* The AP interviewed former Gov. Jim Edgar about Rod Blagojevich today. Here’s a brief excerpt…
Q: (W)hy do you think Blagojevich was twice elected governor(in 2002 and 2006)?
A: “The first time, it was a vote against George Ryan. He was going to change, reform government. I can understand voters, after one person fails, they were going to turn to the other party.”
“The second time, I don’t think there is any good reason. The voters blew it. The media actually did a pretty good job of documenting Blagojevich’s ethical shortcomings.”
*** UPDATE - 5:07 pm *** The jury has left for the day without announcing a verdict.
The Secretary of the Board is in the process of updating it’s email distribution list. The office is issuing this test email to determine if we have correction email addresses. Please respond to this email if you information is incorrect.
OK, aside from the egregious typos, what’s wrong with this e-mail?
That shouldn’t take you long to figure out. How is somebody supposed to respond to an e-mail if they don’t receive it because the Secretary has the wrong e-mail address?
Cook County government in a nutshell right there. Simply amazing.
But I do wonder if you can top this with any memos you’ve received over the years.
* State Fair limits parade entries from politicians: Gov. Pat Quinn and other statewide officers, as well as their opponents in the November election, were allowed to sign up as entrants, but lower-level county officials and state lawmakers not from the Springfield area were strongly urged to stay away. “We would prefer to see a marching band, for instance,” Squibb said.
* Politics but no debate outside Kane center: A political debate almost broke out on the steps of the Kane County Government Center between state Sen. Michael Noland and Steven Rauschenberger, his Nov. 2 Republican opponent, over state finances and Kane County’s own finances.
“You can’t prepare for a guilty verdict,” he said.
He’d better try.
* Blagojevich’s attorney Sam Adam, Sr. told reporters today that Rod and Patti Blagojevich are trying hard to keep news of the trial away from their two daughters…
“Their biggest problem is not letting this get to their children,” said Sam Adam. “Little Annie who’s eight years old, they’ve got to keep all the news away from her, and it’s very difficult.
“She’s scared she’s going to lose her daddy.”
The concern about trial news is odd because they brought the kids to the trial. Adam addressed that topic too, saying Blagojevich’s older daughter demanded to go, and then the younger daughter said she wanted to go as well…
“I know the news media all said this was a play for sympathy, not at all.”
Asked if the parents had any regrets about bringing the kids to the trial, Adam said “Not at all.”
* Robert Blagojevich’s attorney said he has some regrets, however. He wanted Congressman Jackson to be called to the stand, but he wouldn’t say why…
“I don’t know if I can at this point go into it. But it would have shown, you know, you’ve got the Jesse Jr. alleged bribery extortion. You’ve seen one side of it that I believe the evidence shows really didn’t occur. I believe the jury would have seen the other side of Jesse and the Indians if Jesse would have testified,” Ettinger said.
*** UPDATE *** As noted below, Sen. Bill Brady was reported as saying that he could balance the budget in a year. The campaign later admitted to me that it would take two to three years to pay off the accumulated overdue bills, so actually he’s not really balancing the budget. I asked the Quincy Herald Whig for the audio recording, and you can click here for the clip.
Transcript…
“I believe we can better schools with less money. I believe we can have better health care with less money. But we have to adopt what the private sector does and that is weed out the inefficiency and the mismanagement. Make our government lean.
“But I have an obligation as governor to live within our means. And I will balance the state’s budget in the first year. Let me say that again because most people don’t believe it. I will balance the state’s budget in the first year, because i have a fiduciary obligation to the people of Illinois, to the Constitution, to do that.”
Discuss.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* A headline in today’s Quincy Herald Whig caught my eye…
Bill Brady, GOP gubernatorial nominee, pledges to balance Illinois budget in first year
A state senator and business owner from Bloomington, Brady said he would run the state like a business, trimming expenses that have built up during the past eight years. He has pledged to cut 10 percent of state spending and balance the budget in his first year, but offered no specifics on how plans to achieve those goals and work to eliminate a $13 billion state budget deficit.
When challenged on whether 10 percent funding cuts would cripple schools, Brady would only say putting professionals in leadership will help. He suggested that employees who agree to forgo pay raises could help school districts. He did not say how that would help school districts recoup money they are owed by the state — $5.8 million for Quincy Public Schools alone — or offset earlier education cuts, including a 42 percent reduction in transportation funding announced last week by Gov. Pat Quinn.
During a later stop, Brady pledged to eliminate the Illinois State Board of Education, trimming about half of the $80 million that currently goes to that agency. […]
“If we root out corruption and fraud and abuse … we can have better government, with 90 cents on the dollar, than we have now,” Brady said.
Can he cut 10 percent from spending, reduce taxes and balance the budget? Nope. Not even close. Pat Quinn’s campaign fired off a press release this morning…
After Senator Brady has spent 17 years in the legislature without achieving a leadership position or taking the lead on a single significant piece of jobs and economy legislation… After he spent months this legislative session without uttering a single real idea to fix our budget crisis… After Governor Jim Edgar called him “naïve” on the budget, and budget expert Ralph Martire called his positions “idiotic on every level”…
Senator Brady yesterday made unmistakably clear what many have long known: he doesn’t understand how our state budget works, but he’ll say anything to woo voters on the campaign trail.
Yesterday in Quincy, Senator Brady told a group of reporters and voters what could have been confused for a fairy tale. He promised not only that he could balance the budget with a 10% cut from the $54 billion annual budget, but that he could do it in only one year.
According to Brady, however, this wasn’t fiction, this was his budget plan.
