* The biggest problem in negotiations between Gov. Quinn and the two Democratic legislative leaders over the past two months has been the governor’s adamant refusal to back off his income tax hike. With session drawing to a close, Quinn is now starting to budge, which isn’t at all surprising considering the reality that his tax hike plan has no chance at all…
Gov. Pat Quinn is signaling that he could support higher cigarette taxes to help prevent deep cuts in education spending.
Quinn said Tuesday that a budget built around cigarette taxes and borrowed money to avoid $1.3 billion in education cuts is “getting in the right direction.”
He’s gonna need more than that cig tax hike and borrowing to close the hole, however. Quinn has already rejected a tax amnesty program, but that could wind up back on the table, as well as temporarily eliminating some business tax breaks and stuff like this.
Can you predict any more Quinn flip-flops for the rest of the week?
* Speaking of flip-flops, Mark Kirk’s new TV ad (displayed below) touts his fights against BP’s pollution of Lake Michigan. The ad is timely because of BP’s current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Kirk’s attitude toward oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico is a different story.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, he joined his party’s “Drill Baby Drill” wing by endorsing oil exploration in the Gulf, arguing that if we didn’t do it, the Cubans would.
“It makes no sense to allow the Chinese to drill on the Cuban side of the line in Florida without us tapping into the very same oilfields,” Kirk said on WLS’ Don Wade and Roma Morning Show. “We’ve got the Venezuelans, the Dutch and the Chinese all drilling in the gulf under leases from Cuba. It makes perfect sense for the United States to make sure our team gets that same oil before Castro does.”
We’re getting that oil all right. It’s about to wash up in New Orleans. As long as the slick doesn’t spread to North Avenue Beach, Kirk probably won’t have any complaints.
Two new rules will be imposed under the policy change. Logs will be kept to record how the vehicles are used, and the vehicles can no longer be stored at private residences, according to Cullerton’s office.
* Scott Lee Cohen’s gubernatorial campaign is barely a day old and he’s already getting goofy.
Asked today on WIND AM’s Big John Howell and Amy Jacobson Show, Cohen was asked what he’d do about the deficit if he was governor. Cohen tried to make a joke, but it fell flat…
“Shoot all the elected politicians?”
Cohen apologized for making the statement several minutes later during the final segment of the show. He then said he would “cut waste and corruption,” to balance the budget, citing high state employee wages.
In the interview, Cohen claims that the “Democratic Party crucified me,” but refused to detail any alleged threats. Believe it or not, he also said he ran a poll that showed he was “electable,” and predicted: “The females will forgive me.”
Cohen claimed that the prostitute he allegedly knifed had fabricated the police report. And what if she talks during the campaign? “If she comes out, that’s on her,” he said.
He said that people have applied to be his running mate, but he wouldn’t disclose any names.
But it seemed like not all those supporters wearing Cohen shirts and waving Cohen signs were there out of pure democratic fervor. Two of them, who were understandably shy about sharing this information, told me they were promised $10 to show up. They say they were recruited at “the pawn shop.” They also told me they hadn’t yet been paid.
After the rally, a group of about a half-dozen Cohen rally attendees walked, mostly together, down to the 400 block of South Clark Street. At least one walked into Royal Pawn Shop, and at least a few others walked into a “MEN ONLY” hotel in the same building as the pawn shop.
And who owns Royal Pawn Shop? Royal Redemption Services, according to the Illinois Department of Finance and Professional Regulation, a company owned by Randy Cohen, according to the Illinois Secretary of State. Randy is identified in multiple news clips as one of Scott Lee Cohen’s brothers.
The Cohen campaign denied paying anybody. Of course, the candidate denies knifing any hookers, so there ya go, as Sneed would say.
Also, I’ll most certainly regret this, but I posted several photos yesterday of the SLC kickoff. Here’s a close-up of one of those photos showing Cohen on the right and a certain columnist on the left…
* The Broadway Bank was owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias. Now that the bank has failed, Should the Democrats replace Giannoulias as the Democratic nominee for United States Senate?
22% Yes
54% No
24% Not sure
* Regardless of whether you think the Democratic party should replace Giannoulias as the nominee, how likely is it that they will replace Giannoulias?
6% Very likely
24% Somewhat likely
42% Not very likely
13% Not at all likely
15% Not sure
* The Question: If the Democratic and Republican primaries were held today instead of in February, do you think the same people would’ve been nominated for governor, US Senate, lt. governor, etc., or would we be seeing a very different ticket on both sides? How so? Explain.
* As I’ve told subscribers and blog readers several times, this goofy STAR bonds bill could be a disaster for the state’s budget in the very near future, but it just won’t die…
The idea of a big, new entertainment and retail project financed by STAR Bonds remains alive, but it could end up in Marion instead of Glen Carbon.
Developer Bruce Holland said Monday the plan is afoot to build the center near Interstate 57 in Marion, which is near Carbondale.
The STAR Bonds bill that would have supported the project in Glen Carbon appeared to have died in the General Assembly, and developers appeared to throw in the towel last week when they announced their disappointment.
However, Holland and Marion area officials held a news conference Saturday and announced the project now is planned for that part of the state.
The STAR bonds concept is simple. Developers use anticipated and actual state sales tax revenue generated by a commercial project to finance that project. It sounds pretty good on its face. Hundreds of millions, even billions, in development for places that need the jobs and the businesses. But the consequences ain’t so good. First, studies have shown that these huge subsidized projects would just cannibalize businesses and customers from surrounding areas. It was no accident that every local mayor surrounding Glen Carbon hotly opposed this project.
Second, and more importantly for our purposes, the state will never be able to stop this idea from spreading. Do you think Chicago, or Rosemont, or wherever will avoid lobbying to get their own STAR bonds districts? Chicago, for instance, could phase out its TIF districts, put that local property tax money back in their budgets and then replace them with STAR bond districts, which takes tax money out of the state’s budget. Won’t happen, you say? Bull. Chicago has the clout and the incentive to do just that. And if they get it, others will, too.
Considering the horrific shape that the state budget is in, this is a complete fiscal disaster in the making.
* Predictably, Marion’s area media was simply delighted at the possible benefits. WSIL TV gushed…
Southern Illinois will soon be a destination for millions. That is the vision of developers who have their sights set on property in Marion…
Planners are moving fast, and hope legislators can keep up… Developer Bruce Holland is the man with the vision. He says he tried to develop a similar venue in East Saint Louis, but recently pulled out because of what he called in-fighting among local leaders.
