* I had never heard of 11th Congressional District Republican candidate Henry Meers until this morning. It turns out, he has a staff, including a pretty well-known “senior strategy advisor.”
* Eric Zorn seems to defend Gov. Pat Quinn against charges that he too easily flip-flops…
We just got done with a “my way or the highway” governor who refused to negotiate with the legislative leaders, refused ever to bend and, in consequence, steered the state budget into a huge ditch. For this, he was rightly and rounding criticized by many, including Hynes.
Now we have see Hynes and others criticizing Qunn for negotiating and compromising with legislative leaders trying to find some common ground. Then when he accepts the compromise, critics say he “completely folded” and label the result “Quinn’s Plan.”
The Hynes campaign responds…
Yes, Rod Blagojevich employed a “my way or the highway” style, leading to repeated stalemates and bad blood among leaders, and, of course, chronic budget shortfalls that in turn led to the financial ditch we now find ourselves. Pat Quinn, according to his spokeswoman, seeks compromise and is “willing to do whatever is necessary,”to get a deal done. And yet, what did he get done for all his compromising? His budget went down to defeat, leaving us with an inadequate, piecemeal budget, and, as has been reported here and elsewhere, our state continues its slide into ever deepening fiscal catastrophe. There is a wide middle ground between the extremes of the Quinn and Blagojevich styles as you describe them, and to avoid the ultimate failure they share, our next Governor will be wise to travel it.
By the way, should Pat Quinn really be given greater latitude here because he is willing to compromise, and Rod Blagojevich wasn’t? It was Governor Quinn who held up the capital bill as a bargaining chip, all the while allowing construction season to pass by, and it was Governor Quinn who threatened Draconian cuts to vital services with his “Doomsday” budget rollout. So it’s fair to say he was plenty willing to employ tactics straight from the Blagojevich playbook to try and get his way on the budget, he just didn’t succeed. The tactics are the same, the results are the same, and meanwhile, the fiscal situation in Illinois is worse off today than it was in March, than it was in May, and than it was last week.
Go read the whole thing. Comprehensive and fascinating and a preview of the bloody war about to be launched. It’s only October 15th and Hynes has already committed to well over $700K in TV ads, the latest of which begins with a warning that Quinn is “trying to fool you.” At this rate, there will be more blood in the water than water by mid-November.
Illinois Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer, huddled with White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the state of play of the open Senate seat once held by President Obama.
The meeting was not supposed to be known to the public, but Giannoulias was recognized by reporters while on the White House grounds.
Not generally known: Giannoulias also met with Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chief Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and DSCC staffers and with key members of the Democratic labor union community.
According to the Giannoulias campaign, the state treasurer updated Axelrod on the U.S. Senate race in Illinois and talked about “how to make sure this seat [Illinois’ Senate seat] stays in Democratic hands.”
Giannoulias’ campaign manager, Tom Bowen, would not elaborate on the conversation.
The White House says they’re not making an endorsement, and Bowen told me that nothing happened beyond what the White House has said.
* He also met with the Hotline and gave his take on the race, starting with the tough time his Democratic primary opponents are facing…
“If you take away the holidays, when are you going to raise money? We’ve been doing this since March and we’ve raised $3 million and it has not been easy,” he said. “Two months to try to raise money when no one knows who you are, no polling to show them, I just think it’s challenging.”
While Jackson has the demographic distinction being the only woman and only African-American in the race, Giannoulias said “she has to prove that she’s viable” in order to capitalize. While Jackson has raised $354K in the last month, and received the backing of EMILY’s List, proving she’s a viable candidate will be difficult. Moreover, she hasn’t been tested in electoral politics, and neither has Hoffman, Giannoulias said. “Not only have they not run for statewide office before, but they haven’t run for office in their lives.”
Looking ahead to the general, Giannoulias made it clear he wants to paint Kirk as “too extreme” for IL. “He’s not moderate,” the Dem said. “What we need to do is let people in Illinois know how he’s voted.” Asked if tying Kirk to George W. Bush will still be a workable strategy next year, Giannoulias said: “yes.”
