Question of the day
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
Let’s try to keep this as Illinois-centric as possible.
John Edwards is out of the presidential race. How does this impact Barack Obama?
Rudy Giuliani has dropped out and will endorse John McCain. Who do you think is now the frontrunner in Illinois next Tuesday. Explain.
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Guv won’t dump on Rezko, but attacks reporters
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* In the preceding post, I mentioned how legit reformers are way too often unfairly treated by reporters. Gov. Blagojevich, however, is not a reformer. He’s a claimed reformer who has mucked things up almost beyond repair. But, since he still desperately clings to that reporter mantle, he apparently feels that he can blame the media for his troubles…
Gov. Blagojevich on Tuesday again blasted the news media for focusing too heavily on the Tony Rezko case and said he’s still withholding judgment about his former adviser and fund-raiser, who was jailed this week for violating bail.
“You could suggest maybe why those newspapers are getting skinnier and skinnier [is] because they write about stuff that doesn’t really matter to people,” Blagojevich said toward the end of a press conference about veterans’ health.
When asked if he regretted his relationship with Rezko, Blagojevich replied, “There’s a process that we call the court system that has to play itself out.
OK, on the same day that Rezko is denied bail that’s all the governor can muster?
Blagojevich’s campaign fund has racked up more than $2 million in legal fees, mostly because of Blagojevich’s relationship with Rezko and his alleged co-conspirators. But regrets? Not even a few.
* And I love this line…
Political candidates, the governor added, “presume and hope that people who are helping us are doing things honestly and forthrightly, and sometimes there are allegations
Tony Rezko was a member of the governor’s inner political circle. This was no run of the mill contributor that the governor barely knew who screwed up. Rezko was one of the governor’s top guys. He has no excuse, and it’s completely fair of the media to look into those ties and be skeptical of the govenor’s pronouncements, which get goofier by the day. The same goes for Obama, a Rezko friend.
* More Rezko stuff…
* Obama cuts Rezko ties
* Judge rules Rezko will stay behind bars
* From his mansion to the big house
* Rezko stain tars gov and Obama
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Suffredin attacks, is savaged
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Cook County State’s Attorney primary has become a mudfest - at least in the media…
Before the debate, Suffredin criticized Allen for taking campaign contributions from city employees who Suffredin said may have benefited from patronage hiring practices at City Hall.
Allen said afterward that the donations were proper and that he was proud to get campaign contributions from rank-and-file city workers.
As has been the case throughout the campaign, Suffredin sparred repeatedly with opponents who criticized his work as a lobbyist for tobacco and casino interests. Suffredin said he had a diverse client list, which included the Chicago Bar Association and various non-profit groups.
* But that Suffredin client list also included one other problem…
Larry Suffredin — a self-styled reformer running for Cook County state’s attorney — lobbied for a landfill controlled by Fred Bruno Barbara, a businessman once charged with extortion and implicated in the mob bombing of a restaurant, the Sun-Times has learned.
Suffredin, a Cook County commissioner (D-Evanston), has come under attack by rivals for his work as a lobbyist on behalf of casino and drug-company interests. State records show he also lobbied for Kankakee Regional Landfill LLC — a company tied to Barbara — in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met Fred [Barbara] in my life,” Suffredin said. “I didn’t know he had an interest in it.”
Barbara, 59, is a multimillionaire involved in trucking, waste hauling, banking, and other businesses. A friend of Mayor Daley’s, Barbara at one time got more than 60 percent of his garbage-hauling business from city contracts. He has also been a consultant to the city’s much-criticized blue bag recycling program. He has been arrested five times, including a 1982 arrest for extortion in an FBI sting. Barbara was acquitted in that case — and has never been convicted of any crime.
Barbara was apparently a silent partner in the Kankakee project, and Suffredin claims to have worked with someone else, and left when that person was dismissed by the company.
