Quinn’s apparent intention to sign the budget comes after Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, called for Quinn to reject the spending plan lawmakers approved last month. Franks voted against the budget and has said lawmakers should return to Springfield and come up with a comprehensive solution.
“We’re not going to do that,” Quinn said of Franks’ veto request.
Quinn added that it’s clear lawmakers have no desire to make tough choices when it comes to the state’s money situation.
“Members of the General Assembly don’t want to make any cuts, they don’t want to do anything about revenue,” Quinn said. “They basically have decided that only the governor can make those decisions and we’re going to have to do it for them. I’m disappointed in them, I think they’ve in many cases avoiding doing what they should do, but it’s time to act.”
* When your original budget is based on more than a billion dollars in cuts to education, you shouldn’t be surprised when you get called on it…
A mother of three angrily confronted Gov. Pat Quinn following an afternoon news conference, accusing him of not doing enough to stop teacher layoffs and prevent classroom sizes from growing.
Quinn was greeting children at John H. Kinzie Elementary School on the city’s South Side when he was approached by Diane Sajdak, who volunteers at the school her three children attend. Sajdak shouted at Quinn, telling him budget cuts could force the school to layoff more than a dozen teachers and inflate class sizes to the point where children won’t adequately learn.
“You’re not doing a good job,” Sajdak yelled. “We’re getting rid of 14 of our teachers, we’ve got 42 kids in a class, that’s ridiculous! How are they going to learn?”
Quinn appeared flustered by the confrontation, responding, “that’s not me.”
Yes, it is you, governor.
* Congressman Peter Roskam told Fox Business’ Stuart Varney yesterday that Illinois had a $500 million bill backlog two years ago and now it’s over $5 billion. That’s pretty much true. But check out the graph below. Fiscal Year 2008 is in purple and Fiscal Year 2009, which began in July of 2008, is in green. The original document from the comptroller’s office is here, and click the pic for a larger image…
Notice that as the economy crashed during the summer, fall and winter of 2008, the state’s unpaid balances also crashed. The unpaid balances eased substantially that December because the state took out a cash-flow loan.
* I’ve never met him, but I’ve been a fan of James Krohe, Jr. for years. The guy knows how to turn a phrase, but he’s way off on the Stratton Building’s serious problems…
Several rationales have been offered for this curious priority. Rep. Rich Brauer, the Petersburg Republican, told the SJ-R that the building is “just way past its prime.” True, the Stratton at 56 years is old before its time. But the Illinois Statehouse is 80 years older than that, and in the pink. Buildings can live happily for decades past their primes if well-tended. The Stratton’s problems – single-pane windows with failing gaskets, inadequate insulation and fireproofing and poor lighting – are common in structures its age. The only reason they are life-threatening to this one is that the State of Illinois is as incompetent a landlord as it is a teacher or investment fund manager.
You can’t change a recessed lightbulb in that building without a hazmat team. The ceilings are full of asbestos. That, itself, is enough of a hazard to warrant massive repairs or knocking it down.
Democrats maintain voters won’t associate Quinn, who was lieutenant governor to Blagojevich, with his flamboyant predecessor.
“When the Blagojevich scandal broke, the very first thing out of Pat Quinn’s mouth was, ‘I have not spoken to this guy in over a year,’” Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), said on a conference call Wednesday. “There is no real relationship between Blagojevich and Pat Quinn.”
Daschle said the DGA’s polling confirms that assumption. “The trial is not going to hurt Pat Quinn,” he said.
* Perhaps if he wasn’t reportedly hiring winos and junkies to circulate his petitions, Scott Lee Cohen wouldn’t be complaining now.
The Forrest Claypool campaign responded to Cohen’s complaints today…
“Notice how we are not spending time complaining while we can still be collecting signatures.”
Exactly.
* And a roundup…
* State lawmaker won’t run again, saying he needs to make more money: Southwest Side Democratic state Rep. Kevin Joyce said today he will not seek re-election this fall because his family is growing and he needs to make more money. Joyce, who has served in the House since 2003, said the decision was made after he and his wife, Krista, learned they have an eighth child due in September. The couple’s oldest child is 14 and preparing to enter high school.
* The photo is of Gov. Pat Quinn on the right and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels - the man who loves to hate on Illinois - on the left. The photo was taken yesterday during the Illiana Expressway press conference…
In yet another embarrassing revelation for GOP Senate candidate Mark Kirk, a document from the Department of Defense has surfaced showing military officials expressed “concerns arising from his partisan political activities during his last two tours of active duty.”
Kirk, a commander in the U.S. Navy reserves, needed a “waiver” to become — in his words — the first congressman to be deployed to an “imminent danger” area since World War II when he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 and again last year.
Because of the officials’ concerns about his previous “partisan political activities,” they required him to write out an “acknowledgement of limitations required for all candidates on active duty,” which he did. The waiver was granted. […]
The Kirk campaign issued a statement Wednesday night asserting that Kirk never violated any Defense Department rules, and vowing to find out what “political operatives” gained access to his “confidential records.” […]
Kirk’s statement said the Obama administration changed the original language of the waiver, inserting concerns about his “partisan political activities.”
The AP hasn’t yet picked it up. Instead, they’re still running that “balancing” story about how an item on Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign website didn’t match with a factual item on his state website.
The congressman has never been one to minimize his talents. Once, in a candidate debate, he responded to a question about immigration reform by announcing grandly, “I could answer that question in Spanish, since I attended Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.” Kirk finds himself amazing and expects you to agree. […]
Kirk was notable for avoiding any hint of ethical scandal, but his very distance from the usual muck may have led him astray. He was not satisfied being smarter and better than your run-of-the-mill Illinois politician. He had to make himself out to be a combination of Superman and Beaver Cleaver.
But voters are not expecting greatness or nobility from their senator. They only ask the political gods to send someone who isn’t an embarrassment.
The political gods have given their answer to that prayer: Ha. Ha. Ha.
Oof.
* Lake Zurich Courier columnist Randy Blaser also lays into Kirk…
Over the last 10 years, I’ve heard Mark Kirk talk about his service in the Navy many times, and he always left me with the impression that he was in the thick of things, flying dangerous missions at the point of the spear.
Apparently, he wasn’t.
I can’t say it any better than my teenage son, who thinks about serving his country one day in uniform. “He’s either a liar or an idiot,” he said after reading the Kirk revelations, “and they don’t let idiots be officers in the U.S. Navy.”
Let me add, however, that both sure find a home in the U.S. Congress.
There is something particularly unsavory about embellishing one’s military record as opposed to, say, claiming to have been the third-grade spelling bee champ. It is an insult to those who have served in the military and been in harm’s way.
What makes politicians think they won’t get caught in such misstatements? What makes them think voters aren’t entitled to the pure, unvarnished truth?
* Last July, I heaped mountains of praise on Kirk’s official campaign kickoff, saying it “couldn’t have been better.” At one point in the post, I wrote that his handling of the cap and trade issue was “first class.” Little did I know. Here is that Kirk response, which is from a Chuck Sweeny column…
Kirk told me Monday he has been inundated with e-mails from Republicans unhappy with his cap-and-trade vote. So, why did he vote yes?
“We’ve sent three armies to the Middle East and I’ve fought in two of them. As combat veterans, we get to ask, ‘Are we going to still being doing this 20 years from now?’ So I’ve been in favor of anything that gets us to energy independence,” said Kirk, an intelligence commander in the Naval Reserve who was deployed in December to Afghanistan.
He “fought” in two armies in the Middle East? Man, were we ever snookered.
* Also worth reading…
* Kirk Lashes Out, Once Again: So how did the Kirk campaign respond? You guessed it: They again attempted to deflect attention on to his Democratic opponents.
* According to Rasmussen, Bill Brady’s position is improving, probably because of a decent amount of TV ads run by Brady and the Republican Governors Association. However, the 4-point movement since the last poll in April is within (just barely) the poll’s margin of error. Numbers in brackets are from previous Rasmussen polls taken on April 28, April 5 and March 8…
Brady: 47% [45%, 45%, 47%]
Quinn: 36% [38%, 38%, 37%]
Some Other Candidate 8% [5%, 7%, 6%]
Not sure 10% [11%, 10%, 9%]
Despite Brady’s narrow primary win, he now has the support of 80% of Republican voters. By comparison, Quinn who also narrowly defeated a primary challenger gets just 60% of Democratic votes. Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the Republican by better than two-to-one.
As I told subscribers months ago, this race is closer than the toplines make it appear for that very reason. Quinn will eventually heal the primary’s wounds, particularly when he begins to define Brady. If Quinn was getting 80 percent of the Democratic vote right now, this thing would be within single digits. Quinn’s big problem, however, is that his intensity of support is so low among his own base, as those Rasmussen (and other pollsters’) results clearly show.
Very favorable 14%
Somewhat favorable 33%
Somewhat unfavorable 18%
Very unfavorable 15%
Not sure 21%
Lots more not sure about Brady than about Quinn, which is predictable. Also, Brady’s very faves and very unfaves are equal, while Quinn’s very unfaves are well more than twice his very faves. Not good for the incumbent.
How would you rate the job Pat Quinn has been doing as Governor… do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he’s been doing?
The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Illinois was conducted on June 7, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko, Chris Kelly and Lon Monk used code names for themselves “when talking about the four of us making money,” Monk said — “1, 2, 3, 4.”
Monk said in 2007 or 2008, when he and Blagojevich were alone in Blago’s office, they discussed an FBI investigation.
Blagojevich told Monk not to ever talk about the “1, 2, 3, 4″ reference.
Monk on the stand silently mimicked Blagojevich’s actions, putting up his fingers one at a time, then running a single finger across his throat.
Blagojevich is clearly upset, unsettled in his chair. He leaned forward and stared right at Monk. But at Monk’s gesture, Blagojevich sat back hard in his chair and appeared to mutter something.
Monk told the court that Blagojevich told him he had made a deal with then-Illinois Senate President Emil Jones not to call a vote on a proposed ethics bill that would have limited campaign contributions to the governor. Monk said that Blagojevich felt the bill wasn’t fair, as it only targeted the state’s executive branch, and was also concerned that its specific restrictions would greatly hinder Blagojevich’s fundraising.
Jones had the power to stymie the ethics bill by not calling it for a vote. In exchange for Jones’ cooperation, Monk testified, Blagojevich told Monk that he had promised to appoint Jones to Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat if Obama won the presidency. Monk said he was “surprised.”
However, Monk said that John Harris, Blagojevich’s chief of staff, told him that Obama had called Jones and urged him to call the bill. Ultimately Jones did, and the state Senate voted to override Blagojevich’s amendatory veto. The bill passed and became law on January 1, 2009.
