* 2:34 pm - Gov. Pat Quinn’s press conference on the U of I trustee matter is starting now. Click here for live video, or here for audio.
Please help live-blog in comments since I have several other things to do.
* 2:38 pm - Ben Yount of MetroNetworks is live-Tweeting. [Fixed link]
* Quinn announced Chris Kennedy and Lawrence Oliver (with Boeing, former US Attorney) as his newest trustee appointees.
* QUINN: “I am concerned that the university will be dragged into an interminable legal battle… with two trustees who don’t want to resign.”
“I don’t want a cloud of litigation hanging over the head [of the university]. Ancient curse: May your life be filled with lawyers.”
Here comes the retreat, campers…
LOL. The video feed conked out and I missed what he said. Sheesh. Ben had the same problem. If you’re having the same problem, check the audio feed.
* So, the logic seems to be that since the guv’s commission report suggested that the trustees should voluntarily resign, and the two holdouts don’t want to resign, then the governor is “moving on.”
“I’m a patient man but I don’t have infinite patience,” Quinn said Friday. “I’m willing to let them study the report, but you know, I think they better realize that school is beginning soon and it’s time for them to do the right thing.”
* Trib’s headline: Quinn backs down on firing 2 U. of I. trustees
* 3:13 pm - And that’s a wrap. Just like I figured, it ended the way his “Roland Burris should resign” crusade did. He’s getting awfully predictable.
*** 3:20 pm *** Senate President John Cullerton’s press secretary said she just spoke with her boss and Cullerton told her he will be moving the “fumigation” bill now that Gov. Quinn has refused to fire the two holdout trustees. The legislation would force the trustees (and a whole lot of other people) off the board and out of government.
However, Cullerton’s spokesperson also pointed out that there was no guarantee that the fumigation bill (which has already passed the House) would clear the Senate because of opposition from members of his own caucus and some Republicans.
Leader Radogno told reporters today that she’s disappointed the University of Illinois doesn’t have a clean slate and ability to put this behind it. But the Governor still has opportunities to demonstrate his commitment to reforming Illinois government — specifically by vetoing the sham campaign finance reform bill and working on an alternative.
She’s meeting with [Quinn] shortly.
* 5:11 pm - From the Dan Hynes campaign…
Illinois Comptroller and Democratic candidate for Governor Dan Hynes issued the following statement today in response to Governor Pat Quinn’s press conference on the University of Illinois trustee decision:
“Yesterday, Governor Quinn said he would act on the University of Illinois trustees issue with ‘certainty and with dispatch.’ Today he did neither. Unfortunately there is little that is certain about the ultimate resolution of a scandal first revealed last May, and acting with dispatch would have resolved this matter well before the students returned to class. The simple fact is that the Governor has let the entire summer go by, managing only to make the situation more chaotic as classes begin. This is just another example of Pat Quinn’s failure to lead.”
* Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman already has a campaign website. David Axelrod’s former firm, AKPD, just sent out a press release announcing that Hoffman was resigning to run as a Democrat for US Senate. And he has a campaign video…
The [former Axelrod firm] –poised to represent Merchandise Mart mogul Chris Kennedy if he had jumped in the race– had clearly wants to cloister Hoffman at this stage and not repeat the mistakes made by Caroline Kennedy when she tested-the-waters for securing the appointment to replace then Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate and found herself stumbling in the rough and tumble of New York politics and press.
*** 1:17 pm *** I just got off the phone with AKPD, and was told Hoffman has already retained Geoffrey Garin, the president of Hart Research, as his pollster. That’s Dick Durbin’s pollster, so they know something about Illinois.
* This is completely non-political, but it’s been bugging the absolute heck outta me for quite some time.
The scenario is played out countless times a day. We’ve all experienced it.
You’re talking on your phone and the connection drops, probably because one or both callers has a mobile phone.
You call the person back and get a busy signal or voice mail because that person is calling you at the same time. You hang up and call back again and the same thing happens. This repeats over and over until one side surrenders and the other side makes a connection - or both sides surrender and the conversation is over.
Frustrating beyond belief.
* The Question: What should be the protocol for situations like this? Who, in your opinion, should call back and who should wait? Explain your reasoning, please.
I’ve decided to abide by the majority vote, so there are consequences to today’s QOTD. Thanks.
Chicago’s corruption-fighting Inspector General David Hoffman has resigned to enter the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, removing a giant thorn from Mayor Daley’s side.
A former federal prosecutor who specialized in breaking up street gangs, Hoffman was hired away from the U.S. attorney’s office in 2005 at a time when Daley was besieged by the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals.
It wasn’t long before an office that had concentrated on low-level corruption and almost never conducted criminal investigations was working hand-in-glove with the federal government.
