* Haven’t felt well all week, but hopefully things have turned the corner. At least there’s no session next week. Anyway, have a good one. Head to Illinoize for more.
* Rezko got his wish, so this one’s for him…
Well, if they freed me from this prison,
If that railroad train was mine,
I bet I’d move it on a little,
Farther down the line,
Far from Folsom Prison,
That’s where I want to stay,
And I’d let that lonesome whistle,
Blow my Blues away.
* When testimony concludes today, Judge Amy St. Eve will decide whether Tony Rezko should be released on bond. He’s been in jail since he was arrested Jan. 28.
It’s unclear what her decision might be, but this may possibly offer some insight:
Though the circumstances are different in the Rezko case, St. Eve is the same judge who allowed bond for two defendants accused of having ties to Hamas terror funding. St. Eve allowed the two free on bond despite passioned pleas from the prosecution to keep them behind bars so they wouldn’t flee.
Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar didn’t flee and were ultimately convicted on lesser charges. During and before trial, St. Eve set tight restrictions on the two, including house arrest and requiring a GPS monitoring bracelet for Ashqar.
* Prosecutors have called Scott Parrish to the stand. He was a private-equity investment officer for the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System when Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko were allegedly corrupting the state pension board and steering investments to firms in exchange for kickbacks.
Parrish is giving the jury background information on how TRS was supposed to work. He said he oversaw investments and was a contact for investment firms interested in doing business with TRS:
He would contact fund managers and ask them to come in for meetings if TRS was interested in their investment proposal.
Jon Bauman, TRS executive director, would make recommendations to the board on proposals that the staff found to be acceptable, Parrish said. Bauman was the “final editor” of material that would be submitted to the TRS board for review.
* Levine previously testified on how his control over Bauman helped him steer business to firms willing to pay bogus finder’s fees. One such firm was Glencoe Capital. Parrish testified that Bauman asked him to contact the firm around 2002.
More to come later….
*** UPDATE *** 12:40 - Testimony has now concluded for the day. St. Eve is going to handle a sentencing in another case and then get back to the question of Rezko’s possible release. She has asked Rezko’s lawyer to be prepared with a figure that represents the total value of all the properties being pledged for bail.
The Tribune points to this prior action by the court:
St. Eve rejected his explanations for a $3.5 million wire transfer he received from Lebanon in 2007. The overseas money was sent on Rezko’s behalf after Rezko had told the court he had no access to funds from abroad.
* Check back with the blog to see St. Eve’s decision.
*** UPDATE *** 2:25 - This just in, Tony Rezko will be released from jail on $8 million bond:
Rezko’s lawyers proposed and the judge ordered that he be released to home detention on electronic monitors. He and his wife offered to post $350,000 in cash to ensure he would not flee. In addition, properties with a combined equity of $8 million were also be pledged to secure his bail.
* The decision came after 30 individuals pledged equity in their homes to secure Rezko’s bond. It appears that behind closed doors, St. Eve has cleared up some issues tied to a $3.8 million wire transfer Rezko didn’t disclose to the court last year. Most of that money went toward legal fees, according to the Judge.
“My decision is based in part in the significant number of individuals from the community coming forward, knowing full well that they will lose it if you fail to come to court and comply with conditions of the bond,” St. Eve said.
If Rezko flees: “You will leave me no choice to foreclose on these 30 individuals and take, what is in some instances, is their entire life savings,” she said. “$8 million Is a very very high bond. Certainly one of the higher I have ever seen set in this building.”
* Nobody wants to see a repeat of NIU, or Columbine, or whatever, but WBBM Radio has a good piece on the wave of recent school closures…
A rash of threats at Chicago area schools has prompted administrators to cancel classes recently, but it’s tough to tell what’s a legitimate precursor to violence or just some kids trying to get out of class.
Brett Sokolow tries to help universities train staff to identify credible threats and mitigate problems before they get to the point of menacing messages on bathroom stalls. […]
Sokolow says credible threats are often repeated and have lots of details.
