We know that reviving this moribund state is a challenge greater than any Brady, a Bloomington homebuilder and Republican, has surmounted. By the most important measure of the next few years, though, Brady is the candidate for the job: We believe he will say No to the power-clutching elites — House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, that means you and your cronies — whose insider politics doomed this state to its own private tailspin.
Pat Quinn, by contrast, cannot say No to anyone, let alone the power brokers who bully him. He cannot enforce consequences. He can’t even deliver bad news.
Not one mention of Jason Plummer’s name.
* Gov. Pat Quinn was endorsed by the Illinois Federation of Teachers the other day and just reported receiving a $350,000 contribution from the union.
* Brady taking credit where it’s not due? Looks that way…
Did Sen. Bill Brady help “expose the scandal” that led to Rod Blagojevich’s political downfall and criminal indictment?
On Brady’s campaign website, the GOP gubernatorial nominee insists that was the case, but Gov. Quinn, Democrats and even a top legal scholar who has followed Blagojevich’s criminal trial closely say Brady is exaggerating his record when it comes to Illinois’ impeached ex-governor. […]
A Republican lawmaker who voted to impeach Blagojevich chuckled upon reading Brady’s characterization of his role in exposing the Blagojevich scandal.
“I thought the U.S. attorney and the FBI did that,” said the lawmaker, who didn’t want to be named because he supports Brady. “That’s a bit of a stretch.”.
Law professor Richard Kling, who sat in on the Blagojevich trial and teaches at Kent College of Law, similarly minimized Brady’s role. “I don’t remember a shred of paper generated that he was ever instrumental in anything having to do with the governor,” Kling said. “It’s bizarre these guys make these claims that they have no basis for.”
Struggling to build a firewall against a Republican takeover, congressional Democrats are pouring money into roughly two dozen tight races around the country in the campaign’s closing weeks while pulling it back from others where their chances seem slimmer. […]
Democrats said they were focusing on stopping the bleeding where possible, including trying to salvage the seats of several threatened lawmakers who earlier this year looked like safe re-election bets. They include Colorado Rep. John Salazar, Georgia Rep. Sanford Bishop, Illinois Rep. Phil Hare, and Indiana Rep. Joe Donnelly, and Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri. […]
The party also is fighting to keep Democratic-held open seats in Arkansas, Washington and Wisconsin, and to claim two now held by the GOP in Illinois and in Miami, Fla.
* Bill Brady on Roeser’s Political Shootout Sunday night
* Hare, Schilling spar over tax bills: He also dismissed the Schilling campaign’s explanation that an accountant failed to file the paperwork. “When is Bobby Schilling going to be accountable for his own actions,” Schlittner said.
* Kirk comments secretly recorded, made public: “For him to insinuate that there is some vote fraud going on in these communities is just an insult to the hundreds and hundreds of people who serve as election judges on elections. I find it disgraceful and insulting,” said Ald. Freddrenna Lyle.
* Can Gov. Quinn manage establishment he built his career assailing?: “To Pat, delegating is like asking someone else to do your homework,” one former aide said. “It’s noble — like Gandhi cleaning the latrines. But Gandhi was not leading a $54 billion enterprise.”… “It’s not that he’s some wild-eyed populist who wants to burn down every factory,” his brother John said. “I think he has to learn how to delegate more. He’s been used to fighting every fight. … He just has to learn that he can pick and choose the battles that he can win.”
*** UPDATE *** From Bruce Dold at the Chicago Tribune editorial board…
No one at the Tribune has ever tried to influence me or other members of the editorial board.
Mr. Dold insists that this blog post as originally written was somehow “defamatory.” I talked with Ms. Lipinski yesterday, after she told the New York Times that Sam Zell did appear to be attempting to influence her. She called late Thursday, but she did not want to be quoted or paraphrased and made it clear she didn’t want to gin up a new story. She did urge me to update my post. However, I wasn’t exactly sure how to do that without some sort of even deep background statement - for which I didn’t have permission.
However, to keep peace with the big boys, I will say that Ms. Lipinski was insistent yesterday that everybody on the Tribune edit board are honest folks who would never be swayed by the top dog.
I told Mr. Dold that I would print his response, so I did. And if he ever decides to respond to my other questions I will be more than happy post them as soon as I see them.
In Chicago, Ms. Lipinski said, it became clear that Mr. Zell was not above using the newspaper as a tool for his other business interests. In June 2008, Mr. Zell approached her at a meeting, saying that The Chicago Tribune should be harder on Gov. Rod Blagojevich. She reminded him that the newspaper had aggressively investigated the governor and that its editorial page had already called for his resignation.
“Don’t be a p*ssy,” he told her. “You can always be harder on him.”
In a news meeting later the same day, she found out that Mr. Zell was in negotiations to sell Wrigley Field to the state sports authority.
“It was hard to avoid the conclusion that he was trying to use the newspaper to put pressure on Blagojevich.”
You would think that the editorial page would’ve come clean on this little escapade. Lipinksi was one of the saner members of that editorial board and widely respected. She told the New York Times that the Blagojevich episode led to her resignation. There’s been no coverage about why she left until now.
According to the surveillance tapes, Rod Blagojevich was attempting to cut a deal with Zell on Wrigley Field, but he wanted people fired from the edit board. The Tribune subsequently claimed that Zell exerted no influence at all on the board, but Lipinski clearly believes otherwise.