But, just as no magic beans can actually grow into a beanstalk that reaches the sky, no 10% cut of state spending can eliminate a $12.9 billion deficit. Even worse, it would require catastrophic cuts to our schools and police departments across the state. It would mean skyrocketing property taxes. And it would still leave an $8 billion hole.
* I checked with Brady’s campaign. Hasn’t Brady said in the past that it would take a few years to pay off the backlog of bills and balance the budget? Here’s the response…
Bill has said he’ll have a plan in place to deal with the backlog of unpaid bills — but it could take 2-3 years to pay them off.
OK, so he won’t balance the budget in a year. I’m not sure what that hoopla was all about in Quincy, then.
* But there’s another angle to this story. The Quinn campaign’s press release says the budget deficit is $12.9 billion. I asked the governor’s budget office what number they were using, and they said it was about $13 billion.
OK, but that $13 billion figure was the projected deficit way back in February. I sent the budget office this question…
So, does this mean there was no net reduction in the deficit then? I mean it was projected to be $12-13 billion before the budget was passed, and it’s still that?
The response…
At this time we are still using the $13 billion figure.
So, in other words, according to the governor’s campaign and his budget office, there have been no net cuts to that original projected deficit figure.
Let’s go back to the Quinn press release…
Meanwhile, in the real world, Governor Pat Quinn is executing an economic strategy that continues to keep Illinois on the road to recovery. He cut a record $3 billion from the state budget in just two years, and protected funding for education and public safety.
Yeah, well, he cut the budget but he didn’t touch the deficit, apparently. And he also didn’t protect funding for education. He cut that, too.
… Kirk said he supports the “Heller decision.” That is a 2008 ruling that struck down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and was used by the court in cutting down Chicago’s law.
“You know I’ve backed a number of measures to reduce gun violence,” Kirk said. “I look forward to looking at the details of how this turns out. … I think the critical thing to do here is to make sure that we don’t end up in endless, expensive litigation where the people of Chicago don’t know what the law is.” […]
“I very much strongly believe in the legal theory that the Bill of Rights attaches to you personally, and that no government — federal, state or local — can interfere with those rights, which is why I support that decision,” Kirk said. “But within that, I think there’s room.”
Kirk has always been a gun control guy in the past and has been endorsed by the Brady Campaign. But the Brady Campaign hasn’t really criticized the ruling, instead seeing it as an affirmation that gun control policies could still be implemented…
“Chicago can amend its gun laws to comply with this ruling while continuing to have strong, comprehensive and Constitutional gun laws, just as Washington D.C. has done. After the Heller decision, at least 240 legal challenges have been brought to existing gun laws, nearly all of which have been summarily dismissed. There is nothing in today’s decision that should prevent any state or local government from successfully defending, maintaining, or passing, sensible, strong gun laws.”
So, Kirk appears to be consistent with that view. Giannoulias, however, says he opposes the court’s ruling.
Kimberly Vertolli divorced Congressman Kirk last year and in a recent interview with Chicago Magazine, Vertolli said Kirk was working with an aide who was driving his campaign policies further to the right. Kirk today dismissed Vertolli’s statements.
KIRK: She was concerned about a couple of my votes and in the end, those are my votes. Kimberly and I are close friends and allies. I support her.
That didn’t really answer the question.
* The question of Israel has often been a major issue in Illinois US Senate races. As the legend goes, Republican Charles Percy lost his 1984 Reagan landslide year race to Paul Simon partly because Percy strayed too far from his former support of the Jewish state while Simon eagerly embraced it.
Much of Mark Kirk’s foreign policy speech yesterday revolved around his well-known steadfast support for Israel. Alexi Giannoulias even praises Kirk and says “Me too”…
“Congressman Kirk has been great on Israel,” Giannoulias said at a Town Hall at Ann Sathers restaurant last month. “If you look at my positions on Israel, we are essentially the exact same. I believe they are our strongest ally in the region. I believe in the safety and security of Israel, especially dealing with external threats like a nuclear-armed Iran. I think we need to continue to show our unwavering partnership with the only democracy in the region. I think Kirk and I agree on essentially every single element of that relationship.”
Kirk says he has the experience and leadership abilities that pro-Israel folks can trust. Don Rose sums it up pretty well…
Political consultant Don Rose said Kirk might get a higher percentage of the Jewish vote because of the friends he has won over on the North Shore in the last 10 years, “But that may not necessarily transfer to Lincoln Park Jews and Hyde Park Jews. If Giannoulias loses Jewish voters, it won’t be for foreign policy reasons. It will be because they feel he’s not ‘kosher’ in other ways.”
This morning, Kirk’s campaign claimed Giannoulias backed out of a planned debate on Israel and Middle Eastern policy…
“As Iran continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons and terrorists threaten Israel from Gaza and Lebanon, our next U.S. Senator should not be afraid to stand up for our strongest democratic ally in the Middle East,” Congressman Kirk said. “Treasurer Giannoulias’ decision to back out of the campaign’s premier pro-Israel forum is disappointing and concerning. Voters deserve a thoughtful series of debates and forums to discuss the complex economic and foreign policy challenges before us. I would hope Treasurer Giannoulias agrees.”
The Protect Our Heritage PAC is the chief sponsor of the candidates’ forum. The Giannoulias campaign claims that it never confirmed the candidate would attend, but the PAC sent out a press release saying the candidate agreed to the forum months ago and that the date was confirmed with the staff…
Although both candidates for the U.S. Senate seat, Congressman Mark S. Kirk and (R- IL 10th) and current Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) had agreed to participate in the forum several months ago, the Giannoulias campaign announced today that it had “previous commitments.” (Last March Giannoulias personally accepted the invitation to participate in the forum and his campaign confirmed his availability on the forum date.)
