The Illinois State Board of Elections’ site continues to be a horror show. Remember this e-mail from Executive Director Dan White after our last round of complaints almost 17 months ago?…
In response to comments about problems with the SBE website, we hear them, we are aware of these issues and are working hard to establish both near term and long term solutions. Suggestions are always welcome and we continue to incorporate constructive recommendations to improve the website. Our goal is to provide access and avaiability to all of the thousands of users who rely on our information systems. As with any new system, there are new problems and issues to be addressed and resolved. Please continue to comment and utilize our website.
We will have significant improvements in place shortly and we look for your comments as we continue to implement these changes.
Thank you,
Dan White
Executive Director
We still can’t open links in new tabs. Visited and unvisited links are the same color. The Javascript-laden site continues to cough up “cookie timeout” readings and other major problems. For instance, using a Firefox browser I am having trouble reloading a page to see if it’s been updated. More often than not, a more recently opened report from a different candidate appears in its place. Hugely frustrating.
Are you planning to show soon that you can raise serious money outside your family and a couple of rich friends?
* Dear Sen. Bill Brady,
Do you remember saying this back in mid-May about Gov. Quinn’s campaign making fundraising calls to lobbyists?
“We are in the closing days of a legislative session centering on a budget and the need for serious ethics reforms,” Brady, of Bloomington, said. “This kind of fundraising effort has no place in Illinois today or any day.”
Do you find it at all ironic that you were also raising money from Statehouse interest groups at the same time you were blasting Quinn for doing so?
Also - and I know this is contrary to what I just wrote - but are you ever gonna show you can raise the big bucks? $250K in six months? Huh?
* Dear Senate Republicans,
Have you ever heard of copyright law?
The Senate GOP Caucus is posting and permanently archiving entire newspaper articles and columns on its government website. That would be a serious no-no.
Many Republican pals of mine claim you have big bucks behind your gubernatorial campaign. Are those big bucks actually large male deer? I ask this after reading your latest campaign finance disclosure…
* As I told you last week, today is the filing deadline for six-month campaign finance reports. As of this moment, Gov. Pat Quinn has not filed. I’m not sure when he will, but I’m figuring it’ll be later in the afternoon or evening. So, hopefully, this little QOTD won’t be mooted right away.
* The Question: What’s your over/under on how much Quinn reports raising? I’ve been told it’s higher than we might think, so there’s a hint. [Please scroll down for our new question]
*** UPDATE - 12:42 pm *** The Quinn campaign just called. They’re releasing the report in a few minutes or so, but they’re claiming to have raised about $860,000 in the first six months, with cash on hand of about $700k.
Contest over.
Just about everybody guessed way too low. One person was too high.
Taxpayers for Quinn, Governor Pat Quinn’s campaign organization, today announced contributions totaling $860,000 for the first half of 2009, ending June 30.
“As we work to bring honest, effective government back to Illinois, we are greatly encouraged by the level of support we have received,” Governor Quinn said. “These resources will help us to bring our message of reform and responsibility to the people of Illinois.
“We are pleased by this success, and we will build on this strong foundation as we make the tough choices needed to put the Land of Lincoln back on the right track - both ethically and economically,” Quinn said.
Details of Governor Quinn’s Fundraising, Jan.1-June 30, 2009:
Total Receipts: $860,000
Cash on hand: $700,000
Total Contributions $250 or Less: 1,065
(74% of Individual Contributions) [emphasis added]
The full report is not yet online as I write this.
* ALTERNATE QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you make of this report?
“Are you kidding me?” said Rep. Kevin Joyce, when told Friday of the House’s action, which flew by without virtually anyone noticing. […]
Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) said he also was in the dark about the resolution and would have voted against it because of all of the allegations surrounding Jackson. […]
…Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) said members should have been alerted about the Jackson resolution because of its controversial nature.
“I don’t think we should have done it, period,” said Bost, who indicated he would have voted either “no” or “present” on the resolution had he known of its content. “You’d like to say everything that goes through on a voice vote, someone has looked it over and said OK. This one was big enough, I wish I’d have known.”
The resolution was packaged with eight others on an “agreed” roll call. House GOP Leader Tom Cross signed off on it, and members are traditionally given time to object.
* You can read the list of all legislative action on that day by clicking here.
There wasn’t a whole lot going on, so members had plenty of time to scan their computers. If they had, this is a good approximation of what they would’ve seen…
All in caps: MEMORIAL - MICHAEL JACKSON. Kinda hard to miss, no?
Oftentimes, agreed resolution lists number in the hundreds of proposals. This one was tiny by comparison.
But legislators - particularly in the House - are so accustomed to their leaders looking out for every single one of their interests that many were apparently stunned to find out they’d voted to honor the dead pop star.
* The resolution itself was fairly innocuous and skips over the singer’s most controversial years. The account of his life goes from 1985…
WHEREAS, In 1985, Michael Jackson co-wrote “We Are The World” with Lionel Richie…
…To the near past…
WHEREAS, He was preparing for what would be a series of 50 concerts starting on July 13, 2009 at London’s famed 02 arena…
As written, the resolution itself was no big deal. The fact that legislators are admitting that they didn’t even bother to look at the list before voting is far more illuminating.
* It’s starting to look like former Sen. Roger Keats will be the slated GOP candidate…
Former state Sen. Roger Keats tells Sneed he intends to toss his hat in the ring for Cook County Board president . . . and appears to be, at the moment, the lead Republican candidate. “I’m probably going to announce at the end of the week,” he told Sneed.
* I haven’t listened to the program yet, but I can’t help but wonder if Congressman Mark Kirk mentioned Don & Roma’s blatant shilling for Rod Blagojevich while using their show to announce his US Senate candidacy…
During an interview on WLS Radio’s “Don Wade and Roma Morning Show'’ on Monday, Kirk said he’s announcing his candidacy and hopes to “restore ethics and integrity to Illinois government.'’ Kirk says Burris hasn’t been able to be effective in Washington because of the controversy over his appointment and it’s time to change that.
* Speaking of Kirk, he apparently got an earful from some constituents over the weekend about his “Cap and Trade” vote…
The 39-year-old policy wonk gave a 30-minute (stretched in more ways than one) answer to the first prepared question of “why did you do it?” with a defense that walked all over US energy policy, national security and the best interests of the men and women of the US Navy. (That last point he indicates is the pervasive motivation for his votes on a wide variety of issues - evidently!) He brought out his charts and maps to outline America’s need for energy independence, which sparked shouts of “why then do you vote against ANWR?”
