The sad news, Chicagoans, is that your town came in dead last. And it wasn’t even close.
Chicago reigns supreme when it comes to treating its citizens like children (Las Vegas topped our rankings as America’s freest city). Chicagoans pay the second-highest cigarette tax in the country, and the sixth-highest tax on alcohol.
Chicago has more traffic-light cameras than any city in America (despite studies questioning their effectiveness), restricts cell phone use while driving, and it’s quickly moving toward a creepy public surveillance system similar to London’s.
* If you could repeal any Chicago ordinance what would it be?
Federal investigators met with Gov. Rod Blagojevich “multiple” times as part of their Operation Board Games investigation, but the governor denied telling fundraisers he could reward them with government contracts, court documents unsealed this week revealed.
[…]
According to this week’s filing, a defense response to those allegations, Blagojevich sat down with prosecutors at least twice and denied ever saying any such thing.
“Governor Blagojevich was interviewed on multiple occasions and denies these conversations. Cari failed to recall his conversation with the governor until his fifth interview by government agents,” wrote Rezko attorney William P. Ziegelmueller in a Jan. 25 filing.
However, late last Friday Judge Amy St. Eve ordered those same documents to be sealed again without any specific explanation:
She acted on her own. No one requested that the document be sealed.
However, Natasha Korecki at the Sun Times speculates…
It might have been made public in error. The filing, authored by Rezko’s lawyers, also contained a brief reference to the private life of witness Stuart Levine. St. Eve previously ruled that details involving Levine’s “secret life” should not be made public. Levine testified he took part in multiple drug binges with other men at area hotels, including Lincolnwood’s Purple Hotel.
St. Eve was extremely cautious during the trial to keep parts of Levine’s life out of the record. It would make sense for her to re-seal the document if some of these references were mistakenly missed. Any other insights into why it could have been re-sealed on the same day?
* Another suburban Democratic challenger running in a traditionally safe Republican district got some significant press today.
Aurora Austriaco, who is running against Rep. Rosemary Mulligan in Illinois’ 65th Legislative District, was featured in a piece in the Sun-Times on the possibility of becoming the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly:
Aurora Austriaco is running to represent Illinois’ 65th Legislative District. She’s knocking on doors four days a week, aiming to become the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly.
To get there, she’ll need to knock off a 15-year incumbent–state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, who represents voters in a district that includes portions of Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Niles, Rosemont and Chicago’s Northwest Side.
The article adds that:
Austriaco won 10,641 votes in the Democratic contest, compared with Mulligan’s 5,358. On election night, Mulligan shrugged it off by telling the Journal, a local community newspaper, that 2008 was “a very unusual year.” Many Republicans, she speculated, took Democratic ballots to weigh in on the epic battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
It is no doubt that Mulligan will have a tough race. However she has been extremely careful on how she has been voting lately.
For instance, Mulligan was one 14 Republicans to break with her party and vote on a motion to table and effectively kill the gaming expansion component of the capital bill on the last night of session.
* The real crux of the story is how unusual it is that a democrat stands a chance in this district:
The district is a traditional Republican redoubt. That would appear to put Austriaco’s bid in Don Quixote territory, but the times, they are a-changin.’ The Illinois GOP is looking to the November election as a patient would prepare for a visit from Dr. Jack Kevorkian. A mercy killing might be the order of the day.
That, on top of exploding gas prices, a tanking economy, and the Barack Obama juggernaut, could make Austriaco a history maker.
Austriaco joins Democratic candidates like Dianne McGuire of Naperville who have been generating lots of buzz. If the Republican party can’t hold on to these two spots, then it is truly in a dire jam…
* Kristen McQueary had a very funny article yesterday about another Blagojevich…
At first, I couldn’t quite see the resemblance. The flowing mane, maybe. The brown eyes, a little. The flaring nostrils, a touch.
Then, the more I got to know Blagojevich, the more I appreciated how aptly named he was — this tall, dark and handsome creature born into a political family and groomed for great things but alas, disappointing to his keepers.
At least for Blagojevich, a standard bred harness-racing horse at Balmoral Park Racetrack in Crete, his struggles are behind him after successful throat surgery. The horse’s potential for greatness remains largely unrealized.
And continues…
Blagojevich’s grandmother was Would I Lie, an award-winning horse who produced another strong performer, Political Promise. When Political Promise gave birth in 2005, extending the political lineage only made sense.