Glen Carbon isn’t East St. Louis, so that’s an odd way of putting it. I’m sure there was nothing intentional by using East St. Louis’ name, though. Noooo. Here’s the Marion newspaper’s giddiness…
Southern Illinois leaders on Saturday unveiled a development that could bring an estimated $395.7 million to the region. The “destination development,” spearheaded by Bruce Holland of Holland Construction Services in Swansea, will mix niche retail shopping with a hotel and indoor waterpark on Marion’s north side.
“This is something needed so badly in southern Illinois,” Marion mayor Robert Butler said. “We need jobs and the influx of capital.”
Holland’s vision—along the lines of Branson, Mo. — includes 5,600 permanent jobs and 6,000 trade jobs that could’ve landed in East St. Louis, where he tried to develop a site.
In-fighting and arguments that killed a Metro East development proposal won’t be repeated now that Southern Illinois has a shot at it, Marion Mayor Bob Butler said Monday.
The plan, which could turn an empty, 400-acre plot on Marion’s north side into a $378.6 million destination development is on the fast track in Springfield, where legislation to create a special tax district is being pushed for passage before the close of the spring session Friday. If green-lighted, the development could spur thousands of construction and permanent jobs for the region, officials said.
* And what about that alleged Metro East “in-fighting” claimed by the developer and Marion’s mayor? The Belleville News-Democrat blasts away…
Developer Chad Holland wrote that his group met with several mayors “who told us there is nothing more we can do to secure their support for the project.” That makes it sound as if the mayors didn’t want more development and jobs for the region, which isn’t accurate.
The mayors didn’t want the state to give away hundreds of millions of dollars to developers — and have their retail businesses put at a competitive disadvantage as a result.
Holland’s group couldn’t secure support for the project they wanted. If they had compromised, excluded retail and asked for less from the state, it might have been different.
* Thankfully, the Southern Illinoisan has a Statehouse bureau, and those guys wrote a decent story about the STAR bond pitfalls and about how local legislators appear divided, with the Democrats generally in favor and the Republicans opposed…
“You’ll have one community benefiting tremendously at the expense of the surrounding communities,” predicted state Rep. Michael Bost, R-Murphysboro, whose district is near the site of the proposed development. “I’m for jobs … but not for legislating an advantage for one area over another.” […]
“I’ve told the (local) leaders, ‘You have to look at the pros and the cons of this thing,’ ” said Forby, adding that he believes the job-creation potential outweighs other concerns. “We could maybe get a music venue in here, like Branson (Mo.) … Anything can happen.”
But some neighboring Southern Illinois lawmakers are expressing the same concerns that some Metro East lawmakers voiced about the Glen Carbon plan: that it would pull business and jobs from nearby areas and diminish local tax revenue.
“I definitely have that concern,” said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. Like Bost, he said he is reserving judgment until he sees the written legislation but that he’s especially concerned “that it’s happening so fast.”
According to the developer, Congressman Jerry Costello’s son is now out of the investment group. That’s one positive.
* Meanwhile, in other state budget news, the Herald & Review is fed up and they’re not gonna take it anymore…
Here’s an idea: The Illinois General Assembly should stop receiving pay until they adopt a solution to the state’s budget problem and the ever-growing backlog of bills.
It’s easy to imagine right now several legislators reading this, smiling to themselves and muttering, “What a ridiculous idea.”
Although it will never happen, we’re not joking. It’s past time for the folks who created the problem to start paying the price.
I’m pretty sure that would be unconstitutional, but, in reality, legislators haven’t received their per diem checks in months. Last I checked each member was owed something like $7,000. So, they are paying a price, albeit not a huge one.
* West Virginia To Likely Approve Verizon/Frontier Deal This Week: Last week Illinois regulators (with a little personal last-minute help from Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and some Verizon talking points) approved Verizon’s $8.5 billion plan to offload millions of phone and DSL customers to Frontier Communications. The deal was approved despite protests from a state Judge and her 47-page report — highlighting very clearly how only really Verizon benefits from the deal, given it infuses Frontier with so much debt next-gen upgrades or expansion will likely take a back seat for some time. With Illinois out of the way, Frontier and Verizon lobbyists only have West Virginia and the FCC to worry about. In West Virginia, unions have put up a tough fight — but now appear relegated to using delay tactics
* Gov. Pat Quinn went on the attack yesterday after Scott Lee Cohen’s announcement that he plans to run for governor as an independent. The governor also tossed in a shot at Bill Brady while he was at it…
“I really have no interest in talking to Mr. Cohen. I bumped into him at the ballpark opening day and I said hello to him and he said he had a surprise for me. Well, y’know. I’ve been competitive all my life. And I can handle any competition. And I think whether it’s Senator Brady with his extreme record opposing things that help working women to Mr. Cohen to his record both in his private and public life, I think I’m a much superior candidate to both of them.”
* Bill Brady’s response to the Cohen announcement…
Scott Lee Cohen’s announcement today comes after Forrest Claypool last month declared he would run as an independent against Joe Berrios for Cook County Assessor.
Whether he manages to get on the ballot or not, Scott Lee Cohen is certainly in a position to speak about the backroom deals he’s seen during this unusual saga. Regardless of who ends up being a candidate for governor in November, Bill Brady will continue to call for a clean break from the old politics in Illinois.
Even assuming that he gets on the ballot, I am not overly concerned by Mr. Cohen’s presence in the race. He seems to be positioning himself as some sort of centrist. But being in the “center” between two candidates who each support devastating cuts to education and essential social services, who won’t fix our broken tax system, and who have no original ideas for creating real job opportunities for Illinoisans, is nothing to brag about.
* Zorn bemoans the hoops Cohen will have to jump through…
Not only is the man clearly in the grips of a grandiose delusion — given his heavy baggage and light political resume — he’s also headed straight into the buzz saw of Illinois’ daunting petition process to get on the ballot, a process that routinely turns well-organized men and women into political wood chips.
In seven weeks, Cohen must gather 25,000 nominating signatures from registered voters. It’s one of the top 10 steepest requirements in the nation for independents who want to run for governor, according to data compiled by Richard Winger of San Francisco, publisher of Ballot Access News. […]
In Florida, for example, if you’ve been following the wild politics down there, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will simply pay a $10,440 filing fee to run as an independent in November against presumptive Republican primary winner Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.
The signatures aren’t my biggest beef. It’s the complicated election laws that have to be followed which often boggle my mind. For instance, here’s a legal hurdle that Joe Berrios will allegedly try to force independent Forrest Claypool to clear...