* Democrat Alexi Giannoulias responds to Kirk’s announcement this morning via press release…
“If Mark Kirk and I are the respective nominees of our parties, then voters will have a clear choice: go backwards to the reckless Bush-Cheney fiscal policies Kirk supported that cost this state hundreds of thousands of jobs and created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, or move forward to fundamentally change our economy and create the next generation of good jobs here in Illinois.
“I believe in fair trade, an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, and tax cuts for middle-class families. Mark Kirk takes the opposite view. He voted to give tax breaks to corporations that ship our jobs overseas, but against cracking down on China’s unfair trade practices. He voted for a massive bailout of the biggest banks in the country, but against raising the minimum wage. Mark Kirk voted against middle-class tax cuts by opposing President Obama’s economic recovery plan, but supported George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest. It’s a simple choice between the failed past or a promising future – a clear choice between the right course and the wrong one.”
As does Republican Eric Wallace…
“With Mark Kirk’s entrance, the stage is now set to begin the Illinois Republican Party’s next phase. For a while now, the Illinois GOP has been experiencing a grueling metamorphosis. As the standard bearer for the inspiring LIFT principles, this election cycle will be pivotal in shaping the direction of the Illinois GOP,” Wallace said. “In this cycle, the IL GOP’s base will show that from the top of the ticket down they want a new crop of principled Republicans who will challenge the status quo.”
“For far too long the rank and file of the party has been relegated to the back of the bus while the party lords steered us away from enduring traditional governing principles. We saw we were headed towards party deterioration and those at the wheel ignored our concerns. The party adopted a conservative platform, only to nominate people who vote contrary to that platform.”
* Laura Washington talks about potential black candidates for US Senate…
Yet there’s still only one announced Senate aspirant. Giannoulias has $1.65 million in his campaign war chest and 60 elected officials on board. His list of endorsers includes a few African-American players such as state Senate Majority Leader James Clayborne, who brings a diverse Downstate power base; state Sen. Kwame Raoul, a rising star based in Hyde Park, and Larry Rogers, a Cook County Board of Review commissioner.
Just a handful. Giannoulias has not corralled one black congressman, alderman or committeeman.
Wonder what they’re all waiting for?
I think many are probably waiting to see if a truly viable African-American candidate announces.
* Carol Marin also looks at race and a couple of campaigns. Congressman Danny Davis say’s he’s in for Cook County Board President, which shakes up that race and creates a vacuum for his own seat…
The political risk is that each office, long held by an African American, is vulnerable to a white or Hispanic challenger.
Call it the Reverse Harold Washington Effect.
Marin has a list of possible candidates for Davis’ seat…
Potential black candidates include state Representatives Karen Yarbrough and LaShawn Ford; state Sen. Rickey Hendon and Deputy Recorder of Deeds Darlena Williams-Burnett.
Potential white candidates being mentioned are 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti and state Sen. Don Harmon. Harmon, for one, says he’s not running, arguing, “We should not be trying to erode the representation of the African-American community.”
* Republican National Committeewoman Demetra DeMonte is just one candidate eyeing the lieutenant governor’s race. State Rep. Dave Winters is also preparing a bid. And I hear he’s planning to do a fly-around. I hope he uses a different plane.
Despite earning only $9,000 a year as mayor, Cole said he treats it as a full-time job, living off that salary and savings.
“I’m skinny and single,” he joked. “I’ve saved every dollar I’ve ever made, so I don’t have a lot of expenses.”
I mean no real offense, but didn’t that quote strike you as just a wee bit odd?
* Related…
* GOP’s Durkin bows out of statewide races: After mention as a potential candidate for governor, U.S. senator and attorney general, state Rep. Jim Durkin, R-82nd, of Western Springs, said Friday he will seek re-election to the Illinois House next year.
* Dennis Hastert son running for dad’s ex-seat - Schock headlines funder
* GOP bypasses regulars, puts faith in 28-year-old to regain 56th House District seat: Schaumburg Township Republicans have placed their hopes in a young lawyer and political novice to recapture the Illinois House seat held by party defector Paul Froehlich. Ryan Higgins, 28, who’s never held elected office, beat out two seasoned office holders - local school board member Char Kegarise and library board member Anita Forte-Scott - to win the endorsement from precinct captains for next February’s GOP primary for the 56th House District.
* Private-equity exec Kirkpatrick running for state treasurer: Kip Kirkpatrick, co-founder of Water Street Healthcare Partners, said he’s decided to run for the Democratic nomination for treasurer because “I’m tired of being a critic (of Illinois government) like everyone else — on the sidelines.”
* My syndicated weekly newspaper column takes a look at the mess…
The budget - if you can call it that - which passed the General Assembly last week has as much as a $5 billion hole in it, borrows more than $7 billion from Wall Street and state vendors, disguises huge cuts to some private social service agencies with 87 percent funding for others and sets up the state for a surefire disaster next fiscal year.
Break out the party hats.
There is just no way on Earth that you can call that budget “balanced” or “serious-minded.” It is, at best, a punt until next year. Actually, it’s more like a blocked punt with a big loss of yardage.
Senate President John Cullerton said last week that he wants to help balance the budget by renewing a push for a tax increase in January, when a simple majority again will be required to pass it. But a tax hike midway through the fiscal year won’t provide nearly enough revenue to heal this budget’s gaping hole unless the increase is far larger than anything proposed to date.
The governor held a news conference shortly after the budget passed to tout his alleged success. He surrounded himself with employees of his budget office and praised their work, but he refused to directly answer reporters’ questions about any budget details.
How many state employee layoffs would be required? No answer. What sort of cuts was he planning to make to manage his way through this gaping hole? No answer. Instead, every question was addressed with a meandering, filibustering, nonanswering style. He wanted to project an upbeat mood, but this budget is as close to a fiscal nightmare as one can get.
Quinn did finally say he was issuing 2,500 layoff notices, which is 100 less than the number of layoffs he said would be required even if a tax hike passed. He wouldn’t say if more were on the way but said he wanted to talk with the unions about freezing their pay and taking furloughs. That’s just not facing reality. If he truly believes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will roll over and play dead, he ought to look at Chicago, where the union has been standing firm against give-backs.
Quinn’s office privately guesstimates the hole in this budget to be somewhere between $4 billion and $5 billion, which goes to show just how little anybody really knows about the bills that passed. It relies on about $3.5 billion in borrowing to cover the state’s payment to the pension systems and does not even touch the $3.6 billion in debt owed to vendors and providers. From what I was told last week, the state actually will extend the time it takes to pay back those vendors and providers, making their situations even worse.
