* David Hoffman kicks off his Democratic US Senate bid today…
Hoffman’s announcement launched a multi-city tour of the candidate via an RV clad in his campaign colors of yellow and black. The political newcomer goes to Springfield this afternoon and then will make weekend trips to Alton, Carbondale and Champaign to introduce himself to downstate reporters and voters.
Hoffman also got support from state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston), who introduced the candidate at his kick-off event. Schoenberg also took a shot at Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias…
Schoenberg also said Hoffman was “a Democrat who can win this seat next election” and raised the specter that Giannoulias could not survive a general election, creating the “potential political damage of the president’s old seat falling into Republican hands.” Hoffman’s reputation offsets Republicans running against Democrats based solely on the Blagojevich scandals, he said.
And Hoffman himself appeared to foreshadow an attack on Giannoulias…
“Plain and simple, it is time to turn the page on the Blagojevich-Rezko era,” Hoffman said, citing convicted former campaign fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, “and to nominate a candidate for the U.S. Senate with no connection to the corrupt and cozy politics of the past.”
He also took a whack at Republican Senate hopeful Mark Kirk during his speech…
“Even as the financial mess was beginning to unfold, Congressman Mark Kirk voted against tougher regulation of the very subprime mortgages that were at the heart of this crisis. In fact, he marched lockstep with the Bush/Cheney economic program, right over the cliff.”
This is the worst case of bureaucratic denial that I have ever seen. First they LOST the bucks — $85 million of them. And now they keep “passing the buck.” But it does not appear they will pass the bucks to the families who trusted them with college accounts in time to pay tuition this fall. And that’s the sad, Savage Truth.
* In other US Senate campaign news, Democratic state Rep. Susana Mendoza held a conference call presser today to blast Republican Kirk for accepting $1,000 from Congressman Joe Wilson in 2006. Wilson is the guy who shouted “You lie!” at President Obama last night. Obama accepted Wilson’s apology today. The presser was sponsored by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.
* Speaking of the president’s speech, if you’re at all interested Nate Silver has done some regression analysis to predict how the “public option” is faring in every congressional district. It’s interesting, but that’s about it. And speaking of fun stuff, Johnny Longtorso has drawn a new Illinois congressional map which looks lots more compact and contiguous than the current map but is still Democratic leaning. Also, the AP claims that Congressman Shimkus left during last night’s joint session address. And here’s Mark Kirk’s reaction to the speech: “He talked at us. He didn’t listen to us … It was a missed opportunity.”
UPDATE: Thanks to a reader, I just read the Tribune’s story on the Shimkus walkout…
“Congressman Shimkus was frustrated that the president was not offering any new ground and left with just minutes remaining in the speech,'’ spokesman Steven Tomaszewski said today
* Moving on to the governor’s race, ABC7 reports that Rep. Ken Dunkin wants an “extensive audit” of how Comptroller Dan Hynes’ office has regulated cemeteries. Some of Dunkin’s relatives are buried at the notorious Burr Oak Cemetery…
Dunkin is filing the Cemetery Care Act to get the Illinois auditor general to find out if the comptroller knew about complaints against Burr Oak Cemetery and did nothing about them. […]
“Any typical Illinois citizen driving past could see bones mountains of bones and the comptrollers has a staff of 20 people and they saw or did nothing what do they do all day? What do they do when they receive complaints people have been complaining about Burr Oak for years,” said [Dunkin].
The comptroller’s office says the auditor general already examines regulatory activities every two years and that it has found no evidence of impropriety since the 1998-2000 audit.
Anyone driving past could see mountains of bones? Really? Also, if they could, then why didn’t Dunkin notice something was amiss?
Between 2002 and 2006, Sen. Dillard opposed embryonic stem cell research. He said so in questionnaires he filled out, as Stanek documents.
But then, in 2007, he flipped, and was one of only two Senate Republicans who voted for government funding of embryonic stem cell research.
Today, Sen. Dillard says he is 100% pro-life. But in 2003, Illinois Planned Parenthood gave Sen. Dillard a 100% rating for his pro-choice votes. So, in just the last six years, Sen. Dillard has changed his positions on pro-life issues not once, but twice.