“We breed a lot of horses in Illinois and generally try to come up with theme names. We didn’t do it to pick on the governor, but we try to come up with names that are fun. Aside from Blagojevich, we’ve never named one after a specific person. You never know, the governor might come through for the horse-racing industry,” Hunt said.
* Rich’s syndicated column for the Southtown Star takes a look at the budget, and some possible answers to the Governor’s reduction threats:
There are several important things to keep in mind when discussing the governor’s proposed budget cuts. The governor has threatened to slash $1.5 billion out of the state budget unless the House comes back to Springfield and passes some revenue-generating bills and approves a capital construction budget, all of which were approved by the Senate in May and blocked by House Speaker Michael Madigan.
We don’t really know what the governor actually is planning to do. Last week’s threat was just a media event to instill fear and loathing among the press and the various constituencies that would be impacted by his possible cuts. But there were no real details, just a broad brush.
Why would I ever doubt Blagojevich’s intentions? Well, the governor threatened deep cuts during the spring session to balance the supposedly out-of-whack budget and never followed through. Remember those draconian cuts to 4-H and other agricultural programs he threatened in April? The governor eventually released the money.
There is no doubt a budget hole exists, and cuts are inevitable. Let’s be very clear: There will be pain. We just don’t yet know what the governor will do when the budget bills are finally on his desk and he holds that reduction and line item veto pen in his hand.
The Senate Democrats insist the governor vastly inflated the size of fiscal year 2008’s deficit. So while everyone has focused on the governor’s claim of a $2 billion deficit for fiscal year 2009, which begins July 1, that figure could be inflated as well.
Quite a few of the announced cuts are not really “cuts” but reductions in proposed increases. Many may look horrible on paper, but they’re just expansions that won’t happen.
Education spending will actually increase by about $400 million in fiscal year 2009. The governor had little choice but to leave that increase intact because of threats of a revolt by the Senate Democrats, his only remaining allies.
If he loses them, he loses the war with Madigan. But giving education a relatively generous increase while threatening to cut back on some key social programs likely will create controversy before too long.
Quite a few of the cuts seemed designed specifically to generate media attention and threaten hardship. The entire $28 million state subsidy to Amtrak would apparently be eliminated, for instance, potentially killing off three of the five trains that run daily from Chicago to St. Louis. Two of the three trains between Chicago and Carbondale also would have to be eliminated.
The governor’s obvious intent was to shift the blame for these and other impending cuts to Madigan, which Madigan doesn’t appear too concerned about. It’s unlikely they’ll be coming back to Springfield to take any action, Madigan’s lieutenants told the media.
The House Republicans claimed they’d be willing to work out a deal but offered no solutions of their own. Their members oppose the two revenue-generating bills passed by the Senate Democrats and demanded by the governor (a huge pension obligation bond and some special fund sweeps), and now that May is over and legislative solutions require a three-fifths vote, the ball likely will be in their court to come up with an alternative if Madigan refuses to propose any of his own.
The Chicago Tribune demanded in an editorial last week that the governor veto the entire budget and bring back the General Assembly for a special session. That won’t happen because the all-important Senate Democrats oppose it. A Chicago Sun-Times editorial suggested a deal could be cut on the special funds sweeps, but there aren’t nearly enough House votes to pass it.
You’ll undoubtedly hear more “simple solutions” in the coming days, but the harsh political realities of Springfield make even the easiest solution close to impossible.
If the governor goes through with these draconian cuts, he certainly can make the case that Madigan is to blame. But in the end, the governor - any governor - always wears the jacket. It will be his veto pen doing the slashing. It is his administration.
Still, there’s no doubt the speaker has hurt the Madigan “name brand” with this horrific war. That could make any gubernatorial bid by his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, all the more difficult. Madigan doesn’t really care about what Blagojevich and the media does to him, but this mud will splash on his daughter.
“We have been forced into a legal vacuum,” said State’s Atty. Tom Finks of Christian County, one of many Downstate counties that have not prosecuted a single violator. “Legally, the legislature has not given us the proper tools of enforcement. Our job is not to fill in the blanks.”
“It was a politically motivated case from the get-go,” said McCulloch, 43, of Westmont, who had worked for at least one candidate opposing Birkett. “There should be some safeguards against going after political opponents.”