Berrios and his legal team are ready to argue that no [petition] signature can be admitted from anyone who so much as voted in February’s primary. Simply by going to the polls and requesting a party’s primary ballot—no matter whether Democratic, Republican, or Green—a voter aligned himself with that party, they say, and thereby disqualified himself from signing Claypool’s independent petition.
If Berrios wins on this point, there’s practically no way Claypool will be able to present 25,000 good signatures. Yes, the election turnout was low in February’s primaries—only 761,626, roughly a quarter of the registered electorate. But it’s the politically active quarter that Claypool’s signatures are most likely to come from.
Right now, we have two directly opposite state appellate court cases on this general topic and we really need the Illinois Supreme Court to step in and resolve it now because the GA doesn’t appear willing to do so.
* Cohen, meanwhile, says he hasn’t decided whether to use professional petition gatherers…
Cohen says he hasn’t decided whether to hire people to help him gather the signatures.
COHEN: We have not gotten that far yet. We need a running mate.
Anyone interested in being his running mate, Cohen says, should call him or send him a resume.
Relying on volunteers will be deathly. The League of Women Voters tried the same thing (until they offered a $10,000 bounty to the Young Chicago Republicans at the end) and failed miserably to get their constitutional amendment on the ballot. The same fate awaits Cohen if he uses volunteers.
*** UPDATE *** Mark Kirk’s now up with a response ad, called “Distract.” Rate it…
[ *** End of Update *** ]
* The Alexi Giannoulias campaign has a new TV ad up which has been running since Friday. It’s called “Struggle.” Supposedly, this one is much more of a significant buy than the last one, but I’m checking the numbers. Rate it…
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the chair of the Senate Democratic political operation hit Chicago on Sunday to map fund-raising strategy with top donors to assist the Alexi Giannoulias Illinois Senate campaign.
Menendez, who oversees the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, huddled with about 30 contributors–who can tap their personal networks for more donors–at a session held at the Saddle and Cycle Club on 900 W. Foster Ave., a few blocks west of Lake Michigan on the North Side.
I was told the take away from the meeting was this: there was a “positive and engaged conversation about the state of the race and the DSCC support for it.”
* Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) asks NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde what gun control bills he could possibly support…
* Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno answers a question about whether she could use the negotiations on McPier to extract an agreement on the budget…
* And the House held a service for fallen members of the armed forces from Illinois yesterday. Watch…
Ochoa briefed his staff about his future Monday, sources said. A Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority spokeswoman said that as of 6 p.m. Monday, Ochoa had not resigned. John Gates Jr., chairman of the interim board of McPier, declined to comment.
Sneed hears rumbles RTA Chairman Jim Reilly, who is now advising the state’s legislative committee how to resolve the McCormick Place mess, is this/close to becoming the new McCormick Place czar/trustee — a title he held years ago.
The Regional Transportation Authority won legislative approval Monday to boost its borrowing capabilities by $300 million to cover a massive IOU from the state to Chicago-area mass-transit agencies….The RTA now has the capability to borrow $100 million to fund operating expenses, but that total will increase to $400 million if Gov. Quinn approves the legislation.
The plan narrowly passed the Senate 31-11, with three voting present and 14 members - including GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady - not voting at all. Thirty votes were needed to pass the Senate.
The Illinois Senate overwhelmingly approved a proposed law that would strip the commission of its sales tax ability effective June 1, 2016. A quarter-percent sales tax imposed by the commission generates approximately $30 million annually.
If Gov. Pat Quinn signs the plan into law, the commission members would have to resign and new members would be appointed. The DuPage County Board chairman appoints seven, and local mayors appoint the other six.
It doesn’t look much different than any other pickup truck, but one Chevy is running around McCormick Place this week on fuel made from algae. And that algae could mean great jobs for Illinois.
A DuPage County judge set a July 30th execution date Monday for a long-imprisoned killer who fatally shot a young Aurora father during a robbery that netted just $6.
Edward Tenney joins 15 other condemned men awaiting death by lethal injection on Illinois’ death row despite an unofficial moratorium….Gov. Pat Quinn has declined to lift the moratorium, as had Rod Blagojevich before him. Quinn’s Republican opponent, Sen. Bill Brady, said he supports the death penalty and will lift the moratorium if elected.
Under scrutiny: the four-unit building at 1834 N. Kedzie in Humboldt Park, where Gutierrez’s daughter Omaira Figueroa bought a new, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in June 2008 for $155,000, selling it a little over a year later for $239,900 — $84,900, or 55 percent, more than she’d paid.
Street vendors who hawk peanuts and souvenirs outside Wrigley Field are as much a part of the ballpark’s charm as the rooftops across the street.
Not for long, if local Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) has his way. Stymied last summer in his efforts to ban peddlers from a two-block area around Wrigley, Tunney has revised the ordinance and is gearing up to try again.
* Officials may use nets to try to catch Asian carp in North Shore Channel
Cook County Regional Schools Supt. Charles Flowers could lose the credentials he needs to keep his job at a meeting in Springfield on Friday of the Illinois State Teacher Certification Board.
Flowers pleaded innocent to charges of theft and official misconduct in March, denying allegations he skimmed nearly $400,000 in taxpayer money over a two-year period. A Cook County grand jury indicted him on 16 felony charges.
The city’s current two-year contract with Ameren Energy Marketing has come at a price of $1,078,942 a year, a difference of $338,005. The difference will total $1,014,015 during the life of the contract.
* I just sent this e-mail to Bill Brady’s campaign spokesperson…
What does Sen. Brady intend to do with his business interests if he’s elected governor? Will he dispose of them, put them into a blind trust, continue to actively engage in the day-to-day operations?
* The Question: What do you think Brady should do with his various businesses if he’s elected governor? Explain.
* I suppose you could think that Democratic legislators are taking a gigantic risk by planning to adjourn this week without completely “solving” the state’s budget mess. The Tribune certainly does…
If legislators adjourn after doing so little, they’ll be asking citizens to oust them from office
Then again, if legislators cut $13 billion from the budget, or cut half of that and fill the rest of the hole with tax hikes, they’d actually be begging - not asking, begging - voters to oust them from office come November. That’s just reality. Look at the polls if you don’t believe me. The voters clearly do not want their taxes raised and they don’t want services cut. Period.
Last year, I wrote countless columns and blog posts favoring a tax hike and measured budget cuts. I stopped doing that when something happened during the primary campaign that made me rethink my position. Pat Quinn kept saying that if he won the nomination he would have a “mandate” to move his tax hike forward.