Anybody who knows Suffredin understands that this and other stories about him present a caricature of Suffredin that simply doesn’t match up with reality. But that’s the way it goes with the Illinois media. Someone claims to be a reformer and then he or shie is picked apart with stuff like the above and a non-reformer usually ends up winning. It happened to Glenn Poshard in 1998, and it happened to Paul Vallas in 2002, and countless other times. It’s ridiculous, but them’s the breaks. Suffredin doesn’t help himself by attempting to inflate little items like the Allen thing.
Cynics and partisans are gonna have a field day with that Suffredin story. But using it as “proof” of something evil or nefarious about Suffredin is like that old story of the blind men describing an elephant by each touching a different part of his body.
…Adding… Way down near the end of the Sun-Times story it’s revealed that Barbara got involved with the Kankakee landfill business in 2006 - a year after Suffredin was hired as its lobbyist.
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Congressional updates
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tempers are flaring a bit in the Republican primary to challenge incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean. Kirk Morris whacked Steve Greenberg in a debate the other day. Greenberg is generally perceived to be the frontrunner…
“He’s been successful once, and that’s being born into a family with money,” Morris said during a League of Women Voters forum in Barrington last week. “Now he wants to be a congressman as a consolation prize.”
Morris said he went on the attack after he claimed Greenberg raised questions about his professional and personal background. […]
Morris said he also became angry when Greenberg scoffed at Morris’ claim that he had given Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani the idea of promoting a “virtual” electronic fence to protect U.S. borders.
After admitting he had exaggerated his influence over Giuliani, whom Morris had met at a local fundraiser, Morris said it was Greenberg who had embellished his resume by omitting failed business ventures
And on and on it goes.
* More congressional stuff, compiled by Kevin…
* If money matters, Bean way ahead
* Republicans no longer face cakewalk in 11th Congressional District
* Democrats could run veteran against Roskam again
* 6th District Democratic hopefuls battle over immigration
* New Challengers Take On Old Political Name in 3rd District
This is a 2008 congressional primary open thread.
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This just in…
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* 1:20 p.m.- Judge freezes Rezko account
A federal judge has frozen more than a quarter of a million dollars controlled by indicted businessman Tony Rezko, according to a court order made public today.
Judge St. Eve is expected to hear additional arguments from Duffy this afternoon on why Rezko should be released from jail to prepare for his Feb. 25 trial on corruption charges. She’ll also take up the frozen funds then.
More to come…
* 1:54 p.m. - The Judge has now ordered drug testing for star witness
St. Eve said Levine should submit to drug testing and any drug treatment that a pretrial services officer deems necessary. In a filing late Friday, Rezko’s defense team alleged that Levine had long abused drugs and questioned their impact on his memory of events.
Levine’s lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, on Monday denied his client was a drug addict or had a drug problem.
* 2:10 p.m. - Daley backs Silverstein for ward race
Daley hinted strongly that Silverstein was planning to withold his support from Stone in the red-hot race for alderman against challenger Naisy Dolar last year. To firm up Silverstein’s support for Stone, Daley said he agreed to back Silverstein against Stone in the race for ward committeeman.
Daley said the Silverstein endorsement was hatched more than a year ago and had nothing to do with Stone’s decision to oppose the mayor’s tax-laden 2008 budget, which includes the largest property tax increase in Chicago history.
Stone called the mayor’s version “absolute bulls—.” The alderman said there was never any question he would have Silverstein’s support in the aldermanic race and the state senator needed no push from Daley.
“I don’t believe a word [Daley] says. I voted against his budget for the first time since he’s mayor and he’s teaching me a lesson. You give him 18 years of loyalty and he kicks you in the ass,” Stone said.
* 2:30 p.m. - The Governor denies knowing anything more about Rezko than what he reads in the papers
Blagojevich says candidates hope campaign donors are law-abiding and calls allegations against donors “one of the occupational hazards” of politics.
* 2:42 p.m. - More on Stuart Levine’s drug use
Rezko’s attorneys suggest that Levine called his source for drugs nearly 200 times between May 2002 and September 2004, according to the government’s own records.
* 3:30 p.m. - Rezko will remain in jail
A federal judge denied politically connected Chicago businessman Tony Rezko’s attempt to reinstate his bond Tuesday a day after his bond was revoked and he was sent to jail.