* Other campaign related stuff…
* Strike for Health Insurance Gets a Boost From Pat Quinn: Dozens of Chicago toolmakers on strike for health insurance got a shot in the arm Wednesday. A politician who’s counting on their union’s support next year joined their picket line.
* Bernie Schoenburg tells his readers today what I told subscribers yesterday. Illinois State Fair manager Amy Bliefnick is running as a Democrat in the 51st Illinois Senate District. Bliefnick also told both Bernie and myself that she won’t quit her state job while she’s campaigning…
She said she plans to keep the position during election season. If she’s successful in the Feb. 2 primary, that means she’ll be her party’s nominee during next summer’s state fair.
“I’m very good about separation of responsibilities,” she said.
Bliefnick is an elected member of the Richland Community College board and currently its president.
* The Question: Should Bliefnick resign her State Fair job to run for state Senate? Thoroughly explain your answer, please. Thanks.
We already know that Gov. Pat Quinn wants a $1 a pack increase in the cigarette tax to fund the MAP college scholarship program. Speaker Madigan is fully on board, but the other legislative leaders are hesitant…
Sara Wojcicki, spokeswoman for House Republican Leader Tom Cross, says Cross does not support such an increase but wants to work on other ways to restore MAP grant funding.
Senate President John Cullerton supports a cigarette tax increase but wasn’t part of Quinn’s renewed push for it, spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said. He prefers using the money for health care but will work to find revenue for scholarship funding.
And the House sponsor of the original Senate-approved dollar a pack cigarette tax hike, which was supposed to be used for health programs, is skeptical at best…
Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, said there simply wasn’t enough support to get the 60 “yes” votes needed for approval in the spring.
Yarbrough also said she didn’t know how Quinn and Madigan could find the three-fifths majority to pass the tax hike during the veto session.
And here’s Dan Hynes’ react to Quinn’s announcement that he would wait until after the February primary to move ahead with his income tax increase…
“Dan Hynes put forward his own comprehensive plan last week to get our state back on track through strategic spending cuts and modernizing and making more fair our tax structure,” McGrath said. “Governor Quinn has chosen, yet again, to put off tough decisions for another day.”
Quinn, Madigan and the Republicans all said about 2,600 state workers face lay-offs unless AFSCME agrees to forgo a scheduled pay increase for workers or accept furloughs.
Lay-off won’t happen “if the AFSCME union would enter into meaningful negotiations,” Madigan said. “I think the governor would say there’s no need to do the lay-offs if the AFSCME union would give up on the scheduled pay increase next year. The options for reducing costs would be layoffs furloughs, and you don’t need to do that if you give up the scheduled pay increase next year. In light of the general economic conditions all across the country, people everywhere are giving up hours, giving up time.”
* Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, writing in his new book about his impressions of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic during Blagojevich’s 1990s trip to the region with Rev. Jesse Jackson…
I found [Milosevic’s] identification of himself as a victim very interesting and very telling….he couldn’t understand how [his critics] could be so wrong to believe what he claimed were lies and propaganda against him….This was shocking to hear, that a leader….would so blatantly deny the obvious and lie about it with the kind of conviction he was showing.
It’s official. Rod Blagojevich has absolutely no self-awareness whatsoever.
Wow.
* And speaking of books by crooks, Fox Chicago reports that former Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese is peddling a new “tell-all” now that she’s out of prison…
She’s not afraid to name names.
Loren-Maltese has always said the whole Cicero story has not been told. Now she appears ready to tell it.
In her book, called “Justice… Chicago Style,” she calls herself a dumb broad and writes about some of the biggest names in Illinois politics — and the mob.
She doesn’t spill everything, but she does offer the station a couple of tidbits, which I’ve clipped for you…
Speaker Madigan’s spokesman told Fox Chicago that Loren-Maltese’s claim about Madigan offering to trade a Cicero casino for political help was “absurd.” Mayor Daley and Judy Baar Topinka did not respond, but a Topinka person told me that Betty got her story backwards.
