* I wish I could find Dylan’s original version at YouTube, but this cover will have to suffice…
When you’re standing at the crossroads that you cannot comprehend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all your dreams have vanished and you don’t know what’s up the bend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end
* I don’t think I’ve ever seen a normally “responsible” and otherwise cautious columnist go this far out on a limb on the topic of Gov. Blagojevich’s legal troubles…
Of course, Blagojevich may very well be innocent, and the conversations the feds say Cari and Levine had with him may never have occurred. Certainly, Levine’s recollections may have been influenced by his plea bargain’s prospect of trading life behind bars for 67 months.
But that’s for the jury or the judge to decide when Blagojevich goes to trial. His indictment, though, seems a certainty, based on what prosecutors say they will prove in the Rezko trial.
That was Charlie Wheeler, the normally staid budget-watcher at the always buttoned-down Illinois Issues magazine. He ends his piece thusly…
With the Rezko proffer, Illinois moves closer to an unwanted and lamentable distinction — having two former governors in federal prison at the same time.
* 10:55 am - Some very slightly good state economic news for a change…
The University of Illinois Flash Index, the first barometer of the Illinois economy each month, broke a six-month slide with a slight increase in January.
The index rose to 103.8 from the December reading of 103.6. It’s the first time since June 2007 that the Flash Index has risen over the previous month.
“In most months, this would be a relatively insignificant result,” said U of I economist J. Fred Giertz, who compiles the index for the university’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “However, with the threat of a looming recession, this is a case of ‘no news is good news.’ As of now, the Illinois economy does not appear to be in recession.”
The Flash Index is constructed with the reading of 100 as the dividing line between economic expansion and contraction. The Illinois economy has slowed significantly since June’s reading of 106.8, but it is still expanding, Giertz said.
* 3:54 pm - Judge won’t dismiss Blagojevich’s suit against Madigan on special sessions…
Sangamon County Judge Leo Zappa Friday refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich against House Speaker Michael Madigan over the governor’s authority to set both the date and time of special sessions.
Instead, Zappa told attorneys to quickly file additional paperwork so he can render a decision in the case. Attorneys for both sides said they hope to have a decision within weeks.
Blagojevich sued Madigan because the speaker last summer convened a special session hours earlier than decreed by the governor. Blagojevich said the action violated both the state Constitution and state law which gives the governor authority to decide when to convene special sessions.
Madigan said Blagojevich called special sessions at inconvenient times just to punish lawmakers for not approving his legislative agenda. Madigan’s legal counsel David Ellis also said that a ruling in Blagojevich’s favor will result in a lawsuit being filed any time the House is even minutes late in meeting the governor’s deadline.
Texas lost out last month when a government-sponsored zero-emissions coal plant went to Illinois, but its bid could be revived because the project has stalled over questions about its rising cost and technological scope, officials said.
The U.S. Department of Energy told members of Congress from Illinois on Tuesday that it would pull its support for building the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant in Mattoon, Ill.
The department could scale back the project, and Texas might compete again to host a facility that’s smaller or includes slightly different technology.
“I fully expect Texas will have an opportunity to get involved,” said Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams, who led Texas’ bid to host FutureGen. “There were indications even before the announcement that the Department of Energy was looking to perhaps go in a different direction.”
A whole lot of people believe that the Bush administration killed off FutureGen because Texas was left out of the equation.
* The FutureGen Alliance checks the Department of Energy’s facts and finds a whole lot of holes…
DOE: Project costs have nearly doubled.
FACT: Project costs have increased, but DOE’s share has not doubled—not even close. When President Bush first announced FutureGen, the DOE share was $800M. DOE’s current estimated share is $1.1B with the increase due to inflation. A White House Official agreed and was quoted in The New York Times on December 17, 2007, “…the market for steel, concrete and power plant components has ‘just gone through the roof globally’.” DOE’s contribution will be reduced by contributions from foreign countries. Additionally, the Alliance has offered to provide DOE with partial-to-full repayment to ease the final cost to the taxpayer. The costs are manageable. […]
DOE: DOE’s alternative plan will sequester twice as much CO2 as the current project’s one million ton goal.
