Illinois prisons “aren’t country clubs,” Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday in rejecting the notion that news reporters should be let inside to see conditions in the crowded system for themselves.
Letting journalists visit the prisons is a security risk, the Chicago Democrat said, and taxpayers will have to trust his administration’s experts on how the system is run.
“That’s my decision,” Quinn said. […]
“Prisons aren’t country clubs,” he said after cutting the opening-day ribbon for the annual state fair in Springfield. “They’re not there to be visited and looked at.”
* But, lo and behold, some community college students “visited and looked at” a prison just the other day…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration is describing a prison tour by community college students as “educational” while continuing to bar news reporters as a “security risk.”
The Department of Corrections says 25 criminal justice students from Heartland Community College in Normal toured the maximum-security Pontiac lockup on Friday. […]
Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano says Heartland’s “educational” tour was closely monitored. But she wouldn’t say how a media tour would be handled any differently.
The governor is most definitely hiding something. That’s the only conclusion which any reasonable person could possibly arrive at.
* A candidate for state Senate has been claiming that she was a Catholic nun for five years. Phil Kadner says she wasn’t…
Republican Barbara Bellar boasts on her website and on the campaign trail for the 18th District state Senate seat that she was once a Catholic nun.
But when asked if she ever took vows of fidelity and obedience she refused to return telephone calls for days and repeatedly walked away from this columnist during a Republican candidate forum at Moraine Valley Community College on Saturday.
“Dr. Bellar served as a Benedictine nun for five years and remains active in her church,” Bellar claims in a biography on her campaign website, which includes a logo that reads: “Barbara Bellar, State Senate, There’s ‘Nun’ Better.”
But Sister Patricia Crowley, prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago, said Bellar was only a postulant in the order, meaning she was there for a year and was a candidate to join the order.
Crowley explained that the layman’s definition of a nun really doesn’t mean anything to her order.
Catholics make up most of that district. What a disaster.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Nothing could possibly top that story. But there’s an, um, interesting candidate running for Kane County Board…
Kerri Branson didn’t expect that her past as a video-game actress and Playboy model 20 years ago would be in the spotlight when she decided to run for a seat on the Kane County Board.
“It has actually been rather funny how my past is blowing up like this,” said Branson, the Democratic challenger in the race for Kane County Board District 18.
Branson, 42, of North Aurora, has been fielding interviews about the Sonya Blade character she portrayed in the Mortal Kombat video game series and her nude, lingerie and swimsuit poses for a dozen Playboy special newsstand magazines.
“I don’t regret what I did,” said Branson, who is from Minnesota. “I was very successful at it and it brought me to Illinois, where I met my husband and have a beautiful family.”
She and her husband have four children: twin sons, 15, who suffer from severe cerebral palsy, a son, 12, and daughter, 10.
Hey, it takes all kinds to make a world. And at least she didn’t lie about it.
* I’ve told you before about Natalie Manley, the Joliet Democratic House candidate who was arrested for allegedly beating up her daughter. The charges were later dropped. But the House Republicans are running a new ad that, while not directly mentioning the alleged assault, most certainly alludes to it. You gotta watch this one…
As hundreds of thousands of Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs enlisted in the Union and Confederate Armies during1861 and 1862, military and civilian officials and journalists from both sides recognized that soldiers who trained for deadly combat would need relief from their endless drills and chores. Among other activities, people on both sides urged soldiers to take up the relatively new sport of baseball.
Generally, soldiers sported within the relative security of their encampments, though sometimes they violated Army regulations and competed outside the fortifications and beyond the line of pickets. George H. Putnam remembered a contest among Union troops in Texas that was aborted by a surprise enemy assault. “Suddenly there came a scattering fire of which the three fielders caught the brunt; the center field was hit and was captured; the left and right field managed to get into our lines,” he wrote. The Northern soldiers repulsed the Confederate attack, but “we had lost not only the center field,” but “the only baseball in Alexandria,” Texas.