Keep in mind that the Tribune broke the story about Blagojevich being under FBI surveillance the Friday before he was arrested. Blagojevich used the intervening days to try to undo some of his alleged misdeeds. If not for that Tribune story, he might have gone through with it.
Crain’s published a story about the Tribune Company’s reaction, but it didn’t mention the explosive Blagojevich allegations buried deep within the New York Times front-page story.
Zell is no longer running day to day TribCo operations, but he remains the company’s chairman. His most recent contribution was to Bill Brady…
* Ironically enough, the Tribune published a laughable column today by Leonard Pitts…
But I don’t believe in citizen journalism because journalism — like any profession worthy of the name — has standards and ethics, and if you don’t sign on to those, I can no more trust you than I can a doctor who refused the Hippocratic oath or a lawyer who failed the bar exam.
Standards and ethics, eh? Stones. Glass houses. Etc.
* Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Kilbride’s campaign says that three radio stations, including WLS Radio in Chicago, have decided to at least temporarily pull an ad by JustPAC that was posted on the blog yesterday. The campaign claims the ad includes false statements about the Justice. WLS says the ad is suspended until at least Monday to give them time to check out the facts involved. The other stations are WRXQ and WGFA.
* Now, on to much more pleasant matters. My grandmother’s 90th birthday party is this weekend. People are coming from all over the country for the event. We usually get together every five years to celebrate with Gramma. She’s more than just the family matriarch. She’s the glue that holds it all together.
Gramma was born in Kentucky and she’s always loved music. So, this one’s for her. Happy birthday, Gramma. See you soon…
When it comes to managing the state, Republican Bill Brady says Gov. Pat Quinn is worse than former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
“There’s no question,” Brady told reporters during a campaign swing through central Illinois Thursday. “In terms of fiscal mismanagement this administration is far worse than the Blagojevich six years.”
Pat Quinn is not a good manager, but he didn’t get us into this mess.
And “Rod Blagojevich was better” is not really a message that will sell with voters. So why bother? Brady has been off his game since his campaign ran that anti-union ad last week and polls showed a tightening race. Stick to the message, man.
Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday he believes civil unions, agreements legally recognized to give gay and lesbian partners rights and benefits, could be passed into law by the time “Christmas comes around.
“The votes are there, I believe, Quinn said. “In the Senate for sure, and definitely I think we can do it in the House. […]
While he believes there is enough support among Democrats and Republicans for a new General Assembly to pass the measure in 2011, he said he thinks it will be taken up before then, during the fall veto session.
“I think we can pass it this year. I would like to see it voted on earlier, Quinn said.
Why the public desire to push a plan like that through a lame duck General Assembly? Stick to the economy, governor.
We also — if I’m not mistaken, we’ve got the junior senator from Illinois, Roland Burris, in the house. Where’s Roland? There he is right there. (Applause.) Appreciate Roland for his outstanding service.
“Outstanding service”? He’s just lucky nobody picked up on that.
* With everything going on in the city and the state and the country, the Sun-Times choose to front-page a story about how Rev. Sen. James Meeks will continue to serve as a pastor if he’s elected mayor. And this part is just silly…
His steadfast refusal to leave the pulpit could rule him out as the consensus black candidate for mayor, according to sources familiar with the protracted selection process. That would leave former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun and Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers as front-runners.
I have “news” for you. There won’t be a single, consensus black candidate chosen by the hierarchy. There’s just too much ego and division out there.
More on that subject deeper in the story…
Asked whether he would run, even if he’s not the consensus black candidate, Meeks said, “I’m not prepared to answer that question at this time.”
But, he said, “I am concerned — and I have shared this with the group — that the longer they take, the more difficult it’s going to be for a consensus candidate to get up and running. That’s why I put everything together already, regardless of that process.”
With 22,000 parishioners and 25,000 signatures already gathered, Meeks enters the race with arguably the biggest base.
Yep.
* After looking around at today’s stories and columns, I appear to be in the minority when I say that Meeks’ decision to remain a preacher doesn’t particularly bother me, as long as he can confine it to the weekends. If he can get somebody to run the actual business of the church (the school, the activities, etc.), then it’s basically just a speaking gig. There are some who are appalled at this mixing of religion and politics, but I don’t feel particularly threatened by it. So, I agree with Dick Durbin…
Rev. James Meeks is taking some heat for refusing to give up his pulpit if he’s elected mayor. […]
“He has every right to do that. The only question is, will you have time to do both? And that’s the question he’ll have to answer,” Durbin said.
Durbin said he doesn’t believe this is an issue of separation of church and state.
“I think you could make a good break there in terms of his role as mayor and his role as pastor. I don’t see a problem with that,” Durbin said.
Rev. Meeks says he was asked earlier in the week if he intended to step down and replied no. But he wasn’t asked if that position is subject to change later, he says.
In fact, “There’s always a possibility I could reduce my role” in the church — even though the church now has four pastors and an adminstrator, all full-time, he says.
Does that mean he might, say, become pastor emeritus? “If I became mayor of Chciago and I saw the necessity to do that, I might,” he replies. “I’d be dedicated to the mayor’s job seven days a week, 24 hours a day.”
Seems reasonable.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* James Warren was right to think that Rahm Emanuel’s “listening tour” made him look like an out of touch alien…
You don’t necessarily exploit a candidate’s strengths by touring parts of the city he doesn’t know well, or by chowing down on supposedly working-class cuisine.