* WBEZ interviewed all of the candidates for Cook County Board President as well as Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago). Meeks said he’s worried that four black candidates “cancel each other out” against one white candidate…
A few weeks ago, Meeks organized a quiet, private meeting with the four African American Democrats: Clerk of courts Dorothy Brown, Congressman Danny Davis, Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and Stroger.
MEEKS: I just wanted them to make sure that they were dialoguing with each other, that they were not saying anything disparaging about each other, and that - at a certain date - they could come back together again and maybe determine who had front-runner status.
Meeks says he hopes one or more of the black candidates then drop out, making it less likely, he contends, that Terry O’Brien wins. O’Brien, chair of the water and sewage agency with that impossibly bureaucratic name… is that one white candidate Meeks was referring to.
But, so far, none of the African-American candidates seem concerned abut the racial dynamics, at least in public. Here’s Danny Davis’ reaction…
DAVIS: I can’t think of any particular reason that an African American voter wouldn’t vote for me, but I can’t think of many reasons that other voters wouldn’t vote for me either, if they’re looking for the best-run government that Cook County can have.
* Meanwhile, the Tribune editorial board pins the Stroger tax hike on Speaker Madigan because he has so far refused to move a bill that would allow a smaller override margin on the county board. The margin is currently four-fifths…
…Madigan wants to protect the thousands of Democratic patronage jobs in county government. Many of those payrollers donate money and campaign time to Madigan’s party. Overriding Stroger’s veto and lowering the sales tax would begin to force some economies — such as eliminating a few do-little patronage jobs — on Stroger’s government.
So let’s bestow on Madigan the honor he richly deserves: co-ownership of Stroger’s galling tax hike. They’re the taxmen.
Madigan has historically opposed lowering the veto threshold at least since the 1980s. That wasn’t mentioned in the editorial, of course.
…Adding… As a commenter correctly points out, the bill the Tribune wants passed during the veto session has an effective date of January 1, 2011. So, even if it had passed last spring, it wouldn’t have impacted any of the sales tax veto override attempts. Oops on the Trib.
Berrios isn’t just an old-style ward-heeler. He’s an ambitious ward-heeler who would bring his disregard for basic ethical principles to an office that by definition is highly vulnerable to clout and favoritism. If the Democratic bosses slate Berrios, they’ll be saying to the taxpayers of Cook County: We’re backing a guy who plays by our rules. Joe takes care of us, and we take care of Joe. As for you, well, tough.
In the first of four public hearings on the Cook County Health and Hospitals System’s 2010 budget, the tension that dominated recent budget discussions in county board chambers was nowhere to be found.
In fact, it was hard to detect a pulse at Provident Hospital last night, despite the fact that health system board members control the county’s second largest budget - nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars.
However, health system leaders told those at the sparsely attended event that the system’s increased patient volume and negotiations with government leaders has led to increased revenue this year, and a projected revenue increase of about $100 million next year.
The dollars rolling in are softening the burden to taxpayers, as system leaders are requesting $74 million less in county tax subsidies, relying more on the revenue generated from patients and federal funding. And as health system board members prepare to submit their budget to the county board, that’s a good thing.
Aldermen OK city’s Olympic liability, but get big concessions […]
They forced Ryan to line up $1.4 billion in private insurance to insulate taxpayers and spend 50 long nights conducting public hearings in all 50 wards to shore up public support that started to falter after the mayor’s overseas about-face.
If talk show diva Oprah Winfrey decides to reprise this week’s Michigan Avenue block party to open her 25th season, it could cost her a pretty penny.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) wants to require promoters and sponsors of outdoor special events in the central business district to pay the same hefty lane-closure fees that developers pay to make way for construction projects.
The Good Jobs Chicago Coalition is pushing for wages of at least $10-15 an hour. Members want Wal-Mart to provide health care and they want the retailer to purchase supplies from local vendors.
Conventional political wisdom says the Wal-Mart debate will jumpstart again in a few weeks. That’s after Chicago learns whether it will host the 2016 Olympic Games.