* Meanwhile, I forgot to post this earlier, but WBEZ talked with Congressman Bobby Rush after Rush said he wasn’t “sold” on Alexi Giannoulias.
On speakerphone from his Chicago office, Congressman Rush said, “It’s appalling to me that at this point in time there is no African American senator.” Noting that Illinois U.S. Senator Roland Burris came in “under conditions that were not the best,” the congressman vowed to “not rest comfortably until there is an African American in the Senate – at least one.”
Addressing his comments on Thursday, Rush said he does recognize Alexi Giannoulias as the Democratic nominee. But he said he wants to “have a meeting with him and discuss what his policies are, what his issues are,” and how the two Democrats could work together in Congress.
Although the Giannoulias campaign could no doubt provide examples to the contrary, Rush states that the young Democrat hasn’t talked about a number of what he called “gut level issues.” These include: jobs, crime, food deserts, business opportunities, entrepreneurship and home foreclosure. “What are his positions?” Rush asked in an exasperated tone. The congressman said he doesn’t think Senator Durbin, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, or President Obama have quizzed Giannoulias on those issues. “These are not Bobby Rush questions. These are black community questions.”
If, coming out of a meeting with Giannoulias, Rush is still not satisfied, will he endorse Kirk, or the Green Party candidate, LeAlan Jones? “I am not going to even go there right now,” Rush replied. “I would be shocked if [Giannoulias] didn’t come up with the right answers to those questions.”
Bottom line for Rush: He is “not ready to jump to Giannoulias’ candidacy” before meeting with him. “I’m not going to be stampeded into taking a position on a candidate.”
Translation: I’m Bobby Rush, darnit, and I want some attention, but I’m a Democrat and I’ll be with the program at the end.
* Related…
* Phil Kerpen and Joe Calomino: Illinois could have big lame-duck say
* Some major Illinois names have been scrubbed from the Right Nation 2010 home page. Right Nation 2010 is the big Republican, conservative, tea party conference next month in the Chicago suburbs featuring speakers like Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart. House Republican Leader Tom Cross, Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno, state party chairman Pat Brady and others were initially listed on the event’s main page, but those names are gone now. Why? Well, the spokesman says, the group just wanted to condense the info…
“There was so much information that we had to condense it all,” Right Nation spokesman Collin Corbett, who made the changes to the site over the weekend, said. “They’re definitely still on there as hosts and nothing’s changed.”
That last part is true. Click here and you’ll see that the host names weren’t completely removed from the site, just the front page.
* There’s also some professed ignorance about the conference by at least a few of the participants, including Leader Radogno…
Radogno said she wasn’t aware of “who all was going to be invited” when she was approached by the United Republican Fund about the conference.
“”I am grateful for any forum that’s going to get a lot of people excited and interested. And so it does not mean that I subscribe to all of their views,” she said. “Obviously, clearly I’m considered fairly mainstream and moderate. The same can be said about Tom Cross and Pat Brady. I just don’t think there is (a particular strategy). A lot of the party leadership is considered pretty mainstream.”
She said she will be unable to attend the conference because of a scheduling conflict.
Yeah. A scheduling confllict. That’s it.
* As we discussed the other day, Republican Congressman Aaron Schock said he didn’t even know what the event was called when he agreed to speak…
During the call, I asked Schock if he agrees with Beck that Obama is a racist. I also asked if his appearance with Beck, Breitbart and others means Schock sees himself as more conservative than his apparently moderate image.
“Well, I don’t agree with Mr. Beck’s comments,” Schock said.
And as for the strong-right bent to the event, he said, he wasn’t aware of what it was called.
“Beck has said that President Obama has a deep-seated hatred of white people and that he’s a racist,” Schoenburg said. “Do you believe that, and if not, why are you appearing at this event?”
Schock chuckled before responding evasively, “I don’t agree with Mr. Beck’s comments, and I’m not sure I’m familiar with the event you’re speaking about.”
“It’s at the Sears Centre,” Schoenburg pressed. “You’re listed on their website. Andrew Breitbart is going to be there, who released that Agriculture Department official video, and so is Dick Armey. It’s basically a very conservative event. I thought you had kind of a moderate … Do you fit into this super hard right kind of event with these folks?”
“Well, Bernie, I would say I’m my own person, and I stand by my own comments, and I would leave it at that,” Schock concluded.
If all these Republicans are so eager to portray themselves next month as one of the faithful, then why are they so adamant about distancing themselves from the conference and its other high-profile participants?
That’s a rhetorical question, of course. The answer is pretty simple. They want to have their cake and eat it, too, without any notice. They’re embarrassed by this association with the likes of Beck and Breitbart.
* The conference won’t be cheap…
Parking Cost: $20
Ticket Prices: $1202 VIP, $302, $152, $102, $77*
*applicable fees will apply to phone and internet ticket purchases
VIP tickets include: Meet & Greet with Glenn Beck including photo and signed copy of his book.
And where’s the money going? From the website…
Our goal is to raise a minimum of $500,000 to be immediately plunged into campaigns in order to negate the avalanche of liberal special interest cash that Democrat candidates always receive in the weeks before the election.
So, that’s why those Republican leaders want to be a part of the event. Cold, hard cash. But, they’d rather you not know about it. And some of them aren’t even attending.