Most of the ballplaying soldiers were natives of Northeastern states, and in particular those cities and towns where the baseball mania had been the most intense during the late 1850s. When New Englanders competed among themselves they generally played by the rules of the “Massachusetts Game.” John G. B. Adams of the 19th Massachusetts Regiment recalled that early in 1863, while he was encamped in Falmouth, Va., a “base ball fever broke out.” Enlisted men and officers played “the old-fashioned game, when a man running the bases must be hit by the ball to be declared out.” […]
While New Englanders naturally favored the Massachusetts rules, they were outnumbered by soldiers from Manhattan and Brooklyn, who preferred the “New York Game,” developed during the 1840s and 1850s by that city’s Knickerbocker club. In October 1861 a “bold Soldier boy” sent the Clipper newspaper an account of a baseball game played by prominent Brooklyn club members on the parade ground of the “Mozart Regiment, now in Secessia.” He was eager to report the sports news to civilians on the home front, since they “might imagine that the `sacred soil’ yields only to the tramp of the soldier, that its hills echo only the booming gun, and the dying shriek.” The men, he explained, were “engaged in their old familiar sports, totally erasing from their minds the all absorbing topic of the day.”
By 1863 the New York version of baseball had gained a decided advantage over cricket, the Massachusetts Game and a related game called townball. Nicholas E. Young, later president of the National League, was a cricketer from a town in upstate New York who played the English game in an army camp near White Oak Church, Va., in the early spring of 1863. That year he switched his allegiance to baseball after the 27th New York Regiment organized a club.
* The Question: Which team would you like to win the World Series this year, or do you not care? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* A new ad being run by Democratic congressional candidate Bill Foster accuses incumbent Republican Judy Biggert of voting to “privatize” Social Security. Watch…
The spot accuses Biggert of voting to privatize Social Security, making reference to two 2001 votes the veteran Hinsdale Republican cast in Congress.
One case involved a procedural vote Biggert took against a Democratic plan opposing President George W. Bush’s Social Security Commission that was recommending a portion of the program be privatized. The ad also cites Biggert’s vote for a budget that year that included funding for privatized Social Security accounts.
What Foster’s ad doesn’t tell voters, however, is that the votes were tied to a proposal that was never implemented and has no bearing on current seniors. The Bush plan would have applied only to younger workers paying Social Security who could have invested 2 percent of their contributions in private accounts.
A procedural vote and a budget vote. Not much. But, I suppose I’ve seen less made into more.
* Democrat Brad Schneider has another unusual ad. This one uses archival footage of LBJ talking about Medicare. Have a look…
* And the NRCC has a new independent expenditure ad blasting Democrat David Gill. View it…
* We talked a bit about a St. Louis Post Dispatch article last week which revealed that Republican congressional candidate Jason Plummer paid his property taxes late. But this section sparked my interest as well…
Plummer, who is a multimillionaire according to a personal financial disclosure, also took an owner occupied exemption on the property, which means the house must be your primary residence. The house is outside of Illinois’ 12th district, which runs from parts of eastern Madison County to the Kentucky border. His campaign noted that the tax bill was for the past year. He moved to O’Fallon, Ill., which is in the district, in October of 2011.
* A check of Madison County records shows that Plummer’s homestead exemption was renewed on March 26th of this year…
A closeup…
* So, he’s voting at an address in Fairview Heights, but he is getting a homestead exemption in Edwardsville. You have to swear that this is your primary residence to qualify for this exemption, and it’s an issue which has ensnared other politicians, including Tammy Duckworth, and many more.
* The explanation from the Plummer campaign…
The homestead exemption is automatically renewed. The next property tax bill Mr. Plummer will get on that property is in May of 2013 for the 2012 year.
OK, he won’t be getting any benefit from that exemption until next year. There’s still time to opt out of it. It’s not a huge deal.
Even so, when Plummer moved his residence, he took the time to register to vote in the 12th but he didn’t fill out any paperwork to change the homestead tax exemption and as of right now he’s voting at one address and there’s a record saying that his primary residence is somewhere else.
It’s not like he’s gonna go to jail or anything. But, c’mon, man. You’re running for Congress. Take care of this stuff.
Walsh is also against gay marriage, saying it is a religious as well as a “socioeconomic issue.” Walsh argues that “male-female, two-parent households” produce children who do better in school, stay away from drugs and are less likely to be in poverty.
* But Walsh used to be solidly for gay rights. Check out this 1996 story from the Windy City Times when he ran against longtime Congressman Sid Yates. Click for a better view…
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
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* The problem with the coverage of what budget office spokesman Abdon Pallasch told the Daily Herald yesterday is that he wasn’t saying that universities would definitely close or taxes would definitely increase if AFSCME’s contract wasn’t resolved in the state’s favor and pensions weren’t reformed to the workers’ detriment. He was just throwing out hypotheticals if that stuff didn’t happen. This shouldn’t be taken too seriously or blown out of proportion.
