* My syndicated newspaper column this week takes a look at how a looming national recession is spurring a hopelessly divided Washington, DC to take unifed action. And then I compare it to the current situation here in Illinois. The conclusion…
The capital plan will create hundreds of thousands of jobs all over Illinois, either directly or indirectly.
It will help cushion the blow of an economic downturn. Heck, even if nothing bad happens, it still will be hugely beneficial to the economy and to ordinary, everyday citizens who drive on those dilapidated roads and bridges, send their kids to crumbling schools and ride on rickety rail lines.
If Washington, D.C., politicians can get their act together, surely Springfield can.
The governor needs to decide whether he wants to be a silly, can’t-do buffoon who lives to score cheap political points, or a real leader.
He needs to do whatever it takes to get this done.
And if he can’t lead, he ought to get out of the way.
Q: People always complain about the goofy things Blagojevich says and does. Is he the only one who acts this way?
A: Absolutely. Most lawmakers are very reasonable. For example, state Rep. Kenneth Dunkin, D-Chicago, recently introduced legislation that would ban a pedestrian from using a cell phone while crossing the street.
Q: Since Blagojevich previously served in the Illinois House and in Congress, wouldn’t it make sense that he’d know how to deal with the General Assembly?
A: You’d think. But, in a stop last week in Decatur, he made it clear that he’d prefer not having to deal with those pesky lawmakers. Here’s what he said: “I must confess, I kind of wish I could do just about everything by myself, because I feel Illinois would be a heck of a lot better.”
* Bernie’s column is also pretty funny, but probably not intentionally…
Like lots of folks, U.S. Rep. PHIL HARE, D-Rock Island, is worried that unless a capital projects bill is passed by the Illinois General Assembly, billions in federal matching dollars for highways and bridges will be lost.
To express that view, Hare told me in a visit to Springfield Friday, he has tried to contact Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH many times.
“Well, I haven’t talked to the governor,” Hare said. “I’ve sent three letters and made a number of calls.”
How many times did he call?
“Eighteen times,” he said.
He initially estimated those calls were made over the last four or five months, but when asked again, he said they may stretch back to last February.
* The Post-Dispatch has a new poll out, and many of you are not going to like some of the results.
For instance, when asked…
Illinois law has recently been changed to require that senior citizens be allowed to ride free on all local public transit systems. What’s your opinion?
71 percent said they agreed with the plan, and just 18 percent said they disagreed.
* Also, 42 percent said they had a favorable opinion of the governor (double the results in the last poll), while just 37 percent said the same about the Illinois Legislature. 54 percent said they viewed Dick Durbin in a favorable light.
* 41 percent approved of Blagojevich’s job performance, while 59 percent disapproved. That ain’t great.
* But, when asked…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has said universal health care coverage for Illinoisans is the most important issue facing the state. What’s your opinion?
52 percent agreed that it was the most important issue while just 33 percent disagreed.
The Obama Illinois campaign, in advance of the Feb. 5 balloting–where the Clinton team is making a run for Illinois delegates–is ramping up, with all the top Democratic office holders stumping for Barack Obama starting on Monday with one exception–Gov. Blagojevich. There’s just too much heat on Blagojevich.
Blagojevich’s name is surfacing in too many corruption investigations, including that of indicted Tony Rezko, a major Blagojevich fund-raiser who has also raised money for Obama. With Rezko surfacing as a campaign issue for Obama–and with Blagojevich’s own problems, no wonder he won’t be at the Monday press conference in Chicago.
* This is one of the older tricks in the political playbook…
[GOP Congressional candidate Chris Lauzen] won the fundraising battle in the third quarter, raising $536,505 and thereby beating Oberweis at his own game.
Much of that money consisted of a $324,750 loan from Lauzen himself that he took out Sept. 27 — just three days before the reporting period ended. Curiously, he repaid that loan Oct. 1, which begs the question: Why did he need the loan? To maintain the appearance of being able to keep up with a man he accuses of buying the election with “big money and big insider establishment clout?”
Yep. That would be the answer. He wanted it to look like he had the personal finances to keep up with Oberweis. But then he repaid the loan a few days later, so he apparently doesn’t have the bucks to spend.
Fundraising slowed in the fourth quarter for Jay Footlik in his bid to win the Democratic nomination in the 10th Congressional District.
Footlik… raised about $130,000 since Oct. 1 and had about the same amount on hand, according to the federal report he filed. Footlik, who returned home to the suburbs to run for Congress, had raised about a half-million relatively quickly last year.
His primary opponent, Dan Seals, had nearly five times that for the stretch run leading up to the Feb. 5 election.
In the world of campaign finance, money is often the barometer of strength.