“All the guys jumped in and tried to resuscitate him,” he said. “As soon as he hit the ground everyone was helping. It was bad, to be totally honest with you.”
An emotional Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff hailed Wheatley as “one of our finest” at a news conference outside Stroger Hospital on Monday morning.
“I really ask that everybody keeps him and his family in his prayers,” Hoff said.
RTA Chairman Jim Reilly recently left that post —to become the new all-powerful trustee in charge of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, or McPier, whose interim board Mr. Gates headed.
Among an audit’s 68 findings were questions about whether youths who were paid more than $1 million were even qualified to be in the program, why $31,000 in pension payments were made for temporary summer youth workers and why a payroll company was given $12,000 to administer wage payments of $38,000 for one pay period.
The bottom line is that the new inspector general may not be running on all cylinders — potentially embarrassing aldermen and their employees — until after the Feb. 22 aldermanic election.
In exchange for accepting the money, the district would have to bring back 68 teachers, keep class sizes within board-defined guidelines and restore art, music and physical education as well as other programs that fell victim to more than $6 million in cuts earlier this year.
If the board accepts those conditions, District 26 officials said they would be able to meet them with the donated funds - even though the sum is well short of the $6.6 million the district slashed from the 2009-10 budget.
In a move not surprising to anyone following recent news from the Buffalo Grove village board, trustees voted to put the recall of Trustee Lisa Stone on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Stone was the only trustee who voted against the measure.
The size of the Rockford School District budget — $404 million — is jaw-dropping. The city of Rockford’s budget is about $243 million, and Winnebago County’s is a little more than $187 million.
Wages and benefits make up 75 percent of the School District’s total budget and 95 percent of the education fund. The total budget is made up of 10 funds: education, tort immunity, grants, food service, operations and maintenance, debt service, transportation, IMRF/FICA, working cash, life safety.
In a state with an extremely unstable financial situation and a poor reputation for politics, FutureGen stood to be a bright spot - an asset capable of attracting researchers and experts from across the globe. It could have been a beacon of light for the economically depressed regions of central and Southern Illinois, as it would have created jobs and served as a boost to the coal industry.
A new name has emerged in the U.S. Senate race between Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias.
It’s Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq.
Kirk’s campaign first leveled the accusation in a press blast after Alexi Giannoulias released a new campaign ad Monday morning, and Kirk reiterated Alexi’s supposed tie to the “Butcher of Baghdad” during a campaign question and answer session at the Sofitel Hotel Monday while he addressed the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
If you want to read the Kirk campaign’s full explanation of this, click here. It’s a bit of a stretch, but they seem to think it’s a worthwhile charge.
On a day that Democrat Alexi Giannoulias released a new commercial slamming him as a liar, Republican Mark Kirk tried to shift the focus back onto Giannoulias’ family bank, saying the bank gave a loan to Nadhmi Auchi, who Kirk said sold arms to Saddam Hussein.
“According to the New York Times, he was a banker to Saddam Hussein,” Kirk said of Auchi. “And According to the Observer of London, he was a middleman in the billion-dollar naval arms deal between Hussein and the Italian Navy.”
Voters should care, Kirk said: “This is not political Kryptonite — this is Hemlock,” Kirk said.
Kirk delivered his remarks after giving a 40-minute speech on foreign policy — Iran, Afghanistan, etc. — to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It was the first of a series of speeches Kirk planned to “elevate” the debate above mud-slinging in the senate race, Kirk said. Then he went back to trying to link his opponent to Saddam Hussein.
“This was a huge loan,” Kirk said of the $22.75 million loan the Sun-Times disclosed last week from Broadway Bank to Nadhmi Auchi and Tony Rezko to develop a 66-acre South Loop site. “The owners of the bank and its officers would have known that they were lending money to a convicted felon with a record of facilitating arms deals to Saddam Hussein and I’m not even talking about Tony Rezko.”
Giannoulias’ campaign said he left five months before the loan was approved and had nothing to do with it. But Kirk said today he had his doubts and he noted Giannoulias was at least still a part-owner of the bank.
“When you look at Treasurer Giannoulias’ statements, I can’t tell when he left the bank,” Kirk said. “The other day, he said he was at the at bank in March of 2006, which would have been a month after this loan was approved. They were running a federally insured institution and so you would think that dealing with a person barred from the United States, convicted of a felony, that a simple Google search would have revealed his business dealings.”
Actually, Giannouolias said in March of 2006 that he was still running things. Now he says he was on a paid leave by that time. But, whatever, you get the drift.
* Meanwhile, Kirk says he will likely vote for a bill that will pump hundreds of millions of federal dollars into Illinois coffers…
Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk says he’s inclined to vote for a $26 billion jobs bill that Democrats are pushing. […]
On Monday, Kirk called the measure deficit neutral and said it would keep teachers in the classroom.
He says he still needs to read the fine print but expects to support the bill.
* Giannoulias was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today. You can watch the full thing here, or you can choose to view the short clip that the Kirk campaign wants you to see…
From a Kirk press release…
Scarborough: Did you guys give loans to organized crime?
Giannoulias: No.
Scarborough: Is that a no?
Giannoulias: Yes that’s correct.
Giannoulias Lies about Loans to Mobsters: This morning, in a flat-out lie, Alexi Giannoulias told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Broadway Bank never made loans to organized crime figures.
Actually, he was not asked if he made loans to organized crime “figures.” He was asked if he made loans to organized crime. Parsing, yes, but if you’re gonna accuse somebody of lying, at least get the quote right.