For one, it might look like the candidate doesn’t know the town or its food. It was one thing for Hillary Rodham Clinton, an out-of-stater, to do a “listening tour” of New York State when she ran for the United States Senate. But Mr. Emanuel is a Chicago resident.
There are “Chicago residents” and then there are “Chicago residents.” He hasn’t been a real one in a while, if ever. He was impressed by Ricobene’s? That’s an every-day stop for a whole lot of Chicagoans. It’s like standing under the L tracks and marveling at how loud the trains are.
His bid already has been the subject of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch and a New York Times front-page photo featuring a Chicago voter starting with surprise at the sight of the new candidate out on the campaign trail.
Check out the goofy photo posted on Halperin’s breathless mash note…
* Just so you know, my intention at the moment is to at least temporarily move back to Chicago after the veto session to get a daily view of the mayor’s campaign. I don’t think I can pass up the chance to see this thing first-hand. I’ll commute from the city to Springfield for session days, just like I used to before I bought a house down here.
* And now for some state stuff. From the producer of WBEZ’s The Best Game in Town…
We’re less than a month away from the state-wide election. Host Steve Edwards brings together a panel of political insiders to give us a gut-check on the status of some of the tight races, including U.S. Senate and Illinois Governor.
Scott McPherson, Rebecca Siv and Audra Wilson join Steve at Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant on West Jackson Street in Chicago.
* Rahm-for-Mayor Campaign Starts to Take Shape: Rahm Emanuel has named African-American businesswoman Mellody Hobson to co-chair his campaign to become mayor of Chicago. “He’s been a very long-term friend,” she said in a phone interview, “and I think he’s extraordinarily competent and capable.”
* Party loyalty? Matter of convenience for Berrios: Lectures about party loyalty are especially hypocritical coming from a guy like Berrios who twice jumped party lines, crossing over to the Republican side to support former Govs. Jim Edgar and George Ryan. Was it principle that made him abandon his party’s nominees, as it is in the case of those supporting Claypool? Sorry, no principles involved. He got some patronage jobs — and he was not the only Democratic committeeman to cut similar deals.
State Republican Party Chair Pat Brady said that Obama’s need to appear in his home state — which is supposed to be the bluest of the blue — just 26 days before Election Day shows the Democrats fear a Republican landslide in Illinois and around the country.
Democratic campaign strategist David Plouffe said voters should take the opposite message: “I can assure you, if we didn’t think Alexi could get to 50%, then the president and the vice president would not be campaigning there. When you’ve got this many competitive elections, you have to make sure you’re spending your time and your resources and your effort in places where you see a pathway to victory.”
Since the Chicago Tribune endorsed Chicago Democratic bums for Congress, it is only fair you know who some of these bums are.
And the photos…
Hey, doofuses. You want to get taken seriously? Stop doing idiotic stuff like this.
…Adding… Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady just called to make it extra special clear that the state GOP has nothing to do with these Chicago jokers. Brady has had some go-arounds with those clowns, and he was clearly upset at that ridiculous posting.
Instead of a hearty endorsement to throw the bums out, the Tribune decided they love bums.
Jan Schakowsky, Luis Gutierrez, Bobby Rush, Melissa Bean, Jesse Jackson Jr., Mike Quigley, and Danny Davis. Bums one and all.
Class act, that guy.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From a press release…
Statement from Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady
(CHICAGO) – Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady today released the following statement in response to the “Chicago Bums” post on the Chicago Republican Party’s web site:
“I am appalled at the actions of the Chicago Republican Party. This is not what the Illinois GOP stands for, nor condones in any way. We have instructed the appropriate individuals to remove the offensive material immediately.”
The campaign manager for Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky is taking heat for an expletive-laced Twitter post about opponents of the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero in New York.
At the conservative National Review, publication National Review, blogger Jim Geraghty noted Alex Armour posted a message on his open Twitter page declaring opponents were “(expletive) dumb (expletive) who haven’t read the 1st amndmnt .
Conservative media are pushing a deceptively cropped video of Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) to claim he “doesn’t believe the national debt is real.” In fact, the context of Hare’s remarks make clear he was referring to the “myth” that you can’t “just can’t spend” to put “people back to work” because “this country is in debt,” an opinion with which liberal and conservative economists agree.
* With all the heat that Republican Bob Dold’s campaign has taken for sock puppetry, you’d think they might be a bit less blatant about sending out mass e-mails like this one…
From: Caitlin Wolff
Date: Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 6:14 PM
Subject: Dold for Congress - Easy Volunteer Opportunity
Dear Volunteers,
My name is Caitlin Wolff from the Dold for Congress campaign. If you have received this email, it means that you have either sent Letters to the Editor before on our behalf or that you have expressed some interest in writing/sending Letters to the Editor for us.
We have only 27 days left to get Bob’s message if fiscal responsibility out to the voters. Dan Seals knows that he can win on the issues and has started throwing baseless accusations against Bob instead, trying to paint him as an extremist. One way we can combat these attack is by volunteers like you sending out Letters to the Editor. Could you send a letter in this week for us?
Most often we send letters to the editor to the Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, and the Pioneer Press, as well as other local papers. We have pre-written letters that you can simply submit electronically or you can write your own. Most papers limit letter length to around 250-300 words. I would love to speak further with you about which way you would like to participate in our Letters to the Editor.
Please feel free to contact me at this email (XXXX@robertdoldforcongress.com) or at 847.XXX.XXXX.
