’s threatened veto.
LOWERING GAS PRICES, 6 PERCENT
The state can’t do much about that, short of decreasing its motor fuel tax. As much as lawmakers don’t want to raise taxes, they don’t want to give any back, either.
Um, Pat, lowering the sales tax on gas would result in a big hit to the budget, which could result in more service cuts or pressures to increase other taxes. Lowering the motor fuel tax would further erode the state’s Road Fund.
POLITICAL/CAMPAIGN ETHICS REFORM, 5 PERCENT
A brand new law takes effect Jan. 1 to keep business people from contributing directly to office holders who give them contracts. It’s the biggest campaign finance reform in many years. But this being Illinois, pay particular attention to the word “directly.”
No mention that in a state as supposedly corrupt as Illinois with voters pulling out their teeth in rage that this issue comes in dead last? Actually, maybe that’s why the SP-D poll found Blagojevich’s job approval ratings to be almost three times as high as other polls.
* Bernie Schoenburg takes a look at 18th Congressional District Democratic underdog Colleen Callahan’s new TV ad. Callahan is up against Republican Aaron Schock. Here’s the text of the ad…
“I’m running for Congress after 30 years as a farm reporter, mom and a businesswoman. My opponent is 27, but that isn’t the problem. He wants to sell nuclear weapons to Taiwan. He’s taken thousands in contributions from Big Oil, voted against money for families of soldiers killed in Iraq, and then voted himself a pay raise. At 27, that’s a pretty bad record. I want to go to Congress to fight for you.”
The “pay raise” vote, the Callahan campaign says, is a reference to House Bill 3866, which included money to fund a 3.5 percent increase in pay for constitutional officers and legislators in a near $60 billion state budget a year ago.
The Callahan campaign itself shows how its selective use of votes means the opponent can’t escape the venom of this ad. While it says he voted against “money for families of soldiers killed in Iraq,” the written explanation I received from Callahan campaign manager Terry Towery said the bill was Senate Bill 241, a supplemental budget bill with money for the military families. But that explanation also says Schock “voted against the bill because of the 9.6 percent salary increase for state lawmakers.”
So they slam him for approving billions for a state budget — which obviously included good things to help lots of people — because of some money for legislators. Then they slam him for a much smaller bill that rejected much more money for legislators. Quite questionable.
Aaron Schock says demanding repayment of an estimated $38,000 in city costs for President George W. Bush’s visit is just politics.
“The stunt that’s being pulled right now could have been done weeks ago,” the Republican candidate for the 18th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives told the Journal Star editorial board Wednesday. “It’s obviously a political move.” […]
At a news conference at City Hall, Democratic challenger Colleen Callahan called on Schock to pay the entire amount back to taxpayers. She said since the event was “exclusive” and for the purposes of Schock’s campaign, it wasn’t fair for taxpayers to foot the bill.
“Do the right thing,” she said. “Be fair and pay back the money.”
Regardless of whether they support state Rep. Aaron Schock’s bid for Congress, Peoria taxpayers should not be required to donate to Schock’s campaign. […]
There was no public component to the president’s visit; the public should not have to pay, period. The city should bill the candidate for services rendered.
A Republican campaign group stormed into a hotly contested Northwest suburban congressional race today with a “substantial” ad buy to help U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk.
Freedom’s Watch, which has connections to former top advisers to President George Bush, launched a cable ad accusing challenger Dan Seals of wanting to raise taxes.
The ad urges viewers to call Seals and tell him, “High taxes cost us too much.” […]
Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and other key Bush aides have had a controlling role in the organization, which does not have to report donors under federal campaign laws.
A right-wing, privately funded swift-boat style group called Freedom’s Watch made a $430,000+ cable advertising buy attacking Dan. You may have even seen their latest attack ad that was put on the air today throughout the 10th District of Illinois. Unlike 527 groups, Freedom’s Watch is a 501(c)(4) organization, allowing it to conceal financial contributors.
