* Gov. Pat Quinn will sign legislation today rolling back the veto override threshold on the Cook County Board. The legislation moves the minimum required vote down from an insane four-fifths to a far more reasonable three-fifths.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is opposed to the legislation, but as I told you last week, he was in favor of the proposal during the 2006 campaign.
Carol Marin’s Sun-Times column today talks about Carlos…
Carlos Hernandez Gomez is a reporter with attitude. Streetwise and smart, punky yet sweet. When Carlos walks into a news conference, he brings his own electricity.
Thick black glasses, trimmed black beard, and fedora whenever possible — these are the accessories of a young man whose questions to politicians and prosecutors will not be ignored.
Carlos began his political reporting career at WBEZ radio in Chicago, but in 2005, CLTV hired him away to cover the corruption trial of former Gov. George Ryan.
But you won’t be seeing him on TV for a little while. Carlos, 36, is off the air working on the most challenging story yet to cross his path. It’s the ongoing medical effort to save his life. Diagnosed and operated on for colon cancer on New Year’s Eve of 2008, he has recently had another surgery to scrub the lining of his stomach of malignant cells. His stomach was then pumped with boiling hot chemotherapy to nuke whatever microscopic bits of cancer remained.
“His doctors compare it to getting third-degree burns to your stomach,” said Carlos’ wife, Randi Belisomo, who also is a reporter for CLTV. […]
Since word of his illness was first posted on Rich Miller’s CapitolFaxBlog, get-well wishes have poured in from political enemies Rod Blagojevich and Judy Baar Topinka. Republican gubernatorial candidate Andy McKenna offered prayers. Democratic Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan arrived with jokes. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald quietly popped in, and former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson took Carlos out for a good-luck dinner before the last surgery.
Carlos has people from both sides of the aisle in his corner.
* Many thanks to all of you who posted best wishes to Carlos Hernandez Gomez. I’m certain that it helped both him and Randi get through a very difficult time. I love you all for that.
* We’ll know Monday morning which office Congressman Danny Davis will seek - reelection or Cook County Board President. From the Davis campaign…
Cong. Davis will announce his election decision at a press conference on Monday, November 9, 2009, at 10:00 a.m., at 3333 W. Arthington, Chicago.
* Democrat Alexi Giannoulias has a new Internet ad blasting Mark Kirk over Sarah Palin. The tagline is pretty good…
* Rep. Julie Hamos begins airing a new cable TV ad tomorrow. I think that makes her the first congressional candidate to go up. Anyway, rate it…
This is an initial cable buy of about $20K. Here are some details from a top source which were confirmed by the campaign…
$14,450 total for Comcast zones of Glenview, Highland Park and Mt Prospect; these zones encompass other towns as well and give good coverage in D10.
Additionally about $6,000 to WOW! Cable for their North zone that also has coverage in D10.
Bought CNN, Food, HGTV, MSNBC, TBS and USA Networks; all dayparts bought Flight is Sat 11/7 thru Mon 11/16
Script…
I’m Julie Hamos. The time has come for every American to have quality, affordable health care.
We finally have a chance to make that happen with a comprehensive package that includes a public option so that everyone has an affordable choice for health insurance, no matter what. We have to let Congress know that real health care reform demands a public option.
Let’s not let this moment in history pass us by.
I’m Julie Hamos and I approve this message because our fight for change is just beginning.
* Most unfortunate Tribune headline of the afternoon: “Quinn gets backing from former Blagojevich allies.” The story…
Gov. Pat Quinn got the endorsement today of several North Side Democratic leaders who once hailed and later feuded with his running mate and predecessor, Rod Blagojevich.
Among those supporting Quinn’s bid for the Democratic nomination in the Feb. 2 primary was Chicago Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), Blagojevich’s estranged father-in-law.
Others endorsing the governor today were Sen. Ira Silverstein and Reps. John Fritchey and Lou Lang. Fritchey is running for county board commissioner against former Ald. Ted Matlak.
