* The state’s Legislative Inspector General has opened an investigation into Rep. Paul Froehlich at the request of Illinois Review…
Subject: Representative Froehlich
I received in today’s mail your request for investigation into matters involving the above-referenced member of the Illinois House of Representatives, bearing a May 27, 2009 postmark. I am not sure the reason for the delay in actual delivery, but wanted to let you know that I have received it and will be opening an investigation into the matter. Thank you for bringing the matter to my attention. I will let you know when the investigation is completed. In the meantime, should you need to reach me, here is my contact information. For faster communication, you may feel free to use the following email address.
Thomas J. Homer
Legislative Inspector General
Actually, there is a new LIG and I sent him an e-mail asking for comment on this story. Wait and see, I suppose. [Same LIG, new executive director. Oops.]
North Shore Republican Congressman Mark Kirk, who has been contemplating a costly run for the U.S. Senate or governor, reported Monday that he has built up a campaign warchest of more than $1 million.
Kirk raised more than $580,000 during the second quarter of the year, according to a statement his campaign released. Such a fundraising performance is robust by the standards of U.S. House members but lags slightly behind the amount of money Kirk raised during the same period in the last election cycle.
A statement released by spokesman Eric Elk described the results as “on pace” with Kirk’s fundraising during the second quarter of last election cycle. Kirk raised $606,000 during the second quarter of 2007 and had accumulated a balance of $1.1 million at the end of the period. […]
The statement from Kirk’s campaign described this year’s fundraising as “strong” given the economic recession.
* Congressman Shimkus throws an Elton John fundraiser for the second time, but won’t attend…
At least two members of the House of Representatives–both of whom are on record opposing gay rights–will be hosting fundraisers at the upcoming Billy Joel/Elton John “Face2Face” concert at Nationals Park on July 11. […]
This isn’t Shimkus’ first Elton fundraiser. In 2005 the Kentucky Democrat reported:
“A spokesman for Shimkus, Steve Tomaszewski, said his boss’s fund-raiser at the Elton John concert was neither an endorsement of the singer’s politics nor a betrayal of Shimkus’ stand on gay marriage. Shimkus won’t attend himself, however, because of a scheduling conflict, Tomaszewski said.”
Tomaszewski confirmed Thursday to Party Time that the congressman will most likely not be attending the fundraiser on July 11 either.
* Gov. Quinn is meeting with suburban legislators and Carlos Hernandez Gomez is live Tweeting…
State Rep. Jack Franks says Illinois needs a two-year budget to fix the current fiscal mess which he says Gov. Pat Quinn has mishandled.
about 2 hours ago from mobile web
Waiting outside a meeting between Gov. Pat Quinn & suburban lawmakers over the state’s budget mess. Three plus hours I’ll never get back.
27 minutes ago from mobile web
* And the News Gazette is live-Tweeting today’s testimony before the commission investigating “clout” admissions to the U of I.
* In other news, the scandal-plagued Tribune Co. has agreed to sell the Cubs and Wrigley Field to the Ricketts family…
Tribune Co. intends to sell the Chicago Cubs to the Ricketts family, sources familiar with the matter said Monday, ending the company’s flirtation with another buyer after negotiations with the Rickettses had stalled two months ago.
After more than five months of negotiations, Tribune Co. has a written agreement to sell the baseball team and other assets to the Ricketts family for about $900 million. The two sides reached a deal over the weekend and forwarded an outline of their transaction — what is known as a term sheet — to Major League Baseball for its initial comments, according to sources who declined to be identified because an agreement has not been announced.
The two sides still have details to work out that will be included in a definitive agreement, sources said. The term sheet sent to MLB includes information on the deal’s capital structure and how the Ricketts family will finance the transaction, sources said.
Ricketts Field? Sounds appropriate.
…Adding… From a press release…
Former Deputy State Treasurer Raja Krishnamoorthi announced today that he has raised more than $390,000 for a potential campaign for Illinois Comptroller.
The amount is believed to be the most ever raised by a first-time Comptroller candidate this early in a campaign, according to records available on the Illinois State Board of Elections website.
Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat, is exploring a run for Comptroller should incumbent Dan Hynes choose not to run for a fourth term in 2010. […]
Krishnamoorthi, 35, formed his exploratory committee on April 22, 2009 — just 10 weeks before the June 30 fundraising deadline.
* Who would be the strongest Republican gubernatorial candidate in a general election? Explain. Also, can that person win the GOP primary? Explain as well.
And, please, try to avoid snark. I know it’s an uphill climb, but take the question seriously. Thanks.
[Cook County] Police recently issued “IR” No. 2 million to a 38-year-old Indiana man arrested in the south suburbs on charges of possession of $10 worth of marijuana and a minor traffic violation.
IR numbers — the “IR” stands for “individual record” — are like Social Security numbers for criminals. They are assigned to criminal suspects the first time they are arrested in Cook County. The same number sticks with a person for every subsequent arrest in Cook County.
At the current pace, with police issuing about 5,000 new IR numbers a month, Cook County would reach IR No. 3 million in about 16 years.
That’s a far faster pace than it took to get to 2 million, even considering that the system of tracking has changed over the years. At one point, the Chicago Police Department assigned a new identification number for every arrest. But in 1962, department officials decided that a single number should track a person’s entire criminal history.
Has it occurred to anyone in charge that arresting people who are carrying a dime bag of weed is probably doing more harm than good?