Trouble is, it’s two weeks before the election. Everybody’s naturally jumpy. Democratic candidates don’t want to needlessly aggravate AFSCME or the teachers, or taxpayers.
Not only that, but thousands of state workers and retirees have succumbed to a weird conspiracy theory that the innocuous constitutional amendment on the ballot next month will somehow take away their pensions. And the Illinois Policy Institute is convinced that there’s a secret plan to raise taxes after the election.
So, right now is, to say the least, not the best environment to broach concepts which lead to stories like this…
Gov. Pat Quinn has tried to close prisons, mental hospitals and other state facilities in his quest to cut state spending.
On Tuesday, one of his top budget aides added another institution to the possible target list: Public universities.
The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported Tuesday that assistant budget chief Abdon Pallasch said the state’s labor unions must make some concessions at the bargaining table in order to avoid deeper cuts in state spending.
“The alternative is we, you know, close a few prisons or universities, I guess,” Pallasch told the newspaper’s editorial board. “I’m not threatening to close prisons or universities. I’m just saying, let your imagination run wild with what we’d have to do.”
A report due Wednesday on Illinois’ fiscal crisis is heavy on definition but light on recommendations for repair, one of its authors said Tuesday.
An offshoot of a national report released in July that was headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, the Illinois edition of the State Budget Crisis Task Force aims to drive home how big of a hole Illinois has dug itself, according to Richard Dye.
“It spends a lot of time talking about the magnitude of the problem, which is huge — somebody’s ox is going to be gored, or oxen,” said Dye, an economist with the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
“Rather than weighing in on the tough choices and focusing people’s attention on specific cuts that we might recommend, we stayed out of that,” Dye said. “That’s the big thing: Something’s got to be done and sooner rather than later.”
Any idiot with half a brain knows we have big problems in this state. For instance…
Because an agreement between state and union officials has expired, 60 union employees of the state had no choice but to report for work Monday to the otherwise empty and unused Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro — which was the previous place of employment.
The specific agreement between the Department of Juvenile Justice and AFSCME had allowed the workers to be transported for duties at IYC Harrisburg. The agreement expired Sunday, however, and contract talks failed last Thursday. That led to employees returning Monday to IYC Murphysboro — which hasn’t housed a resident since Quinn’s closing decision took effect.
So another study announcing that we have a problem doesn’t really interest me. Ideas from the ivory tower for fixing these problems while doing as little harm as possible to actual people would’ve been nice, but these goofs took the easy way out.
Seeking to reshape a national political debate he finds frustratingly superficial, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York is plunging into the 2012 campaign in its final weeks, creating his own “super PAC” to direct millions of dollars in donations to elect candidates from both parties who he believes will focus on problem solving.
Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire and a registered independent, expects to spend from $10 million to $15 million of his money in highly competitive state, local and Congressional races. The money would be used to pay for a flurry of advertising on behalf of Republican, Democratic and independent candidates who support three of his biggest policy initiatives: legalizing same-sex marriage, enacting tougher gun laws and overhauling schools.
Among those whom Mr. Bloomberg will support are former Gov. Angus King, an independent running for the United States Senate in Maine; State Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod, who is challenging a fellow Democrat, Representative Joe Baca of California, who the mayor believes has been weak on gun-control; and Representative Bob Dold, a Republican from Illinois who has backed gun-control measures.
Mr. Bloomberg suggested [Obama and Romney] were cowed by the National Rifle Association, which has endorsed Mr. Romney.
The point of his super PAC, he said, was to provide “spine” for politicians under that sort of pressure, which is why, for instance, it is supporting the re-election of Representative Robert J. Dold, a Republican from Illinois. Mr. Dold got a “D” from the National Rifle Association for backing some gun restrictions.
“You’re not going to beat the N.R.A. overnight,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “As you get going, people start realizing that there’s a sane group of people out there that want them to do intelligent things, and that that’s where their support is going to come from.”
“We’ll win some races, we’ll lose some of these, but it’s sort of to get our feet wet,” Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly appearance on John Gambling’s radio show. “Two years from now, when I don’t have to worry about just what’s good for New York City–I’m going to live here for the rest of my life, my kids are going to live here, I’m going to live in New York State, I’m going to live in America, so I care about all of these levels of government–I’ll be freer to do more.”