*** UPDATE 1 *** And Dan Hynes has pounced. From a press release…
BLAGOJEVICH’S NUMBER 2 EARNS BLESSING OF BLAGOJEVICH’S NUMBER 1 PATRON The political muscle that gave IL Rod Blagojevich lines up behind Pat Quinn as questions persist about top aide’s resignation
CHICAGO – Pat Quinn, once a self-styled reformer, continued his gravitation toward ultimate political insider-dom today by accepting the endorsement of Alderman Dick Mell, the father-in-law and political patron of Rod Blagojevich, and a man synonymous with Chicago Machine politics. This comes on the heels of news that Quinn’s deputy chief of staff resigned abruptly last week, reportedly amid an investigation for doing political work on state time. Quinn has been mum on the affair. Dan Hynes for Governor campaign communications director Matt McGrath issued the following statement:
“Today’s announcement, coupled with the deafening silence surrounding Carolyn Brown Hodge’s abrupt resignation, further cements what has become increasingly clear: Pat Quinn will say or do anything to cling to power, including embracing the Machine he once railed against. It would never even occur to us to seek the endorsement of the single individual most responsible for inflicting this state with Rod Blagojevich, let alone hold a press conference, but for Pat Quinn, it’s all in a day’s work. The rest of us are once again left to wonder about Pat Quinn’s true convictions and commitment to anything beyond his own election.”
Considering Hynes’ family ties, that’s quite a breathless press release, but whatever. At least he didn’t accuse Quinn of actually doing his job and twisting it into something bizarre, a la Quinn’s TV ad.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Quinn spokesperson Elizabeth Austin responds…
“Dan Hynes’ hypocrisy knows no bounds. He is a child of the old-time Chicago Machine and owes his entire career to his ward boss father. Without Machine backing and his father’s political muscle, how could he have won statewide office at the age of 28? Certainly not on the basis of his grassroots advocacy for ethical reform, consumer rights, and tax fairness.
“In September, when Comptroller Hynes appeared at the endorsement session of the Cook County Democrats, he spoke movingly of his pride in seeking — and accepting — their endorsements over the many years he has spent sitting behind the Comptroller’s desk. At that time, he shared his warm recollections of growing up in a ward office, learning about Machine politics at his father’s knee. Yet now, when the Democratic Party is embracing reform and putting state government back on track, he’s now Dan Hynes, the independent maverick?
“Just as they did in 2004, we expect Illinois Democratic voters to understand the difference between a second-generation ward politician and a true reformer who has devoted his entire life to standing up for everyday people against corrupt politicians, greedy utility companies, and corporate polluters. We know that the people of Illinois can tell a poll-driven career politician from someone who is, and has always been, the genuine article. “
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* Last night, all but one of the Republican gubernatorial candidates said Illinois should opt out of national healthcare if it’s passed by Congress. Unsurprisingly, Gov. Pat Quinn would be against opting out…
Gov. Pat Quinn says Illinois should not try to opt out of a national health care plan if one passes in Washington.
The Chicago Democrat says that would be the wrong way to go. […]
Quinn also said Friday that he disagrees with Republican Jim Ryan’s call to lower the minimum wage in Illinois by 75 cents. Ryan says that would help make Illinois more competitive economically.
* Democratic US Senate candidate David Hoffman has a new banking plan. From a press release…
Hoffman’s plan will protect consumers by creating a separate, independent Federal Consumer Protection Agency, which will enforce consumer protection laws to prevent abuse by lenders; putting a stop to predatory lending practices by establishing a standard national usury rate for consumer credit transactions; using federal stimulus funds to provide affordable small business loans, and allowing judicial modification of home mortgages to protect principle residences during bankruptcy.
You’ve done the research and bought the best direct mail list for your campaign. But do you really know if the receiver has any interest at all in your message? Are they truly engaged in reading your information? Or are you hoping your “targeted” mailer interrupts their busy life just long enough to get their attention and not get tossed into the circular file?
What if there was a way to offer true engagement with your mail piece? Would you be interested in voters actually requesting your information and remembering you once it arrives?
Look no further than this new service from Comcast Spotlight called RFI (Request For Information). The television viewer, already watching your television spot via Comcast, clicks on their remote and requests a direct mail piece be sent to them from your campaign. Comcast then sends you their address. With one click of the remote, they REQUEST your direct mail piece. They ask FOR your mailer. You send the INFORMATION promptly because Comcast Spotlight sends you the database DAILY. This service has already been very successful for Comcast clients in many retail and service categories.
Dramatically increase the effectiveness of your political direct mail with RFI and contact Richard Brehm at 312-327-5622. He’ll even show you how RFI works.
The Illinois comptroller says he hasn’t formed an opinion yet on the governor’s plan to borrow $900 million, because he hasn’t seen the details yet.