FACT: The Mattoon site and FutureGen, as currently configured, can sequester approximately two million tons per year. The environmental impact statement considered as much as 2.5 million tons.
But two Mattoon city officials who met with Shimkus earlier this month say the Republican congressman from Collinsville was “carrying water” for President Bush when he traveled to the Coles County town, which is outside his district, and told city leaders that the FutureGen project was dead. On Wednesday, three weeks after the meeting in Mattoon, Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said that the energy department would not proceed with FutureGen.
If Shimkus ran for dogcatcher in Mattoon against Bodman, a write-in candidate would win, said Mattoon city attorney Preston Owen, who attended the meeting earlier this month.
Dave Wortman, Mattoon public works director, said he and other city officials were confused and disappointed after the meeting with Shimkus.
“The meeting that he had with us, that I sat in on, he was already telling us the project was dead and that we might as well get used to it,” Wortman said. “It undermines what we were trying to do. He came into another district to help the administration kill the project. That’s the way we felt.”
* Retiring Congressman Denny Hastert has no love for John McCain, the man who looks like the frontrunner in the GOP presidential race. Hastert told the Tribune that McCain, “was always known among the GOP as ‘the undependable vote’” in the Senate and was always “allied with Democrats.” More…
[Hastert] contended that on agenda items under the Republican-controlled Congress, “it just seems like everything we did, John was someplace else.”
“It was McCain-Kennedy, it was McCain-Lieberman, it was McCain-Feingold on campaign finance reform,” Hastert said, noting Democratic co-sponsors. “He was against us on tax cuts and his form of immigration reform was to open the gates and let everybody in.”
Asked if he considered McCain a conservative, Hastert said, “In my opinion, he is not.”
* Hastert may have been closer to the truth than he knew…
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.
* I’m told the Tribune is in the field with a new poll, so we should have fresh numbers Sunday, but Rasmussen surveyed Illinois Republicans early this week and found McCain leading…
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds McCain earning 34% of the vote while Romney is eight points behind at 26%. The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday, finishing just before results from Florida’s Presidential Primary were known. Mike Huckabee finished a distant third at 16%.
Since the poll was completed, Rudy Giuliani has withdrawn from the race and endorsed McCain. America’s Mayor had picked up 9% of the Illinois vote in the poll.
“America’s mayor” had once dominated this state. But he was even tanking here, apparently. Not mentioned is that Ron Paul was scoring 10 percent - ahead of Giuliani.
* More from the poll…
McCain is viewed favorably by 77% of Illinois Primary Voters while Romney earns positive reviews from 71%. The men earn generally equal ratings from those who supported Giuliani in the poll.
Just 54% of voters in the state are confident they will stick with their current choice when Election Day finally arrives. Fifteen percent (15%) say there’s a good chance they could change their mind. That figure, of course, went even higher with the withdrawal of Giuliani.
Forty-one percent (41%) consider the top voting issue to be the economy. Eighteen percent (18%) say it’s National Security while 14% name Immigration as their top priority.
* Also from the poll, 52% said the was most important attritute they wanted in a president was “someone who can address national security issues,” while 35% said it was “somewho can address economic issues.”
72% gave President Bush either an “excellent” (36) or “good” (36) job approval rating. 73 percent of Republcans polled gave Gov. Blagojevich a “poor” approval rating.
* Efforts to get Republican US Senate candidate Steve Sauerberg’s name out there before the primary is meeting with mixed results. The Daily Herald’s endorsement was titled “Sauerberg best of weak choices for Senate” and ends…
Sauerberg is endorsed, unenthusiastically so, on the basis of his sincere desire to want to make things better for Americans as a reform candidate. Best we can do.
