5:20 pm - Cindi Canary of the IL Campaign for Political Reform is now testifying against the governor’s ethics language, which was put on SB780 (FA 1). The language was initially the guv’s amendatory veto of the ethics bill that was overridden today
BTW, the GOP members of the committee aren’t here yet.
Canary: In ongoing negotiations with guv on this bill. “It’s not ready for prime time yet.”. Could invite lawsuits from contractors. Discriminates against some public employees and not others.
Sponsor DeLeo: let’s pass this and work on other problems later.
Sen Clayborne: This bill still needs work.
Sen Hendon grills Canary: “You don’t really believe that they’re [those arguing the bill needs work] going to come up with another bill, do you?”
Hendon also said he thought Canary’s opposition was about this: “You just want to slap the governor.”
VOTE: 10-0
4:30 pm - The Senate overrode the guv’s ethics AV 55-0.
UPDATE: Speaker Madigan shot back at Blagojevich over Ali Ata & Tony Rezko…
“I would think what motivates him not to give the money back is that he probably needs the money to pay his criminal defense costs. That’s what drives him,” Madigan said. “His method for quite a while has been to attempt to tie me into anything he can think of. And most of it is up in the outer reaches of his mind. I don’t think he’s going to change. What are you going to do?”
3:45 pm - The Governor said this morning that he had no idea his campaign fund has been holding onto $65,000 given by a former Ali Ata:
“I learned about that today,” Blagojevich said, referring to a Chicago Sun-Times story about the contributions from Ali D. Ata, former chief of the Illinois Finance Authority. “I was told about that. We’re going to look into that.”
Pressed by reporters during a Chicago news conference, Blagojevich replied, “I didn’t pay attention. . . . We’re going to work through the process and sort it out.”
3:14 pm - Blagojevich/Jones move afoot to strip CTA $ out of the supplemental approp in the wake of the guv/CTA/Daley “cuckoo” spat. Lobsters are scrambling.
UPDATE: Guv’s office denies involvement in any attempt to take $ away from CTA and it may be dropped. Stay tuned.
Also, the Senate Exec chairman is refusing to move the guv’s “ethics bill” until after the ethics AV is overridden.
* 1:40 pm - Speaker Madigan just proposed talks with the Senate over appropriations - including state parks and alcohol/drug abuse programs. MJM also told House members to prepare to be in session Tuesday.
Meanwhile in the Senate, the plan at this time is reportedly to override the thics veto then run the guv’s AV language to a stand-alone bill. The Senate will run the House-passed sweeps bill as-is and do another for Medicaid. The talks will be over how to spend the money from sweeps.
By the way, President Jones was at the Speaker’s podium while MJM made the announcement of a probable Tuesday session and the desire for negotiations.
* 11:40 am - The governor has called another special session for today. The subject is mandating autism coverage by insurance companies. More in a bit.
* 11:44 am - From the governor’s press release…
Governor Rod R. Blagojevich called a second
special session of the General Assembly for today to
discuss and act on a bill to expand health insurance
coverage for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Thousands of children in Illinois have been diagnosed
with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and families often
have to cover the cost of treatment for children with
autism using personal funds because their insurance
won’t cover it. […]
This special session marks the Governor’s third
attempt since the spring session to pass language to
ensure healthcare coverage for children with autism.
The language stalled multiple times in the Illinois
House when legislators put process before people. The
original bill, Senate Bill 1900, did not pass the
General Assembly despite broad bipartisan support.
When that bill failed, the Governor used his
amendatory veto power to add this language to two
pieces of legislation; both amendatory vetoes died in
the House. […]
In order to move legislation forward, the Governor
today urged the House and Senate to amend this
language into an existing bill and pass the bill to
the other chamber today. One bill that could be
amended is Senate Bill 871, which is currently
awaiting third reading in the Senate. The House also
has the option of passing House Bill 415, sponsored
by State Senator James DeLeo (D-Chicago), which was
amended in August to add the autism language and is
already sitting in the Illinois House
* 11:48 am - The autism special session is today at 2 o’clock. The other special session starts at 1 o’clock. There are no bills numbers specified in the official proclamation.
pp
* Matt Stoller has been posting his correspondence with an anonymous Congresscritter about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry. One of those e-mails has some pretty harsh things to say about Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean…
Here’s the industry’s play: progressives will approach Nancy with ideas for reform, and she’ll agree to push for their proposals, and she’ll really mean it. Then industry lobbyists will go to Dennis Moore, Melissa Bean and a few other Democrats, and tell them how dire the consequences of the proposals would be, and that the members who understand how the economy works need to step up to stop Nancy and the crazy liberals from doing something rash.
Then those Democrats will go to Steny and tell him how terrible Nancy’s crazy ideas would be, and how we can’t rush into something like that without much, much more thought. Maybe Barney will try to talk to Dennis or Melissa, but it will become apparent quickly that they have no idea what they’re talking about; they’re just repeating by rote what the lobbyists told them to say.
Melissa may actually be dumber than Sarah Palin. Barney will realize he might as well talk to the lobbyists directly and save a step. The lobbyists will agree to something inconsequential, but certainly nothing that would really affect the industry’s conduct. Then the leadership will do the math and conclude that because the vast majority of Republicans will vote against any bill, we can’t get enough votes without the Dennis and Melissa crowd. The only way, our leadership will conclude, to get anything at all passed is to include nothing more than the inconsequential proposals that the lobbyists agreed to. Then we’ll all go along because it would be wildly irresponsible not to act when we’re staring over the brink of a complete collapse of world financial markets.
I’d diagram it for you if I had a chalkboard. I’ve seen the play again and again, and it always goes for long yardage.