Prosecutor Reid Schar started the morning by complaining that Blagojevich was gesturing inappropriately to people in the courtroom. Schar said jurors were distracted by his gesturing.
He said Blagojevich made it “audibly clear in his displeasure continuously looking over, gesturing to people in the pews.”
Schar said it was “not proper decorum. It’s clearly distracting.”
Blagojevich, sitting down, frowned.
Zagel told him to stop. “By and large it’s for their own benefit,” he said.
Reluctant or not, Monk is an essential part of the government’s case — a co-conspirator who puts Blagojevich in the room when the alleged insider schemes to make money off state government were first hatched.
But the nagging problem I see is that there were only four people total in that room.
One of them — Christopher Kelly — is dead, a suicide victim who had no interest in being the one to corroborate Monk’s story. Another, Tony Rezko, is not expected to be a prosecution witness because he has a credibility gap that probably makes anything he’d have to say useless, his penchant for deception a matter of detailed public record.
Without Rezko, that seems to make it Monk’s word against Blago’s because, again as far as I know, there’s no paper trail to help prove the governor was in on the plotting. […]
The various ideas were supposed to produce hundreds of thousands of dollars for the four men to divide equally, but Monk and Blagojevich wouldn’t get their share until after Blagojevich left office.
Monk says Blagojevich attended these meetings on how to use his position to make money, paid attention to the discussion, and that it was understood that he would have to “take certain actions as governor to help the plans.” But he says no specific actions were ever discussed.
It’s not that I have a hard time believing this really happened. It’s just that I have a hard time seeing how the government proves it. At best, maybe it makes some of the other crimes of which Blagojevich is accused easier to understand.
It’s not a media circus surrounding the Blagojevich corruption trial so much as it’s a carnival midway with freaks, geeks and barkers all trying to attract attention.
* Ticker-Tape Parade for Champion Blackhawks: Chicago officials are planning a Friday morning parade and rally to honor the Blackhawks. Megan McDonald is executive eirector of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. She says the parade will begin at 10:30 at Washington and Wacker.
Foreclosures in Illinois during May put the state at the dubious position of No. 8 nationwide after it posted a 38 percent increase compared to a year ago, according to a report released today by RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based research firm.
Aldermen endorsed a proposal by a development group including Chicago-based McCaffery Interests to build condominiums, apartments and a million square feet of retail space on the northern 77 acres of the 400-acre former U.S. Steel South Works site near 79th Street east of U.S. 41. The site has been empty since the plant closed in 1992.
Mr. Daley, of course, a few days ago urged EPA chiefs to go jump in Washington’s Potomac River if they want to engage in water sports. The comment came after the agency filed a letter saying Chicago could do better curbing pollution and ought to make our fair waterway suitable for swimming.
The health department urges people who got sick after eating at Subway restaurants on or after May 10 to contact their health care provider or local health department.
n a 13-3 vote, the board handed permanent control of the county’s health system to the independent panel that has been running the system for about two years.
That’s great news for taxpayers and all those patients, many of them impoverished, who depend on the health system. This panel has been effective and efficient, two words not normally associated with the county’s system, long a patronage paradise for county pols and their cronies.
The Cook County B oard’s approval of the contract last week supported a 2007 ordinance to establish a program for red light cameras on county roads. That ordinance included a list of 30 potential intersections throughout the county - eight in the Southland - to receive the cameras for a pilot program, but the county never discussed the plan with the municipalities.
In Tinley Park, where there are also red light cameras at some busy intersections, the sentiment was echoed.
“We should have had some discussion with the county to see if it was justified and if Tinley Park needed that camera,” Police Chief Michael O’Connell said.
That list, to boot, was rife with errors, misidentifying the location of several intersections. The most glaring of which put Lake-Cook and McHenry roads in Hickory Hills when it is actually about 40 miles north in Buffalo Grove.
The proposed amendment, sponsored by suburban commissioners Larry Suffredin, Timothy Schneider and Gregg Goslin, would allow suburbs to exclude themselves from the plan to install the cameras at intersections along county-maintained roads, Goslin said.
The community service fee, which is assessed every two months, is being cut from $51 per household to $38.24.
Senior citizens will go from paying $25.50 to $19.12 every two months.
City officials said the fee, which is assessed through water bills, helps generate about $2 million and helps pay for police, fire and other city services.
Hanover Park, in reacting to four murders inside two weeks just a year ago, instead set forth to establish a major shift in the way it polices its citizenry in order to establish greater trust, a greater intelligence network and better contact with kids who could choose the wrong path.
What it all boils down to is that Hanover Park police have pledged to get to know the people in the community.
* The Nitpicker has been a prime behind the scenes player in finding some of Mark Kirk’s military embellishments. And now the blogger appears to have yet another scoop by obtaining a December 18, 2009 Department of Defense “Exception to Policy” memo regarding Kirk’s then upcoming active duty tour in Afghanistan. Kirk needed a waiver because as a member of Congress he wasn’t supposed to be sent to combat areas.
As a candidate for the vacant Senate seat in Illinois, Commander Kirk must complete the appropriate acknowledgment of limitations required for all candidates on active duty (DoDD 1344.10, paragraph 4.3.5.). Ordinarily this acknowledgment must be completed within 15 days of entering active duty. Because of the short period of active duty and concerns arising from his partisan political activities during his last two tours of active duty, Commander Kirk must complete this form prior to his entry on active duty. [Emphasis added]
Partisan political activities during two tours of active duty? Yikes.
The Nitpicker thinks one of those prohibited activities mentioned in the memo might be that Twitter escapade I wrote about last July. Kirk appeared to be posting to his campaign Twitter page while on duty at the National Military Command Center. At the time, the campaign claimed that Kirk did not post while on duty and implied that a staffer may have posted the Tweet. Kirk said later that he would not do it again.
And those violations are, in fact, a prosecutable offense. As the regulation states, “Violations of paragraphs 4.1. through 4.5. of this Directive by persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice are punishable under Article 92, ‘Failure to Obey Order or Regulation…’” A violation of Article 92 is punishable by up to two years of confinement and a dishonorable discharge. [Emphasis added.]
Oops.
Also, if you scroll down to pages four and five of the pdf file, you’ll see Kirk’s response, where he swore to play by all the rules. I checked with the Kirk campaign and they’re still formulating a response. I read this post to them before I published it. I’ll post the response when I get it.
*** UPDATE *** The Kirk campaign responds…
Statement by Spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski:
“Mark Kirk has served our nation in the U.S. Navy for two decades and has done so honorably. The fact is, Congressman Kirk never violated Defense Department policies. He has misspoken about his record, acknowledged it and apologized. Mark Kirk left for Afghanistan and he did not engage in political activities - even in the face of radio commercials accusing him of being gay. The memorandum in question is simply off the mark. Furthermore, this raises grave concerns and questions about who gained access to Kirk’s confidential records. The document in question should be viewed for what it is - a baseless political ploy by partisans bent on defending a U.S. Senate seat at any cost.
“Going forward, we will be submitting a Freedom of Information Act request for all correspondence between Administration officials and Democratic campaigns or political operatives regarding Mr. Kirk’s personal military records. We will not stand by and allow partisan attacks invalidate two decades of military service, both here and overseas.”
Below find a timeline related to both of Mr. Kirk’s deployments to Afghanistan:
1. Governor Blagojevich was arrested morning of December 9, 2008 for the potential sale of the Obama Senate seat.
2. On December 10, Senator Durbin raised the issue of a special election for the senate, instead of a governor’s pick.
3. That day, the Illinois media began calling all Illinois congressmen and other figures asking if they could run. Congressman Kirk was doing pre-deployment training as a reservist in Springfield, Virginia, each day, then working in his congressional office each night. DoD rules allow congressmen to perform duties incident to their congressional office while on reserve duty. Kirk gave interviews with WIND, WLS, WFLD, MSNBC. He mainly commented on the arrest of the Illinois governor and when asked, said he would not rule out a run.
4. On December 11, Congressman Kirk was interviewed by Politico, Fox National TV, WLS and WFLD.
5. CDR Kirk then went dark and departed the United States on the night of December 13, 2008 for Afghanistan. He served for two weeks in Afghanistan and did not give interviews.
6. Hearing of the new discussion of a potential Senate special election in Illinois, the Navy tracked Kirk down and reminded him not to give interviews while deployed in Afghanistan. Kirk said he had not declared a candidacy and would not speak with the press.
7. Senator Durbin changed his mind and no special election was held. Senator Burris was appointed to replace Senator Obama.
8. When CDR Kirk deployed a second time, the Obama administration changed the original waiver to reference the Navy call to Kirk. Kirk also talked to SECDEF CoS Rangel and confirmed no public statements would be made from Afghanistan, like the first time.
9. CDR Kirk served in Afghanistan for two weeks a second time in December 2009 and January of 2010. During that service, a Kirk GOP political opponent, Andy Martin, accused Kirk of being gay and bought $60,000 of radio time to spread this message. Kirk took no action, gave no interviews and returned to the US. From his home in Illinois, Kirk called CoS Rangel and asked for permission to begin public speaking. Rangel approved and Kirk delivered his first speech in three weeks the following day.
10. The regulations are clear on this issue: please see paragraph 4.4 and subparagraph 4.1.2:
Paragraph 4.4 is entitled “Holding and Exercising the functions of a U.S. Government civil Office Attained by Election or Appointment.” Under Paragraph 4.4.3.,”A…Reserve Component member on active duty under…[an[ order to active duty for 270 days or fewer, may hold and exercise the functions of a civil office provided there is no interference with the performance of military duty.” Subparagraph 4.4.5 states that such officeholders on active duty are still subject to the list of prohibitions contain in subparagraph 4.1.2.
Subparagraph 4.1.2 contains a list of prohibited activities among them not participating in any radio, television, or other program or group discussions “as an advocate for or against a partisan political party, candidate, or cause.” (Subparagraph 4.1.2.6). The regulation does not prohibit all participation, just participation that is as an advocate for or against a party, candidate or cause. Commenting on news events while in civilian clothes and not onboard a military installation should not give rise to a violation even if the Reserve component member is on active duty.
Paragraph 4.6.4 identifies DoDI 1344.10 as a lawful general regulation. This is required, under military law, if the regulation is intended to be punitive, i.e., military members can be prosecuted for violations. thus, the reference to article 92 of the Uniform code of Military Justice. Of course, one cannot be punished under the UCMJ unless found guilty of each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. the Deputy secretary’s memo is not intended to adjudicate any previous issues and her use of the word “concerns” does not amount to a finding that any law was broken.
A banking group says Democrat Alexi Giannoulias didn’t serve on its board of directors like he’s claimed on his Senate campaign website.