Faced with the problem of increasing access and speed, statist Bill Foster is happy to trumpet his recent grant for rural broadband, that I wrote about recently. The trouble is that with free-market forces, the same thing could have been accomplished for free.
“I’m not interested in being a media star, nor am I interested in being a rising political figure in my party,” Hirner told members of The State Journal-Register’s editorial board on Thursday. “[Congressman Aaron Schock] is a young man in a hurry. I don’t see how that translates to serving the people in the district.”
* In far more sane congressional news, former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar has endorsed Republican Bob Dold for the open 10th Congressional District seat. From a press release…
“Robert Dold is the right choice to represent the 10th Congressional District in Washington because he is a socially moderate, fiscally conservative Republican. He will help bring fiscal discipline to Washington and cut our federal debt,” said Edgar. “As a small business owner, Robert understands the needs of workers and small businesses and will take this much-needed perspective to Washington.” […]
“We need more people like Robert Dold in Congress,” Edgar said. “Robert’s commitment to sound fiscal principles, his hands-on experience running a successful small business, and, most importantly, his integrity make him a clear choice for the voters in this election.”
“I’m very grateful to accept Jim Edgar’s endorsement,” said Dold. “Governor Edgar led our great state with responsible economic policies and also with honesty and integrity. Governor Edgar’s tenure is an example of fiscally responsible government that is sorely needed in both Springfield and Washington, and is the kind of leadership I will provide as Congressman.”
“Robert has the no-nonsense approach that will get our country back to work and reduce the growth of government while maintaining the tradition of independent leadership this district is known for,” said Edgar.
That ought to help Dold with his “Yes, I’m really a moderate no matter what my own supporters say,” campaign.
* GOP groups focus resources: Hare wasn’t on the target lists of many Republicans at the start of the cycle – but he is now. The American Future Fund has taken out a $455,000 cable and broadcast buy that will run until Election Day against the second-term Illinois congressman—good enough for a bracing 3,391 gross rating points.
Two leading groups fighting violence against women and youth rapped Gov. Quinn Thursday for launching a $50 million anti-violence initiative when Illinois has become the biggest deadbeat state in the country by one new survey.
“We are dismayed and disheartened by the governor’s decision to spend $50 million on a new initiative at a time when the state owes millions of dollars to agencies and organizations that are providing critical services and prevention programming in countless communities across the state,” said Polly Poskin, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Her organization, which distributes a mix of state and federal funding to 22 rape crisis centers across Illinois, has had its state funding cut 27 percent in the past two years and is owed more than $1.7 million because the state is five months behind in its bills. Because of the funding squeeze, six of those rape-crisis centers may not meet their payrolls by month’s end, she said.
“We are confused by the ability to find dollars in our current budget crisis when our local agencies are still waiting to be paid for fiscal year 2010,” said Vickie Smith, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Governors love shiny, new programs. Too often, that comes at the expense of helping improve and fund existing services.
Gov. Pat Quinn pledged Thursday that the state will “soon” come through with promised payments to the Chicago Transit Authority so the agency is not forced to raise fares.
The CTA agreed to cancel proposed fare hikes for this year and next after the state agreed to cover for two years the cost of a loan the Regional Transportation Authority took out to make ends meet. The state has been slow to produce those funds.
“No, they aren’t going to raise fares,” Quinn said at a groundbreaking ceremony for a Salvation Army community center in the West Pullman neighborhood. “We have an agreement that we have with the RTA, and they will get the funds necessary to make sure the fare freeze for this year and next year continues. We’re in a tough economic time, and there aren’t going to be any fare increases at the CTA.”
Quinn said the transit agencies will get the funds “as soon as we possibly can.”
I’ll believe it when I see it.
* I told subscribers the other day about a recent poll by the Pew Center on the States. It fits well here, so let’s discuss it. From Pew…
On the revenue side of the ledger, 70 percent of Illinoisans, like respondents in the other four states surveyed, say they would be willing to pay more in taxes to maintain the current level of support for elementary and secondary education, and nearly six in 10 say the same for health and human services.
But when given a choice of several options for raising new money for the state, respondents continue to shy away from broad-based tax increases. Sixty-six percent say they favor raising taxes on alcohol and cigarettes and 54 percent favor expanding gambling, while 60 percent favor raising corporate taxes. But these are not major sources of revenue for the state, so even if they were increased, they would not bridge the gap. And there are other obstacles to these options: For instance, increasing income taxes on businesses is complicated by restrictions in the state constitution.
Just 26 percent of Illinoisans say they favor an increase in the income tax, the main source of state revenue. When asked which option they would prefer if the state had to raise taxes on individuals to keep the same level of services, just 18 percent say they prefer an across-the-board income tax increase; another 18 percent select extending the sales tax to services, and 12 percent say they favor raising the sales tax on all purchases. Nearly half of respondents favor raising income taxes on the wealthy—but that would require a constitutional amendment in Illinois.
It’s always “tax the other guy.” Gaming expansion and higher corporate taxes would fit that mold.
* And check out these responses. Click the pic for a larger image…
I have a feeling that if given the choice, Illinoisans might not do much better than the legislature when it comes to cutting services and raising revenues, especially when the TV ads started blaring. Your thoughts?
* And while everybody’s talking about the capital bill, the public says they’d rather more money be spent on schools…
Ironically, transportation ranks low on the list of priorities for Illinois residents, according to the survey. In fact, only one in five Illinoisans says he or she would be willing to pay higher taxes to maintain transportation funding at current levels.
