Reporters, legislators and a whole lot of others are pretty upset today because the governor will not hold any budget briefings tonight. Historically, off-the-record briefings are held the evening before a budget address, which allows reporters to get their stories ready (or simply break the embargo altogether) and allow appropriations staffs to prepare analyses for their respective caucuses.
So, no briefing means no analyses tomorrow, and no analyses means seriously grouchy legislators. I’ve talked to several today (in the House and the Senate in both parties) who all had about the same response: “This is not a good way to start off the session.”
By the time state officials settled on a new state budget last fall, it little resembled the one Blagojevich introduced last spring. The governor’s ambitious plan for universal health care did not pass. Neither did his plan for a gross receipts tax on Illinois businesses (it would have been the largest tax hike in state history). Lawmakers took the budget in another direction. Blagojevich retaliated by cutting more than $400 million of their earmarks and other spending.
When Blagojevich announces his next budget plan on Wednesday, the question will be: How much does his budget plan even matter?
Seventeen-year-olds can serve in the military, drive cars and hold down jobs. But until they turn 18, they cannot vote.
That could change in Illinois if state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, has his way. Lang has proposed a state constitutional amendment to lower the voting age in Illinois to 17. […]
Eleven states already permit 17-year-olds to vote in the primary if they are 18 by the general election. Iowa, Washington and now Illinois have pending proposals to take that a step further and lower the voting age eligibility for all elections. […]
The U.S. Constitution, which lowered the mandatory voting age to 18 in 1971, says only that states must permit citizens age 18 and older to vote.
* The question: Should Illinois lower its voting age? Why or why not? Explain fully.
The 2008 general election is almost nine months away, but you don’t have to listen too closely to hear some of the first shots of the 2010 governor’s race being fired.
The column goes on to discuss Paul Vallas poking his head up a while back, Joe Birkett’s press conference on ending the death penalty moratorium and Comptroller Dan Hynes’ editorial board tour, which was ostensibly about all the red ink in the budget…
If you think I’m being too cynical about Hynes’ motives, you should also know that Hynes went to the editorial boards armed with statistics showing that the number of uninsured Illinoisans did not decrease at all between 2003 and 2006, despite the money and effort expended by Blagojevich (Barack Obama’s presidential campaign may not have appreciated that shot, considering Obama’s claim to have insured so many people here, but the point has so far been lost in the shuffle). Hynes even talked about the decreases in higher education spending while at the Sun-Times editorial board meeting. This was obviously more than a budget horrors tour.
It concludes…
President George W. Bush has been so unpopular that candidates started actively and openly campaigning to replace him two years before the 2008 election. People wanted him gone, and that partially explains the record turnout by primary and caucus voters in both parties in several states to date. Blagojevich’s unpopularity rivals that of Bush’s, and the same early campaign scenario looks to be playing out here.
The federal corruption trial of Blagojevich fundraiser and adviser Tony Rezko will most likely only heighten interest and activity, particularly now that we know an FBI mole will testify to seeing one of the governor’s aides take a wad of cash at Rezko’s office. The U.S. Attorney’s office claims Rezko had weekly meetings with the governor’s patronage chief, and the feds have announced that Blagojevich administration “insiders” will testify at Rezko’s trial.
* An entrance fee for state parks shouldn’t be surprising, since Gov. Blagojevich has never been to a state park…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s proposed budget could target everyone from people who use state parks to big businesses.
Although the final touches are still being made to the governor’s latest spending proposal, officials acknowledge they’ve considered imposing entrance fees at state parks as a way to balance the budget in tough financial times.
Word’s going around that the new budget could eliminate nearly all General Revenue Funding for the Dept. of Natural Resources. More at Illinoize.
State officials haven’t approved a major capital construction plan since 1999, the first year of former Gov. George Ryan’s administration.
Whether they pull it off this year — amid continuing, maybe growing, acrimony in Springfield — is anybody’s guess. But even if they manage to clear their political obstacles, they may an emerging financial one. As Stateline.org reports, bonding — the type of borrowing the state must do to support a capital plan — is getting more expensive.
The problem isn’t with cities or states issuing the securities but with the insurance carriers that promise to pay interest and principal on municipal bonds in the unlikely event that states or local governments default. In recent years, the insurance carriers also began guaranteeing securities based on car loans, commercial real-estate deals, credit card debt and mortgages, including subprime loans that are now defaulting.
The bad loans are threatening to cause securities ratings firms such as Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings Ltd. and Standard & Poor’s to drop the credit rating of the insurers, which in turn would drop the credit rating of bonds they insure.