The Community Bankers Association of Illinois said Wednesday that Giannoulias served on its Committee on Legislation and Regulation.
Attention is being paid to candidates’ claims after Giannoulias’ Republican opponent, Congressman Mark Kirk, recently acknowledged embellishing his military record.
Giannoulias’ Senate website has been changed to match his official Illinois treasurer’s website, which included committee service. A campaign spokesman calls it a simple mistake.
…Adding… Some of you are not reading that AP story very well, and it may be my fault for the way I introduced it. His state website had the facts right, but his campaign site had it wrong. So, it’s not a total embellishment.
* Rasmussen polled Gov. Quinn’s favorables this week. Brackets show favorables from polls taken April 28 and March 8…
How would you rate the job Pat Quinn has been doing as Governor… do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he’s been doing?
Gov. Mitch Daniels will join Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn today to commemorate their states’ approval of bills authorizing the Illiana Expressway.
The governors are expected to get together at 12:30 p.m. at the municipal airport in Lansing. The Illiana Expressway, as proposed, would connect Interstate 65 in Indiana with I-57 or I-55 in Illinois.
Though the AFL-CIO has long backed Democrats, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Illinois Federation of Teachers aren’t happy with some moves Quinn has made as governor.
Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, said the union did not support making an endorsement for governor because its own endorsement session isn’t until September.
“There’s a lot of issues our members aren’t happy about,” Bayer said, noting Quinn’s signature on a measure that offers lower pension benefits to future state employees and the governor’s attempts to make retired public workers pay more for their health insurance coverage.
David Comerford, a spokesman for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said the union decided not to vote on an endorsement, a move it has rarely taken at the AFL-CIO. Comerford said the union has concerns about how Quinn has dealt with his union, as well as disagreement over the pension changes. The union’s political arm, which also represents the Chicago Teachers Union, is scheduled to meet in mid-July to determine if it will make its own endorsement for governor.
State officials said Tuesday they have stepped up their efforts to persuade Navistar International Corp. to renew its plans to open a new corporate headquarters in west suburban Lisle, in an effort to prevent thousands of jobs and millions of dollars from leaving Illinois.
On Tuesday, aides to Gov. Pat Quinn met with Lisle Mayor Joseph Broda and labor representatives “to reiterate the governor’s strong commitment to ensuring the jobs and investment that Navistar wants to bring to Illinois become a reality,” said Quinn spokeswoman Ashley Cross.
“The group discussed the concerns of the local community, as well as potential ways to resolve them,” Cross said. “Gov. Quinn will continue working with Navistar and the local community to resolve these outstanding issues so that we can bring these critical jobs and investment to Illinois.”
The talks came days after Quinn signed legislation that would expand a corporate tax credit to include Navistar, potentially saving the engine manufacturer $60 million over 10 years, his aides said.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is offering to negotiate between Navistar and the Lisle residents angered over the handling of the company’s planned relocation of its headquarters to the community.
In a letter to local residents, Madigan said her office had already been contacted by Navistar and now wants to hear their side.
“While my office does not represent any party in this matter, Navistar has already contacted us about its own concerns, and we would like to hear from you as well. We believe differences can be bridged if we have an opportunity to meet with you and seek a reasonable approach,” Madigan said in the letter dated June 7 that was mailed to community members. Madigan goes on to say public health and safety are top priorities for her office along with job creation and that they “are not mutually exclusive goals.”
Despite the efforts, though, Navistar is saying nothing has really changed. It wants out.
Gov. Pat Quinn charged Tuesday that Bill Brady, the Republican nominee for governor, should forgo his state paycheck for any days where he missed a vote in his role as Bloomington’s state senator.
“Most citizens, if they weren’t showing up for work, wouldn’t get paid, and I think that’s something we should always take into consideration,” Quinn told reporters.
But when the tables were turned, Quinn said he wouldn’t give up any of the nearly $150,000 he’s collecting as governor for days he was off seeking endorsements or raising money for his campaign.
“If I get a call in the middle of the night, there’s no time off. I have to act in the middle of the night,” said Quinn, adding that Brady has failed at his only job - making votes.
“Given the condition of the state, I don’t think Gov. Quinn wants to launch a debate on who deserves a paycheck from taxpayers,” responded Brady spokeswoman Patty Schuh.
Schuh also said there’s more to being a senator than voting on the Senate floor, including helping constituents “get paid by a government that’s been a deadbeat.”
“There has been a focus on a very small period of time,” she said of the missed votes. “We acknowledged that he missed votes, but he also made many, many votes.”
During the 2006 campaign, then-Lt. Gov. Quinn defended Blagojevich, who already was beset by corruption investigations into his administration. “In all my interactions with him, I’ve found him to be an honest person,” Quinn said at the time.
[Yesterday], Quinn said he later challenged Blagojevich on his proposals, such as a proposed major tax on businesses, and noted Blagojevich contended he did not consider Quinn to be part of the administration.
Quinn cited a variety of other reforms put into law since then, ranging from changes in purchasing procedures to campaign finance to a referendum on recall this November. […]
“The beginning of disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich’s criminal trial is a stark reminder to voters that too many Illinois politicians have long placed their own interests before the people’s interests. Enough is enough,” said Brady in a campaign statement issued today.
* The other day, we talked about Sen. Michael Bond’s use of the late Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis’ image in his reelection campaign…
More than two years after her death, former Republican state Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis’ name and image are being used by the re-election campaign of her Democratic successor - and it isn’t sitting well with Lake County’s GOP leader.
A recent campaign mailer for state Sen. Michael Bond features a photograph of Bond, his wife and Geo-Karis taken before her death. Additionally, Bond’s float in Lake Villa’s Memorial Day parade bore a large picture of Bond and Geo-Karis with a message about the late politician.
Bond’s opponent in the Nov. 2 election for the 31st District seat is Republican Suzi Schmidt of Lake Villa, the longtime chairwoman of the Lake County Board. Schmidt declined to comment about Bond’s campaign, but Lake County Republican Party Chairman Bob Cook was disturbed by the use of Geo-Karis’ name and photos.
“I’m appalled that someone would resort to using someone who passed away for political gains,” Cook said. “I think it’s in poor taste.”
Bond called Cook’s comments “ridiculous” and said the complaints are purely political.
* What I didn’t have back then was a photo. So, here’s a pic of Bond’s parade float featuring a huge image of him with Geo…
* The Question: Is that float in poor taste or politically justifiable? Explain.
* After bumping up in April during the uproar over Alexi Giannoulias’ bank problems, Mark Kirk is back down to where he was before, according to a new Rasmussen poll. The numbers in brackets are from previous Rasmussen polls conducted April 28, April 5, March 8 and February 3…
Kirk: 42% [46%, 41%, 41%, 46%]
Giannoulias: 39% [38%, 37%, 44%, 40%]
Other: 7% [5%, 8%, 5%, 4%]
Unsure: 12% [12%. 13%, 10%, 10%]
That downward dip follows a steady barrage of news stories about his puffed up military service claims. But he’s still very much alive and even well, considering Giannoulias continues to trail. Giannoulias has also spent big money on TV, which hasn’t moved his own numbers up much, but have at least kept him from sinking lower.
While Kirk earns majority support from men in Illinois, Giannoulias holds the edge among women.
Among voters not affiliated with either major political party, Kirk holds a 50% to 24% lead.
Kirk also has a slight advantage with intensity. While 15 percent have a “very unfavorable” view of Kirk, 23 percent have a “very unfavorable” view of Giannoulias. And while 13 percent have a “very favorable” view of Kirk, just 9 percent feel that way about Giannoulias.
Is this year’s Senate campaign in Illinois more positive than most, more negative than most, or about the same as most recent elections?
7% More positive
18% More negative
68% About the same
7% Not sure
Methodology…
The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Illinois was conducted on June 7, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
* Meanwhile, Kirk’s campaign is trying to connect Giannoulias to the state’s bond rating. From a press release…
The Kirk for Senate campaign today called Moody’s decision to downgrade Illinois’ credit rating a “major wake-up call” to voters as they consider their choice for U.S. Senate.
Yesterday, Moody’s lowered Illinois’ general obligation bond rating to A1, which is four notches below AAA.[1] The move came after the General Assembly failed to address the state’s structural budget imbalance for the coming fiscal year.[2] Meanwhile, as Springfield struggles with the state’s ballooning debt, the state’s banker remains silent.
“Our state is in fiscal crisis and our state’s banker is nowhere to be found,” Kirk campaign spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said. “While Congressman Kirk voted against wasteful government spending and backed efforts to balance the budget, Alexi Giannoulias stands by and watches as our state’s credit rating drops lower and lower.”
* Related…
* Durbin cites Mark Kirk military embellishments in fund-raising pitch for Giannoulias
*** UPDATE *** I’ve been busy with another story much of the afternoon, but all you really need to know about what happened at the trial since the lunch break is contained in this one Natasha Korecki post…
Rod Blagojevich is livid and cannot contain the anger he’s reflecting as Lon Monk finally gets to the meat of his remarks: he puts Rod Blagojevich in the room when there was a discussion to divvy up hundreds of thousands of dollars made through state action.
Monk described a 2003 meeting in which Blagojevich, Monk, Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly are all in the room talking about how to make money off of state deals. He said one of Rezko’s ideas involved creating an insurance agency that would make money by getting business from the state. Blagojevich presumably would be sure he directed the control appropriately.
Monk says that Rezko led the discussion and on a blackboard puts up nine different ideas that would make each of them money. Each idea was worth about $100,000 he said.
What was the thrust of the meeting: “How the four of us could make money different ways.”
Who was going to make money off the deals?
“The four of us,” Monk said.
How was that money going to be divided? “Equally,” Monk said. “All told, hundreds of thousands of dollars … in total.”
In court, Blagojevich appears angry and is almost smiling at times, shakes his head and shoots glances at the prosecutor and Monk.
Monk said Blagojevich agreed not to take the money until after he was out of office.
“Because we didn’t want anyone to know what was going on,” Monk said. “There wouldn’t be as much scrutiny. … “In all liklihood (it was) wrong and we would be breaking the law.”
The exchange wasn’t lost on jurors; several of them were furiously taking notes during the questioning.
* The first witness called by the prosecution today was an FBI agent…
FBI agent Dan Cain says his office was secretly recording 10 different phones or places in the Rod Blagojevich probe. The recordings happened Oct. 22, 2008 through Dec. 9, 2008 — the day the ex-governor was arrested.
The recordings include two “bugs” and eight wiretaps of cell phones and desk phones — including Rod’s cell and home phones, Robert’s cell, John Harris’ cell and desk phone, Lon Monk’s cell, and bugs and wiretaps in Blago’s campaign office.