* And the Adam Kinzinger campaign is touting a new poll by Public Opinion Strategies that has him leading Democratic US Rep. Debbie Halvorson by 11 points, 51-40. From the pollster…
* Among high interest voters (those who rank interest at 8-10 on a scale of 1-10), Kinzinger’s lead expands to 57-35, with seven percent undecided
* Twenty-six percent of respondents believe the country is headed in the right direction, while 68 percent believe it is on the wrong track
* Thirty-one percent of respondents support re-electing Halvorson, while 55 percent think it is time for new representation
Public Opinion Strategies is working with 50 House and Senate campaigns this year, so it’s a biggie. But the firm had real problems with this district two years ago, claiming in late September that Marty Ozinga was only trailing by two points. Ozinga got clobbered, scoring just 34.5 percent of the vote. The firm also rated almost at the bottom of 538’s June rankings - just below the now widely discredited R2K.
Also, I seriously doubt that Kinzinger has a name ID of 60 percent, as the pollster claims. It doesn’t make sense, especially since only 27 percent rated him favorably and 4 rated him unfavorably.
Even so, the Halvorson campaign isn’t releasing its own numbers, so you gotta figure that Kinzinger isn’t doing too badly.
…Adding… I’m not saying it, but if I was saying, this looks a whole lot like a high tech brick through your own campaign window. Just saying…
An independent candidate for governor believes someone is trying to sabotage his effort to get people employed.
Scott Lee Cohen calls it a despicable act. His office has received well over 100 phone calls from people seeking more information about a job fair he plans on holding Aug. 19 in Chicago . The problem: those people had been given the wrong date, and not by Cohen’s campaign or from fliers that he has disbursed to local churches and other outlets. He believes someone is intentionally mass texting people the wrong information.
“I don’t know who’s doing it. However, if it’s an attack on me, to try and hurt me, what they’re really doing is hurting the people of Illinois. I think it’s a despicable act…a cowardly act,” Cohen said.
Cohen believes it’s deliberate, although he isn’t pointing fingers because he doesn’t know who’s doing it. “I believe it is deliberate. … If this is a political ploy, then whoever is doing it is really a sick individual.”
…Adding More… A friend of mine just forwarded me the text message that he received…
From: 7736551309
Received: Aug 4, 2010 4:01 PM
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: “Job Fair” August 19th,
Fwd: Fwd: “Job Fair” August 19th, 2010 @ 566 W. Lake - Lower Level - Call Andrew @ (312) 441-0300 for more info.
I called the 773 number and it went straight to voicemail, which was full.
The strangest episode of Paul’s time at Baylor occurred one afternoon in 1983 … when he and a [brother in his liberal secret society] paid a visit to a female student who was one of Paul’s teammates on the Baylor swim team. According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, “He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They’d been smoking pot.”
Smith notes that Paul spokesman Jesse Benton “didn’t respond directly” to GQ’s question about the incident, so Smith followed up…
Benton repeated his non-denial to me in an email, adding: “We’ll leave National Enquierer type stories about his teenage years to the tabloids where they belong.”
* The Question: This goofy little story has inspired me to ask you to fill in the blank…
“Yes, Illinois sucks, but at least we’re not _____.”
And then explain why, if you feel the need. Snark is heavily encouraged, of course.
* After searching around for an excuse to justify doubling non-union furlough days, the Quinn administration finally decided to blame it on Congress’ inability to pass a bill to help out the states, which would’ve blown a $750 million hole in the state budget…
“The 24 furlough days [ordered earlier this month] is aimed at closing that $750 million gap,” [budget spokesperson Kelly Kraft] said.
But now that the US Senate has passed the bill and the House is heading back to DC tomorrow to vote on it, the excuse may be gone. Quinn’s office isn’t saying yet what the governor will do…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s order requiring 2,700 non-union state workers to take 24 unpaid days off still stands, despite a major step Congress took this week to prevent much of the federal funding shortfall cited by Quinn when the furloughs were announced. […]
But Quinn spokeswoman Ashley Cross wouldn’t speculate Friday on whether continuation of the federal funding will affect the governor’s furlough order.
She said Quinn wants to see the outcome of the legislation in Washington, D.C., before making any decisions or announcements.
“It would be a bit premature,” she said, though she added that Quinn officials were “excited” by this week’s vote.
* Your taxes aren’t going up - yet - but state budget cuts mean some people are paying more. For instance…
Illinois families already shell out more money for K-12 textbooks than parents anywhere else in the country, but now they face even steeper bills after the state wiped out funding for schoolbooks.
With the state in fiscal crisis, the Illinois State Board of Education for the second year has eliminated more than $40 million in funding used to defray textbook costs — or about $40 per student.
Now, districts are passing along that cost to families in a variety of ways: Some schools that rent books to students are hiking the fees. Those that require students to buy books will be passing out fewer free ones. And even private schools are taking a hit because the money also was available to them, prompting Illinois’ Catholic bishops to write a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn calling the cuts “poorly reasoned and deeply flawed.”
While books are free in the vast majority of public school districts across the country, bills of $300 or more per student are not uncommon in some Chicago-area schools. Instead of using tax dollars or general state aid money, districts have traditionally looked to parents to pay for books.
Illinois’ new regulatory fees include an astounding 1,525 percent increase for state ski lift inspections. Last year, it was $60. This year, it will be $975.
The inspection requirements didn’t change much. Only the price.
Another new state fee increased tattoo shop regulation from $100 annually to $500. The state of Illinois enacted the fee, but didn’t add any inspectors. Instead, they are contracting with counties and cities to keep on doing the same inspections they’ve always done. The key difference? The state gets a $400 cut.