Comptroller Dan Hynes says the state does need the cash, because it has a stack of bills worth $3.5 billion that it lacks the money to pay. But he says the governor has not yet communicated with the comptroller’s office regarding specifics of the plan, such as when and how it would be repaid, and what the cost of borrowing would be, so Hynes says he cannot have an opinion or sign off on it.
The comptroller and treasurer must sign off on this type of borrowing; approval from the General Assembly is not needed.
* The Question: Keeping in mind that the borrowed money has to be paid back by the end of the fiscal year, do you think Hynes ought to sign off on this proposal? Explain.
President Obama’s former colleagues in the Illinois state Senate used him as a punching bag Thursday in the first debate among all seven Republicans running for governor.
“Just as I worked to defeat Obamamcare when he was a state senator in Illinois, we will defeat it, hopefully, at the federal level,” said state Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington).
“But if we fail to do that, I will impose the [states’ rights] 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, and tell the federal government they have no right to take our tax dollars and redirect them to provide a national health care program … It’s time someone slapped the hand of the federal government and said ‘enough is enough.’”
All seven candidates, to varying degrees, competed to be the most conservatove, the biggest “outsider,” the most opposed to tax hikes, and the most opposed to increased government spending on health care.
State Sen. Kirk Dillard, of Hinsdale, a former DuPage County GOP chairman who has been criticized for appearing in a 2007 Iowa caucus ad for Obama, appeared to use the health care issue to try to distance himself from the president.
“If I wanted to be part of socialized medicine, I would have moved to Europe,” Dillard said. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a socialistic Washington shove a new mandate down the (Illinois) taxpayers’ throats, especially if it’s health care.”
As the candidates expressed sympathy over the deadly shooting rampage Thursday at Fort Hood in Texas, state Sen. Bill Brady, of Bloomington, vowed to push the legalization of concealed weapons as a potential solution to defending against criminal or terrorist activity.
…an early question about how they would ensure Illinois residents can be safe in light of Thursday’s shootings at Texas’ Fort Hood brought out a range of responses.
Hinsdale businessman Adam Andrzejewski used the question to underscore his plan to keep illegal immigrants out of Illinois.
“One of the security issues we face is our immigration policy in Illinois,” he said. “We can take steps to defend the border right here in Illinois.”
Meanwhile, Brady said that violence, along with last year’s shootings at Northern Illinois University, illustrate the need to allow the concealed carry of guns in the state. He said the law would “help to respond to incidents like this.”
[Jim] Ryan also said the Illinois minimum wage is too high. After the debate, he said the Illinois minimum of $8 an hour should be cut to $7.25, the federal level.
Yet WBBM Radio’s headline is: “Quiet debate for GOP candidates for Ill. governor.”
* By the way, Progress Illinois has video of Sen. Kirk Dillard calling Obama a “Socialist” earlier this week…
Rep. Mark Kirk has long been a voice of reason in Illinois. A moderate Republican with an independent streak, Kirk isn’t known for pandering.
In our endorsement of Kirk for re-election last fall, we noted the North Shore congressman’s efforts at bipartisanship, his knack for doing his homework and his penchant for speaking his mind.
But the edit board is dismayed by this Sarah Palin thing…
Whose endorsement is Kirk seeking in his bid to win a U.S. Senate seat? None other than Sarah Palin.
The same Sarah Palin he dismissed.
The same Sarah Palin who is so fiercely partisan it’s hard to imagine her uttering the phrase bipartisan.
The same Sarah Palin whose history of failing to do her homework has earned her well-deserved ridicule.
And concludes…
For Kirk, courting conservatives may help him solidify a primary win; he is the presumed front-runner. But it also could easily cost him a general election win in Democrat-leaning Illinois.
Kirk built a successful political career by staying true to his values and beliefs.
Republican Rep. Mark Kirk created a stir by asking for help from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in his bid for the party’s U.S. Senate nomination on Feb. 2. Now that quest for help has become fundraising fodder for one of the Democrats seeking the seat.
In an e-mail to supporters sent out today, the campaign manager for Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said Kirk’s request for Palin’s help was an example of how “Republicans will do anything to get their hands on President Obama’s former seat in the U.S. Senate.”
Here’s the entire fundraising e-mail, with all emphasis in the original…
We knew from the beginning of this campaign that Republicans will do anything to get their hands on President Obama’s former seat in the U.S. Senate, but now we find out that the GOP wants Sarah Palin’s help to win this race.
