Once again, more kudos to Alexi Giannoulias for ordering the audit that uncovered this craziness…
A Collinsville hotel built with millions in state loans apparently became a cash cow for the property’s owners and managers who all the while claimed they could never turn a profit, according to a new report in the foreclosure lawsuit.
Officials for years have wondered why the developers couldn’t make the Holiday Inn successful, and the unpaid loans have been a thorn for every state treasurer since they were issued in 1982. The state took control of the property in January, and new Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias ordered a review of the books.
After an accounting of the hotel’s records and interviews with employees, the report by the hotel’s new court-appointed management company cites instances of inflated salaries, ghost payrolling and what appears to be outright theft. Several relatives of one of the owners were paid tens of thousands but did no work, and the general manager received a $31,000 profitability bonus when the owners claimed poverty, according to the report, which was expected to be filed in Madison County court this week. […]
The balance owed for the Collinsville property has ballooned to more than $29 million. State officials see the latest allegations as confirmation of their suspicions that the owners never tried to pay anything back.
The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram just did a big spread on my nephew Nicholas. The kid is a star on the field and off (the last time I checked he had a perfect grade average).
Until the bottom of the seventh inning, Nick Miller and the Keller Indians were finished.
Keller trailed Colleyville Heritage 7-0 through 4 1/2 innings Wednesday, but scored twice in the bottom of the fifth. By the bottom of the seventh, the Indians trailed 9-2.
“We hadn’t been doing anything all night, but once we got in that inning, we started clicking,” Miller said. What followed: The Indians sent 12 batters to the plate, and scored eight runs for a 10-9 victory. The rally was capped by Miller’s two-out single up the middle on a 1-2 fastball. Keller (23-7) clinched a playoff spot with the victory, and opens against Coppell (24-7) in the Class 5A Region I bi-district round Thursday.
There’s even a Q&A.
Are you breaking out any new, crazy traditions for the playoffs?
Right now, we have this new tradition where we wear camouflage to every game. Coach wanted us to take that hunting mentality. At the first of the season, we felt like we were the hunted; now we want to be the hunters. Now we’ve been wearing camo every day. I’ve got a camo hat that says “Born to Hunt” that I’ve worn to the games…. And I’ve actually worn it under my helmet when I got the game-winning hit. Some of the guys will wear it under their jerseys. It’s fun, it’s all good fun.
I’ve picked a new web host for the site. The change-over should happen within the next two days. It’s a premium service so hopefully the site issues will be completely resolved and everything will load much, much faster.
Doctors in Illinois may no longer have to get written consent from patients to give them HIV tests under a controversial state bill that’s part of a national effort to make HIV testing more routine.
Supporters of the bill, which could come to a vote in the Illinois House this week, say it would give crucial knowledge to the estimated 10,000 Illinois residents who are infected with the virus that causes AIDS but don’t know it. The initiative would enact new testing guidelines that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published last year in hopes of screening all patients between ages 13 and 64.
But the change in law also would require rescinding parts of Illinois’ 20-year-old AIDS Confidentiality Act, which ensures that patients cannot get tested for HIV without their knowledge. […]
All opponents of the proposed law said they share the center’s goal of expanding testing and helping more people find out if they are HIV-positive. But they want to make sure counseling is offered before and after the tests to help patients deal with the results and get appropriate care.
“Written consent is a way of proving you’ve had that discussion,” Fisher said.
Now, the question: Should doctors be allowed to test patients for HIV without their consent?
Eric Krol says that Kathy Salvi won’t run against Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Bean next year…
I’ve seriously considered it and a lot of people asked me to run,” said Salvi, a Wauconda trial lawyer who finished second in last year’s GOP primary. “Overall, I decided it’s not the right time for me to run.”
Salvi joins David McSweeney on the list of those on the Republican side who won’t take the plunge next year in IL-8. McSweeney, a Barrington Hills investment banker, lost to Bean last November. He’s back at Bank of America these days.
Salvi said there are some “unknown variables” next year. Although she didn’t cite this one specifically, one of those unknowns for all Republicans in Illinois is whether Democratic Sen. Barack Obama will be on the national ticket in 2008, either as the top dog or second banana. If Obama is on the ticket, Illinois would reasonably be expected to be bluer than it normally is on a statewide level as those who don’t normally vote feel some state pride and punch his number. That would make an already uphill race (shorter timetable with the primary moved up, two-term incumbent with wads of campaign cash) an even steeper climb.