Freedom’s Watch is bankrolled by Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire Las Vegas Republican, and the group has been described as the successor of the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” group that attacked John Kerry’s military record in 2004.
* The GOP Team America blog has set up an anti Seals site which lays out the case that Seals favors higher taxes. Seals has his own anti Kirk site.
* Here’s the ad…
I don’t think it’s very good, but they sure are pushing a lot of ratings points.
* Related…
* Ozinga, Wallace back out of candidate forum: “We’re not sure exactly why he (Ozinga) decided to do this and make these accusations. It really was our intention and Governors State’s intention to provide an educational forum for the voters. People were looking forward to hearing what a fellow businessman (Ozinga) had in mind in serving in Congress.”
A source tells CBS 2 News Wednesday night that a team of federal agents believes it has the evidence needed to indict Governor Rod Blagojevich. Investigators believe they’ve established solid evidence of fraud and conspiracy.
However, they are not the ones who make the decision to prosecute. It’s up to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and the Justice Department in Washington.
Others have told CBS 2 that an indictment of Blagojevich is not imminent. No comment from the Justice Department.
Last week, CBS 2 reported that the IRS assigned three teams of investigators to the Blagojevich case. But the governor says he’s confident he has not broken any laws or rules. He says he’s been careful to file accurate tax returns.
I think I’d better make some late night calls.
I have been hearing for a while that an indictment is not imminent, so I’m not sure where this is coming from.
* Here’s that previous CBS2 report, which ran Saturday and was buried in the middle of their “Gov: Obama Will Regret Supporting Ethics Reform” piece…
Sources tell CBS 2 that at least three teams of IRS agents are now investigating Blagojevich. It’s a large commitment of federal resources. Among other things, they’re sifting through documents related to allegations of criminal wrongdoing by the governor.
* Will Governor Blagojevich mess with the supplemental appropriation and special funds sweep bills passed by the Senate this week and previously approved by the House?
The governor’s budget office [on Wednesday] found problems with $50.7 million of the sweeps, including $11 million it contends is not surplus, but already among general funds and budgeted for other purposes.
There’s $14.5 million officials say can’t be touched because of court action or because it’s for federal programs, $8 million that would be “borrowed” and further delay medical care payments; and $17 million from funds they say won’t be left with sufficient balances to pay for their intended purposes.
* Remember, Blagojevich’s adminstration also issued an unusually gloomy report the same day the Senate and the House cut a deal on about $230 million in spending restorations for things like CTA discount programs, state parks and historic sites, alcohol and substance abuse programs, etc.
And has been reported before, the Senate Democratic budgeteer claimed that the governor tried and failed to insert $45 million in addtional spending into the final plan.
…there’s nothing that would prevent the governor from adding spending for pet programs through an amendatory veto. That could force the Legislature back to Springfield to accept or override it.
[CLARIFICATION: I kinda breezed through that AP graf, but as noted by a commenter, the governor cannot add new spending to an appropriations bill. He can only reduce or remove.]
…because a legislative appropriation doesn’t require a governor to spend, he could sign the bill and hold some money back. He could refuse to open parks or historic sites in districts governed by legislative enemies.
* I just don’t get the logic here. The Sun-Times slams Mayor Daley for warning Wrigleyville taverns and clubs to cut off serving booze after the 7th inning during the upcoming playoffs….
Our nanny-state mayor is at it again, this time calling on every bar and restaurant in Wrigleyville to stop serving booze during the late innings of big Cubs games.
The very next graf shows, however, that the Sun-Times certainly understands the ugly situation outside of that decrepit park…
As if an hour or so of Prohibition-light will discourage the staggerers, the brawlers, the bawlers, the brayers, the upchuckers and the public urinaters. And that’s just the fair-weather fans.
* Yet, on the same editorial page, they endorse Sen. James Meeks’ plan to have Chicago Public School students hold hands in a ring around Cub Park during a playoff game. And here’s the kicker line…
(S)tudents will arrive at Wrigley after school and leave early enough to avoid the crowds leaving the park and rest up for school the next day.