A ratings drop would drive up costs for state and local governments, forcing them to pay higher interest rates to borrow, or could keep investors away in a time of tight credit.
The story has numerous examples of failed bond sales, including this one…
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the region’s airports and runs the World Trade Center, got a rude shock this week when it tried to get buyers for a special type of bond whose rate is set at frequent auctions. They found no takers.
Bottom line: Even if there is an agreement on expanding gaming to pay for a capital bill, there might be a big problem selling the bonds.
More horses are being sent to Mexico for slaughter since last year’s closure of three U.S. horse-slaughter plants in Illinois and Texas for violating state laws.
The grueling cross-border journeys stretch for hundreds of miles with horses crammed in double-decker trailers. They face deaths there that are sometimes far more gruesome than they would have been in the United States; some horses have been killed by repeatedly being stabbed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 45,000 horses went to Mexico for slaughter last year, up from about 11,000 the year before.
“People have no place to go with them,” said Wayne Earven, a former state livestock inspector who was recently selling a horse at a Willcox auction. “To be real honest with you, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet.” […]
But in Mexico, a number of recent media reports and videos show that horses were being stabbed repeatedly to sever the spinal cord.
We can pat ourselves on the back for “saving” horses by banning slaughter in this state at the behest of the “lovely” Bo Derek, but the horses appear to be worse off now than ever before. We’ve essentially exported our problem. Out of sight, out of mind.
* The Peoria Journal Star, which has a history of allowing some ugly, rancid coments on its site, writes about anonymous commenters…
A male teacher from an area high school stood accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage female student.
The news story, in its online version at pjstar.com, drew the collective scorn of a group of people that seemed gleefully eager to blast the teacher with comments on the Journal Star Web site. Online editor Jerry Smith watched as anonymous rumor followed anonymous rumor. Invective followed invective. Hate piled atop hate.
Smith pulled the plug.
“I took down all the comments and made it impossible for any new ones to be added,” Smith said. “I’d had enough. It was all way over the top.”
* I was shocked when I read that piece. Why allow even one hate-filled, rumor-mongering comment? One just leads to more when commenters figure the green light is on, and that will likely lead to a flood.
Comment policing can be a pain, but plenty of bloggers seem to accomplish it without too much trouble, and they’re mostly one-person shops. Counting my intern, Kevin, we’ve got two sets of eyeballs trained on comments here, but even we can’t be around all the time. Commenters do a pretty good job of restraining themselves here, but it wasn’t always this way. I moved to a WordPress platform mainly so I could block and filter the goofballs.
Instead of whining about nasty anonymous commenters, just ban them from posting. And crack down on the idiots right away, rather than let things get out of hand.
It’s really not that difficult, and it’s worth it if you want to run a respectable shop.
* The Tribune’s public editor explains why that paper shut down comments on some stories, including political stories…
Earlier this week, the Tribune shut down comment boards on its Web site for all political news stories. It also took down comments on an opinion column about Muslims, and on a story about the Illinois governor and a story about a violent crime in which a child was killed.
Those are the latest on the list of volatile topics — including race, immigration and rape — that bring out anonymous writers who are so nasty, obscene and racist that the boards were beginning to read like a community of foul-mouthed bigots.
One writer started a rumor about an affair between two candidates for local office; others made salacious allegations about candidates and corruption.
Frankly, I thought the Tribune pre-approved comments on political stories, because when I’ve commented about a factual error in the pieces the comments have never appeared.
Another effect is that fewer comments are being made here. And my hit counts and page views are down. That’s not making me happy, but I’m hoping the improved quality and trustworthiness of the comments translates into growth over the long haul.
That’s exactly right. Quality over quantity is the way to go. Some will complain about “censorship,” but what they’re really whining about is that somebody finally told them that their idiotic rantings are unacceptable. You don’t want people like them around anyway, because they lower the level of discourse.
For the life of me, I can’t imagine why newspapers like the PJ Star can’t figure this out. Who would advertise on a website that allowed such craziness?
A state lawmaker says recent shooting sprees that killed people at Northern Illinois University and a Chicago-area shopping center might have had “different outcomes” if Illinois law allowed citizens to carry a concealed firearm.
* Schock told the Tribune even more and was rebutted by a Chicago legislator…
“It wasn’t until the individual at NIU turned the gun on himself that the killing stopped, and perhaps it would have stopped sooner had there been a security guard present or had there been somebody with a concealed weapon.”