The only defense for the play is for a significant group of Democrats to say they won’t vote for any proposal that isn’t unpalatable to industry, and mean it. It’s a pretty high stakes game of chicken, but otherwise we come out of this with nothing but a $700 billion giveaway to a crooked industry. [Emphasis added]
As you know, the Fed bailed out AIG to help them avoid bankruptcy.
A close inspection of AIG contributions shows the following contributions to Melissa Bean:
2008: $4,750 (through June 30)
Add to that the contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:
Lifetime: $41,249
In the list of top recipients since 1989, that puts Bean at 27th already, despite the fact that many of the names ahead of her have been in office for much longer or hold leadership positions.
If investors are wondering which companies are next to go under, maybe they should just go down the line of Melissa Bean’s contributors…
[Bean] also is a subcommittee chairman on the House Small Business Committee.
“They had huge armies of lobbyists that were tripping over each other, so they developed friends on both sides of the aisle over the years,” said Peter Fitzgerald, a Virginia banker and former Republican senator from Illinois. “Republicans got very tight with them over the years and they got very powerful.”
The fact that the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC) on Wednesday included six Democratic candidates among its nine latest U.S. House endorsements speaks to the risks of too tightly typecasting the partisan preferences of the nation’s major interest groups. While it is easy to pigeonhole labor unions as steadfast allies of the Democratic Party and business groups as closely wedded to the Republican Party, these organizations like to have good working relationships with sympathetic members of both major political parties — especially those that the groups think are going to be incumbents when the next Congress rolls around. […]
In fact, before Wednesday, BIPAC had endorsed only three Democrats running for seats in Congress this year
Melissa Bean has been in Congress just under four years, but the suburban Chicago Democrat has no shortage of cash for her re-election bid, thanks to special-interest groups lobbying on Capitol Hill.
Bean amassed $1.41 million for this election cycle from political action committees — more than half of the $2.6 million she had collected as of June 30, according to federal campaign finance reports compiled by the nonpartisan research group The Center for Responsive Politics.
She ranked sixth among all House candidates for money raised from PACs, the reports show. The only House members who raised more were some congressional leaders and powerful Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., a 53-year House veteran and chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee.
Only one Illinois delegation member — Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin — raised more: $1.5 million,
* More congressional stuff…
* Cable company wants TV attack ad revised: “Upon seeing the correction, the DCCC IE tweaked the ad to reflect the corrected $51,000 figure that ‘Concrete Millionaire Marty’ failed to pay in taxes ‘while supporting tax cuts for millionaires like him,’ and it’s running throughout the district,” Rudominer said.
Besides the multiple federal investigations he’s facing, Gov. Blagojevich has 65,000 other reasons he might have trouble persuading state lawmakers this week to “follow my lead” on ethics reform.
The governor has kept $65,000 in campaign contributions from one of his administration’s former top employees, Ali D. Ata, even though Ata pleaded guilty to felony charges earlier this year.
After cutting a deal with federal prosecutors in April, Ata testified against former top Blagojevich adviser and fund-raiser Tony Rezko, who was convicted in June of wide-ranging corruption involving state deals.
After a Sun-Times reporter asked about the Ata contributions, Blagojevich campaign spokesman Doug Scofield said Sunday he was not aware of Ata’s money being dumped.
* Despite his own, very real problems, Gov. Blagojevich had the temerity to call out Rep. John Fritchey by name during his press conference last week…
Blagojevich is proposing a more comprehensive ethics plan that would… require lawmakers who lobby on behalf of corporate clients to disclose the clients and the fees. That’s a direct slap at Speaker Michael Madigan and state Rep. John Fritchey. The speaker’s law firm handles corporate property tax appeals, and the governor says Fritchey did legal work for pay day loan clients.
“Across the board ethics reform so that the taxpayers can have a better bang for their buck,” the governor said.
However, Fritchey was infuriated by the allegations. He says he never lobbied for pay day loan companies and that Blagojevich knows it.
“The governor has resorted to an all-new low, even for him. His allegations are pathetic and border on pathological,” Fritchey said. [emphasis added]
Now the point of this post isn’t to retract my statements. I stand by everything that I said. But that being said, I sincerely think that it is unfortunate that the situation has devolved to the point where our state’s Governor is routinely vocally derided by people from across the political and geographical divides of our state. […]
I want to publicly say that if my comments somehow are taken to be disrespectful to our state, they are intended to be anything but. I believe in our state, and I believe that we deserve better. I want to believe that the public knows the passion that underlies my statements, but I feel better making sure that there is no doubt.
Approving a long-awaited Illinois ethics bill could give political ammunition to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, according statements Gov. Rod Blagojevich made on Friday.
With two proposals on the table in Springfield this week, Blagojevich said voting for the one the governor opposes could make Barack Obama look soft on ethics.
“What I’m afraid of is that this is a Republican trap and they’re setting Barack Obama up by using this ethics issue in Illinois,” Blagojevich said in Chicago on Friday.
“Sometime in October in those battleground states, you’ll be seeing TV ads that … will start accusing Sen. Obama of coming back to Illinois to help his old friends in the Illinois General Assembly.”
* Well, McCain does have a new TV ad, but it’s not quite what the governor predicted…
Text…
ANNCR: Barack Obama. Born of the corrupt Chicago political machine.
BARACK OBAMA: In terms of my toughness, look, first of all, I come from Chicago.
ANNCR: His economic adviser, William Daley. Lobbyist. Mayor’s brother.
His money man, Tony Rezko. Client. Patron. Convicted Felon.
His “political godfather.” Emil Jones. Under ethical cloud.
His governor, Rod Blagojevich. A legacy of federal and state investigations.
With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead.
Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, called Blagojevich’s comments “delusional” and “loony.