* Michael Sneed of the Sun-Times is hearing rumors of a potential replacement for Senator Obama if he wins in November…
• • Pssst! Sneed hears rumbles that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who is this/close to Sen. Barack Obama, and U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel are talking up Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth as Obama’s replacement — if Obama is elected president.
• • Top tip: Sneed previously reported that Gov. Blago, who will choose Obama’s replacement, had also quietly been pushing Duckworth.
• • Top headache: Word is U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who’s angling to be Obama’s replacement, has been grabbing the Excedrin bottle lately — ever since Duckworth’s name appeared in Sneed’s column.
* Democratic candidate Colleen Callahan says she has raised close to $250,000 so far for her 18th Congressional District campaign:
The next Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports, covering the period through Monday, will be available to the public in mid-July. Callahan said she expects to have cash on hand totaling “in the neighborhood” of $130,000 to $140,000.
Other contenders for LaHood’s congressional seat are Aaron Schock of Peoria, a Republican serving in the Illinois House; Sheldon Schafer of Peoria, the Green Party nominee; and Bradley Carter of Peoria, the Constitution Party of Illinois nominee.
The Democratic comptroller, in endorsing Callahan, said she would provide “proven, mature leadership.” Hynes said later the comment was not meant as a shot at the 27-year-old Schock.
“Age is not an issue and should not be an issue,” he said.
Callahan thanked Hynes for the endorsement, saying, “I hope to add my name to his reputation of being an effective public servant.”
* Hiram Wurf has Candidate Scott Harper’s response to Congresswoman Judy Biggert’s recent vote against granting emergency benefits to the unemployed:
‘With unemployment rates climbing and with families suffering from rising gas prices and home foreclosure costs, Judy Biggert continues to be out of touch with the people of this district,’ said Harper (D-Lockport.) ‘She has been part of the problem in Washington and her latest vote against giving relief to people who’ve lost their job is simply unconscionable. Unfortunately, though, this vote is indicative of the real Judy Biggert.’
* Representative Melissa Bean discusses Canadian National’s proposed purchase:
Bean, addressing the potential impact of the purchase on Metra’s proposed commuter line that would run from O’Hare to Joliet: “This deal throws STAR Line under the bus. It’s taking the tracks STAR Line passenger rail would have run on. Now they’re saying maybe they’ll give us a little easement so we can lay tracks, which is very cost prohibitive. But there’s no question that this entirely undermines the planning by all the municipal leaders who have been involved and pushing for that.”
* The Tribune believes that the Millionaire’s Amendment decision most likely won’t impact Illinois:
In Illinois, the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Millionaire’s Amendment in federal campaign finance reform will have negligible impact on political contests this fall.
The amendment might have been triggered in the U.S. Senate race, in which incumbent Democrat Dick Durbin is being challenged by Republican physician Steve Sauerberg.
[…]
In the 14th Congressional district, Republican Jim Oberweis and Democratic Rep. Bill Foster each have dropped more than a $1 million of personal wealth into their campaigns, making the amendment a wash.
* I’m not sure if I agree with the Trib on this one. There was no mention of the potential for wealthy congressional candidates like Steve Greenberg, who is challenging Rep. Bean, and Marty Ozinga, who is running against state Sen. Havlorson, to have triggered the amendment.
Either one of the two could decide to pour more of their own money into the race, and that could easily have an impact on both elections.
*** UPDATE *** The Tribune is now reporting that the Supreme Court’s decision is unlikely to change Ozinga’s mind about how much money he will spend:
“He’s not planning to spend a ton of money out of his pocket. The honest answer to that question is, he has not made a decision on how much exactly he is going to spend,” said Andy Sere, Ozinga’s campaign manager, on Friday.
[…]
Ozinga told the Tribune in April that he would not spend more than $350,000 of his own money.
Ozinga seems to be doing pretty well in terms of his fundraising efforts so far, so it would make sense for him not to spend too much of his own money. However, one never knows what will happen until November creeps closer.
Michelle Obama is scheduled to headline a Monday night fundraiser that Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) is hosting to benefit two suburban congressional candidates.
Tickets to the private event are expected to go for $1,000 a piece. Sharing the windfall are Dan Seals of Wilmette, who’s running in the North Shore’s 10th District, and state Sen. Debbie Halvorson of Crete in the southwest suburban 11th District.
My guess is that the event will bring in some serious dough…
* Last night I was able to get inside Governor Blagojevich’s highly publicized fundraiser in Chicago, and I’m pretty sure that the hottest attraction was the bar.