“If he talks about debt being too much, well, he voted for all of George Bush’s budgets where the debt doubled,” the treas. said. “He’s got a lot of explaining to do.”
Giannoulias cited Kirk’s House vote on cap-and-trade legislation and back-and-forth about entering the race as signs of weakness. “Already in a few months, I’ve seen some huge mistakes,” he said. “We’re going to highlight that. We’re going to highlight the fact that he’s trying to go to the right and figure out what his base is. He’s dealing with inconsistencies.”
Giannoulias admitted that the general would be “very tight.”
* Five Republican candidates gathered for a forum last night in Springfield. The SJ-R did a good job of summarizing their positions on various issues, so go take a look. Here are their answers to a question about who is the best candidate…
Andrzejewski – “For this election cycle, if you have political experience, there’s a simple definition of that, and it means political baggage. … I’m free of it.”
Brady – “My business experience gives me a position of understanding, my ability to communicate gives me a leg up on these individuals.”
Dillard – “For Republicans, I believe I’m the one candidate that could win the general election. My experience as Gov. Edgar’s chief of staff was invaluable and I believe I have the best geographic understanding of the state of Illinois.”
Proft – “I am the only candidate who has the problem properly diagnosed…I’m the only candidate talking about big system change ideas.”
Schillerstrom – “I’m a fresh face with a record of success who is not part of the government that has failed the people of Illinois for the last many, many years.”
* Ethan Hastert’s fundraising numbers are in. The Republican Hastert is campaigning for his father’s old US House seat now held by Democrat Bill Foster. Hastert’s numbers aren’t exactly gigantic, but they dwarf his nearest GOP competitor’s…
Hastert’s campaign says he raised more than $225,000 over the summer while rival state Sen. Randy Hultgren of Winfield Township says he has taken in about $75,000.
Hultgren says his lagging is largely due to his late entrance in the race, having announced just a few days before the Sept. 30 end of the summer reporting period for federal campaign finance records. Hastert has been floating his name since the spring.
“We are going to be able to get our message out there,” Hultgren said Wednesday.
* Related…
* Lipinski Faces Challenge from Immigrant Leader: One of the Chicago area’s most visible immigrant leaders is planning to challenge Congressman Dan Lipinski in this winter’s Democratic primary.
* Official Q3 Results Begin to Come In; Dem Attorney Elliot Richardson Lags Behind in IL-10 at Under $60K Raised
* Former state’s attorney enters judge race: State Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere, won’t get a free ride to election in 2010 as a Boone County judge.
* Blunt talker leaving Madison County politics: In 1999, I described him in this space as having “baked up a successful political career without bothering to use sugar as an ingredient.”
* The Senate just approved HJRCA 31, the recall amendment. The proposal will go before the voters for approval next year.
An excerpt…
The recall of the Governor may be proposed by a petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least 15% of the total votes cast for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election, with at least 100 signatures from each of at least 25 separate counties. A petition shall have been signed by the petitioning electors not more than 150 days after an affidavit has been filed with the State Board of Elections providing notice of intent to circulate a petition to recall the Governor. The affidavit may be filed no sooner than 6 months after the beginning of the Governor’s term of office.
The affidavit shall have been signed by the proponent of the recall petition, at least 20 members of the House of Representatives, and at least 10 members of the Senate, with no more than half of the signatures of members of each chamber from the same established political party.
* The Question: Considering all the limitations (15 percent of the electorate have to sign petitions, plus all those legislators), would you label this proposal merely symbolic or potentially useful? Explain.
* Jack Conaty of Fox Chicago scored an exclusive interview with Speaker Madigan yesterday. You can (and should) watch the whole thing by clicking here.