Founder of the Center for Aggression Management John Byrnes says lots of schools overact by closing campus because they don’t know what they’re looking for and they’re worried about legal liability.
He says looking for aggressive students through body language would cause authorities to miss cold, calculating types like Cho Seung-Hui, who killed 32 students at Virginia Tech.
* I was talking with some pals this week who told me that when they were in high school together, somebody shot a teacher and the students were told to get back to class and not talk to the media.
Things would be much different today.
* The question: Can we be too careful? Or is the rash of closures prudent?
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, never shy about using taxpayer resources to push his agenda, is once again marshaling state employees to build backing for his budget proposals, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The administration is contacting social service providers and advocates to drum up support, officials confirmed, raising concerns among some that the groups could feel pressure to back the governor.
They have to fill out “endorsement forms,” are given a sample letter and then must return everything to the state, obviously so their participation can be verified.
“When you’re beholden to the state, when the individuals being solicited have an interest in government business, or a state contract, are they free to disagree or ignore it?” [Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association] said. “Given the history of the state of Illinois, you can’t pretend that isn’t a concern.”
It must be particularly worrisome to state contractors getting a call from the governor, Stewart said, when newspapers are full of testimony from the ongoing federal fraud trial of Blagojevich friend and fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko. He is accused of conspiring to squeeze companies seeking state business for kickbacks and campaign contributions to the Democratic governor. Blagojevich is not charged with any wrongdoing.
All true.
Everybody knows by now that Blagojevich can be a vindictive sonofagun, so I’ll bet they get a lot of responses.
Fairfield High School Supt. David Savage reports that the State of Illinois plans to hold up distribution of the last two state aid payments so that the money will fall into the next fiscal year. The shortfall will cause the district to fall into the red this fiscal year by as much as $120,000.
This involves hundreds of millions of dollars, but it’s mostly an accounting move by the state. Move distributions that were supposed to out in late June (current fiscal year) to July (next fiscal year).
However, it irritates schools because if the state never catches up, the net result is a cut in school funding.
Coming off a big primary win and comparatively small fund-raising report, Republican challenger Steve Greenberg finds himself without a campaign manager in the race to unseat U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean in the 8th District.
Brad Goodman left the campaign’s top staff position this week, and Greenberg said it will be “a few months” before he names an official replacement to lead the general election effort.
A few months? Wow.
Greenberg’s latest fundraising report showed he had just $5,000 in cash on hand. Bean had $1.4 million.
It’s not like he has much of a chance against Melissa Bean, but this is ridiculous.
Greenberg insisted the numbers in his latest FEC report and the staffing change aren’t that important.
“The election isn’t won in April. The election is won in November,” he said.
The election isn’t won if you have a campaign like that.
* Meanwhile, in another congressional race, the Tribune socked it to Debbie Halvorson for, um, supporting the Tribune’s position…
Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete), who’s hoping to succeed Republican Jerry Weller in Congress, told the Tribune she was ready to vote [in committee] to send the [recall proposal] to the full Senate. […]
But there was no committee vote. Bad move: If Halvorson and Silverstein don’t see to it that Illinoisans get a November vote on a recall amendment, they risk the kind of blowback that would spare them from having to measure for drapes on Capitol Hill.[…]
Ms. Halvorson, Mr. Silverstein, if your timidity deprives citizens of a vote on a recall amendment, you’re going to hear questions about that again and again. People who don’t know you very well will weigh your answers and decide whether you have what a job in Congress demands.
In a way, this is a crock. The sponsor controls the bill, and the sponsor did not want to move the constitutional amendment to the floor.
However, not mentioned by the Tribune is that Halvorson’s Rules Committee has refused a request by Rep. Jack Franks to change sponsorship. In the past, those requests were often granted. No longer. Senate bill-jacking has become a common occurrence these days, upheld by Halvorson’s Rules Committee.
* Sometimes, the big guys can surprise you. Take, for instance, today’s Chicago Tribune editorial about the potential sale of Wrigley Field to the state.