And given a choice among major areas of state spending—K-12 education, higher education, Medicaid and transportation— more than half of Illinois respondents choose transportation as the area they would least protect from spending cuts. Only 5 percent say it is the area they would most want to protect.
* They don’t much care for borrowing, either, which is probably why Bill Brady has tried to tippy-toe around his $50 billion pension bond scheme…
* About half are “very concerned” about spending cuts. As coverage grows, so will that number…
* These next two will give you an idea of how Illinois stacks up with the other polled states. Again, click the pics for larger images…
* Somebody had to say it in a major Chicago daily newspaper. So, I did…
A little more than three weeks remain until Election Day, and it’s driving me nuts that the Chicago media is spending most of its time focusing on a candidate who’s running in an election that’s not until next year.
Illinois is in crisis, and all anyone wants to report on is Rahm Emanuel. The coverage finally reached its nadir this week when Fox Chicago put a “futurist” on the air to predict that Emanuel would win.
The National Rifle Association endorsed Bill Brady for governor and it was almost completely ignored by the same city media that has covered how many gun-related crimes?
Gov. Quinn just announced that he would push hard for civil unions for gay couples after the election, but hardly anyone has noticed.
Instead, Emanuel shakes a few hands at an L stop and every reporter in town is dispatched.
We have a gigantic budget deficit in this state and neither candidate has a real plan for balancing the books. In fact, they’ve both offered up sham proposals void of specifics. The Sun-Times editorial page did an excellent job yesterday explaining why Bill Brady’s budget proposal is ridiculous. But it let the governor slide.
During the past 18 months, Gov. Quinn has switched positions on which tax increase he supports more times than Emanuel has used the “F” word.
Quinn’s latest version uses most of the tax increase money for property tax relief. In other words, it’ll barely make a dent in the deficit. So, what will he do about that deficit? He won’t say, other than that he’ll try to make some more cuts and he’s hoping for additional federal money.
Hope, as they say, is not a plan. Just ask President Obama, who came to town Thursday to help Quinn’s campaign.
But Brady is the Hopemeister General when it comes to jobs. The Bloomington Republican told the Sun-Times that he wants to create as many as 400,000 new jobs by the end of his first term. Brady wants to use Indiana as a model, but Indiana has a higher unemployment rate than Illinois does at the moment.
Also, Indiana has higher personal and corporate tax rates than Illinois. Unlike Illinois, Indiana taxes pension income. And its state sales tax rate is higher and covers more things.
According to estimates generated by our state’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, Illinois would bring in about $5.6 billion more a year if it had Indiana’s state tax structure. But Brady says he’s against all tax increases.
There are two very good candidates running for state comptroller with interesting ideas on how the state can prioritize its bill-paying efforts. That’s hugely important to hundreds of thousands of people here because the state has a stack of overdue bills higher than the Willis Tower stacked on top of Emanuel’s ego.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on a very competitive state Senate race on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Ald. Brian Doherty, the city council’s lone Republican alderman, is up against appointed state Sen. John Mulroe. Doherty is being blasted for voting for the parking meter debacle. Mulroe is taking heat for having several taxpayer-funded incomes. It’s a fascinating and brutal campaign that might be newsworthy if everybody wasn’t so gosh-darned concerned about whether Emanuel had a good night’s sleep.
Time is running out, people. You’ve had your fun, but there is much to cover and precious few days remaining to cover it. Get over your grotesque Rahm fetish and get to work, for crying out loud.
The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent. The jobless rate has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 straight months, the longest stretch since the 1930s.
Her parents drove from their suburban St. Louis home with a $25,000 check to bail her out of jail. White and Rita Oglesby withdrew the money from an equity line of credit on their O’Fallon, Mo., home, her father told a judge during a morning hearing in Cook County criminal court.
John J. Sullivan continued to rip off elderly homeowners in Chicago even after the city won an injunction barring him from doing home-repair work, federal prosecutors allege.
Sullivan, 48, is charged in U.S. District Court with carrying out a home-repair fraud scheme between 2002 and 2006, according to an indictment unsealed this week.
In an unrelated twist, police in Arizona said they found more than $550,000 in cash, more than 100 baggies of marijuana and four handguns in Sullivan’s home there. He bought the house last year, records show.
Dan Johnson garnered a little limelight after “The Hurt Locker” won the Best Picture Oscar earlier this year. A California TV station featured him in a news report about U.S. Air Force explosive disposal experts, similar to those portrayed in the film.
People would tell him “you must be crazy to do what you do,” Johnson said in the report on KSBY, an NBC affiliate in the central coast of California. “I never really thought about it. It seemed like a cool job.”
Seven months later, on Oct. 5, Johnson, who resided briefly in Schiller Park and attended Triton College in River Grove, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. In June, he married a woman he’d met through church friends.
* State Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park) was debating his Republican opponent Jeffrey Junkas the other day in the south suburbs and the subject of pay raises came up. McCarthy said he was proud to have voted for a bill that will require legislators for the first time in years to actually vote to approve their own pay raises. Until the reform bill passed, legislators would vote to accept or reject the recommendations of the Compensation Review Board. Both chambers would have to vote the recommendations down or the pay raises would take effect. As you can imagine, that led to all sorts of political gamesmanship between the chambers and the parties.
Anyway, McCarthy went on to talk about earlier pay raise motions when he took the “morally correct” route and bravely voted to accept his pay raise. McCarthy claimed that sometimes he “really stood out” on those votes. It was, he said, “easy to find me,” because of all the members voting to accept the Board’s recommendations he was “the only caucasian on the list.”
