* This is a worthwhile event, and I hope to see as many of you as possible this Saturday night. I’ll be there…
A trivia night fundraiser will be held on Nov. 14 in Springfield to raise money for the Public Affairs Reporting Vu Nguyen Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship was created in memory of Vu Nguyen, a 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois at Springfield and talented statehouse reporter who died in May 2009.
The trivia night begins at 7 p.m. at Floyd’s Thirst Parlor, 210 S. 5th Street in Springfield. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 each, and participants are welcome to form teams up to 10 people. The winning team will be given a cash prize, and a 50/50 prize will be given at the event. The trivia night will be emceed by WUIS public radio personality Jenna Dooley. Participants can register in advance or come to the event when the doors open.
Trivia night is one of many grassroots efforts by Nguyen’s Public Affairs Reporting classmates to raise scholarship funds in his memory. Nguyen, 34, was a talented journalist who considered no conversational detail trivial and who took a great interest in his friends and the state he covered for The Associated Press.
A native of Vietnam, Nguyen spent most of his life in California before moving to Springfield for his master’s degree. After graduating in 2008, Nguyen got married and worked as a newspaper reporter in California. He was actively pursuing his lifelong dream of teaching journalism.
More than $10,000 has been raised for the Vu Nguyen Memorial Scholarship, to be awarded annually to other aspiring journalists in the Public Affairs Reporting program at UIS. The PAR Class of 2008 has set $25,000 in endowed scholarship funds as its goal. This scholarship is administered through the University of Illinois at Springfield Foundation.
For more information on Nguyen and how to donate to the memorial scholarship, check out www.remembervu.webs.com.
On Wednesday, Brian Dugan was sentenced to death for the murder of Jeanine Nicarico. In the case of Brian Dugan, the criminal justice system worked. In previous prosecutions, it did not. I said in interviews in 2002 that I had less confidence in the accuracy of the criminal justice system than I did earlier in my career. I continue to believe that.
In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, prosecutors, detectives and police officers acted in good faith and still came up with the wrong result. In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, the system and I failed to achieve a just outcome. And for that I am sorry.
Although I continue to believe that the state has the right to take a life under limited circumstances to protect society, I also believe we must do more to ensure the accuracy of the system of capital punishment and limit its application to the “worst of the worst,” such as Brian Dugan.
I believe we must do more to ensure the accuracy of the criminal justice system. Good intentions are not enough when human life is at stake.
If I am elected governor, I will not lift the moratorium on capital punishment until we have created a more limited and accurate system of capital punishment. While Illinois has made significant progress, other reforms have been left on the table, such as a reduction in the number of eligibility factors that trigger the death penalty.
Is it enough to erase the stain?
* From the Mark Kirk for US Senate campaign…
- Five-term GOP Congressman and Navy veteran Mark Kirk released a new poll today that shows him maintaining a six-point lead over likely general election opponent Alexi Giannoulias.
- In a survey of 772 likely Illinois voters, Kirk leads Giannoulias 44-38 with 18 percent undecided. The poll, conducted by Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies on November 3, 2009 with a 3.5 percent margin of error, follows an October 8, 2009 survey that showed Kirk leading 42-35 with 23 percent undecided.
- In the same survey Kirk leads other potential Democrat opponents by larger margins: David Hoffman 43-32; Cheryle Jackson 45-33; and Jacob Meister 45-28.
* Sen. Bill Brady responds to today’s endorsement of Andy McKenna by House GOP Leader Tom Cross…
I have great respect for my legislative colleague Tom Cross, but his support for Andy McKenna in the race for Governor is just the opinion of one man. Andy McKenna champions himself as an outsider, but House Minority Leader Tom Cross is anything but an outsider.
Illinois needs a clean break from the politics of the past. We need to take the control away from the political dynasty that has ruled Springfield far too long, and give it back to the people of Illinois.
I believe voters are looking for a candidate who stand up to the political insiders and power brokers so their votes count. I believe that the people of Illinois want a Governor who represents all of Illinois, and not just one corner of the state. I am that candidate.
My campaign is about Illinois’ future, a future with more jobs, more integrity and a greater voice in their government for all Illinois citizens. In this spirit, my campaign continues to grow stronger every day with grass-roots endorsements from voters who are seeking decisive leadership and a new direction for all of Illinois.
Pretty standard stuff. Brady’s the one fighting the insiders? Huh. OK. And he’s the break from the politics of the past after being in politics for years?
More on today’s endorsement here and in the Sun-Times.