Yesterday, news broke that Congressman Mark Kirk, the Republican front-runner, penned a secret memo to Sarah Palin’s camp asking that Palin help out Kirk in a “quick and decisive” way.
Palin has made no secret that she’s willing to help out conservatives in their quest to damage the President. She was the leader in false rumors about the President’s health care proposals, and she’s made it clear she’s willing to throw her support around to get conservatives elected from coast to coast.
Well, not here in Illinois.
We can’t let Mark Kirk and Sarah Palin take us back to the failed, Republican policies that got us into this economic mess.
Donate $10, $20, or $50 today to help us keep the President’s seat.
If Mark Kirk thinks bringing Sarah Palin to town will help distract from his record of consistently voting for big business and against Illinois families, he’s wrong.
Donate $10, $20, or $50 and help us send a message to Mark Kirk and Sarah Palin Republicans that this seat will stay in Democratic hands.
Alexi is a progressive Democrat who will move our state and our nation forward.
And thanks to supporters like you, this campaign will be ready to take on Mark Kirk, Sarah Palin, and whomever else the GOP sends to this fight for the President’s seat.
A new Wilson Research analysis of polling data from the U.S. Senate campaigns of Mark Kirk and Patrick Hughes, respectively, indicates bad news for the Kirk campaign. This comes on the heels of news from Kirk’s Senate campaign that he is seeking the endorsement of former Gov. Sarah Palin. […]
* The ideological background of the primary electorate appears to favor a candidate such as Patrick Hughes. Seven in ten respondents (69%) described themselves as ideologically conservative, compared to only a quarter (25%) of respondents describing themselves as ideologically moderate.
* The findings of the images and ballot of the Market Research Insight survey demonstrate that the race is competitive.
* In the survey, Congressman Kirk has a favorable to unfavorable ratio of 2.7:1. Patrick Hughes’ favorable rating is much higher, at 9:1, but has far less name ID than the Congressman (64% for Kirk versus 24% for Hughes).
“By openly soliciting Sarah Palin’s blessing, Mark Kirk is showing Illinois his true colors,” Jackson said in a statement. “Although he claims to be a moderate, Kirk is pandering to the extreme right wing of his party, and in so doing turning his back on the hard-working Illinois families who hope to change the way our government works and don’t want to go back to the failed policies of the Bush Administration.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is trying its best to squeeze every ounce out of the Mark Kirk-Sarah Palin story. […]
Now the DSCC has fired off this “memo” to Palin and Malek, which digs up unfavorable things Kirk had said about Palin:
To: Governor Sarah Palin
Cc: Congressman Mark Kirk
Cc: Fred Malek
From: Kathleen Strand, Senior Advisor to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Dear Governor Palin,
Yesterday, following the purge of a moderate Republican in upstate New York and the devastating special election in NY-23, it was revealed that Congressman Mark Kirk is actively seeking your endorsement of his candidacy in the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. However, Mark Kirk has not had kind words to say about you in the past. Faced with a difficult re-election race in 2008, Kirk told reporters he “would have picked someone else” for Vice-President and that frankly he “didn’t know whether you are qualified to be President.” Now that Kirk is facing a tough primary challenge from the anti-Washington, anti-establishment candidate Patrick Hughes, he is suddenly racing to embrace you. I’m not sure how familiar you are with Mark Kirk but he is a politician who has a history of putting politics above principals, something you surely look down upon. Whether the issue is cap and trade, extending unemployment benefits, or health care reform, Kirk has either flip-flopped, been AWOL, or motivated purely by politics. On the other hand, Patrick Hughes is comfortable in his own skin as an extreme right-winger. Unlike the pro-abortion Kirk, Hughes is firmly pro-life, anti-gay marriage, and pro-gun…sounds like your type of Republican. I know you are in Milwaukee tomorrow and will be in our great state of Illinois later this month, both would be a perfect setting to give your blessing to one of these two candidates. With so much at stake in the next election, everyone wants to know — who will you endorse in our Senate race?
My good friend Carlos Hernandez Gomez is back in the hospital. Carlos, a top-notch reporter for CLTV, has cancer.
I talked to Carlos last night and he was in a bad place. He had some sort of reaction to his recent treatment and I’d say it was making him miserable, but that word is used so often that it doesn’t even come close to how he sounded on the phone.
