Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich continues to earn poor ratings from voters. This month, just 13% of Illinois voters give him good or excellent ratings, while 60% give him a poor rating. Blagojevich ranks as “Least Popular Governor” according to Rasmussen Reports By the Numbers.
[Emphasis added]
Another 26 percent rated his performance as “fair,” so using the traditional ratings method, we get 86 percent “negative”.
That compares to President Bush’s Illinois rating of 26 percent positive and 57 percent poor [with 17 percent saying he’s doing a “fair” job].
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is currently cruising towards re-election in his home state. The Democrat leads Republican challenger Steve Sauerberg 61% to 27% in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll in the Prairie State.
When “leaners” are included Durbin leads 63% to 28%.
The incumbent leads by over thirty points among both men and women in Illinois. Durbin is backed by 93% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans. Sauerberg’s support comes from just 68% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats. Among unaffiliated voters, Durbin leads 52% to 24%.
Senator Barack Obama leads John McCain 50% to 37% in his home state of Illinois, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state. When “leaners” are included, Obama leads 52% to 41%.
As in many states, Obama has a strong lead among women in Illinois, but not among men. He leads 55% to 35% among women, but just 43% to 40% among male voters. […]
Most (56%) Illinois voters see getting the troops home from Iraq as more important than winning the war while 35% disagree and think winning the war is more important.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) favor drilling in offshore oil wells to ease gas prices, while 32% are opposed. Forty-eight percent (48%) of voters think it is at least somewhat likely that gas prices will decline if this practice is allowed, while 41% find this outcome unlikely.
…Adding… Considering the president’s numbers, it’s not surprising that a Bush fundraiser for Aaron Schock will not include a public appearance…
President George W. Bush is coming to Peoria on July 25 for a fundraiser for state Rep. Aaron Schock, a candidate for the 18th Congressional District.
The $500-per-person event will be at a private residence. Couples will have the opportunity to take photos with the president for $4,600. No public appearance is planned.
* 11:08 am - The House is preparing to vote on legislation that would allow the governor to finish some of the capital projects that were halted earlier this month. The House Democrats initially said (and continued saying it right up through yesterday) that they were not going to allow the governor to proceed with the projects because they were not pre-approved by the General Assembly, but the HDems appear to have backed off.
Here is the list of projects that were halted by the Capital Development Board and here is the House proposal. You can find some background on this fight by clicking here.
* 11:21 am - The governor’s office defends the decision to not veto out pay raises for himself and lawmakers…
“According to state statute, the amount authorized per year for each lawmaker shall be increased by a percentage equivalent to a cost of living increase,” said Kelley Quinn of Blagojevich’s budget office.
But that view is far different from what Blagojevich espoused in 2003, when he vetoed raises totaling $791,000 for himself and legislators.
“In these difficult times, when state agencies are being consolidated, when the number of state personnel is being reduced — in short, when others are being asked to sacrifice — this is not the time to give pay raises to the governor, the lieutenant governor, to the constitutional officers, to the men and women of the General Assembly, or to the Supreme Court, the Appellate Court or the Circuit Court judges,” Blagojevich said at the time.
The Illinois House is coming back to work next week to determine the fate of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s massive budget cuts.
House leaders say after lawmakers wrap up a special session today, they’ll come back for session Tuesday through Thursday of next week. They’ll decide then how to handle the $1.4 billion in budget cuts the governor made Wednesday.
*** 12:42 pm - *** Apparently, Senate President Emil Jones was not happy with the City of Chicago’s testimony yesterday against the gaming expansion bill and the capital bill…
“We’re going to put a tax on the mayor,” Jones told reporters as he walked past the pressbox in the Illinois Senate.
This was after Jones said the city of Chicago should have to send money to Springfield to help pay for the rest of the state, a reference (I think) to the city complaining about having to pay millions for a state gambling license under the expansion plan Jones wants.
*** 1:24 pm *** The House just voted down part of the gaming expansion bill. The vote on Senate Amendment 3 was 47-55. So much for that one.
* 1:28 pm - The Senate Executive Committee will likely take up another bill today to require insurance companies to cover autistm. A previous bill was caught up in legislative bickering over whether to allow the administration to write administrative rules.