Yes, he was making a joke. Yes, it was a very stupid joke. Notice that nobody laughed. If you watch the full video, you’ll see that even his opponent didn’t react with a rebuke of any kind. And McCarthy’s comment received zero local media coverage. Either nobody heard him, or there must be something weird in the water Out South.
* 8:04 pm - The Tribune was up first this evening with its US Senate endorsement of Mark Kirk…
So if you’re looking to elect a party-line Illinoisan to the Senate, you have your man. On the climactic Senate votes that define this nation’s very future for better or worse — be they on spending obligations or defense policy or industry bailouts — Alexi will be on the bus. […]
• Which of these two candidates will weigh, and decide, questions on national security and other crucial issues more on the merits than on the politics?
• Which would we want as the senator who could eventually make the extraordinarily sensitive selection of U.S. attorneys — the top federal prosecutors, such as Patrick Fitzgerald — for Illinois?
• And on the issue that most roils American politics this autumn, out-of-control federal spending, would Giannoulias or Kirk make unpopular, potentially career-ending votes for restraint? […]
We want the most capable senator protecting the U.S. from its enemies abroad and its unsustainable finances at home. Mark Kirk will be that senator.
* And the Sun-Times was close behind with its endorsement of Alexi Giannouolias…
We no longer know who Kirk is, where he stands or what he would do. […]
What does seem clear is that the experience of working for a community bank influenced Giannoulias’ views on Wells Fargo’s responsibilities to Hartmarx, a small company just trying to survive.
“I know what it’s like to lose a family business,” he told the Sun-Times editorial board. “It breaks your heart.”
Giannoulias is young, just 34, but seasoned in life and politics.
He’s got the stuff to be an excellent United States senator.
In a new Kirk ad, a mother complains about how, “our daughter was a freshman when I opened up the envelope (from the treasurer) and found that they’d lost more than half of our college savings.”
Problem is, the fund involved, known as Core Plus, only lost 38%, and half of that was recouped in a lawsuit. I’m not always great at math, but 19% or so strikes me as somewhat short of half.
Giannoulias said he has been “absolutely, unequivocally consistent in all my statements for the last four years.
“I left day-to-day operations in 2005, and I fully left the bank about April 2006,” he said.
“Absolutely, unequivocally consistent”? Um, didn’t he tell the Tribune last week that he left the bank in May of 2006, not April, as he just told the SJ-R?
James Wright, who recently was forced out as the state’s executive inspector general, has a new job as the campaign manager for mayoral hopeful Gery Chico, the candidate told the Chicago News Cooperative on Wednesday. […]
Chico said he is not concerned that Wright has never run a campaign.
And Chico expects us to take him seriously? Dick Durbin is also clueless…
Chico was an “outstanding candidate” in the 2004 US Senate primary? Is Durbin nuts? Chico got barely over 5 percent of the Cook County vote that year and four percent statewide. Sheesh.
Houle believes that in Chicago and across the country, voters are sick of being pandered to and want someone who will tell them in blunt terms about problems and real solutions.
Rahm Emanuel is only “blunt” behind closed doors. His campaign won’t be anything like his private personality.
It’s not always possible to predict the positions of all the players in the game of politics in Illinois.
A case in point came to me in the form of a copy of an e-mail invitation from Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, to folks who were being encouraged to attend two fundraisers — one for Democratic House Speaker Madigan of Chicago, and the other for Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont. […]
When we spoke recently, Denzler said House GOP Leader Cross hadn’t asked for a fundraiser this year
Look, I know Cross has no love for the IMA, but maybe he could at least ask them to hold a fundraiser? Put them on the spot, maybe?
[Democratic treasurer nominee Robin Kelly] linked two votes by [GOP treasurer nominee Dan Rutherford] —in 1995 and 1997 against lowering the DUI standard to .08 from .10—to more than $70,000 in campaign contributions he’s received since then from beer distributors and other liquor interests.
“Rutherford sold out safe roads for campaign cash,” blared a Kelly press release.
Mr. Rutherford responds that Ms. Kelly has to be “desperate” to drag up 15-year-old legislative votes. He opposes and still opposes .08 and the state’s mandatory seat-belt law, Mr. Rutherford says, but money has nothing to do with it.
Rasmussen cannot justify its failure to name the “some other candidate” who has 1% more support than Jones. Disappointing. Rasmussen had a duty to name Labno in the interest of fairness to all parties, to ensure more accurate reporting by the media
Rasmussen is officially blacklisted by me until they start including everyone’s name in their polls. There’s no excuse for their behavior. “Rasmussen” is also a banned word in comments right now, so if you want to talk about them use: “The polling company that shall not be named” in comments or your post will be held automatically for moderation.
U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk (R-10th), of Highland Park, listed country, pop and jazz - from Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” to Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” to Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Gun control group Brady PAC Illinois is doing an initial round of 65,000 robocalls with the following message…
“My husband, JIM Brady, is from Illinois,” Sarah Brady says in the call. “We’ve voted Republican many times, but we think BILL Brady’s gun policies are awful.”
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Personal PAC has a powerful new ad featuring a rape victim. The ad is running on cable TV in the Elgin area. The group is holding a fundraiser later this month to raise money to put the spot and three others on the air throughout the Chicago region. Rate it…
Script…
Jennie: When I was 18, I was raped. I don’t know what I would have done if I had become pregnant.