* SEIU is spending more than a few bucks attacking specific congressmen on TV, including in Illinois…
The Service Employees International Union has put together a new group to launch health care ad campaigns targeting specific members of Congress who voted against Democratic reform plans–the Foundation for Patients Rights. So far, they’re going after four lawmakers, spending $400,000 on the first week of TV ads against Reps. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), Mike Castle (R-DE), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Mary Bono-Mack (R-CA).
* Democratic US Senate candidate Jacob Meister said this morning: “This race is not about who is the most ethical.” McDermott has the reasoning…
Meister’s point (made in the course of explaining why he won’t accept opponent David Hoffman’s challenge to all candidates to release their income tax records) is that jobs and the economy are the issues that people actually care about; that ethics is “a starting point” but not the end-all issue that politicians and the media have made it out to be.
“People are sick to death of hearing about ethics,” he said.
* Usually, conservatives are the first to decry anyone of color who plays the “race card.” But Illinois Review reversed the polarities this week…
Democrat Quinn showing his racist side?
Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn refuses to deny that his campaign is behind the effort to remove William Walls, the only African-American candidate, from the Democratic governor primary contest. Like Obama, Walls is a community activist, which, according to the Democrats and ACORN, is an honorable professions…like child prostitution.
Seems like yet another example of racism by the Democrats.
Quick note. Jack Roeser’s Champion News is misreporting that William J. Kelly is exiting the Comptroller’s race. We should have a statement on this shortly. Thought you should know.
* Back in 1996 when Dick Durbin, Pat Quinn and Clint Krislov were all running for the US Senate, Durbin challenged Krislov’s nominating petitions. Krislov eventually dropped out of the race. Durbin stomped Quinn in the primary and went on to win the seat of retiring US Sen. Paul Simon.
At the time that Durbin challenged Krislov’s petitions, Pat Quinn was quoted in the Sun-Times saying this…
“Never in a million years would Paul Simon in his 40 years in politics have tried to keep an opponent off the ballot. I think Dick Durbin should be ashamed of himself.”
Gov. Pat Quinn acknowledged Wednesday that his supporters may be behind a challenge to knock a Democratic rival off the primary ballot, a day after saying he didn’t know whether his campaign was involved.
The effort to remove William “Dock” Walls, the only African-American candidate in the Feb. 2 gubernatorial primary, could be contentious. Quinn has worked to reach out to black voters, even creating a new post of diversity officer.
At the same time an attempt by his supporters to remove the lone African-American candidate could alienate a major Democratic voting bloc.
Look, I don’t see anything inherently wrong with challenging petitions. The law is the law, and too many candidates don’t bother following it. But this latest flip-flop shows that Gov. Pat Quinn has either “matured” as a politician or has sold his soul.
Actually, that might make a good question.
* The Question: Has Gov. Quinn matured as a politician or has he sold his soul to get himself elected? Explain.
…Adding… I should’ve been more clear that this is a snarky question. Snarky responses are heavily encouraged.
Illinois is poised to fork over a record amount of late penalties and interest payments this year to pay off vendors who are waiting months to be paid what they are owed from the state. […]
All told, the price tag for being a deadbeat state this year will be an estimated $60 million that won’t be spent on anything other than borrowing or penalties.
“It’s getting to be a huge number,” said Dan Long, executive director of the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, which compiled a recent report on late penalties.
* There are no surprises in this new report on the state’s fiscal condition. The only real news is Illinois’ ranking…
Illinois is one of the 10 most financially troubled states in the country, a new report says, warning that it struggles with many of the problems that led to “economic disaster” in California.
The report, “Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril,” portrays Illinois and eight other states as facing fiscal hardships that are just as tough as California’s, which at one point this year was making payments with IOUs.
Authors of the report, issued by the Pew Center on the States, cited Illinois for “its lack of fiscal discipline to balance its state budget.” They noted that Illinois’ $13.2 billion budget gap for fiscal year 2010 was among the top three in the country.
“Officials have used all sorts of short-term approaches to address the budget gaps, but two of the most significant and consequential are to put off paying bills and skimp on the state’s annual pension payments,” the report said.
With $115 million in missed payments from the state as of Nov. 1, Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard is calling for faculty and staff to chill out on spending.
In fact, the situation at Southern is so tight, payroll after this month is iffy, according to university spokesman David Gross.