Um, OK. But what about all the “staggerers, the brawlers, the bawlers, the brayers, the upchuckers and the public urinaters” outside the park at the taverns and in the streets while this childrens’ protest is taking place?
* Whenever your heart starts palpitating after reading a lede like this….
A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.
You should take a deep breath and always scroll down for the buried nugget…
Madigan’s office has notified Obama’s presidential campaign of the probe, which was launched this week. But Obama’s actions in awarding the money are not a focus of the investigation, Smith said.
After helping Cicero’s town president win a close election, political strategist Dan Proft received no-bid contracts worth $578,000 a year to serve as the mouthpiece for the town and two local school districts.
Not only is Proft’s firm receiving $180,000 a year to boost Cicero Town President Larry Dominick’s agenda, but the town—in a highly unusual move—also agreed to pay the company another $308,000 a year to promote the new Municipal Complex.
Proft argues that if ever a town needed positive public relations, it’s Cicero.
Scroll way down to almost the very bottom and you’ll see this…
Proft said the town will spend less than 1 percent of the project’s $60 million budget on public relations. The contract will expire next month when the municipal complex is complete.
The money Urquhart collects is not pure profit, he said, noting it is distributed to subcontractors and a staff of three in addition to paying for the expertise of Proft and his partner, Jeff Davis.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration said Wednesday that it has taken the first formal steps toward recovering a $1 million grant given to a politically connected private school that has yet to open its doors.
The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity wrote to officials at the Loop Lab School and told them they were in violation of their grant agreement.
Scrolling downwards…
But school officials have said Blagojevich himself promised the money to them, and have publicly thanked the governor for his kindness.
The school used the money to buy the second floor in a downtown office building near the Sears Tower and renovate the space for classrooms.
Aside from the general cover-up in this thing, how is the state gonna get its money if it’s already been spent? Are we as taxpayers going to own that second floor now?
*** UPDATE 2 *** A funny example from the New York Times…
CHICAGO — In this state with a history of corruption at the highest levels of government and little history of meaningful reform, lawmakers and the governor have embarked on a sudden, surprising scurry to enact ethics legislation this week.
Scroll down…
Further, some said they were certain that it would die in the House, where the leader, John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.
Fritchey is the leader of the House, eh? Anybody tell Madigan yet?
After reviewing regulations the state health department proposed to process smoking cases, however, Hollerich said it appeared that local law enforcement agencies only had the authority to report the results of compliance checks to the state, not to bring charges in circuit courts.
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority chief Brian McPartlin is expected to announce his resignation today after running the state’s tollway for just under two years, sources told the Daily Herald.
“I am not breaking any laws or any ethics rules,” Alvarez said during a joint meeting with Peraica before the Tribune’s editorial board. “Maybe it’s not good enough, but I think the real issues that are affecting the county today are not whether or not my friend for 20 years gave me $50. It’s about guns and gangs and drugs and the violence that’s permeating this city.”
FITZGERALD: The biggest threat to community relations is having people dominated by a gang, who can’t go to school and work and do what they want to do. And if there’s gangs in neighborhoods, we’re going after them. If the gang’s in Little Village, we’ll go after there them. If the gangs move to Evanston, we’ll do them in Evanston. If they move to the Gold Coast or if they move to Wilmette, we’ll go after gangs where they are.
“This decision puts the interests of utilities ahead of consumers at a time when Illinois families can least afford it,” Madigan said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this decision is yet another example of the Illinois Commerce Commission approving higher rates for utilities and giving consumers the short end of the stick.”
The CTA began testing the cars Sept. 12 on the Brown Line. The transit agency pulled 12 to 14 seats out of the cars to accommodate an extra 20 standing riders during rush hour.
Unified support also represents a positive sign in state politics, said Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville.
“It seems to be the one bright spot in the last year and a half or so,” he said, adding support for coal has united downstate Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly, as well as top administration.