Her group opposed the governor’s changes and asked Obama to speak with Jones.
“He doesn’t care about his political party or the course of this nation,” Canary said of the governor.Obama’s campaign declined to comment on Blagojevich’s remarks. But Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, a close Obama friend and former state legislative colleague, said the governor was attempting to kill the original ethics measure.
* Related…
* State Capitol Notebook: “I think the governor will do whatever it takes,” spokesman Lucio Guerrero said Friday, when asked about the possibility of keeping lawmakers in town until they approve his “real” ethics reform ideas.
* Blagojevich says he’s ‘followed every rule that exists’: “You’re missing the heart of it and missing the truth of it. The reality is I’ve followed every rule that exists and no one has said otherwise,” Blagojevich said.
Excellent 3%
Good 9% Fair 28% Poor 60% Not sure 0%
Oof.
The crosstabs show that just 5 percent of African-American voters rate the guv’s performance as “Good” while 0 percent say he is doing an “Excellent” job. Double oof.
Excellent 5%
Good 31% Fair 36% Poor 20% Not sure 9%
* I’m not sure why but the Post-Dispatch’s Research 2000 polling firm always has Blagojevich’s job approval ratings far higher than everyone else…
If public opinion is the measure, Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be losing his continuing war of wills against the Legislature.
A new poll conducted for the Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV (Channel 4) finds Blagojevich facing a dismal 34 percent favorable rating among likely Illinois voters, halfway through his contentious second term. That’s a significant drop from the 42 percent rating he received in a similar poll in January. Almost two out of three poll respondents now rate him unfavorable.
At the same time, the Democratic-controlled Legislature has seen a slight improvement in its own still-low favorable rating. The body’s 37 percent rating from January now stands at 41 — this after a year of open rebellion against fellow Democrat Blagojevich on budgetary, ethics and constitutional issues.
“He’s losing that war,” said pollster Del Ali.
The poll was conducted from Sept. 15-18 by Research 2000, a Maryland-based polling firm. A total of 800 likely Illinois voters who vote regularly in state elections were interviewed statewide by telephone.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin enjoys a 24-percentage-point lead in his bid for re-election.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the incumbent leading Republican opponent Steve Sauerberg 59% to 35%. That’s little changed from a month ago.
Durbin, the number two ranked Democrat in the United States Senate, is seeking his third term in the Senate. Sauerberg is a doctor from the Chicago suburbs.
Durbin is viewed favorably by 59% of Illinois voters and unfavorably by 35%. Sauerberg’s numbers are 39% favorable and 33% unfavorable, while 28% are not sure.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in [Illinois] shows Obama attracting 56% of the vote while McCain earns 40%. Those results are little changed from last month when Obama held a fifteen point advantage.
Fifty percent (50%) of Illinois voters say that local reporters will try to help Obama win the White House while 8% believe they will try to help McCain. Thirty-three percent (33%) believe the media will try to remain neutral and offer unbiased coverage. These figures are similar to perceptions on a national basis.
McCain has the support of 88% of Illinois Republicans, while 91% of the state’s Democrats are backing Obama. The Democrat has a twenty-one point advantage among unaffiliated voters.
Obama’s is viewed favorably by 66% of Illinois voters while McCain earns positive reviews from 53%.
As for the running mates, 63% have a favorable opinion of Delaware Senator Joe Biden while 50% say the same about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Even before this week’s Wall Street meltdown, local governments were suffering from a bad case of financial heartburn. Now, the diagnosis may be full-fledged angina.
Revenues from economically sensitive taxes are dropping at the same time that borrowing has become more problematic, forcing everyone from the state to City Hall and the Chicago Transit Authority to ready cuts.
“Unfortunately, people are going to see an increase in tax bills that is not related to a change in the assessment in the city of Chicago and not related to city spending,” Houlihan said. “It’s like the speaker of the House is reaching into your pocket and taking $700.”
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown dismissed Houlihan’s criticism, saying the assessor needs to get out of his office and make more accurate assessments of neighborhoods, going one home at a time.
“He’s just like Gov. Blagojevich, trying to find the bogeyman and blame him,” Brown said. “The real problem is a function of a poorly run assessor’s office. You can’t just sit in the Loop with a fancy computer program and base assessments on one sale for every 10
“The only honest way to provide property tax relief is to increase state funding so that school districts have less pressure to raise local property taxes,“ Duncan says.
“Self-initiated calls,” in which officers decide to stop or question someone, were down by 3,700 so far this year, compared with last year, according to an Associated Press analysis of department data. The department made 103,589 arrests (not including those for outstanding warrants) from January through August, compared with 117,971 for the same period last year, Bond said. The city logged 322 homicides through Aug. 21, 42 more than last year. That included a fatal gang-related shooting during the city’s annual Taste of Chicago festival and Fourth of July fireworks downtown.
* It just never ends. I kinda like it that way. We always have something to talk about. Whatever you may think of Rod Blagojevich, he’s sure prompted a whole lotta interest in Illinois government and politics. We are no longer the ignored stepchild.
Anyway, that’s it for me. Head to Illinoize for more, as you should be doing every day. And make sure to post a classified ad or calendar event at InsiderzExchange. It’s the place to be seen.
* 12:40 pm - Now, this is pretty darned desperate…
Governor Rod Blagojevich says he fears next week’s vote could be a “Republican trap” to entangle presidential candidate Barack Obama in the gridlock over Illinois’ ethics legislation.
The Democratic governor says he worries Republican John McCain’s campaign will accuse Obama of helping his old friends in Illinois if state senators override Blagojevich’s veto on ethics legislation. […]
If lawmakers go along with the ethics reform measures he wants, Blagojevich says Obama can brag about how he helped change the system in Illinois.