* ABC 7 ran a story on the three candidates for the GOP nomination to take on Dick Durbin and played it pretty straight…
Steve Sauerberg is a long-time family physician who’s never run for elected office but believes that works in his favor. He’s won newspaper endorsements and has the backing of the state Republican Central committee.
Andy Martin is an Internet commentator and perennial candidate who believes he has the credibility his opponents lack. He wants to bring high-speed rail to Illinois.
Mike Psak is a truck driver with an MBA from DePaul who believes Washington has too many lawyers and multi-millionaires. He advocates eliminating the nation’s toll ways.
* Unlike the ABC 7 story, today’s Tribune piece goes out of its way to note that Sauerberg is the party’s endorsed guy and trumpet the alarm about the other two, but the reporters get their digs in…
But some Republicans have expressed fears that Sauerberg’s low-volume campaign might not be enough to defeat Andy Martin and Mike Psak, a result that would cast further doubt on the GOP’s relevance in Illinois. […]
“I don’t think I could have covered any more ground than I have,” Sauerberg said. “I don’t think the criticism has been fair. … We have gotten in front of people who we feel were most critical, and we’ve gotten tons of endorsements and we think that should carry us through the primary.”
According to Republican Steve Sauerberg’s disclosure report for the period from October through January 16th, he had not quite $67,000 in his campaign fund.
Durbin, meanwhile, is the Senate majority’s second-highest ranking leader and reported having $7.3 million.
* Buried way down in this generic “Pera says Dem incumbent is like Bush and liberal bloggers hate Lipinksi” story is this tidbit that made the rounds of the blogs yesterday…
Democratic U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago, a leading proponent of immigrant rights, took the highly unusual step of withdrawing his endorsement of Lipinski.
“He cannot look past [Lipinski’s] voting record on immigration,” Gutierrez spokeswoman Rebecca Dreilinger said Thursday.
* Pera had this to say to Chicagoist the other day…
Dan Lipinski has made a big deal about his intervening in the case of a French woman subject to deportation. And I applaud his effort. But the fact is there are millions of people in a similar situation. The fact is he voted for the Sensenbrenner bill that would have made this woman a felon. The fact is that it’s convenient and easy to do what he did for purposes of grabbing a headline. But when it comes to the hard work and the need for leadership on the issue of immigration, he is nowhere to be found. And he has taken a very harsh view towards the immigrant community.
It’s a good point. Lipinski has gotten a lot of press for his work on behalf of that woman, but rarely mentioned is the hypocrisy of his behavior.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, who announced his retirement in September following reports of undisclosed foreign property investments and other ethics questions, spent $172,000 on legal fees last fall, according to campaign reports the Illinois Republican filed this week.
The fees, all of which went to Washington-based Wiley Rein LLP, represented more than half of the $301,000 he had reported remaining in his campaign fund.
Weller press secretary Andy Fuller offered only a vague description of the purpose of the expenditure. “When the congressman decided to leave Congress, he had his attorneys perform a thorough review of his time in Congress,” Fuller said in an e-mail.
His first payment of $140,893.05 was made on Oct. 2, just two weeks after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics issued a report detailing numerous alleged ethical problems and possible violations of federal law. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing. […]
Jan Witold Baran, a partner in the law firm who has represented Weller before the FEC in past years, declined comment or to say whether Weller remained a client. […]
The Chicago Tribune recently published a report that suggested Weller had not properly reported real estate dealings in Nicaragua, where the congressman owns property.
The newspaper also said Weller’s wife, an influential senator in Guatemala and daughter of a former Guatemalan dictator, formed a nonprofit in Illinois with close associates or family members that raised questions about the congressman’s omission of his wife’s assets from his financial disclosure filings.
* Kevin’s done a good job of handling the blog posts and the comment moderation today while I was a guest of the Paul Simon Public Pollicy Institute at Southern Illinois University.
Here’s something else you might want to discuss. It seems like a good idea, but I doubt Gov. Blagojevich has the credibility to make it stick…
In advance of Tuesday’s primary, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is asking all presidential candidates to take a stand on a $1.5-billion federally funded clean-coal project in Illinois that the Bush administration killed this week.