If you count the hole in the current budget, the new debt that hides base spending obligations, the debt service payment for next fiscal year (somewhere around $800 million), the $500 million increased pension payment for next year, the one-time federal stimulus cash that won’t be replenished and other one-off items (like debt restructuring), you are looking at a starting deficit for fiscal year 2011 of maybe $10 billion. Or maybe more. And that doesn’t even include unforeseeable problems like continued revenue troubles.
Some private social service agencies were frantic last week because they were unable to counter the spin from the governor and the legislative leaders that their programs would be funded at 87 percent of last fiscal year. Some programs, including community-based health services for things like rape treatment, battered spouses, etc., already were looking at steep cuts in Quinn’s original budget. The “50 percent” budget proposal from several weeks ago actually slashed their funding by 75 percent. As of late last week, they still had no idea how bad the final damage would be, but they weren’t optimistic.
And now the credit ratings agencies are starting to move against Illinois the way they have against California. Moody’s lowered its California general obligation bond rating to just two steps above junk status last week, then announced it was putting Illinois’ debt under review.
“The state has essentially kicked the can down the road in terms of making decisions,” a Moody’s analyst told Bloomberg News.
That’s pretty much exactly what Moody’s decreed about California before whacking its debt rating.
If Illinois gets the California treatment, another big hole will be punched in this budget.
The budget lawmakers passed Wednesday is unbalanced by as much as $5 billion. In addition, it borrows more than $7 billion from Wall Street and state vendors, disguises huge cuts to some private social service agencies with close to 90 percent funding for others and sets up the state for a surefire disaster next fiscal year.
A teachers union plagiarizing? Nah. Never. Can’t happen.
* I’m not sure what the first sentence has anything to do with the second sentence…
Funny how Blagojevich was excoriated for using various budgetary gimmicks to produce a “balanced” spending plan while not increasing taxes.
Blagojevich gets booted out of office and lawmakers still use the same gimmicks to proclaim a balanced budget while not raising taxes.
As painful as it is to write this, it increasingly looks like Blagojevich wasn’t the problem. At least he was far from the only one.
Besides the red herring non-connection to Blagojevich’s ouster from office, budget “gimmicks” have been around Illinois politics forever. Jim Thompson’s budget director, Dr. Bob Mandeville, was infamous for his gimmicks, to name just one.
And overtime sessions? Like Pat Quinn, Edgar went into overtime during his first year on the job.
That’s no excuse for either the ridiculous gimmicks in this budget nor the overtime, of course. I’m sick of all of it as well.
But implying that Blagojevich wasn’t the problem is like saying the Titanic’s captain wasn’t to blame because icebergs are always in those waters. It’s how you get around the icebergs that matter.
* Speaking of Rod Blagojevich and red herrings, the indicted disgrace was in full form yesterday…
On his Chicago radio show Sunday afternoon, Blagojevich said he would start by reducing administrative costs. Blagojevich also said he would offer state employees early retirement, privatize the Illinois State Lottery and close corporate tax loopholes. Blagojevich said he wouldn’t raise taxes.
“I was hijacked from office. My successor who broke his promise to the people and proposed a 50 percent income tax increase just brought us 45,000 video poker machines,” said Blagojevich. “In less than six months, Pat Quinn has really stuck it to the average working person.”
Quinn, who is traveling in Iraq with several other governors, responded via conference call…
“I didn’t make any promises with my predecessor; he can say whatever he wants to say,” Quinn said. “What I do believe in is the men and women who are here in Iraq serving our country serving all of us in the land of Lincoln. I think they are much better role models for the people in Illinois than my predecessor who is under indictment, who disgraced himseld and disgraced our state.”
One team member, attorney Giel Stein, wants off the case and may leave after the Wednesday hearing. The hallway whispers are that he will be replaced by one of Chicago’s most colorful defense attorneys. But that has not been confirmed.
Crain’s Chicago Business reported Friday that Sun-Times Media Group Inc., parent of the Chicago Sun-Times and a string of suburban weeklies, failed to make $800,000 in required payments to its five pension plans. Suspending pension payments preserves cash and improves the balance sheet of the company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 31 and is looking for a buyer. The Crain’s report said the missed pension plan payments are not related to the media company’s request to pay its executives hefty bonuses if they succeed in selling the company.
Chicago experienced a 9.6 percent increase in retail thefts in 2008 from 2007, to 11,289 incidents from 10,300, mirroring a national trend of increased shoplifting during a period of tough economic times, according to police reports and National Retail Federation data. So far this year, Chicago’s thefts are down about 2.4 percent, but retailers and police are on alert for thefts brought on by dire economic conditions.
ShoreBank is well known for its work routing lending dollars to low-income neighborhoods.
But regulators say it has to change the way it does business. The FDIC and Illinois’ Department of Financial and Professional Regulation have hit ShoreBank with a cease and desist order. The consent agreement says the regulatory groups have “reason to believe the bank had engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices, and violations of law.”
The order requires the bank to, among other things, cease and desist from operating with inadequate capital levels and from “engaging in hazardous lending and lax collection practices.”
That’s the added cost that awaits whoever comes out on top in next month’s auction of the foreclosed Wilmette mansion of convicted influence-peddler Tony Rezko.
Noelle Brennan has been monitoring hiring by the city of Chicago since August 2005. She notes that 290 city contractors were hired in violation of federal court rules.
Brennan also says she found several politically connected truck drivers in the Department of Streets and Sanitation received “disproportionate amounts” of overtime last year while other truckers got little or no overtime.
In June 2002, Laski put Traci Jones on the city payroll, hiring her as a data-entry clerk at $10.34 an hour. Two years later, she was promoted to license supervisor in Laski’s Southwest Side office. That doubled her pay, to $41,000 a year.
That’s the job she had when her husband and Laski were indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 26, 2006.
And it’s the job she still has today, though the pay is better now. After getting five raises since her husband pleaded guilty in March 2006 and was sent to prison for about a year, Traci Jones makes $54,492 a year.
Mick Jones, meanwhile, got off probation June 23. Two days later, City Hall banned him forever from getting any city work.
Out of about 340 Illinois projects that have received money so far, nearly 250 are devoted to road repaving and similar improvements, a recently released list from the U.S. Department of Transportation revealed.
Illinois also is using the stimulus cash to begin fixing some of hundreds of aging bridges, with more than 30 projects on the federal list for bridge repair and upgrades. Six projects were categorized as “bridge replacement,” and there was one project to build a new bridge.