Meanwhile, “a couple of hundred” people demonstrated outside of Dan Lipinski’s office over the weekend, claiming that he isn’t responsive to their needs.
Lipinski’s congressional district is home to Latino, Polish, Irish, Muslims and Arabs. They say the congressman refuses to hear them.
Also candidates are starting to line up to run for Luis Gutierrez’s seat. Guiterrez has announce he will retire after next year’s elections.
Last week, Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (D - 8th) announced that he had created a campaign committee to raise funds for an ‘08 congressional bid. City Alderman Ricardo Munoz (22nd) has also formally announced his intentions to run, forming a congressional campaign committee and, back in March, raising the funds to run.
The most interesting thing here is that not a single person in the Illinois House - and, yes, the governor still has several allies there - was willing to stand up for Rod Blagojevich on this vote…
After Gov. Blagojevich approved the construction of 32 special tollway signs bearing his name, taxpayers footed a $480,000 bill.
Now some lawmakers are trying to close a loophole in state ethics laws that enabled Blagojevich to bill taxpayers for the $15,000-apiece signs that read “Open Road Tolling, Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor.”
“[Blagojevich] was the major poster boy on using this loophole,” Rep. Elizabeth Coulson (R-Glenview) said.
“Taxpayer dollars should be going to market a program, not the elected official.”
Unanimously approved in the House last Friday, it likely will have a tougher time in the Senate, where we can only hope President Emil Jones doesn’t use his power to block it. Even if this practice were ethical, spending all that money to promote the governor would fly in the face of much higher budgetary priorities during these hard times.
A similar bill introduced by a Republican state Senator has been bottled up in the Senate Rules Committee all year, leading some to believe that Jones won’t move Coulson’s legislation either.
* Editorial: Making public records more easily accessible
* Editorial: Bill ending ‘pay to play’ needs to pass
The bill is far from perfect. Contractors probably would find ways around it, such as routing money through political action committees or straw donors. But enacting this legislation is a step in the right direction.
[Updated and bumped up to make it easier to find.]
My political newsletter, Capitol Fax, commissioned a new statewide poll last week of presidential preference in Illinois. Only “hardcore” voters in each party were surveyed - see my weekly syndicated column below for more details…
It may be no surprise to some, but new polling shows Barack Obama is doing better with hardcore Illinois primary voters than Hillary Clinton is doing with voters in her home state of New York. Also, voters are split over whether Obama should be more critical of Chicago corruption, and the Republican presidential primary appears wide open here.
The Illinois poll was commissioned by my political newsletter, Capitol Fax. The poll, taken last Thursday, surveyed registered voters who have chosen either Democratic or Republican ballots in the past two presidential primaries and have never picked a different ballot. They’re the hardcore of the hardcore and are very likely to vote.
The poll found Obama leading the pack of presidential hopefuls here with 52.6 percent of the vote among hardcore Democrats. Clinton came in second with 24.6 percent. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards was third with 9.5 percent. None of the other declared candidates topped 3 percent, while 6.9 percent chose either “other” or “undecided.”
In New York, two recent polls have shown Clinton with a bigger lead but polling well under 50 percent. A Quinnipac University poll had her ahead of Obama 44 to 14, but a more recent survey from Siena College’s Research Institute had Clinton ahead of the second place Obama 39 to 17 with 13 percent of Democrats undecided.
Obama captured well over 70 percent of the vote in the 2004 US Senate race, so his Illinois numbers in this latest poll might be a surprise to some who expected him to be doing even better. Clinton was raised in Illinois and is, of course, a very well known commodity. That probably explains why she is polling higher here than Obama is polling in New York.
The Illinois poll also found voters are evenly split over whether Obama has been sufficiently critical of Mayor Richard Daley regarding corruption in city hall.
A tad more than 49 percent of hardcore Democratic and Republican primary voters said they believed Obama has sufficiently criticized Daley, who just won another landslide re-election race, while 50.8 percent said he has not been critical enough.
The issue of Obama’s alliance with the Daley Machine has been a much bigger issue in Illinois than it has been on the national stage. But since this story is being constantly pushed here, it has the potential to one day bleed into the national debate.