Alderman Howard Brookins wants a Wal-Mart in his ward, at a vacant site on 83rd and Stewart.
Wal-Mart sent him a letter with community promises. But the jobs coalition wants an ordinance.
The Chicago Transit Authority board approved a $4.3 million contract with Teleste Corp. of Georgetown, Texas, to install high-resolution digital security cameras and related equipment at all 144 CTA rail stations by 2011.
Several new faces will be present for today’s University of Illinois Board of Trustees meeting. Seven of the nine board members were appointed in recent weeks during the aftermath of the school’s admissions scandal.
* Illinois smart grid collaboration gets support from Gov. Quinn
Led by the Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Illinois Smart Grid Collaboration seeks to develop smarter, stronger and more secure electric grids. Gov. Quinn joined over 60 organizations, including electric companies ComEd, Ameren, and the Galvin Electricity Initiative, as well as the City of Chicago and Village of Oak Park in supporting the proposal.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has set aside nearly $4 billion for smart grid advancement, with more than $615 million for regional demonstration projects. The Illinois Smart Grid Collaboration is competing for its cut of $60 million available in regional ARRA demonstration project funds.
If federal funding is received, the State of Illinois will invest up to $30 million in matching funds for two smart grid development and testing centers. According to Gov. Quinn’s office, the centers will work in partnership with energy providers and individual communities to ensure consumers and industrial users benefit from the collaboration’s technological advancements. Total costs for the proposed project is estimated to be $120 million.
* Internet Grows 37.5%, Traditional Media Declines 30%, 2006-2009
If you’re looking for a job, five others are knocking on that same door. There were six workers for every one U.S. job opening in July, according to data released by the Labor Department Wednesday.
There were 2.4 million job openings, in July, according to the government’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover report, the lowest number in the history of the report.
Foreclosure filings in Cook County dropped 9.5 percent in August from a year ago and plummeted 32 percent from July, according to a report from RealtyTrac released Wednesday.
Fully 70 percent disapprove of the job Stroger is doing, according to the poll of 300 Cook County registered voters. Asked whether they would like to see Stroger re-elected, 72 percent say no.
Stroger’s rating with black voters is horrid…
Only about 1 in 5 African-American voters polled approve of the job Stroger is doing or want to see him re-elected, while more than half oppose him.
And without providing specifics, the Tribune claims that more than three-quarters of voters want Stroger’s one percentage point sales tax repealed.
“I’m not surprised that the Tribune poll fails to accurately capture the opinions of voters – just as I’m not surprised by the ongoing smear campaign this paper mounts against me in their editorial pages,” Stroger said in a statement. “This paper’s owner, Sam Zell, after all, poured over $75,000 in the final weeks of the last primary into the campaign coffers of Forrest Claypool, and has made no secret that the Stroger name is loathed by the editorial pages.” […]
“[A]cross the county, countless residents have voiced outrage at the biased editorials of the Chicago Tribune and its running attempt to steer an election,” Stroger said. […]
“Our recent polling data severely conflicts with the so-called ‘data’ that the Chicago Tribune is publishing in this poll, not surprising given the miniscule size of the sample, particularly among minority communities.”
The Tribune poll is only of 300 voters, but Stroger shouldn’t be surprised at the results. They’ve been around that point for a very long time now.
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* MAP grants have been cut in half, which has outraged many college students and administrators. But Gov. Pat Quinn now wants to raise cigarette taxes by a buck a pack to cover the shortfall…
More than 200,000 college students are facing the loss of their state grants, but now Gov. Pat Quinn has a plan to prevent that – by raising the already-steep cigarette tax even higher.
As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, Quinn said he will ask the Illinois General Assembly next month to raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes by one dollar.
There is a political angle outside of the need for more MAP grant funds, of course.
Quinn’s Democratic primary opponent Dan Hynes wants to raise the price of cigarettes by a dollar a pack to pay down the backlog of old bills. If approved, this Quinn idea would gut Hynes’ $300 million bill-paying proposal and force the challenger to come up with another plan.