As I’ve told you before, Carlos is an avid reader of this blog, so let’s all chip in today and wish him well. He badly needs to be cheered up, so let’s please do our best.
Get well, buddy. I’ll see you tomorrow. Remember, more people love you than you’ll probably ever know. And we’re gonna prove it to you today.
Get to it, people. Thanks.
*** UPDATE *** From Carlos’ wife, Randi…
Your blog post and the comments amaze us. Thanks so much for your friendship. To see how many people are rooting for him certainly gives him strength in a weak hour.
He doesn’t feel much like talking, but it’s certainly drawn a smile and a thumbs-up!
Keep it coming, folks. You’re doing some good here today.
* Naperville businessman charged with bribing ‘city agent’
With both video and audio rolling, the businessman, Wafeek “Wally” Aiyash, allegedly offered Ald. Isaac “Ike” Carothers a $100,000 cash bribe — $10,000 of it up front — if Carothers would secure concessions contracts for him, a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday says.
As many as 40,000 jobless Illinois residents, who would have exhausted their unemployment benefits by the end of the year, will benefit from a bill President Obama is expected to sign today extending those benefits up to 20 weeks.
The extension will help 28,000 unemployed in the state whose benefits already have been exhausted and 12,000 more individuals here whose benefits will run out by the end of the year. That is according to the Illinois Employment Security Department.
Commissioner Mario Moreno is pushing a tax on hospitals that don’t devote at least 4.5 percent of their spending on charity care. If they come up short of that target for free health care, they would pay the difference to the county. (Hospitals that handle a high number of Medicaid patients would have a lower target, but could still be snared by the tax.) […]
The tax would raise about $340 million a year, according to the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, which represents 94 Chicago-area hospitals.
It would impose $105 million in taxes on at least 14 hospitals that already lose money.
Four hospitals that now turn a profit would be plunged into a loss.
A $100,000 no-bid Chicago Police Department contract with Charles Bowen — the former Cook County commissioner who spent more than 15 years as Mayor Daley’s chief liaison to black ministers — is at the center of an unprecedented legal battle between City Hall and the inspector general’s office.
In 2006, Bowen was asked to assist the Police Department with the recruitment and retention of minority officers. He was also charged with reviewing the process of disciplining wayward officers, evaluating community policing and developing “crime-fighting initiatives that involve community participation.”[…]
Earlier this week, the inspector general’s office filed a lawsuit demanding that Corporation Counsel Mara Georges turn over documents and records vital to the inspector general’s investigation of “how a former city employee was awarded a sole-source contract in apparent violation of the city’s ethics and contracting rules.”
The inspector general’s office wants the court to require Georges to reveal who hired that individual and why, saying it “has been unable to determine who bears responsibility for the critical decision to contract with the former employee.”
The once vibrant market is becoming “a dead zone” as vendors take their operations to friendlier operations in the city and suburbs, Fioretti said after the City Council budget hearing for the special events office, which took over running the historic market this year.
McDonald said officials heard from vendors who said they were being harassed by representatives of Jam Productions, which has the contract to manage Maxwell Street.
Spokespeople for Jam could not be reached for comment this evening.
* Overhaul would bring Maxwell Street Market back to glory
Chicago residents are lazy and therefore in need of special treatment. That’s what Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) seemed to say Wednesday at a Chicago City Council budget hearing. He called for preferential seating of Chicago residents at free concerts in Millennium Park.
“You have people from the suburbs who get there earlier and glom on to all the seats. … They’re putting their blankets across rows and rows of chairs,” the Northwest Side alderman whined, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Are Chicago residents prohibited from arriving early and reserving seats for their friends and family members?
The argument goes that city taxpayers paid for the park, so they should reap the benefit. And as more concerts are held at the park, to save the city money, seats will be at a premium. The only problem is that Schulter’s solution runs counter to the spirit of Millennium Park.
It’s a symbol of the city, one that welcomes folks from down the block or from across the globe.
It says, “Come and share in the beauty of our great city.”
Knuckling under to the Daley administration, the city’s landmarks commission Thursday rejected a recommendation that the former Michael Reese Hospital campus on the Near South Side be designated a historic property.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted 5-3 to withhold support for listing it on the National Register of Historic Places. City Hall has been demolishing buildings on the property, rejecting pleas from preservationists to save some buildings on the 37-acre site. The city bought the property for use in its futile bid for the 2016 Olympics.
