Mayoral brother Bill Daley has arrived at the Democratic National Convention, adding a fifth (at least) potential candidate for Illinois governor to the mix here. […]
“January” he said, trying to get back to his breakfast. “I’m going to talk about it next year in a serious way.” […]
“It’s certainly something I’m thinking about,” [Lisa] Madigan said of the governors race. “I’m not going to be supporting Gov. Blagojevich for a third term. I think we need better leadership in the state of Illinois. … It’s not news.”
Asked about Blagojevich’s criticism of her father, House Speaker Mike Madigan, for not attending an Illinois delegation event with Blagojevich, Madigan replied, “I’m not part of their fight, so go find them.”
Giannoulias denied the speeches by himself, Madigan and Hynes on Monday night were a “test run” for the 2010 Democratic governor’s primary.
*He talked to potential donors, asking one I chatted with to stay neutral and not take sides in what could be a crowded primary field.
*He’s already polled statewide and found that he could sell the Daley brand Downstate.
The big question is will voters–especially south of I-80 in Downstate Illinois–not want to vote for Daley because his brother Richard is Mayor of Chicago, his brother John is Finance Chair of the Cook County Board and his father was the longtime legendary Chicago mayor. Daley found that the name Daley is respected in government.
*He’s tested his names against all the players–Gov. Blagojevich, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Comptroller Dan Hynes and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and found nothing in the results that would discourage him from running.
* National Review’s Freddoso points out some hypocrisy…
Denver — “[E]thics reforms means getting officials to limit gifts to themselves.” Those are the words of Emil Jones, president of the Illinois senate, in his speech at the Democratic Convention Monday.
Jones would know. He is Barack Obama’s political mentor, and he can now give himself a $578,000 gift. It is a perfectly legal and completely corrupt arrangement that he made ten years ago, with just a little help from Obama.
Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Michael J. Madigan is hosting a Coors Field reception Wednesday honoring Barack Obama bankrolled by corporations with interests often before the Illinois General Assembly. Madigan is also the powerful Illinois House Speaker.
While Obama’s campaign does not accept contributions from federal lobbyists and political action committees–and Obama bemoans on the campaign trail the influence corporations have over Congress– the Democratic convention here which will hand Obama the Democratic presidential nomination is being underwritten by a variety of corporate sponsors.
Some Illinois state legislators are furious with Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich for airing the state’s dirty laundry yesterday, while other top Democrats from Barack Obama’s home state took the Democratic National Convention stage to tout their former Springfield colleague.
The controversial Blagojevich was left off Monday’s program – and then he picked that day to announce, back in Chicago, that he was rewriting a major campaign ethics bill that the Legislature passed unanimously this year. Key lawmakers have said they’ll fight him on it. […]
State Rep. Careen Gordon, D-Coal City: “He couldn’t stand not getting attention when we were all out here.’’
State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Chicago: “It was purposefully done on a day that most Democratic elected officials in Illinois were out of town . . . I think the reception here will not be warm.’’
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan: “It’s more antics.’’ Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn: “It’s somewhat petty to pick that particular day to try and take away attention.’’
State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock: “He was trying in some desperate way to make himself seem somewhat relevant . . . He’s not wanted here.’’
* Rep. Jack Franks, Hillary Clinton’s Illinois co-chair, on Don & Roma…
On Blagojevich claiming that he wasn’t snubbed by the convention: “Well, why would that surprise you? He still denies he’s Public Official A.”
“I think this week the unity and the common purpose we have of electing Barack Obama is overwhelming, so I feel very confident that the Illinois Democrats are going to be united this week and throughout the election season,” Hynes said.
William Daley, the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, did not dismiss talk Tuesday that he might become one of an array of Democrats seeking the job of Illinois governor in 2010, a post Gov. Rod Blagojevich may try to keep.
Daley, a former Commerce secretary in President Bill Clinton’s administration and the 2000 campaign manager of former Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign, told reporters at the Illinois delegation’s meeting that it would not be wrong for them to mention him as a potential candidate.
Daley, who is now an executive with J.P. Morgan Chase, briefly considered making a bid for the governor’s office in 2002, the year the embattled Blagojevich became the first Democrat in more than a quarter century to win election to the post.
Daley has said little about his interest in seeking the governor’s office in two years, when Blagojevich’s second term ends. But Daley acknowledged he has been receiving encouragement for a run for the post and mentioned the Democratic Party’s problems in Springfield, where infighting has kept government at a standstill. […]
He told reporters that he would “talk about next year in a serious way” in January 2009.