I had figured that Mother Tribune would go all medieval on Illinois legislators in order to force them to approve the sale, just like they did with lights at Wrigley Field. Back then, the editorial page labeled recalcitrant aldermen ‘’boneheads'’ and ‘’political bums” for refusing to go along with the program.
Today was different, though. Here’s part of the editorial…
Neither the Cell nor Soldier Field was a matter of magnitude to Tribune Co. and its thousands of employees.
By contrast, the potential public purchase of Wrigley Field is.
In this case, we haven’t found a way to work around the financial implications for ourselves of such a deal, or to divorce ourselves from them. Hence, our recusal.
In an about-face, Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell said he may end up selling the Cubs and Wrigley Field as a package, despite months of negotiations to split the assets in a bid to maximize his take from the deal.
If a politician had waited and waited until making a decision, then finally made one when it might very well be moot, he’d probably be ridiculed by the Trib. So, I guess the attaboy shouldn’t be all that intense.
Then again, this has to be welcomed news for legislators who worried that the ivory towered paper was going to slam them every day about the sale.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried a new tactic Thursday afternoon when asked by reporters about testimony at a federal corruption trial that he offered to trade state business for national fund-raising assistance: he summoned schoolchildren and tourists.
“Kids, where are you when … I need you,” said Blagojevich, laughing and motioning to the bright yellow-shirted children to gather around him outside of his Capitol office. “Come on over. Come visit. Come on over.” […]
Asked to explain his approach to campaign fundraising, Blagojevich kept turning to children and other visitors saying, “How you been? How are you? Hi. How you guys? How are you? How you guys doing? […]
Pressed on whether he denied what [Rezko prosecution witness Joe Cari] said on the witness stand, Blagojevich said: “No such conversations took place—like that. Let me say it again: No such conversations like that took place.”
[Photos via OneMan, who was in Springfield this week and was invited into the govenror’s office after the presser with his daughter, Morgan.]
* The governor had just left a meeting with some of the legislative leaders and Denny Hastert about a capital plan. Hastert had this to say…
“Our next step is to look at possible revenue sources,” said former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who attended the meeting. Hastert and Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard were appointed by Blagojevich to bring lawmakers together on a construction program.
Hastert declined to discuss specific funding options, but said a gambling expansion bill passed by the Senate last year is “a good place to start.”
* Blagojevich claimed that everyone agrees they need to spend $25 billion, but, wait…
Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, said the $25 billion figure isn’t necessarily the bottom line. That will be determined by how much state money leaders agree to put into the program, she said.
* The governor wants to lease the state Lottery to pay for much of the capital spending plan…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is launching his 2008 public relations campaign to convince lawmakers to lease the Illinois Lottery to a private contractor as a way to drum up billions in immediate revenue.
Yet there is still little indication that the proposal has the necessary support in the House, where the idea went nowhere last summer.
Blagojevich’s budget team pitched the idea Thursday in a conference call with the Tribune’s editorial board. The governor’s team said a lease arrangement could generate $7 billion in upfront cash to help pay for a capital construction program, which has been stalled in Springfield.
“Stalled” is a polite way of saying, “very nearly dead.” Why? Well, here’s just one reason…
Charles Hannon [testified today that] Rezko offered he and his wife, Fortunee Massuda, a quid pro quo involving Gov. Blagojevich’s controversial proposal to lease the Thompson Center. Rezko, who at the time owed the couple $7 million, offered to sign on Massuda as a consultant for whomever signed up to lease the State of Illinois Building — known as the Thompson Center.
Despite the fact that it is owed more than $200,000 by the owners of the Eagle Creek Resort on Lake Shelbyville, the Shelby County Board wants the financially troubled resort to keep the doors open.
…this week he stomped on a compromise that Northfield Village President John Birkenbine has been negotiating for several years and slammed a couple of extra lanes (with a cost of $4 million to state taxpayers) along Willow Road.