The room had the capacity to hold 1800 people, and I would estimate that it was about half full.
What was really striking though, were all the recognizable faces amongst the crowd. I would estimate that a good quarter of the attendees worked for the administration in some capacity, whether it be in the office or in an agency.
One of the more notable faces that I saw was Sen. Noland. You may recall a recent post about his defense of his recall vote in an open letter to the Daily Herald. It was interesting to see him in the crowd so soon after defending his nay vote on recall.
* The Gov shook a few hands and then approached the podium to the tune of Elvis’ “a little less conversation, a little more action.” Out of all the Elvis songs, I was really hoping that it was going to be that one.
He opened with a joke about St. Patrick’s Day:
” During the St. Patrick’s Day parade I had the opportunity to walk down Columbus street with Mayor Daley by my side.
I stopped along the street to greet an elderly woman who told me how much she appreciated the great job that I was doing, and how she thought my father did a fine job too. I hesitated, and thought about not telling her who I was.
Finally, I informed her that I wasn’t Mayor Daley, but Governor Blagojevich. She smiled and said, ‘Happy St. Patrick’s Day’.”
“We can’t just rely on all this good press we’ve been getting these days,” Blagojevich said sarcastically to an audience of several hundred supporters who laughed. Campaign dollars were needed to counter media criticism and to “be in a strong position to tell it the way it is.”
After the “icebreaker” he rolled through his quest to give kids in Illinois health care, and trotted a young boy up onto the stage to help him showcase his agenda:
Blagojevich maintained that donors to his campaign were “not helping me be the governor or stay the governor” but instead were helping children and the elderly by allowing him to push an agenda of increased education and health care.
The governor went on to say that he asks himself: “Are you going to squander that opportunity and ruffle a few feathers…or roll up your sleeves and try to change things for people?”
Blagojevich did not use the name of his chief legislative nemesis, House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago, who also is the state Democratic chairman. But he again inferred that Madigan was planning a secret, post-November state tax increase.
“We’ve been fighting those who want to raise taxes on people,” Blagojevich said as he again pushed a massive public works plan that would be funded through a sizable expansion of gambling in the state.
The crowd gave a mild response, and a woman behind me shouted out “Go Governor” and “All Kids”, and then I remembered that she worked for the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
A few people were smirking, and several others were just shaking their heads as Blagojevich rattled off a few Spanish words like “oportunidad.” Afterwards the Governor took a few photos, and then was quickly whisked away.
* The Governor has been taking a lot of heat over his fundraising appetite lately, and Treasurer Giannoulias didn’t spare him any grief in an interview last night:
The governor raised two-and-a-half million dollars last year. But nearly a third of the money - $965,000 - went to the law firm representing him in the corruption probe. And that’s pathetic, according to state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who takes no campaign contributions from people who do business with his office.
“Pay to play needs to end immediately, and the perception that Rod Blagojevich and their administration has put out there is that government is for sale,” said Giannoulias.
All in all I’m sure that the Governor thought it was an up night.
*** UPDATE *** I must have glanced over this little tid bit today:
Blagojevich claims correctly that there is no law against taking campaign cash from contractors or others doing business with the state. And his allies say he’s got to do it to protect himself from political enemies, such as house speaker and party chairman Mike Madigan, who also takes contributions from anyone who wants to give.
“He doesn’t like Rod Blagojevich. So Rod is left to raise money on his own and doing what he has to do,” said State Senator Rickey Hendon, (D) Chicago.
* Senator Hendon always has the best quotes, doesn’t he?
* Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision on Washington’s ban on handguns struck a nerve in Chicago. In fact, Justice Stephen Breyer even wrote that “Chicago has a law very similar to the District’s” in his dissenting opinion.
“I think we’re very disappointed in the Supreme Court decision. Why? If you really live in the real world and you see what handguns are doing to America, it doesn’t matter what age of the moment, young people and all ages are being killed in serious danger.
Hours after the Supreme Court ruling came down, two groups sued Chicago over its handgun ban, which is similar to the District of Columbia law the high court struck down. In addition, the NRA said it would file a lawsuit against Chicago today and would also sue surrounding cities that ban handguns.
“We are currently going over statutes at the local, state and federal level,” NRA chief lobbyist Chris W. Cox said. “I am certain there will be challenges to all sorts of statutes as we move forward.”
