The Chicago Cubs may consider a bankruptcy filing as part of closing the sale of the team, according to sources close to the major league ball club.
Making it even flubbier, the Chicago Tribune got beat on the story about their own company by Bloomberg…
A brief Cubs bankruptcy would be a legal maneuver to clear the team from any future liability in the Tribune bankruptcy, according to two of the people familiar with the matter. Sam Zell, chief executive officer of Chicago-based Tribune, pledged the company’s interest in the Cubs as collateral when he negotiated the deal to take the publisher private in 2007, according to one of those people.
“You take it in the front door, and it’s just like you’re getting radiation,” said Michael J. Cramer, a former president of the Texas Rangers who teaches sports business at New York University. “It comes out the other door about a half minute later. It’s clean.”
And…
People familiar with the negotiations said a Cubs bankruptcy filing would be designed to allow for the fast disposition of the team’s assets. It could be accompanied by a motion to sell the team with an agreed-upon bidder. The entire process could take as little as 20 days, said Gregory A. Cross, the attorney who heads the bankruptcy practice at Washington- based Venable LLP and isn’t involved.
Not all bankruptcy sales move as fast. The National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes filed a Chapter 11 case in May with plans for a quick transaction, only to have it descend into a legal fight about whether the team may be sold and moved without the league’s consent.
One also wonders, considering Zell’s history, if there’s a tax angle involved.
A moribund economy now may have a better chance of blocking the project than lawsuits by parks activists and neighborhood opponents. Fundraising has foundered while projected costs have climbed by tens of millions to $150 million or more, Crain’s has learned. Sources close to the project say odds now are 50-50 at best that the Grant Park plan will proceed.
“Chicago Children’s Museum is moving forward with the plan to relocate to Daley Bicentennial Plaza in Grant Park. There is no news to report in that regard. Greg Hinz’s piece in Crain’s Chicago Business relies only on unnamed sources, and should be viewed with extreme skepticism.”
Greg’s piece looked pretty sound to me.
* When Sen. Roland Burris announced that he wouldn’t run again, he said he didn’t want to split his time between governing and fundraising…
“In making this decision I was called to choose between spending my time raising funds or spending my time raising issues for my state”
Illinois U.S. Senator Roland Burris says he still plans on holding fundraisers, even though he’s not running for a full senate term in 2010… Burris says he’s owes $800,000 in legal fees, and he says he’ll be turning to his colleagues in the senate for help.
* And, finally, go take a look at Ramsin Canon’s excellent and finely balanced piece on why we should and shouldn’t care about the Homero Tristan resignation.
Organizers say plans for Illinois’ two state fairs are moving ahead despite the fact that their funding is in limbo because of the state’s budget crisis.
But officials say there’ll be some efforts to save some money at the fairs in the southern Illinois town of Du Quoin. Those cutbacks include not having auto racing the first weekend and a move to put other acts on hold.
Much of the money for the two state fairs doesn’t come from General Revenue sources. Still…
* The Question: Considering the fiscal crisis, should the governor cancel one or both of the two state fairs next month? Explain.
* The governor is making good on a promise today, which is sort of a first…
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has officially signed a capital improvement plan designed to give the state’s ailing economy a shot in the arm.
The plan creates a $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now! program that’s expected to create and retain more than 439,000 jobs over the next six years.
I was a bit skeptical going into today’s noon signing ceremony after reading a quote from Quinn’s spokesman in yesterday’s Tribune editorial….
We hope the governor will echo that concern for citizens’ opinions as he weighs this decision. Quinn spokesman Bob Reed said late Friday that the capital package’s gaming provisions were still being reviewed by the governor: “Right now, the plan is to outline his position on Monday at the capital bill signing.”
But, people on the scene say Quinn has announced that he’s signing all of the bills as-is. He’s apparently doing a partial veto of one bill to take out the pension bond language, however. Quinn wants a different borrowing bill now.
* Senate President John Cullerton’s response to the signing ceremony was not exactly effusive. From a press release…
“By signing our job-creating statewide construction plan, he is ending the practice of using out-of-work Illinoisans as political leverage while also removing a major roadblock to bipartisan cooperation and trust among political leaders.”
Oof.
By the way, the legislative leaders plan to meet with Quinn in Springfield this afternoon at 4 o’clock.
* As an aside, I’ve been wondering lately how long it will be before somebody does a state plane usage story on Quinn. He’s commuting to Springfield far more than Blagojevich ever did, and it’s almost always by plane. Those costs add up fast.