I’ve excerpted part of the interview where Madigan tries to blame almost everything that’s gone wrong on the Republican Party. On ethics reforms, free mass transit rides for seniors, budget battles, etc., he claims the GOP is a “do nothing” party that doesn’t want to help find solutions. Take a look…
“They don’t want to work on anything, they don’t want to support anything, they’re for nothing. They want to watch, comment and sit on the sidelines.”
* But he can’t blame everything on the Republicans. Some of his own members are not happy that Madigan won’t budge on caucus leader and party contribution caps…
The main problem is the proposal’s failure to limit how much money legislative leaders and political parties can funnel to candidates, said Peter Bensinger, co-chairman of the CHANGE Illinois Coalition. Members of the coalition participated in negotiations to craft a new campaign finance plan after Gov. Pat Quinn in August vetoed a different version, which critics had described as a sham.
Without such limits, “the balance of power becomes more entrenched in Springfield in the hands of the few,” he said, adding he hopes the bill can be improved by continued negotiations. “This is like a house without a roof.”
Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said the bill’s lack of contribution limits on legislative leaders and political parties is a “dealbreaker,” so he won’t vote for it.
But Madigan defended the legislation. If political parties and legislative leaders had to abide by limits, he said, they’d simply spend money on campaigns in other ways that would be harder to track.
* The obvious compromise here is to cap leaders’ spending and then they can just do uncoordinated independent expenditures on all their campaigns - just like they do in DC.
But the Democratic leaders don’t want to do that for various reasons. They hold the gavels, for one, and don’t want to give up what they consider to be their rights. They also may be worried that a piddly little violation of the “uncoordinated” rule could bring the G into the game.
But, frankly, I’m just sick of this whole back and forth. On one side, we have reformers and editorial writers who are absolutely demanding a reform that won’t accomplish much of anything. On the other side we have leaders absolutely resisting a reform that will barely encroach on their powers.
So, cap the stupid contributions and make the screamers happy. Nothing will change in the least, but the beast will have been fed.
End this, please.
…Adding… Related…
* Free rides for seniors proving too costly for RTA: Free rides for seniors and people with disabilities could end up costing local transit agencies more than $1 billion by 2030, a report shows.
* Local communities seek pension relief from state
Challengers hoping to unseat incumbent Democrats in the Illinois House got a marvelous gift Wednesday from many of those very incumbents. By a vote of 65-51, the House fell six yes votes short of killing the full-percentage-point sales tax increase engineered last year by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. That is, if six of those nays instead had been yeas, the measure would have moved to the Senate. And if the Senate went along, you soon would be paying less in taxes to support Stroger and his astonishingly wasteful government.
Look for your state representative’s name on the roll call, available at chicagotribune.com/tax. Those who voted “no” voted to enable Stroger.
Actually, if you look at the roll call, the only Cook County Democrat who appears to be at all vulnerable for this “No” vote is Rep. Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook. [A commenter points out that Rep. Ken Dunkin might also be vulnerable. We’ll see.]
Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, said he worried that repealing the county’s tax increase would set a bad precedent for the General Assembly to butt into local tax issues.
Black voted “Yes” on the bill, but several of his Downstate GOP colleagues voted “No,” including staunch conservatives like Reps. Chapin Rose and Jim Sacia.
The good news: The House did approve, 95-18, a measure that could still lead to a repeal of the sales tax increase.
That measure would decrease from four-fifths to three-fifths the share of County Board members needed to override a board president’s veto. That bizarre four-fifths threshold has allowed Stroger to thwart his board’s oft-voted desire to reduce or eliminate his cherished sales tax increase.
Wednesday evening, a Senate committee approved the bill that sailed through the House.
Actually, no.
As I told subscribers this morning, the House bill to lower the override threshold is still in the House. Patterson noticed the same thing…
But sometime after the vote Wednesday, state Rep. Deborah Graham invoked a procedural maneuver that, at least for the moment, stalls the legislation in the House.
Graham, a Chicago Democrat, filed a “motion to reconsider” the vote by which the legislation passed. She’s entitled to do that because she voted for it. Procedurally this means her motion must be addressed before the legislation can advance in the system.