McCain can say whatever he wants, of course, but Obama would have a far tougher time explaining things if he was siding with the most investigated governor in Illinois history and against every reformer in the General Assembly and every good government group that deals directly with Illinois politics, not to mention every Statehouse journalist and every columnist and editorial page editor in the entire state.
* 2:54 pm - Senate President Emil Jones has just informed his members that the Senate will convene a regular session on Monday at noon. He’s also told his members to be prepared to stay until Tuesday.
* Remember that strange line that a bipartisan legislative committee inserted into the ballot question about a constitutional convention?…
By law, Illinois is required every 20 years to ask voters if they want to hold a constitutional convention.
Because 1988 was the last such vote, our elected officials had to put the question on the ballot in November.
But instead of posing the question in a neutral fashion, as required by law, they inserted this sentence: “In 1988 the electors rejected the call for a constitutional convention, with 75 percent voting against calling a convention and 25 percent voting in favor.” […]
“It’s a factual statement, but you can use the facts to sway an argument, and obviously that fact is included to make voters think this must be a crackpot idea if voters rejected it in such an overwhelming fashion 20 years ago,” said state Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago), who supports a constitutional convention and was one of eight members of a joint House and Senate committee that came up with the language for the Nov. 4 referendum. [emphasis added]
* Lt. Governor Pat Quinn filed a motion with Secretary of State Jesse White to remove the clearly offensive, “leading the jury” language.
On behalf of Secretary of State Jesse White, please be advised that your petition is hereby denied. The Secretary of State’s submission of the question was in accordance with House Joint Resolution No. 0137. Further, the submission of the question was in accordance with Secretary White’s constitutional authority and state statute. Accordingly, the certification of the ballot question will not be revoked.
* Quinn’s response…
The Lt. Governor is disappointed by the Secretary’s decision. He continues to believe that a clear and direct question is the right way to go from a constitutional and legal perspective, but also from the standpoint of basic fairness.
He is considering how to proceed from here.
There will be a press conference on Monday in the blue room in the capitol before special session (exact time TBD) where he will announce his next steps.
* Phil Kadner looks at the striking disparity in Cook County property tax rates…
(I)n Ford Heights, one of the poorest suburbs in the nation, the property tax rate for a homeowner is more than 20 percent of his home’s equalized assessed value. Most of that money goes to the schools.
In the villages of Northfield and Wilmette, two of the wealthier suburbs in Illinois, where the schools are top notch, the tax rate ranges from 4.8 percent to 5.3 percent.
In Winnetka, the home of New Trier Township High School, where state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) recently brought Chicago students to register for school, the tax rates range from 4.9 percent to 5.3 percent. […]
The property tax rates in Park Forest range from 14 percent to 17 percent and in Markham from 12 percent to 15 percent. Dixmoor is 12.5 percent, Dolton about 13 percent and Riverdale 14.5 percent.
* And he provides this food for thought…
A suburb that has lots of property tax wealth can raise a lot of money with a small tax rate.
Homeowners in a suburb that is property poor can quadruple their tax rate and still not raise as much money.
Actually, they can keep raising the rate, and still barely keep pace. This really needs to be changed.
Chicagoans will face a double whammy. Tax bills will be based on home values as of Jan. 1, 2006, before the lending crisis began battering the housing market. At the same time, the benefits of the 7 percent cap will drop significantly this year for many city homeowners.
“Voters are facing a unique confluence of property tax issues this year,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation.
Six thousand protesters, wearing bright orange T-shirts, could ring Wrigley Field during the first Chicago Cubs playoff game, under a plan by state Sen. James Meeks to move his school funding protests to a national stage.
With the Cubs expected to clinch the playoffs soon, Meeks said Thursday he hopes overhead TV shots from the Goodyear Blimp during the first home playoff game — probably a night game on Oct. 1 — will give the entire nation a view of protesters upset about Illinois’ inequitable school funding system.
* You gotta wonder if Meeks has ever been to a Cub game - not inside, but outside amongst the legions of idiotic drunken revelers…
Chicago Police Department officials said the prospect of dropping off young children in dozens of buses to a sporting event in a congested area filled with excited fans who could be intoxicated raised definite safety, traffic and crowd control concerns.
“Unlike New Trier, where the environment was controlled and enclosed, this . . . is an open environment where children can be subject to vehicular traffic, intoxicated fans — there are a number of external factors,'’ said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.
“We can’t compromise the safety of children, the safety of fans and the safety of residents.'’
This idea needs to be dropped. Those kids could get hurt. Plus, it’s tantamount to child abuse to subject them to those inebriated barbarians.
Meeks’ comments followed the release of a new study that found that a small number of Illinois districts with the most property wealth spend $2,324 more per pupil on instruction annually than the vast majority of Illinois districts.
In addition, the study by Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability found that Illinois elementary-only districts with some of the fewest poor kids tended to do better on state tests when they spent more on their students, especially if they spent at least $6,000 per pupil.
Also Thursday, Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan told a legislative committee that the state should pass a modest income tax hike to boost school funding and forget about a “tax swap'’ that would link property tax relief with higher state taxes.
That point is hammered home by a new study that adds heft to the argument that extra dollars can help boost test scores.
The researchers started by documenting what we all already know: Wealthier school districts spend more per kids than poor districts do. On average, the wealthiest districts spend $4,186 more per child than the poorest ones. Broken down by dollars that go to instruction, the differential is $2,324, according to the analysis by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
The researchers then tied spending to achievement. Among elementary districts with few poor students, they found a correlation between extra dollars and higher state test scores. Affluent districts that spent up to $5,000 per student on instruction produced a mix of outcomes — about half performed below expectations on state tests, half performed above. When spending approached $7,000, almost every district posted better-than-expected test score averages. The same pattern exists with respect to high-poverty schools, though it’s more tenuous because there are only a small number of poor districts that spend $7,000 per student.