[Rep. Ed Acevedo] called that kind of thinking “ridiculous.”
“What’s going to happen when someone pulls out a hairbrush that someone else thinks is a gun?’’ Acevedo asked. “Are we going to turn this state into the Wild West, where everybody gets to carry guns?”
* I just wish all politicians would take a deep breath in situations like this. Rep. Ruth Munson struck the right tone, as far as I’m concerned…
“I just ache for all these parents whose children didn’t come home,” Munson said. “I’m just really thinking about the parents and the victims right now.”
* The reason I didn’t want a discussion on the shootings last week is because when tragedy strikes everybody in the world wants to blame said tragedy on his or her pet peeve, whether it’s gun control, or increasing police response times and technology, violent imagery in the media, or Satanic tattoos, or drugs, or whatever, everyone has something to point to as the “Eureka!” moment, including snarky partisan politics…
So to extend Mitchell’s logic, I guess Kazmierczak was an Obama voter.
* For once, I completely agree with Steve Sauerberg…
“Far too often in the wake of tragedies, we see opportunistic politicians attempt to exploit the pain and suffering of others to promote their own agenda. In the aftermath of the tragedy at Northern Illinois University, I urge politicians on both side of the partisan aisle to show restraint. Now is the time that we should unite as a state and as a nation to pray for the victims, and their families and friends, of this terrible event.
“In the months ahead there will be plenty of opportunities for political debates and policy discussions about how tragedies like this can be avoided, the morning after, however, is not the time for politicians to look to score cheap election years points at the expense of the suffering of others.”
And that’s why I’m still not opening comments on this topic.
Illinois lawmakers moved swiftly after last year’s massacre at Virginia Tech to make it harder for anyone with a history of mental illness to buy guns, fortifying what already were some of the nation’s toughest weapons laws.
But the new measure does not take effect until June. And whether it would have prevented last week’s bloodbath at Northern Illinois University is far from clear. […]
The measure, when it takes effect, will require health professionals to inform state authorities about patients who display violent, suicidal or threatening behavior. Right now, such information is reported to state officials only on people who have been institutionalized, not on those who receive only outpatient treatment.
* It’s all in the perspective. Bloomberg leads its Obama/Rezko story this way…
The couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator’s $1.65 million bid “was the best offer'’ and they didn’t cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land, according to e-mails between Obama’s presidential campaign and the seller. […]
The Obamas submitted three bids: $1.3 million on Jan. 15, 2005; $1.5 million on Jan. 21; and $1.65 million on Jan. 23, according to a copy of the sale contract shown to Bloomberg News. […]
The e-mail between Wondisford and the campaign adviser also says that the sellers had “stipulated that the closing dates for the two properties were to be the same.'’ In January 2006, Rita Rezko sold the Obamas one-sixth of the lot, for $104,500, to expand their yard. She later sold the rest of the land to Michael Sreenan, who said by e-mail yesterday that he bought it in late December 2006 for $575,000.
That seems to clear up a lot. The seller didn’t just take a first bid from Obama, and it was the seller who wanted the closing dates on the same day. Also, note that Rezko sold the land for a profit - He bought it for $625K, sold a slice to Obama for $104.5K and sold the rest to Streenan for $575K. So it doesn’t appear that he paid an exhorbitant amount. One of the criticisms has been that Rezko subsidized the house purchase.
Before he bought his South Side mansion in 2005, Sen. Barack Obama took his friend and fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko on a tour of the premises to make sure it was a good deal, Obama’s campaign revealed Monday. […]
Obama was able to buy the house for $300,000 less than the listed price while Rezko, in his wife’s name, paid the full $625,000 asking price for an undeveloped side lot.
You get an entirely different and more sensational picture from that article, perhaps because the Trib wasn’t given the e-mails that Bloomberg obtained. Newspapers are jealous that way.
* Meanwhile, some of you have asked me for a list of Illinois superdelegates. Here are the committed delegates. It appears that John Rednour, the Mayor of DuQuoin, is the only Illinois “Super” for Hillary Clinton.
Uncommitted Democratic super delegates are here. Congressmen Dan Lipinski and Rahm Emanuel top that list, which also includes Steve Powell (the UFCW 881 official), Edward Smith (I think that’s the Laborers’ Union chieftain, not the alderman) and Margie Woods (Will County Board).
…Adding… The Bill Foster campaign points out that if their guy wins next month’s special election to replace Denny Hastert, he’ll also be a super delegate. And considering that Obama is doing a TV ad for Foster, his convention intentions seem pretty clear.