You can read the Illinois State Rifle Asscociation’s complaint here.
Benna Solomon, deputy corporation counsel, asserted that the Supreme Court decision applies only to the federal government—which Washington is part of, but not Chicago.
“The court notes that it [was] not required to consider whether the 2nd Amendment also applies to state and local government, and therefore it does not consider that question,” Solomon said.
But such confidence may ultimately be tempered by the court’s affirmative embrace of an expansive view of the 2nd Amendment, which suggested without equivocation that any attempt to deny individuals access to a working handgun in a home would be unlawful.
* How exactly will this decision affect Illinois? Many state lawmakers said Thursday that the Supreme Court opinion on gun control is likely to prompt a slew of legislation in Springfield, but at the same time will make it more difficult for any new restrictions to pass:
“It’s not going to persuade me one way or the other not to push forward with a ban on assault weapons, but… it’s going to be a tougher sell,” said Rep., Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago).
“There’s going to be a lot of rethinking of state and local gun-control laws and ordinances,” predicted Lawrence Solum of the University of Illinois School of Law. “One thing that seems likely is that some of the more extreme ordinances like Chicago and San Francisco may well be modified without litigation. They may come up with a less-restrictive version that they could successfully defend.”
* Some are even saying that Chicago’s ordinance is merely symbolic, and hasn’t done much in the way of preventing crime:
The Chicago Police Department seized more than 13,000 guns last year, but only a handful of people were arrested for violating the city’s handgun ban, records show.
Chicago Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said 74 people were arrested in 2007 and 83 people in 2006 for failing to register their handguns, an ordinance violation.
Thousands of people were arrested on more serious charges of unlawful use of a weapon — a state offense that is not jeopardized by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to overturn Washington D.C.’s handgun ban.
* Honestly, I think that the law is even more vague now after this ruling. There were lots of discussions about the constitutional merits of the ruling and as well as other general debates over the Second Amendment on the blog yesterday. Lets try to keep comments focused around the ruling’s potential impact for Illinois.
The telephone survey found that 73 percent of the respondents think the state’s ban on smoking has been beneficial. The percentage increased by nearly 10 percent since the same company conducted a similar poll a year ago, when the issue was debated statewide.
“Clearly, the public understands that cigarette smoke in the workplace is a serious health hazard,” said Joel Africk, president of the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago. “Public opinion is key behind smoke-free Illinois.”
The poll was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. They polled 606 Illinois residents from May 28 to June 1, and the poll had a margin of error of +/- 4%.
It was paid for by the American Lung Association of Illinois, the American Cancer Society-Illinois, and the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.
* The poll means increased trouble for casinos who have been pushing for an exemption to the ban. After news of the poll hit, they stuck to their main argument:
Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, said casino revenue shortfalls translates to less money the state can spend on other projects.
“I suspect that we will continue to try to get some waiver for the casinos,” said Swoik.
* However, after six months of the ban being in effect, most businesses seem to be complicit…
Then there are the restaurant and bar owners. Before the smoking ban, many were furious about enforcing a law upon their patrons. They feared a drop in customers and profit.
But six months into smoke-free Illinois, at least three Fox Valley establishment owners say business is alive and well.
Without an outcry from the business community over a loss in revenue from the ban, it will be difficult for casinos to keep pushing this line. Thoughts?
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been interviewed multiple times by federal investigators looking into allegations that he and key members of his administration offered contracts and state work in exchange for campaign fundraising help, according to documents unsealed Thursday [by Tony Rezko’s judge]. […]
Included in the newly released material was a defense filing answering government allegations leveled by key witnesses against Rezko. Veteran Democratic fundraiser Joseph Cari testified at the trial that on a flight to New York in 2003 with Blagojevich, the governor offered to give Cari his pick of contracts and state business in exchange for assistance in developing a national fundraising operation.
* But that last part is far more important than the story’s lede about how the governor was interviewed by the feds. We already know he was interviewed because he admitted it a couple of years ago. The only discrepancy is that the feds say he was interviewed “multiple times” and the governor’s office claims he was interviewed just twice, two years ago.
Newly unsealed court files in the Tony Rezko corruption case show that… the governor denied [to investigators] having conversations described in court by two key prosecution witnesses.
That raises the possibility that either the witnesses lied under oath or that Blagojevich lied to federal agents about statements he was said to have made, tying state business to support for his campaign.