When that might happen is unclear. I wasn’t able to find her late Wednesday. Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman said he was unaware of Graham’s efforts when I talked to him Wednesday night.
The hold Graham placed on the bill coupled with the failure of the sales-tax repeal accomplished two things for Democratic strategists in the House aligned with Stroger.
The moves spared Stroger from political harm while also giving potentially vulnerable suburban Cook County Dems facing tough re-election bids next year the chance to show they went on record against Stroger and the tax hike that has left him wildly unpopular in suburban pockets.
And the Senate Executive Committee voted on a different bill, not the same bill as the Tribune editorial claimed.
* I interviewed Stroger yesterday at the Statehouse after the House voted on both bills. He talked about Speaker Madigan’s motives, but also spoke at length about his reelection chances. He’s convinced himself that this is doable. Sorry for the video quality, but take a look anyway…
* Stroger talked to other reporters after the vote yesterday. I thought I had this captured on my iPhone, but I screwed up, so here’s Fox Chicago’s raw footage…
* Related…
* Zorn: Why is it so hard to override a presidential veto in Cook County, anyway?
* House Approves Changing Cook County Veto Rules: STROGER: I think it’s at this point, it’s just politics. People are looking for issues such as taxes that they think they can rally behind. We have to be realistic in how we fund our government.
* It’s nice that the Bloomington Pantagraph is all concerned about the state budget, but read today’s editorial, entitled “Demand action on state budget now, not later,” and tell me what’s missing…
Putting off addressing the state’s financial problems - like putting off paying the state’s bills - will only make matters worse.
While the governor and lawmakers fiddle, Illinoisans are getting burned.
How many businesses and social service agencies will have gone further in debt, laid off workers, ended programs and closed entirely before Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers get around to addressing the problem? […]
If re-election is all the politicians in Springfield care about, the voters need to make clear that their votes on Feb. 2 will be based on who showed the most leadership, offered real solutions and made tough choices. Tell elected officials to act now or risk being lame ducks as of Feb. 3.
Lots of huffing and puffing, but they never propose an actual solution. It’s easy to deride politicians for being weaklings, but if you won’t come out and say those two naughty words “Tax hike” or “Huge cuts” yourself, then you’re even weaker than they are.
* Perhaps the Pantagraph understands how angry people are and just doesn’t want to provoke them. Phil Kadner has probably the best column I’ve seen this year about the anger out there. I’m gonna excerpt way more than I should because I want to make sure you read this…
It was a spontaneous taxpayer rebellion by ordinary people fed up with the “crooks in Springfield.”
Thousands of motorists crowded into offices run by the Illinois secretary of state last week to renew their driver’s licenses before the price was hiked from $10 to $30 on Monday.
Many waited for nearly two hours on Friday at the driver’s license facility in Orland Park’s Village Hall, but at least half of the folks I interviewed said they weren’t motivated by the need to save money in a difficult economy.
“I would rather hand her 20 bucks than give it to the people who keep stealing the money down in Springfield,” said Jeremy Frederickson, pointing to a woman seated nearby whom he had never met before.
Frederickson, 31, of Tinley Park, is unemployed and said he simply objects to the idea of giving the state more money.
Jim Marmalejo, of Frankfort, echoed that sentiment.
An iron worker whose job site was shut down for the day due to rain, Marmalejo was wearing a Harley Davidson jacket.
When I found out his license wasn’t due to be renewed until February, I said a man who could afford a Harley should be able to spend an extra $20 to renew his driver’s license.
“I just didn’t want them ripping me off for $20,” he said.
“I’m sick of them dipping into my pockets and spending my money, whoever they are.”
He later made it clear that “they” referred to elected leaders.
“My property taxes just doubled and my property values went down,” he continued. “It’s just ridiculous how they keep hitting the taxpayers again and again.”
Gov. Pat Quinn, who still hopes to pass an income tax hike to plug a $12 billion state budget hole, might want to listen to the anger of these taxpayers.