Today is the 88th anniversary of women getting the vote and former Commerce Sec. Bill Daley, a top Obama advisor is at Day Two of the Democratic convention co- hosting a reception for the nation’s female Democratic governors, wearing his bankers’ hat. The event is sponsored by JP Morgan Chase; Jamie Dimon, its CEO and chairman and Daley, the vice chairman. Governors attending are Janet Napolitano of Arizonia, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Christine Gregoire of Washington and Ruth Ann Miner of Delaware. Daley is contemplating running for governor in 2010.
* Speaker Madigan downplayed the Emil Jones “Uncle Tom” imbroglio…
llinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) isn’t worried about a spat among Illinois Democrats in Denver this week. Delmarie Cobb, a delegate for U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), claims that Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) called her an “Uncle Tom” for not supporting U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Jones says he called her a “Doubting Thomas.”
Madigan says it’s not a big deal. “Democrats are Democrats,” he said. “There are different people among Democrats. But as we move to the general election, we’re all being to be brought together, and we’re all going to working for the same direction, which is to change the direction of this country.”
But in this history-making week when the first African American in the nation’s history accepts a presidential nomination, we are reminded that race and gender are unequal conversations in the view of many in my generation of women. And those women felt stung again, just as Clinton delegate Delmarie Cobb did this week when she was accused by Obama’s mentor, state Senate President Emil Jones, of being an “Uncle Tom.”
* Patterson: Illinois delegates’ first-day reviews of the convention logistics were not exactly glowing. When a bus ride from the hotel to the Pepsi Center (which you can see from the hotel) takes 90 minutes, patience quickly evaporates. Then, there’s a significant hike to get into the center’s limited access gates and a thorough pat down by security. “Next time … I’ll bring my lunch,” Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said of the bus ride.
* Duckworth to speak on veterans issues at convention
* Gun charges expected in Obama plot: Three men who authorities initially feared were plotting to assassinate Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention are facing only gun charges—signaling they never posed a real threat.
* Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr: “Barack Obama has the capacity to hit,” Jackson said a breakfast panel just before the opening of the Democratic National Convention. “But he is in the situation where he can’t hit back, which Jackie Robinson could not do. … He had to be able to run the bases, even though the crowd was jeering the first African-American on the field.”
* Lisa Madigan defends honor of Cubs fans after White Sox fan Barack Obama insults their baseball integrity on ESPN
* Sun-Times: Illinois Democrats have the best seats in the house this week at the Democratic National Convention. And they’re hoping to come home and pick up the best seats in the House, boosting the Democratic majority in Congress.
“He came over, sat down. A couple of people obviously had something to do with it,” Cobb said, without elaborating. “He sat down at the table with me. He said, ‘I apologize and let’s move forward.’ I accepted his apology and said, ‘OK, we will.’ It was never my intention to continue things that would hurt Barack Obama.”
Jones, however, offered a much less apologetic version of his Monday conversation with Cobb.
“I said ‘If that’s what you think I said, I don’t want to have no hard feelings, so I apologize. We’ve known each other too long.’”
Describing the latest encounter to a Sun-Times reporter on the convention floor Monday evening, Jones still insisted he never called Cobb an “Uncle Tom,” saying “But that’s not what I said”
“I think it’s a misuse of words. There’s no ‘Uncle Toms,’ anybody supporting Hillary, Obama. It’s just a mischoice of words,” the mayor said.
Translation: Daley believes Jones said it, but “mischose” his words. Daley has not been all that pleased with Jones lately, so this flap had to make him smile just a wee bit.
Roland Burris, the former attorney general and the first black man to win a major statewide office, minimized the importance of the incident. He didn’t condone using the phrase “Uncle Tom” but said it was probably made in jest.
Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, offered one possible solution, at least when it comes to Jones.
“I think Barack Obama would be wise to keep him locked up in the basement until the election is over,” said Davis, who, like Jones, is black.
* Meanwhile, the Obama-controlled convention allowed Sen. Jones to give his speech yesterday to the assembled crowd despite the controversy, but the DNC’s web masters pulled a George Orwell on Jones…
Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat, gave a brief speech at the convention, one of several Illinois officials. CSPAN ID’d Jones as an Illinois state senator, omitting the president title.
And the convention Web site has yet (8:26 p.m. Denver time) to post his speech. Those before and after are posted but not his.
* Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, a Tier One level congressional candidate, was reportedly apopleptic about Jones’ comments.