Since this guy got a new IR number, I’m assuming this was a first offense, and not some notorious gang member whom the cops are keeping close tabs on. If so, how the heck does it do anyone any good to throw this man in the slammer? I am no Tony Peraica fan, but two of his recent Twitter posts are right on the money…
Read this for a perfect example as why or County Jail and Juvenile Detention are packed to the rafters. http://bit.ly/xknZp
Police arrest, SA prosecutes, arestees for $10 worth of marijuana as we spend $100/day to keep them locked up. A ticket and a fine better?
* And while the county coppers are busting some poor schmuck in the south ‘burbs for possessing a tiny amount of marijuana, we have mayhem on the city streets…
Four people were killed and at least 22 others, including an 8-year-old boy, were wounded in shootings and stabbings during a bloody six hours late Saturday into early Sunday.
Homicides in Chicago have dropped 12.7 percent, and crime overall has fallen 10.4 percent in the first six months of this year, according to preliminary statistics released Friday by Chicago Police.
When compared with the same period last year, crime has dropped or did not increase in 24 of the 25 Chicago Police districts, with fewer incidents of violent and property crimes in every category.
There were 199 homicides in the first six months of the year in the city, compared with 229 from January through June of last year.
Of course, considering last year’s homicide rate was the highest in five years, the (slightly) lower numbers are more a return to normal than a real decrease and the police department just recently lost another of its officers in the line of duty. Which couldn’t have helped already low morale in the CPD. Oh, and police arrested a guy with a loaded shotgun at the Taste last night. So…yeah.
* Related…
* Juvenile detention staffers face crackdown : Tensions have simmered to a full boil as Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center bosses crack down on employee abuse of sick time and family leave — and investigate employee abuse of the 10- to 16-year-old inmates.
* After last year’s violence city welcomes peaceful fireworks: This year’s Taste of Chicago July 3 fireworks spectacular transpired relatively peacefully, viewed by 1.25 million people and unmarred by the shootings that took place last year.
* Could Gitmo transplants end up in Illinois prisons? : While other cities across the U.S. have balked at taking in any of the more than 200 detainees from the infamous lockup in Cuba that President Barack Obama hopes to shutter, Marion is part of a small contingent seeking out the prisoners — and the money and jobs they might bring.
As with any state legislative overtime session and possible government shutdown, “Job One” right now is making sure somebody else gets the blame.
Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn dramatically vetoed an appropriations bill and then held a press conference to lay full blame for the overtime deadlock at the General Assembly’s feet. The bill, he said, would create too many hardships for social service agencies, spark never-ending lawsuits, prevent his administration from hiring much-needed contractors, etc.
Quinn also blamed House Speaker Michael Madigan for the impasse over extending the budget by a month or so to help buy more time to cut a deal.
Unbeknownst to many, Madigan was still in Springfield during Quinn’s press conference, so it was quite a surprise when he announced his own presser shortly after Quinn finished talking to reporters.
Speaker Madigan’s goal was simple: Paint the governor as a flip-flopper, and blame those flip-flops on the inability to come to a satisfactory conclusion of the spring session. Clean and concise.
Madigan listed four significant Quinn flip-flops which, Madigan said, were making it difficult to do business.
Quinn’s broken pledge not to tie the fate of the desperately needed public works projects legislation to the state’s budget, was one flip-flop, Madigan rightly pointed out. The governor’s support of the state Senate’s tax hike and then his opposition the very next day was another. And then there was Quinn’s early demand that the “shovel ready” capital projects bill be passed immediately, even though he is currently refusing to implement the program. Last week, Quinn heaped praise on legislators for moving forward on a pension borrowing plan to free up $2 billion for the state’s budget and then lobbied Senators to kill the bill a few hours later.
“So, these are all flip-flops,” Madigan said. “They are not helpful to his credibility.”
Quinn has his reasons for flip-flopping, and most of them aren’t very good. But the governor is not totally to blame here.
Who is to blame? As always, it’s really everybody.
Quinn said last week he opposed the pension borrowing plan in the Senate to send a “message” that an adequate budget resolution must be found right away. But that pension proposal would’ve pumped over $2 billion into private social service agencies that Quinn said he’s so concerned about. The veto means that many agencies are now staring at bankruptcy.
Quinn is right that Madigan’s complete opposition to any temporary budget extension killed the idea. Madigan said that budget extensions tended to delay decisions which needed to be made - the very same reason Quinn gave for his flip-flop on the pension borrowing proposal. Basically, they’re talking past each other with the same talking points. Not helpful.
Quinn’s flip-flops came from locking himself into positions that he eventually realized had damaged his end-game of passing a tax increase. He also mistakenly believed that the legislative leaders would play nice. They don’t. So, he radically changed course and infuriated the leaders, who say they operate on “Your word is your bond” - especially when it suits their purposes.
There can be no doubt that Speaker Madigan and other legislative leaders repeatedly attempted to maneuver Quinn into a corner for their own advantage.
You can trust the leaders most of the time when they give you their word on where they are on a certain bill or idea - but you can never trust them before they reach that point. They’ll always be looking out for their own self interests, or the interests of their respective caucuses. Quinn was just too green and naive and made the fatal mistake of failing to include in his inner circle enough people who understood the ways of the Statehouse world - and refused to heed the warnings of the few people who do.
This blame game stuff may all seem pretty petty while the world appears to be collapsing around Springfield - and it is. But it’s all they know. And in a world where political positioning means everything, being successfully blamed can blow even a reasonable position out of the water.