* 1:31 pm - After passing the above-mentioned bill to allow the stalled capital projects, Speaker Madigan announced that the House will return next Tuesday and vote on the governor’s budget vetoes on Wednesday. The chamber is in the process of adjourning.
* 1:47 pm - Speaker Madigan will hold a press conference in about ten minutes. Check back.
Blagojevich says it’s “mindboggling” Madigan has put all his “resourcefulness and cleverness” to preventing the House from voting on a $34 billion capital construction program.
*** 2:04 pm *** House Speaker Michael Madigan just told reporters: “Given the conditions here in Springfield, it is my view that the proposal for the expansion of gaming is a dead issue.”
* Asked about the governor’s claim that Madigan is setting up a post-election income tax increase, the Speaker said: “I’m not going to support an income tax increase during a lame duck session of the Legislature.” Asked about next spring session, Madigan said “Next spring is next spring. It’s a long time away.”
* 2:53 pm - The Senate Executive Committee passed an amendment today to restart the horse racing industry’s subsidy from casinos. The committee also passed a bill to require insurance companies to cover autism.
*** 4:42 pm *** Senate President Emil Jones just said that he does not intend to bring the Senate back in to session next week unless the House passes some revenue enhancers. “We do not intend to come back next week because we have done our business.”
…Adding… I think what happens now is if the House doesn’t pass revenue bills and the Senate doesn’t come back to town, the vetoes of the Senate appropriations bills will stand. That means some bigtime cuts for the AG, SoS, treasurer, etc.
* Imagine, for a moment, that a friend was visiting from out of state. Let’s say this person had never been to Illinois and knew nothing about our politics. Let’s also say that your friend asked you to sum up Illinois politics with one word.
Michael J. Madigan is an old-school Democratic politician, the kind that believes a good compromise is one that has everyone walking away from the table angry, but in agreement. […]
Rod R. Blagojevich is a new-age Democratic politician, one who revels in the spotlight, is prone to talk about “win-win” policies and is loath to put his name on anything that could lead to political pain. […]
And that, in a nutshell, is one of the key reasons why the two don’t get along - the eternal battle between an optimist and pessimist.
Patterson admits there’s lots more, enough to fill a book. He’s certainly right about that point.
Blagojevich is definitely an “optimist,” but sometimes that optimism is a bit bizarre. After getting roundly booed in Quincy last year, for instance, the governor’s face was glowing as he exclaimed, “We should do this every day!”
* Patterson also delves a bit into how the fight has been made so personal…
Blagojevich, on the other hand, often has been accused of making it personal from the beginning. As a candidate in 2002, Blagojevich criticized Madigan getting taxpayer subsidies for a college pal’s livestock show. As governor, he’s derided the speaker’s daughter - Attorney General Lisa Madigan - fired the wife of the speaker’s top aide and slashed funding for the Illinois Arts Council run by Madigan’s wife.
Madigan’s staff and some of his top lieutenants have been getting personal with the governor for months, suggesting or outright saying that Blagojevich has some sort of mental illness, for instance. The Speaker, himself, usually doesn’t sink to those depths, but his people are putting out his message.
Now it’s your turn to put both men on the couch and come up with your own explanations for why they don’t get along.
* The governor issued a press release yesterday afternoon slamming the House for not approving his revenue generating proposals, even though the House had scheduled votes in committee later that day and even though the governor had already abandoned his pension obligation bond idea, which would’ve freed up $400 million. The reaction from both sides of the aisle was swift…
“There is something wrong with the mind of a person that drags 177 legislators down to Springfield to do some work and before we have a chance to act one way or another says, ‘You know what? I am going to do these cuts anyway,’ ” said state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Evanston).
But the House showed some wiggle room in transferring about $500 million in special dedicated funds to pad the state’s general fund — but not before gutting the governor’s original version that already received Senate approval in the spring. Madigan said the intent of the revised “fund sweeps” measure is to show a willingness to work with the governor on the idea. (It’s a blank slate — they still have to insert the language.) But Madigan’s caucus wants to spell out which funds could be swept and where the money would go. Otherwise, his members object to giving free reign to the governor to sweep about half a billion dollars and spend it on whatever he pleases. Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat and point person on human services, said she would be willing to consider fund sweeps if it saved human services from the budget ax. The governor’s cuts on Wednesday did reduce funding for human services by $210 million, erasing increases for autism programs, substance abuse treatment and mental health services.