Quinn just barely won that primary but it made me stop and think. The last gubernatorial election was won by ten points by a guy who swore up and down to “never raise taxes on people.” Therefore, no public mandate exists to do that now. Period. And since the Democrats won, there is no mandate to cut services, either.
This election represents the clearest choice voters have had in decades. Tax hikes with smallish cuts or major cuts with no tax hikes? It’s not ideal, but I think we can probably muddle through another six or so months until election day to figure out which way the public wants to go.
On the other hand, this is obviously an emergency situation and allowing problems to fester any longer isn’t exactly ideal. Leaders are supposed to lead, after all.
But the Tribune so thoroughly botched its own attempt at coming up with solutions to close the budget hole that it has zero credibility now on this entire topic.
First, the Legislature gave all the new revenues to localities, keeping none for services provided directly by the state, then increased the level of those services anyway. To do this, it spent more than it took in … because the previous year’s treasury had provided a nifty $266 million surplus. This time around, there is no surplus, and that puts state budget-making $266 million behind at the starting gate.
Secondly, the Legislature declared the new tax to be temporary, thrusting the issue of its renewal into the fires of an election year while rendering the schools and communities it was supposed to help powerless to plan sensible budgets.
Foresight tells us that Illinois is on the verge of making things worse. … While those who would succeed him preach about keeping taxes low, or cutting them, outgoing Gov. Jim Thompson proposes a budget which will be balanced only if (a) taxes go up and sports betting, which is still illegal, manages somehow to bring the state $30 million and (b) the state doesn’t pay its bills on time. Chances of the former are minimal, which just about ensures that the latter will occur on a grand scale.
The governor wants to postpone or ignore $349 million worth of due bills in fiscal 1991. He would “save” the state $246 million on paper by paying only 10 1/2 months of Medicaid and group insurance bills during the fiscal year and by delaying circuit-breaker refund payments by six weeks …
The tactics amount to deficit spending, technically forbidden in Illinois, but easy to get around in the short term. … Remember when corporations and citizens waited months to get their state tax refunds? When pharmacists, nursing homes and hospitals which cared for Medicaid patients were forced to borrow money to pay their own bills because the state wasn’t paying its? Do we want government to become the state’s biggest scofflaw again, and so soon?
* Related and a roundup…
* Makeshift Illinois budget could include pension IOUs: The state doesn’t have the $3.7 billion it owes to retirement systems in the upcoming fiscal year, so top Democrats are discussing a plan to make good by giving the systems bonds that pay off over eight years, documents and interviews show.< * Erickson: Election Day blocks any action on fiscal mess
* The wheels keep falling off Republican 8th Congressional District nominee Joe Walsh’s campaign. The latest began with an open letter from two top staffers who resigned…
We had to go public and announce our resignation from the campaign shortly following his choice to stay in the race. We came to this conclusion after doing some intense investigations into the lies that Joe had told us since October. Again we would like to apologize for unintentionally misleading supporters and voters throughout the primary process. If we would have known who the true Joe Walsh was, we never would have supported him. Don’t make the same mistake we made. Make sure you always question your candidate thoroughly.
They also posed a series of questions…
Ask about his drivers license and insurance ( If it has ever been suspended )
Ask him about his taxes ( If he owes the IRS )
Ask him about his questionable fundraising and accounting ( If he ever bounced checks )
Ask him if he ever inflated his donations in his FEC filings to make himself appear to have more money then he actually raised.
Ask him if he ever handled a firearm in his life ( Why he was anti gun in his past races )
Ask him what his opinion is of Obama and then why he would hire an ex Obama intern to be his Press Secretary.
Ask him if he has ever been evicted from his residency.
Ask him if he has ever had any court judgements or leans against him.
Ask him where the $28,000 he loaned his campaign came from after only making $41,000 last year and $25,000 the year before.( And ask him about his taxes again )
“We’re basically just done,” Walsh field director Richard Cape said. “Everyone is walking. We’ve just had it.”
Cape, Walsh’s former campaign manager, said he and fellow field director Ted Livengood are among the 200 volunteers who have left the campaign in recent weeks.
At 6 p.m. Sunday, Cape said, volunteers will “shut down” the 218 Barron Blvd. office, which opened just weeks ago. Cape has termed the event a “campaign kick out” party.
But the cops were called and the resigned staffers were foiled…
Police were called to Walsh’s Graylake campaign office Sunday afternoon after Cape and others went there to retrieve office equipment and other property they claim is theirs. They were not allowed in the campaign office, and officers told them it was a civil matter and they would have to go to court to settle their dispute.
The Lake County GOP Chairman didn’t ask for Walsh’s resignation, but they didn’t exactly give him a ringing vote of confidence, either…
But the Republican leadership in Lake County was concerned enough to meet for two hours Sunday behind closed doors to discuss Walsh’s future. They declined to ask him to step down.
“Joe Walsh is still our candidate, we’re not gonna get involved in a campaign dispute,” said Lake County Republican Party Chairman Bob Cook.
But when pressed on Walsh’s future, and how recent issues might affect the general election in November Cook said “We’re always concerned when there’s something that could hurt our chances of beating Melissa Bean in the General election.” He said it’s up to the voters to decide if those chances will be hurt if Walsh stays in the race.
The man who voluntarily gave up his spot as Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor is expected to announce today that he will run for governor as an independent.
Scott Lee Cohen will be making an announcement on Monday at 10:30 in front of the State of Illinois Building on the Randolph Street side. I would love to see you there and have your support!
The closest thing to a politician I can find who commented on or “liked” that post was Wanda Majcher, a Democrat who lost the 10th Senate nomination this past February. A yard sign maker also weighed in for him.
Quinn says it’s a free country and Cohen is welcome to try to collect the necessary signatures to get on the ballot. The Chicago Democrat says he’s not worried Cohen could siphon away some of his support.
“I am running for governor because like the rest of the citizens of Illinois, I am tired of waste and mismanagement, which has led our state to the current financial instability,” Cohen said in a news conference outside Chicago’s Thompson Center this morning. “The people of this great state are suffering every day.”
Cohen reiterated that he would not advocate for a tax increase, and would organize a committee of small and large business owners to assist with fiscal policy.
* A host of Republicans are planning to skip the state party’s $500 per person fundraiser featuring Sarah Palin next week, including GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady…
Brady’s campaign won’t say why the candidate isn’t attending, only that he has no plans to be there.