Quinn’s press conference shows he is now savvy enough to understand that. He said he’s planning to use the next two weeks to build public support for his positions. One of those appearances, he said, would be at a soldier’s funeral. He may be learning this game too well.
Who do you think will “win” this blame game battle?
* Related and semi-related…
* Governer Quinn Addresses Flip-Flop Critics: “In the legislative process, there are compromises. I’m willing to make reasonable compromises for the common good.” Quinn says Madigan complained the previous governor was too stubborn.
* Gov. Quinn appeals to legislators on proposed tax increase
* How reform failed in Illinois - Quinn, legislative leaders and activists all played role in passing weak campaign finance bill
* Quinn fires head of hospital board: Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board Executive Secretary Jeffrey Mark was dismissed quietly Tuesday — the same day the General Assembly and Quinn signed off on a plan to kill the five-member board and replace it with a new nine-member panel. Mark had been under fire for being the top health-board staffer when one of its former members, Stuart Levine, used his influence to try to get kickbacks on projects the board was reviewing.
* Brown: “You don’t wanna be too direct,” Weinstein cautioned Levine at one point about seeking a possible kickback, advising that it would be better to arrange “a quid pro quo in another world.” A quid pro quo in another world. That’s the most elegant description I’ve ever heard of how political corruption usually operates at the highest levels in this city and state. Instead of taking a direct payoff, your smarter corrupt politician or business person takes it in trade on the other end –out of sight or at least harder to prove.
* As I told subscribers this morning, Gov. Quinn’s campaign has posted a testimonial from former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, a usually reliable Republican…
That’s news and Ditka’s praise will only help the guv.
* But this testimonial from former Senate President Emil Jones? Also newsworthy, but not nearly as helpful…
Including Jones’ usual whacks at the House in this campaign spot probably won’t help Quinn with Speaker Madigan, either. And this campaign video, which includes a scene of Quinn clapping to the line “Shame on the General Assembly!” sure positively Blagojevichian to my eyes.
Nice music, though. Actually, most of the Quinn campaign videos have fairly strong production values, especially for what most people consider an amateur campaign effort so far. They’re much better than the vids posted at Lisa Madigan’s outdated YouTube site, for example.
I guess having a campaign staffer following his every move with a hi-def video camera is paying off.
* Meanwhile, Illinois Review picks up on GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Schillertrom’s alleged liberalism, which the retiring DuPage County Board Chairman talked about in a recent SJ-R piece…
[Schillerstrom] also doesn’t think his stand on abortion – “I am opposed to abortion,” he said in an earlier interview, “but I am pro-choice” — will keep him from winning a Republican primary. […]
He also has said he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms, but “I would be opposed to concealed carry,” which would allow regular citizens in Illinois the right to carry concealed guns
Thoughts?
* Related…
* Comptroller’s documents detail history of IFDA trouble: Even as a pre-need funeral fund worth hundreds of millions of dollars began tanking in 2001, the state comptroller’s office ceased audits designed to ensure the money was safe.
* Dennis Cook to run for statewide office: Consolidated District 230 Board of Education President Dennis Cook announced last week he will run for the Republican nomination for either Illinois state comptroller or lieutenant governor in 2010.
* Rep. Davis says poll shows he could defeat Stroger: Asked whether he has talked to Stroger about Stroger’s political plans, Davis said: “I’m going to try and reach him tomorrow.” Even if Stroger doesn’t bow out, “I will go forward,” Davis said.
Madigan, whose office received a supplemental state appropriation this spring, was able to roll back a furlough policy, but some employees had begun taking them and continued to do so. Madigan also reduced her staff through 21 layoffs, retirements and vacancies. As of last week, her office was down 54 people compared with June 2008.
“We scrubbed through our operating budget lines as much as we could,” Madigan chief of staff Ann Spillane said. “We looked at every contract we had. We cut back on travel unless it was absolutely required, and we did things that may seem small, like reduce subscriptions and ordering different parts of the office to share subscriptions to legal publications.”
The attorney general’s office ought to be spared further cuts, Spillane said, because it produces revenue for the state, primarily from lawsuit settlements. Reducing its staff means reducing overall revenue for the state.
“We’re going to have a problem, a very serious problem,” she said. “I don’t know where else we would cut.”
For the sake of argument, let’s stipulate that Madigan’s office is correct and there are no more places to cut. So, shouldn’t the attorney general now come out in favor of a tax increase to balance the budget, and/or suggest some other “real” cuts or other revenue streams in order to spare her own allegedly decimated budget lines from the ax? Wouldn’t that be the responsible thing to do?
Instead, all we get is radio silence on the issue.
* She’s also been quiet about her political plans, but others haven’t. From the Politico…
The newest member of the congressional delegation, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), said he’s spoken twice to Madigan about running for governor. In his second conversation, early this month, Quigley told her it would be better if she ran for governor.
“Many members of the Illinois delegation would prefer that she run for governor, because they see her as the strongest candidate for governor,” said Quigley, who filled Rahm Emanuel’s old House seat in April. “There are a lot of Democrats who could run for the Senate and be successful.”
Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) spoke with Madigan this month by phone for about 45 minutes and told her that she’d make a “great senator.” But he added several caveats: The job would be tough, since she has young children; she would constantly be fundraising; Washington is an expensive city to live in; and unlike being a chief executive of a state, the slow-moving Senate can be a “frustrating” place to work, since 60 votes are needed to even begin debating pieces of legislation.