In a memo to faculty and staff at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Poshard urged everyone to slow or halt expenditures not related to salary. The goal, he said, was to protect the university’s ability to meet payroll. […]
“We haven’t been paid anything since July 1 by the state,” Poshard said. “It’s a very difficult time, and we’re doing the best we can to survive.”
* One of the problems mentioned in that Pew study above was how Illinois has constantly used temporary, one-off budget fixes. The state is now applying those fixes to the RTA, so the Tribune is spot on with today’s editorial…
When we heard that Gov. Pat Quinn was hunkered down with transit officials, trying to solve their budget woes, our first thought was uh oh. When a guy with no money comes to the table insisting that riders shouldn’t pay more and seniors shouldn’t pay anything, you know what’s coming next: money from heaven.
Sure enough, Quinn has hatched a plan that sounds painfully familiar: We’ll borrow our way out of a tough decision!
The Regional Transit Authority will issue bonds for $166 million worth of capital projects in the next two years, freeing up federal dollars to feed the Chicago Transit Authority’s operating budget.
The state will pay the debt service on the bonds for at least two years, estimated to be $15.3 million. The Illinois Department of Transportation, meanwhile, will chip in $17 million to help Pace provide door-to-door paratransit service. In return, the transit agencies agreed not to raise fares in 2010 or 2011. […]
Quinn’s plan addresses only the fare hikes. That means CTA riders can hang onto their change, but a lot of them will still have to wait half an hour for the bus and ride while standing because service will be cut. And the RTA will be another $166 million in debt, plus interest. And don’t forget, seniors ride for free!
Not to mention 1,100 layoffs during a deep recession.
Asked if he was kicking the can down the road at a time when the state has scant dollars, Quinn called the move prudent given that many riders are facing tough economic times and can’t afford higher fares.
“We brought people together to come up with a fiscally responsible plan. The voters will like this,” he said. “This is exactly what we have to do in an emergency.”
OK, but what about the riders who need to get to work on time but their bus has been canceled because of budget cuts?
QUINN: Every major government in the United States of America at the state or local level is under fiscal strain right now because of the economy. And so we have to manage this like never before, and I’ve done that. I think the people of Illinois know I know a lot about economics. As a matter of fact, I majored in economics at Georgetown University. And I’ve been the state treasurer. I’ve been commissioner, board of tax appeals. I’ve done a lot of economic things.
* Related…
* Study Says Illinois Is At Risk of Fiscal Calamity: The Pew Center on the States looked at 6 factors to determine a state’s financial shape, including foreclosure rates, unemployment numbers and state budget gaps. California scored the worst with a financial shortfall of about 49 percent of its total budget. Managing director Sue Urahn says Illinois isn’t doing so well either. It has the second highest budget gap.
* Illinois foreclosures spike in October: A state law that gives distressed homeowners an extra grace period to help avoid foreclosure may have created some pent-up foreclosure activity in the state. After the law went into effect in April, Illinois foreclosure activity decreased for three months before going up again, the RealtyTrac report said.
“This election is about jobs,” Cross said in a separate telephone call on Wednesday. “It’s about the economy. Andy has demonstrated the ability to run a company and really has taken a regional company to a global company. … We need somebody that can balance a checkbook and find a way for us to prosper as a state, and he brings that.” […]
“We’re not looking in this election for somebody that’s flashy or the great orator,” Cross added. “We’ve had enough of that in our former governor (ROD BLAGOJEVICH). We need somebody that’s just down to earth, that can make things happen from a jobs and economic standpoint in this state.” […]
Cross also thinks the fact that McKenna has never held elective office and that Murphy, of Palatine, is in his first state Senate term, actually improves their chances.
“It’s hard to attack a guy like Andy or Matt,” Cross said. “What we see in a lot of elections is pulling out old votes and saying … ‘How do you explain yourself?’ They’re in a position of not really having to worry about that.”
* The AP has finally noticed that tea party candidates forum which was held a week ago…
Five of the seven Republican candidates claim rising temperatures have nothing to do with pollution from cars, factories or power plants.
“I don’t accept the premise that man is the cause of global warming, if global warming even exists,” Kirk Dillard, a state senator from Hinsdale, said at a candidate forum last week. […]
“Global warming is not created by man and anybody who says that, it’s just bad science. It’s not true,” said Bob Schillerstrom, chairman of the DuPage County Board.
Dan Proft, a Chicago-area public relations consultant, said Al Gore and other global warming activists are “kind of enviro-terrorists.”
Whenever I’m trying to relax these days, it seems that another political commercial for a candidate running for governor of Illinois appears.
