Monday, Dec 7, 2009 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department
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* Not unexpected, but it’ll be fun to see what they do…
Federal prosecutors are promising to bring a new indictment against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to avoid issues connected to an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court on the scope of the federal “honest services” statute under which Blagojevich has been charged.
That would prevent the need to delay Blagojevich’s June trial date, they said.
In a filing today, prosecutors said they would handle the honest services question in the new filing against the former governor. The high court is expected to hear arguments tomorrow related to the limits of the federal statute. […]
[Assistant U.S. Atty. Reid Schar] wrote that, at most, some of the counts against Blagojevich would be dropped if the high court severely limited the use of honest services.
Happy early anniversary, Rod.
…Adding… It’s unclear whether this is related to the Sun-Times report the other day that the federal investigation of hiring abuses under Blagojevich is continuing. That report was mostly overlooked by the rest of the media, but it could prove important.
“To avoid any unnecessary delay in the June [2010] trial date, the government anticipates requesting the grand jury return a second superseding indictment in the instant case towards the end of January 2010,” prosecutors wrote today. “At this time, it is anticipated that any new charges would be based on the underlying conduct that currently encompasses the pending charges.”
* The news reports on how the Chicago police came to the conclusion that Michael Scott’s death was a suicide contained an interesting little tidbit…
Much of that investigation involved public surveillance cameras that recorded Michael Scott over a roughly 45-minute time period as he drove to the location along the Chicago River where he would, police say, later commit suicide.
The cameras are all linked to the city’s 911 center as part of what is called Operation Virtual Shield. By entering a description of Scott’s Cadillac into the system, it gave detectives video of the vehicle as Scott drove it from multiple camera positions.
The program is referred to as video analytics and has been touted for its potential as a high tech crime-fighting tool. […]
The video analytics used to track Scott’s car searched through many terabytes of recorded video just based on the vehicles description.
* The Question: Are you comfortable with the knowledge that the Chicago police have this sort of surveillance capabilities? Explain.
* The Sierra Club endorsed Gov. Pat Quinn the other day, but don’t expect any endorsement like that for Republican US Senate candidate Mark Kirk…
Environmental groups who champion cap-and-trade say Kirk has now cost himself general election support in a decidedly Democratic state. Cap-and-trade tops their agenda and appears to surpass other pro-environment positions the congressman holds.
“Mark Kirk is catering to a very vocal, very angry minority,” says Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club’s Illinois chapter. “This is a very important seat and we want to know that our next U.S. senator is going to be a leader on environmental and energy policy.”
Both the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters sided with Kirk in his 2008 race against Wilmette Democrat Dan Seals, a battle that drew millions of dollars in spending and national attention.
In the past, Kirk has used endorsements from groups like the Sierra Club and others (anti-gun, pro-choice, pro-gay rights, etc.) to prove to his constituents that he’s not like other Republicans. That’s a big reason, maybe one of the main reasons, why he’s withstood assault after assault during gigantic Democratic years. Then again, Illinois isn’t like his congressional district - it’s more conservative as a whole.
* Turning to more local politics, a comment by Todd Stroger caused a stuttering, sputtering rejoinder by Mayor Daley. First, the comment…
The embattled president of the Cook County Board says he can name a long list of elected officials and labor union leaders who have forsaken him. But it is the name at the top of Todd H. Stroger’s tally of defectors that stands out: Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Chicago’s mayor, Mr. Stroger said, has delivered a “slap” to his face by failing to support him in his bid for re-election when he badly needs political support.
“I’ve never slapped anyone in the face — even symbolically I haven’t,” Daley said. “When is the last time you heard me criticize him?”
Asked if he supports Stroger’s re-election bid, Daley tripped all over himself.
“No, I didn’t — how do you know? How does he know?” Daley stammered.
Told that Stroger believes he does not have the mayor’s endorsement, Daley said, “Well, that’s his problem.” Asked if he intends to issue an endorsement, Daley said, “We’ll see.”
In more important county board president endorsement news, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle was endorsed by the New Trier Township Democrats yesterday with a whopping 83 percent of the votes.
* Back to statewide endorsements. I told you about this last week, but the Illinois Federation of Teachers made it official today. From a press release…
Citing his record as Illinois comptroller and stances on education and labor issues, the Illinois Federation of Teachers has unanimously endorsed Dan Hynes for governor in the Feb. 2, 2010 primary election.
Hynes wants a progressive tax increase, which would have to first be approved by voters, since he’d have to change the state’s constitution. The IFT, however, was a major force in pushing for a higher tax increase right away. Here’s how the IFT finesses the issue…
“The IFT has supported a variety of revenue proposals over the years to provide needed funding for public education and public services,” said Geppert. “The IFT still supports an income tax increase this year to prevent layoffs in schools and in state government. Dan Hynes is the best candidate to work with us and finally fix the state’s structural deficit for the long term.”