“She just asked me, really from the personal side, about this town and the job,” Hare said. “I said, ‘Look, I love this job, but it’s tough when you have little kids.’”
This whole premise about Lisa’s job hunt is starting to wear badly on me.
…Adding… From Quigley’s office…
The quote is accurate, however the paragraph preceding it is an incorrect interpretation of his statement. While he believes her to be a strong candidate like others do, Cong Quigley has not encouraged Lisa to run for either office in particular, but told her to ‘go with her gut’ when making the decision.
* Related…
* Zorn: Calls grow louder for prospective gubernatorial candidate Lisa Madigan to lay down her marker on the budget mess
* Madigan decision could change game for other politicians: “It’s a personal decision for him, just as it is for her,” Cobb said, noting that Madigan has two young children. “Does she want to commute back and forth between Washington and Chicago?”
* Birkett discusses run for IL AG: He also praised Lisa Madigan’s performance during her two terms in office. He seemed confident that Madigan was moving on to the senate or governor’s race.
* Finke: General Assembly ready to rumble: He could step aside and let the next in line of succession take over. Since we no longer have a lieutenant governor, the next in line is Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who may be running for the office before too long anyway.
* Sun-Times: State’s top Democrats bungle budget again: We can’t help but wonder if Madigan is loath to do anything — such as push through a tax increase — that might make Quinn look like a winner. Quinn, you’ll recall, remains on a collision course to run for governor against Madigan’s daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, next year. It’s hard to know why Mike Madigan does what he does. Right now, all we care about is results. And what we see is not much.
* Sidestepping Madigan: “I have a number of other legislators — Democrat and Republican, House and Senate — I will be meeting with over the next few days,'’ Quinn told reporters. “We believe in consensus-building.'’ … “I ain’t scared to call the speaker out — he ain’t my daddy,'’ Meeks said. “If the speaker wanted this solved, it would be solved. For whatever reason, he doesn’t want to work this out. Pat Quinn is trying to do everything he can to save social services.'’
* Gov. Quinn appeals to legislators on proposed tax increase
* Lawmakers have some explaining to do: House Speaker Mike Madigan has said he might bring the House back at the last possible minute to deal with the mess. Of course, that pronouncement came with barbs at Quinn for creating a crisis. Memo to Madigan: It is a crisis. No extra creation needed.
According to the indictment, Carothers started taking bribes from Boender in 2004 in exchange for supporting the project that now includes homes, a movie theater and a job-training center for construction laborers that’s set to open next January.
Carothers is the only alderman who has been charged in connection with Galewood Yards. But Boender had relationships with several other members of Chicago’s City Council at the time they agreed to give the laborers council the money to buy Boender’s land, near Armitage and Central, on June 28, 2006. They include:
• • Burke, who’s chairman of the City Council Finance Committee. The city’s most powerful alderman, Burke also heads a law firm that has represented Boender in 14 property-tax appeal cases since 2005, a relationship the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed last week. Five of those cases were filed this year, and Burke won reductions for Boender on three of those properties.
In March 2007, Boender hosted a campaign fund-raiser for Burke’s wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, raising $58,250. Burke’s wife says she has refunded some of that money and has given the rest to charity.
County commissioners urged state authorities Thursday to shut down the Cook County Regional Education Office in the wake of a critical audit that revealed that Supt. Charles A. Flowers used a government credit card for personal expenses and approved questionable payments to relatives on his payroll.
The decision on what to do about the state-funded suburban education agency ultimately rests with the Illinois Legislature.
The Cook County Board’s unanimous resolution Thursday urged the Legislature to transfer the duties now handled by the regional education office to the Illinois State Board of Education.
“If Dr. Flowers is listening, he should resign,” Commissioner Larry Suffredin said. “He has really taken an office that has an important educational function and disgraced it.”
* Education Secretary Arne Duncan counting on business leaders to help push through school reforms
Duncan said he knows what needs to be done, but scaling up requires time and resources.
Is it even possible? Some heavy hitters think it is.
“You’ve got a window of opportunity,” said ex-Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, who has teamed with former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley in an effort to jump-start public education in Illinois — akin to what Duncan is trying to achieve on the national level.
As front men for a recently formed independent advocacy group, Advance Illinois, Edgar and Daley say the potential exists for progress — even “radical” progress. But they see the usual pitfalls too.
According to a new advocacy group, Advance Illinois, here are just some of the issues:
- Out of every four students who enter high school in the state, only one will graduate ready for college or a meaningful job.
- Only 55 percent of high school graduates in the state even start college (based on the Class of 2006.) In New York, 73 percent of its students attend college.
- Only 36 percent of Illinois residents have an associate degree or higher. In Massachusetts, for example, 45 percent of residents have at least finished community college.
An ongoing Tribune investigation reveals an admissions system subject to outside influences. The latest internal documents reviewed by the newspaper suggest the athletic department requested special consideration for non-athletes who applied to the state’s most prestigious public university.
The campus e-mails and correspondence provided under the state’s Freedom of Information Act show that admissions officials gave special consideration to candidates with ties to athletic donors at the request of the department director and his deputies. In several cases, athletic officials sought a reconsideration of a student’s rejection, a more thorough review of an application or to hasten the review process.
In the 2008-09 application cycle, one candidate had been tagged as an automatic denial by admissions officials because of poor academic credentials, but was accepted after being recommended by the athletic department, according to a log of special requests. At least three of six students recommended by the department this year got in.