[The feds] may well be exploring false-statement allegations against [Blagojevich]. Former Gov. George Ryan is serving a 6½-year sentence, in part because of making false statements to federal agents, which is a felony.
Oof.
* But here is a point to keep in mind about the documents …
The newly unsealed defense document challenged Cari’s truthfulness, also noting that “Cari failed to recall his conversation with the governor until his fifth interview by government agents.”
[Stu] Levine was the government’s star witness against Rezko, but a newly unsealed defense filing alleges that Levine only agreed to cooperate after realizing that the government had learned that he frequented male prostitutes.
Oy.
The judge said that fact would simply be too explosive to discuss at trial. It’s out now, though.
Former news anchor Ron Hunter, who worked at Chicago’s WMAQ-Ch. 5 in the 1970s and at TV and radio stations in several other major cities, died this week in Las Vegas, his daughter said. He was 70.
McAsey has acknowledged that her position was developed after she received an infamous “talking points” memo from House Speaker Michael Madigan, the man she will have to answer to in Springfield, and the current chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.
“How can we possibly allow the salaries of public officials to increase when families all across Illinois struggle to make ends meet?” the lawmakers said in a letter sent to the governor.
* 3:46 pm - Gov. Blagojevich is expected to be in Harrisburg, Illinois tomorrow to announce the move of about 150 IDOT jobs from Springfield to that far southern Illinois community.
SIU has reportedly done an economic impact statement that shows as many as a hundred spin-off jobs could be created in the area. Southeastern Illinois College Foundation will be partnering with IDOT in the move.
Harrisburg is in Sen. Gary Forby’s district, as well as Rep. Brandon Phelps’ district.
Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, said he was notified Thursday afternoon of Blagojevich’s appearance. He said IDOT is planning to move the division into a former Wal-Mart building that’s been converted to office use. The building is owned by the Southeastern Illinois Community College Foundation, Phelps said.
GOP grrr: Sneed hears there’s trouble brewing in the Republican caucus.
• • The great chagrin: Word is caucus member/state Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), who lost her bid for state treasurer to Alexi Giannoulias, is making moves to run for governor.
• • Headache heaven: State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) has already announced he’s running. It ought to make for interesting gruff sessions in the fishbowl caucus of 22 members.
* The Question: We’ve had some fun here at the blog speculating on a Gubernatorial run by Bill Daley. What do you think the chances are that Sen. Radogno runs? What do you think the chances are of her winning the primary?
* Lisa Madigan has been getting a lot of press over a new lawsuit against Countrywide Financial. The suit shows how Illinois residents have suffered, and has attracted national attention as an overall critique of companies who have helped to spur the mortgage crisis:
The lawsuit offers a comprehensive look at how the company allegedly ripped off homeowners by pushing them into loans they couldn’t afford while not telling them what they were getting into.
One Countrywide customer in Illinois, a 64-year-old widow on a fixed income, was paying about $300 a month on her mortgage. After Countrywide refinanced her loan, her payments shot up to $800 a month, the lawsuit says.
Nor was Countrywide straightforward about loan terms, the lawsuit alleges. Details were in tiny type, and consumers who actually read footnotes were at times referred to footnotes of footnotes.
Madigan says Countrywide should pay back borrowers who lost their homes, and she’s also asking a court for a temporary stay on new foreclosures.
The Chicago area had the most subprime loans of any metropolitan area in the country, according to a 2006 study by the Chicago Reporter, an investigative magazine. And Countrywide held more of those loans than any other lender. The Chicago area also has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.
The attorney general also says her office has received more than 200 complaints about the company since 2005.
In early 2007, the company issued nearly $8 billion in risky subprime loans, which generally are given to borrowers with poorer credit histories and lower incomes than those given standard loans.
* You can view the Attorney General’s complaint here.
Whatever the results of the suit are, I’m sure that Madigan will continue to receive accolades from angry Illinoisans for trying to hold companies accountable for the mortgage mess.
* The Governor is continuing to gear up his PR blitz on the disastrous impact of budget cuts:
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration is escalating its public-relations blitz for more state budget money, pressing legislators directly and through the media to approve $1.5 billion in new revenue sources –- and warning that everything from Amtrak riders to AIDS patients will suffer debilitating budget cuts if they don’t.
“The House . . . (should) come back and finish what they started,’’ Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee said today in a conference call with the Post-Dispatch editorial page. It was one of several such meetings administration officials are conducting this week around the state with newspapers, social agency heads and lawmakers themselves, in an attempt to pressure the Legislature into providing more money to the budget.