DeShana Forney, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, announced Wednesday that the Illinois Homeowner Assistance Initiative has a pool of $310 million, up from $200 million when the program was created in February.
A unanimous court has decreed the 1999 law violated due process rights. A ruling released Thursday says it’s unreasonable to expect a motorist driving a car with a secret compartment is doing something illegal. […]
The law was adopted to help police fight gangs who authorities said stashed guns and drugs in the hidden spaces.
Two former aides to Mayor Richard Daley—Robert Sorich and Patrick Slattery—must report to prison Monday unless an appellate court intervenes, a federal judge ruled Thursday morning.
Witness Chuck Hannon testifies that Tony Rezko told him he periodically hired professionals to check if his phone was tapped.
Hannon told of another interesting conversation allegedly that took place between himself and Rezko in Rezko’s home.
“He asked me if I knew that even that my cell pone was turned off, conversations could be listened to. I said, really? That strikes me … I was surprised,” Hannon said.
Charles Hannon [testified today that] Rezko offered he and his wife, Fortunee Massuda, a quid pro quo involving Gov. Blagojevich’s controversial proposal to lease the Thompson Center. Rezko, who at the time owed the couple $7 million, offered to sign on Massuda as a consultant for whomever signed up to lease the State of Illinois Building — known as the Thompson Center.
* Here are some audio clips from yesterday’s Senate Executive Committee hearing on recall, kindly provided by our great friend Ben Yount of Metronetworks…
* Pat Quinn vs. Sen. Trotter and Senate President Jones, while Chairman Silverstein tries to maintain order…
[audio:QuinnandJonesRecall4-16.mp3]
* Senate President Jones, Sen. Trotter and Quinn go at it some more, and Chairman Silverstein’s “circus” comment…
[audio:RecallCircus416.mp3]
* Sens. Iris Martinez and Rickey Hendon go after Rep. Franks…
[audio:MartinezandRecall416.mp3]
* Rep. Jack Franks makes his case and is hammered, while Senate Majority Leader Halvorson asks for a floor debate, but Trotter says he will hold the bill in committee…
State senators advanced legislation Wednesday to allow Illinois voters to say whether the state should put a graduated income tax instead of the current flat tax. […]
Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) called the flat tax—which is 3 percent for individuals—unfair and regressive. He maintained putting the measure before voters would allow debate on potential changes in the state tax strucuture.
To be adopted, the amendment would need approval by three-fifths of both the Senate and House by May 4 to give voters the chance to make the final decision in the November election.
The proposal only would allow lawmakers to put in place some form of graduated rate, or sliding scale, on the state income tax. It does not specify what the new rates would b
Illinois currently has a flat tax. In fact, the state constitution requires it. The individual state income tax rate is 3 percent regardless of how much someone makes. The income tax businesses pay is a flat pay 4.8 percent, with an additional 2.5 percent replacement tax.
The state constitution also requires the corporate and individual income tax rates not to exceed a ratio of 8:5. That serves to forbid lawmakers from hiking business taxes too far.
But the constitutional amendment approved by the Senate Executive Committee would let voters choose if that system should be scrapped in favor of creating tax brackets with different rates. No specific income brackets or rates are included. If the plan were to be approved, lawmakers would then have to approve a new tax structure.
* The question: Setting aside your personal opinion of the proposal itself, do you think putting this question in front of voters is a good idea or not? Explain.
Again, let’s try to keep the debate over the specific policy proposal out of this as much as possible.
* I’m probably excerpting too much of today’s Sun-Times editorial, but I want you to read as much of it as possible, so here it is…
The granting of clemency to an ex-convict by a governor boils down to granting a favor. And as with any favor in government, the public deserves to know the details.
Right now, we’re being shut out.
Since at least Gov. George Ryan’s administration, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has given the public access to most of the files on pardons and commutations. But after Gov. Blagojevich was criticized last month for two pardons he granted, the board abruptly changed course.
It has refused a Chicago Sun-Times Freedom of Information Act request for records on all 69 pardons and commutations Blagojevich has granted. This includes police reports, court files and letters supporting a clemency petition. The paper has appealed, with a decision expected this week.