“We’re not giving up the fight to make FutureGen a reality in Illinois,” the governor wrote Thursday in letters to the six remaining Democratic and Republican candidates. “I am asking you to make it clear where you stand on FutureGen before Illinois voters cast their ballots on Feb. 5.”
Energy Secretary Sam Bodman on Wednesday announced the termination of a five-year effort to build a nearly pollution-free power plant in Illinois, which would have created more than 600 construction and about 100 permanent jobs and potentially provided a way to use the state’s abundant high-sulfur coal reserves.
The Energy Department now plans to disburse research funding to several new and existing coal-fired power plants across the country.
* On one of my first days as an intern on Capitol Hill I sat in the House gallery to watch the debate over raising the minimum wage. During some of the downtime a representative came up from the floor to talk to the citizens, and explain what exactly was taking place. He fielded questions from the audience, passed around his voting card, and was very helpful. What was most admirable about the gesture was that it was simply out of kindness, and not to gain anyone’s vote. That representative was John Shimkus.
In the upcoming election gestures like these may not be what stick out in voters’ minds. Shimkus will be facing off against Joe McKenamin of Springfield or Daniel Davis of Chatham, both of whom are vying for the Democratic nomination.
McMenamin and Davis squared off this week in an hour long debate at the University of Illinois at Springfield sponsored by the campus college Democrats. Both have as contrasting styles as their respective ages, with Davis at 26 and McMenamin at 55.
Davis speaks loudly and flowingly about how he wants to help people, connect with people, learn about and represent their interests. But specifics, at this point, are more difficult to come by.
McMenamin has something that Shimkus has — a military background. While Shimkus is a West Point graduate, McMenamin is a lawyer and 26-year member of the Illinois Army National Guard who’s served a year in Afghanistan. His service has given him strong feelings about the Iraq war, and while his manner of speech is sometimes halting, he exudes emotion when he talks of what he sees as the United States taking a wrong turn in Iraq.
No matter who wins the race to go up against Shimkus, both will go after his discarded, self-imposed congressional term limit of a twelve years. Voters don’t take kindly to broken campaign promises. Pledges like “Read my lips, no new taxes” come to mind.
* President Bush has also taken a liking to Representative Shimkus:
President George Bush pulled U.S. Rep. John Shimkus into the Oval Office on Friday to ask the Southern Illinois congressman to reconsider his stance on term limits.
Shimkus was also instrumental in bringing the President to Collinsville on Jan. 6 for a medical malpractice rally.
Steve Tomaszewski, Shimkus spokesman, said another reason why the congressman was tapped by the president was because of the recent passage of the energy bill, something the president has long awaited. Shimkus is senior member of the House Energy Conference Committee.
With an abysmal approval rating of around 20%, this connection to the President is not likely to go over well in 08′. At the debate McMenamin took a shot at this when he said:
He also thinks the war in Afghanistan was appropriate in the aftermath of 9/11, but the Iraq war saw the United States go “down a reckless path (led) by a trigger-happy president and a yes-man-dominated Congress, including our own Congressman Shimkus.”
* The mostly civil debate turned a bit heated at one point though when the two candidates went after each other. Davis, a Harrisburg native, brought up the fact that he lives in the 19th and has for most of his life, while McMenamin doesn’t. Davis recently moved from Springfield to Chatham to be within the boundaries. The law requires a member of Congress to live in the state, but not necessarily in the district. McMenamin asked for a rebuttal on that one, and responded:
“Daniel, I’ve lived in Springfield 28 years. That’s longer than you’ve lived your entire life,” McMenamin said. He noted he lived in Shimkus’ district for some years — redistricting after the 2000 Census created new boundaries, and Shimkus went from representing the old 20th to the new 19th.
The 19th, which is one of three congressional districts that includes part of Springfield, leans Republican and extends to Pope and Massac counties at the southern edge of the state. However, Senator Durbin previously held the seat before Shimkus. No matter who wins the nomination either candidate will press Congressman Shimkus on both his allegiance to President Bush and his broken campaign promise.