Rezko is due to start trial Feb. 25 on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and attempted extortion. He also is charged with swindling the General Electric Capital Corp. out of $10 million in loans involving the sale of a pizza business.
* 4:32 p.m. - Looks like FutureGen has fallen through. The Governor’s office just sent out a press release on it:
“The U.S. Secretary of Energy’s proposal to dismantle FutureGen is an example of politics at its worst. Secretary Samuel Bodman is not only jeopardizing the benefits FutureGen promises to deliver, but he deceived the people of East Central Illinois who spent time and resources competing for the project. We’re not giving up the fight to make FutureGen a reality in Illinois.
Just last night during his State of the Union Address, President Bush said that environmentally responsible energy is essential to keeping our economy growing, and that his budget provides strong funding for leading-edge technology, including clean coal. Secretary Bodman’s decision to reverse course on the most important clean coal project to date represents a striking contradiction to the President’s comments. I urge President Bush, who initiated FutureGen in 2003, to stand by the project and move it forward.”
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* There was some surprising news the other day…
In 2007, the number of workers belonging to a union rose by 311,000 to 15.7 million, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported
But that’s not the question.
* The Question: What is your opinion of labor unions?
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Maybe Obama ought to stay away for a while
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The governor’s office was not amused yesterday when Lynn Sweet wrote this on her blog…
The Obama Illinois campaign, in advance of the Feb. 5 balloting–where the Clinton team is making a run for Illinois delegates–is ramping up, with all the top Democratic office holders stumping for Barack Obama starting on Monday with one exception–Gov. Blagojevich. There’s just too much heat on Blagojevich
* I linked to the piece yesterday and got an e-mail from the governor’s office, but I was already out of the office and didn’t see it until much later. Sweet, however, received a terse phone call…
Blagojevich spokesman Abby Ottenhoff called to say that the Obama campaign has given Blagojevich an assignment, to woo six Democratic governors for Obama.
She also said that a new poll from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shows the governor has better ratings than the legislature and aked that this be noted. The six governors on Blagojevich’s list are…
Freudenthal (WY)
Schweitzer (MT)
Bredesen (TN)
Ritter (CO)
Richardson (NM)
Henry (OK)
* Anyway, I told subscribers this morning and the esteemed Union League Club attendees of my somewhat tongue in cheek suggestion for the Obama campaign.
Since just about everybody who is anybody in Chicago politics has taken money from Rezko, including four of the five statewides that held that press conference for Obama yesterday (plus people like former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar - here’s a handy list), and since the Rezko story appears to be really heating up again, perhaps Sen. Obama’s campaign ought to just steer clear of Illinois until after Super Tuesday.
Thoughts on this?
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Bernie Stone’s tinfoil hat
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Alderman Bernie Stone had a couple of really bizarre reactions to this turn of events yesterday…
A member of Ald. Bernard Stone’s political organization who also serves as the 50th Ward’s Streets and Sanitation Department superintendent was charged Monday following an investigation into alleged vote fraud in last year’s aldermanic election.
Anish Eapen, 37, of the 7500 block of North California Avenue, faces charges of official misconduct, absentee ballot fraud and mutilation of election materials, officials said..
* We’ll get to the reaction in a moment, but here’s more of the background…
A source familiar with the investigation said Eapen and Ramos “would target different people—primarily Indian and Pakistani voters—and suggest that they take absentee ballots. They would give them reasons why they should be taking absentee ballots—not necessarily valid reasons. They would be present when they filled out the application for the absentee ballot and, in some instances, they would bring the absentee ballot back to the people to vote.”
* And the payoff…
“We know where this all started. We know it’s politically-based. When does it break? Eight days before an election where Congressman Schakowsky is backing my opponent. It stems from an election where Congressman Schakowsky was backing my opponent….Her aide was soliciting the state’s attorney to investigate. It’s absolutely a devious political trick. That my good friend Dick Devine can be part of it is shocking,” Stone said.
Yep. Jan Schakowsky is now dictating Dick Devine’s investigations. Sounds perfectly sane and reasonable to me.