By those terms and based on latest financial reports, Aaron Schock is looking like Superman compared to his opponents, having raised more than $800,000 for his congressional campaign to date with more fundraisers already planned. And John Morris, a professional fundraiser by trade, has raised just more than half that amount, nearly exclusively in individual contributions.
Jim McConoughey, on the other hand, raised only about $121,000 and is indebted to himself to the tune of about $270,000. He’s got $47,000 cash on hand, but about $44,000 in outstanding bills.
* This can’t be good for Barack Obama’s post South Carolina momentum…
Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a key fundraiser for Gov. Blagojevich and other Illinois politicians, was arrested early today by federal agents after prosecutors alleged he had violated terms of the bond in his fraud case.
“Tony Rezko was arrested without incident at his home in Wilmette,” FBI spokesman Tom Simon said. “It was pursuant to a warrant issued following a government motion to revoke his bond.”
Rezko appeared briefly this morning before U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, who is to preside over his fraud trial next month. Another hearing will be held at 12:30 p.m. today; Rezko remains in federal custody.
* Automatically updating news reports culled from numerous sources…
*** SUNDAY UPDATE *** Ted Kennedy to endorse Obama…
Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, will announce his backing of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Washington tomorrow, ABC News reported, citing an unidentified person close to Kennedy.
“I’ll let Ted Kennedy speak for himself,'’ Illinois Senator Barack Obama said on ABC’s “This Week'’ program today. “And nobody does it better. But obviously, any of the Democratic candidates would love to have Ted Kennedy’s support. And we have certainly actively sought it.'’
Two sources say [Hillary Clinton has] directed a flood of calls [Kennedy’s] way, with everyone from union leaders to his Massachusetts constituents scrambling to stop what Clinton’s camp is worried could be an endorsement of Obama.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) will deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union on Monday. And then Tuesday or Wednesday, she plans to endorse Barack Obama, numerous Democratic sources said.
* Obama’s victory speech…
* 8:01 pm - On closer examination, the AP may be simply sticking with their spin by political writer Ron Fournier that the results would all be about a racial divide. Here’s what Fournier wrote yesterday…
What [Clinton] has won in South Carolina is the larger campaign to polarize voters around race and marginalize Obama (in the insidious words of one of her top advisers) as “The Black Candidate.”
* But, is that what really happened, or did Clinton fail? From MSNBC’s First Read tonight…
As for the white vote, Obama did not win the majority but neither did either of his two rivals. In fact, while Clinton got 36% of the white vote — it really was pretty close to a three-way split; Edwards got 40% and Obama 24%.
An MSNBC/McClatchy poll released on Thursday showed Obama’s support among white voters to be 10%. So consider his showing tonight a big improvement.
For the first time, it occurs to me, Obama really won the expectations game: Those recent polls set up an expectation of racial polarization, and primed us to write that story, and now the story will be about Obama’s healthy support from whites.
Obama won Iowa, one of the whitest states in the country, and also won more than a third of white voters in multi-candidate contests in New Hampshire and Nevada — even though Clinton won both states.
But in South Carolina, that figure plummeted and showed a vast division between the races — Obama won just a quarter of white voters and 80 percent of blacks, the exit poll showed. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton split most of the white vote.
* 7:35 pm - Clinton’s camp appears to have over-sold the possibility of a close race in South Carolina. Mike Flannery filed this report about an hour before the polls closed…
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign worked all week to convince reporters and others that anything less than a double-digit victory by Obama should be redefined as a victory for her — an argument echoed Saturday by a supporter from Illinois, J.B. Pritzker.
Oops.
* 7:29 pm - Apparently, there will be no gigantic endorsement tomorrow. A member of the Kennedy family will likely give Obama the nod, but not Ted.
* 7:11 pm - All the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in Florida, but this e-mail just arrived from Clinton’s campaign…
“We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida and the twenty-two states as well as American Samoa who will vote on February 5th.”
* 7:10 pm - Josh Marshall on Bill and Hillary Clinton…
The presidency is a singular job. It should stay that way. And it’s precisely because I’m looking forward to supporting her if she is the nominee that I hate seeing her being overshadowed by her spouse and having her husband bigfoot the process which diminishes her and makes me think her presidency could be a 4 year soap opera where Bill won’t shut up and let her have a shot at doing the job.
“This was a very, very strong repudiation of the tactics used here,” Axelrod said. “Divisiveness would rule, the old techniques of slash and burn politics was working — that was the story line for the past 10 days. The people of South Carolina were resolute that, ‘We don’t want to go there. This is about the future, not the past.’ “
* 6:47 pm - Closer to home…
Chicago set a new single-day record for Early Voting today with nearly 5,800 ballots cast, ahead of the traditional Early Voting “peak week.” (The previous record was 5,078 ballots cast in the last day of Early Voting before the 2007 municipal election.)