But a fresh injection of cash, including a generous slice of a new $10 billion state capital plan, means a long-languishing, $1.5 billion project to ease train traffic jams in the nation’s most important rail hub by building new overpasses and modernizing signals can begin in earnest.
The 500 freight trains that pass through Chicago each day compete for access to tracks with 700 daily commuter trains in the region. This means trains hauling everything from coal to grocery items can take more than a day to wind their way through Chicago.
The Illinois bill sets aside $320 million for the project — money that will be pooled with more than $200 million raised earlier.
“This is a very big deal — the largest single amount of money awarded to this project,” Earl Wacker, a recently retired rail executive and an authority on rail congestion, said Friday. “Earlier, I wasn’t confident this would get done. Now, I’m extremely confident it will.”
Looking to cut costs at a time the mass-transit agency is strapped for cash, CTA President Richard Rodriguez says he’ll take away employees’ free take-home cars.
The agency has been providing 68 employees with “company cars” that they can take home, at no cost to them.
Whereas fabulous wealth was once the ticket to the Deerpath, all it takes now to hop aboard Car 553 is a Metra monthly pass and a $900-a-year membership in the innocuously named Commuter Associates Inc.
* Entries for state fair parade floats being taken
* ABC7’s Ben Bradley and Charles Thomas are patiently sniffing out a story about the grisly Burr Oak Cemetery scandal that could turn into a bombshell.
Three gravediggers and a cemetery manager unearthed hundreds of corpses from a historic black cemetery south of Chicago, dumping some in a weeded area and double-stacking others in existing graves, in an elaborate scheme to resell the plots, authorities said [on July 9th]. All four were charged with felonies.
* Now, let’s turn to ABC7’s series. This one is from Ben Bradley…
The man who was selected to oversee the facility temporarily says, while problems at Burr Oak are bad, things are not as dire as he feared. […]
As ABC7 Chicago first reported Thursday, early fears that double burials were commonplace at the cemetery were chalked up to a lack of understanding at how cemeteries operate. One person said Friday that, while burying two strangers in one plot is not the standard, it does happen in gravesites where families only purchased so-called “term graves.” Those do exist at Burr Oak. The problem is that a lot of the contracts and records that might indicate the nature of the burial have not been located. […]
“There are areas of concern, but the greater majority of the cemetery looked pretty good and probably does not have a problem. Where the crimes existed, to what extent, we’re still sorting all of that out,” said [executive director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago] Roman Szabelski, the Burr Oak Cemetery court-appointed operator.
What has happened at Burr Oak Cemetery may seem like an unthinkable crime. But in some historically African-American burial grounds moving remains from plots was part of the purchase agreement. […]
When the city’s African-American population exploded during the mid 20th century’s great migration, the Jim Crow graveyards that also included Burr Oak in Alsip sold hundreds of thousands of less expensive, temporary plots called ’select singles.’ At the ends of their terms, it’s agreed the graves can be re-opened and the bodies sometimes moved to mass, unmarked burial sites on the properties.
A funeral industry source told ABC7 that most of the plots at Burr Oak Cemetery are outside the perpetual care section and that digging into old graves and moving remains would not be an unusual occurrence there or at most other black cemeteries.
Here’s part of another Bradley story from today. This one is an interview of the cemetery company’s owners and references supportive comments made by the Archdioese’s Szabelski…
At the conclusion of the ABC 7 interview Saturday morning the Perpetua team said it’s conceivable to them that no graves were dug-up and human remains discarded to make room for an off-the-books burial operation as the Sheriff and prosecutors contend. “My general sense [is that] most loved ones have not been disturbed,” Foushee said.
On Friday, new court-appointed operator of Burr Oak Roman Szabelski also said he thinks the majority of graves at the cemetery were not tampered with. Sheriff Dart has said he believes as many 300 graves may have been desecrated.
MAYOR PATRICK KITCHING, ALSIP, ILLINOIS: Remember, a cemetery is not required to hold that space forever. So at some point, some bones were probably legally disinterred. What they do with them, there’s no law that regulates that.
[Executive director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago Roman Szabelski] said things such as double-deck graves and headstone removal, while not routine, are not unusual or necessarily criminal
* The bottom line is that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart might have dug into a mass, double-decked “pauper’s grave” and assumed the worst. Also, cemeteries will sometimes bury tombstones which have errors on them in on-site dumps, which may account for some of those discoveries, as well as headstones from the “term” burials that expired.
There’s no doubt whatsoever that Burr Oak was terribly managed. It also seems likely that some financial crimes may have been committed. There could have even been a grave-reselling scheme.
But was the situation at the cemetery as mind-blowingly horrific and disgustingly widespread as has been reported? Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart appears totally convinced that he’s right. And he may very well be.
Still, it looks like everybody needs to take a very deep breath and allow the investigation to proceed. From what I know about him, Szabelski appears to be the right person for this job.
* I’m closing down a bit early today. Long week. I’m planning a relaxing weekend, free of stress and work. Hope yours is a great one.
* I downloaded an iPhone doohickey called Shazam the other day. Supposedly, it can identify songs just by holding your iPhone or Blackberry up to the speaker. I was skeptical, but it appears to work.
Somebody Tweeted this video earlier today. I kinda liked it, thought of using it for our end of week post, then realized there was no band name or song title included. It sounded like The Shins, but I wasn’t sure. So, I cranked up the Shazam and - shazam - it worked.
Simply amazing.
I figured I had to use the video so I could tell the fantastic story of Shazam.
Here are some out of towners doing the Chicago tourism thing to The Shins’ “Australia”…
* Rep. Jack Franks, who wants to run for governor as a Democrat, just called to say his campaign committee will report raising a little over $1.3 million in the last six months. His campaign fund has about $1.4 million in the bank, Franks said, adding that $150,000 of the total raised is a loan from himself.
That certainly makes him a player.
* Monday is the campaign finance report filing deadline, and you can watch them come in at this link if you’ve got nothing better to do over the weekend.
* A few reports of note, starting with Chicago Alderman Ed Burke…
Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period $3,794,862.62
Total Receipts $110,010.60
Subtotal $3,904,873.22
Total Expenditures $220,634.52
Funds available at the close of the reporting period $3,684,238.70
Investment Total $1,987,118.48
Add the investment total to available funds for all the money he has. Quite a lot.