Quinn is announcing support from U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, state Sens. Rickey Hendon and Kimberly Lightford, state Reps. Annazette Collins and Karen Yarborough, as well as Cook County Commissioners Earlean Collins and Robert Steele. Other endorsements include Chicago Alds. Walter Burnett, 27th, Sharon Denise-Dixon, 24th, Emma Mitts, 37th, and Ed Smith, 28th.
I kinda wonder if anyone will use the opportunity to ask Quinn about Hendon’s candidacy for lieutenant governor.
A challenger to state Rep. Suzie Bassi landed the official endorsement of the Palatine Township Republican organization Saturday, continuing a historic feud between the incumbent and a local party boss.
Tom Morrison, a Palatine businessman, was backed by the organization over Bassi, who has held the 54th District seat since 1999. […]
“It was not the least bit unexpected,” Bassi said of the group’s snub. “But I’m glad I showed up to remind them of what I have done.”
* Our campaign video this morning is from Gov. Quinn. It’s a video wrapup of the Sierra Club nod. Have a look…
* Related…
* Illinois sets public hearing on Thomson prison plan
More than $80 million [in state reimbursements] is owed to 259 agencies surveyed by Metro Chicago United Way during the last fiscal year, which ended June 30.
Sixty percent of the groups surveyed said they will be forced to reduce or freeze the number of people they serve. More than 10 percent of the agencies anticipate that they will be forced to temporarily or permanently close locations because of less state funding.
Assume we freeze tax rates and a robust recovery produces revenue growth of 7.79 percent from the sales tax, 13.2 percent from the personal income tax and 41 percent from the corporate income tax — all of which would match spikes over the last quarter century. The yield would be $2.4 billion, only 20 percent of the deficit.
Illinois revenue experts consider even that scenario wildly optimistic. None of those categorical high points occurred in the same year. Moreover, the generally prosperous 1990s produced annual growth of 6.3 percent from the sales tax, 8.1 percent from the personal income tax and 11.1 percent from corporate and business taxes.
The idea, espoused by several Republican candidates, that if we somehow bring back prosperity our budget problems will disappear is mostly nonsense. You’d think, therefore, when a candidate claims he can balance the budget by slashing tax rates in half that he’d be challenged a bit by the interviewing reporter. Nope…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft visited Edwardsville recently, pledging that, if elected, he would cut the state income tax by half, cut the corporate tax by half and eliminate the estate tax.
And speaking of the economy, Andy McKenna has joined other GOP candidates on the minimum wage issue…
Cutting Illinois’ minimum wage is increasingly becoming a key proposal by Republican candidates for governor as they push ideas to help the state’s economy.
Voters are not likely to hear that in campaign mailers or TV ads, but when pressed for their plans on job creation, several GOP candidates turn to reducing the lowest amount employers are allowed to pay workers.
The latest entry to the fold is Andy Mckenna, a Chicago business owner and former head of the Illinois Republican Party. He told WBBM’s At Issue program on 780 AM Friday that Illinois’ high minimum wage, which is nearly $1 more than the federal limit, “is a problem.” […]
Other Republican candidates to support reducing the minimum wage include former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan of Elmhurst and Hinsdale businessman Adam Andrzejewski.
I didn’t hear the “At Issue” program over the weekend and WBBM hasn’t yet posted it on their website, but maybe we can listen later.
* Rep. Mike Zalewski (D-Chicago), the son of a Chicago alderman, was appointed to his seat last year. He has a no-name challenger, but the Machine, as usual overreacted. Somebody allegedly obtained drivers license photographs of Zalewski’s opponent and the opponent’s father to circulate door-to-door. The Zalewski folks believed that the circulators weren’t who they said they were, but getting those photos ain’t exactly legal…
Zalewski’s supporters - and Zalewski himself, according to affidavits filed in the case - went door to door with photographs of Collins and his dad and asked voters who signed their petitions if the Collins duo, indeed, were the circulators.
But before the electoral board could rule on the circulator issue, Collins’ attorney, Richard Means, raised the illegality of using driver’s license photos, which were attached to Molaro’s objection paperwork.
“There is no question these are their driver’s license photographs and they came from inside,” Means said. “When you look at an actual driver’s license, there’s a watermark, or imprint, on it. Here we have the exact same photo with no watermark, so it wasn’t taken off the face of his license. It was taken off the original picture in the files of the secretary of state’s office. We were ready to prove that.”
Democratic Party attorney Michael Kasper swiftly informed Means the objection would be dropped, according to Means.