GOP congressional candidates Randy Hultgren and Bob Dold aren’t gonna show, and neither will state Senators John Millner and Dan Duffy…
A photo with Palin could prove damaging to some Republicans running in suburban districts that have been trending more and more Democratic in recent elections, [Roosevelt University’s Paul Green] says.
And even for steadfast conservatives like Brady of Bloomington, there is little upside in publicly aligning himself with Palin even though he has been quietly making the rounds with suburban tea party groups for months.
His reluctance to release his tax records, however, was a poor decision, and the peek-a-boo nature of their release was an inadequate gesture for someone seeking the state’s highest office.
Brady wants to become the first elected Illinois governor in more than a decade who is not either in jail or under indictment. Secrecy is not a good way to start.
The more transparent the better. And besides, we just might learn something along the way.
It’s not that he did anything illegal. He just apparently took every advantage he could of the tax code written by the bad big government to reduce his tax obligation to zero.
Anyone who files a tax return does everything he or she can to minimize the tax hit. Most people, though, still end up paying something to the government. Even if you get a refund, it’s probably only for a small portion of the money withheld from your paycheck.
Quinn’s a populist from way back. It seems like he’s forever carped about giant corporations and fat cats and what have you. He shouldn’t have to break a sweat working Brady’s unique tax status into his campaign rhetoric
I was out with some political buddies the other night and the subject of Bill Brady’s taxes came up.
Just about everybody agreed that Brady should never have released his tax returns. All he did was make a bad situation worse, they said.
The Republican gubernatorial nominee released his returns four years ago when he ran for governor the first time. The returns showed he earned well into six figures and had lots of successful businesses. Nobody paid much attention at the time because Brady was an unknown state senator with little chance of winning the GOP nomination.
But when “tax day” came around this year, reporters asked the new nominee if he’d release his returns again. He said he wouldn’t, claiming that the last time his business suffered. Brady’s refusal sparked a few stories, but things really heated up when Gov. Pat Quinn stepped into the fray.
Quinn asked what Brady was hiding and demanded that Brady put the public interest before his private business interests. Brady eventually relented, but only to a point. He said he’d allow reporters to look at his returns for three hours that Friday afternoon in his Springfield campaign office. No copies would be distributed. Look only.
Chicago reporters were not amused. Not only would the returns be released 200 miles from their home base, but Brady had scheduled the unveiling around the same time that the family bank of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias was going to be seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Brady was obviously trying to bury the story on a busy Friday, when it would get lost over the weekend.
Springfield-based reporters weren’t all that happy either. A glimpse of several years of complicated tax returns didn’t seem adequate.
But what we found was fascinating. Brady had declared so many losses on his businesses that he paid no state or federal income taxes at all for 2008 and no federal income taxes for 2009.
Also, the conservative Republican had used a tax break from President Barack Obama’s stimulus law to avoid paying federal taxes last year.
So, Brady was triple-troubled. He had most political reporters peeved at him and he handed them a story about not paying taxes on his state senate salary of about $75,000 a year. He had money to loan his campaign tens of thousands of dollars during that same time, but he chose instead to use a provision in the much-hated (by his Republican “base”) stimulus law to pay zero income tax.
So, instead of fading away into the weekend, the story kept going strong. Editorial boards and columnists weighed in. Reporters started combing through what they had for more tidbits, and in the meantime they wrote stories about Brady’s refusal to provide them with copies of his returns as Gov. Quinn had done. Something they haven’t written about yet is that Brady actually got a state income tax refund of more than $1,600 on what appears to be his withholding taxes on his Senate paychecks. Not good.
Brady told me last week that when his businesses started to wane as the economy tanked, he and his partners decided to go into the red rather than lay people off or shut down the companies. That’s honorable. If you have the cash to keep the businesses open, you should do what you can.
But Brady probably should’ve kicked a few bucks into the tax till for that legislative gig of his. At the very least, he should not have asked for a refund to bring his total tax bill down to zero. He had a right to the tax breaks he got, but he wasn’t required to do it.
Maybe my buddies were correct. Maybe Brady should’ve just mummed up and took the heat for not disclosing his returns. That story might’ve gone away in a few days. The resulting attack TV ad wouldn’t have been pleasant, but they would’ve been better than what we’ll see now: “Bill Brady funneled tens of thousands of dollars into his own campaign fund while he paid no income taxes on his legislative salary.” Oof.
Then again, I have to respect Brady for opening himself up to this hit, regardless of whether I agree with the rest of what he did. There’s no law (yet) requiring candidates to disclose their tax returns, but Brady swallowed hard and took his lumps. Now, if he’d just send us some actual copies of those returns …
State regulators have notified Stephens that his arrest, coupled with a prior disciplinary action, are grounds not to renew his pharmacy license when it expires next year.
Stephens was put on probation in 2001 for “habitually using controlled substances.”
* Records: Congressman put daughter up for her state job
Before he lent her $140,000 to buy an “affordable home,” U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez helped his daughter get a government job, according to records kept by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration.
Omaira Figueroa became a consumer counselor for the Illinois Commerce Commission in June 2004, after Blagojevich aides included her in the then-secret hiring database under a spreadsheet labeled “Gutierrez, Luis (CONG-D-4th Dist.)”
The U.S. Constitution doesn’t require congressmen to live in the districts they represent. The only residency requirement is this: They have to live somewhere in the state from which they are elected.
The charges range from $30 to $400 and include a hotel stay in the West Loop as well as an “emergency” run to a clothing store to get a new dress shirt after he spilled food on another, sources said.
Though Stroger has reimbursed the county for the personal charges, some county commissioners say his use of the card should be investigated.
Sneed hears rumbles Cook County Commissioner John Daley, who is flummoxed by rumors Stroger may have given pay increases to top aides despite a board resolution forbidding him to do so, plans to ask the Cook County comptroller and the director of human resources to rescind them.
James Reilly, who is advising lawmakers on how to reduce costs at McCormick Place, said he proposed putting the property under temporary control of a trustee. The trustee would legally have 18 months to find a private management firm to take over, he said.
Also, Reilly said he urged that the General Assembly approve work rule changes designed to lower the cost of staging conventions in Chicago. The proposal calls for eliminating the exclusive electrical service franchise at McCormick Place, called Focus One.
The city paid $18.5 million in police overtime in 2005, $33.8 million in 2006 and $37.1 million in 2009 — its highest in eight years, according to figures obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Police officials attribute the enormous rise from 2005 to 2006 to officers landing a new contract with the city. Their 2006 paychecks included three years of retroactive pay increases.