* IPACE, which is the Illinois Education Association’s PAC…
Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period $1,556,492.43
Total Receipts $2,419,631.86
Subtotal $3,976,124.29
Total Expenditures $1,736,596.22
Funds available at the close of the reporting period $2,239,528.07
* The pro-choice Personal PAC…
Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period $748,866.95
Total Receipts $101,027.35
Subtotal $849,894.30
Total Expenditures $269,451.73
Funds available at the close of the reporting period $580,442.57
…Adding… In other political news, more political nepotism…
Former Ald. Billy Ocasio said today he wants his wife to succeed him as 26th Ward alderman, and he has withdrawn his recommendation of a controversial minister as his replacement.
Ocasio told the Tribune today that Mayor Richard Daley has interviewed his wife, Veronica Ocasio, for the opening created when he quit the City Council recently to become an aide to Gov. Patrick Quinn.
Veronica Ocasio is an aide to U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). When Gutierrez was elected to Congress in 1993, Daley appointed Ocasio to fill the vacancy on the council. […]
Gay rights activists had opposed the potential appointment of Rev. Wilfredo DeJesus, citing his comments about gays. Today, Ocasio said DeJesus dropped out of consideration because he does not live in the 26th Ward.
I told you several days ago that DeJesus didn’t live in the ward.
…Adding more… I forgot to mention that Rod Blagojevich’s campaign filed a report verifying that he emptied out his campaign fund due to a federal restraining order. All the cash was turned over to the federal clerk of the court. The D2 report is here and the letter explaining the action is here.
* Earlier this week, the House and Senate unanimously approved SB291 and sent it to the governor in a single day.
What does the bill do? From the synopsis…
Amends the Notice by Publication Act and the Newspaper Legal Notice Act. Provides that one of the 5 elements of the definition of “newspaper” is modified to provide that a newspaper consists of not less than 4 pages of printed matter and contains at least 100 (instead of 130) square inches of printed matter per page.
Senate President John Cullerton told reporters this week that the change was intended to make sure the Sun-Times and the Chicago Defender could continue publishing taxpayer-financed legal notices since the papers had altered their designs…
The legislation also makes clear that any legal notices published by the newspapers in violation of existing state law are now to be considered valid…
Provides that any notice published prior to the effective date of the amendatory Act that complies with the amendatory Act is legal and valid for all purposes. Effective immediately.
That’s what you would call bending over backwards for a couple of publishers.
…Adding… The bill was actually introduced by House Majority Leader Barb Currie on behalf of the Hyde Park Herald, where David Axelrod got his start. A Sun-Times employee just said this was the first he’d heard of any benefit for his paper.
* Back in May, both chambers unanimously approved SB1671, which extended the sales tax exemption for graphic arts machinery and equipment until August 30, 2014. The tax credit was set to expire at the end of July.
Just for good measure, the General Assembly made it clear that newspapers were included in this tax exemption…
For the purpose of this Section, persons engaged primarily in the business of printing or publishing newspapers or magazines that qualify as newsprint and ink… are deemed to be engaged in graphic arts production.
Please, keep all of this in mind when you read newspaper editorials about taxes and spending.
* Proud atheist Rob Sherman wrote recently about the new capital bill, which he claims includes…
…hundreds of unconstitutional donations to politically connected houses of worship, ministries, parochial schools and other religious organizations.
Sherman also claims that Gov. Pat Quinn “knows that those provisions are unconstitutional, because he told me so.”
Last fall, when Rod [Blagojevich] was still the Governor, I spoke with Pat, in the parking lot of the State Capitol in Springfield. Pat was sitting in the driver’s seat of his modest, humble, white sedan.
I mentioned to Pat that I was in Springfield, that day, on a hearing regarding my lawsuit against Rod and the State of Illinois over Rod’s proposal to donate one million of our tax dollars to Pilgrim Baptist Church.
Pat said that he was aware of my lawsuit and that he agreed with me: Donating state money to a church is unconstitutional, he said.
Sherman also claimed that his “team of attorneys” is preparing a lawsuit to block the capital projects which benefit religious institutions.
* The Question: Is Sherman right or wrong about these capital grants? Explain.
…Adding…Erickson had a story on this topic a few days ago and I didn’t see it…
In Normal, the St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Newman Center on the campus of Illinois State University is in line for $200,000 in state funds. The under-construction facility, which will serve Catholic university students, is being built for $3.2 million with most of its financing coming from the Catholic diocese in Peoria. […]
State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, said the state money is aimed at the student services portion of the Newman Center project.
“I was looking for a way to help ISU and its students,” said Brady, a candidate for governor and a Catholic.
* Basic facts to remember when talking about legalized poker machines. The quotes are from Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie)…
“While you can argue this (video gaming machines) is a dangerous and addictive form of gaming, there are 65,000 of these machines licensed only for amusement throughout the state now. Many are (illegally) paying out.” […]
Lang said by legalizing and regulating gaming payoffs the total number of machines would be reduced across the state from 65,000 to 40,000 and he added establishments violating laws regarding the machines would lose their liquor licenses. […]
Under the new law, net revenues from the machines would be taxed at a rate of 30% with 25% going to the state and 5% going to the local municipality.
The law provides local municipalities the ability to ban the legal gaming machines from their communities through either a vote of the city council or village board or through a referendum vote of the people.
Those amusement licenses on existing poker machines will all expire soon. And then they can’t be renewed. The state has the right under the new law to seize those unlicensed machines and destroy them and take away the liquor licenses of violators. That’s a particularly important point to remember. Tavern owners don’t like to endanger their licenses.
The referendum requirements are probably way too high, but local governments can ban the machines, and I expect at least some will do so.
* The basic problem with the law as I see it is that the GA gave oversight powers to the Gaming Board, which doesn’t have the resources to deal with the new reality. That oversight should’ve gone to the Illinois Lottery, which already has a statewide network and the machines that go with it. The Gaming Board is gonna be overwhelmed…
First up for the Gaming Board is settling on regulations and establishing, among other things, how gamblers will be paid their winnings and determining which bar owners must submit to criminal background checks, board spokesman Gene O’Shea said.
“It’s an understatement to say this is a major undertaking,” O’Shea said.
Then, the Gaming Board will seek proposals from companies to create and maintain a central computer system to keep track of “how much money goes in and how much money goes out,” O’Shea said. All video poker machines will have to come from licensed manufacturers, which have not been selected yet. The whole process could take 18 months or longer, O’Shea said.
Giving the program to the Lottery would’ve also avoided bringing the coin operated machine distributors into the equation. Andy Shaw of the Better Governement Association makes this point in a recent op-ed…
That will be to the delight of the mob, which has its fingerprints all over this business
Saloons provide jobs and sales taxes. The state might get its cut, but will it come at the expense of municipalities?