The governor’s office insists that this is not Blagojevich’s call. The Prisoner Review Board, says the governor’s office, is an independent agency that makes independent decisions.
Independent by statute, yes. But remember: The governor appoints the board members, and the agency reports to the governor’s office.
In the name of open government, in the name of ensuring clean favors, Blagojevich’s Prisoner Review Board needs to reopen the books.
Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, nearly everything the government produces is considered a public record. And while the law provides for some exceptions, nothing in the statute allows the Prisoner Review Board to deny complete access to these clemency files. […]
t’s time to end the secrecy. It’s time to reopen the books.
* The secrecy cult within this administration is appalling, often illegal and usually contrary to the state’s Constitution. It’s also downright undemocratic and completely arrogant. This example cited by the CS-T is just one of far too many unconscionable examples of how the Blagojevich administration has denied the citizenry their absolute right to know how their taxes are being spent.
The General Assembly either needs to begin exercising its subpoena powers to force the release of these and other documents, or the attorney general must step in as forcefully as possible. Failing that, harsher measures need to be taken if this governor continues to flout the letter and spirit of the law of the land.
I usually try not to get so fired up about stuff, but access to information is essential to a functioning 21st Century democracy.
* Too often, smaller bills like this get buried in the coverage of the ongoing Statehouse “civil war.” Kristen McQueary fills us in…
Put yourself in these shoes:You have a 3-year-old daughter with speech delays directly related to hearing loss.
The cost of her hearing aids? Upward of $2,500. Your health insurance plan doesn’t cover it.
Add hearing aids to the long list of products and services many insurance companies consider medically unnecessary. Hey, who needs ears, anyway?
A committee of the Illinois House recently agreed. The insurance committee led by state Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley) by an 8-to-7 vote rejected House Bill 5600, which would have required insurance companies to cover the cost of hearing aids. Because federal law protects self-funded employer health insurance plans from such mandates, HB 5600 only would have impacted families in individual or small group plans - not a very wide net.
Still, the insurance committee voted the bill down, agreeing with the insurance industry that such mandates, collectively, create a slippery slope. They drive up the cost of health insurance.
People are lining up in Springfield to complain about the governor’s plans to cut money from agriculture programs.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is threatening to withhold money from research programs, county Extension offices and more.
Critics packed into a legislative hearing Wednesday to criticize the plan, which could mean layoffs and cuts to the 4-H youth program. The governor’s office responded that the state budget is running a $750 million deficit that must be filled.
* If you weren’t at yesterday’s Senate Executive Committee, you missed a heckuva show…
What some lawmakers referred to as “grade-school antics” Wednesday likely squashed voters’ chances to choose whether they want the ability to recall the governor and other statewide elected officials.
Amid shushing and yelling “one at a time” — one too many times — state Sen. Ira Silverstein gave up trying to control his committee. A hearing devoted to recall devolved into lawmakers talking over each other and name-calling.
“We’re senators here. We’re not kindergartners here,” said Silverstein, a Chicago Democrat and chairman of the Senate Executive Committee.
Before the Senate Executive Committee was called to order, Quinn approached Trotter to shake hands and said the South Side lawmaker refused the gesture and added, “I already took a bath today.” Trotter did not dispute that account later.
The Senate president demanded an apology from Quinn, who has toured the state recently urging the Senate not to prevent voters from deciding about recall.
“For you to go out, use taxpayers’ money and slander the Illinois Senate, I resent that,” Jones said.
Quinn refused.
“This Senate has to have the fortitude not to duck the issue,” Quinn said.
“We do not need a lecture from you,” Jones bristled in response.
Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) and Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) joined in, scolding Franks for alleged transgressions that seemed to have little to do with the legislation at hand.
The suburban legislator was needled for supporting a Martinez opponent in the February primary, backing Hillary Clinton over native son Barack Obama in the race for the White House and having a “bad hairdo.”