Top athletic administrators said they only forward applicants they feel could succeed at the U. of I. And though they acknowledge the pressures of having to raise millions each year to keep the athletics program self-supporting, Ron Guenther, director of the division of intercollegiate athletics, said the “quid pro quo” does not extend to admissions.
* UI chancellor to testify Monday in admissions probe
University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman will testify Monday before a state panel investigating the school’s admissions procedures, including whether politically connected applicants received special treatment.
Herman is one of two UI officials on the agenda for Monday’s hearing at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.
The other is Paul Pless, assistant dean for admissions at the UI College of Law, who complained vehemently in a 2006 e-mail about being forced to accept subpar applicants.
A Feb. 13, 2007, e-mail shows 11 candidates from the University of Illinois clout list were admitted to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, even though the university ranked their applications lower than 149 of their high school classmates.
When an admissions officer questioned the orders, he was told to admit the students on the list. The 11 students were accepted while their more qualified classmates were denied or wait-listed.
* Report: Treasurer’s aide helped get teen in to UI
The Chicago Tribune reported Friday that the applicant had ties to the Rev. Alexander Karloutsos, a politically connected Greek Orthodox priest. After the student’s admission, Karloutsos helped with a Giannoulias fundraiser in New York that brought in at least $120,000.
Karloutsos told the newspaper he reached out to Giannoulias adviser Endy Zemenides on behalf of the applicant, the daughter of a family friend.
Zemenides, in turn, e-mailed information about the teen to university Provost Linda Katehi in February 2008. Katehi then forwarded the details to a vice provost…
The teen was subsequently lifted from the school’s waiting list and accepted.
The university says Blagojevich submitted letters of recommendation in 2005 for two applicants to the Carbondale campus law school, but neither applicant was accepted.
SIU says its review of applications to its other schools, including its campus in Edwardsville, from 2002 through last year turned up no other examples of Blagojevich trying to use political muscle to press admissions.
The two are among 50 students who will take advantage of a new policy allowing male and female undergraduates to room together — something that was forbidden throughout the 117-year history of the Hyde Park school.
The state of Illinois recently placed in two national Top Ten lists, but it’s nothing to be proud of.
Roughly one of every three children in Illinois is overweight or obese, putting Illinois 10th in the country for children from ages 10 to 17 who are too heavy, according to a new report.
Even worse, Illinois ranks fourth strictly in terms of obesity, with about one out of every five children being obese.
Attendance at the 2009 Taste of Chicago was down about 6 percent to 3.35 million, the event hampered by a struggling economy and several days of rain, organizers said Sunday at the close of its 10-day run.
State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. is boosting homeowners insurance rates an average of 13 percent in Illinois, the company said Thursday, joining other insurers that have hiked rates recently.
That would raise the average homeowners policy in Illinois from $592 to $669 or by $77.
* Tribune Co. profitability continues to deteriorate
The company is much less profitable than before its filing in December and is burning through cash, financial statements for the first five months of the year show. Tribune’s revenue declined about 23% in the first half of 2009, according to an estimate by Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. analyst Tom Corbett, who reviewed the company’s financials.
“They are just like every other newspaper company I am looking at,” Mr. Corbett said. “They are seeing vertiginous losses in ad sales and their profitability is suffering from having fixed costs.”
“These are difficult times, particularly for home builders,” said Mark Nora, vice chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Real Property Committee and a partner with Shefsky and Froelich in Chicago. “You see more and more of this.”
As many as half of the nation’s privately held builders have shut down during the housing bust, and many others are struggling to survive. In the Chicago metropolitan area, besides Kirk, Kimball Hill Inc. and Neumann Homes have filed for bankruptcy.
As a result, Chicago Transit Authority ridership using the 30-day pass has increased about 15 percent overall in the first five months of the year compared with the same period in 2008, according to the CTA.
Ridership on the 30-day pass option using the Chicago Card Plus fare card has shot up even more, increasing by about 22 percent.
Meanwhile, pay-per-use riding on the Chicago Card and the Chicago Card Plus has declined a total of 7.5 percent, while on the Chicago Card alone, ridership fell about 24 percent.
Regular CTA riders who haven’t made changes might want to stop and count the money they are wasting.
The law, which took effect Jan. 1 in Illinois, requires first-time drunken driving offenders to install breath-monitoring gadgets that prevent engines from starting until motorists blow into the alcohol detectors to prove they are sober.
At least 7,000 Illinois residents have had to use the devices so far this year - up from around 3,000 in all of 2008 under an old law that mostly targeted multiple DUI offenders. At least 5,000 more people could install them by the end of 2009, according to data obtained by The Associated Press from the Illinois secretary of state’s office.
Two years ago, Illinois law changed to take driving privileges away from people convicted of not having car insurance.
But despite the threat of a three-month license suspension, statistics appear to show people are driving without insurance anyway.
Since July 1, 2007, more than 115,000 Illinois drivers have lost their licenses after being convicted of driving without up-to-date insurance, according to state numbers. About 68,000 were suspended last year, and about 31,000 have been so far this year.
Last week, advocates unveiled an $11.5 billion plan for a Chicago-to-St. Louis high-speed rail line that could cut travel time to two hours from the current five. If built, it would be among the fastest U.S. lines and would rival systems in Europe and Asia.