As noted above, municipalities will get a cut from the games. And now that all the profits will have to be reported, that will likely mean more taxes will be paid.
A 2005 report by the North Carolina Family Policy Council says video gambling is “socially devastating.” Video poker has been legal in North Carolina since 1993. The report says it is difficult for police to monitor illegal payouts, even with regulated machines.
Actually, those NC video poker machines are licensed for “amusement only” - the same as in Illinois before our new law. You can’t use that “study” (which is more of a report than a study, anyway) to compare Illinois’ future with NC’s present. Also, that NCFPC group seems far more interested in limiting “homosexual rights” than video poker.
* In what could turn out to be the most misreported story of the summer, we keep reading that the new budget “deal” funds private social service providers at 87 percent of last fiscal year. That just isn’t so.
Doug Schenkelberg at the Heartland Alliance, for one, claims that some providers will see cuts closer to 30 percent. And it may be a whole lot more once the governor finishes with over $2 billion in mandated spending cuts and agency reserves.
Meanwhile, even the social service agencies supposedly rescued by the budget agreement aren’t confident. The budget supposedly funds community-based services at 87 percent of last year’s level. But how the money is distributed is up to Quinn.
“We’re still in the dark,” said Dale Morrissey, chief executive officer of the Champaign-based Developmental Services Center. “They’re telling us it will be seven to 10 days at the earliest before we’re going to know what’s going on.”
Morrissey said social service providers don’t know how funds will be awarded, so he can’t make any decisions on reinstating laid-off employees.
The budget, which Quinn signed Wednesday, promises cuts of 13 percent instead of 50 percent in grants to service providers. But that’s an average — he could end up giving some programs full funding and slashing others more deeply.
And the governor and legislators warn that the new budget is far from solid. Quinn could order more cuts at the end of the year.
So additional money now will be nice, but no one will rush to spend it, said Janet Hasz, executive director of the Supportive Housing Providers Association, whose members run programs to shelter the homeless and mentally ill, those with chronic physical illnesses or substance-abuse problems.
* And then there’s the $3.2 to $3.6 billion in payments owed to vendors and providers which be delayed even further by this budget. Many social service providers haven’t been paid in months, and they’re gonna have to wait even longer now. It’s a double-whammy. The state cuts what it’s sending them and it’s delaying paying what’s already owed. Not good.
“The state of Illinois may have let these people down, but the citizens aren’t going to let that happen,” said Pekin resident, Suzan Tisdale. Frustrated with the state’s budget issues Tisdale is going around it.
She is organizing a concert in Pekin’s Mineral Springs Park on July 25. The proceeds will benefit four agencies that support Illinoisans with developmental disabilities. “Do it yourself, you’re probably going to raise more money in a faster amount of time and you won’t have all the bureaucracy and red tape to go through,” she said.
There’s no way that little concert will raise “more money” than the state funding unless they get some really big names to Pekin.
Yet, we’re encouraged to look on the bright side. “It does avoid a meltdown,” said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. “More importantly, it avoids a tax increase.” Apparently that’s Illinois’ new threshold for success: Anything short of a complete and unconditional collapse and our legislators deserve a standing O.
* Republican Ethan Hastert, the son of former US House Speaker Denny Hastert, has begun raising money for a congressional bid. His performance to date isn’t exactly impressive. Hastert raised $86,600 in the second quarter of the year for his campaign against Democratic incumbent Bill Foster, who pulled in $384,173 and had $592,702 on hand.
Hastert’s fundraising expectations were quite high, considering his bloodline, but this report won’t impress anyone.
* Political quote of the day goes to GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft…
The 37-year-old graduate of Northwestern University and Loyola Law School spoke fondly of his years caddying at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton and the people he met on the job.
“Caddying was a fantastic experience … I developed a work ethic and learned to respect my elders,” Proft said.
Apparently, Proft does not believe that his fellow Republican candidates are his “elders,” even though they’re all older than him. He’s fast getting the reputation as the junkyard dog in the race.
* Proft does provide a glimpse into the future for Comptroller Dan Hynes, though, with this new press release…
While Burr Oak Was Robbed, Dan Hynes Raised $900K
Illinois government has basic responsibilities to its citizens. The Chicago 9 routinely ignore these core duties and meddle in areas where government has no place, while amassing political war chests for the next political stepping stone. In a Proft Administration government will fulfill its promises and focus on its core mission.
The Burr Oak Cemetery crime reveals in plain view that the Chicago 9 – in this instance Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes – are more concerned with perpetuating their power than with fulfilling their duty.
It would not surprise anyone that grave-robbing is illegal. But the response of Mr. Hynes, the constitutional officer who is responsible for cemetery oversight, is to pass a new law, grab a headline, move out, and move up. Cemetery oversight is the duty of the comptroller; outside of the constitutional responsibility to order state payments from funds maintained by the State Treasurer, oversight of cemeteries is one of the few other core duties of that office and Mr. Hynes has failed to fulfill his duty.
* Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney lays out the campaign ahead…
And with the wind of a faltering state legislature at his back, Whitney said his chances are good. While he acknowledged the failures of state lawmakers in Springfield who, for the third consecutive year failed to pass a budget on time, Whitney said that won’t be the focus of his campaign.
“Such an argument does carry some force and it may be one reason to vote for me,” he said. “But I will not base this campaign on the simple notion that, true as it is, I’m not one of them. This campaign will be about demonstrating to the voters that I am one of you.”
Whitney said he embraces a long-proposed measure that would lower property taxes in favor of an increased income tax as a means of both closing the state’s $11.5 billion deficit and providing more equal education funding across the state.
Among his other proposals Whitney endorsed a single-payer health care system, budget reform and measures to reduce the clout of special interest groups and big-business donors.
* State Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) has endorsed Peoria native Raja Krishnamoorthi for comptroller. From a press release…
“Raja Krishnamoorthi has proven his commitment to a more transparent and efficient state government,” Senator Koehler said. “It will be a great honor that the next State Comptroller has deep roots in Peoria. I cannot think of another candidate that could better serve this state than Raja.”
The last person with Peoria roots to hold statewide constitutional office is believed to be John Edward A. Cassidy, who was Illinois Attorney General from 1938-1941, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s website.