Not only does Hoffman bring real ethics and prosecutorial credentials to the race (which could conceivable hurt Alexi Giannoulias), but as the second white male to enter the race he could also empower the only African-American and the only female candidate to announce so far, Urban League President Cheryle Jackson.
Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman said today he is resigning his watchdog role to seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Hoffman told the Chicago Tribune that he is resigning officially today and told Mayor Richard Daley of his decision on Tuesday. He declined further comment.
Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz on Tuesday filed a lawsuit claiming Gov. Pat Quinn and other state leaders violated the Illinois Constitution when they passed legislation to increase taxes on alcohol and expand gambling to fund the governor’s $31-billion public works program.
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims the 2009 Capital Program rolls too many subjects into one bill and fails to adhere to a uniformity clause, because the new law imposes “arbitrary, widely disproportionate new taxes on beer, wine and spirits.” Mr. Wirtz, president of Wirtz Beverage Illinois LLC, wants a judge to declare the new law unconstitutional and stop the “use of state funds and resources in the operation and administration and regulation of programs created by legislation.” […]
Mr. Wirtz claims the higher rates will raise taxes on beer 22% and up to 90% for wine and spirits, and that state lawmakers have failed to provide “coherent rationale” for the “vastly disproportionate” increases.
The Wirtz suit could pose a greater threat to the public works plan, which would be hard to launch if a court blocked or stalled implementation of the tax hikes or gambling expansion. Legal challenges were expected when Gov. Pat Quinn signed the measures into law this summer. But in Wirtz, the program now has an opponent with broad political influence and the deep pockets necessary to mount an effective court fight. […]
The newly filed Wirtz lawsuit contends lawmakers violated several dictates of the Illinois Constitution in stitching together the building program, most prominently a mandate that legislation on substantive matters not pertain to a mishmash of unrelated subjects.
The suit also claims the video poker program, which would allow bars across the state to install video poker machines linked to the state through a closed-circuit Internet connection, violates federal gambling rules.
A companion plan to hire a private management firm to run the Illinois lottery similarly runs afoul of federal law, the suit alleges.
In essence, pretty much every single dollar raised to fund the capital bill is now being challenged.
* This is without a doubt the greatest problem with the new video gaming law…
The state’s top gambling regulator said [yesterday] it will be “absolutely impossible” to meet a mid-September deadline for drafting rules needed to roll out legalized video poker around Illinois. […]
“The video gaming statute creates not only a new branch of gaming, it creates an entirely new industry of gaming,” Jaffe said, estimating as many as 15,000 businesses across the state would be eligible to install gambling machines. “We are working on rules, but there is no way in the world that we will rush to finish rules like that unless we have the knowledge to do it and the ability to do it.”
The Gaming Board has no experience with stuff like this. The project probably should’ve been given to the Lottery, which already has a statewide network of machines and somewhat similar experience. The South Dakota video gaming law handed over authority to its Lottery, and things seem to be going pretty well there.
But keep in mind that the Gaming Board, like any state entity, is a bureaucracy, and bureaucracies always want as many resources as possible…
Jaffe said he was “disappointed but not surprised” that lawmakers failed to provide funding to get the program off the ground. The gaming board estimates it would need at least 75 additional staff members and $10 million just to implement the program. It would take even more resources to properly monitor and regulate, which he said poses a whole other set of problems.
* Somebody left this comment on the blog today, and I checked the IP address so I’m comfortable front-paging it…
Heard [Quinn] is also issuing an amendatory veto to reduce the number of signatures required for towns put the video gaming issue on the ballot. Using a horse racing related bill. Don’t know why he just didn’t AV the original bill if he wants that.
The Democratic governor and longtime fan of citizen initiatives put the issue on the legislature’s fall veto session agenda by using his authority to rewrite a bill lawmakers sent him. He has asked lawmakers to go along with his changes, but it may be a long shot when they meet in Springfield in mid-October.
“I’ve said many a time that we need to have an ethics initiative in Illinois that allows the taxpayers, the voters, to step in whether it be at the statewide level or local level,” Quinn said Tuesday. Asked to detail his strategy, Quinn instead said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah.
The electors of any unit of local government may pass, by initiative petition and referendum in the manner prescribed by this Article, a binding ordinance relating to ethical standards that the corporate authorities of their unit of local government are empowered to pass.
As I told subscribers this morning, you won’t find any definition of what a “binding ordinance relating to ethical standards” actually is. That’s quite a loophole.
The state Constitution gives the governor a whole lot of leeway on amendatory vetoes, a fact that Rod Blagojevich took advantage of time and time again…
The Governor may return a bill together with specific recommendations for change to the house in which it originated.
Still hanging are questions on how Quinn will deal with a bill to restrict political donations; he once called the measure “landmark” but now suggests it falls short of the broad reform needed. The bill would become law if Quinn doesn’t act by Friday. Some of his aides met with top Democratic lawmakers Tuesday to discuss possible changes to the measure.