And earlier Wednesday, Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, made it clear the House would shoulder all the blame if it didn’t pass plans to generate more money and the governor was forced to make cuts. Senators met briefly in session Wednesday but took no action.
“If they don’t like the revenue that was passed, pass some other revenue,” Jones said. “But don’t sit there and put money in the budget for programs and tell people you’re going to do all these things but don’t put any money in the bank. That’s legal check-kiting.”
* Keep in mind that many of these “cuts” are actually reductions in proposed increases…
# $210 million for social services. Includes elimination of a 50-cent-an-hour rate increase for mental health direct-care workers and no funding increases for rape-prevention services and domestic-violence shelters.
# $100 million for senior citizens’ and veterans’ services. Includes elimination of expansion of the Elder Abuse Hotline and delayed payments for home-care workers for seniors.
# $230 million for economic development and transit. Includes reduced operating and administrative spending for the Lincoln Bicentennial and elimination of fare subsidies to mass-transit agencies to assist students and disabled people.
# $100 million for education. Includes elimination of grants for health-services education and reduced funding for community college districts.
Corey Novick, a former lawyer for the state’s child-welfare agency, is suing two aides to Gov. Blagojevich. His claim: They fired him in 2007 for cooperating with “the federal probe into illegal hiring.”
“Novick was questioned by the FBI regarding the state’s illegal hiring practices,” Novick’s federal whistle-blower suit states. “Defendants Robin Staggers and Victor Roberson ended Novick’s employment because of his cooperation.”
* To give you a bit of background, this is from a column I wrote back in 2005…
The Chicago Tribune disclosed the day before the governor’s speech that the feds had widened their probe of the Department of Children and Family Services with a fresh subpoena of hiring records and that federal prosecutors had sent an unusual letter claiming that “the government is conducting a grand jury investigation regarding allegations of criminal wrongdoing of Victor Roberson, Robin Staggers and Joe Cini in relation to public corruption.”
The subordinate told state investigators that Robin Staggers, the deputy director for human resources at the Department of Children and Family Services, hired people without having specific jobs for them, pressured an underling to hire someone and increased the use of interns who didn’t have to go through normal employment procedures.
* Blagojevich responded at the time to the revelation thusly…
“What we’re talking about here are requests for information, period. Nobody in this latest round of these requests has been accused of any wrongdoing,” he said. “Not the personnel director, he’s not been accused of any wrongdoing. Not his assistant, he’s not been accused of any wrongdoing. Or not Miss Staggers at DCFS, she’s not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
Look for the trial of Chris Kelly — a onetime top Blagojevich fund-raiser and adviser — to be delayed. Kelly was to go on trial in November on charges he cheated on his federal income taxes by paying off his gambling debts through his company, BCI Roofing. But his lawyer, Michael Monico, wants a delay until February because of other trials he has this fall, including that of former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak. Prosecutors would prefer January. A judge will decide.
That’s apparently why Daley is standing by his man — even after all of the second-guessing. Asked if Weis still enjoys his full confidence after six months on the job, the mayor said, “Oh, definitely. Definitely. He’s a very good superintendent.”
* 3:47 pm: The governor filed another special session proclamation today requiring the General Assembly to take up his line item and reduction vetoes, but he hasn’t yet unveiled any vetoes.
Here’s the proclamation. Page 1 and page 2 [fixed link].
* 4:16 pm - The Senate has received the vetoes for its bills, but the Senate appropriations bills were relatively small. Nothing is posted online as of right now.
The House approp bill was the big one, but as of this moment the House has not yet received the governor’s veto message.
* 4:26 pm - I’m not sure exactly what this means for our near future, but here’s a statement from the Senate Democratic spokesperson: Unless the House passes the revenue bills it will be difficult to override the vetoes.
Governor Rod Blagojevich has cut $211 million from the state budget by vetoing items that he says will impact programs he supports. […]
The bills Blagojevich vetoed were Senate bills. It’s unclear what the Democratic governor plans to do with a House appropriations bill.