Ugh.
An internal Secretary of State investigation has been launched. This is one of those little things that can easily mushroom into something bigger, so we’ll keep an eye on it.
A Chicago AIDS charity has been ordered to return a $500,000 state grant it received to rehabilitate a South Side apartment building, amid questions about the group’s spending.
The legal judgment obtained by the Illinois Commerce and Economic Opportunity Department and announced Friday, comes in the wake of Chicago Sun-Times stories outlining the Let’s Talk, Let’s Test Foundation’s financial struggles and failure to complete the apartment project, which was meant to help fund AIDS-education efforts.
State officials said the foundation — created in 2002 by state Rep. Connie Howard (D-Chicago) in an effort to stem the spread of AIDS in African-American neighborhoods — hasn’t finished the project and didn’t “disclose the complete nature of all grant-fund expenses.”
Separately, Illinois Public Health Department lawyers plan to try to recover $523,545 more from the organization, based on questionable expenses they say it made after getting a separate, $1.2 million AIDS-awareness grant. A court-style hearing in which the foundation would be allowed to defend its spending should be opened in the “very near future,” and a judge would decide if the money was misspent, a health department spokeswoman said.
The association claims it’s almost a million dollars in debt and can’t afford to defend itself against the charges. Oops.
* Meanwhile, in Rod Blagojevich news, the cops thought they had a lead in the investigation into last week’s break-in at Sam Adam Jr.’s office, but it turned up little…
Prosecutors filed a misdemeanor gun charge against the man arrested after police executed a search warrant related to the burglary of the law offices of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attorney.
Prosecutors did not tie Calvin Ware, 41, to the burglary, though, either in court documents or during his appearance on Sunday in Cook County Circuit Court. Ware, charged with unlawful use of a weapon, was given a $25,000 bond and ordered to return to court on Friday.
Adam told the Sun-Times that the most important stuff related to the Blagojevich case was not touched…
Sam Adam Jr. said [Sunday] he remained “99 percent sure” no sensitive material was on the laptops. Adam said the hundreds of hours of recordings that a judge has barred from public disclosure are contained on disks, as well as a main server. Neither the server, nor the disks were touched, Adam said.
“None of the tapes are on the [stolen] computers,” Adam said.
Another source said “at best” portions of some transcripts may have been on the computers.
The laptops stolen link up to a main server where the sensitive material — including tapes and transcripts that are not public — is stored.
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a major Elvis fan who is strapped with legal fees, will be paid $75 to debate a Columbia College professor about the “cultural merits” of the Elvis Presley film “Viva Las Vegas” Dec. 16.
Huh?
There’s really no need to ask why he took so llttle cash. The publicity from this stunt is enough, and he just got some more.
* Rod Blagojevich, God’s instrument: “I embrace this opportunity that I’ve been confronted with. I know God has a purpose for me. Because this whole story is upside down. And this is one way —by me fighting back for the liberties and the rights of Americans that men and women have lost their lives for through the decades and a couple of centuries — to give me a chance to be able to fight back against these powerful forces who are lying. (This) is in many ways I think God’s way of having me serve my country again.”
* Rod Blagojevich, witness to be: “I want you all to know and the people of Illinois to know that I can’t wait to testify at my trial. I am going to testify at my trial, I will answer each and every question asked of me….I’m looking forward to testifying at my trial. And what I love about that is the fact that I’m going to be under oath. Everything that I say is going to be under oath. And you’ve gotta tell the truth. And I can’t wait for my story to come out because I’ve got the simple truth on my side….I know what the truth is. I am going to testify. I’m going to answer every question asked of me. The truth will come out”
* One year after Blagojevich’s arrest, Illinois has seen changes, struggles
* My syndicated newspaper column takes a look back at the events of last week and puts it all into the context of something I’ve been mulling for quite a while now…
For the past several weeks, I’ve been confiding to friends that I think Gov. Pat Quinn has turned out to be a much better campaigner than anyone expected, and a much worse governor than everyone had hoped.
The campaign team that Quinn has put together is quite good. He’s raised a ton of cash, which has paid for some well-produced television ads.
“He’s had to unlearn three decades of muscle memory,” cracked someone from inside Quinn’s campaign a couple of months ago.
Indeed.
Quinn has never been an “A-List” campaigner. He has never really understood what it took to win a really big race - and it’s showed whenever he’s tried. He ran for secretary of state and was clobbered by George Ryan. Two years later he ran for U.S. Senate and was creamed in the Democratic primary by Dick Durbin. He still owed thousands of dollars from that 1996 U.S. Senate race until early this year.