Under the proposal, electric-powered trains would zoom the nearly 300 miles between Chicago and St. Louis at speeds up to 220 mph — more than 100 mph faster than diesel-powered trains under a comparatively modest plan advocated by eight Midwestern governors.
The latest plan — announced as part of a study by the nonprofit Midwest High Speed Rail Association — is generating excitement among rail enthusiasts who pooh-pooh the governors’ proposal, which envisions trains reaching top speeds of 110 mph, as too conservative.
The proposal for a 220-mph service is intended to complement, not replace, the governors’ plan, Harnish said. The 110 mph trains would serve more communities and make more stops.
Newspaper and radio ads about the $15 billion O’Hare International Airport expansion have drawn the ire of supporters of a 160-year-old Bensenville cemetery in the path of a planned runway.
The ads, which ran in the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald and on WGN and WBBM-AM radio, notified relatives of people buried in St. Johannes Cemetery that Chicago “has commenced legal proceedings to acquire the cemetery” and move the graves to other cemeteries. The notice also encourages relatives to call the O’Hare Modernization Program’s cemetery administrator “to learn more about the relocation process.”.
“You may have an opportunity to participate,” the ad states. Chicago “will be responsible for paying all necessary and reasonable costs associated with the relocation of the graves.”
Gov. Pat Quinn was among dozens of elected officials, co-op representatives and residents to turn out for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April. The governor used the occasion to express confidence the state can reach a requirement of generating 20 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020, including solar and wind turbines “in every nook and cranny of the state.”
An American Wind Energy Association report found the number of wind farms in Illinois has grown to 10 since the first farm was completed in 2005 in northern Illinois. At least three more are under construction.
Proposed projects also continue to pop up across the state, including a major wind farm planned between New Berlin and Pleasant Plains. Developers of that project, which eventually would have to be approved by the county board, are conducting environmental studies and negotiating with landowners…
“The idea is to sit back to see if it’s going to work they way they say it’s going to,” said committee chairman Kenneth Andersen. The 150-turbine farm would include 119 turbines southwest of DeKalb and additional turbines in an adjoining county.
Both probes were reportedly initiated by conservative prelates unhappy that American nuns are not sufficiently toeing the line of Catholic orthodoxy, not wearing habits, not living in convents and not keeping their mouths shut about the concerns of women in a modern world.
* Rep. Paul Froehlich, who has been hit hard by Chicago’s Fox TV station for using constituent property tax assessment appeals to boost his campaigns, won’t run for another term…
Democratic state Rep. Paul Froehlich of Schaumburg has announced he won’t run for re-election next year.
Implying that another political opportunity may present itself either before or after the end of his current fourth term, Froehlich said he wants to make his decision public before the start of the primary petition period on Aug. 4.
Froehlich created waves both locally and in Springfield in 2007 when he switched parties from Republican to Democrat. But he survived the political fallout to win re-election last year.
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the winner of its annual Sitting Duck Award, a tongue-in-cheek honor that pokes fun at the most ridiculed newsmakers in the United States.
Palin beat out Democrat Rod Blagojevich, the ousted former governor of Illinois allegedly caught trying to sell President Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
Palin is resigning, so Blagojevich’s trial next year might put him on top. Operative word: Might.
I’ve compared the two governors at least once before. Read my Sun-Times column from last September (before the arrest) by clicking here.
Hey Rich – I know that you are “closed” for the weekend, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of 4 million Aqua-Leisure Inflatable Baby Floats [yesterday] after reports that the seats were tearing – causing children to fall into or under water. The attached alert includes pictures and descriptive information on the recalled items – and we have been working all day with different groups and organizations to help get the word out about this…
Thanks!
Elizabeth Norden
Director, Strategic Communications
Attorney General Lisa Madigan
* Barring some big news, we’re done until Monday. Hopefully, this governor won’t screw up our summer holidays like the last governor did. We’ll see. I’m not holding my breath.
Anyway, have a wonderful Independence Day. I hope it’s a great one.
* Following our tradition of posting July 4th Grateful Dead videos, here’s Jerry Garcia and Great Speckled Bird from a July 4, 1970 show…
* 2:21 pm - Republican DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett is calling around this afternoon saying he plans to run for attorney general.
This would be Birkett’s second try at AG. He lost to Lisa Madigan in 2002. He ran for governor four years later, dropped out and became Judy Baar Topinka’s running mate. He had been considering a bid for governor next year, but that race is getting pretty crowded.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Here’s the announcement via e-mail…
I’ve made the decision to remain a prosecutor and to run for the Office of Illinois Attorney General in 2010.
I invite you to watch the brief video below in which I explain my decision. I will continue to aggressively engage with you online to build a statewide organization that provides each and every citizen a voice in Illinois government, once and for all.
Never one to back down from a fight, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett plans to run for Illinois Attorney General in 2010 - even if incumbent Lisa Madigan seeks a third term.
Birkett made the political announcement Thursday during a Daily Herald interview.
As Madigan wavers between a possible run for U.S. Senate, governor or to retain her current office, Birkett said the attorney general post is the best fit for him regardless of whom he faces on Election Day. […]
“You have to be who you are,” the 54-year-old Wheaton man said. “I’m a prosecutor. I’ve come to the conclusion I should remain one. That’s where I belong. It’s my passion.”
I kid you not. That’s the actual Daily Herald story. And it even gets “better,” if you can believe it, but I shouldn’t paste more than four grafs here. Go read it yourself.