This analysis has its flaws. The researchers were unable to look at the most destitute districts and didn’t analyze the link between high spending and test scores.
* Since the SouthtownStar has published my syndicated newspaper column since 1996, I’m often asked about the paper’s editorial positions and about its columnists.
One question I often hear from Democrats is whether political columnist Kristen McQueary is a Republican.
While we don’t always agree (which is the point, after all, of a columnist) she’s almost always pretty darned fair to both sides. They get whacked when they deserve it.
Her last piece on the Debbie Halvorson vs. Marty Ozinga congressional race was even-handed and soberly reasoned. I may have disagreed a bit with the conclusion, but that’s life, man.
* Now, however, Republican Marty Ozinga’s campaign wants McQueary removed as the moderator of an upcoming debate. From a press release…
It would be hard to imagine a presidential debate moderated by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. Similarly, we cannot imagine a congressional debate moderated by Kristen McQueary.
Oh, please. Spare me the hyperbole.
* The Ozinga campaign proposes these alternatives…
We propose one of two options to rectify this problem: 1) for balance, have fellow Southtown Star opinion columnist Fran Eaton to serve as the comoderator with Mrs. McQueary; OR 2) have an objective news reporter familiar with the race, such as the Joliet Herald News’ Patrick Ferrell, to serve as the sole moderator.
No offense, but Fran Eaton is such a partisan Republican and so far to the right that adding her to the program would not be “balance” in any imaginable way. You don’t balance “fair” with “unfair.” Ferrell is a darned good reporter, but I can’t possibly imagine why anyone would say Ferrell is far and away a much better choice than McQueary.
* Here is one of the campaign’s reasons for opposing McQueary’s choice…
McQueary’s second column about Ozinga ran the day after his official nomination. We granted her a 40-minute in-person interview, and she chose to focus the article solely on negative questions about Ozinga (rather than write a nice profile piece, like she did on Halvorson the day after she announced). McQueary questioned his integrity and his ability to “stay clean.” Of course, she has never asked that question of Halvorson, even though she’s in the leadership of that famously pure body known as the Illinois General Assembly.
And here are the cherry-picked excerpts…
–“Can a person with those ties, landing those deals, floating in that stratosphere, stay clean?”
–“In the meantime, Ozinga is sticking to a script when asked about the minority program involvement, which the Chicago Tribune detailed in an unflattering 2005 expose. He didn’t break any rules, operate under the table or spur investigations. It was all done aboveboard with good intentions, he says.
–“After 40 minutes, I wasn’t entirely convinced. For railing against the system, Ozinga is doing pretty well within it, running a multimillion-dollar company and befriending politicians on the charity and fundraising circuit.”
I remember that piece and Ozinga got the coverage he deserved.
What a buncha whiners.
*** UPDATE 1 - 12:30 pm *** I just spoke with the person at the Southland Chamber in charge of the debates. They have denied Ozinga’s request, citing McQueary’s fairness and even-handedness and her expertise on Southland politics.
McQueary, apparently, offered to step aside last night, but was asked to stick to her guns.
Good for the Chamber, and good for Kristen.
And, once again, this was a supremely dumb idea by the Ozinga campaign.
*** UPDATE 2 - 2:30 pm *** The debate’s rules have McQueary reading questions submitted by the Southland Chamber and making sure no candidate exceeds their allotted time.
So, Ozinga made a big stink about absolutely nothing.
* OK, after some confusion yesterday, there will be both a “special” session on Monday and a “regular” session. The regular session means that bills beyond the override of governor Blagojevich’s amendatory veto of the ethics bill can be considered. And that means that other veto override motions will likely have to be dealt with and that there will be huge pressure to stop the pending closures of state parks and historic sites. This might take a couple of days…
Cindy Davidsmeyer said that other issues may be on the table as well. “When you convene a regular session day, a variety of issues can be dealt with,” she said.
The distinction between regular and special sessions could be important.
Lawmakers can take up only what the governor puts on their agenda in a special session, which this time will be ethics reform. By calling a regular session, the Senate can — and will face pressure to — consider other important issues: dealing with the governor’s vetoes on several bills, reversing deep budget cuts and approving a lease of the state lottery to fund public works projects.
* I’m not sure whether the first part of this sentence is completely true…
In a separate move that left many lawmakers shaking their heads, Blagojevich also issued a call Thursday for a special session to start at 1 p.m. Monday.
They are certainly shaking their heads, but it’s doubtful that this was, indeed, a “separate move” by a governor acting alone…
Blagojevich spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said the governor and Jones had spoken and that the governor was the only one with authority to call both chambers back on the ethics issue.
Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero suggested the pay-to-play prohibition is yesterday’s news and challenged lawmakers to do more.
“This whole pay-to-play thing, it’s all ready been done. What we’re hoping is the General Assembly does more than just agree with the governor,” he said.
And if they don’t, he warned they might grow accustomed to seeing the Capitol in the coming weeks.
“The governor’s willing to call special sessions as long as it takes,” Guerrero said.
The ethics bill override would restore a simple ban on most state contractors giving money to the governor’s campaign fund. The governor claims his latest executive order will cover that problem, but the EO is so broad that it’s almost undoubtedly illegal.
But, the governor threatened special sessions earlier this summer on education and never followed through, so Guerrero’s threat may be empty.
* The governor has his own ethics bill, which is a compilation of his original amendatory veto language, but good government groups oppose it…
“There is a great deal of consensus that it is an overbroad piece of legislation.” [ said Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.]
And ethics proponents in the General Assembly say the language is nowhere near complete…
“It’s not ready for prime time,” said state Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and sponsor of the initial ethics deal. Harmon said he’ll persist with an override of the governor’s changes.