* Maine voters overwhelmingly rejected a TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) referendum this week. Here are some details…
* growth in annual expenditures of the General Fund, the Highway Fund and Other Special Revenue Funds are limited according to increases in population and inflation
* revenues exceeding the expenditure limitation must be distributed by directing 20% of that excess to a budget stabilization fund and 80% of that excess to a tax relief fund […]
* a state tax increase would require a majority vote of each House of the Legislature and majority approval of the voters
This is the third time that Maine voters have turned thumbs-down on TABOR in the past five years.
* The Question: Let’s change the final provision to make a tax hike receive a three-fifths majority in both legislative chambers and no direct voter approval. Could you support this idea? Explain.
* I probably should’ve known better than to believe the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza yesterday when he wrote…
Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk penned a memo to Republican poobah Fred Malek hoping to secure an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his Senate candidacy, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Fix.
If Cillizza really did see the memo, as he claimed, then he would’ve known that nowhere in that memo does Congressman Kirk explicitly ask for an endorsement. How do I know this? Because I now have the memo…
Memorandum
November 3, 2009
To: Fred Malek
From: Mark Kirk
Re: Gov. Palin Visit to Chicago November 16th
Governor Palin is scheduled to appear on Oprah November 16th in Chicago. The Chicago media will focus on one key issue: does Gov. Palin oppose Congressman Mark Kirk’s bid to take the Obama Senate seat for the Republicans?
We would hope Gov. Palin could say something quick and decisive:
Voters in Illinois have a key opportunity to take Barack Obama’s senate seat. Congressman Kirk is the lead candidate to do that. Kirk, the first member of Congress to deploy into combat since 1942, voted against the Stimulus, Omnibus and Pelosi health care bills. He announced he will oppose Cap & Trade and is the key House national security hawk on Iran. Kirk is a unique Republican candidate who has become the number one pro-Israel fundraiser in America, Republican or Democrat.
The memo then goes on to detail Kirk’s position on specific issues, including his oppositon to the Obama budget, “card check,” the Ledbetter [gender pay equity] bill and the stimulus, as well as his support for President Bush’s tax cuts and his proposal to cut off funding for Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere.”
The hazard of blogging is that one often depends on others to get their stories straight. My subscription publication is comprised of my own work, but the blog often riffs on what others do, puts it into context, uses it to relate other insights. I also break my share of news here, of course, but using other peoples’ stories is an important core function.
WaPo’s Cillizza is now on my “always check him out first” list.
* All that being said, the Kirk/Palin memo is still incredibly pandering. And it still points to a very valid question: Does Mark Kirk even know who he is?
That Kirk is courting Palin takes on more significance, however, after Tuesday’s balloting for an open House seat in New York yielded a Democratic win after the moderate Republican was driven out of the race by Palin and others who supported the third party conservative candidate.
Conservatives may be shopping for other moderates to knock off. But the reality in Illinois is very different from New York or other places. Though the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been trying to pump Kirk’s seven primary rivals as real threats, they are barely known and hardly register in polls.
Sweet is right, but it’s more than that. Why has Kirk consistently overreacted to this mild threat? I’m not just talking about the Palin thing, here. He’s turned into Mr. Flip-Flop lately to placate a Right-wing that barely registers. Is he really concerned that something huge could explode or is he just thin-skinned? Is this about making sure a Constitution Party or independent candidate gains no traction in the general election? Questions, questions, questions, but few answers.
Kirk, a moderate, may also face a third-party challenge from the right, after fellow Republican Eric Wallace made clear in dropping out of contention for the GOP nomination that he may mount a [NY Conservative Party congressional nominee Doug] Hoffman-like run.
Wallace isn’t a threat, unless you figure that the general election race will be close, and it probably will be. Even if the guy skims a point or two from Kirk, that could be a big problem. Wallace is not the guy to look at, though. I’m betting the Kirk folks are more worried that a wealthy self-funder might jump in as a third-party or independent.
But what we know now is that despite a win by a Democrat in NY-23, no GOP candidate believes the conservative activists who backed Hoffman are ready to hang up their tea bags.
True dat. And, they don’t care about winning. They care about making their point, as the aftermath of NY-23 clearly shows.