* Meanwhile, AFSCME members are demonstrating in front of several state legislators’ offices demanding a tax hike. From a press release…
With the Illinois budget crisis unresolved, Governor Pat Quinn threatening deep cuts to vital human services, public safety and thousands of jobs, and legislators due at the capitol for special session tomorrow, thousands of union workers, human-services providers and other advocates will take part in “Send-Off to Springfield” events at the offices of some 40 state representatives TODAY, Monday, July 13.
The events are part of a massive, coordinated effort to raise public awareness of the dangerous potential cuts to state services and jobs-and scores of community-based human-services programs-that loom as a result of the budget crisis, and to urge every state representative to return to Springfield and support House Bill 174, comprehensive tax reform that raises revenue, cuts property taxes and preserves vital services and public safety functions.
Here’s a recent report from AFSCME about how the protests are going…
40 demonstrators at event co-sponsored by AFSCME and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Report from Aurora event – 75 demonstrators at AFSCME event where Rep Chapa Lavia joined the crowd and signed a pledge to support HB 174!
In Springfield, crowd estimated at 300 marching to Stratton building now.
I’ll have a photo of one event if it ever uploads on this slow Intertubes connection.
VOTE trying to disrupt bill signing. VOTE is anti-labor. Anti-Dem. Based on westside.
33 minutes ago
*** UPDATE 2 - 2:27 pm *** More from AFSCME…
CHAPA LAVIA - Aurora
A crowd of 75 demonstrators was joined by Rep. Chapa Lavia, who signed the pledge of support for HB 174 and joined the demonstrators to wave a sign reading, “It’s time for the House to do the right thing!” See photos attached.
BRADLEY - Marion
Report from the scene: About 120 in attendance, even split between AFSCME and the Our Directions day vocational program [for individual with developmental disabilities]. Closed down the parking lot. Signs visible on both sides of IL Rt 13 during the event, horns honking in support. Our Directions had around 40 clients there, as well as foster parents. We did a line into Bradley’s office with people introducing themselves and telling his staff why new revenue is needed, gave them a poster with all our signatures on it, and left the HB 174 pledge.
BRAUER / POE - Springfield
From the scene: Estimates as to numbers vary from between 300 and 400. With a permit from the city we were able to march on the streets. The crowd was spirited and orderly. And noisy, blowing whistles. They’ll know we were there, for sure.
D’AMICO - Chicago
Three dozen demonstrators from AFSCME and neighborhood advocacy groups organized by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
* Gov. Quinn is just one governor of many currently considering early release of prisoners. The proposal has drawn some intense heat from legislators. But does early release raise the crime rate? Maybe temporarily, say experts…
“The research is completely clear: You can do this without increasing the recidivism rate or the crime rate,” Austin says. “It’s easy, it really is—it’s unbelievably easy. The politics get in the way of it. People just don’t understand the basic math here.”
Instead of razor wire and watchtowers, think of the prison system as a river, Austin says, with sentences acting as a dam. The longer the sentences, the higher the dam and the bigger the reservoir of inmates. Early release amounts to removing a chunk of the dam, which spells more work for downstream parole officers. But not for very long.
“Within three or four months, the flow is back to normal,” Austin says.
In Illinois, where the state plans to lay off more than 1,000 prison employees, there are no plans to hire extra parole officers to deal with inmates who would be freed early. However, Derek Schnapp, corrections spokesman, said the state is considering terminating parole for some current parolees to make room for inmates released early.
When temperatures reach the 90s, it makes sense that construction workers and others who work outside need to drink more water and take other safety precautions.
But state parole officers — whose jobs mostly involve driving around to check on recently released prison inmates — apparently run an even higher risk of heat-related danger.
“Due to the extreme hot temperatures and staff safety, you are expected to be in the field one week and the office the falling [sic] week,” Deputy Director of Parole Jason C. Garnett e-mailed to his employees June 24 — a day after Chicago’s temperature hit 94.
The order was reportedly rescinded after the weather cooled, but that seems odd to me.
The Chicago Sun-Times obtained copies, via a Freedom of Information Act request, of the ethics training programs that Blagojevich is certified as having taken each year between 2004 and May 30, 2008, when he last received ethics training.
There’s no record of how Blagojevich answered questions in those training courses. But the ethics regimen offers some clear tips that should have warned him of the “pay-to-play” pitfalls that brought federal charges against him and resulted in his ouster from the governor’s office.
Too bad they couldn’t get his test scores. It probably would’ve shown what a waste of time that ethics exam really is.