* Democratic Cook County Commissioner Joan Murphy sponsored the 1 cent sales tax hike, but her Democratic primary opponent, Nick Valadez of Oak Forest, thinks there are other issues…
“It’s the anger and frustration of people who couldn’t park their commercial vehicles in the driveways of their own homes that convinced me to get in the race,” Valadez said.
“They swarmed my office begging me to run. I have 150 of them willing to campaign for me. They want to give me money for the campaign. They convinced me to get into this race. And that’s going to be one of my key issues in the campaign.” […]
Of course, Valadez is still going to criticize Murphy for backing that sales tax hike and later voting on an unsuccessful motion to repeal that law.
“She represents a district that borders Will County and Indiana,” he said. “If she was representing her constituents, she would have voted against that tax increase.”
Murphy also “stood up with Crestwood Mayor Robert Stranczek and tried to defend the village’s decision to distribute water that was poisoned,” Valadez said.
Target-rich environment.
Murphy reported raising almost $45,000 the first six months of this year and had about $25K in the bank by June 30th.
* I didn’t know this, but Sen. Kirk Dillard, an announced GOP gubernatorial candidate, threw out the first pitch at Rickett’s Field before Sunday’s game against the Cardinals…
If you listen carefully, you’ll hear that the announcer referred to Dillard as “Kurt.” Also, notice that he didn’t throw from the mound. His pitch did make it to the plate, though.
* Deputy House Majority Leader Art Turner will announce his lieutenant governor’s campaign soon. He has a website, but nothing’s there yet. And his FaceBook page announced his appearance on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” yesterday. No talk about campaigns, though. Just the budget…
* Yesterday, we posted a Pat Quinn campaign video featuring his attentiveness to southern Illinois. Today’s video is from the recent Gay Pride Parade in Chicago…
* Related…
* Retired Illinois judge to run for US Senate seat: Sixty-two-year-old Don Lowery of Dixon Springs in Pope County says he’ll be running as a Republican for the Senate seat now held by Roland Burris.
* Family of dead Burris ally-turned-critic seeks answers: “There’s not any paint transfer from another other vehicle, car marks or skid marks,” Kendall Sheriff’s Cmdr. Scott Koster said. Koster said there were no defects in the car and no drugs or alcohol involved. The accident was likely caused “by a few moments of inattentive driving,” Koster said.
(PRNewsChannel) / Chicago, Ill. / The Big 89, WLS-AM is Where Chicago Comes to Talk and for the next two Sundays, that is what Former IL Governor Rod Blagojevich will be doing. Blagojevich will host a two hour talk show on WLS (890 AM) from 12noon to 2pm.
“The personalities on The Big 89 are compelling, knowledgeable, opinionated and often times, controversial.” said WLS-AM Program Director, Bob Shomper. “Former Governor Blagojevich has all of these traits and more. This will be ‘must-listen’ radio.”
Blagojevich filled-in for The Big 89’s Don Wade & Roma morning show earlier this year.
Since his controversial ousting from office, Blagojevich has become a national celebrity who has appeared on TV news channels and programs such as NBC’s ‘Today’ show, ABC’s ‘The View’ and cable news outlets. He was invited and planned to compete on NBC’s ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here’ reality show this summer. But when he could not go, his wife Patti, the former first lady of Illinois, went in his place. She came in fourth place and was a fan favorite.
For the outspoken former governor, radio is a natural fit.
“The former governor misses talking with people and getting into the mix on issues that affect Illinois,” says Glenn Selig, Blagojevich’s spokesman. “He wants to empower people by helping them understand what really goes on in Washington, Springfield, Cook County and the city of Chicago. He’s going to be provocative, entertaining and, at times, controversial.”
A “national celebrity”? Sheesh.
Also, he’ll have plenty of time to talk to people in prison. Maybe he could “empower” them by being a prison lawyer. Just sayin…
Three men were fatally shot. One man was fatally stabbed. Police shot one man and at least seven other people were wounded by gunfire — including an 8-year-old boy sitting in his bedroom — during an especially violent six hours late Wednesday and early Thursday mainly on the South and West Sides.
How do you stab and slash someone 61 times, not just killing but slaughtering him, then walk free?
That’s the lingering question in the wake of last week’s acquittal of Joseph Biedermann of Hoffman Estates, who admitted to inflicting numerous fatal wounds on Terrance Hauser during an early-morning altercation in March 2008 in Hauser’s apartment in the complex where both men lived.
The answer, in this case, is that you cast yourself as the victim of an attempted homosexual rape, then you throw in all-or-nothing with the jury.
The unemployment rate in Illinois climbed to 10.3 percent in June, up from 10.1 percent in May, but the pace of job loss slowed for the third straight month, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said today.
Some 13,900 jobs were lost in the state since May bringing the total number of employed to 683,300, the highest since November 1983, the agency said. The state has lost 272,600 jobs over the year and recorded job losses for nine consecutive months.
The state’s jobless rate continued to exceed the nation’s 9.5 percent rate and was well above the 6.6 percent rate reported in June 2008.
The good news, such as it is: Job losses in the Chicago metropolitan area slowed in June. We still lost jobs, though. The unemployment rate stands at 10.3 percent for the state, 10.6 percent for the region.
The area’s job losses have been on a steady, dreary march this year: 37,200 in January, 37,700 in February, 22,500 in March, 27,000 in April, 37,600 in May, and 2,300 in June, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
More than 200,000 jobs have been lost since the start of the recession.
Yet the company and the alderman face huge resistance from the City Council to a proposal for a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the South Side, at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue just west of the Dan Ryan.
Small business owners all across the city are being ticketed for having signs without permits, even though some of them hung the signs when it was perfectly legal to do so. Nowadays, a business isn’t supposed to hang any sign without hiring a bonded sign erector, paying fees and getting permission from several unconnected city departments as well as the local alderman. As difficult as it is to interpret tow-zone signs pointing every which direction, the permit process to put a sign above your storefront is even more baffling. Your heart sinks when you see that orange envelope under your wiper and know you must pay $50, but imagine getting a signage ticket for $3,000 in a year when your business is just barely hanging on.
If Chicago remains so hostile to start-up businesses and self-employed people when the region has now lost nearly 170,000 jobs in the last year alone, we have no hope of recovering. Instead of fining small businesses at every turn and enforcing confusing regulations that have nothing to do with protecting the public’s health and safety, the government should get out of the way of industrious people who want nothing more than to pursue their American dream. It is time that Mayor Richard Daley and the City Council support entrepreneurs so we can truly become “the city that works.”
“It is someone who has been laid off in manufacturing without any education going back to get their GED. It’s people that have master’s degrees. It’s across the board,” said Peggy Gundrum, director of career services at ECC. “A lot of them are feeling a panic and just want to find a job.”