There’s a Republican candidate running a spot about the “Culture of the Hair” in Illinois.
A Blagojevich-type wig appears on the top of the Capitol dome, and then governors out of the past appear with Blagojevich hair transposed on their heads. They’re all crooks is the implication.
It was sort of funny the first time I saw it. It made me chuckle, especially because the commercial is for Andy McKenna, who has been part of the political scene in Springfield for a long time.
But by the fifth time I saw the commercial, all I wanted to do was take a spritz bottle and point it at McKenna’s face.
* Related…
* Is Kirk leaning to right in Senate bid? He says ‘I am who I am’ : “I am a social moderate, fiscal conservative. But this is a big race, and we are building a broad coalition, and it will be, for a Republican candidacy, a center-right coalition,” said Kirk, a five-term North Shore congressman who is seeking a promotion to the Senate next year. “But for me, I haven’t changed my views.”
* This is not what I’m hearing, but I should have more for subscribers soon…
Carolyn Brown Hodge said Wednesday that she resigned last month as deputy chief of staff to Gov. Pat Quinn to avoid any “cloud” over his administration, but she’s hopeful that an inspector general’s probe will clear her of any question of wrongdoing.
“Anybody that will talk to you will tell you that that I made a really concerted effort to keep politics out of my government job,” Hodge said in a telephone interview from her home in rural Paris, Ill.
Hodge’s seven years working for Quinn included being director of rural affairs in the lieutenant governor’s office and deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported that she quit her $119,158 job in the governor’s office late last month amid a probe of whether she had done political work on state time.
People looking for part-time work over the holidays can blame an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent and a cautious retail sales outlook if they find the sledding a little rough.[…]
The Philadelphia-based Hay Group, a global management consulting firm, surveyed 25 top U.S. retailers earlier this fall and found that 40 percent of those responding plan to hire 5 percent to 25 percent fewer seasonal workers this year. It found that 64 percent already have lower-than-normal staffing levels.
Chicago’s moved up from its place last year, but it’s still not doing well. Of the 200 largest metro areas, Chicago comes in at 148 of the nation’s best performing cities. An annual report released by the Milken Institute ranks metropolitan areas by how well a city can create and continue economic growth.
Chicago’s low ranking shows the decline in jobs and the stagnation of salary and wages. The areas where the city saw the sharpest declines in employment were manufacturing and the financial sector. The loss of those jobs had a negative affect on administrative and support positions. But the report says Chicago remains a major business center and will eventually benefit from a national recovery.
Facing eviction for not paying $10,000 in back rent on office space in Westchester, Flowers moved into a Broadview building a little more than a week ago.[…]
In addition, sources close to the office said, employees - who should have been paid Nov. 6 - have yet to receive their paychecks.
The closure is unrelated to a Cook County state’s attorney’s office criminal investigation that resulted in a raid of the Westchester office and Flowers’ home, or a lawsuit alleging he engaged in a scheme to defraud Cook County and avoid officials after defaulting on a $190,000 loan.[…]
“They didn’t apply for a business license, which would require an inspection,” Fornaro said. “No certificate of occupancy was issued.”
High-scoring kids were being rejected simply because of the order in which they listed their college prep preferences.
“I couldn’t believe it,'’ schools CEO Ron Huberman said. “It’s terrible.'’
CPS officials said Wednesday they have decided to let any eighth-grader who applied to a college prep for fall 2010 admission re-rank their preferences to better conform with a new selection system.
A year after Barrington Community Unit School District 220 banned flavored milk from its lunch menus, the students persuaded administrators to give it another chance. Now the sweetened drinks are served on Fridays as the district tries to decide whether the benefits of calcium and vitamin D are worth the added sugar.
* Narcoleptic police dispatcher reaches settlement with Hillside after firing
Thousands of Illinoisans live in fear that someone they know may try to harm them. All told, more than 27,000 active orders of protection are on the books.
Problem is, about one-fifth of these court orders have not been served to those accused of abuse. If they violate an order for which they have not been notified, the offenders cannot be arrested, leaving their victims vulnerable to further attacks or harassment.
A new initiative by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office is aimed at closing this gap in the justice system and providing enforceable legal protection to more victims of domestic violence.
A trivia night fundraiser will be held on Nov. 14 in Springfield to raise money for the Public Affairs Reporting Vu Nguyen Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship was created in memory of Vu Nguyen, a 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois at Springfield and talented statehouse reporter who died in May 2009.