The governor’s people have said the same thing in recent days.
* The decision to call the GA back to town will impact several campaigns, including Halvorson’s..
Locally, Jones’ refusal to go back into session also became an issue in the 11th District Congressional race of Democrat Debbie Halvorson, the Senate Majority Leader who has been taking flack from her Republican opponent Marty Ozinga for an apparent lack of leadership.
“I am extremely pleased the Senate will return to special session to override the governor’s veto of the ban on pay-to-play in Illinois,” Halvorson said in a statement. “I’m glad Sen. Jones finally decided to respect the wishes of the members of his caucus and the people of Illinois.
Illinois is among 36 death penalty states in the United States. Eighteen of the 289 condemned men and women later were exonerated in Illinois, making the state second behind only Florida in documented wrongful convictions.
The plan calls on every city resident to reduce their emissions by making 13 changes listed at chicagoclimateaction.org. Complying with the changes would save you more than $800 a year. Lowering your thermostat by 3 degrees, for example, would shave $129 in energy costs.
Despite tight county finances, Walsh said the county will be able to make road and other infrastructure improvements through the $200 million “Build Will” public works program that’s being financed by the county’s share of the mass-transit sales tax increase approved the Legislature in March.
* Keep in mind that these are “likely” voters, and we don’t know whether American Research Group’s screen will be successful, but here’s the latest Illinois poll…
Margin of error: ± 4 percentage points, 95% of the time
Question wording and responses:
If the general election were being held today between John McCain for president and Sarah Palin for vice president, the Republicans, and Barack Obama for president and Joe Biden for vice president, the Democrats, for whom would you vote - McCain and Palin, Obama and Biden (names rotated), or someone else?
A new poll of voters in the eight states home to Big Ten universities shows Barack Obama and John McCain in an extraordinarily tight race for the presidency.
The first Big Ten Battleground Poll shows the candidates are in a statistical tie in seven of the states _ Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Obama leads comfortably in his home state of Illinois.
The survey was based on interviews with 600 randomly selected registered voters in each of the states. It is co-directed by University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientists Charles Franklin and Ken Goldstein with help from colleagues from participating universities.
Senate is coming back for ethics vote. More in a few minutes.
* 2:04 pm - Statement of Senate President Emil Jones…
“I plan to call the Senate back into session to deal with the issue of ethics - only at the request of my friend Barack Obama. I still stand by our interpretation of the 15-day rule.”
No session date has yet been set, but the Senate has until Thursday to vote on the amendatory veto override and stay within the 15 day time limit that began when the House overrode the governor’s AV.
* 2:08 pm - I asked specifically if the somewhat vague statement means that the ethics bill veto override will be called for a vote and was told by Senate President Jones’ spokesperson that Jones has committed to the bill’s sponsor to allow an override vote to take place.
Jones spokeswoman Cindy Davidsmeyer said other issues also are expected to be addressed next week but would not elaborate.
When they come back, they’ll also have to deal with the over veto overrides approved by the House. Plus, since they’ll be in session, they’ll have to deal with the governor’s vetoes of Senate bills - and that includes another ethics bill.
Also, there is huge pressure on the Senate to approve funding to keep state parks and historic sites open, and to restore money to slashed programs like alcohol and substance abuse services.
The governor announced today he’ll bring both the House and Senate into special session starting at 1 p.m. Monday.
Blagojevich’s statement announcing the session indicated he wants lawmakers to consider legislation that would “improve transparency in Springfield,” such as passing the major ethics rewrite he proposed last month.
“We have an opportunity to enact real ethics reform in Illinois that will cover all elected officials and help end the conflicts of interests that are inherent in Springfield politics,” Blagojevich said in a statement.
* 2:53 pm - Here’s the governor’s press release…
Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich will be
calling a special session on Monday, Sept. 22, in an
effort to bring real ethics reform to Illinois. The
governor will be asking the General Assembly to
consider legislation that would improve transparency
in Springfield.
“I am calling the House and the Senate back in to
address the issue of true ethics reform in the State
of Illinois,” Gov. Blagojevich said. “We have an
opportunity to enact real ethics reform in Illinois
that will cover all elected officials and help end
the conflicts of interests that are inherent in
Springfield politics.
I am asking the General Assembly to follow my lead
and ban the practice of “pay to play” politics and
then go a step further and bring about more reform by
banning the tradition of double dipping, revamping
the dishonest way pay raises are given out and by
shining a light on legislators who use their
influence to lobby before other boards and
commissions,” said Governor Blagojevich.
The Special Session will convene Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.
* 3:10 pm - As of right now, the secretary of state has not received any official notice of a special session from Gov. Blagojevich.
[Jones spokesperson Cindy Davidsmeyer] said she did not know if Jones was aware of Blagojevich’s special session plans before they were announced. Quinn said Jones now doesn’t have to call the Senate back himself, but she didn’t know if the governor and Jones had talked plans before announcing them.
The Senate had not set a date and time to return next week because schedules with legislators were still being worked out. Davidsmeyer said it’s possible the Senate could take up ethics and other issues – including reversing budget cuts made by the governor – on Monday, “but that’s a lot to do in one day,” she said.
* You’ve probably seen or heard about this already…
Chicago: City of big - and perhaps, tight - shoulders.
Using a formula that includes unemployment, pollution and congestion,
Forbes magazine has ranked us as America’s most stressful city.
…according to Forbes: “With 7.3 percent unemployment and a gallon of gas going for just under four bucks, the Windy City has some economic headwinds that result in a perfect storm for stress. Chi-town’s pollution problems (No. 7 in poor air quality) and lack of breathing room (No. 2 in population density) couple to create a Midwestern Molotov cocktail of stress.”