In newspaper meetings, and in an unusual mass conference call with lawmakers yesterday, Greenlee pressed House Dems to rethink their opposition to those revenue sources.
The administration has listed numerous potential cuts in areas like transit, health care, and education that he’s poised to make if the revenue sources aren’t approved early next month. And it looks like many in the media are eating it up…
Joe Szabo, with the United Transportation Union, said the $28 million subsidy being threatened by Gov. Rod Blagojevich if revenue streams for the state’s FY09 budget aren’t delivered would wipe out all but the City of New Orleans train, which only arrives in Carbondale from the Louisiana city in the early hours of the morning.
All spring, the Illinois House rejected those ideas. The House then adjourned having passed plenty of new spending bills but none of the governor’s proposed revenue bills. It sent the governor a budget he claims is $2 billion out of balance. As promised, the governor this week released a list of cuts he plans to make to the budget. Unless, of course, the House changes its mind and passes all the things it rejected all spring.
THAT IS not going to happen, and that’s why we believe the only solution begins with the governor ordering the General Assembly back to Springfield for a special session.
* Rep. Washington, who participated in a conference call with other legislators and the governor’s office on Wednesday, jumped in the mix saying thats he’s leaning toward a vote on funding before the July 9 deadline:
“They’re reeling us in over Madigan’s objections,” he said. “They’re trying to weaken his leadership in the House and break the unity of the House. The speaker should really consider letting the proposal (seven bills proposed to offset the deficit) come to the floor and letting it fall or rise on its own merits.”
“I don’t think he’s capable of that,” said Righter, R-Mattoon. “He’s had six years to demonstrate he can be prudent with state money. Unfortunately, what he has done is demonstrate an eagerness to cut the budget in smaller areas that are particularly sensitive to downstate Illinois.”
[…]
“He goes after these popular programs to strike fear into people,” said state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan. “He’s blaming the House, but we passed a barebones budget and there were even some modest increases in the barebones one.”
The question is, who blinks first in this game of chicken?
*** UPDATE *** The Governor plans on announcing a $14 million, statewide summer-jobs program today for 10,000 teens and young adults in violence-prone neighborhoods.
Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, quipped:
“He made the statement . . . about approving this budget would be like signing a bad check. How can a man make that statement and 48 hours later announce a new spending program?”
* It makes a doomsday scenario of deep budget cuts a little harder to swallow when you roll out a new $14 million dollar summer-jobs program for teens…
*** 10:16 am *** This may get lost in the shuffle because of the gun ruling, but it could greatly impact congressional and US Senate races throughout the country…
The Supreme Court has struck down the “millionaire’s amendment” as an unfair way to help opponents of wealthy candidates who spend from their personal fortunes.
The law allows candidates to receive larger contributions when their wealthy opponents spend heavily from their personal fortunes.
The court says by a 5-4 vote that the law violates the First Amendment.
The law was challenged by Jack Davis, a New York Democrat who has so far spent nearly $4 million of his own money in two losing campaigns for Congress and says he will spend another $3 million this year.
The majority overturned both the contribution limits for opponents of affluent candidates and a requirement that millionaires report every $10,000 expenditure within 24 hours. [emphasis added[
At least 24 House candidates have triggered the millionaires’ amendment this cycle. Of those, 10 remain active — while others either lost a primary or dropped out.
In the Senate, at least four candidates had triggered the amendment by April, two of whom are still active.
This Court has never upheld the constitutionality of a law that imposes
different contribution limits for candidates competing against each other, and it agrees with Davis that this scheme impermissibly burdens his First Amendment right to spend his own money for campaign speech… While BCRA does not impose a cap on a
candidate’s expenditure of personal funds, it imposes an unprecedented penalty on any candidate who robustly exercises that First Amendment right, requiring him to choose between the right to engage in unfettered political speech and subjection to discriminatory fundraising limitations. The resulting drag on First Amendment rights is not constitutional simply because it attaches as a consequence of a statutorily imposed choice.
*** 10:43 am *** And here’s the Court’s message to Congress…
If the normally applicable limits on individual contributions and coordinated party contributions are seriously distorting the electoral process, if they are feeding a “public perception that wealthy people can buy seats in Congress,” and if those limits are not needed in order to combat corruption, then the obvious remedy is to raise or eliminate those limits. But the unprecedented step of imposing different contribution and coordinated party expenditure limits on candidates vying for the same seat is antithetical to the First Amendment.