Scott Hinton, Moline’s city engineer, affirmed that tattoo shop owners can expect the same inspection — “we’re not going to do anything different,” he said — at five times the price.
We also asked about Snowstar’s ski lift inspection fees possibly rising 1,500 percent.
“I don’t know all of the details of that. I’d be glad to look into it. Where’s the ski lift located”, Quinn asked.
“Andalusia”, I answered.
He responded, “Well I think we ought to look into it. I don’t know all of the details but I think it’s important to sometimes you have tough times like we do now but certainly these fees, you know, need regular review. I’d be glad to look at it.”
So far, 14 companies have applied for operator licenses and 31 for manufacturer/distributor/supplier licenses, said Gaming Board spokesman Gene O’Shea. Applications are not yet available for establishments that want to have the machines.
Before anything can get operating, though, the state needs to install a central communications system that will link every terminal in use. It’s similar to the way lottery terminals are linked statewide. The Gaming Board selected Scientific Games of New York — one of the leaders in developing gaming systems worldwide — to install the $62 million system.
However, the board and the company are still negotiating some contract details, O’Shea said, so the contract has not been finalized. Until it is, work cannot start on the system, and until the system is installed, video gaming won’t be a reality.
O’Shea said estimates are it will take four to six months to install the central communications system once the contract is finalized.
Yes, I know that the video game revenues are for capital projects. But some of that capital money is supposed to be coming out of GRF. And there ain’t no money in that fund.
“If I get convicted of this, every politician in America should!” That’s what former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich told me during a courthouse lunch break in the midst of closing arguments.
Yeah, because every politician in America has tried to shake down a children’s hospital executive for a huge campaign contribution in exchange for releasing state funds. Right. By the way, I saw this and almost had a stroke…
TV talk shows for Aug. 9…
10 a.m. The Bonnie Hunt Show: …former Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Turns out, it’s a rerun. Whew. I thought he’d finally entered straight-jacket and electro shock territory.
* CBS News Radio’s chief legal analyst and legal editor Andrew Cohen Tweets…
No #Blagojevich verdict this week. Betcha US attorney #Fitzgerald and Co are beginning to sweat things just a wee bit.
“The chances of a not-guilty verdict in any federal criminal case are slim and none — and slim left town,” Leng said. “Getting an acquittal in federal court on a criminal case, particularly a case of that magnitude, is just enormously difficult.”
Assistant U.S. attorneys are famously methodical, and the strict rules of law in federal cases play to their strengths, Leng noted. Prosecutors also typically plead out anything in doubt - something never apparently contemplated in the Blagojevich case.
There is conventional wisdom that the longer the jury is out, the better the indication that is for the defense, but Leng says, “That is an old saw; I don’t know how accurate it is.”
Another old saw, he added, is a day of deliberation for every week of the trial, which puts the jury only just over that ratio so far, having received the case after eight weeks and beginning their ninth day on Monday.
“I don’t think it’s gotten to the range where anybody is sitting around saying, ‘This has been going on a long time,’” Leng said.
The ad, entitled “Unfit,” includes snippets of news and talk show hosts talking about incorrect statements Kirk has made.
“One lie after another after another,” one says. A headline labels Kirk ” not fit for public office.”
The ad, which the Gianoulias campaign said would start airing statewide on Monday, also accuses Kirk of lying about Giannoulias’ record. That appears to be a reference to Kirk stretching the facts to link the Democrat to the unpopular BP oil company.
It also criticizes Kirk’s record in Congress by saying he voted for Bush administration policies that “wrecked the economy.”
* Meanwhile, the IL Republican Party has a new Internet promo video attacking Gov. Pat Quinn that basically rehashes campaign ads…
* Here’s a radio ad for that Right Nation 2010 event that I’ve already told you about. The ad features Glenn Beck…
Democrats throughout the country and right here in Illinois are pushing a two-pronged negative strategy to retain their hold on power in these uncertain times.
The first tactic is to do as much opposition research as possible on their Republican opponents to keep races “localized” with nasty revelations about individual candidates. The second is to try to tie the Republicans as closely as they can to the more radical elements within the GOP, including the Tea Party leaders.
This could be summed up as the “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail” strategy. Make voters loathe the Republicans with nasty revelations about their voting records, personal backgrounds, etc. Then make them fear the Republicans by tying them to some unsympathetic characters with radical ideas who are regularly seen screaming at TV cameras.
It’s not a new strategy, but it’s pretty much the only thing the Democrats have going for them. The economy stinks, so everyone is fearful about the future. And a large number of Americans have, for various reasons, grown to loathe the president, his policies and his Democratic allies.
Fear and loathing is what’s killing the Democrats right now, so they’re trying to reflect that back on the opposition and use it to gin up their own disappointed and even embarrassed political base as much as possible.
Last week, the Democratic National Committee launched a push to pressure congressional Republicans to say whether or not they will join the new Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives. The point was to either tie them to the Tea Party movement or force the Republicans to alienate the Tea Party crowd when they distance themselves.
The very same day, Illinois Senate Democrats blasted out a fundraising e-mail to supporters warning of “Illinois’ Radical Right.”
“The Senate GOP is showing its true colors,” the message began. “They are welcoming notorious right-wing extremists Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart to our state to help raise money and generate support for their candidates. We can’t let the far right hijack our values or our government. These are the people that want to repeal the minimum wage, get rid of Social Security and abolish the Department of Education.”