Also, there’s a $200 million shortfall in the MAP program. Quinn’s proposal would raise $100 million more cash than necessary to close the gap - perhaps making it even more politically suspect. …Adding… The Quinn people say the $300 million would all be used because of the strong need for the grants.
* Quinn also said his income tax hike push may be delayed until after the primary with Hynes…
The governor told Flannery he would postpone his plan to raise Illinois income taxes until next year. He said the General Assembly probably wouldn’t even debate it further until after the Feb. 2 primary election.
The governor also wants a new but so far unexplained “jobs plan” as well as ethics reform approved during next month’s veto session.
We should know more about all of this after today’s leadership meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 1:30 this afternoon.
* Once again, the national media is massively failing to press Rod Blagojevich on his lies.
For instance, Blagojevich is now repeating his claim that the tapes released by the FBI regarding the alleged sale of Barack Obama’s US Senate seat were taken “out of context.”
The ousted former governor used the same “out of context” phrase during his last media tour, but never really explained what he meant. This time, he has a cover story.
Blagojevich’s new explanation is that he wasn’t trying to sell the Senate seat, but was instead attempting to put together a “political deal” involving the appointment of Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the seat in exchange for her father’s agreement to passing a capital bill and expanding health care…
Blagojevich said he might subpoena White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez to back up his version of what happened.
He said he discussed his [Madigan] plan with all of them.
Well, sure, that was Blagojevich’s final plan. But that plan existed solely in his head. It wasn’t as if the plan would’ve or could’ve become reality.
Illinoisans know that Speaker Madigan did not trust Blagojevich at all, refused to be in the same room with Blagojevich and hadn’t returned his calls in months. But the national press isn’t bringing up that important problem with Blagojevich’s cover story.
Also, there’s that little problem of Blagojevich saying on tape that he wanted to make money off the appointment, either via an appointment to the Obama administration, a big union job or a sweet deal for his wife.
Neither of those all-important points were brought up when Blagojevich was interviewed this week by Harry Smith on CBS News’ The Early Show. Instead, Smith responded…
“So, you’re not corrupt. There’s no corruption. There was never any corruption in your administration.”
Great follow-up there, Harry. I’m sure you’re now in line for an Emmy.
Smith even chuckled at Blagojevich’s “funny” lines and complimented him on his spin.
Unreal.
* Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren was more interested in talking about Blagojevich’s father-in-law than pressing him on the blatant inconsistencies in his main argument. But she did bring up a good point to Blagojevich when he blamed the US Attorney’s office for not releasing all the surveillance tapes…
VAN SUSTEREN: Here’s an idea, here’s an idea — file a motion that says now that you have the tapes, because that was before, but file a motion to have the protective order lifted, because there are certain rights that you have, as well. So you might convince the judge to release it now.
BLAGOJEVICH: I do not know if you have any free time on your hands. We’d love to have you — add you to our legal team, Greta.
But I should tell you that the media has made those requests, and thus far they have been unsuccessful.
VAN SUSTEREN: But that’s not the media. That’s you. It’s different if it comes from you than the media. But that is for another day.
That’s for another day? Great.
Note to Van Susteren: Blagojevich isn’t at all interested in the full truth. He’s interested in selling books.
“Rod Blagojevich continues to be a disgrace and an embarrassment to the people of the State of Illinois,” said Terry Ekl, attorney for Blagojevich’s former chief of staff, John Harris, who recently pleaded guilty to corruption charges and plans to testify against his old boss. “There’s no reason to believe anything that either comes out of his mouth or is contained in his book.”
Amen to that.
* Also, if you want to know what’s in Blagojevich’s book but refuse to spend money on it, Eric Zorn has blogged the entire thing. Go read it.
* Related…
* Wis. court disbars Hurtgen, figure in Blagojevich probe: The Wisconsin Supreme Court says Hurtgen was not acting as an attorney in the pay-to-play scheme, but his actions violated the public trust.