Former presidents and chancellors of the University of Illinois are laying much of the blame for the current admissions scandal at the feet of trustees, calling for sweeping changes on the board and the way it is appointed.
A letter from four former U. of I. leaders to the commission investigating admissions abuses falls just short of calling for the governor to fire the trustees, but says that some of them are more interested in personal gain than the well-being of the university. […]
They blamed the current situation on the patronage culture that evolved during the administrations of Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.
* Phil Kadner’s latest column talks about conservatives and liberals who are demanding government action in the wake of the ghoulish Burr Oak Cemetery debacle…
So we want government to fix the problem.
We want government to stay out of our lives.
We want cemetery inspectors, but we don’t want to pay for them with our tax dollars.
I don’t even understand why there’s a problem in the first place.
Don’t we all know that the free market is at its best when government stays out of its business?
I’m sure the people involved in recycling graves at Burr Oak would agree with that statement.
By the way, the Cook County sheriff had more than 100 officers out at Burr Oak cemetery for crowd control Thursday and Friday.
He supplied bottled water and free shuttle rides from nearby parking lots for the hundreds of families searching for the graves of loved ones.
I thought that was government at its best.
But I also couldn’t help thinking the money for all of that may have come in part from that 1 cent county sales tax hike everyone hates so much.
* I’m also wondering why nobody appeared to notice that their relatives’ headstones had gone missing. My maternal grandparents died many years ago, for instance, yet my family still visits their graves on a regular basis. I don’t want to blame the victims for what was an unspeakable act, but they should shoulder at least some of the responsibility…
So far investigators confirm at least 300 graves have been disturbed and say the scope of their investigation may include some 100,000 plots that records show are at Burr Oak Cemetery. Now of some particular concern, an area called Babyland.
“I personally have found some babies headstones dumped in inappropriate places. In some cases there’s new headstones and others, there’s just nothing. There’s serious issues,” Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart said.
Several family with relatives buried at Burr Oak have filed lawsuits or are considering moving their loved ones to other cemeteries, but for Jennifer Gyimah, who says she has 35 relatives buried here, very little can bring her peace.
There is a possibility that the disturbed graves are so old that not many survivors are left. But some are still around.
* Related…
* Burr Oak Cemetery: Relatives of 7,000 people buried in site near Alsip seek information on grave sites
“As Party Chairman my goal has been to build Party unity. Mark Kirk and I met last evening as part of an ongoing discussion about the U. S. Senate race. I reassured Mark that if he chooses to be a candidate, I will not oppose him.”
[*** End of Update ***]
* You’ve probably heard the story by now. While I was driving to Chicago on Friday, the Washington Post broke the news that Mark Kirk wouldn’t run for US Senate. Apparently, Kirk was calling around to say he was out of the race…
[The calls] followed a meeting of the Illinois Republican congressional delegation on Thursday in which his colleagues refused to back Kirk in a primary against Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna due, in large part, to his vote in favor of President Barack Obama’s climate change bill.
* That story was only about a third true. For instance, the cap and trade claim was way overblown…
A source close to the delegation said that Members were taking the weekend to decide whom to support, with the exception of Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), who told a local newspaper Friday morning that she is behind Kirk.
“The Illinois delegation is still thinking about it,” the source said. “I don’t think anyone has made a decision to remain neutral. I think everyone’s made a decision to take the weekend to decide.”
if McKenna got out…
After much ‘Will he? Or won’t he?’ speculation this afternoon about GOP Rep. Mark Kirk’s desire to run for Senate in IL, Kirk said in an email to The Hotline that he was “still talking to Andy. We are trying to avoid a primary.”
The “Andy” he references is IL GOP Chair Andy McKenna, who has made serious signals in recent days of his intention to run. When asked if this means that he may ultimately forgo a run, Kirk replied: “I will run if Andy does not.”
This late Friday update is from the person who brought us the story in the first place…
Sources close to McKenna insist he will not blink and that he is in the race to stay. If McKenna can’t be talked out of the race, then Kirk will be out (again) — although there is not likely to be any resolution until Monday at the earliest, according to those close to the situation.
I cannot believe that McKenna stays in this thing for many, many reasons. For instance, he was made the state party chairman precisely because he had no electoral prospects after finishing a miserable fourth in a US Senate primary.
Even so, the fact that Kirk’s campaign roll-out has been so poorly managed suggests that his team and his own skill set will need a major upgrade if he does ultimately pull the trigger on a SEN race.