Cain says 5,000 calls were wire tapped and 1,100 of those are relevant to the case.
Under questioning from prosecutor Reid Schar, Cain said the investigation began when someone — he did not say who — came to the FBI and complained of being extorted involving appointments to an Illinois state board. That initially led to the Rezko conviction.
Cain said the investigation was ongoing when the FBI received more information from lobbyist John Wyma, another close Blagojevich associate, which led investigators to secure court orders to bug Blagojevich’s campaign office in Ravenswood as well as place wiretaps on Blagojevich’s home phone and cell phones.
* The Blago Report has an interesting take on yesterday’s opening statements…
There are a couple of major weaknesses in the government’s case. I think this is true no matter how much someone—perhaps with a well-informed opinion—believes Blagojevich is guilty as sin, and I have written about them before.
One of them is that many if not most of the crimes were not actually carried about because either the feds stepped in or his aide (or middleman in the prosecutor’s parlance) failed to carry out the alleged scheme, and this weakness was both inherent in Carrie Hamilton’s opening argument and exploited by Samuel Adam jr. in his opening argument.
There seems to be a disconnect in the dealings of what Hamilton called Blagojevich’s inner circle (Rezko, Kelly & Monk) and how the corrupt things they were doing were supposed to find their way back to him. I am not suggesting here that the government doesn’t have a theory about how that did happen, or that there wasn’t some kind of pipeline back to Blagojevich, but from the jury’s perspective, there was little for them to grasp, and I think they would be hard-pressed to understand what this inner-circle had to do with Blagojevich.
And by the same token, all of a sudden Stuart Levine pops in the story with little introduction or anything about how what Levine was doing had to do with Blagojevich.
Adam jr. gives Levine a little more play of course, but the use of Levine by the defense and his passive insertion in the prosecution’s presentation underscores another problem for the government. One of Adam’s lines is “Bernie Madoff Rezko got in touch with Bernie Madoff Levine.”
He also makes this very valid point…
A nearby press maven mentioned in passing that Adam jr.’s argument would only work if the jury was dumb, but I think comments like that are partially due to the press not being able to divorce themselves from the extra-legal knowledge they possess that the jury does not, and it is partially in contempt for the jury’s ability to understand the highlighting nature of theatrical devices, and it is partially an inability to appreciate what a defense attorney is actually trying to accomplish (and as misunderstandings go, attorneys are always good fodder as societal targets and the press is always eager to reflect this). The defense attorney is consciously trying to make an emotional appeal that registers the sensitivities inherent in the prosecution’s case on a deeper emotional level; they are attempting to plant strong images that the jurors will remember when the corresponding point comes up in trial; and they are attempting to forcefully underscore the weaknesses of the prosecution’s case. They are also trying to win the case for their side. On this last point, the opposition for a criminal defense lawyer in federal court is always the US government with all the powers and trappings that come with it. On this point, and to that end, the defense attorney is admittedly the everyman in the courtroom, using anger and emotional appeals to convince twelve ordinary citizens to do something that we have been socialized since the day we were born not to do: Go against the government of the United States of America.
* Zorn believes that Blagojevich’s attorney Sam Adam, Jr. won the day…
In the battle between the teacher — Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton — and the preacher — the thunderous, histrionic Adam Jr., Rod’s attorney– the preacher came out way ahead.
Carrie-hamilton He was passionate, funny, engaging, kinetic and likable in contrast to the businesslike Hamilton (left). But that’s often how trials start, with the prosecution seeming cool and clinical, almost serene, and the defense seeming hot and indignant.
And while Adam Jr. was particularly good — exceeding even my high expectations for his performance — I’ve been in enough courtrooms to know that the score at the end of day one is no indication how the trial is going to turn out.
* Meanwhile, Susan Berger, who started out strong, is going native…
Patti’s sister Debbie Mell here with her today. Just told me she loved my tweets. Just shook my hand [edited at author’s request] I am right behind them…
Robert Blagojevich just nodded to me on his way into courtroom…
Patti just kissed Rod…
Seated behind Patti Blag. Said to me “by the way, my husband shakes his leg cause he’s full of energy. Blagos r reading my blog
Oy.
* Roundup…
* Prosecutor: Rod Blagojevich Planned Illegal Shakedowns
* When I read this story yesterday, my heart sank…
The governor did not declare St. Anne and Pembroke Township near Hopkins Park in Kankakee County state disaster areas.
That’s because county officials never made that request, Gov. Pat Quinn said.
“That (the damage) might not rise to the level required to make that designation” said Kankakee County Board Chairman Mike Bossert Monday night. But, Bossert said, county officials are meeting this morning to discuss whether or not to make a formal request.
I’ve written about Hopkins Park and Pembroke Township before. Here’s a little history…
A New York Times article in 2002 noted that Pembroke Township was statistically one of the poorest areas in the entire country. Ninety-eight percent of its schoolchildren were so poor that they qualified for free lunches. While there were several churches and liquor stores in the township, there was no bank, supermarket, barbershop, pharmacy, gas station, or police force. One part-time physician provided medical care two afternoons per week. The article stated there were few paved roads and no buses or trains running through Pembroke.
Oprah Winfrey told an audience that 55% of Pembroke’s residents lived below the poverty level with 44% without running water. Jon Dyson, a local minister, remarked that “third-world conditions” exist here.
It hasn’t changed much since then, despite a big, splashy press conference by Rod Blagojevich in 2003 when he promised to aid the all-black town and surrounding township. What they got was gravel for their sandy roads. The gravel sank almost immediately. They got a little more gravel. It sank, along with the school bus, which has to constantly be towed out of the sand.
George Ryan tried to help by building a prison there. The area has no sewer system, and some folks literally just have holes in the floors of their bathrooms. That would’ve changed with the prison, which needed a sewer system, but Blagojevich stopped the construction and sent gravel instead. Now, the local unemployment rate is 44 percent and the average household income is $14,000.
The state isn’t the only one that has ignored the area. The majority white county has been notorious for neglecting Pembroke Township over the decades. It’s truly shameful.
Just down the road, more destruction in Hopkins Park. Jackie Thomas was in her mobile home when, suddenly, the walls caved in and trapped her. Her husband pulled her out of the debris.
She believes warning sirens would have helped. But Hopkins Park doesn’t have one. That’s something some officials in the impoverished community are trying to change. A Kankakee County emergency official said they could have, if they’d applied for a grant to help pay for the siren.
Mayor Samuel Payton says they did, three years ago. The paperwork is at the clerk’s office. But a letter from the state agency that oversees the payout said in a letter that state budget difficulties has made it impossible to give Hopkins Park the money.
When the storm struck Saturday, many residents were inside their flimsy houses, unaware of the severe weather.
In the aftermath, Kankakee County’s emergency responders rushed into Hopkins Park to pull families from damaged homes, and the local chapter of the Red Cross set up camp inside the mayor’s office at Village Hall.
“It was dark; it was raining; the situation was really messed up,” said Kelly Reffett, executive director of the Red Cross of Kankakee County.
The Red Cross started with the basics, delivering food and clothing to hungry families caught in the downpour. Some received eyeglasses, and others, like the Thomas family, were put up in local motels for a couple of nights until the full extent of the damage could be determined.
“A destroyed home is a major event, no matter what your economic status,” Reffett said. “But in places like St. Anne (Township) and Hopkins Park, life is tough to begin with. To have your home and all your possessions taken from you, it just knocks your world.”
If the county doesn’t get its act together and ask the governor to put that area on the disaster list, then the governor needs to find a way to get them some help.
I grew up not far from there, and to say that those folks are regional outcasts would be the understatement of the year. They get nothing but the shaft, and it’s really time for that to end.
* Related…
* Photo: Plass Thomas, 76, stands in the rubble of the two mobile homes on his property that were destroyed Saturday night. A tornado lifted one and dropped it on the other where Thomas, his wife and grandson were watching television at 3000S Road in Pembroke Township. Thomas says there was no warning. “The roof came off. One minute it was there, and then it was gone.”
* Pembroke: Lack of sirens left town unsafe during tornadoes
* Pembroke: Woman buried in tornado rubble survived
“Brother Eddie, he was a gladiator. He was a warrior in the issues he stood for,” said board member Angelo Kyle of Waukegan, who lost a close race to Washington in the Democratic primary. “You need a person like that. We will remember him and pray for his wife and children.”
* Report reveals poor oversight of Oak Lawn’s legal bills
Attorney Burt Odelson, who was hired by the village in January to look into legal bills from the former lawyers, described a series of “disturbing” billing problems during his presentation - including billing for duplicate work by multiple attorneys, missing information on invoices and charges for questionable items, including local travel and interoffice conferences among attorneys.
Solo Cup’s Chicago and Urbana facilities will pick up some of the production from the Maryland and Massachusetts plants. The Illinois facilities could see a 10% to 15% increase in jobs, the company said.
Police officers will get a 6.5 percent retroactive pay raise dating to July 2007 and 3.5 percent going forward to June 30, 2012.
The city also won several several key provisions aimed at improving police performance: random alcohol testing for on-duty officers; mandatory drug and alcohol testing whenever officers discharge their weapons on or off-duty; and the addition of Ecstasy and anabolic steroids to the list of substances to be targeted in the department’s current drug testing program.
The pay raise falls well short of the 16.1 percent overall raise that Mayor Richard Daley once offered to police and even shorter of the 24 percent that the Fraternal Order of Police demanded. But the price tag is still a whopping $375 million - $160 million of it for retroactive pay.
* Chicago police poised to get 2 percent pay raises
Like their fellow Teamsters who work as truck drivers at O’Hare and Midway Airports, the Water Management employees say Daley is “punishing” their union for rejecting his demand for furlough days and comp time instead of cash overtime.
The suit — which may be the first of its kind — will hinge on a municipal code requirement that classrooms contain 20 square feet of floor space per person.
Chicago is facing a severe budget deficit, with recent CPS estimates ranging from $427 million to $600 million, a number that remains in flux because the state hasn’t finalized its budget. There’s little hope those numbers will shrink.
Closing that deficit requires belt-tightening across the school system, including even deeper administrative cuts and painful cuts to classroom programs. But there is no way out of this mess without adding into the mix union concessions
* District 204 seeks to keep state income tax withholdings to offset what state owes schools
The District 204 school board approved a resolution supporting the proposal Monday and sent it to the Illinois Association of School Boards, where it will be studied by a committee and voted on by members of school boards across the state in November. If approved, the Illinois Association of School Boards would ask the General Assembly to propose legislation next year.
The [Lake] County Board on Tuesday approved offering extended insurance benefits and severance pay of up to $20,000 for eligible full-time regular employees.