Narrator: As governor, Bill Brady would seek to outlaw abortion, and Brady opposes any exceptions, even for victims of rape and incest.
Jennie: Forcing a rape victim to carry a pregnancy is unthinkable, and scares me to death.
Narrator: The more you learn about Bill Brady, the worse it gets. We deserve better than Bill Brady.
* Alexi Giannoulias has a new TV ad that, once again, calls Mark Kirk a liar and a George Bush guy. Watch…
* “Vote No Kilbride” has a new radio ad blasting the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Listen…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Kilbride’s campaign responds…
Kilbride actually voted in support of the state’s position in one of the cases. Together with the Supreme Court’s majority, Kilbride voted to support a harsher sentence against the defendant in this case. The case is People ex rel. Waller v. McKoski. […]
In the Waller decision that JustPac skewered in the radio ad, Tom Kilbride wrote a concurrence opinion arguing the Supreme Court should issue its order through a supervisory order rather than through a mandamus writ - a purely procedural distinction that did not interfere with his support for the harsher penalty.
JustPac’s pretend criminals also flubbed explanations of the other two specified cases. In People v. Bannister, Kilbride questioned the wisdom of allowing testimony from a convicted murderer in a 13-year-old case. This convicted murderer was given a plea agreement vacating his two murder convictions and reducing his sentence in order to get his testimony. And in People v. Runge, Kilbride and Justice Charles Freeman joined a dissent authored by Justice Anne Burke. In this dissent, Burke argued a juror who cheered out loud for the prosecution in a capital case should have been excluded.
[ *** End Of Update 2 *** ]
* Justice Kilbride’s campaign has two new ads. Here’s one…
Independent candidate for governor Scott Lee Cohen lost his temper with the media during a campaign appearance Wednesday morning.
Cohen was angry because a reporter asked whether his plan to create more jobs could take 10 or 15 years.
“You know, I am so sick and tired of the negativity by the media. Do you see anybody that has a better plan? Do you? Do you see anybody out there trying to put the people back to work? You know, that’s enough, I’ve had enough, thank you very much for coming,” Cohen said.
With that Cohen walked away from the podium. He later came back to say what made him angry was a negative Associated Press story about his Rockford job fair Tuesday - a story that quoted attendees who said it was more like a campaign event.
“We’re down about 60,000 registered voters from where we were two years ago,” said Chicago Election Board Chairman Langdon Neal. […]
“We did a major canvass in which we verify our rolls to make sure they’re clean this summer,” Neal said. “So, we’ve cleaned the rolls so that our voting rolls are very accurate in terms of eligible voters, so that results in some loss of voters.” […]
Outside of Chicago there has been a spike in registration compared to 2006. In each of the collar counties, the numbers of registered voters is up: in DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties the increase totals almost 110,000 new voters.
* The Question: How big of a GOP wave are you predicting for this year? Quantify it, please and explain.
* During his Sun-Times editorial board interview this week, Bill Brady was asked about his lack of union support. He quickly pointed to his endorsement by the Fraternal Order of Police. Brady was then asked if he would support applying the same two-tiered pension system to police and firefighters that he supported for state workers and teachers. He didn’t answer directly, saying, rightly, that there are different issues with public safety folks on things like retirement age (although teachers and some others can make the same sort of claims).
[Brady] said as recently as the first gubernatorial debate on September 29 that he would not be cutting anything other than self-identified “waste” from public safety departments–a far cry from the “dime on every dollar” cuts he has proposed for other areas of government. […]
[FOP president Ted Street] said Brady assured union leaders at a private meeting in July that they would be at the table when cuts are made: a move he said “has never been done before.”
“Senator Brady has reached out and asked that I facilitate a meeting between State Troopers lodge (of the union)…and the Department of Corrections lodge…to come up with and organize cost-cutting measures,” Street said. “Senator Brady has offered us input, a voice of representation in the decision making process.”
Brady blasted Quinn for a deal the governor negotiated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union shortly after the group endorsed him. The deal will prevent the state from laying off workers in exchange for furlough days, wage freezes and cost-cutting measures, identified by the union itself. […]
But he now finds himself accusing Quinn of selling out the people of Illinois for his suspect deals with political supporters, while negotiating a similar one on a signature issue. His two pronged attack now appears double edged.
Once you bring up a quid pro quo with your opponent’s endorsers, you subject yourself to similar scrutiny. It’s a fair hit.
* Meanwhile, the SJ-R took a look at the agreement between AFSCME and Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration and discovered that while it sets a $100 million budget reduction goal, it specifies just $10 million in immediate cuts…
The immediate $10 million in savings will be met by “reduction in the use of overtime, expansion of the voluntary furlough program and by in-sourcing work that can be provided more economically if performed by state employees,” according to the agreement
A total of $50 million must be found by the end of this month.
Gov. Pat Quinn blasted Republican challenger Bill Brady today for leaving open the option of borrowing $50 billion to shore up state pension funds, saying it would lead to a massive tax increase.
Quinn seized on the issue in an attempt to turn the tables on Brady, who has hammered the Democratic governor for pushing an income tax increase and borrowing money.
Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, has refused to rule out a $50 billion pension loan. He has said all options should be on the table when it comes to ensuring the health of the underfunded retirement systems. The Brady campaign said it is not backing the idea, saying it would be an option only as part of a comprehensive package that could save the state money.