“She was talking to Jones outside the breakfast [meeting Monday morning for Illinois Democrats] and I overheard something about this destroying her career,” e-mailed a reporter pal.
* Sleeper statewide candidate in 2010: Miguel del Valle
* EricV: One interesting little comment is that since Illinois is, of course, front and center they’re having a little problem with the seating. Apparently Illinois always does assigned seating and they’ve got Mayor Daley, Gov. Blagojevich, Mike Madigan, Dick Durbin, and all the big names in the front row. Usually these are the best seats in the house, but this year they’re like the first row in a movie theater. Or maybe a better simile is that of a concert because there’s plenty of fans standing at the base of the stage making those front row seats really bad… They’re trying to redo the seating behind me right now…
* Obama: “Oh, that’s easy. White Sox. I’m not one of these fair weather fans. You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren’t watching the game. It’s not serious. White Sox, that’s baseball. Southside.”
All 10 affluent schools offered at least 20 minutes of daily recess, usually tacked on to a lunch period of at least 20 minutes. Most of the impoverished schools offered no regular recess and a 20-minute lunch, though two of the schools did squeeze in 10 minutes of recess daily.
The typical affluent school featured far more phys ed than the one period a week usually found at the impoverished schools. And both art and music were common at advantaged schools, while impoverished ones mostly offered art and no music, though one had both and two had neither.
A Democratic state senator and a former Republican candidate for governor on Monday proposed a three-year, $40 million pilot project aimed at proving that better funding and more resources would give low-performing schools a lift.
The proposal could lay the groundwork for the long-sought statewide overhaul of public school funding, possibly including a tax increase, once the 2010 race for governor is over.
Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago), who outlined the proposal with GOP businessman Ron Gidwitz in a meeting with the Tribune editorial board, also tied the proposal to his call for Chicago Public Schools students to boycott the first day of classes Sept. 2.
Meeks said he will rescind his boycott plan if three fellow Chicago Democrats, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Senate President Emil Jones and House Speaker Michael Madigan, would publicly back the pilot proposal. Meeks said he hoped to meet with them in Denver during the Democratic National Convention.
* Blagojevich: Ethics bill will get complete overhaul…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Monday he’s following through on his promise to “rock the system” by drastically changing an ethics-reform measure to target lawmakers while cracking down on campaign contributors with large state contracts.
Blagojevich, at a news conference in Chicago, said he’ll use both his executive-order and amendatory-veto power to rewrite the measure the legislature sent him in May.
The announcement drew an immediate rebuke from reform advocates and lawmakers, who promised to try to overturn the changes.
Quinlan said the governor cut the provision of the bill that would restrict donations from people bidding for contracts because it could be an unconstitutional restriction of free speech. Quinlan said the governor strengthened the bill in other ways, such as prohibiting lobbyists and lawyers from donating on behalf of state contractors they represent.
Asked why he did not sign the bill as passed and seek to improve the law later, Blagojevich put the blame on lawmakers for not acting sooner on ethics legislation.
Rather than push legislators to write his “improvements” into law, he’d rather grandstand for the cameras, make noise about reform, and hope that—with public attention focused on the Democratic National Convention in Denver—nobody is paying much attention to the culture of political sleaze back home in Illinois. For those of you reading from Denver: Nothing has changed. The culture of political sleaze is as virulent as ever.
Pauketat and other archaeologists have written letters to state and federal officials urging an agreement. They say the federal government is far better funded to take care of the 2,200-acre property, home to the world’s largest prehistoric earthworks and the centerpiece of a village that once housed 10,000 people.
* The time off from work was going swimmingly until I made the mistake of checking the Intertubes this afternoon…
A black Hillary Clinton delegate on Sunday accused state Senate President Emil Jones of calling her an “Uncle Tom.”
Jones — Barack Obama’s political mentor — denied using the racially loaded slur against Chicago political consultant Delmarie Cobb, but two aldermen who said they witnessed the Saturday night exchange back up Cobb’s account.
“Last night, I was called an ‘Uncle Tom’ by Emil Jones in the lobby of the hotel, right in front of [Ald.] Freddrenna Lyle and [Ald.] Leslie Hairston and [Ald.] Latasha Thomas,” said Cobb, a member of Clinton’s Illinois Steering Committee. “I walked over to him and asked him, ‘What did you just call me?’ ” […]
Lyle, alderman of the South Side’s 6th Ward, said she was standing with Jones when the conversation took place in the lobby of the hotel where the Illinois delegation is staying, but she dismissed it as Jones engaging in harmless banter with someone he knows, although Lyle said she told him, “Emil, that’s bad even for you.”