* Kane County Board fighting use of public funds to defend coroner
* The prosecutors have identified a motive for Rod Blagojevich’s frantic efforts to sell the US Senate seat. He was deeply in hock…
[Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton] said Blagojevich’s $170,000 per year salary was not enough to cover the debt Blagojevich and his wife were incurring.
Hamilton said the money from Rezko took care of some of it, but Blagojevich and his wife were approximately $200,000 in debt in fall 2008.
The prosecution said naming Obama’s Senate seat replacement was the key to solving Blagojevich’s financial troubles and what his next career move would be.
[Hamilton] showed jurors a chart of the family’s debts in the fall of 2008 - $200,000 in “consumer debt and lines of credit against their home,” she said.
Rod Blagojevich didn’t know how to fix his money troubles, Hamilton said. He didn’t even know if he was going to run for governor again.
“He had no career plans for what he was going to do and no plans of what he was going to do with this financial situation,” she told the jury.
“For Governor Blagojevich, his golden ticket arrived on Nov. 4, 2008,” she said. That’s the day Barack Obama was elected president, giving Blagojevich sole rights to replace him in the Senate.
Rod Blagojevich furiously took notes as Hamilton spoke, but at times stopped dead and stared as she leveled accusation after accusation of the various shakedowns.
Hamilton spoke emphatically, sometimes pushing her fingers together, sometimes pointing in the air as she explained the case.
“On the North Side of Chicago is a hospital named Children’s Memorial Hospital.” […]
“In 2008, Children’s Memorial was trying to get a grant to treat sick kids,” she continued in a slow, clear voice. But before Blagojevich would allow that grant, she said, he demanded something in return.”
“But there was a catch,” Hamilton said. “Now that he had decided to help the hospital, he wanted to make sure the hospital was going to help him.”
“Blagojevich decided if the hospital president wasn’t going to help him, he wasn’t going to help the hospital.”
“This was just one in series of illegal shakedowns that started shortly after Gov. Rod Blagojevich became governor of Illinois in 2000 and continued until he was arrested in 2008.”
“You’re going to hear about a shakedown that happened just before the election, this time involving a school,” she told the jury.
In a clear and almost cheerful voice, she is describing the accusations that Blagojevich held up a grant for the school in then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel’s in an attempt to get the congressman’s brother to hold a fundraiser for him.
“Rather than paying out the money as it should have been, defendant Blagojevich demanded that the money be paid out slowly, over time,” she said.
“One of the things you’re going to learn in this trial is that money is power,” she said.
“It wasn’t that (Blagojevich) would go out and do it himself,” she says, “Instead the demand was made by a middleman for his benefit. The middlemen that were used were Lon Monk, Chris Harris and Tony Rezko.”
She is referring to that foursome as the “inner circle.”
She is also introducing the jury to the Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund.
“Part of the plan was to try to build up that campaign fund,” she said. “They knew the more money in that campaign fund, the more money Blagojevich could yield and the more they could personally benefit from decisions he was making.”
In her overview of the charges against ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, she is using a phrase consistently throughout — “What about me?”
In each of the alleged shakedowns, she says, Blagojevich was thinking about himself.
“In those instances when he was supposed to be asking, ‘What about the people of Illinois?’ he was asking ‘What about me?’” Hamilton said early in her statement.
…Adding… The best way to follow along with the action live is to monitor Natasha Korecki’s and Susan Berger’s Twitter pages. Also #Blagojevich tag on Twitter, but that’s pretty clogged with reTweets of Natasha’s stuff.
“He’s broke! He’s broke!” Adam yelled. “And do you know why he’s broke, ladies and gentlemen? It’s not hard. He didn’t take a dime!”
Adam is animated, to say the least. He is whispering and yelling, putting his hands over his stomach, putting them into and out his pockets, pointing at the jurors, Rod, the prosecutors. He’s covering much ground, walking up to the witness stand, back to the defense table.
“This is the federal government,” he said. “The same people chasing Bin Laden are chasing him!”
Rod is not writing anymore. He is sitting with his hands folded.
* Yesterday, when a group of veterans, some of them with Democratic ties, blasted Congressman Mark Kirk for not telling the truth about his military record, Kirk made sure reporters knew about those Democratic ties (the Tribune story reprinted most of the talking points) then rolled out an endorsement from the Vets for Freedom PAC, which has endorsed only Republicans this year. The VFF PAC didn’t endorsement didn’t mention the blowup over Kirk’s military record.
* I suppose it could go on forever like this, considering the ways of DC. One guy gets an endorsement, another guy quickly announces a counter-endorsement from a ready-made partisan organization.
As far as I know, however, Kirk hasn’t yet found a Republican pro-choice group to endorse him in the wake of losing NARAL’s support. Then again, maybe he’d rather not. Probably the same goes for some other groups as well. He’s trying to look moderate, not liberal.
I’ll bet some right-wing Republicans are beating their heads against a wall, thinking “If we weren’t going to get the support of the gays and the enviros, why didn’t we just go ahead and nominate a real conservative?”
The object was to run a moderate, not a hardcore liberal.
* The Daily Herald goes off on state Sen. Bill Brady for missing so many votes and then vowing not to take expense reimbursement and per diem checks. “He doesn’t deserve the money,” the editorial board exclaims, adding that Brady has “shirked his duty.” The conclusion…
It might be a nightmare for campaign schedulers, but candidates ought to be in Springfield or Washington, D.C., when votes are taken and travel when they can.
We strongly disagree with Brady’s campaign spokeswoman, Patty Schuh, who told our reporter Timothy Magaw that casting votes are only part of Brady’s job as a senator.
“In order to run a credible campaign for governor, you have to be on the trail,” she said.
We’re more in line with Paul Green, a political science professor at Roosevelt University, who said: “You get elected to vote on issues. There are only 59 senators who can vote. There are a lot of people who can give speeches.”
It’s the votes, not the speeches, that should help voters distinguish between the candidates.
Only a few of those votes were close, and no matter what the DH claims speeches are quite important to campaigns. I get the point about him not being around, but I don’t think that we should only be looking at his votes. They are very important, no doubt, but what he says about what he intends to do if elected is also important.
That’s not the Senate in the ad. That’s the House.
So as the ad zeroes in on what’s supposedly an empty Brady chair, it’s showing the wrong chamber in the Illinois Capitol.
Hilarious.
[ *** End of Update *** ]
* In other news, I’ve been hearing about this poll for quite a while now…
The other day we received a robo-call from a polling organization. The recording was designed to receive only answers of “yes” or “no.”
It was obvious that the questions were geared to elicit answers that would favor Bill Brady, Republican candidate for governor.
The questions were quite loaded, including…
The most insidious wording was in the question about “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military. It was, almost word for word, “Do you agree that we should force men in the military to integrate people with homosexual tendencies in their barracks and in their bunks?” […]
The poll asked, more than once, whom we supported, Bill Brady or Pat Quinn, often after statements such as “Pat Quinn wants to raise your taxes.”
The columnists don’t appear to understand that this is almost undoubtedly a campaign pollster, or possibly (since it seems to be going on for weeks) even a very broad canvass “push.”
* Political Signs Protected Under Freedom of Speech: Governor Pat Quinn says he’s trying to protect freedom of speech across the state. That’s why this week he signed a new law that prevents communities from restricting political signs on private property.
* Quinn tours tornado sites, declares 4 counties disaster areas
With opening statements in his trial just hours away, Rod Blagojevich makes a last-ditch effort to throw out his case that is an “improper criminalization of his rights under the First Amendment,” according to a filing.
“In this case, the defendant was engaged in political speech and expression. The government alleges that the political process in which he was engaged was criminal. This is a violation of the defendant’s rights of freedom of speech and expression afforded him under the United States constitution,” the filing reads.
The idea that Blagojevich was just talking politics when he was captured on undercover recordings in the case is expected to be a key theme today in the opening statement of lawyer Sam Adam Jr.
“This prosecution violates fundamental free speech,” the motion states. “The marketplace of ideas is critical to Democracy.” […]
The defense motion states that Blagojevich never formed the intent to commit a crime and had “the right to vigorously debate about different options for appointments and different fundraising strategies.”
Yeah, talking about extorting bribes, kickbacks, etc. is all protected speech. Right. Good luck with that one.
The attorneys also filed a motion seeking permission to question one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, Stuart Levine, about matters the judge has ruled out of bounds. They also want the judge to toss out a count that claims Blagojevich made false statements to federal agents.
Heading into the courthouse, Blagojevich told reporters that prosecutors “hid the truth and are keeping it in a locked box.”
BGA’s Andy Shaw just announced on WBEZ’s 848 that Rod will be going with the “Advice of Counsel” defense; that anything he said he did on advice of counsel who was in the room and so that makes it okay.
[ *** End of Update 1 *** ]
* The public is lining up for tickets for today’s opening statements like it’s a major rock concert…
Spectators were reportedly out on Dearborn Street at 4 a.m.
All of the tickets to the courtroom were dispensed by 7:30 a.m. […]
As far as supporters bearing signs of support, haven’t seen any.
Well, almost like a rock concert. They’re in it for the spectacle, not for love.
In his first public appearance since jury selection began in the Blagojevich trial last week, Quinn said voters will understand that he’s always been an “independent guy.” Quinn noted that he pushed to get a recall provision added to the ballot two years ago.
“I was the one who led the effort for recall, and Gov. Blagojevich opposed me when I was trying to get recall on the ballot in 2008,” Quinn said. “I think he would have been recalled if that happened. But, we got it done for 2010, so this year people get a chance to vote for recall. I think in a a lot of ways that is one of the key reforms that came out of what happened during his time.”
During the 2006 campaign, then-Lt. Gov. Quinn defended Blagojevich, who already was beset by corruption investigations into his administration.
“In all my interactions with him, I’ve found him to be an honest person,” Quinn said at the time.
Since then, Quinn has refused to apologize for defending Blagojevich during the 2006 campaign.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the indispensable Natasha Korecki, we get these admonishments from Judge Zagel to Rod Blagojevich. No tweeting and watch your mouth, stupid…
“I do not anybody in the well of the court using twitter during trial,” Zagel said.
The judge also warned Blagojevich that public statements he’s made before some days and on radio and television could come back to haunt him.
“You do get to a certain point in time where if you make a lot of statements. . . and you wind up testifying on the witness stand,” questions that have to do with “impeachment” might arise, Zagel said. “There is a risk . . . by repeated public statements outside the courtroom.”
They include a legal assistant in her 20s, an African-American public school math teacher, a retired director for a state public health department and an accounting student from Western Illinois University.