Discussing his motivation for the move, Mr. Bloomberg said he’s “complained about this partisanship and lack of cooperation” in Washington, and he finally decided to step up and try to fix things.
“I don’t respect people who complain and don’t try and do something about it,” he said. “Just complaining is not something I think is very productive, so I’m going to try and support candidates–and you can do it with $1, or $10, or voting–but I want to support candidates who believe as I do. Marriage equality and common-sense gun laws and educational reform, people who can work across the aisle.”
* Progress Illinois looked at Bloomberg’s decision last Friday…
Dold, who did not return calls for comment today, says on his campaign Web site that “I have worked with organizations like Mayor Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns” and “I support reasonable restrictions on gun ownership.”
But Schneider has similar gun control rhetoric on his Web site and goes a step further by laying out specific legislation he would support as a member of Congress. This includes reinstating the federal assault weapons ban, a bill that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996, which expired in 2004.
Dold has not given his position on the assaults weapon ban. In an interview with the Vernon Hills Review this August, campaign spokesman John McGovern answered a question about the assault weapons ban by noting that Dold “supports closing gun show loopholes” and “has worked with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to support legislation to keep firearms out of the hands of potential terrorists.”
* In another race, Democrat Bill Foster has a new TV ad. Rate it…
* The State Journal-Register editorial board wrote about something today which has been on my mind for the past week or so…
Candidates who try to be too goody-two-shoes about their campaign funding often run into the same problem as 13th Congressional District Democrat David Gill: Explaining how the money they said was dirty seeped into their campaign.
Gill spent Thursday trying to explain how the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which doesn’t have any scruples about taking cash from corporate political action committees and Wall Street banks, ended up paying for a television advertisement proclaiming Gill’s political purity.
The disclaimer at the end of the ad says it was paid for by the DCCC and Gill’s campaign.
Reporters and Republican opponent Rodney Davis rightly pounced on Gill’s inconsistency and it has dominated news coverage of the race.
The same type of thing happened in the 1998 gubernatorial campaign to Democrat Glenn Poshard, a fundamentally decent public servant who lost to the now-imprisoned George Ryan.
The lesson is clear: While the campaign finance laws may be rotten, by creating another set of rules for yourself, you set yourself up to fail. Change the system when you get elected.
Every time Poshard bent or broke his self-imposed ban on PAC contributions, the media - especially the Tribune - pounced on him. George Ryan was able to cast himself as the clean candidate in that race because Poshard was always so desperate for cash that he had to constantly try to find a way to get around his own contribution limits.
* First, you win. Then, you can change the laws. Poshard didn’t think that through when he ran for governor. It cost him dearly. Gill has made the same problem for himself.
When Gill was the lone wolf out on his own, decrying big DC and New York money was fine because he was never gonna get any of that loot. Now that he’s in the big show and in a race that appears to be going down to the wire, Gill needs every dollar he can find. But he can’t tap it because he’s tied one hand behind his back.
The SJ-R dismissed the controversy and went ahead and endorsed Gill anyway.
* I really doubt that this particular issue itself will lose the race for Gill. But what it very well may do is prevent Gill from spending the kind of money he needs from now until election day.
And if Gill loses to Rodney Davis by a handful of votes in a district that was drawn to elect a Democrat, that pledge of his will likely be pointed to as the reason. And if he can’t take New York money and still vote against New York money, then maybe he doesn’t deserve to win anyway. It’s not like Davis will be tougher than him on Wall Street. Win first, change second.
Rush said that Jackson’s absence from Congress has not harmed his district because the legislative body has been in session only 32 days since Jackson took his leave.
“Nothing really occurred in those 32 days, that his constituency has suffered,” Rush said.
And until his illness, Jackson had “an almost impeccable voting record,” according to Rush.
“It’s kind of paradoxical to me to see someone who has one of the best voting records in Congress now he’s being accused of being a loafer and not showing up for work,” Rush said.
Davis noted that Congress’ next lengthy session won’t be until January.
Rush was also critical of recent media reports about Jackson drinking in bars. “These accusations about bar-hopping and that kind of thing are ludicrous, it was not only disrespectful it had no basis in the truth. The man was not in a bar carousing with any women.”