Chicago’s handgun ban, which has lasted for more than a quarter-century, came under threat Thursday when the Supreme Court decided that Washington D.C.’s law against handgun ownership is unconstitutional.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court determined that Americans have the right to own guns for self-defense as well as hunting. The decision, which had been expected, is a win for gun rights advocates and provides a better definition of the rights of Americans to own firearms.
Illinois gun-rights activists have said they expect to mount a quick legal challenge to the Chicago Weapons Ordinance.
It was the first time in nearly 70 years that the court had taken up broad questions about the 2nd Amendment’s protections of the right to bear arms. The city of Chicago, which has had its own ban on handgun ownership since 1982, had filed a brief with the court in support of the ban in January.
Justice Scalia’s opinion stressed that the Court was not casting doubt on long-standing bans on carrying a concealed gun or on gun possession by felons or the mentally retarded, on laws barring guns from schools or government buildings, and laws putting conditions on gun sales.
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home […]
The handgun ban and the trigger-lock requirement (as applied to self-defense) violate the Second Amendment. The District’s total ban on handgun possession in the home amounts to a prohibition on an entire class of “arms” that Americans overwhelmingly choose for the lawful purpose of self-defense. Under any of the standards of scrutiny the Court has applied to enumerated constitutional rights, this prohibition—in the place where the importance of the lawful defense of self, family, and property is most acute—would fail constitutional muster. Similarly, the requirement that any lawful firearm in the home be disassembled or bound by a trigger lock makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the core lawful purpose of self-defense and is hence unconstitutional.”
Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.
* Doesn’t this look a lot like legislating from the bench?
It is no answer to say, as petitioners do, that it is permissible to ban the possession of handguns so long as the possession of other firearms (i.e., long guns) is allowed. It is enough to note, as we have observed, that the American people have considered the handgun to be the quintessential self-defense weapon. There are many reasons that a citizen may prefer a handgun for home defense: It is easier to store in a location that is readily accessible in an emergency; it cannot easily be redirected or wrestled away by an attacker; it is easier to use for those without the upperbody strength to lift and aim a long gun; it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police. Whatever the reason, handguns are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense in the home, and a complete prohibition of their use is invalid.
U.S. Sen. John McCain said Thursday that the Supreme Court ruling in favor of gun ownership showed that the Chicago handgun ban has “infringed on the constitutional rights of Americans.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee called the ruling a “landmark victory for Second Amendment freedom in the United States.”
An angry Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday called the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Washington D.C. gun ban “a very frightening decision” and vowed to fight vigorously any challenges to Chicago’s ban.
*** 3:16 pm *** From the Illinois State Rifle Association home page…
The Illinois State Rifle Association, together with Second Amendment Foundation and several individual plaintiffs, filed suit against the City of Chicago in federal court this morning at 9:15 CDT. More information will be made available in a statement from the attorneys tomorrow.
The program will demonstrate a “commitment to climate action,” said bid leader Patrick Ryan, who announced the initiative. “We know, for example, that Tokyo is going to be emphasizing the environment very significantly, but we don’t think they will have any more commitment to it than we do.”
During the five-year period of the study, teachers at schools with the state’s highest poverty levels made the greatest gains in academic capital, narrowing by 27 percent the gap between Chicago and the east central region of the state, where the educators with the highest academic index teach.
The gains were largely a result of hiring inexperienced teachers with stronger academic backgrounds, the study found.
The gloomy forecast is in a report released Wednesday by the Business Travel Coalition of the 100 regional airports nationwide most likely to lose some or all service as a result of industry turmoil.
All the central Illinois regional airports made the list.
State Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-33d) of Park Ridge attended. His bill helped fund the program.
Physicians at Wednesday’s press conference explained that new state of the art equipment recently brought online at the hospital is helping doctors tell the difference between PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
The attorney general’s Civil Rights Bureau has informed Joliet officials that it has received a complaint alleging discrimination in the hiring of patrol officers and firefighters. City officials said they do not know the origin of the complaint, and an attorney general spokeswoman could not be reached Thursday for comment.
There were questions about the legality of the dual roles. According to Illinois law, “No member of the board shall have any interest in any brokerage fee, commission or other profit or gain arising out of any investment made by the board.”