The e-mail was sent after I reported that Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, of Lemont, and House GOP Leader Tom Cross, among other top Republicans, are listed as “hosts” of an event featuring Beck and Breitbart.
Beck is a Fox News host who is perhaps best known for his rants about how this or that liberal policy is directly traceable to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi ideology. Breitbart is an amazingly successful online entrepreneur who made the news recently with his attacks against the NAACP’s alleged “racism.”
The Republicans say they really have no choice but to participate in events like next month’s Right Nation 2010. Organizers say they expect to draw 10,000 participants, many of them Illinois Republicans. Ignoring the gathering would be more dangerous for Illinois Republicans than co-hosting the event, they explained. And Radogno, the Senate Republicans pointed out, won’t even be at the Right Nation event.
But the Democrats also pointed out that several Republican Senate candidates this year have tied themselves to so-called radical elements.
For instance, downstate Sen. Deanna Demuzio’s Republican opponent, Sam McCann, “proudly supports Beck’s 9/12 movement,” according to the Democrats. Asked for supporting information, the Democrats forwarded a link to a downstate Beck-related group to which McCann spoke at least twice.
Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) was hit for wanting to “start a Tea Party Caucus like ultra-conservative ‘hero’ Michelle Bachman.” Syverson posted a comment on Facebook (later deleted) saying he liked the idea of a state Senate Tea Party Caucus and would “look at starting that when I return.”
So, will any of this work? Some of those ties to the Tea Party were pretty tenuous, but it certainly made the Democrats’ job easier when Radogno agreed to co-host that Beck/Breitbart event. Whether the Democrats in both chambers can translate this as a dangerous move to the right by the GOP is yet to be seen.
* Doug Dobmeyer: I’m With Whitney: Some of you may ask, well, is Doug just going to help elect Bill Brady as governor by taking votes away from Quinn? No, that is not the case. In the 85 days left to the November 2nd election I will work hard to elect Rich Whitney governor. And only hard work will make the change Illinois needs.
* Keep in mind that this is a national Rasmussen poll, and that the “40 percent Yes” answer to the first question is way off the mark. But, it might give you an idea of what Illinoisans think about the sales tax holiday…
* Does your state briefly suspend sales taxes at this time of year to encourage back-to-school shopping?
40% Yes
43% No
17% Not sure
* Do you favor or oppose so-called sales tax holidays?
62% Favor
22% Oppose
16% Not sure
* Are you more likely to buy things during a sales tax holiday or less likely to buy things during a sales tax holiday?
60% More likely
14% Less likely
23% No impact
3% Not sure
Fifty-two percent (52%) of all adults favor a school ban on the sales of sugar snacks and soft drinks.
Sixty-three percent (63%) oppose a full-year school calendar. Just as many oppose a four-day school week as a possible budget saver.
Most adults nationwide (55%) believe bullying in schools is a bigger problem today than it was in the past.
After students graduate from high school, 68% say every American should attend a post-secondary school.
* Methodology…
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on August 2-3, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
* In other polling news, the Tribune sat on some polling results for almost a month…
The telephone poll of 800 heads of households across the six-county Chicago region July 8-14 found that 57 percent of the respondents did not want police to seek illegal immigrants for deportation.
Almost half of those polled, 48 percent, said they believed that illegal immigrants snatched jobs and resources, taking away from society and the economy.
Nearly all of those who responded, 87 percent, believed that some sort of legal status should be offered to the nearly 11 million people in the country illegally, provided that the immigrants aren’t dangerous felons, that they learn English and that they pay fines and back taxes.
Opinions about immigration in the suburbs are slightly different than in Chicago, whose immigrants from around the world have helped define the city. In some collar-county communities that have only recently seen new immigration, there is more support for police enforcement and a more negative view of illegal immigrants. On the question of offering legal status, 84 percent of those in the collar counties said they would support such a program, compared with 90 percent in the city.
Speaking to a group of Hispanic business leaders at Chicago’s Navy Pier Friday morning, State Senator Bill Brady called on the federal government to reform immigration laws and to secure America’s border.
Brady said increasing legal immigration would boost economic growth. He said our current birth rate is too low.
“The birth rate in this country will not allow us to grow at a rate we need to grow at, and we need to bring real reform to immigration policy and open the doors so we can see a growth rate in this country of four percent or greater,” Brady told the group.
When asked how many legal immigrants he proposed to admit, neither Brady nor his campaign spokeswoman would respond. Later — responding to reporters’ questions — Brady said
officials should “negotiate” over proposals that would penalize current illegal immigrants, but allow them to remain in the U.S.
* Related…
* Quinn defends sales tax holiday: The governor predicted that waiving the 5 percent state sales tax will result in more revenue for the state because it will entice more shoppers into stores. Once there, those shoppers will spend on items such as electronics and sports equipment that aren’t covered by the tax holiday. Shoppers still will have to pay the local portion of the sales tax, which is 4.75 percent in Chicago.
* Somebody finally took notice of the under-the-radar bill actions by this governor. From the Tribune…
…Quinn announced by e-mail [a week ago] last Friday that he had signed [the video gaming bill] along with other bills more than two hours after state offices closed. Quinn said he approved the measure so late in the day because he simply had “a lot of things to do,” including an earlier bill signing at a YMCA on the city’s West Side.
The low-profile approach allowed to Quinn to put off explaining why he approved the measure over the objections of the state’s chief gambling regulator, who has said the law would be a “disaster” for his agency. The law scales back an Illinois Gaming Board rule to require those wishing to operate video gambling terminals to testify they had not previously used the machines illegally. […]
Quinn also signed a bill to protect banks that charge customers an extra five days of interest a year. The governor did so in the late afternoon this week when his public schedule was done for the day.