Quinn brushed aside such nuances, saying a $50 billion pension bond “will never happen as long as I’m governor.”
Gov. Pat Quinn is defending spending $50 million on a new initiative aimed at helping to rebuild struggling neighborhoods while the state has unpaid bills piling up.
The governor’s office says the new anti-violence initiative is a mix of federal money and state money that lawmakers gave Quinn discretion to spend.
It’s the second time in two weeks Quinn has announced he’ll spend some of that money.
The Chicago Democrat recently announced he would use $75 million to keep a temporary jobs program going while Illinois waits for Congress to approve more money for it.
Nonprofit organizations that serve some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens have been forced to freeze salaries, dip into cash reserves and cut programs because government funding is shrinking and often late in coming, according to a report released Thursday by the Urban Institute.
And human service nonprofits in Illinois have been among the hardest hit.
Nationally, 41 percent of human service nonprofits reported late payments from state, federal and local government sources in 2009, the survey found. In Illinois, that number reached 72 percent, highest in the nation.
Despite Gov. Pat Quinn’s call for cost-cutting throughout state government, at least two state agencies are planning to buy or lease new vehicles this month.
Illinois Is Broke, an organization pretty much put together by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, this week began spending what I’m told is in the low-to-mid six figures on radio and print ads urging voters to “ask the candidates what they will do: fix the pensions, or just raise taxes?”
The radio version of the spot has a mother gently griping that, “Our family has to live within our means, but Illinois state government doesn’t.”
The ad then goes on to talk about “free health insurance” for state retirees and a state debt amounting to $25,000 per family.”
The spot doesn’t name any names, but it should be mildly helpful to GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady — a Republican, like the bulk of those who paid for the ad are believed to be. But neither he nor Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn has been specific on what they’d do to close a hole of at least $75 billion.
* Related…
* Obama comes home for Alexi; to help Quinn: Quinn campaign spokesman Mica Matsoff told me that Obama cut a radio spot for Quinn — to start Monday — where he says he will be voting for Quinn on Nov. 2 and urging others to cast their ballot for Quinn… White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday during a briefing that Obama will be greeting Quinn when he lands at O’Hare. Matsoff said Quinn will be bringing two people who benefitted from his “Illinois to Work” jobs program to the tarmac to meet with Obama. While the Obama ad for Quinn starts Monday, on Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden joins Quinn in Chicago for a ‘’Putting Illinois Back to Work'’ get-out-the-vote rally at the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local 130 Hall on the near West Side.
* Teachers endorsement means donations, volunteers: For candidate Pat Quinn, Wednesday was like walking into a room filled with money. The governor and his running mate, Sheila Simon, can expect six-figured campaign donations from the 103,000 member teachers’ union.
* Brady brings GOP bid for governor to Alton: “We’re going to clean house in Springfield,” Brady said. “We’re going to get rid of all the political patronage bureaucrats, and we’re going to bring in real professionals to run Springfield for your benefit and not their personal interests.”
* Brady, Schilling rally with supporters in Quincy, Pittsfield: “It’s you who are going to decide the future of this state, not the special interests,” Brady said, flanked by his wife, Nancy and running mate, Jason Plummer.
Most suburbs examined experienced more than 50 percent increases in the number of poor from 2000 to 2008. In Aurora, the number jumped nearly 62 percent to 19,479, and in Joliet, it rose 39.5 percent to 15,266. […]
“Poverty rose in almost every Chicago suburban community that we looked at,” said Scott Allard, study co-author and associate professor in the U. of C. School of Social Service Administration. “More recent data would show that these trends have only continued.”
But few suburban communities have a social services infrastructure in place to address the challenges of increased poverty, he noted. In Cicero, there are 3,648 poor people per social service non-profit, the study revealed. In Carpentersville, there are 3,013 for every nonprofit, in Aurora, 1,299 for every one and in Skokie, 1,274 for every one.
Bamani Obadele, 37, stepped down as a deputy director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in 2005 after an internal investigation found he had profited from state contracts.
In pleading guilty Tuesday to one count of mail fraud in federal court in Chicago, Obadele admitted he had DCFS vendors buy tote bags, magnets and other items from a promotional company he secretly owned. He also directed DCFS contractors to subcontract work to a company in which he held a board seat.
Many of Huberman’s signature initiatives are still unrealized. The district is in the midst of creating a new teacher evaluation, implementing a $40 million anti-violence initiative, and trying out Huberman’s favored performance management system, which attaches performance metrics to everything from transportation to teaching.
The protesters at Whittier Elementary School should not be made to suffer while staying in the building at 1900 W. 23rd St., said Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th. The parents on the site want another assessment of the building, which they have occupied since mid-September.
“But in the meantime, the Board of Education cannot make a very dumb mistake, in my (opinion), of turning off the gas because the issue of safety comes up again,” Solis said.
Twenty-three-year-old Daniel Johnson was a newlywed. He got married just four months ago.
Johnson died Tuesday as he tried to deactivate a bomb near Kandahar, Afghanistan when an improvised explosive detonated, injuring the sergeant and killing Johnson. He lived in northwest suburban Schiller Park before moving to California.
He had one of the toughest assignments in the military - explosive ordinance disposal - commonly known as the bomb squad. Every job is literally a life or death operation. But his family says he loved it.
* This is a self-made video that’s already running on TV in Champaign. It’s going up around the state starting this weekend, the Pat Quinn campaign says. I think it’s one of the better ads of the season…