From what I gather, the governor’s brother sat him down and told him that if he wanted to continue being governor then he would have to do all those things he detested, like spend a few hours a day raising money. To his credit, Quinn listened. And I, for one, have been pretty impressed with the results.
It’s the “governing” part of the job that’s been the problem for me. From the failure of his budget rollout, to his constant flip-flops on everything from taxes to gambling to ethics reforms to a government shutdown, Quinn has seemed that he’s in over his head. I, like everybody else, wanted him to succeed after the six-year Rod Blagojevich horror show. But he just hasn’t proved to me, at least, that he’s up to the task.
Last week came one of the biggest blows yet to Quinn’s credibility as governor.
Quinn unexpectedly and harshly lashed out at Comptroller Dan Hynes during a press conference for refusing to sign off on a $500 million short-term borrowing plan, which Quinn said was needed to pay outstanding bills before the end of the year. Quinn claimed that Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias had already agreed to the plan, which turned out to be false. Giannoulias had done no such thing. Both Hynes and Giannoulias must both agree before the bonds can be sold. Hynes, of course, is challenging Quinn in the Democratic primary.
Quinn’s office was needlessly secretive and grossly incompetent during this entire process. The governor switched the type of borrowing that he wanted to do, changed the amount that he wanted to borrow, demanded - out of the blue - an immediate deadline to approve the plan, refused to provide Attorney General Lisa Madigan with crucial information, all without disclosing how he intended to spend the cash.
You’d think this wouldn’t be a very tough sell. Small and large not-for-profit service providers are hurting badly because the state hasn’t been able to reimburse them in weeks or months.
Heck, even Blagojevich was able to get a short-term borrowing plan approved by the comptroller, treasurer and attorney general after he was arrested by the FBI last year - around the same time that the attorney general was attempting to have him removed from office via the courts. If Blagojevich could put it together, why can’t Quinn? After all, the state’s financial crisis is worse now than it was then, with backlogged bills totaling $4.6 billion.
Hynes eventually turned thumbs down on Quinn’s borrowing idea, saying the cash couldn’t really be spent because there was simply no money to ever pay off the loan. He also pointed out that when Quinn was state treasurer, Quinn opposed a very similar borrowing plan attempted by then-Gov. Jim Edgar.
Some might say that Hynes was politically motivated here, but his case is pretty solid. The real political motivation is likely from Quinn. The governor tried to humiliate his political rival over unpaid bills, got caught in a lie (saying that Giannoulias had signed off on the loan, when he hadn’t) and then couldn’t explain the basic mechanics for how the cash would be used or how the loan would be repaid.
I just wish somebody in that governor’s office would learn how to play this game. It really isn’t that difficult, but you’d never know it from the past ten years.
* Others had slightly different perspectives about the short-term borrowing plan. Kurt Erickson was brutal, comparing Quinn to a prevaricating teenager. Finke just wants it resolved and the Pantagraph editorializes that it’s “hard to tell” which one is playing politics here, then claims it doesn’t care, then says whoever is playing politics ought to resign. What a useless editorial that was.
Politicians, even when they dislike their opponents, usually hide their feelings. Especially when talking about members of their own party, they portray disputes as simple policy differences and make sure to note their opponent’s good intentions or long record of public service.
Not Quinn.
Normally easygoing, he bristles at the mention of Hynes’ name and flings harsh accusations: Hynes doesn’t know much about creating jobs, he went AWOL during tough state budget talks, he’s an “ankle-biter” who complains without offering better ideas.
Quinn won’t discuss his irritation at being challenged by Hynes, but he doesn’t deny it either.
“It’s a free country. Anybody can run for office,” Quinn said when asked about it.
This has been obvious since at least July, when Quinn first went off on Hynes after a reporter mentioned the comptroller’s name during a press availability.
* Related…
* Hynes, Quinn clash: Quinn blasted Hynes in news conferences and in campaign commercials for being “missing in action” when Quinn was trying to solve the budget crisis earlier this year. Hynes said Friday he suggested cuts to Quinn that would have helped: “I gave the governor a list of $1.2 billion in contracts, 5,000 contracts. I said: ‘This is where we need to cut. Three months go by and not only are they not cut, they grow to $1.8 billion,” Hynes said.
Legislation in the works calls for abolishing the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education.[…]
“We need to redesign the system,'’ said Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Des Plaines), who introduced a bill to dissolve the elected office. “The real problem is the schools are not getting the services they need. I think eliminating that office is the best way to get those services.'’
Chicago Public Schools students with behavioral problems are posting the lowest academic performance of all special-education students, with only 18.7 percent of them graduating in four years, a new study by the University of Chicago shows.
* Disabled students: Report links high absences to poor academic performance in Chicago public high schools