* Ald. Burnett discloses he is a is a “registered security agent” for D.J. Mosier Financial Services while advocating more bond business for minorities…
Burnett wanted a guarantee that 50 percent of future pension business would go to minorities. CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown, who works for the Lehman Brothers investment bank, said she couldn’t make such a promise.
Amid concerns, no matter how unlikely, that the Cubs could flee the Friendly Confines, state officials have shown interest in buying the stadium, with language written in the lease that would force the team to play at Wrigley Field for decades to come.
* As the national housing crisis spreads, the Peoria area remains stable
In Peoria, home sales dropped by 5 percent in 2007 over the previous year, but that shows stability when compared with a 12.8 percent drop across the nation and a 16.8 percent decline in Illinois.
* I received a lot of calls, e-mails, etc. about this Sneed item in Friday’s Sun-Times…
Sneed has learned Gov. Blagojevich plans to appoint former state Sen. Carol Ronen the new director of the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Ronen, however, says the story was a “total surprise” to her, and claimed it was the first time she ever heard about it. Ronen said she has not been offered the spot, “nor would I seek or accept it.”
* And, now, perhaps the greatest song of defiance against the darkness that sometimes seems to be everywhere around us, with a little rocker at the end for some joyful dancing. Crank up the volume as loud as you can…
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
And may you stay forever young
* I’ve been telling subscribers about the possibility of a “carbon tax” proposal for over a week now, and Bethany Jaeger gives it mention this afternoon…
There’s more talk about Gov. Rod Blagojevich seeking to garner revenue through a so-called carbon tax, which the Illinois Chamber of Commerce already is prepared to oppose if it appears in his annual budget address February 20. […]
If the governor does propose a form of tax on carbon dioxide emissions, expect vocal opposition from the agribusiness and coal industries. We’ll have more on the carbon tax later if it is indeed proposed. The chamber suggests http://www.carbontax.org/ to learn more in the meantime.
I wonder if the Chamber was being tongue in cheek because that website favors carbon taxes.
…Adding… I’ve also been told about internal discussions involving a corporate asset tax.
*** UPDATE *** The administration responds to the IL Chamber’s worries about the potential for the governor introducing a carbon tax…
Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch issued a written statement that the chamber is misguided. “It seems like a waste of time and resources,” she wrote, “but if that’s what the chamber wants to do, it’s their decision.”
A bill that would require state universities in Illinois to automatically accept the top 10 percent of all high school seniors isn’t going to be an easy sell, state Rep. William Davis (D-Hazel Crest) admits.
But as the bill’s chief sponsor, he hopes that at the very least it will highlight the need for the state to level the playing field in terms of funding for high schools and bring higher education institutions to the forefront in addressing that issue. […]
“The idea is to make high school education more competitive all over,” Davis said, adding he sees the bill “as a way to help minority students in particular.”
Davis said he welcomes the argument that he expects will come from college admissions people: that a top 10 percent student in one school isn’t as prepared for college as one from another school.
He said that argument speaks to the need for more funding for disadvantaged schools and for higher education to take a greater role in high school-related issues.
Texas has a similar law.
* Question: Do you support this idea or not? Explain.
* We discussed this a bit late yesterday afternoon, but there are now more news stories available, so let’s delve deeper…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan wants to put curbs on Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s power, prompting a Republican leader to predict the legislature will “grind to a halt” this year.
Madigan, D-Chicago, is seeking to add a clause to most House bills preventing Blagojevich and his state agencies from writing their own rules about how to administer the laws.
Madigan believes the governor has abused his authority to do that, especially last fall when the Blagojevich administration unilaterally tired to expand health-care programs by rewriting eligibility requirements. The General Assembly didn’t approve the expansion, and Blagojevich said an obscure legislative panel did not have the authority to stop him.
“The issue today is one that could amount to a constitutional crisis,” said Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, Madigan’s top lieutenant. “The governor is not a lawmaker. He is an executive.”
Not only will the House put the clause in most House bills, she said but also will add it to any bills that originate in the Senate and are passed over to the House.
* House GOP Leader Tom Cross warned the Democrats that their proposal was folly…
“We will be bogged down in rules that (this special committee) has historically done for many, many years to the point that nothing gets passed and the people of the state of Illinois will not have their issues addressed in this session,” he predicted.