But two partners recently dropped out of the alliance, reducing membership to nine. American Electric Power Co. and Southern Co. cited concerns about costs. Steve Higginbottom, spokesman for Southern Co., added that the company pulled out to focus on other technology research being conducted by the government and industry partners. The uncertainty of FutureGen also contributed, he said, but added: “We’re supportive of the FutureGen project. We think it has the potential to lead to some developments.”
Midway Games Inc., owner of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise, will close its Chicago headquarters and fire all 60 of its remaining employees at the corporate office (about 20 percent of its total work force) by early September, according to an SEC filing. Midway also has an office in Chicago that develops Mortal Kombat.
Last week, Midway sold its assets for $33 million plus accounts receivable to Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of New York-based Time Warner Inc. Midway filed under Chapter 11 in February, listing assets of $168 million and debt of $281 million.
Jake, one of Chicago’s best-known fashion boutique names, saw its big-spending customers disappear as the recession deepened in spring 2008.
What happened next is a story familiar to ailing businesses: Jake boutiques, run by parent company Price Allen Inc., missed a requirement by its lenders to make a profit one quarter. The bank pulled Jake’s credit line and commercial loan, totaling $1.5 million, and took over the boutiques’ assets.
Chicago has laid off 431 employees to help erase a threatened $300 million year-end shortfall. Those lucky enough to remain on the job have been forced to swallow furlough days and other concessions.
Still, employees at the city’s 911 center are raking in the overtime.
At least 13 police and fire communications operators were each paid more than $10,000 in overtime during the first three months of this year alone, records show. Georgine Murray topped the list with $23,439 in overtime through March 30.
Brennan said 290 city contractors were hired on as city employees in violation of federal court rules and that the city clerk’s office this year hired nine “connected” summer interns who were relatives of city workers — including relatives of three clerk’s office employees.
Kristine Williams, a clerk’s office spokeswoman, said the mayor’s Office of Compliance advised that family members of city employees could be hired as interns if they were not directly supervised by their relative.
The Better Government Association is suing Cook County after it rejected the BGA’s request under the state’s Freedom of Information Act for the county cell phone records for Stroger, Dunnings, Cole and the county’s chief of communications, Eugene Mullins. The Chicago Sun-Times made a similar request, which also was denied.
The county first told the BGA the request was too burdensome, so it couldn’t release the records.
What nonsense.
The county then said releasing the records could jeopardize an ongoing investigation.
In the wake of a grand jury investigation, raids by cops and a lawsuit to get back nearly $200,000 borrowed from Cook County, Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education Supt. Charles Flowers’ office now is refusing to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests from the SouthtownStar.
Three months ago, the newspaper began filing FOIA requests, and though nearly every one came back requesting seven-day extensions, they were eventually filled.
The office has yet to respond to the SouthtownStar’s latest requests - dated June 19 and June 25 - for Flowers’ e-mails and cell phone records. Extensions, the latest of which expires today, were requested.
The nonprofit groups that promote some suburban downtown districts — planting flowers, hosting summer concerts, putting up holiday decorations and marketing the shopping areas — are funded, in part, by tax dollars. So does that mean they are accountable to the public about who runs things and how their money is spent?
But in addition to the tax they assess on themselves, some of these organizations — like the one in Elmhurst — are in TIF districts and get additional funds from taxpayer dollars. In Elmhurst’s case, the City Centre’s annual budget is about $900,000, split almost evenly between TIF dollars and money generated through the special service area.
The Schaumburg Fire Department wants to buy special breathing apparatus that could be used in cave-ins. The Arlington Heights department would like new equipment to clean, dry and disinfect clothing. And Des Plaines is in the market for a firetruck priced at nearly $500,000.
Some of these items are essential for firefighters, especially during emergency rescues, but the costs have officials worried. The weak economy combined with a lack of tax revenue is obstacle enough, but even more troublesome is the prospect that a federal grant program designed to help departments buy equipment may be cut next year by 70 percent.The scope of the cutback was unexpectedly steep, said Arlington Heights Fire Chief Glenn Ericksen.
Mayor Daley’s choice to chair the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has withdrawn from consideration to avoid a potential conflict, creating a leadership vacuum on a panel that will play a pivotal role in any renovation of Wrigley Field.
Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), Mayor Daley’s trusted floor leader, is the odds-on favorite to replace retiring Zoning Committee Chairman William Banks (36th) at the helm of the City Council’s second most powerful committee, City Hall sources said Thursday.
“I have not talked to the mayor about it at all. [But] I’ve had folks say that’s something that might happen,” O’Connor said.
“If that’s what they want, that’s fine with me. But if they want to go in another direction, that’s fine, too. Oftentimes, you express an interest and it looks like you have this avarice for the position. People tend to say, ‘Forget it.’”
Banks refused to discuss his replacement during a break at Thursday’s Zoning Committee meeting. With one more committee meeting left before his Sept. 1 retirement, Banks is running out of time to train his successor.
A confusing, rambling meeting of the Regional Transportation Authority board ended in a vote to give no additional money to paratransit service for the disabled — which will run out of funds this fall.
Transit advocate Jim Watkins blamed the vote on a “a turf war” between the transit agencies.
“As of right now, come October, there will be no paratransit service,” Watkins said.
* Pace solution to budget woes ruffles feathers on RTA board
At a meeting of the agency’s Finance Committee, RTA Chairman Jim Reilly proposed sharing the deficit burden through Pace using $9 million in capital funds, the RTA allocating $8 million in funds shared by Pace, CTA and Metra and a third component of fare increases for paratransit on Pace.
But, competing priorities between Metra, the CTA and Pace emerged on the RTA board, which is a mix of representatives from Chicago and surrounding municipalities.
Insiders said that CTA and Metra leaders pressured some directors to hold off from backing the $8 million.
Pace Chairman Richard Kwasneski said he could not expect his board to move on the $9 million or ask riders to make sacrifices with fare hikes without the RTA’s cooperation.
A new plan is in the works that would link a long connection of separate south suburban trails so that people can bike, walk or even ride horseback through neighboring communities without the path being disrupted.
The I-355 Area Trails Master Plan is a detailed document recently adopted by officials in Homer Glen, Lemont, Lockport, New Lenox, the Will County Land Use Department, and the Forest Preserve District of Will County. The plan would link a proposed Veterans Memorial Trail that will run parallel to Interstate Highway 355 and other planned trails to existing routes.
