After 15 years as pundit and political operative, Dan Proft has a quick-on-the-draw verbal style that thrills the Republican base and ought to make rivals envious.
“People who play by the rules, who aren’t Mike Madigan’s third cousin, get hammered and hammered and hammered,” he quips over lunch, referring to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, one of those evil Chicago Democrats whom Mr. Proft loves to zing.
In a huge, and still growing, GOP field for governor, that talent — combined with hard-line conservatism — is his hope. But it’s only a hope in what appears to be very much a long-shot campaign for Mr. Proft.
“He’s not afraid to go after Democrats. Republicans like to see that,” said GOP consultant and Family PAC chief Paul Caprio. “But I don’t think Republican voters are going to nominate a political consultant. I think they want someone with stronger management credentials.”
* The Question: Who is your favorite longshot 2010 candidate at the moment? Explain.
And if the comment link doesn’t work, try clicking here. [By the way, I’ve added this sort of link to most of the posts below.]
* Speaker Madigan talks to the media after this morning’s hearing of the Executive Committee, which approved Madigan’s campaign reform proposals on a partisan roll call. The reporters pressed him pretty hard and Madigan did his best to remain on message and avoid answering whatever he could. Check it out…
* Earlier, the Speaker and GOP Rep. Ed Sullivan went head to head over Madigan’s decision to remove the caps in the originally approved bill on leader committees. Watch it…
Rep. Ed Sullivan, R-Mundelein, asked Madigan “is there a reason we went backwards” from the earlier measure that limited leadership contributions to $90,000 per year. Sullivan said the current situation makes it appear that leaders who donate large amounts to lawmakers’ campaigns control how those lawmakers vote.
Madigan responded “if you want to deal on appearances, go ahead, do what you want to do. That’s what you’ll do anyhow.”
Madigan then suggested to Sullivan that he make that argument directly to individual lawmakers who receive party funds. “Are you controlled by somebody else?” was the question suggested by the Speaker. It’s worth a watch.
It just couldn’t handle the type of traffic we generate here. There was really no way of knowing that until we started it up and experienced some traffic spikes, but it’s my fault because the thing was slow from the start and I thought the problems could be overcome.
Hope is not a plan.
So, I’m gonna start all over again. This time, though, I’ll just hire somebody to do the whole thing, which is what I should’ve done to begin with.
I used to fax the Capitol Fax to subscribers myself with banks of computers in Chicago and Springfield. Occasionally, I’d have to dash out of town to fix a broken ‘puter, and that always seemed to happen at the most inopportune moments. A friend finally sat me down and told me: “Dude, you’re not a faxing company, you’re an information company. Hire somebody else to do the faxing and spend the freaking money.”
Well, I’m not a web designer, either. So, I’m gonna spend the freaking money.
*** IMPORTANT UPDATE *** The DNS settings were changed, so we have to wait for DNS to propagate throughout the Intertubes. That means, in plain English, clicking on a link to get into comments will work for some people right away, but not for most of you. The propagation process should be complete within 24 hours, so be patient. But, you can see the entire posts here so you won’t miss anything except comments.
Sorry about that, but it’s the reality of the Internet.
* The Chicago Tribune had a pretty good story yesterday about the questionable legality of some state capital project money being funneled to churches and other religious groups.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger formally kicked off his re-election campaign Tuesday with the backing of nearly 90 African-American ministers who say they favor him over three other black candidates in the contest.
Though some of his opponents in the Feb. 2 Democratic primary sought to discount the endorsements, Stroger entered the historic Quinn Chapel AME Church to thunderous applause and thanked the ministers.
No offense to the ministers, but that’s a pretty blatant use of a church for campaign purposes, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the IRS comes calling.
Only one white candidate, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terry O’Brien, is in the race, and these ministers say he will win if all four African-American candidates stay in the race.
If Todd Stroger is the only black candidate in the race, O’Brien wins. Period. Those ministers are, frankly, delusional.
Congressman Danny Davis’ recent poll had Stroger’s favorability among black voters at 37 percent. Just 8 percent of African-American voters backed Stroger in a five-way race. This is gonna be a tough sell for those ministers back in their churches - which, by the way, is also something the IRS may be curious about.
“This is not an African American primary, it’s a Democratic primary,” [Preckwinkle] told AP.
* Meanwhile, Mayor Daley has been under fire for all sorts of problems - the Stroger stuff is starting to rub off on him - and to avoid blame on the proposed CTA fare hike he said yesterday that he wants the General Assembly to consider getting rid of free mass transit rides for seniors…
Daley urged lawmakers to consider rescinding the free rides for senior citizens tacked on to the 2008 CTA bailout by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The freebie was later extended to low-income riders with disabilities, disabled veterans and uniformed military personnel.
“My mom comes downtown. Sorry, mom, but she probably ought to pay. They’re doing okay. And I don’t think, quite frankly, that they’d resent that. And I think that in this economic time, and really for that matter in any time, I don’t think it’s fair for those that can pay in a situation like that to get a free ride.”
CTA leaders are heading to Springfield this week to ask to use 2009 state construction dollars to fill the 2010 operating deficit.
Normally, siphoning money set aside to replace buses and upgrade trains is a bad idea, but these are extraordinary times. It is crucial, though, that legislators make it clear this is a one-time deal.
* Daley is also trying to put a softer face on the privatized parking meter fiasco…
Chicago will spend $20 million in proceeds from the parking meter lease to create its very own “Tech Corps” — by offering technology training and temporary city jobs to 10,500 laid-off professionals.