* Here’s the text of the rider that will be added to all relevant House bills…
Notwithstanding any other rulemaking authority that may exist, neither the Governor nor any agency or agency head under the jurisdiction of the Governor has any authority to make or promulgate rules to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly.
If, however, the Governor believes that rules are necessary to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Governor may suggest rules to the General Assembly by filing them with the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate and by requesting that the General Assembly authorize such rulemaking by law, enact those suggested rules into law, or take any other appropriate action in the General Assembly’s discretion.
1) As a political matter, Madigan’s new strategy is a clear indication that his bitter feud with Blagojevich, a fellow Chicago Democrat, will continue into its second year. The prospect is both titillating (for us political junkies, anyway) and exhausting.
2) As a practical and legal matter, Madigan’s new strategy will make the already cumbersome and dynamic process of lawmaking downright insane. Again, fun to watch. But not so fun if you have an legislative agenda in Springfield and you actually hope to advance it.
The problem with advancing bills will be most acute when those measures reach the Senate, which has not yet signed off on Madigan’s idea and is not expected to since Senate President Emil Jones is a Blagojevich ally.
* Mayor Daley was asked about Jim Laski’s book yesterday, including allegations of corruption that lead directly to the 5th Floor…
The mayor was asked point-blank whether Laski was lying when he claimed to have worked through Daley’s top lieutenants to get Hired Truck business for the lifelong friend who betrayed him.
“He’ll say everything in a book about me. Nobody else. That’s how it is,” Daley said, claiming Laski is “definitely” trying to sell the book by making such allegations.
That would be known in the parlance as a “non-denial denial.”
“Jim Laski has had a lot of personal problems in his life and challenges,” Daley said Thursday. “I know his family. Just get on with his wife, get on with his family, and handle his own situation. I am not going to respond to his personal challenges.”
“When is he gonna have the guts to stand up and tell the truth? It’s typical Daley,” Laski said. “Somebody called him on something, and he doesn’t like it. He’s the mayor. He’s not God. Take responsibility.”
Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday defended the right of Ald. James Balcer (11th) to deny a zoning request for a property in Daley’s native ward and scoffed at the notion that retribution against a developer who has sued the city played any role.
“It’s all ‘political payback’ when someone denies somebody,” Daley said. “I hear that all the time.” […]
Though fingers have been pointed by the media in the Bridgeport Village case, both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune have been happy to accept zoning “favors” from him, Daley said.
“It’s all right for you, but it is inappropriate for someone else to get it,” he said.
Deny without directly denying and then shift blame elsewhere. Classic Daley.
* Meanwhile, Laski told Fox Chicago about how things allegedly worked in Bill Lipinski’s 23rd Ward…
Mark Suppelsa: “So you guys would not only forge signatures, but you’d even take a look at absentee ballots.”
Jim Laski: “Yeah.”
Mark Suppelsa: “Would you guys cut and paste too if it wasn’t the right…?”
Jim Laski: “Yeah chads were pasted.”
Mark Suppelsa: “If it wasn’t the right guy, you’d move it to the right…”
Jim Laski: “Sure.”
Mark Suppelsa: “Really.”
Mark Suppelsa: “The Chicago way.”
Jim Laski: “The Chicago way.”
* Could Daley’s Olympics bid be tainted by the “Chicago way”?
Chicago 2016 chairman Pat Ryan met with a member of the International Olympic Committee in Kuwait on Feb. 5, officials confirmed Thursday, possibly breaking an Olympic regulation. That rule is designed to insulate IOC voters who will decide which city will host the games.
But Ryan did not speak with Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah — who is an IOC member and head of the Olympic Council of Asia — about Chicago’s efforts to secure the Games, Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky said. Sandusky said they discussed education.
* Rock Island County Democratic Chairman John Gianulis resigns after leading party for 4 decades…
There are likely to be several suitors for his job. One of the names mentioned today was former Sen. Denny Jacobs of East Moline.
* Judge rejects bid by Tony Rezko to delay fraud trial
Also Thursday, St. Eve declined to bar the testimony of the government’s key witness, Stuart Levine, who pleaded guilty to scheming with Rezko to extort investment firms seeking state business. […]
Court records show St. Eve also declined to reconsider Rezko’s bond on Thursday.
The horrific tragedy at Northern Illinois University is on all of our minds today, but this is a political blog, so I don’t want us to get dragged into any “debate” over the incident right now. There are plenty of other news sources and blogs out there that are covering this event, so let’s just keep the victims and the entire NIU campus in our thoughts and prayers today. Thanks.