But as both congressmen defended Jackson, once a rising Democratic prospect, the theme of the wounded innocent was ever-present.
“I remember a fella named Job who got sick during the Biblical days,” Davis said. “And Job’s friends went to see him because they thought that he must have done something that was terrible to have this illness heaped upon him. Turned out that Job had not done anything!”
Rush, meanwhile, likened Jackson’s situation to that of Bulls star Derrick Rose, who is recovering from a knee injury.
“Nobody is clamoring for Derrick Rose to come back before the doctors say he should come back,” Rush said.
Oh, please. Derrick Rose hasn’t mysteriously disappeared from public view and sent surrogates out to speak for him. Quite the opposite.
Confirming reports that Jackson planned to return to the Mayo Clinic this week for further treatment, Rush said the lawmaker left for Mayo by car later Monday.
“For Tammy Duckworth to bring up this private family matter that was resolved and dismissed is nothing short of graceless. It shows how desperate her campaign has become since polls have shown me ahead and it represents the worst in our political system. Ms. Duckworth has demonstrated she will do and say anything to win this campaign.”
Duckworth said [yesterday] that Walsh has attacked just about everyone in this district, whether it was Latinos, African Americans, women who want access to their contraception….He’s attacked me from everything from the clothes that I wear to my military service.”
“I think for him to now cry foul is very typical of a bully,” she said. “They bully other people and when you point out their own problems, then they cry foul.”
* Walsh is now planning to turn up the heat in what will surely be a high-profile press conference with his son. From a press release…
Congressman Walsh and his son Joe Walsh (speaking on behalf of his siblings) will hold a press conference today to respond to the recent attack ads on Congressman Walsh and his family currently being aired by the Duckworth Campaign.
WHAT: Joe Walsh press conference
WHO: Congressman Joe Walsh and Joe Walsh Jr.
WHEN: TODAY, October 23 - 2:30PM
WHERE: 55 West Monroe, 5th Floor Conference Room, Chicago, IL
This will get intense. Stay tuned.
*** UPDATE 1 *** This Walsh presser puts me in the mind of 1996. Democrat Terry Link was not given a chance in heck of winning a Senate seat that year. But then the Republicans blasted him for not paying child support. Link held a press conference with his ex-wife, who praised him up and down for being a great father.
Link won.
This could be a very dramatic turn of events, campers. Watch closely.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From a press release quoting Walsh’s son…
“Our Mom and Dad didn’t agree on everything, but even during the divorce they made it clear to us we were their top priority. After the divorce, they continued to do their best to provide for us financially and emotionally. Most of all, they both made us their priority during the public child support dispute last year by not discussing the case or us in public and this past April, they privately resolved their issues once again keeping us out of the news.”
Walsh Jr. continued, “We understand that politics is a rough business, but these ads are wrong and very hurtful to us. It’s wrong you’re saying these untrue things about our Dad. Please, Ms. Duckworth, try to win this campaign on the issues where you disagree with our Dad. But don’t attack him as a Father. He was and is a wonderful Father.”
“Please pull these TV ads. It’s just not right to be doing what you’re doing,” Walsh Jr. concluded.
Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The cable industry is asking lawmakers to place a NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. HB 5440 is not about fairness, equity or parity – it’s a tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV. They cannot afford another NEW tax – not now and not in this economy!
HB 5440 Will Hurt Illinois Families and Small Businesses
• Satellite TV subscribers will see their monthly bills go up 5%.
• This tax will impact every bar, restaurant and hotel that subscribes to satellite TV service, which will translate into higher prices, decreased revenues, and fewer jobs.
• Rural Illinois has no choice: In many parts of Illinois, cable refuses to provide TV service to rural communities. Satellite TV is their only option.
HB 5440 Is Not About Parity or Fairness
• Cable’s claim that this discriminatory tax is justified because satellite TV doesn’t pay local franchise fees could not be further from the truth. Cable pays those fees to local towns and cities in exchange for the right to bury cables in the public rights of way—a right that Comcast and Charter value in the tens of billions of dollars in their SEC filings.
• Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: We use satellites—unlike cable, we don’t need to dig up streets and sidewalks to deliver our TV service.
• Making satellite subscribers pay franchise fees—or, in this case, an equivalent amount in taxes—would be like taxing the air It’s no different than making airline passengers pay a fee for laying railroad tracks.