Jones and other top Senate Democrats supported Trotter when he announced that, as the bill’s Senate sponsor, he had decided not to ask for a committee vote on it. Instead, he said, he would come back later with amendatory language to “make it better.” […]
“It was whitewash, it was a travesty, they ought to be ashamed of themselves,” Franks said after the committee hearing. “I was concerned that would happen, when a person who did not support the bill controlled the bill, that he would try to kill it, and that’s exactly what he did today.”
* The Tribune counted noses and had the best analysis in the MSM of why the SDems never called the measure for a vote…
After the hearing, [Senate GOP Leader Frank Watson] announced that he and the four other Republican committee members were prepared to vote for the measure. [Exec Committee Chairman Ira Silverstein] and Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) also told the Tribune they were going to vote for it, indicating there would have been at least seven votes in favor—enough to move the proposal to the Senate.
Senate Republicans said Democrats were doing Blagojevich a favor by delaying action Wednesday. “It’s all about protecting the governor,” Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) said.
* But not everything went the governor’s way during yesterday’s hearing…
Just a day after the Blagojevich administration proposed a reorganization of nearly two dozen state agencies and authorities, the Senate Executive Committee decisively turned thumbs-down on the idea.
By a 10-3 vote, the committee Wednesday told the administration no. The full Senate must also reject the plan, but the committee vote indicates the idea has little support, even among Democrats.
“You cannot guarantee there won’t be a bureaucratic mess,” said Sen. Ira Silverstein, D-Chicago. “I’m concerned about the loss of jobs, the loss of services. I have a lot of problems with this.”
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office has dropped more than 150 DUI cases in which indicted Chicago cop John Haleas was the arresting officer, officials said.
In all, 156 misdemeanor DUI cases have been dropped, said John Gorman, a spokesman for the state’s attorney. In some of the cases, non-DUI charges against the defendants remain, he said.
Haleas, 37, faces felony charges of perjury, official misconduct and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying and falsifying reports about a DUI arrest in April 2005. According to a grand jury indictment, Haleas falsely reported he gave a defendant various field sobriety tests.
In April of 2005, two prosecutors joined Officer Haleas for a ride-along as he pursued people driving under the influence. The prosecutors claim Haleas failed to follow basic procedure, including failing to inform drivers of the consequences of refusing a breathalyzer exam, failure to observe a suspect for at least 20 minutes and failing to give the driver a field sobriety test. However, prosecutors say the police report Officer Haleas filed indicated he did all of those things.
Charged separately are officers Michael Bernichio and Daniel Murphy, partners from the Chicago Lawn District who have been charged with official misconduct and other offenses. Haleas, Bernichio and Murphy each face up to five years in prison if convicted.
* Sneed hears the federal net is tightening around the neck of the mayor of a Will County suburb who is reportedly this/close to being indicted on public corruption charges by a federal grand jury.
Illinois, for example, made its first appearance this year on Morningstar’s best-plans list by replacing its program manager and shaking up its lackluster investment lineup with higher-rated funds and rock-bottom expenses. Meanwhile, some of the offenders on the previous year’s worst-plans list, such as Missouri’s MOST 529 Advisor Plan, cleaned up their act by cutting expenses or replacing their funds.
More than 200,000 are expected to try for the coveted vouchers that subsidize private market rentals for the holder. When the application period ends May 15, a lottery will determine the 40,000 applicants who will win a spot on the list.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington lobbying to forestall implementation of Medicaid rules scheduled to take effect next month, a statement from Stroger’s office said.
At its most sweeping, however, the ruling is nothing less than a frontal assault on the way City Hall has done business for longer than any of us have been alive.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried a new tactic Thursday afternoon when asked by reporters about testimony at a federal corruption trial that he offered to trade state business for national fund-raising assistance: he summoned schoolchildren and tourists.
Asked to explain his approach to campaign fundraising, Blagojevich kept turning to children and other visitors saying, “How you been? How are you? Hi. How you guys? How are you? How you guys doing? […]