Brace yourselves for the mother of all panderings.
* Related…
* Press release: Republican leaders in the House and Senate are calling on the governor to veto the seriously flawed campaign finance legislation (House Bill 7) awaiting action on his desk. They also pledge to work with the governor on a better solution.
Quinn said [yesterday] he will detail his plans for the board and holdout trustees Montgomery and Frances Carroll, who have refused the governor’s call to resign. The governor wouldn’t say what he plans to do, but he promised to act “with certainty and with dispatch.”[…]
Montgomery told The Associated Press that if Quinn removes him, he’ll seek an injunction to stop the action, then try to force the governor to prove in court that he was incompetent, neglected his duties or was guilty of malfeasance. The state constitution says political appointees may be removed for those reasons.
“I’m not going to take the responsibility for conduct that I had nothing to do with, and I don’t want to voluntarily acknowledge that I did something that I did not do,” Montgomery said.
Cullerton said his advice to Gov. Quinn is not to fire the holdout trustees now — “they’ll sue, they should sue, and it’ll cost us a lot of money to fight it if nothing else” — but to wait to see if the state Senate passes the fumigation bill, which would have the same effect but in a much more pro-forma way that would be unlikely to prompt a lawsuit.
Cullerton wants the two holdouts to resign on their own. If they don’t, he threatened to advance the House-approved “fumigation” bill. The Tribune originally reported that Cullerton would move a bill targeting only the U of I trustees if they don’t all resign, but Cullerton said that was incorrect.
Quinn, however, argues that most of those actions amount to maneuvering over details as he focuses on the big picture — getting a tax increase to balance the budget, for instance, or toughening Illinois ethics laws.
More…
Christopher Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said Quinn risks weakening himself by being seen as indecisive. Lawmakers, for instance, are less likely to concede to him in negotiations if they think he’ll fold soon.
But Mooney doubts the average voter pays much attention to the kinds of issues on which Quinn has been accused of flip-flopping. He said they’re not big, fundamental issues, such as presidential candidate John Kerry’s 2004 statement that he voted for war funding before he voted against it.
They’ll likely pay attention if the issue is effectively used in TV ads and if the meme continues in the media.
Keep city mental health centers open. Expand foreclosure outreach programs. Increase funding for youth jobs and mentoring. Fix giant sinkholes. And dump Jody Weis.
Those were among the litany of suggestions — and demands — Mayor Daley received Tuesday night at the first public hearing on his 2010 preliminary budget that’s marked by a $520 million shortfall.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says the city needs to “go on a diet” to fill a more than $500-million budget deficit. But residents attending this year’s first budget meeting had service increases on their minds.
Unionized workers launched a strike at SK Hand Tool Corp.’s Chicago and McCook sites Tuesday after the company dropped employees’ health insurance coverage without notice, according to a Teamsters official.
* Our top award goes to Mayor Daley, in a leaked transcript of his speech tonight apologizing for the parking meter fiasco…
“I’ll be the first to admit that we totally screwed up the way it was implemented.”
Actually, tonight’s statement makes Daley pretty much the last person to admit that Daley really screwed up.
* Runner-up is Gov. Pat Quinn, speaking to reporters this morning about the way he has handled his call for the University of Illinois trustees to resign…
“I think I handled it in an exemplary manner, a fair manner.”
Think all you want, guv.
* Second runner-up goes to U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who wrote this in a recent opinion denying reporters access to transcripts and secret recordings in the Rod Blagojevich corruption investigation…
“I have examined the sealed materials that are the subject of this motion and
am satisfied with the government’s contention that there is an ongoing investigation.”
* The Chicago Tribune editorial board apparently has no decency left whatsoever. It has now stooped to the level of cracking very bad 9/11 jokes…
As part of their ham-handedness, the lawmakers stuck the Gaming Board staff with only a 60-day window — cynics note that it ends Sept. 11, a date associated with disaster — for producing the regulations to govern this big new industry.
What was this horrific outrage that the Tribune equated with one of the greatest tragedies in US history?
Video gaming.
Yes, video gaming.
Today’s editorial is a long, strident, breathless slam on legalized, limited and taxed video gaming. It’s chock full of phrases that would make nutballs like Alan Keyes smile with approval.
The Tribune continued its 9/11 attack theme today by claiming that video gaming is “invading” the state. That hysterical statement completely ignores the fact that almost totally unregulated, mostly untaxed video poker machines already crowd the Illinois landscape today, and pay out illegally.
And a newspaper which has consistently opposed making state laws via public referenda now whines that no public referenda was held on video gaming…
In mid-July, Gov. Pat Quinn — who as lieutenant governor called for a public referendum on a proposed expansion of gambling in Illinois — signed the capital bill and its gambling provision into law. A public referendum? No dice.