These people weren’t some tea party protesters organized by conservative Republicans through an Internet site.
They each decided independently to spend a good chunk of their day sitting in a crowded driver’s license facility rather than hand the state another $20.
Keep in mind that licenses are renewed every five years. So, we’re talking an increase of $4 a year. Yet, they stood in line for hours to beat the fee hike.
* Meanwhile, the budget situation just gets worse and worse…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s office warned Wednesday that state government now faces an additional $900 million budget deficit, largely because rising unemployment has eaten away at income tax revenues.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Quinn budget director David Vaught said the new budget hole increases the pressure for officials to raise taxes early next year. Until then, he said, Quinn will cut spending further and seek legislative permission to borrow money set aside in special government funds.
This year’s budget was put together with the assumption that income tax revenue would be about the same as last year, around $10.2 billion. But the latest projections now show revenues falling by $850 million, Vaught said.
Oy.
There are some signs of “green shoots” on unemployment, but budgetary recovery is still a long way away.
Lawmakers emerging from a meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn say they agreed to appropriate an extra $200 million for the Monetary Award Program. But they said they haven’t figured out where to get the money.
The solution can basically be summed as: Spend the cash, we’ll pay for it later.
As I told subscribers yesterday, there is a kinda/sorta revenue source for much of the shortfall, but I’m not sure it can be classfied as “real.”
The number of homeowners receiving default notices — the first step in the foreclosure process — continued to rise in Illinois last month, a bad omen for the state’s housing industry and economy.
Lenders filed initial court documents last month against 7,174 Illinois homeowners whose mortgages were delinquent, according to data scheduled to be released Thursday by RealtyTrac. That compares with 6,892 filings in August and 6,770 filings in June.
Altogether last month, some 12,771 Illinois homeowners received some sort of foreclosure filing, which can include initial notices of default, notices of a sheriff’s sale of the property or a notice that the lender has taken possession of the home.
The overall Illinois number, which is down 2.35 percent from August, remains 25 percent higher than in September 2008, said RealtyTrac, an online marketplace of foreclosed properties.
It’s just possible, I suppose, that Charles Flowers has done nothing illegal. As superintendent of Cook County’s Regional Office of Education, he hired his two sisters and a nephew.[…]
Still, I would think that Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez might find something interesting in the way Flowers has used his credit card. He’s charged thousands of dollars for meals, some for as as much as $863, and purchased plane tickets to Mississippi for family members.
In the meantime, the regional schools office amassed about $1 million in debt and was unable to pay rent on the office space it occupied. So Flowers was handed an eviction notice in October.
Since May 1, in more than 20 stories, SouthtownStar staff writer Duaa Eldeib has chronicled a long list of actions by Flowers that demonstrates he has used his office to enrich himself, his relatives and close friends.
Dozens of Pace bus routes across the suburbs would be eliminated or reduced under a budget unveiled Wednesday as board directors also increased fares by 75 cents for 40,000 paratransit riders.
Out of Pace’s 255 routes, weekend service would decrease or end for 19 suburban bus routes under the proposed budget. As many as 33 weekday routes face the same fate.[…]
The board recommended the route cuts and instituted the fare hike to alleviate a $6.5 million deficit in the suburban services budget and a $29.8 million shortfall in the paratransit budget, said Patrick Wilmot, a Pace spokesman.[…]
Pace officials said a bill now before the state legislature could improve the agency’s financial outlook.
After a blizzard of aldermanic opposition and scant interest from private contractors, the Daley administration has scrapped plans to privatize one of Chicago’s most politically treacherous tasks: side-street snow removal, sources said Wednesday.
Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne dropped the idea like the hot potato that it is after only a handful of private contractors responded to the city’s “request-for-proposals” — and their bids were more costly than anticipated.
It will cost about $1 million to remove about 1,000 panels on the outside of the James R. Thompson Center. The panels weigh between 200 and 600 pounds.