And here’s some video of the disgraced former governor before today’s proceedings…
*** UPDATE 3 *** Once again, Korecki comes through. Here’s the jury…
103, a quiet-spoken woman in her 20s who works as a full-time legal assistant
105, an African-American woman who teaches math to sixth- and seventh-graders in public school; her husband is a state probation officer
106, a female retired director for state public health department who has served on two juries before
115, a blond woman in her 30s or 40s who has worked in retail for the past 15 years; a fan of boating and gardening, she reads news “only for the weather”
119, a mother in her late 20s or early 30s who works in investment accounting and is an avid runner
121, a female accounting student at Western Illinois with an interest in law; her father is a police officer
123, a male human resources manager in his 30s who volunteers for family shelter and has done volunteer work for political candidates
127, a woman in 50s or 60s who likes reading and crafts like knitting and cross-stitch.
128, a young community college student and former Best Buy salesman who likes sports, videogames and hanging out with his friends
133, a man who has had a hip replacement and was concerned about sitting for long periods
135, a man in his 60s who said he was born in a Japanese internment camp in California
137, a retired Navyman who works full-time
148, an African-American, church-going man who worked as a letter carrier for 30 years; has served on two juries in the past, one of which did not reach a verdict.
151, a mechanical engineer with a graduate degree who supervises a crew of 30 at a steel company
153, female secretary/paralegal in the real estate department of a law firm
155, a secretary at Northwestern Memorial Hospital who volunteers at her church
156, young women who works in direct mail marketing and likes spending time with her boyfriend and her dog
166, a female, African-American social worker for a nursing home with a college degree
* Roundup…
* Video of Blagojevich leaving the federal building yesterday
* Blagojevich trial: Opening statements will be a study in contrast: As courtroom styles go, it is hard to imagine a more stark contrast than the ones that will be on display Tuesday when prosecution and defense lawyers make their opening statements in the federal corruption trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Think Joe Friday versus Chris Rock.
* Former GOP state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger officially kicked off his Senate campaign the other day. The complete video is here. At one point during his speech, Rauschenberger slammed House Speaker Michael Madigan for admitting that the General Assembly had passed an unbalanced budget, which would be unconstitutional and a violation of Madigan’s oath of office.
Rauschenberger then made a startling statement…
“We impeached the wrong guy when we got rid of Blagojevich.
“Mike Madigan has been Speaker of the Illinois House for 28 of the last 30 years. He is the architect of the worst funded public pensions in America.”
His statement was followed by a long round of applause.
* Rauschenberger’s histrionics aside, I happen to think the attorney general ought to step into this. I mean, it’s pretty clear from the Speaker’s comments that he’s admitting the budget is in violation of the state constitution, which reads…
(a)… Proposed expenditures shall not exceed funds estimated to be available for the fiscal year as shown in the budget.
(b) The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available
during that year.
Thoughts?
* Related…
* State’s budget crisis a boon for debt brokering firms: The brokering of Illinois’ unpaid debt is the latest symptom of a budget crisis that threatens to cripple the state’s network of social services. Other states suffering from severe fiscal problems in the recession have taken a variety of austerity measures but have not stopped paying bills as Illinois has.
* State’s bad economy attracts a business: Illinois is in such bad financial shape that a Georgia-based company has targeted social service agencies here in what one social service official called a “payday loan operation.”
* Our Opinion: Delay judicial appointments until 2011: The Illinois Supreme Court should do the state treasury a favor: Wait until Jan. 1 to appoint replacements for any judge that retires from the bench.
* Wildlife Prairie State Park’s future looks ‘tenuous’: The state’s budget does not include any money for the park in fiscal year 2011, although an Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman said they are working with the governor’s office to include “some funding” next year.
* Illinois is one of the states that would find itself with an even bigger budget hole if the feds don’t act by the end of this year…
Having counted on Washington for money that may not be delivered, at least 30 states will have to close larger-than-anticipated shortfalls in the coming fiscal year unless Congress passes a six-month extension of increased federal spending on Medicaid.
Governors and state lawmakers, already facing some of the toughest budgets since the Great Depression, said the repercussions would extend far beyond health care, forcing them to make bone-deep cuts to education, social services and public safety.
Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, for instance, penciled $850 million in federal Medicaid assistance into the revenue side of his state’s ledger, reducing its projected shortfall to $1.2 billion. The only way to compensate for the loss, he said in an interview, would be to lay off at least 20,000 government workers — including teachers and police officers — at a time when the state is starting to add jobs.
If fiscal stimulus is so great, then why hasn’t the Obama administration’s massive stimulus program helped improve the economy? Well, via Mark Thoma, the answer is that there hasn’t been any net fiscal stimulus, all the Obama administration’s efforts plus the automatic stabilizers have done is mitigate the contractionary impact of state and local policy
States and localities cut 22,000 jobs in the past month, wiping out half the month’s gain in private-sector jobs… In total, state and local governments have cut 231,000 jobs, including 100,000 local education jobs, since the summer of 2008.
There has been much talk of the size of the US federal stimulus, and much debate about whether or not it has been an effective counter-cyclical policy instrument.
But it’s important to remember that the proper measure for fiscal stimulus is not spending by the federal government; it is spending by all levels of government. And when you look at the contributions to US GDP growth (Table 1.1.2 at the BEA site), total government spending has been a drag on growth over the past two quarters. The increases at the federal level have not been enough to compensate for the spending cuts at the local and state levels.
I suppose that this could be interpreted as good news: despite a contractionary fiscal stance, the US economy is in recovery. But it raises the question of how much better it could be doing if it had an expansionary fiscal policy.
Yes, the deficit is a very important consideration, but history has shown (FDR during the Great Depression when he tried to cut the deficit after the economy had stopped spiraling downwards and Japan when it did the same thing) that cutting spending too soon - for instance, as in Japan, while business were starting to recover but were using profits to pay down debt - is a dangerous thing indeed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if the feds don’t step in to help out the states, we’re heading for some real trouble in the economy.
On Friday, Moody’s lowered Illinois’ bond rating down one notch to A1 in reaction to the failure of lawmakers to address the state’s long-term structural budget woes.
“We view the failure to enact significant new recurring fiscal measures as a troublesome indicator with respect to Illinois’ governance and management profile,” Moody’s said.
Although the rating service said Illinois’ outlook is stable because it can raise taxes and cut spending, it warned that recent budgeting failures don’t bode well for the future.
“The longer the solutions to the state’s challenges are deferred, the more difficult they will become to implement,” Moody’s said.
Bill Brady responds via press release [NOTE: What’s now posted is an updated release. The campaign has asked that the original statement, which was in draft form and contained an edit suggestion - “is this correct?” - be taken down. No biggie, so here you go with the new one]…
“The most recent Moody’s report is yet another independent voice proving the failed economic policies of Governor Quinn has driven our state into the ground.
The decision by Moody’s to further downgrade our credit now gives Illinois the dubious distinction of having the same rating as California.
While the Governor continues to blame others for his failures, Moody’s cited a ‘chronic failure of political will’ for this downgrade. Voters have had enough. We need a clean break in Illinois.”
Nielsen and Hankes [both men] said they visited LaFiesta Azteca on May 7 to have dinner. But after the couple kissed on the lips, they were approached by the owner and told to stop.
The couple said their rights were violated because they were not treated as a heterosexual couple would have been treated under the same circumstances.
“We sat on the same side of the booth. We kissed a few times on the lips, but it was not vulgar,” said Hankes, who lives in Lemont.
The couple claim they were reprimanded, and they decided to leave, Hankes said. They say the owner blocked their path until they paid for the appetizers and drinks they ordered.
“The manager puffed out his chest and said, ‘You’re going to pay,’” Hankes said. “Frankie threw a $20 bill on the table, and we stormed out.”
But Jaime Esparza, the owner of LaFiesta Azteca, said he was never hostile with the couple and he didn’t refuse to serve them. He said he would ask any couple to respect his restaurant and leave the kissing outside.
Sec. 5‑102. Civil Rights Violations: Public Accommodations. It is a civil rights violation for any person on the basis of unlawful discrimination to:
(A) Enjoyment of Facilities, Goods, and Services. Deny or refuse to another the full and equal enjoyment of the facilities, goods, and services of any public place of accommodation;
* The Question: While avoiding disgusting, over-the top responses like those at Illinois Review, tell us if you side with the two men or the restaurant owner. And don’t forget to explain your answer. Thanks.
A public viewing for State Rep. Eddie Washington, 56, who died of a heart attack Saturday, will take place in Waukegan Tuesday.
The viewing will be held at 1 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church at 800 S. Genesee St. The burial will take place in Washington’s hometown of East St. Louis, Ill.
* And this just blows my mind, but good for state Sen. Terry Link, who is also the Lake County Democratic Party chairman…
Link will convene a panel composed of himself and two others who will select someone to finish Washington’s term and fill his spot on the November ballot. Link said it is too early to think about who will replace Washington, but said he hopes to find a single person to both complete the term and run for election.
“I have already received several phone calls from people asking to be considered,” Link said today. “I have been coarse with them, explaining it is far too soon to be having these discussions.”
What kind of freaking moron would be contacting the county chairman before Rep. Washington’s body is even cold, let alone in the ground? I’d love to run that list here and subject those craven jerks to the public ridicule that they so richly deserve.
More than two years after her death, former Republican state Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis’ name and image are being used by the re-election campaign of her Democratic successor - and it isn’t sitting well with Lake County’s GOP leader.
A recent campaign mailer for state Sen. Michael Bond features a photograph of Bond, his wife and Geo-Karis taken before her death. Additionally, Bond’s float in Lake Villa’s Memorial Day parade bore a large picture of Bond and Geo-Karis with a message about the late politician.
Bond’s opponent in the Nov. 2 election for the 31st District seat is Republican Suzi Schmidt of Lake Villa, the longtime chairwoman of the Lake County Board. Schmidt declined to comment about Bond’s campaign, but Lake County Republican Party Chairman Bob Cook was disturbed by the use of Geo-Karis’ name and photos.
“I’m appalled that someone would resort to using someone who passed away for political gains,” Cook said. “I think it’s in poor taste.”
Bond called Cook’s comments “ridiculous” and said the complaints are purely political.
The Lake County GOP worked against Geo during her last primary race, which she lost. So, they really don’t have much credibility here. And even though endorsements from beyond the grave are not unheard of (Paul Simon’s post-mortem endorsement of Barack Obama in 2004 springs to mind), there is certainly a question of taste here. Thoughts?
* And sympathies to all of Ginnie Frederick’s family and many, many friends…
The first woman elected to the Lake Forest City Council and an Illinois state representative for 16 years, Virginia “Ginnie” Fiester Frederick of Lake Forest died May 30. She was 93.