The problem with the Tribune since they were implicated in the Rod Blagojevich scandal is that the editorial page has begun to use campaign rhetoric rather than reasoned debate. So, we get things like the over the top comparisons of an admittedly botched attempt to regulate video poker to September 11th and that favorite word of politicians everywhere: “Invasion.”
Leave the campaign spin to politicans. And for crying out loud, leave September 11th out of stuff like this.
“Should we provide taxpayer health care for people who are illegally here in the U. S.? I do not think we should provide federally-subsidized health care to illegal aliens,” [said Kirk[.
The crowd resoundingly agreed with him.
The measure being proposed doesn’t provide health insurance coverage to undocumented immigrants.
That’s called a twofer.
* Steinberg recently wished Republican Sen. Dan Rutherford success in his race for state treasurer, and claimed he found himself actually meaning it…
It isn’t just that Republicans hold no statewide office in Illinois. But after the debacle of its backing Alan Keyes, I find myself sincerely rooting for the GOP to get up off the mat and stop embarrassing itself. We are a two-party system, in theory, and what value do Democratic victories have if made against a shattered, disorganized party serving up one glass-jawed jamoke after another? Guys like snake-handling carpetbagger Keyes or xenophobe milkman Jim Oberweis. It’s getting pathetic.
So let’s all think good thoughts about Illinois Republicans. It’s as if you have a disliked neighbor — the mean old coot at the end of the block who yells at your kids if their ball rolls onto his grass. But then the guy gets sick, a major, life-threatening illness. Suddenly, your animosity is gone and you’re feeling a sort of affection, hoping for the best, because despite his faults, you don’t want him to DIE.
* Rep. Bill Black has announced his resignation or retirement so many times that I didn’t pay much attention to Fritchey’s Tweet yesterday. But this year could be the year…
State Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, said he will announce this morning whether he will run for another term next year.
The Internet was full of speculation Monday evening after state Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, wrote on Twitter: “Just got an e-mail from Rep. Bill Black saying he is definitely retiring. A stellar person & Rep. I’ll miss him.”
But Black said he had “not made a final decision. I’m close to it though.” […]
“What I’m trying to avoid is something like what happened two years ago,” he said, a reference to his decision in 2007 to not run for re-election, only to jump back into the 104th House District race after the Republican nominee, Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer, dropped out of the race.
Provena executive Chad Hays is said to be Black’s choice as a replacement.
Two years ago, state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington gave a state medical school scholarship worth almost $24,000 to the daughter of a man who has donated thousands of dollars to him.
Why is that lede so misleading? Because it more than just implies a direct quid pro quo. And there doesn’t appear to be one at all. Eleven grafs into the story we learn this..
Brady, like most lawmakers who agreed to talk about the scholarships, said his winners are chosen by a committee made up mainly of educators, that he picks. Brady said committee members don’t know applicants’ names, and the $12,000 homebuilder Jeff Stelle has donated played no role in the scholarship to Stelle’s daughter, who got a free year of medical school at Southern Illinois University.
“My staff simply tells me who the eight winners are and I tell them congratulations,” said Brady, a Republican candidate for governor.
Brady has a committee of educators hand out the scholarships to kids whose names are kept secret from them. Yet, the lede is about one contribution from one recipient’s father. The story’s second graf claims that this situation “isn’t uncommon,” a handy double negative that masks the actual situation.
Look, there are lots and lots of good reasons to oppose the legislative scholarship program. But singling out Brady on this one doesn’t seem fair at all, particularly since there are others who have direct control over their own legislative scholarships.
* Speaking of misleading claims, Chicago’s Binny’s Beverage Depot has apparently reverted to fear mongering and untruths to sell more booze with a new ad campaign…
“Buy now and beat the liquor tax increase!!! Illinois just passed the largest alcohol tax increase in state history.”
Actually, a liquor tax hike a decade ago (which, like this one, was used to pay for a capital bill) was higher. And how much will this one cost?
Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue, argued that the excise tax wasn’t as harsh as the ad campaign suggested. For a one-fifth bottle of distilled spirits, the tax would jump from 90 cents to $1.71; the tax on a bottle of wine would increase 13 cents to 28 cents; a six-pack of beer would go from 10.4 cents to 13 cents, Hofer said.
2.6 cents on a six pack. Such a travestyl
* Related…
* Feds subpoena Chicago Public School principal: Whitney Young Magnet Principal Joyce Kenner on Monday became the first principal to reveal she has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating admissions to Chicago’s elite college prep high schools but insisted she “did nothing wrong'’ and has no clue why she is being summoned.
* Chicago selective enrollment high schools face huge demand for few spots - Amid federal investigation of admissions, parents and students complain the process is complicated and secretive
* University of Illinois clout scandal: 2 holdout trustees could get booted - Senate President John Cullerton threatens legislation