* The Tribune caught up with Senate President Emil Jones last night and asked him about the phone call he received yesterday from Barack Obama urging him to reconvene the Senate and take up the ethics legislation…
Whether that phone call will have any impact on Jones remained unclear.
Stepping outside a Senate Democratic fundraiser at a Chicago hotel Wednesday evening to smoke, Jones was asked whether Obama’s input would sway him.
“Come on, please, please, please, please, I’m here doing other stuff now. I’m not talking to [anyone] in the press,” Jones replied.
Illinois lawmakers passed legislation to ban contributors who have or seek contracts worth at least $50,000 from giving to statewide officials who dole out the business.
He told me a bit more than that, but you’ll have to subscribe to see it. Suffice to say, we still don’t know what Jones will do.
* Eric Zorn blogged today about the ethics bill, the amendatory veto, the House’s override and the Senate’s refusal (so far) to return to session within 15 calendar days of the House’s action…
Here’s a chance for Blagojevich to force the legislative process to work as it’s supposed to; to get beyond the petty sniping, strike a blow for representative democracy and call the Senate into special session before the deadlin
He asked the governor’s spokesman, Lucio Guerrero, whether Blagojevich would do so…
“I think it’s still a bit premature on that,” [Guerrero] wrote back. “We have been working with some legislators on ethics packages and will see how those negotiations go before deciding.”
Zorn wasn’t impressed.
After a bit, Guerrero wrote back to Zorn, and he updated the post…
What you fail to tell your readers is that the Governor has already banned anyone from doing business with the state to contribute to him - and to any other elected official. He did it through Executive Order. I am not sure why you would leave that out. The Executive Order is law starting Jan 1 and eliminated “pay to play” politics from everyone - from the Governor to the General Assembly.
Zorn fired back, saying, in part…
critics contend the order doesn’t have the weight of law because the governor can rescind it at any time. One can agree — as I do — with some of the proposals in the amendatory veto while still disagreeing strongly with the way he is using the amendatory veto to advance them
It’s more than that. I’ve been talking with some legal experts this week, including at the attorney general’s office, who say that the governor’s EO is clearly unconstitutional. The Constitution’s only reference of executive orders has to do with agency reorganization, but using an EO to ban contractors at state agencies from making lawful contributions to political candidates doesn’t seem to fit with that language.
* Related…
* NEW: Boisterous crowd decries social-services cuts in Urbana
* There are worse scandals in the world, but it doesn’t excuse this behavior…
Before Tammy Duckworth, the state’s director of Veterans Affairs, headlined a campaign event Wednesday for a north suburban congressional candidate, she scheduled a day off from work to avoid violating a state law prohibiting government employees from politicking on the public’s dime. […]
But when Duckworth drove up to the event for Democrat Dan Seals in a state-owned white Dodge van, she violated another law banning the use of state property or resources for political purposes. By the time the event was over, the van had been moved out of sight of the Wheeling AMVETS Post 66 building, where reporters gathered to hear her endorse Seals.
That was a stupid thing to do, and her spokesperson told reporters later that it was a mistake…
“She will reimburse the state for the use of the state vehicle, and will not make this mistake again,” said Jessica Woodward, a Veterans Affairs spokeswoman.
But that didn’t stop Seals’ opponent, GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, from pouncing…
“It is worrying to see a Blagojevich staffer showing up in a state of Illinois car, when it appears to be a direct violation of the law,” said Kirk, a four-term incumbent who represents the North Shore’s 10th District.
What’s more worrying for me is that the Blagojevich administration has been accused in the past of ignoring or deliberately violating veterans hiring preference laws in order to hire political hacks. We haven’t heard much about that since Duckworth, a decorated war veteran and former congressional candidate, started working for the administration.
I’ve been using my laptop this week whilst in Chicago and it’s killing me. I hadn’t used the machine in a while, and it’s kinda outdated, so I didn’t realize when I got here that it would take three times as long to write, review and publish/post.
* In an “exclusive” report, the Associated Press tells us what most of us already knew: The governor has never visited a state park and most state historic sites…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich won’t know what he missed when two dozen state parks and historic sites shut down because of budget cuts.
That’s because he’s never visited them, according to Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero.
“A lot of people haven’t been, I mean the decision to close them are based on attendance figures not on whether the governor likes them or not,” Guerrero said.
Actually, I’m not so sure the closure decisions were based on attendance. Other legislators have asked about that point and were told different things.
* More from Guerrero…
“[The governor is] a student of history so … he obviously realizes the significance of all the sites,” Guerrero said.
The governor does enjoy history books, but during a conversation with me last year he mistakenly claimed that Vandalia was the state’s first capital. Nope.
* And I love this spin…
Blagojevich not visiting adds weight to the argument that the administration’s decisions on what sites to close are not subjective, Guerrero said.
It also adds weight to the argument that he has zero appreciation for the problems he’s creating. I mean, is it too much to ask that the governor visit a state park or historic site once in a while?
…Republican challenger Marty Ozinga has called out his Democratic opponent — state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson — for not doing enough in her leadership role to keep the state parks open.
But, the harshest words came from a fellow state senator, Republican Gary Dahl, at a Grundy County candidates’ breakfast this week.
“I would encourage everybody to call the Senate leadership, and I would include in that Debbie Halvorson,” Dahl told the audience. […]
“Senator Halvorson’s title, which she has been proud of for the last four years — she is the only woman to hold this position — is the Senate Majority Leader,” Dahl expounded after the candidate’s forum. “In my mind, that tells me that she is the No. 1 person in the Democratic Caucus. If she is not able to hold the Democratic Caucus together and stand up to Emil Jones, what is she going to do for us in Congress?