* But the black helicopters don’t stop there…
He added, “For the last six months, there has been a virtual campaign directed at anybody who voted for Bernie Stone. I always thought the ballot box was sealed. Apparently, nobody who voted for anybody else has ever gone before the grand jury. How do investigators know how these people voted? Has the secrecy of the ballot box been breached?…. They’re being asked, `Why did you vote for Bernie Stone?’ “
Perhaps, alderman, they’re asking your voters about alleged misdeeds because your guys are the ones who absentee voted them. You don’t need some super-secret G-Man code on ballots to figure that out.
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Room for improvement?
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Another local sales tax increase may face legislators upon their return to Springfield…
Metro East officials may look to a temporary sales tax to fund costly repairs to the levee systems that protect the flood plain along the Mississippi River.
State Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, said Monday he would introduce a bill next week that would let Illinois counties impose up to a quarter-cent sales tax to pay for emergency levee repairs and storm water control measures.
If it becomes law, the legislation would provide a possible funding mechanism for a massive levee modernization project in Madison, St. Clair and Monroe counties. The price tag could be as much as $180 million.
Some of the levees are more than 60 years old. They’re high enough to withstand a major flood, but officials say there is a need to replace old pumps, pipes, gates and electrical panels and build new relief wells to prevent potential problems from underseepage.
Haine said the legislation would let counties establish commissions that could issue bonds for flood and storm water control and, subject to consent of their county boards, levy a sales tax of up to a quarter cent.
“This is as important as roads and bridges,” Haine said.
It doesn’t sound unreasonable, but I wonder how the governor might “improve” this tax hike. It’s not like he can let seniors ride free on levees. Thoughts?
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Morning Shorts
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* Ward superintendent charged with vote fraud; more here
* Committee OKs landmark status for IBM building
* Seniors’ free rides begin March 17 — if they have RTA photo IDs
* 1st Chicago tavern busted for smoking
* District 6 candidates accept reality of O’Hare expansion
* Candidates have health care visions
* 2 contend for GOP nod in 3rd District
* Crowded field vying. for 3rd District Democratic nomination
* Illinois trooper in fatal crash should be fired, lawmaker says
* Sales tax could pay for Illinois levee repairs
* Report cites substandard care for deaths at VA hospital; more here
* Is Dan Seals Showing Impaired Judgment in Supporting Eddie Washington?
* Judge candidates question factor of race in bar polls
* Businessman challenges Schmitz in 49th District
* WTVP required to raise a little more cash
“If WTVP, Channel 47, can raise another $450,000, the public television station and its creditors will have reached a tentative deal for $5.25 million.”
* Illinois lawmakers want presidential election changes
* Roskam’s response to State of Union address
* State establishes scholarship fund for children of lost Armed Forces members
* Big loan gets Rezko jailed; more here
* Star witness has drug problem, defense says
* Rezko put in jail; bail is revoked
* Was Rezko as surprised as he looked?
* Rezko not reason for Blagojevich no-show at Obama event
* Bill Baar: Tony Rezko: “a philanthropist to the medical community”
* Illinois representatives’ reaction to State of the Union
* Illinois early voting ends Thurdsay
* Foreclosures land Illinois in group’s top 10 list
* Ralph Martire: Illinois tax policy generates far too many negatives
“But unfair taxation is only one of many flaws in Illinois’ tax system, which fails to respond to the modern economy or generate stable revenue while inefficiently over-relying on local property taxes to fund services. The collective result: a revenue system that cannot sustain public services.”
* Bush asks perseverance on sagging economy, patience on Iraq; read the transcript here
* State of rivals’ union? Tense
* Giuliani hints he may drop out if he loses Florida gamble
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Open thread
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
I’m doing a breakfast panel discussion at the Union League Club this morning, so the blog will have to wait a bit.
This is an Illinois politics open thread.
Try to be nice to each other, and, for Heaven’s sake, don’t do any real estate deals with Tony Rezko while I’m gone.
Kevin is in charge of monitoring comments whilst I’m away. Have fun.
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