Frederick left local government for state politics. Elected to the Illinois House of Representatives as a Republican in 1978, she served until 1994 when she chose to not run for re-election. […]
There will be a memorial service for Frederick at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 11 at Grace United Methodist Church, 244 E. Center Ave., Lake Bluff.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society, 361 E. Westminster, Lake Forest, IL 60045 or to The University of Iowa Foundation.
The GOP’s biggest asset in their race to oust IL Gov. Pat Quinn (D) isn’t the Dem or his GOP rival. It’s Quinn’s predecessor, ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D).
Now, as Blagojevich’s corruption trial kicks off in Chicago, the RGA is running ads linking the 2 governors, even though Quinn supported Blagojevich’s impeachment last year.
“As governors, Quinn and Blagojevich have failed us,” a narrator intones. “Under Quinn and Blagojevich, Illinois is now $13 billion in the red.” […]
Add IL to a growing roster of states the RGA is already playing in. The group has run ads bashing Dem candidates in FL, CA, MA, NH, OH and CO so far, and with $25M in the bank to start the year, that list will grow.
Jason Plummer, the 27-year-old Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, has refused to release his tax returns for voters to see. Plummer’s family owns the R.P. Lumber chain headquartered in Edwardsville and other businesses and partnerships. Plummer calls the controversy over his returns a distraction from more serious issues. “I don’t think a person’s economic status, their financial status, should be a standard for whether or not they run for office,” he said.
He can think whatever he wishes, but the distraction will dog him throughout the campaign. Bill Brady, the GOP candidate for governor, initially refused to release his returns, then relented and gave reporters a limited window to peruse six years of filings. They revealed that Brady paid no federal income taxes the last two years because of business losses.
So Plummer wants voters to trust him — on his terms.
Plummer said he hasn’t changed his mind. He repeatedly talked as if it is just Quinn who wants to see his tax returns.
“I’d really like to hear Pat Quinn’s explanation of how this tax return is some sort of benchmark of ethics and transparency,” Plummer said. “I mean, this is coming from the guy that campaigned, criss-crossing the state on behalf of Rod Blagojevich. I don’t feel like getting lectured by an enabler of Rod Blagojevich on ethics. I don’t think that’s an issue that he wants to delve into very deeply, especially with everything that’s coming out recently on the McCormick Place issue.” […]
I asked if he paid any taxes last year, and he thought for a bit.
“If I start answering all the questions, it’s probably not going to stop, is it?” he said.
No, I told him. It never stops.
Bernie’s right. It’ll never stop. Plummer will have to address that question every time he talks to at least a halfway decent reporter for the rest of the campaign.
* And Sen. Brady has taken the unusual step of rejecting his per diem for any days when he missed a vote…
Republican nominee for governor Bill Brady routinely missed votes throughout the General Assembly’s spring session, and the Bloomington senator now says he won’t accept any state mileage, hotel or meal money for those days.
Brady campaign spokeswoman Patty Schuh said it was a “personal decision” Brady had been weighing for some time. Brady’s missed votes recently came under scrutiny after a Daily Herald story revealed that he had missed more than 200 votes in the hectic final weeks of the legislative session.
In a letter to Senate staff obtained by the Daily Herald via the Freedom of Information Act, Brady says he doesn’t want any reimbursement for “any 2010 Legislative Session Days on which I missed any vote on the Senate floor.”
That’s the right thing to do.
*** UPDATE *** From Quinn campaign spokesperson Mica Matsoff…
“Over the past few weeks, Bill Brady’s Senate voting record has come under fire. And for good reason.
According to the Daily Herald (5/20), Senator Brady wasn’t present for more than 200 votes over just a two-week span while campaigning for governor. And today, an updated Daily Herald story revealed he missed votes on 25 days of the Senate’s 43 days of session. That gives Brady a 42% full attendance record, a failing grade.
Among hundreds of others, Senator Brady missed votes on treatment for breast and cervical cancer, protections for abused and neglected children, and creating penalties for governmental ethics violations.
And what is Bill Brady’s solution to neglecting his constituents and his duties as a senator? He’s now offered not to collect his per diem. It’s not just about your expense account, Senator Brady; it’s about doing your job.
If Bill Brady can’t be trusted to show up for only 43 days of votes, how can we trust him to do the 365-day-a-year job of governor?”
* Related…
* Goodbye, jobs: That might be changing. The governor is looking for a solution. An aide to Attorney General Lisa Madigan called us Friday to say she’s on the case, too. We hope they pull out all the stops. It will be a bad day for Illinois if not-in-my-backyard syndrome sends thousands of jobs somewhere else.
If you support reductions in state spending, send Gov. Pat Quinn a red pen. He’s going to need it. Members of the Illinois House and Senate adjourned last month, knowingly sending Quinn an out-of-balance state budget that takes effect July 1. They also approved an Emergency Budget Act that will give Quinn new authority during the next six months to manage spending. If an unmandated program doesn’t deserve an appropriation, he can decide not to fund it.
* Last week, I told subscribers that they needed to go out and buy of copy of Jim Ridings’ book “Len Small: Governors and Gangsters” as part of their preparation for watching the Rod Blagojevich trial. Gov. Small, from Kankakee, openly allied himself with Al Capone and pardoned hundreds of Capone’s soldiers. Ridings’ book is the first complete biography of Gov. Small, and you really should go buy it. Chuck Goudie’s column today is about the Ridings book and Rod Blagojevich…
When it became clear that Gov. Small wasn’t going to succeed in having the charges dismissed - after all, Illinois was still in the USA - his lawyers had to use another well-honed Illinois legal tactic.
They employed a few Chicago hoodlums to pay off the jury.
The governor’s team was so confident that they would win the case; they didn’t even bother putting on a defense. No witnesses, no documents, nothing.
After a six-week trial - most of the time used up by the government’s presentation - the bought-and-paid-for jury was ready to go home. Some jurors started packing up their bags and belongings even before closing arguments were finished.
Their “deliberations” lasted an hour and a half and they found Gov. Small, not surprisingly, innocent of all charges.
Weeks later, even when a trio of Chicago gangsters was arrested for fixing the jury, Gov. Small attributed it to the cynicism and persecution against him by Chicago newspapers. Sound familiar?
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he wanted to finish up the jury selection process today and he may get his wish. Only three potential jurors were dismissed for cause this morning, leaving the court with 35 candidates for its final pool.
Zagel has said he wants a jury pool of around 40 before entering the peremptory strike phase of the process. Thirty-one more potential jurors are preparing to be sworn in and then questioned by the judge.
But former federal prosecutor Rodger Heaton said Zagel has the discretion to end the process once he feels he can reach 40. “He does not have to interview everyone in there, he can stop anytime,” he said.
Former Gov. Blagojevich asked for a short delay if the opening arguments do start on Tuesday afternoon, so he can attend a grade school graduation for one of his daughters.
Judge Zagel denied that request.
But Blagojevich says his attorneys made a mistake…
Blagojevich told WLS-AM hosts Don Wade and Roma that he was not asking for the judge to cancel a half-day of court proceedings, but maybe just end things an hour early.
Thomas Anthony Durkin won a rare acquittal for a lobbyist accused of bribing a state official in 2008, but Mr. Durkin noted that this defeat for prosecutors came in a bench trial. “I don’t think it’s possible to get a fair trial with a jury in a public corruption case in Chicago,” he said.
Among those cut this morning are a man with personal knowledge of the Teachers Retirement System who had also contributed to Children’s Memorial Hospital. Blagojevich is accused of corruption involving both of those organizations.
The man said on his questionnaire that he was biased toward a guilty verdict. Though the government argued that he was “rehabilitated” during questioning, the judge said, “I didn’t believe him.”
Also out is a retired woman from Poland who worked as a housekeeper for a time. The defense argued to keep her in the pool, but the judge worried the woman did not understand his questioning and cut her. Visibly upset, Patti puffed up her cheeks and shook her head at the judge’s decision.
The courtroom is now waiting for the next group of potential jurors. Patti appears deeply invested in the jury selection process. She is standing over her husband at the defense table, making marks on the yellow notebook where he has been tracking the jurors.
During an interview on WLS Radio’s “The Don and Roma Morning Show” on Monday, Blagojevich jokingly said he should get comfortable in court because he knows he’ll be there for awhile.
Meanwhile, in the first two days of jury selection, a number of reporters and bloggers were at work, transmitting all manner of trial esoterica from the courtroom. The issue of live-blogging from within a federal courtroom is an emerging debate, but Zagel, who decided against allowing a closed-circuit television feed to the overflow room, is permitting Blackberrys – so long as they aren’t visible to jurors. An order he sent to the media before the trial gave the go ahead to “small PDAs with QWERTY keyboards.”
Mike Dobbins, the clerk of the court, mentioned that one of the concerns the judge had was how jurors might be impacted during the trial if, for example, a witness says something on the stand and immediately a dozen reporters begin furiously tapping away at their smart phones. But ultimately, Dobbins thought, there was no real way to police people’s use of their phones.
Live-blogging (and live-tweeting) has figured prominently in the coverage of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial in California, where a lesbian woman is challenging the constitutionality of the state’s Proposition 8 measure that bans same-sex marriage. So far, federal judges in at least eight states and Washington, D.C., have allowed live-blogging to take place from their courtroom. But a number of others have ruled that preventing it does not violate the spirit of the First Amendment, and instead stands to hazard the developments of a trial.
It’s hard to believe that Rod Blagojevich was the venal criminal the U.S. Attorney’s office is making him out to be, just because he was such an incompetent governor. […]
The General Assembly wasn’t wrong to impeach Blagojevich. He was a terrible officeholder. But that was a political trial. Blagojevich may win in court for the same reason he lost in the legislature: he was a guy who could never get the job done.
You don’t have to conclude a corrupt deal to be convicted of one. Sheesh.
Day 3 of jury selection began with the prosecutors and defense counsel resuming the process of removing certain members of Friday’s juror pool for cause.
By the end of the morning challenges, the potential jury pool was numbering in the low 30s. Although the Court “technically” needs a pool of 40 potential jurors to have enough people to select a jury of 12 jurors and 6 alternates, Judge Zagel has stated that he will seek more than that.
The reason why the Court “technically” needs a pool of 40 potential jurors has to do with the number of peremptory challenges both sides will be allowed. In this case, given the number of jurors and alternates to be selected, the Government will be allowed 9 peremptory challenges and the defense will have 13 pursuant to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
The making of peremptory challenges is one of the last procedural steps before a jury is selected.
And it’s an important one.
That’s because peremptory challenges provide both sides with one final chance to shape the jury they want. And unlike cause challenges, neither side needs to state a reason when seeking to dismiss a juror pursuant to a peremptory challenge.
However, there are limits to peremptory challenges.