But, Edwards won white males with 44 percent, with Obama and Clinton were essentially tied. Clinton won white females with 42 percent, to 35 for Edwards and 22 for Obama. Black females went for Obama 82-17.
* 6:15 pm - Obama won independent voters with 40 percent, to 35 percent for Edwards and just 24 percent for Clinton. Obama also won Democratic voters with 58 percent, to 28 for Clinton.
Roughly 6 in 10 South Carolina Democratic primary voters said Bill Clinton’s campaigning was important in how they ultimately decided to vote, and of those voters, 47 percent went for Barack Obama while only 38 percent went for Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, the exit polls also indicate Obama easily beat Clinton among those voters who decided in the last three days — when news reports heavily covered the former president’s heightened criticisms of Obama. Twenty percent of South Carolina Democrats made their decision in the last three days and 57 percent of them chose Obama, while only 18 percent picked Clinton
* 5:35 pm - A friend who is working in South Carolina for Obama today sends along this e-mail with a picture…
I took this picture outside a polling place this morning at a church.. You don’t see this too much in cook county.
He’s right. You don’t see signs like this around these parts…
* 5:08 pm - The AP won’t release the head-to-head results from the S. Carolina exit polls until voting has ended in about an hour, but here is a snippet of what they did write about…
Interviews with voters as they left their polling places indicated about half the electorate was black.
Half the voters said the economy was the most important issue in the race. About one quarter picked health care. And only one in five said it was the war in Iraq, underscoring the extent to which the once-dominant issue has faded in the face of financial concerns.
Roughly half the voters said former President Clinton’s campaigning for his wife was very important to their choice.
Disabled-rights advocates and Chicago paratransit riders are planning a last-ditch effort to head off a two-fold increase in the cost of the monthly pass set for Feb. 1, saying the increase could put public transportation beyond the reach of many disabled people.
Amid the swirl of controversy and legislative action over giving senior citizens free rides on the CTA, Metra and Pace, some disabled riders say increasing the price of the paratransit pass from $75 to $150 a month will cause greater hardship to people who live on disability checks. […]
Paratransit advocates meeting Thursday questioned why the cost of the monthly pass — only available in Chicago because it is a holdover from when the CTA ran the service — is going up while other fare increases were forestalled. The cost of single-ticket paratransit service will also stay level.
* The Question: Should public transit just be free to all? Explain.
* I posted this photo earlier this morning for a reason…
* In reality, this photo means nothing. Hillary Clinton is absolutely right that she’s taken thousands of photos with people over the decades. She’s also right to point out that, unlike Obama, she never had a longterm relationship with Tony Rezko.
* That being said, however, the leak of this pic is precisely the same thing that Hillary and Bill Clinton have been doing to Obama for weeks.
Asked to name a weakness, Obama mentioned his messy desk and reliance on staff. Clinton faulted him for it, saying she was better prepared to oversee the government bureaucracy.
What a crock.
* The Clintons have flat-out lied about Obama’s “Present” votes on abortion bills to make him somehow look anti-choice. They have twisted his comments on Republicans and Ronald Reagan beyond recognition to make him look like a traitor to his party. They even leaked opposition research to a gullible LA Times reporter about how Obama had changed his vote on a few bills.
* So, I got a big chuckle when I received this e-mail from the Clinton campaign this morning…
Clinton Campaign Holds Conference Call TODAY on Obama Campaign Attacks
WHAT: Conference call TODAY to discuss Obama Campaign attacks
WHEN: TODAY, Friday, January 25, 12:00 p.m. EST
TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONFERENCE CALL,
PLEASE DIAL: 800-434-1335, CODE: 281-378
* None of those Clinton attacks really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. And neither does the above photo. The only thing it proves is that Rezko was everywhere. He’s like a toxic political Zelig.
* All that being said, I totally agree with Mark Brown that it’s past time for Obama to come completely clean about the one Rezko issue that truly does matter, at least as far as I’m concerned.
Who set up the deal with Rezko on the house and land purchase? Obama and Rezko were both the top bidders on those properties, but that, to me is not the issue. What I want to know is how - exactly - did this thing come about? Did Obama call Rezko and ask for help? We know that the property owner wanted to sell both pieces at the same time. Obama didn’t have the money to buy both. What was the deal?
And, frankly, what was he thinking?
* I was looking for a new place to live about the same time Obama was. I remember seeing an ad for Rezmar townhomes on the Chicago River. I checked the website and thought, “Wow, these are perfect.”
Then, a little voice inside my head said, “Miller, you’re gonna wind up on the front page of a newspaper if you buy one of those, no matter how much you pay. Don’t be an idiot.”