The big jump in 2009 was partly because of a legal settlement that required $3.5 million in overtime payments to officers.
The changes are needed because there is only $10.9 billion in the city’s four pension funds — a shortfall of nearly $14.6 billion, states the report by the Commission to Strengthen Chicago’s Pension Funds.
Without changes, closing all but 10 percent of the gap would require that the city pay $710 million more a year into the funds starting in 2012. The city’s current budget is $6.1 billion, and in recent years Daley has tapped reserves to balance it.
A Tribune review of 2006 to 2009 cases found that Jordan ranks as the most forgiving judge in Cook, DuPage and Lake counties for drivers cited by state police for going 100 mph or faster….Jordan isn’t the only judge who has repeatedly given supervision to speeders cited for driving 100 mph or higher. Cook County Circuit Judge Jill Cerone-Marisie, based in Rolling Meadows, gave 52 supervisions. Her colleague, Cook County Associate Judge Larry Axelrood, handed out 36 in Skokie.
Ms. Madigan, along with the staff of the Illinois Commerce Commission, says the charge for Nicor’s ComfortGuard service, which covers the cost of repairing gas pipes within customers’ homes, far exceeds its benefits….More than 440,000, or 20%, of Nicor’s 2.2 million suburban customers pay $4.95 per month for ComfortGuard, according to the ICC staff filings. Nicor reaped a total of $26 million from the product last year while paying out only $600,000 in benefits, the filings allege.
Residents in Kane County will feel, on average, about a 3 percent increase in their property taxes payable June 1 and Sept. 1.
How can this be, you say? The answer mostly goes back to the fact that even though most everything from the thickness of wallets to the waiting times at your local restaurant is down, the cost of taxing bodies providing their services is up.
After dealing with multiple false alarms, including three in less than 24 hours, at a Washington business this winter, Vaughn discovered there are no penalties in the city’s fire prevention ordinance for several false alarms caused by maintenance issues at the same location.
So he’s proposing adding fines to the ordinance. The fines range from $75 for the third false alarm to $750 for the 10th and additional false alarms at the same location over a 12-month period.
The proposed ordinance would ban the building of wind farms in Pontiac, as well as within a 1.5 mile radius around the city limits. City Attorney Alan Schrock said the change would make sure the turbines did not hinder any potential growth.
* I could not figure out why I was in a Stevie Ray Vaughan mood all week. But then I came home and realized we kicked off the weekend with all sorts of storm warnings. Perhaps this video is appropriate.
Rich will be back on Monday. Thanks for putting up with the interns today!
Like a train that stops at every station
We all deal with trials and tribulations
Fear hangs the fellow that ties up his years
* Most Senate Democrats were mum on the talking points of this afternoon’s caucus meeting. However, Sen. Louis Viverito said an unspecified amount or type of borrowing is being discussed. Take a look…
* Speaking with Christopher Wills of the Associated Press, Sen. Donne Trotter talked about issuing pension obligation notes. The challenge there, he said, is getting other Democrats on board with the idea…
* Both chambers canceled their weekend sessions and plan to reconvene at noon on Monday.
* The latest Rasmussen poll puts Republican Sen. Bill Brady ahead of Gov. Pat Quinn by seven percentage points. Five percent of the respondents favor another candidate and 11 percent have yet to decide. From Rasmussen…
Brady posted a 47% to 37% lead over Quinn in early March just after the former was officially declared the GOP nominee by a 193-vote margin out of 750,000 cast.
The two are battling most notably these days over an income tax hike the governor has proposed as an alternative to a $1.3 billion cut in education funding.
Forty percent (40%) of voters in the state now approve of Quinn’s handling of the governorship, down three points from the previous survey. Fifty-eight percent (58%) disapprove. This includes seven percent (7%) who Strongly Approve and 28% who Strongly Disapprove.
* Rasmussen also showed Republican Congressman Mark Kirk leading state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in the U.S. Senate race…
Kirk now attracts 46% support in Illinois’ race for the U.S. Senate, up from 41% in early April. Support for Giannoulias is at 38%, virtually unchanged from the previous survey but down from March, when he earned 44% of the vote. Five percent (5%) currently support some other candidate, and 12% are undecided.
Kirk picked up 46% to Giannoulias’ 40% in the first survey after the two won their party primaries in February. But the race was a virtual toss-up by March. Still, despite the Broadway Bank controversy, Kirk has been unable to push past his previous high. Giannoulias got a much-sought-after boost of support from President Obama after the survey was taken, so it’s unclear at this point whether the bank issue has caused the candidate any long-term damage in a state that has trended Democratic in recent years.
Forty-seven percent said their house was worth more than they owe on the mortgage, but 44 percent believed they owed more than their house was worth.
And…
Other polls conducted by Rasmussen included a poll that questioned how the violence in some Illinois neighborhoods should or should not be handled.
It was determined that 37 percent were in favor of using the National Guard to fight crime in violent neighborhoods, while 48 percent were not. Sixteen percent were not sure.
Since the poll was conducted statewide, it was unclear whether those polled actually lived in the violent neighborhoods mentioned.
You may recall earlier this week state Reps. Fritchey and Ford suggested Gov. Quinn deploy the National Guard to Chicago to control violence. The governor said he would only send troops with Mayor Daley’s approval.
*** UPDATE 2 p.m. *** A day after the redistricting plan introduced by Senate Democrats was defeated in the House by two votes, Sen. Kwame Raoul had some harsh words for Gov. Pat Quinn. Raoul, who became chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee last fall, spoke against Quinn for not falling behind the plan. Here’s Raoul speaking with CapFax intern Dan Weber on the Senate floor earlier today….
* Ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s former chief of staff Alonzo Monk entered a new guilty plea in federal court this morning. The Sun-Times reports…
Monk, 51, admitted to attempting to extort a horse-racing businessman for a campaign contribution in exchange for getting a bill signed.
Monk is cooperating with investigators and pleaded guilty again after prosecutors filed new charges, crafted to deal with a possible future ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that experts say could strike down of the federal “honest services” fraud statute.
Monk has agreed to serve 24 months in prison.
Monk is reportedly going to testify against his former employer. The Tribune has more…
Monk is expected to testify that Blagojevich and three of his closest friends - including Monk - schemed from the outset of his administration to enrich themselves by leveraging the powers of Blagojevich’s office.
Monk is expected to tell the jury how the four — a group that also included key fundraisers Christopher Kelly and Antoin “Tony” Rezko — planned to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions they could split up when Blagojevich left office.