Neither side may use a peremptory challenge to remove a juror on the basis of race or sex. Using a peremptory challenge in such a manner may be challenged under the Equal Protection Clause through what is called a Batson challenge. Both the prosecutors and the defense have the right to make a Batson challenge.
Questioning of potential jurors will likely continue through the early afternoon.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The BGA’s Andy Shaw did a midday roundup. Listen here.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Natasha Korecki’s Twitter page…
attorney Sam Adam Jr. asks for 2.5 hours for opening statements. Judge says..um…NO. he’ll get 1:45
Judge James Zagel adjourned today’s proceedings with a jury pool of 50 and asked the lawyers for both sides to submit their peremptory challenges in writing to the Court tomorrow morning.
Opening statements are expected to begin tomorrow morning after the jurors are sworn in. The government will speak first.
On the eve of opening statements, here’s a primer on openings and some thoughts on what we can anticipate:
An opening is intended to inform the jurors about the nature of the case to help them better understand the evidence. To that end, openings should focus on the facts, what are the issues in the case and what the evidence will show. That is why lawyers always speak in terms of “the evidence will show that” or “you will hear from Mr. X, who will testify that ….”
Openings should not be argumentative — that is why they are called “opening statements” not “opening arguments.” While this rule is easy to state, it is often hard to explain. The bottom line — if you have a witness or evidence to prove the facts you’re stating, it’s probably proper.
Among other things, openings should not (i) contain any personal opinions — phrases like “I believe,” or “I think,” or “I know” are generally improper; (ii) misstate or mischaracterize the evidence; (iii) refer to any inadmissible evidence; or (iv) instruct the jury on what the law is (that’s for the judge).
Opening statements have already been an issue in this case.
In its Motion to Continue the Trial Date, the Defense argued that it would be an “impossible task to prepare an opening statement” without knowing whether Rod will have to defend himself on the Honest Services counts. Judge Zagel, however, disagreed and semi-admonished the Defense for suggesting that they could discuss what the law is in their opening : “The truth is, in criminal trials opening statements are devoted to what the evidence will show about what happened. The jury’s sole concern throughout the trial, until they reach the end of the evidence and start to hear closing arguments, is what the facts are. Not the law, the facts. There will not be an opening statement on the law.” (Transcript, March 17, 2010 Hearing).
And Judge Zagel was not finished.
In a recent order, Judge Zagel said: “[O]pening statements [are] not a place for legal arguments….The office of opening statements is to predict what will be shown when the evidence is complete, all to assist the jury to put testimony and evidence in context as they hear it.” (Order, May 11, 2010).
Given these recent orders and Judge Zagel’s reputation for running a tight ship, we expect him to give little leeway to the attorneys when making their opening statements. Judge Zagel stated again today that the openings should not contain argument.
Some other thoughts:
We expect the Government’s theme will be the “use of political office for personal gain” and the “violation of public trust.” We also expect the Government to walk the jurors through the various schemes and introduce the key players. The Government’s opening — which we expect to be methodical and heavy on factual details — should largely track the Santiago proffer. Carrie Hamilton gave the opening in Rezko and will likely give it here. At the end of the day today, she told the Court that the Government’s opening should be about an hour.
Sam Adam Jr. is expected to give the opening for Rod. Given his reputation for being a highly impassioned speaker, it should be an interesting contrast of styles. That said, we do not think that Judge Zagel will not let Sam Adam Jr. go too far — this is federal court, not 26th and California. In fact, Judge Zagel told Mr. Adam at the end of today’s proceedings that he would be given 1 hour and 45 minutes to give his opening, far shorter than the 2 1/2 hours he sought.
In addition to discussing Rod’s innocence (and the fact that the evidence will bear this out), we expect the defense to argue that Rod did nothing illegal — that this was just political horse trading. We also expect the defense to refer to plea agreements cut with the cooperating witnesses and the possibility of reduced sentences for these witnesses.
* Patti Blagojevich Cries at Judge’s Denial of Postponement: Patti Blagojevich burst into tears on Friday after federal Judge James Zagel refused to postpone her husband’s corruption trial next week so the former Illinois governor could attend their daughter’s grammar school graduation.
* Mark Kirk constantly uses his position as a Navy intelligence officer to buttress his foreign policy insights. But the Sun-Times checked into two of his stories and found them lacking…
But some of the stories Kirk tells on the stump seem a bit too good to be true. When he last ran for re-election to his congressional seat, he got into trouble for saying China was drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba, which was not true, he acknowledged Thursday in a meeting with the Sun-Times editorial board.
Speaking to the City Club of Chicago last year just after President Obama authorized the shooting of Somali pirates who kidnapped American Capt. Richard Phillips, Kirk got a whole lot wrong talking about pirates attacking ships off Africa.
“We began to see some backbone, not from the U.S. but from France,” Kirk said. “France was always good for a quick $2 million ransom until the election of President Sarkozy. When his first ship was seized, he authorized the standard ransom payment — with a transmitter in the box. As that went into the pirate compound, he then authorized French Special Forces to roll in. And they killed everybody. . . . It kind of shocked us in the Pentagon. But it sent a clear message and I don’t think the French have had many problems since.”
Here’s the problem: Much of the answer was fiction. It wasn’t the first ship attacked after Sarkozy took office; and the French Special Forces didn’t kill everybody. In fact they didn’t kill anybody, Sarkozy has said.
* The Tribune editorial board discloses something the paper’s reporters did not, then goes on to whack Kirk but good…
[Kirk] spoke for an hour to the Tribune editorial board — and called back later to volunteer that during the interview he had displayed too much defensiveness, and too little candor. Before our eyes, he had tried to writhe away from questions about whether he repeatedly had embellished his service record. Not until his subsequent phone call did he say in plain English that the simple answer to those questions is Yes.
Why had he stretched the already admirable truth? We don’t know the motive. Taken together, though, Kirk’s misstatements demonstrate how deeply he had succumbed to the I-must-sell-myself temptations of politics, elevating the importance of what “I” accomplished in the military. Most veterans instead speak of what “we” won or lost. There is no Army — or in Kirk’s case, Navy — of One.
Kirk’s reluctant acknowledgement of his errors has been maddening but also saddening. For a decade this page has respected naval intelligence officer Kirk and Congressman Kirk. Thus the dilemma: What are we — what are all the voters of Illinois — now to make of candidate Kirk? He has weakened one of the most compelling arguments for electing him to the Senate. […]
For us, the disclosures of Mark Kirk’s career inflation are not excusable. For military families in particular, this is serious. Neither, though, are his offenses a reason to discount his service or to declare him unfit for the Senate. Kirk made arrogant errors and now he has apologized. He may not go one day between now and Nov. 2 without having to offer his personal regrets to the people of Illinois.
But the [Navy fitness] reports also make clear what Kirk isn’t. He isn’t a battle-tested combat veteran as he seems determined to portray himself. […]
Judging from what his superiors say about him, Kirk has had a very honorable, impressive military career. It’s a shame he didn’t realize that was enough to take him where he wanted.
Political reporters and pundits have a bad habit of saying: “If present trends continue.” The truth is, in politics, “present trends” almost always change.
Last week, Illinoisans were treated to a classic example of how that overused phrase can so often be horribly wrong.
Let’s take a look back, shall we?
For years, the Republican powers that be in this state have dreamt of finding a “perfect” statewide candidate.
Social liberal, fiscal moderate without a hint of scandal. That’s the key to winning statewide in Illinois. Finding that person hasn’t been so easy, however.
Then GOP Congressman Mark Kirk decided to move up the political ladder to U.S. Senate. Kirk is pro-choice, pro gay rights, tough on guns, but a fiscal hawk in the tradition of Jim Edgar.
Best of all, Kirk serves in the Navy Reserves. Reporters, as a class, love military men, and Kirk’s stories about his daring feats of bravery have made the tough-nosed Chicago media drool all over him.
A decorated Naval intelligence officer works great with voters as well. Kirk could separate himself from average politicians by pointing to his honorable service. Despite some bumps along the way, the military has long been one of the most respected institutions in this patriotic nation.
A recent USA Today poll found that by a margin of 2 to 1, Americans would “rather vote for a candidate who has never served in Congress over one with experience.” And since “Republican congressman” polls even lower than “congressman,” Congressman Kirk would be at a serious disadvantage without that Naval service.
Until last week, Kirk looked to many like a slam-dunk winner - or as much of one as a Republican could be in this state. The trend against the Democrats was certainly working in his favor. And Kirk’s Democratic opponent Alexi Giannoulias had been pummeled left and right over stories about how his now-defunct family bank had made loans to mobsters and had other nefarious ties.
Giannoulias endured one of the worst three months of any candidate I’ve ever seen starting shortly after he won the February Democratic primary. He was hammered relentlessly in the media, and the pack was full-on engaged the day his family’s bank was seized by federal regulators.
Unsourced speculation abounded that the youthful state treasurer would be pushed out of the U.S. Senate contest by the White House. Nobody had any real basis for those claims except a strong belief that the horrific trend dictated that Giannoulias would be gone any day.
But then something happened which turned all of that smug punditry on its head.
It turns out that Congressman Kirk is a serial exaggerator.
The Washington Post reported over Memorial Day weekend that Kirk had falsely claimed for years that he had won “the Navy’s Intelligence Officer of the Year” award when his unit actually won an award from a private group, but recommended by Navy brass.
Over the next few days, Kirk was forced to admit a whole host of untruths. He hadn’t served in 2003’s Operation Iraqi Freedom. He wasn’t a veteran of 1990-91’s Operation Desert Storm. Kirk had to backtrack from bravado comments he made about being shot at by the Iraqis. He hadn’t “served in Iraq,” as his recent TV ad claimed. He also didn’t “command” the Pentagon’s “War Room.”
Kirk didn’t pull it off well, either. “I simply misremembered incorrectly,” was his excuse to the Chicago Sun-Times, whatever that means. “You should speak with utter precision,” he admitted to the Chicago Tribune, even though most of these false claims had little to do with “precision” and much to do with overstating his service record.
So, will this years-long stream of prevarications ruin Kirk? Well, he has certainly damaged his credibility, particularly with his many friends in the media. The “current trend” would say he’s in bad shape indeed.
Still, this is a long campaign. There will no doubt be much more mud slung back and forth before it’s over.
If I had to guess, I’d say Kirk’s bizarre overstatements will most likely knock him off his high horse and force him to actually engage with Giannoulias, rather than be content to constantly deride the treasurer as unfit for office. But he’s showing no sign of that yet.
Just remember that this race isn’t over for either candidate. Don’t let anybody tell you it is. Politics is always full of surprising twists and turns and I’m sure there are lots more ahead of us.
What we’ve seen here is an equalization of sorts. Both candidates are now damaged goods. But the trend on election day is the only one that matters.