The chief of Illinois’ National Organization for Women chapter today called on Barack Obama’s “political godfather” to resign immediately from the Illinois state Senate for calling an African-American Hillary Clinton delegate an “Uncle Tom.”
“That was a pretty horrible comment,” said Illinois NOW president Bonnie Grabenhofer, also a Clinton delegate, who issued the demand for Senate President Emil Jones’ resignation. […]
“I’ve never heard anything as awful or as sexist or as racist as to call her that for supporting Hillary,” said Clinton delegate Gay Bruhn, another NOW member in Illinois who called for a public apology from Jones.
* Larry believes this doesn’t sound like something Emil Jones would say.
I beg to differ. Jones has often referred to African-American Illinois House members as “House n—-rs” for following House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is white, instead of doing what Jones believes is right for the black community.
Larry does make this point, however…
What is missing is that Bruhn isn’t just another NOW member, she’s [Illinois NOW president Bonnie Grabenhofer’s] partner. That would be mentioned in any story referring to a heterosexual couple. So the story misses the context and treats same sex couples differently.
* Patterson interviewed Delmarie Cobb and it’s clear that she is not exactly an unbiased source…
“So when I tell that story he comes over to me and he said, ‘There were 35,000 in Springfield (for Obama’s introduction of vice presidential pick Joe Biden) 35,000 people in Springfield’
“I said, ‘Well that doesn’t mean anything, just that 35,000 more people drank the Kool-Aid.’
“I said, ‘See, he will not let this alone.’ I said, ‘What are you signifying.’
“He said, ‘I’m not signifying.’
“I said, ‘Oh, they’ve got another name for it now?’
“I said, ‘Why can’t you be gracious in victory as I am gracious in defeat?’” [emphasis added]
Cobb and at least two Chicago aldermen told friends that Jones made the “Uncle Tom” reference after a back-and-forth with the Senate president that started lightheartedly.
* And I doubt all of them could have misheard Jones…
Jones, himself an African-American, maintained Delmarie Cobb, a longtime Chicago public relations executive, misunderstood a comment in which he said it was time for those who continue to back the New York senator and former first lady to stop being “Doubting Thomases” and rally around Obama.
“She walked away and I said, ‘All you Doubting Thomases have to get on board,” Jones said of his discussion with Cobb over the weekend. “She turned around and said, ‘You called us?’ and I said, ‘No. That’s not so.’ I thought it was all over with. She just caught the last word of what I said. People make mistakes.”
Gov. Blagojevich [announced today] that he’s rewriting a state-government ethics bill that has been sitting on his desk, adding changes that include sweeping new limits on campaign contributions and an effort to stop “double-dipping” by some legislators.
The governor also plans to use his power as the state’s chief executive to impose a ban on “businesses, their affiliates and affiliated persons” with state contracts that total more than $50,000 from making contributions to himself, other state constitutional officeholders, legislators, candidates for state office and state political parties, effective Jan. 1, 2009.
* Here’s how the legislation would be changed, according to the governor’s office, with commentary by myself in brackets and in bold…
* Expands contributions ban: Governor Blagojevich is using his constitutional authority to improve House Bill 824 by applying the campaign contribution restrictions contained in the bill to all constitutional officers, members of the General Assembly, candidates for office, and state parties. [A shot at House Speaker Michael Madigan, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois - This provision was first suggested by Senate President Emil Jones, a Madigan enemy.]
* Requires legislators to affirmatively accept pay raises: Unlike the current system, legislative pay raises would have to be passed by both houses in order to take effect. [Also a suggestion from Senate President Emil Jones, who believes that the House always takes the easy way out by rejecting the pay raises in the hopes that the Senate will not follow suit.]
* Double-dippers: Outside employment by legislators with any unit of state, county or municipal government would be prohibited (except teachers, school counselors, university instructors, police officers, firefighters and elected officials). [The governor has repeatedly blamed Chicago “double dipper” legislators for killing his capital projects plan, so this is retribution on a grand scale.]
* Disclosure: Lawmakers and their spouses must disclose lobbying activity before boards, commissions, and units of local government. Legislators would be required to disclose their client, who they lobbied, and their fees. [This is a direct shot at Rep. John Fritchey, one of the co-authors of the original ethics bill who represents legal clients in Chicago zoning matters.]