Blagojevich spokespeople could not immediately discuss the cuts.
* 4:53 pm - A representative of the City of Chicago is testifying to the House COTW right now about the mayor’s opposition to the gaming bill. The city did not testify against the bill when it zoomed out of the Senate.
* Apparently the air conditioning in the Executive Mansion has broken down as legislators return to Springfield for special session.
Talk about bad timing. Some forecasts have the temperature here in the mid 80’s this week. This is ironic:
What’s worse, the budget problems might prohibit the state from immediately fixing the breakdown at the governor’s official residence.
Blagojevich stopped work on all new state construction projects earlier this month because his staff said language in budget legislation sent to him prohibited it.
Capital Development Board spokesman David Blanchette said that the legislation only pertains to certain streams of money and it’s possible the air conditioner at the mansion could be fixed using a different funding source:
“It depends on whether it needs replacement or repair and what potential funding sources there might be,” Blanchette said.
* Some events scheduled at the mansion for this week have already been canceled, and it is unclear if the Governor is going to stay there overnight.
When legislators were in Springfield for last summer’s overtime the Governor started staying overnight in the mansion after an onslaught of negative press for flying daily roundtrips between Chicago and Springfield.
Just the first weird thing to happen today as things heat up in Springfield…
* 3:38 pm - [Rich Miller] A new air conditioner is said to be on order on an emergency basis.
* There has been a lot of moaning over the Cook County Sales Tax increase, but aside from a Palatine secession, there haven’t been many policies discussed to do much about it.
Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn and Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool are calling for a state law that would give voters the right to challenge new taxes through ballot initiatives.
[…]
Claypool and Quinn are also calling for a constitutional amendment that would let voters challenge new state taxes. They do says legislators ought to cut government spending before asking tax payers for more money.
* In a new effort to break the impasse over the capital bill, Former Speaker Dennis Hastert and SIU President Glenn Poshard sent a memo to legislators reassuring them that their are plenty of oversight provisions to watch over the Governor.
Oversight provisions outlined in the memo include a “lockbox” that ensures earmarked funds will be applied to the program, a formula for distributing spending equitably across the state and a limit on initial bonding authority of $2.5 billion. The four legislative caucuses—Republican and Democratic groups in the House and Senate—and the executive branch would be assured equal funding for discretionary projects, the memo added.
However, there was one new provision that stuck out…
“Finally, it cannot be ignored that if the General Assembly believes the capital program has not been implemented as expected or executed in good faith, then it is within the General Assembly’s power to refuse to re-appropriate authority for spending in future fiscal years.”
* Speaker Madigan continues to get heat for his opposition to the bill, but as stated previously on this blog, he still has Mayor Daley in his corner:
“The speaker agrees with the need to try to put a claim on that federal money as quickly as possible. He’s said that for more than a year now,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat. “The problem is, with the gambling bill, they’ve sent one the city of Chicago opposes.”
As long as he has that ace up his sleeve, it is sure to be an uphill battle for the Governor.
* John Patterson also raises an interesting point that has been left out of recent stories:
Hastert also previously criticized Blagojevich’s priorities regarding the federal highway dollars, suggesting that money is already available.
Asked about that Tuesday, Hastert said it never came up in recent meetings with legislative leaders and the Blagojevich administration and everyone “acquiesced” to moving forward with a gambling-backed construction plan.
* Hastert and Poshard can continue to send memos to legislators and hold press conferences on the capital plan, but it is doubtful that it will change much. At the end of the day, it always comes back to that little trust thing…
Blagojevich set up the stalemate by engendering great mistrust, repeatedly going around the legislative process and constantly introducing big, headline-grabbing ideas that amounted to little.
Munoz, the father of Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd), admitted to U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that he knew photos taken at his shop were used for bogus driver’s licenses, Social Security cards and resident alien cards.
Recently, the governor was asked about Obama’s seat and he mentioned several members of Congress. He also mentioned Tammy Duckworth, the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs who in 2006 lost a bid for Congress.
“I’m just throwing names out,” Blagojevich said. He refused to say if he’d consider appointing himself.
Republican Martin Ozinga III said Tuesday he has raised about $800,000 since jumping into the 11th Congressional District race in April.