* Ah, the Tribune editorial board. Not blowhardish at all. Today’s editorial blasts Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton…
You evidently have one priority: You want what’s best for the people of this state — provided you don’t have to seriously affront the public employees unions and other interest groups that have such influence with you.
Actually, the General Assembly passed a budget which was opposed by those groups.
The Trib also claimed that the three men have ignored any spending reforms and “relentlessly focused on raising taxes.”
Let’s see, the governor has proposed $2 billion in cuts, including Medicaid reform, employee layoffs, etc. Cullerton already passed a tax hike, and Madigan says he won’t move a tax hike plan until he is sure there are enough votes. Both say a tax hike proposal is fruitless now without GOP votes. Quinn is the only one focusing “relentlessly” on a tax increase. The other two are saying the soup isn’t even on the stove yet.
Mr. Madigan, Mr. Cullerton, enough. Accept the spending and ethics reforms and pass a budget. Republicans will help you.
They will? Is the edit board sure about that? Did the Republican leaders specifically tell the Tribune editorial board “If we get X, Y and Z, and here are our details and specific legislation that we want, then we’ll put enough votes on a tax hike vote to pass it”? That would be big news and those quotes should’ve been reported on the front page. Maybe I just missed that blockbuster.
Then on Tuesday [Quinn] signed into law a sales tax exemption for wind energy projects.
Governor, Illinois is broke. Please stop digging this hole deeper and deeper.
Sales tax exemptions for newsprint, ink, advertising and newspaper printing machinery=Excellent. Sales tax exemptions for an almost brand new business that will create reliable new jobs=Stupid.
* Look, the Democrats have a lot to be blamed for here. A whole lot. They had the majority and they failed to finish the job. No question about it whatsoever. And it’s not like they got their act together in June, either.
But if anybody thinks that the Republican leaders are now really, truly pushing redistricting reform and pension reform in exchange for putting significant numbers of votes on an income tax hike, they need to have their heads examined. Cross was the House floor leader during debate on that goofy congressional map which everybody complains about. His members ain’t exactly thrilled about the reform idea, either. And I have yet to see evidence that a majority of Republicans are excited about voting for a two-tiered pension system.
The spring session is long over. It failed. Badly. But it’s a new day now and GOP votes and specific GOP ideas are crucial, so it would be nice to see a modicum of even-handedness and reality-based reasoning from Mother Tribune.
Caught in the crossfire are social-service providers who were previously warned by Quinn that dramatic cuts of 50 percent or more would result if lawmakers didn’t come up with more money. In a statement, Quinn warned that organizations providing services not backed by a court order did so “at the risk of not being paid.” He said nine organizations have sued stemming from the impasse.
Frank Anselmo, chief executive officer of the Community Behavioral Healthcare Association of Illinois, said providers of services to the mentally ill already have laid off staff and stopped taking patients. He said Quinn has not put in place contingency contracts that guarantee eventual payment, something prior administrations have done.
Instead of contingency contracts, Quinn told vendors and providers that they were outta luck…
[Quinn’s] office then released a statement that Illinois “has very limited authority to pay its vendors and grantees.” The state, however, “will continue to operate and provide essential services to protect the health, safety and welfare of Illinois citizens, such as maintaining prisons and providing emergency services and legally-required social services. Other vendors and grantees who currently perform state services do so at the risk of not being paid,” the statement concluded.
And these statements by Comptroller Hynes show a lack of understanding about how providers and state vendors operate…
Hynes says social service agencies wouldn’t miss any payments from the state until later in the summer, because - even when there is a budget - they aren’t paid immediately.
HYNES: If they provided services today, by the time they got their paperwork into the agency and it’s submitted to our office, and with the cashflow delays we’re having, we’re talking several months. So that’s why the day-to-day social services don’t have a real, hard-and-fast deadline like a payroll does.
Hynes does acknowledge that the governor’s letter is going to create some hardships. The reason is that these social service agencies are basically just small to mid-sized businesses. For-profit vendors are almost all traditional businesses. Like all businesses, they occasionally have to borrow money to level out their revenues. Quinn’s letter, however, will scare the devil out of bankers.
Quinn suggested lawmakers shouldn’t dillydally, but they aren’t scheduled to return to the Capitol to deal with the budget situation for two weeks.
And Quinn indicated that he wouldn’t bring them back before then. Another blow to those social service groups and vendors.
* Everybody else, including state workers and Public Aid recipients, are pretty safe…
…the lack of a budget for now may mean very little for most state agencies. Court orders require the state to make public aid payments regardless of the budget status. And the last time the state found itself in a similar position, a court told the state to continue sending out paychecks while the budget remained up in the air.
So you can most likely ignore most of the huffing and puffing about that issue. It’s the vendors and the providers who are in most danger now…
Twelve of the 33 employees at A Woman’s Fund in Urbana already have lost their jobs, said the agency’s executive director, Tami Tunnell.
And 31 of the 210 staffers at the Mental Health Center of Champaign County were told Wednesday that they are being laid off, said Chief Executive Officer Sheila Ferguson.
At the H Group in West Frankfort, administrators cut 33 jobs and 12 employees took pay cuts and demotions, said John Markley, executive director.
“If any legislator was looking for the blood on the sidewalk so to speak, it’s today (Wednesday),” Markley said. “If legislators are wondering if it’s really a crisis or not they can come and sit in our office and watch us tell our clients we can’t serve them; watch us have to tell our staff there is no need for their service because they aren’t funded by the sate anymore.”