“There are a lot of people unemployed or who [have] lost their jobs — not just laid off. How do you get ‘em back to the work force as quickly as possible?” Mayor Daley said Tuesday, after a “Technology Summit” at Microsoft’s Chicago headquarters.
[I’ve updated this post and moved it to the top so I can add some context and related stories]
* 7:31 am - House Speaker Michael Madigan’s proposed campaign finance reform bill has now been filed. I’m still leafing through it, but you can read it for yourself by clicking here.
Madigan will run this amendment through his Executive Committee today at 9 o’clock.
* 9:00 am - The House Executive Committee is preparing to begin its meeting. Mike decided he wanted to come back to town for a couple of days, so he’s covering the hearing for us. Here are some related stories about this particular bill.
Limiting campaign contributions from individuals, corporations and unions without limiting such support from political parties and legislative leaders is worse than leaving the state’s weak campaign finance laws unchanged.
Approving such a change would be a step backward - not forward - because it would increase the power and influence of legislative and political leaders.
Look, even the reformers say that the leaders could continue making those gigantic contributions via independent expenditures if the reformers’ version of campaign finance reform passed. Would that version make it slightly more difficult for leaders to fund campaigns? Yes. Would it really reform the process? Nope.
Limiting contributions from legislative leaders to their candidates is one way to loosen the choke chain leaders have on members. Another way is to institute reforms in the legislative rules suggested by the Illinois Reform Commission.
The commission suggested that bills with 16 sponsors in the House or eight in the Senate automatically get a full committee vote. We’d settle for a higher threshold — perhaps 45 percent of the members in each chamber — to prevent the minority party from hijacking a chamber.
The commission’s idea was insane and the best example of its cluelessness about the real life legislative process. I’d go for a 50 percent threshold, because, frankly, majority members have trouble getting their bills out of Rules as well, and half would prevent this from being used as a partisan gridlock tool.
The Tribune’s editorial was so yellow and hyper as to be unreadable.
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* Here’s the campaign limits section. Sorry for the formatting, but I’m in a hurry…
(b) During an election cycle, a candidate political committee may not accept contributions with an aggregate value over the following: (i) $5,000 from any individual, (ii) $10,000 from any corporation, labor organization, or association, or (iii) $50,000 from a candidate political committee or political action committee. A candidate political committee may accept contributions in any amount from a political party committee; except a candidate political committee may accept contributions from only one political party committee established for the purpose of electing candidates to the General Assembly.
(c) During an election cycle, a political party committee may not accept contributions with an aggregate value over the following: (i) $10,000 from any individual, (ii) $20,000 from any corporation, labor organization, or association, or (iii) $50,000 from a political action committee. A political party committee may accept contributions in any amount from another political party committee or a candidate political committee. Nothing in this Section shall limit the amounts that may be transferred between a State committee and federal committee of a State central committee of a political party.
(d) During an election cycle, a political action committee may not accept contributions with an aggregate value over the following: (i) $10,000 from any individual, (ii) $20,000 from any corporation, labor organization, or association, or (iii) $50,000 from a political action committee or candidate political committee.
* Self funders…
(h) Self-funding candidates. If a public official, a candidate, or the public official’s or candidate’s immediate family contributes or loans to the public official’s or candidate’s political committee or to other political committees that transfer funds to the public official’s or candidate’s political committee or makes independent expenditures for the benefit of the public official’s or candidate’s campaign during the 12 months prior to an election in an aggregate amount of more than (i) $250,000 for statewide office or (ii) $100,000 for all other elective offices, then the public official or candidate shall file with the State Board of Elections, within one day, a Notification of Self-funding that shall detail each contribution or loan made by the public official, the candidate, or the public official’s or candidate’s immediate family. Within 2 business days after the filing of a Notification of Self-funding, the notification shall be posted on the Board’s website and the Board shall give official notice of the filing to each candidate for the same office as the public official or candidate making the filing, including the public official or candidate filing the Notification of Self-funding. Upon receiving notice from the Board, all candidates for that office, including the public official or candidate who filed a Notification of Self-funding, shall be permitted to accept contributions in excess of any contribution limits imposed by subsection (b). For the purposes of this subsection, “immediate family” means the spouse, parent, or child of a public official or candidate.
A reputed high-level Chicago mobster complaining of chronic migraines got another reason for a headache Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion, which could send him to prison for one year to 18 months.
Rudolph C. “Rudy” Fratto, 65, of Darien, who comes from a family of alleged mobsters, admitted to failing to pay more than $140,000 in federal taxes on more than $800,000 in income from 2001 to 2007, according to his plea agreement in a case investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.
With deep aquifer water supplies dropping, some suburban cities — including Aurora — could start feeling the pinch as soon as 2015, Chicago-area planners say.
Within the next 15 years, getting water from those aquifers could start costing cities more money, said Josh Ellis, who studies water issues for the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council.
It’s about a state’s rank when it comes to investment in food and agriculture research.
In its latest annual poll, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says Illinois is 25th in the nation. It’s gone down in the ranking for five straight years. Among ten Midwestern states this year, Illinois comes in dead last.
Sangamon County Board members Tuesday were told Tuesday that public safety will suffer if they follow through with proposed budget cuts to the sheriff’s office.
* Swine flu: Chicago to set up free clinics at six City Colleges campuses
A 93-year-old woman who had more than $200,000 removed from her bank accounts by Adams County Board member John Hibbert last November has testified that she did not give him permission to take the money, and does not remember signing power of attorney documents.
One in 228 Illinois drivers is likely to hit a deer with their vehicle, according to a State Farm analysis.
Illinois deer-vehicle collisions are up 3 percent from five years ago, a slight uptick compared to the 18 percent increase in collisions around the country in that same time period, State Farm reports.