* Related…
* Mark Kirk and Sarah Palin: Senate candidate’s memo about ex-Alaska governor shows he’s veering to right, critics say
* Kirk looking for support from the right? You betcha
* Illinois Review live-blogged a GOP gubernatorial debate last night. The debate was sponsored by a so-called “tea party” group in Will County. Here are a few of the questions. Keep in mind that live-blogging is a difficult thing to do, so typos are common…
* “Where do our rights come from?”
Schillerstrom said “from the people”
Proft said our rights come from God
Dillard said our rights come from the Lord
Brady –said our rights come from God to the people
Adam: They come not from another man…but from God himself. A responsibility that we all have to take seriously.
* “Question to Dillard: It is widely know you’ve appeared for a ad for barack obama … BOOS … Do you honestly believe his skills are serving America well as you said in the ad?”
Dillard: No I do not.
I warned people he was a a socialist then — his health care plan when he was in the Senate showed that. But he did work on an ethics plan with me … and I acknowledged it…
* “Question to all from panel: Health care. Do you believe it is big government over-reach. As gov. you would opt out for IL. Would you take same health plan that is forced on everyone else?”
Brady …I opposed Barack’s state-health care plan when he was in the senate and I do now
I believe we’re protected by the 10th amendment … applause … I have sponsored a resolution to embrace the 10th amendment .. I would opt out of the health care plan and would sue the federal government for the freedom to not be in the health care plan, but still get our part for Medicare and Medicaid.
Adam A: he would opt out of the program. He would use every legal pwer to sue the government. His plan is…we have best health care in the world…no rationing…his plan is to stop rationing info. Make doctors and hospitals put price online for surgery etc. Do doc and hospital scorecards. So people can choose. he would also eliminate the health insurance board.
Bob S. - I would opt out and I believe an elected official should live by the same rules as everyone else. if it’s anything important, we shouldn’t let the goverment run it., I am the only one up here that lives it. DuPage is the model of how government should be run. I have a record — I don’t just promise. I run a government. On health care — in dupage oounty, we took 400 thousand dollars to work together in Access DuPage to help people to stay out of emergency rooms. We ask the drug companies to provide drugs. We ask doctors to donate and we serve 10,000 that wouldn’t necessarily be cared for without the the program. That’s the way Republicans deal with health care problems.
Proft: He would opt out. The concern is the medicaid matching funds so we would have to sue. He also thinks we should go after the feds on a number of issue.
Proft - Medicaid is largest expenditure in IL yearly. We must restructure the program. The program is broken. Medicaid recipients have better plan than any politician or anyone in the room.
Wednesday November 4, 2009 8:38 IR Editor
Dillard: If i wanted socialized medicine, I’d move to Europe. I fought obama on this when he was in Springfield. I will work to protect 10th amendment . I would opt out and I think we need tort reform — applause — the federal government should get our liability system back in order. Legislators should be on the same system we force on everyone else.
If state “opt out” is included in the federal healthcare bill, you can bet that it’ll be a big issue in next year’s campaign. The GOP candidates are now all locked in on the issue, except McKenna and Jim Ryan, who didn’t show up.
Also, Dillard, Brady and Schillerstrom said they believed that global warming was not man-made.
* I sure hope Gov. Pat Quinn asked for big buckaroos for the state budget when he was kibitzing in the Oval Office…
Quinn, a longtime friend of senior White House advisor David Axelrod, met with him at the White House and after talking about stimulus funding Axelrod walked him into the Oval Office to see Obama. Quinn said he ran into Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett.
Don’t be proud, guv, just ask for the cash. Beg if you have to. Heck, stand on your head and spin around the Oval Office like a top for the preznit’s amusement if that’s what it takes.
* And while you’re at it, you might want to prod your legal team to speed up their review…
Republican Commissioners Tony Peraica and Timothy Schneider on Wednesday delayed plans to push for a rollback in the Cook County sales tax until Gov. Pat Quinn formally signs new legislation reducing the number of votes required to override President Todd Stroger’s inevitable veto.
A spokesman for Schneider said they hoped Quinn would sign it before the next meeting of the Cook County Board Nov. 18. Quinn spokesman Bob Reed said the governor was going to “review the law” and has not made a decision on if or when to sign it.
“If” he’ll sign it? “If”? I was out a bit too late last night with an old friend, so I don’t have the energy or the brain power to look it up, but I could’ve sworn that Quinn said he was in favor of that legislation.
…Adding… The governor’s office notes that the bill has not yet been transmitted to them. Good point, but I’m still a little concerned about the waffling on whether Quinn will sign it.