* Marin: Decision time for Blago fund-raiser Kelly
The poll found that 58 percent of voters would vote against legalized video gambling in a local referendum, while just 34 percent would support it. Opposition was about 60 percent from voters in suburban Cook County, the collar counties and Downstate, while 49 percent of Chicago voters said they would vote against it and 42 percent for it.
But…
Overall, voters were split on the question of whether Illinois’ various forms of gambling have been good for the state, with 40 percent saying it had indeed been good and 37 percent saying it had been bad.
And…
The poll found that 48 percent of those surveyed disapproved of legalizing video gambling anywhere in the state, while approval was voiced from 40 percent of voters. Though those numbers suggest video poker is still broadly unpopular, it is nonetheless gaining in acceptance. Six years ago in a similar Tribune poll, only 19 percent of those surveyed said they approved of allowing video poker machines into Illinois restaurants and bars. Back then, 71 percent said they were opposed.
Maddeningly, Mother Tribune refuses to publish full toplines and crosstabs, so there’s no way of knowing exactly how the question was phrased nor where it was placed in relation to other gaming, capital bill or budgeting questions.
Gov. Pat Quinn has a 3:30 p.m. meeting in his Chicago office [today] with fellow Democrats House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton to “set an agenda” for the fall legislative session. Quinn told reporters yesterday the meeting will focus on campaign finance and state funding.
Hopefully, we’ll have live audio of any post-meeting press availabilities.
* Related…
* Illinois Juvenile Justice Dept. Missed out on Thousands: The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice won a $330,000 grant to buy computers but failed to buy the computers and therefore lost the grant. That’s one of the findings detailed in a new audit of the agency.
* Chief Justice wants budget cuts reversed: State funds for community-based probation programs were cut 44 percent in the current budget. This same area was cut 13 percent in 2005 and, Fitzgerald said, the money was never restored. “The practical effect … is that probation officers must be laid off, criminal offenders sentenced to probation receive inadequate or no supervision, and the public safety is thereby severely compromised,” he wrote.
* 3rd St. fight imperils high-speed rail in Illinois, rail official warns: Springfield officials’ public fight against additional train traffic along the Third Street corridor could derail the entire plan to provide high-speed rail service between Springfield and Chicago, a vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad says.
Mayor Richard Daley came within striking distance Tuesday of securing a final endorsement to make an unlimited financial guarantee for the 2016 Summer Olympics — a critical step in his effort to win the international competition to host the Games.
The City Council’s Finance Committee recommended that the full council grant Daley the open-ended authority Wednesday. The sign-off is part of an ordinance that also would impose reporting requirements on the panel that runs the Games.
Ald. Manny Flores (1st) negotiated some of those oversight requirements with Daley’s office, but he lost a battle to ensure that the city’s inspector general and an independent advisory group get to review the Olympic organizing committee’s quarterly reports.
“Tomorrow, no matter which way we look at it, … Chicago shall stand behind the bid, and we will all be there, and we want to make it clear,” Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) said.
The Sun-Times reported in Friday’s editions that heroin and marijuana were seized in a May 7 police raid on an apartment in a West Side building owned by Heard and her husband. She had told the Sun-Times that the mayor learned about the case while flipping through a stack of reports on properties deemed drug and gang houses.
When a reporter asked Daley to clarify Tuesday when and how he learned of the incident in the 5300 block of West Adams, Heard strode to the microphone instead.
“This had the very real feel of vendetta journalism,'’ she said. “I don’t even think journalism is the word.”
As press secretary, Heard said she is the person “tasked with calling out the people at your paper who routinely write unfair headlines . . . and I don’t think they like it.'’
Oak Lawn and its firefighters reached an agreement on cost-cutting concessions Tuesday night, saving about a dozen firefighter jobs and putting an end to a bitter dispute over ways to close the village’s budget shortage.
The Chicago investor group, led by banker James Tyree, agreed to pay about $5 million in cash and assume $20 million worth of the Sun-Time’s liabilities. Tyree’s group would get the media company’s 59 newspapers and websites including the Chicago flagship tabloid paper. The deal still needs court approval.