Markley estimated the H Group, which provides mental health and addiction services in Williamson and Franklin Counties, will serve 1,000 fewer people this year than the 7,000 served last year. […]
[Fellowship House in Anna’s CEO Mickey Finch] said she has already cut seven jobs at Fellowship House and cut the number of patient beds from 40 to 20. She said the agency can make it until the end of the calendar year before shutting down.
Sabrina’s been laid off. And Keith is on a 14-day unpaid furlough, his job future uncertain. It’s a devastating one-two punch for the couple.
The Georges both work for Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC), an agency that was used by the courts to divert non-violent convicts with addiction problems away from prison, to probation and treatment. But Tuesday, after Illinois failed to pass a budget, the agency laid off 50 workers and furloughed 150 more for two weeks.
Asked the status of those 150 furloughed employees, TASC Executive VP Peter Palanca said, “We don’t know, given the uncertainty of the budget, given what’s going on. It’s anyone’s guess what’s going to happen.”
As a result, the office is deserted. Rows and rows of empty desks, and boxes piled high with files of clients who aren’t being helped.
* I put together a couple of videos last night that you may want to watch. The first is House Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Quinn talking about the governor’s apparent flip-flops. Make sure you watch all the way to the end for the “best” Madigan zinger…
The second video is Madigan answering questions about his poor relationships with Democratic governors in the past and allegations that he has deliberately undercut Gov. Quinn this year…
I’m still learning this video stuff, so be patient, please.
Investigators raided the home and office of the Cook County regional schools superintendent Wednesday, carting out laptop computers, cell phones and boxes of files, sources said.
Dr. Robert Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison. The name means nothing to most of you, I realize, which is a shame, because you sure know a lot about his longtime partner, Stuart Levine, the crook who brought down the Blagojevich administration.
Weinstein was Levine’s partner in business and partner in crime, although there’s nothing to indicate they made a distinction between the two.
At the Tony Rezko trial, Levine testified that he and Weinstein shared the proceeds from everything they did, including his shady deals, and unlike Rezko, there was plenty of tape-recorded evidence with Weinstein’s own voice to prove that was the case.
The wiretapped phone conversations between Levine and Weinstein provided some of the most eye-opening moments of the Rezko trial as Levine bragged about his schemes to arrange secret kickbacks from companies seeking to do business with state boards on which he sat — and secretly controlled.
At this week’s City Council meeting, Reilly introduced an ordinance that would rein in so-called “nightly vacation rentals.”
It would allow condos to be turned into hotel suites only if owners get prior approval from the condo association, secure at least $1 million in liability insurance and obtain a two-year “vacation rental license” for a $500 fee.
The city’s 3.5 percent hotel tax would have to be tacked on to the nightly rental fee. No unit could be rented for fewer than 10 straight hours.
Three hold-out unions with 650 layoffs hanging in the balance —Teamster 726, Laborers 1001 and AFSMCE Council 31—are standing in the way of a two-year deal on cost-cutting concessions to save the jobs of 1,504 city of Chicago employees targeted for layoffs.
Mayor Daley refused today to say what he would do if the unions don’t get on board by the July 15 deadline.
“The city must take the appropriate action on the 15th,” Daley said at a City Hall news conference. “We think, in the long run, on the 15th, all of ‘em will be there. I firmly believe that. I pray for it. I hope they are…because this will not be good for their membership.”
The deal would require union workers to take unpaid days off. But a few of the unions working with the city say they won’t accept the plan. Ken Brantley is the vice president of Teamsters Local 726. He says his members are done negotiating.
BRANTLEY: Over the years they’ve gave up enough. They’re tired of giving back and nothing is being given to us. The mayor wants everything, it’s not just the furlough days.
Laborers’ Local 1001 and AFSCME are the other two unions that won’t agree to the plan. In a statement, AFSCME says its members are among the lowest-paid city workers. Labor leaders say all the unions working with the city have to accept the terms before the plan is implemented. Mayor Richard Daley says unions have until July 15 to reach an agreement before more than 1500 workers are laid off.
The $33-million deal brings to a close the recent financial woes of the Chicago-based video-game maker. Midway Games filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February not long after media mogul Sumner Redstone sold his majority stake in the firm. Midway had warned in November that the change in control would allow bondholders of $150 million in debt the right to call their notes. The company did not have the money to pay the entire debt.
Midway Games has been saddled with annual losses since 2000 as it has been unable to develop a sought-after game following its “Mortal Kombat” blockbuster.
An Illinois agency has begun recovery efforts at Rock River, where tens of thousands of fish suddenly died on the same weekend as an explosive train derailment in northern Illinois.
And court officials say the new rules bring the regulation of lawyers into the 21st century, specifically issuing guidelines for new technology including e-mail, Web sites and cell phones.
Among other things, the new rules also make it easier for lawyers to perform pro bono legal services, and they redefine the standards for client confidentiality.
* Theft of 5,000 pounds of commercial-grade fireworks worries cops
A five-inch mortar shell — one of the most common items taken — is powerful enough to kill someone if it detonates nearby and could even destroy a car if it blows up while being transported, DuPage County Sheriff’s Department officials said Wednesday.
Illinois Issues magazine’s annual environment issue came out today.
In it, you’ll find “Wind power,” a story about Illinois being at a turning point in its energy-producing future. It’s written by Michael Hawthorne, the Chicago Tribune reporter who broke the Crestwood water contamination story.