Democratic Commissioner Larry Suffredin, of Evanston, who supports the reduction in the sales tax, warned that language added to the bill in Springfield during the recent veto session could contain a “poison pill.” Although it says the new law takes effect immediately, it also specifies staying consistent with the state constitution, which could give Stroger an angle to fight the new law in court.
All laws have to be “consistent with the state constitution.” But the Stroger court challenge angle is a real possibility, as I told subscribers last week. Stroger could conceivably hold up any override while he takes the state law to court, if he finds a willing judge, which might not be easy. The Senate Democrats said they believe Stroger has no legal leg to stand on, but this is America, baby. Anybody can sue anybody for anything.
* The state has a new accountability office? Huh. OK, get cracking…
Gov. Patrick Quinn on Wednesday dispatched officials from a new accountability office to investigate errors in a state database detailing stimulus-funded school jobs promoted by the Obama administration, a day after the Tribune raised questions about the job numbers’ accuracy.
The officials have asked the Illinois State Board of Education to verify the number of jobs created and retained in school districts detailed in the report, said Ashley Cross, a spokeswoman for Quinn’s office. Any necessary adjustments will be incorporated into the next quarterly report on the federal stimulus, she said.
Matt Vanover, a spokesman for board of education, said the flawed database actually had been washed of some glaring errors before being included in the official tabulation, which claimed 14,330 school jobs in Illinois had either been saved or created thanks to $1.25 billion in federal funds.
But the Tribune found that the database claimed far more jobs had been saved in some local school districts than actually existed on district payrolls.
More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago, and state and federal officials say that money has saved the jobs of 473 teachers.
Problem is, the district employs only 290 teachers.
The stats were compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education, which should’ve known better.
The union representing CTA bus drivers and mechanics is considering a strike if the agency goes ahead with hundreds of layoffs.
“We’re just exploring every option,” said Darrell Jefferson, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union 241, which represents bus drivers. Nearly 1,800 Local 241 members received notices warning they could be laid off.
“A strike would be the absolutely last resort,” Jefferson said. “These are trying times. It’s not a productive idea to call a strike.” But he said the union has to protect its interests “by any means necessary.”
The CTA has a $300 million budget deficit for 2010 and has proposed steep fare increases and service cuts to plug the hole. The proposed cut of 18 percent of bus service would result in job losses.
* Union head on mom’s CTA story: Why does stroller appear undamaged?
The city watchdog agency charged with rooting out City Hall corruption sued Mayor Richard Daley’s administration on Wednesday, accusing it of thwarting an investigation into possible wrongdoing by current and former employees.
The inspector general’s office wants Daley’s top lawyer, Mara Georges, to hand over documents relating to a 2006 no-bid contract awarded to a former city worker.
The city’s first deputy inspector general, Mary E. Hodge, sued Georges in Cook County Chancery Court, asking a judge to order the full release of the subpoenaed documents.
Employees in the Water Management Department at the center of the Hired Truck and city hiring scandals are being pressured to sell and purchase $50 tickets to the Nov. 19 benefit reception Mayor Daley is hosting on behalf of the United Negro College Fund.
Although the cause is laudable, the tactic is questionable.
The solicitation is being made on city stationery with employees referred to a city telephone number to purchase tickets to the event at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. Shore Drive.[…]
Andy Shaw, executive director of the Better Government Association, called the memo the “charitable equivalent of pay-to-play.”
Despite a burgeoning financial crisis that has forced a $43 million property tax increase and hundreds of job cuts, the Chicago Board of Education has found a $154,000-a-year job for an all-purpose mayoral troubleshooter.
Barbara Lumpkin, 59, will serve as deputy CEO for external affairs for the Chicago Public Schools forging partnerships with the business community to support school programs. The job has been vacant for nine months — ever since Lumpkin’s predecessor retired.
Despite an economy that has many still feeling none too merry and forecasts for a 1 percent drop in holiday sales, the holiday hiring front news isn’t all gloom and doom.
Although an Aon Consulting survey of more than 100 of the nation’s leading retailers found that 44 percent are hiring fewer holiday workers this year, a majority have no plans to pull back; 19 percent said they plan to boost their hiring, and 37 percent said their levels will remain the same as last year.
My good friend Carlos Hernandez Gomez is back in the hospital. Carlos, a top-notch reporter for CLTV, has cancer.