The Tribune had highlighted the legislation as a potential conflict of interest after the measure passed the Senate with no opposition. Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, is a partner at a law firm that represents banks impacted by it. Cullerton said he had no conflict. Speaker Madigan, D-Chicago, later voted “present,” saying he would abstain to avoid a potential conflict because his law firm also represents banks involved.
* That isn’t all he’s done. As the article notes, Gov. Quinn posted his latest round of budget cuts online without telling anyone. And here’s a bit of what I told subscribers about back on Saturday, July 31st…
* Gov. Pat Quinn chose a late Friday evening after every reporter had gone home to act on some very controversial legislation.
For instance, he signed House Bill 4927, which has been slammed by Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe and the Tribune editorial board for limiting the board’s discretion on denying a new video gaming license. The governor’s signing statement is here: After careful deliberation, it is evident to me that there are appropriate safeguards and ample authority in existing law to prevent objectionable operators from conducting video gaming in Illinois.
* Quinn also used his amendatory veto power to delete language on a bill that would’ve forced all people convicted of sex crimes to remain on the state’s registry for life. Perhaps not coincidentally, the bill was the subject of a Neil Steinberg column yesterday.
The governor’s AV statement makes note of the request for change: Accordingly, I am pleased to honor their request for this amendatory veto and look forward to working with them in the future on this very important issue.
The AV could easily be used by the Bill Brady campaign to further the claim that Quinn is soft on crime. Stay tuned.
* SB3047, creates the Health Care Justice Implementation Task Force: Amendatory Veto, moves back reporting deadline a year, changes structure of voting members, etc.
* SB2819, changes burden of proof of death from the life insurance company to the claimant: Amendatory Veto: “changed to protect consumers”
Up until now, the media has mostly let Quinn get away with this stuff. He needs to be called out way more often.
An Olin Corp. spokeswoman confirmed Friday that the Clayton-based manufacturer is looking into moving one of its Winchester ammunition production facilities out of East Alton — a decision that could drain the area of 1,000 jobs.
Winchester spokeswoman Valerie Peters said it is still early in the process and that more discussions with union leaders will occur before a final decision is made. She would not comment on how many people Olin employs in the area.
Monica Bristow, president of the River Bend Growth Association, said Olin employs about 1,700 people in East Alton, far and away the largest employer in the area. The next largest employer is Global Brass, which used to be Olin’s metals division before the company sold it in 2007. That factory employs about 1,100 people, though there have been layoffs since the sale, said Bristow, whose association serves as the area’s chamber of commerce.
* Lack of jobs leave many teachers wondering about future: Of the 1,100 education majors from ISU’s Class of 2010, about 80 percent are still hoping for an offer, according to the career office. And even traditionally hard-to-fill specialties — math, science and special education — in impoverished communities are turning away applicants.
Much could still change, especially if teachers agree to forgo contractual 4 percent raises or if a federal jobs bill passes that could mean up to $80 million for the school district. But after starting the season with an estimated $1 billion deficit, a battery of layoffs, efficiencies and state actions has enabled school officials to release a balanced budget Monday.
Schools chief Ron Huberman said that completely drawing down the $190 million reserve to balance the budget is necessary because the state still owes the district $236 million from last fiscal year. The district is counting on the state to come through with those payments to replenish the reserve fund.
Gilberto Quinones, who oversaw CDOT’s Division of Administration, resigned his $122,940-a-year job effective July 26.
If Quinones hadn’t resigned, he risked being fired. Sources said Inspector General Joe Ferguson recommended Quinones’ termination for allegedly muscling his son into “three successive” full-time jobs with three different engineering firms holding Transportation contracts.
The process — called predictive analytics — is to analyze every violent incident and gang interaction with police to extrapolate and identify future problems. The numbers will be analyzed by experts at ITT.
Karen Crawford, 47, the former head of the county’s troubled job-training program known as POET, has been appointed to take over after current chief of staff Joseph Fratto leaves in September for a job with the Cook County treasurer.
He says that on July 21, “a Burbank Police Officer told him that in order to stop further trouble with the City of Burbank Building Commissioner, Mr. Frank Kainrath, I should inform the City whenever I do any repair to a refrigeration unit or turning a screwdriver to make an adjustment on a cooler. I do not have this requirement from any other city I work in.”
I talked to Simandirakis over the phone, and he said it would be virtually impossible for him to comply with such a requirement.
“I often get calls on weekends or at night that some freezer is malfunctioning, and I don’t have time to check in with a building department,” he said. “It’s an emergency. I don’t know what’s wrong until I get there and then I make the repair. The business stands to lose thousands of dollars in merchandise if the problem isn’t fixed right away. I just fix the problem.”
* Southtown Star: $3 million, 23 years, no results:
For 23 years, residents in Chicago Heights awaited a governmental overhaul that at times seemed an improbable fantasy. Taxpayers over the years have shelled out more than $3 million in legal fees - largely to the law firm of Anthony Scariano, the attorney representing Chicago Heights - to settle an ongoing voting rights lawsuit and thus far have nothing to show for that multimillion dollar drain.
* East St. Louis firefighters union rejects plan to rehire some laid-off members
Members of the firefighters union rejected a city proposal on Friday night that would have restored eight jobs in return for wage cuts.[…]
The union says its members have endured wage freezes for three years, furloughs and getting paid straight time instead of overtime. The starting annual salary for a firefighter after serving a probationary period is about $43,000.