The judge overseeing the corruption case against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has denied a defense motion to issue a subpoena for the testimony of President Barack Obama.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel said he does not believe Obama’s testimony would be material to the charges.
Zagel said the defense motion fell “very short” of demonstrating a need to subpoena the president.
* STAR Bonds plan for Glen Carbon retail development is dead
“On Thursday, in a final attempt to reach consensus, we met with several mayors who told us there is nothing more we can do to secure their support for the project.”
In Tinley Park, overall costs are down by 20 percent to 25 percent, said Public Works Director Dale Schepers. One bid was 48 percent below the town engineer’s estimate.
A bid for landscaping in Naperville’s Riverwalk reconstruction project came in at $702,000, 46 percent lower than the engineer’s estimate, because of intense competition among eight bidders. Carey Plazak, purchasing manager for Schaumburg, recently accepted two roadwork bids considerably under budget.
In Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley recently challenged all city vendors to negotiate a 10 percent cut in spending on their contracts.
Instead, the commission on Thursday approved a rate increase of just $4.7 million, or about 97 percent less than what the utility giant had requested.
What this means for you: The rates that Ameren’s 1.1 million Illinois customers pay for the delivery of electricity and gas will remain unchanged at least for another year.
Almost a year ago, the company asked to increase what it charges for delivering electricity and natural gas by a total of $226 million. The utility had since changed that request to $162 million and was awarded only $5 million.
Chicago Public Schools says it will now involve the community in figuring out what to do about its worst performing schools.
It’s become an annual ritual: officials announce a list of schools they want to shut down for low performance. And parents, teachers and students protest to keep them open.
Ron Huberman says the district’s new school closings plan hinges on parents being told EARLY their child’s school needs help. Letters will go out soon to that effect.
The company housed ex-cons in two homes in Aurora, one at 14 S. Lancaster Ave. and the other at 838 N. View St., and the Department of Corrections paid TA Reentry to take parolees once they were released from prison.
* Officials said red-light cameras should be a go, but some in public not so sure
Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin on Thursday morning announced the results of a friendly bet made with Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis over whose city would have a higher percentage of its residents mail in their 2010 U.S. Bureau of the Census forms.
Springfield won, with 77 percent of residents participating to Peoria’s 75 percent.
According to the terms of their competition, Ardis will have to travel to Springfield and buy Davlin dinner. He also has to wear the city’s lapel pin for a week and issue a proclamation acknowledging - in writing - that Springfield is better than Peoria. (Springfield doesn’t have a city pin, so they’re going to find something else for Ardis to wear.)
A few hours after Washington Park Mayor John Thornton was shot to death on April 1, police had his suspected killer in custody.
Then they had to let him go 48 hours later because the overly cautious St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office wasn’t ready to file charges. The police couldn’t legally hold him any longer without charges.
Now a few weeks later, prosecutors have concluded that yes indeed, the police arrested the right guy. On Wednesday, they filed first-degree murder charges against Aaron B. Jackson.
But surprise, Jackson is nowhere to be found. He apparently decided not to sit home and wait for the police to pull up and lead him away in handcuffs.
* Here is Sen. Bill Brady’s reason for telling reporters that they had to travel to Springfield to view his tax returns last Friday afternoon…
“I think we’ve often criticized governors for not living in Springfield, not being in the state capital,” Brady said, referring to complaints raised about disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s avoidance of Springfield. “We picked a location–the state of Illinois’ capital.”
That’s not gonna endear him to Chicago reporters, who are accustomed to getting their way and who often bite back hard, as we’ve seen time and time again.
Frankly, I don’t think the Springfield decision is a big deal. Just about every paper, TV and radio station in the Chicago area belongs to the AP. They could’ve set up something with the wire service in advance to make sure they got as much detail as they could ever want. The huffing from the TV stations is a bit strange, considering this isn’t exactly a “visual” story.
But this is an easy story to write, so we keep getting it over and over again. The much tougher story is figuring out what to do with all the data we’ve collected. I’m still in the planning stages myself. It’s time-consuming and will probably include lots of blind alleys, but there may be a nugget or two therein. The Peoria Journal Star editorial page hinted at one possibility…
Meanwhile, others have noted that the federal income taxes he did pay over the last five years were considerably less than the tax bracket he occupied would suggest.
“I love Springfield,” she said. “I could never understand how that Looney Tune Rod Blagojevich always felt, why he didn’t want to live here — the greatest place in the world.”
* A Republican refusal to vote for a budget they’ve been shut out of was expected, but GOP Rep. Mark Beaubien’s statement is ominous for the Democrats, who will need three-fifths majorities in both chambers to borrow money to make billions in pension payments…
“They (Democrats) haven’t come to us, they haven’t asked us for anything, they haven’t informed us of anything,” Beaubien said. “Since we haven’t been included, you’re not going to see any Republican support.”
That budget is gonna be ugly, man. Just ugly. Democratic Rep. Frank Mautino fills in a few blanks…
Democrats are being asked about a series of potential revenue generators, although Mautino said the budget being formulated does not include the income tax hike sought by Quinn. The options do include higher taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products and eliminating some business tax breaks.
For 26 years, the Holy Angels Shelter in East St. Louis has been there to help homeless moms, women and families get off the streets and into their own homes.
But if the state doesn’t come through with an $80,000 grant by the end June, the shelter will have to close.
“We run it bare bones,” said Joe Hubbard, director of Catholic Urban Programs. “We’ve run it that way for 26 years. They can give us a grant, but if they don’t pay us in a timely manner, we can’t pay our bills, and if we can’t pay our bills, we have to close. We need to come up with other funding.”
If the shelter doesn’t find enough money to fill the hole the state is expected to leave, the homeless shelter will be forced to close its doors.
“And that will be a disaster,” said shelter director Pat Lewis. “They’ll be under the bridge with the tent people, and pretty soon, there won’t be room for them, either.”
* Related and a roundup…
* Vouchers for CPS students advances to House floor: The action would give vouchers not only to the schools where students are poorest and lowest performing. But it also would extend vouchers to students from poor families in the most-overcrowded schools, a change from the bill when Meeks won Senate approval.
* Obama and Quinn Discuss Money for Illinois Education, No Promises: Quinn reportedly said he would ask President Barack Obama for federal money to help pay for education. When asked if the president had obliged, the governor changed the subject… QUINN: We talked about that in general, but I can’t say that he had a pot of gold.