All the while, Halvorson has served as Jones’ chief legislative deputy. As majority leader, she is Jones’ surrogate. She serves at the pleasure of the Senate president and earns a stipend of about $18,000 for the role, in addition to the $65,353 she earns as a lawmaker. […]
Until recently, she and Jones worked as allies. That’s the deal. You can’t be majority leader and be independent of the Senate president. […]
But that doesn’t mean Halvorson should be held accountable for everything Jones says or does. […]
When Halvorson took a more active role in the bill this spring and bucked Jones on other issues, including the recall of public officials, which she supported, Jones removed her as rules committee chairwoman. Jones sidelined another ally, state Sen. Lou Viverito (D-Stickney), last year after he voted against Jones’ wishes. There is a price to pay for disobedience.
“I don’t try to make excuses for him,” Halvorson said of Jones. “I don’t try to baby sit him. I go and tell him, ‘Do you know these comments are crazy? This is ridiculous.’
“But my job as majority leader is to listen to the caucus and make sure the Senate president knows what they want. I also have tried to empower each individual in that caucus. If I carried the water for everyone’s bills, I’d be cuckoo. Sen. Harmon wanted this (ethics) bill. I helped him.
She does, indeed, speak to Jones about these questionable actions, but she only started doing that on a regular basis once she decided to run for Congress.
Halvorson has not been a very powerful majority leader like her predecessor, the late Vince Demuzio. Ironically, her influence has increased since Ozinga got into the race because Jones’ members are worried that their actions could harm Halvorson’s campaign.
Kristen says Halvorson should maybe wear a sleeve, not the entire jacket. In reality, that’s probably true. But she is the majority leader, and that means she’s agreed to be the partner. So, if the jacket fits…
* Phil Kadner writes today about the controversial language inserted into the constitutional convention ballot question by a bipartisan legislative committee. The language, which Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn wants removed, points out that the last time the voters were asked an overwhelming majority voted against it…
Just about every major special interest group (unions and businesses) is opposed to the convention.
So are the most powerful elected leaders of this most corrupt state.
In other words, the people who can buy influence and the people who sell their influence don’t want a constitutional convention. They’re worried that real political reform might take place, such as a recall amendment.
But instead of talking about that, they’re telling teachers they could lose their pensions and scaring women with stories of anti-abortion laws.
They’re probably going to spend millions of dollars before November telling people to vote “no” on the convention.
Yet, despite their money and their power, they still felt the need to corrupt the very language of the ballot question.
They don’t trust the voters. But they fear the voters.
In more than 30 years of reporting, I can’t remember any referendum question including the vote totals of a previous referendum.
“Are you for calling a constitutional convention?”
“Yes” or “No.”
That’s all that’s really needed. The state already is required to mail a pamphlet explaining the pros and cons to all registered voters.
White’s legal staff is reviewing the wording.
If it stands, a court challenge is inevitable.
This may seem like a small thing, but it is the very reason voters need to vote “yes” for the constitutional convention.
Organized by the UIC United chapter of the State Universities Annuitants Association (SUAA), a panel debated the pros and cons of the once-a-generation Constitutional Convention vote on Tuesday night. Representing pro were populist Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn and ethics crusader state Representative John Fritchey (D-Chicago); on the con side were former state Senator, comptroller, and gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch and League of Women Voters official Kathryn Nesburg. Over two hours of debate and question-and-answer led to a neat and simple line between the two sides:
Pro: If we have a constitutional convention, we could make things better.
Con: If we have a constitutional convention, we could make things worse.
I’m still waiting for anybody to point to any con-con within the last 50 years in any state that has resulted in a significantly worse document.
* There’s yet another debate today. This is from a Pat Quinn press release..
On Thursday, September 18, at 12:00 p.m., Just one day after Constitution Day, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn will participate in a panel discussion on the topic of a Constitutional Convention, hosted by The Chicago Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society, The John Marshall Law School Faculty and The Chicago Council of Lawyers at John Marshall Law School, 315 South Plymouth Court, Room 300. […]
Lt. Governor Quinn will be joined by Dawn Clark Netsch, former State Senator and former Illinois State Comptroller; State Rep. Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago); and Ronald C. Smith, Professor at The John Marshall Law School. The event will be moderated by Wayne W. Whalen, Managing Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom.
I may go to that. I haven’t been to any of these debates yet, so it might be interesting.
Officials are confident the state’s 10th casino license - which has been tied up in litigation for the last decade - finally will be given out this year.
Sixty applications for the lucrative and final gambling license have been sent out so far, said officials from a firm in charge of evaluating suitors before the Illinois Gaming Board makes the final call.
“There’s been a high degree of interest, which is good,” said David Luwisch, a director at Credit Suisse, said Wednesday.
Applications are due Oct. 14, and the next day Credit Suisse will announce the entities that bid, how many millions they are prepared to ante up, and proposed project locations before whittling the list down to three finalists.
“Responsible governments don’t borrow money to pay the bills especially after raising taxes to record levels.” Claypool said. “What Todd Stroger is saying is he’s borrowing money to pay the bills even though he just raised your [sales] taxes by $420 million. He’s showing extraordinary financial mismanagement and arrogance.”
Durbin and his Republican challenger, Dr. STEVE SAUERBERG of Willowbrook, have agreed to participate in a televised forum and a radio debate.
Both candidates will appear on “Chicago Tonight” on WTTW-TV, the PBS station in Chicago at 7 p.m. Oct. 6. The forum will be hosted by program part-time host and contributor CAROL MARIN, said MARY FIELD, executive producer.
“She was still driving her car at age 90,” her son said in a telephone interview. “She enjoyed shopping, going to casinos, living life very large. She was enjoying her retirement.”