About 60 percent of hardcore Democratic and Republican residents of Chicago and Cook County thought he had criticized Daley enough, but just 36 percent of downstate voters believe he has sufficiently criticized Daley.
Slightly less than 61 percent of hardcore Democratic voters said he has done enough to criticize Daley, while 35 percent of hardcore GOP voters said the same. A majority, 53 percent, of suburban collar county primary voters said he has criticized the mayor enough while 47 percent said he hadn’t.
Meanwhile, the poll also showed that Illinois’ Republican presidential primary appears to be wide open.
The survey of hardcore Republican primary voters showed U.S. Sen. John McCain with an ever-so-slight lead over former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. McCain was ahead of Giuliani 26.1 to 25.7.
Former U.S. Sen. and TV actor Fred Thompson came in third with 17.7 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was fourth with 10.2 percent, and former Wisconsin Gov. and George W. Bush cabinet member Tommy Thompson was fifth with just 3.3 percent. Undecideds and “other” totaled 17 percent.
McCain is slipping rapidly in national polling, but he still has support among Illinoisans who backed him in his 2000 presidential bid. Giuliani recently signed up House Republican Leader Tom Cross, who is helping get that organization together. Thompson has not yet formally announced, but he is looking more like a candidate every day.
The automated phone poll was conducted by “Ask Illinois,” which has done a lot of polling for political candidates and interest groups and has a good reputation among insiders. The firm uses special technology to blast out hundreds of calls simultaneously and they contact huge numbers of people. In this case 3,509 hardcore Democrats and 3,761 Republicans responded to the poll, leaving us with an extremely low margin of error of +/- 1.18 to +/- 1.52 percent, depending on the question. Republicans and Democrats who indicated they intend to cross over to the other party next year were omitted from these results. The difference was statistically insignificant.
Crosstabs will be posted later this morning in the subscriber-only section.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Metro Networks, which has member radio stations all over Illinois, covered the poll this morning…
Democrats who plan to vote in next year’s presidential primary have a much better idea of who they plan to support than Republicans. A new polls for the political newsletter “Capitol Fax” shows Illinois U.S. Senator Barack Obama with a huge lead over Senator Hillary Clinton. Both have ties to Illinois, but Obama leads the hardcore primary voter poll by 28-percent. The poll asked people who’ve voted in the last two primaries for the same party who they plan to support. Obama pulled in 52-point-6 percent, Senator Clinton is in second with 24-point-6, and Senator John Edwards has about 9-and-a-half percent.
It’s a much closer field for the Republicans. John McCain leads among his hardcore supporters, edging out Rudy Giuliani 26-point-1 to 25-point-7. Fred Thompson is third, and Mitt Romney fourth. Pollsters say the hardcore voters will vote in the primary, and a look at their support is a solid indicator of who may win Illinois if the state moves to an earlier primary for 2008.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Rasmussen has a new national poll that has Obama leading the pack…
For the first time in the Election 2008 season, somebody other than New York Senator Hillary Clinton is on top in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows Illinois Senator Barack Obama with a statistically insignificant two point advantage over the former First Lady. It’s Obama 32% Clinton 30%. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards remains in third with support holding steady at 17%. No other candidate tops 3%. The survey was conducted April 23-26, 2007 meaning that the overwhelming majority of the interviews were completed before last Thursday’s debate in South Carolina. The impact of the debate will be measured in polling conducted this week.
*** UPDATE 4 *** The Daily Herald’s bloggy type thing Animal Farm gives us some props…
The Capitol Fax newsletter has done what I think is the first presidential poll for ‘08. It shows Democratic Sen. Barack Obama with a huge lead, more than 2-to-1, over the field in his adopted home state. On the Republican side, it’s tres tight between Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Former Sen. Fred Thompson, whose wife is from Naperville, was a surprising third.
Despite all the cash dumped into state health insurance expansion plans, the problem continues to worsen. According to the Tribune, a study released Friday showed that “1.8 million residents were uninsured in Illinois in 2005, up about 2 percent from the year before.”
“What this tells us is even with everything Illinois is doing, this problem is getting worse,” said Michael Taitel, board president at the Gilead Outreach and Referral Center, which published the study and focuses on the uninsured.