* Back in 2008, the Illinois League of Women Voters decided to oppose a state constitutional convention. This was one of the big reasons…
The serious problems suggested as a reason for a Con-Con can actually be addressed by legislation or constitutional amendment. Kaszak noted that there have been ten successful amendments since the 1970 Constitution, and the current Lt. Governor has successfully amended the Constitution (the Cutback Amendment of 1980 which reduced the number of members of the House of Representative by 59 and abolished cumulative voting) and could guide individuals through the process;
This year, the League has joined with Republicans and others to support a constitutional amendment on redistricting. They’ve discovered it ain’t as easy to amend our constitution as they thought two years ago. Their proposal went nowhere in the General Assembly and they announced yesterday they were abandoning their petition drive…
In a letter sent Thursday evening to The State Journal-Register’s editorial staff, however, the Illinois League of Women Voters — which coordinated the Fair Map effort — said that coalition had fallen short of the nearly 300,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot.
“We simply did not have enough time to finish the kind of statewide campaign necessary to meet the constitutional requirements of a citizen initiative,” League executive director Jan Czarnik wrote.
Well, look on the bright side. Maybe the League will favor a con-con the next time it comes around on the ballot, in 2028.
Sheesh.
* We have some video of yesterday’s redistricting debate. Rep. Jim Watson gave a passionate speech opposed to the Democratic plan, which fell two votes short of the required three-fifths majority (Democratic Rep. Jack Franks voted with the Republicans). It’s a must-view…
* Rep. Eddie Washington accused the Republicans of excluding minorities in his controversial speech…
* Majority Leader Barbara Currie took questions afterwards…
* Related…
* Remap fails in the House: “It gives an edge to the majority party. That’s not the way redistricting should be. It should be a level playing field … and it should not be about us taking care of our own districts. These are not ‘our’ districts,” House Minority Leader Tom Cross said after the vote.
* We’ve talked about the subject of my Sun-Times column most of the week. The silliness of the media as they engage in a feeding frenzy on the Giannoulias campaign. But you might want to read it anyway…
Political reporters, columnists and pundits don’t always band together as one, but when they do, watch out, especially when they’ve decided somebody is a bad guy and they’re going to “do something” about it.
Sometimes, it’s justified. The alleged hooker-knifing, wife-abusing Scott Lee Cohen is a case in point. Once we figured out that we had really goofed by not looking into the Democratic lieutenant governor nominee’s background more carefully, we pounced and tore him to shreds. But it was the right thing to do. Our mistake was not doing it earlier.
But it’s almost as if Cohen’s political blood tasted so good that members of the media wolf pack have decided that they just gotta have another kill. The bloodlust is leading some of them to resort to distortions and outright fabrications to achieve their goal.
The Cohen story practically wrote itself. It had just about all the elements of the perfect political scandal: sex, lies, drugs, lawsuits and violence. There was no need to embellish it.
But far too many of the stories being written about U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias are taking embellishment to a whole new level.
The Chicago Tribune published a story earlier this month revealing that Giannoulias’ family bank had loaned two apparently mob-connected criminals $20 million. A banking consultant from Texas handed the Trib this ready-made quote: “Banks are not supposed to be doing business with criminals.”
But I searched Cook County Chancery Court records and found no less than 27 lawsuits, foreclosures, etc. filed by banks, financial service companies and a couple others against the two men over the years. Of those 27, just five were filed by Broadway Bank, which was owned by Giannoulias’ family before it was shut down a week ago by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Deutsche Bank, First American Bank, CitiMortgage, Austin Bank and more have all filed legal actions. Some were dismissed, some are still pending. The point is those two fellows did business with a bunch of different banks and had trouble with quite a few. But you’ll never read about that in the Tribune. The paper’s story was designed to look like Broadway was the exclusive go-to haven for mobsters. Turns out, there was nothing exclusive about it.
Seemingly seconds after the announcement that President Obama had planned a visit to Downstate Quincy, the chattering class speculated whether Obama would invite Giannoulias or throw his old friend and protege under the bus.
When asked last week if he had been invited, Giannoulias said he hadn’t, so the commentariat instantly leapt to the conclusion that “death by Trailways” was in Giannoulias’ immediate future.
Trouble is, no reporters bothered to see if any other Illinois VIPs had been invited. Nobody had been. The official invites didn’t go out until Monday.
That didn’t deter the feeding frenzy. The subject even came up at a White House press conference. Hours before the visit, Giannoulias was taunted by a Chicago reporter who wanted to know whether Giannoulias’ campaign needed “a presidential hug.”
All of the breathless anticipation was for nothing. Obama gave Giannoulias a shout-out from the podium and hugged him after the speech, and his top political adviser, David Axelrod, brought Giannoulias backstage for a friendly meeting.
I recently obtained a letter written by a Chicago reporter begging one of those two above-mentioned alleged mob guys to spill his guts about his dealings with Broadway Bank. He was lured with the promise that he could “change history.”
Instead of trying to “change history,” how about just focusing on telling a full and accurate story once in a while?
Admitting he had no evidence, Sen. John Cornyn, who runs the Senate GOP political operation, suggested Thursday that the White House may try to force Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias out of the race — speculation that was flatly denied by the White House.
When I asked Cornyn, who’s from Texas, why he thought the White House would do that, he said: “I don’t know. Giannoulias is a flawed candidate and they are realizing it and I think they are worried. . . . I hope they respect the choices of Democratic primary voters and don’t engage in some sort of back-room shenanigans.”
A Giannoulias campaign spokeswoman said Cornyn’s comments were “ridiculous.”
Cornyn’s comment came a day after President Obama, in Downstate Quincy, gave a shout-out to Giannoulias, calling him the “soon-to-be senator” in a remark I think was calculated to quiet talk about distancing himself from Giannoulias.
“No one here is trying to ‘muscle’ him from the race. That should have been clear from the president’s comment yesterday,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Thursday. “Kind of ironic that on the day that Gov. [Charlie] Crist was forced out of the Florida Republican primary that Sen. Cornyn would be suggesting we would muscle someone out of a Senate race.”
One intriguing idea being considered: Force Mr. Giannoulias out of the race and replace him with . . . Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Emanuel is still popular in Illinois and there was a big push to get him handpicked as the Obama successor back in late 2008. Democrats have used the shaft-and-shift strategy before, as in New Jersey in 2002 when they dumped a walking wounded Bob Torricelli as their Senate candidate a few weeks before Election Day.
The first person to publicly suggest this was Rod Blagojevich, so that gives you an idea of how wonderful it is.
* Related…
* Chris Kennedy to Don & Roma: “Lexi got in and I didn’t, and he deserves credit”