* For the third time in more than a year, Senator Obama’s presidential campaign announced this week that it was shedding more donations tied to Tony Rezko. The announcement came amidst the Florida primary and didn’t receive much press. Some watchdog groups like the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform have praised the Senator for his decision, but many more are left scratching their heads:
Calculations by the media and Obama’s own staff of Rezko’s financial impact on his past political campaigns have been all over the map and shifting. The reason: The numbers depend on assumptions made about why a donor gave in the first place.
In the latest total, Obama has promised to give to charity more than $150,000 he collected through Rezko. His campaign said the latest installment of $72,650 was raised for his 2004 U.S. Senate race at a dinner at Rezko’s 8,500-square-foot Wilmette mansion. Obama’s campaign still has not offered a clear explanation of how it determines Rezko-linked donations or why he has dealt with them piecemeal, apparently in reaction to bad publicity.
The public records don’t make clear every Rezko connection. The records show that since 1995, $74,500 came from Rezko, his relatives or contributors listed on official disclosure forms as employees of one of his businesses. Rezko has not raised money for Obama’s presidential campaign. Furthermore, different media outlets have reported ranging figures:
The New York Times has pegged Rezko political cash for Obama at $150,000, the Sun-Times at $168,000 and the Los Angeles Times at $200,000. Last weekend, a report by ABCNews.com suggested more than $185,000.
It’s understandable that it is difficult to determine all the donations that have some connection to Rezko in one way or another. For instance, if Rezko holds a fundraiser at his house, do you give away all the donations that were raised there, or just the ones that were given by friends of Rezko? A donor may attend the event that has never even met Rezko, but was brought by a friend of a friend. On top of that, you risk offending donors over the giveaway:
One donor at the event was Michael Sreenan, a former attorney for a Rezko company. Sreenan gave Obama $2,000 that night, but hasn’t heard if the campaign now plans to give it away.
Still, Sreenan said he was baffled by the notion of giving money raised at Rezko’s home to charity. “If [Obama] wants to give my donation back to me or let me give it to a charity, I’m fine with that,” he said. “But I don’t see how this makes a difference now — the money still got him elected. And how do I know it’s not going to a charity that’s offensive to me?”
* What’s more troubling than the giveaway though are the hazy explanations. In a Chicago Tribune column today Eric Zorn highlights some of these statements:
Well, my relationship is [that Tony Rezko] was somebody who I knew and had been a supporter for many years. He was somebody who had supported a wide range of candidates all throughout Illinois. Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems….Barack Obama on CBS “Early Show” Jan. 23
Nobody had any indications that [Rezko] was engaging in wrongdoing….Barack Obama on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Jan. 23
Now contrast these claims with some of the headlines that were circulating around the time of the land deal with Rezko:
* 7-18-2004 - Blagojevich adviser tied to appointee; Doctor, fundraiser co-owned condos
* 2/13/2005 - Tollway oasis pact rich with links to governor’s allies;Fundraiser, friend tied to restaurants
* 3/16/2005 - O’Hare vendor called minority front; Top Blagojevich aide owns Panda Express outlets, city charges
* 4/8/2005 - Stroger taps Blagojevich aide; Controversial insider gets fundraiser role
* 5/20/2006 - First lady of Illinois linked to developer
* and the most blatant: 5/26/2005 - Tony Rezko; Top fundraiser, adviser and close friend of Blagojevich faces scrutiny as controversies dog the administration in which he has played a crucial behind-the-scenes role
Now, either it would be an understatement to say that the Senator is being disingenuous about all he knew of Rezko at the time, or he is being honest about how much he knew, and it truly was a “boneheaded mistake.” The latter is a lot harder to swallow. Which ever it is, it still undermines his campaign theme of better judgment. Watch for Hillary to spring this on him again in tonight’s debate, but this time with a sharper edge.