* There is an agreement to override any gubernatorial changes, however…
“We’ve already talked about it: We will override him,’’ warned state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, D-Chicago Heights. “This has to be signed, as is. . . . We have worked way too long with this.”
The chief Senate sponsor of the bill, Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, predicted both houses will override the veto. While elements of the governor’s action makes sense, the bill that passed was a consensus measure that lawmakers agreed was the most that could be approved, Mr. Harmon said.
But Senate President Emil Jones, a staunch Blagojevich ally, said he was not aware of any agreement to move an override of the governor’s changes. [emphasis added]
“The governor claims he will strengthen HB 824 with an amendatory veto and executive order, but it is apparent he is trying to bypass the legislative process, rather than work towards real reform. Some of his proposed changes have merit and should be debated as separate bills. In the meantime, the General Assembly should reject his veto and put the most important reform in state statutes.”
If the Legislature refuses to accept his changes and doesn’t vote to block them, the original pay-to-play prohibitions would die entirely — and, ironically, Blagojevich could hit legislators for blocking ethics reform that he had a hand in killing.
llinois Senate President Emil Jones has never been fully appreciated as a legislative leader. Jones, who announced his retirement last week after years at the helm, has a manner of speaking which leads far too many people to assume that he is not intelligent.
Nothing could be further from the truth. He has been a supremely crafty tactician, who, despite all the bad raps and his recent blunders, has won far more than his share of legislative battles. He is literally a larger than life character.
Yet, there’s little doubt that Jones has been the most publicly vilified legislative leader in memory, particularly in the past two years.
His constant and unwavering support for Rod Blagojevich, the most unpopular (and most investigated) governor in the nation, certainly contributed to the shwacking. Jones stood by the governor’s hugely controversial Gross Receipts Tax idea last year when everyone else had abandoned it and when it had become clear that the proposal had probably killed off his professed life’s dream of enacting permanent, real education funding reform.
Jones appeared to brazenly block electric utility rate relief at the behest of his buddies at ComEd. He stood by the governor throughout a long, bitter overtime session last year and this year. His family benefitted from pay raises and no-bid contracts from the Blagojevich administration. He allegedly lied to House Speaker Michael Madigan about upholding last year’s budget agreement when he refused to override Blagojevich’s vetoes that targeted House Democrats and Senate Republicans for political punishment.
Jones blocked a constitutional amendment for recall of public officials and deliberately slow-walked an ethics reform bill at the governor’s behest. He railed against attempts to block a pay raise for lawmakers, infamously telling reporters that he needed that raise and some food stamps. And he just managed to replace himself on the November ballot with his son.
Sen. Jones has certainly become a liability for his members. You can’t get thumped for all of those outrages on an almost daily basis without at least some mud splashing on your rank and file. So his announcement last week that he would give up the Senate presidency may help ease the pain of some of his incumbents.
The retirement’s legislative impact is not completely clear. It’s thought that Speaker Madigan and maybe even some of Jones’ own members will want to put off a multi billion dollar capital construction plan until Jones leaves office. Why cut a deal now when a better one might be concocted after January?
There’s a legitimate concern in some circles about what this retirement announcement may mean for Jones’ fundraising. He is allowed to withdraw about $577,000 from his personal campaign fund because of a clause inserted into a mid 1990s ethics bill.
That would leave his bank balance at just over $1 million — about a half million shy of Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson’s June 30th total. Except for his most loyal friends, it’s difficult to see how Jones can easily add to that account now that he has made himself a lame duck.
Members were assured that there would be plenty of money in the campaign fund for incumbents, but Watson and his cohorts have to be breathing just a bit easier now that Jones has taken himself out of the game.
Meanwhile, loads of candidates are engaged in the Jones succession battle. It’s every man (literally, because there are no women in the race as I write this) for himself. And it’s far too early to make any predictions of how things will play out. There are no locks, there are no true frontrunners. This thing is wide open.
Also, word is that some candidates are already beginning to reach out to Senate Republicans in an effort to pad their margins and reach the magic number of 30 required to win the presidency — a majority of those elected in the entire Senate, not just among Democrats.
But forget about those 30 votes today. The big problem now is just finding 19 votes — a majority of the Democratic caucus. Almost that many Democrats are currently floating their names for president.
There is certainly no shortage of egos in the General Assembly, and the Senate Democratic caucus has an overabundance. It will likely take some time before many are ready to set aside their vanity candidacies and start actively engaging in the process.