That early fundraising is helping him close the money gap with more established Democratic foe state Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D- Crete), who has been running since October. She has raised $1.27 million, including $400,000 from April through June, campaign spokesman Brian Doory said.
Halvorson still is expected to have more money on hand when both campaigns file required paperwork with the Federal Election Commission by Tuesday. Her campaign estimated it had $900,000 left as of June 30, while Ozinga’s campaign put its total at around $650,000.
Ozinga has proved to be a more nimble candidate than expected. He joined the race as something of an accidental candidate after the initial GOP nominee, Tim Baldermann, abruptly dropped out of the race in February. Ozinga emerged as the consensus choice to replace Baldermann on the ballot only after several other local elected officials declined to run, a delay that appeared to give Democrats the upper hand as the GOP scrambled to find a replacement.
Once he officially became the nominee, Ozinga relentlessly attacked Halvorson over her ties to Blagojevich and immediately proved his fundraising chops. Though he has the ability to self-fund, he raised $800,000 from individual donors over the past three months and is poised to outraise Halvorson in the most recent fundraising quarter — no small feat because Halvorson, who reported more than $678,000 cash on hand at the end of March, has been one of the top Democratic fundraisers.
By all measures, the race should be competitive. The exurban Chicago district, with its sizable blue-collar constituency, agricultural base and culturally conservative leanings, has been favorable to Republican candidates — it voted for Judy Baar Topinka, the hapless GOP gubernatorial nominee, in 2006 and gave President Bush 53 percent of the vote in 2004.
Halvorson’s biggest challenge is to persuade voters that she matches the culturally conservative sentiment in the district. Her endorsement by EMILY’s List, which supports abortion rights, could hamper her efforts on that front.
But she also has received perfect ratings from the local branch of the National Rifle Association, an important asset in the exurban and small-town 11th District.
* And the charges and counter-charges were flying yesterday…
The push to develop a Veterans’ Administration hospital in Joliet may be years away, but the movement received a huge boost Wednesday when a leading lawmaker joined the campaign.
U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, entered the effort during a press conference in Joliet’s American Legion Harwood Post 5 [with Halvorson] where he vowed to push Congress to see the facility created at what will be the former Silver Cross Hospital in either late 2011 or early 2012. […]
“This is the same Debbie Halvorson who took to the Senate floor months ago to claim that veteran home funding wasn’t a top priority. … Debbie Halvorson should apologize to veterans for pretending to be their advocate after years of shortchanging them,” Ozinga’s campaign said.
Halvorson said she was offended that this push for veterans’ care is called a political stunt. “This is about veterans, about my stepson. This is not about the campaign.”
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** From a press release…
11th Congressional District candidate Marty Ozinga released the first television spot of the campaign on Wednesday.
The ad will begin running this week on cable stations throughout Will, Kankakee, Grundy and LaSalle counties, which together comprise about 85% of the 11th District vote.
What do Barack Obama, the legislative morass in Springfield, and a constitutional convention have in common? A lot, according to United Power for Action and Justice, a Chicago-based social action network of 300 religious, labor and civic organizations.
United Power’s Gregory Pierce fired off a letter to Sen. Obama Tuesday. The first paragraph says it all:
“Our nonpartisan organization . . . was surprised to learn that David Axelrod’s public relations firm has negotiated a contract of at least $2 million to lead a campaign against the state’s best chance for change in 20 years — the upcoming referendum on whether or not the citizens of Illinois should call a constitutional convention to deal with the mess in Springfield. While your campaign manager is heading a presidential effort whose slogan is “Change you can believe in,” his firm is running a local campaign whose slogan should read, “Change we must fear and undermine.”
Marin continues…
Whether you’re for it or agin’ it, the reality is that for the moment, a Con Con is a long shot because opponents have more money and clout.
But the one thing that gives United Power and other proponents a fighting chance is the spectacle we will witness today and tomorrow in the state capital. There, the pretense of lawmakers in a public discussion about Blagojevich’s budget and revenue proposals will be followed by members of the governor’s own party led by House Speaker Michael Madigan trouncing them. […]
Meanwhile, citizens, fed up with being bystanders in this car wreck of a government, are stuck with skyrocketing gas prices, a faltering economy and a growing fear for their and their children’s futures.