It’s happening largely because of a well-documented, long-term trend: Fewer employers are offering medical coverage to employees and their families as insurance premiums and health-care costs soar.
Between 2001 and 2005, the portion of Illinois’ population covered by employer-based insurance fell from 74.9 percent to 72.8 percent, the Gilead Center’s analysis shows. […]
Statewide, 367,995 families with an annual income of more than $50,000 included at least one family member younger than 65 who was uninsured in 2005—or nearly 40 percent of all uninsured families.
As if on cue, two longtime proponents of single-payer health plans penned an op-ed in the Sun-Times…
Illinois has only two options for health reform: preserve private insurance companies (and the huge systemic waste they generate), or scrap them and use the savings to cover everyone. Sadly, Blagojevich has joined President Bush, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in offering the private insurance route.
The better approach would be to replace insurance companies with Medicare-like universal public health insurance, a system that has afforded the rest of the industrialized world better health for half our per-capita cost (or less).
Question: Do you support a single-payer system? Why or why not?
Phil Kadner had a very good column over the weekend. I say that at least partly because he beat me to this angle.
What happened was the Illinois Education and A+ Illinois have organized a Statehouse rally this week. Originally, the rally was supposed to tout the governor’s gross receipts tax proposal to fund education. But the groups got some push-back, particularly from longtime tax swap supporters, and now it’s just a general “let’s fund education” to-do….
“We’re not choosing sides here,” said a spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, which actually did choose sides earlier this year by supporting the GRT. “This is a citizens rally to tell legislators the time has come to get something done.” […]
Voliva said the IEA agreed to a more generic rally in support of increased school funding. It also agreed not to allow any politicians to speak.
So her organization [Better Funding for Better Schools] — which includes the Illinois PTA, League of Women Voters and a number of grass roots education advocacy groups — agreed to participate.
Here’s the original IEA flyer on the rally and a close-up of the GRT language [click for larger pics]…
And here’s the new IEA statement and the new A+ Illinois info on the rally…
Needless to say, this is not good news for Gov. Blagojevich’s tax and spending plan. The guv’s office has tried its very best to stamp out all mentions of the tax swap, but it keeps coming back up. The Illinois Federation of Teachers is currently withholding support from the spending component (along with the Illinois AFL-CIO).
There is little if any momentum for the governor’s plans at the Statehouse right now. A generic education funding rally is definitely not something he wanted.
Both proposals would have adverse, if not devastating, effects on the Illinois economy. But taxpayer advocates should hand it to the governor. His is only the second-most reckless plan on the table this spring.
And a Rockford Register-Star article includes this line about the competing proposals…
But chances of either plan passing appear slim as the plans compete for political support.
*** UPDATE *** The IEA has a new TV ad that makes no mention of the GRT. Entitled “Someday” it ends with the tagline “Tell your state Senator and Representative to support school funding reform.” Click the pic to watch [.mov file]…
* Civil damages bill could reignite ire of doctors
* Michigan unveils comprehensive business tax relief plan; more here
In a move to jumpstart Michigan’s economy and reward businesses that create jobs here in Michigan, House leadership today unveiled a comprehensive business tax and incentive package that rewards investment, protects Michigan-based companies, and ensures funding for education, health care and the 21st Century Jobs Fund.
* Aaron Chambers: Power politics puts ComEd back in the rate freeze mix
* Editorial: Real leadership is needed to ease electric rate crisis
* Editorial: Political games in Springfield hurt electric issue
Years from now, political science classes probably will be studying the Illinois deregulation/rate-setting issue as an example of how not to do something.
* Statehouse Insider: Electric rates and Media ducking: “It’s pretty much official now. None of the top Democrats in the state is talking to the news media.”
* Public will get to go up in dome of Old State Capitol
* Lynn Sweet: Obama admits being nervous at first debate
Obama replied that while a state senator, “The first bill I ever passed was campaign finance reform legislation.'’ He’s wrong. It was not his first bill. Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney reports that as a chief co-sponsor, Obama played an important role in passing that legislation May 22, 1998. Obama’s first bill passed on his own in the state Senate required the state’s community colleges to publish a directory of students with vocational and technical skills.
Until the bottom of the seventh inning, Nick Miller and the Keller Indians were finished.