So, the idea was immediately flushed from my brain.
I knew better than to do any kind of deal, no matter how above-board it might be, with Tony Rezko.. Obama didn’t. I can’t get past that problem, and no pimpy little photo of Rezko with Hillary and Bill are gonna make up for that.
“We can’t be giving out highway contracts and then having the governor the next day say, ‘Hey, how about contributing to my fundraiser?’” Quinn told reporters at the Statehouse. “That’s trouble with a capital T.”
Quinn also said Gov. Rod Blagojevich should disclose exactly what services his campaign has been buying from the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn. Campaign reports filed this week brought billings by that firm, where former Gov. Jim Thompson works, to more than $2 million. “This should not be some kind of mystery,” Quinn said. “This is not healthy.”
* The LT was also asked when he had last spoken with the governor…
“I don’t think he’s talked to too many people, other than his very close palace guard,” Quinn said.
Democratic Cook County state’s attorney candidate Anita Alvarez accused opponent Howard Brookins Jr. on Thursday of dragging his feet on child-support obligations, but he called the attack “disgraceful” and said the dispute stemmed from bills involving a doctor not fully covered by his insurance.
* Way down in the article…
Brookins fired back later in the day with documents appearing to back up his claim that he’s fully paid up on child-support payments.
Brookins, in a prepared statement, said “I have made every required child support payment from the time of separation with my ex-wife through today. In addition I have consistently provided health insurance for my son. This dispute stemmed from the fact that I provided health coverage … through an HMO, and my wife took him to an out-of-network physician. As a result, we needed the judge to determine who was responsible for the out-of-network payments.”
In one of the clearest dividing lines in the Cook County state’s attorney race, the one Republican and six Democratic candidates are sharply divided on whether to allow police officers to give out warnings instead of filing formal charges for possession of drugs in small amounts.
Four Democrats said they had problems with the concept while two Democrats and the Republican endorsed it Thursday.
Allen had raised the most money by the end of 2007, with $351,774 on hand. Since Jan. 1, Allen has taken in at least $125,590 more. But Suffredin could be beating him in the money race, with $271,436 at the end of the year and an additional $391,883 raised since Jan 1.
And no one knows how the presidential primary will affect the race. Women turning out in force for HIllary Clinton could help Alvarez, the only woman running. And “if there is a huge [Barack] Obama vote, on the surface it helps Brookins,” the better-known of the two black candidates, Green said.
* The Sun-Times also looks at some business as usual. Brookins helped get money for a bigtime subdivision in his ward, and then apparently got his girlfriend (now his wife) a job selling the houses…
Brookins takes credit for scoring $87.1 million in public cash for the project developers, including $11.6 million from the city to entice developers to build. […]
After the deal was done, Brookins, who’s running for Cook County state’s attorney, says he remembers “asking these guys if we can refer people to them for work.”
So, he did. One of the alderman’s recommendations was his girlfriend, Ebonie Taylor, during his bitter divorce from his first wife, Nanette Brookins. Ebonie Taylor, who married Ald. Brookins after his divorce was final, got hired to sell the Beverly Ridge homes — which go for between $285,000 and $560,000 — for straight commission.
Having a good ballot name can go a long way to winning an election. This isn’t just cynicism on my part. It’s been borne out in recent Illinois political history. […]
More famous, and with far more impact, was the 1986 Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor. George Sangmeister, a State Senator from Will County faced off against Lyndon LaRouche supporter Mark Fairchild. There probably wasn’t a single Democratic elected official in the state that didn’t support Sangmeister, to the point that the party organization never really worked the election. On election night, the wacko with the nice name, Mark Fairchild, beat Sangmeister. Adlai Stevenson, faced with the choice of being on the ticket with Fairchild or running as a third party, decided on the latter. It killed the Democrats that year as Jim Thompson crushed Stevenson.
After receiving yet another question today from a Republican about who to vote for in the race for U.S. Senator, I’m very concerned that we might end up with another Fairchild on our ticket.
* Shelden went on to describe Sauerberg’s opponents, one of whom has a much better ballot name, and asks…
Are we setting ourselves up for the nice sounding Andy Martin to be our candidate against Dick Durbin?
* Sauerberg hasn’t filed a campaign finance statement yet, so we don’t know how much he’s raised. I checked around yesterday and was told that he has done a couple of mailers and will probably do some radio.
Sources tell Sneed William Wrigley Jr. placed a phone call to Cubs management wondering why his family was bushwhacked by comments made by Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney at the recent Cubs Convention.
* Daley looking for other mayors to support Olympics bid
* Pate was right — nothing wrong with registration deadlines