* Speaking of campaign skills, a conservative blogger claims that Kirk said this during a weekend town hall meeting in his district…
Kirk did insert the news flash that American obesity is the result of our gluttonous English and German heritage.
What?
* Meanwhile, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Sen. Kirk Dillard explains his “I look forward to having Lisa Madigan as attorney general when I’m the governor” quote…
Dillard said reporters started asking questions right after his speech, “with rock music blasting, people high-fiving me,” when he was asked about Madigan.
“I answered the question believing that it was if, and I underline if, Lisa Madigan were re-elected, whether I could work with her,” Dillard said.
He said he assumed the questioner knew he was for Birkett.
I’m not sure the quote matches up with the explanation, but whatever.
Broadway Bank is trying to recoup $12.9 million from two Chicago crime figures, rekindling a controversy as the bank’s former chief loan officer, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, gears up to run for the U.S. Senate.
In recently filed foreclosure suits, the Giannoulias family-owned North Side bank alleges loan defaults by four companies whose owners include two convicted Chicago bookmakers — one also convicted of promoting a nationwide prostitution ring. The loans are on a hodgepodge of properties, including a South Beach hotel and a South Side shopping center that has lost its grocery anchor. The defendants include 1201 South Western LLC, a Berwyn-based company whose activities include making short-term real estate loans at interest rates of 1% a week, property records show.
Questions about Mr. Giannoulias’ role in the loans surfaced in 2006, when he overcame concerns about his youth and inexperience to be elected treasurer. He defended the loans as sound business decisions, a claim undermined by the foreclosures.
Now, at age 33, he could face similar questions, particularly if there are more disclosures about the relationship between the convicted felons and Broadway.
* More campaign updates…
* County chairman race gets more crowded: Sen. Dan Cronin, R-21st, is hoping to transition from his role as a state legislator to DuPage County Board chairman.
* Burris Supporter Jumping in Senate Race: Anthony Williams is pastor at the Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church in south suburban Robbins. He says he supported Burris because of his long history of public service.
* As you probably know by now, Gov. Quinn wants to put off any more talk of a tax hike until November, which would mean legislators will know by then who their primary and (most) general election opponents are. But, that still means a three-fifths majority, so don’t get ahead of yourself yet.
* Quinn will sign the capital bill package today, but good government groups want him to veto the gaming component…
The kicker, said BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw, is that the gaming board spent 10 years investigating operators of a planned Rosemont casino said to have mob ties. That deal was killed in a plan that would have added 1,200 gambling positions. Now, lawmakers have added about 40 times that number with their endorsement of video poker machines, he said.
* The Chicago Tribune editorialized against legalizing poker machines, and dissed the capital bill in its entirety…
[Legislators] do, though, envision raising $1 billion in new revenue a year — not for those vulnerable social programs they supposedly care about, but to appease their friends in construction industries and unions. The $29 billion capital spending program that Gov. Pat Quinn likely signs into law Monday would, as passed by the General Assembly, legalize video gambling. That’s a pursuit critics compare to crack cocaine because of its efficiency at separating lower-income citizens from their paychecks.
So, now the Tribune is quoting Rod Blagojevich as an expert? And it’s better to keep those machines illegal when they’re literally everywhere as it is?
“You guys are going to have to come up with a new conspiracy theory,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan told Rockford Register-Star columnist Wally Haas last week about her decision to go for re-election and forgo runs for governor or U.S. Senate.
“I had it from a pretty good source as recently as Friday that she was going to run (for governor),” state Sen. Brad Burzynski (R-Clare) told Haas about Ms. Madigan, adding, “It makes me wonder: What’s (House Speaker Michael) Madigan’s end game?”
So many people have assumed that Mike Madigan had sent this legislative session into overtime to somehow help his daughter become governor that they neglected to remember his long history as the House Speaker.
Former House GOP Leader Lee Daniels summed it up best to me not long ago: “Mike Madigan is Mike Madigan. He’s one of the brightest leaders the state has ever had, but he’s Mike Madigan. He’s always been the way he is today.”
Sure, Mike Madigan undercut Quinn this year, but that’s what he’s always done. He’s constantly been a frightening handful for governors. He probably got along “best” with former Gov. George Ryan, but Ryan was a former House Speaker. The two men could easily relate. Plus, Ryan desperately needed friends because of his extremely low popularity, so he worked extra hard to please Madigan. Success resulted.
Speaker Madigan’s “real” end game has become pretty clear to me over the past weeks and months. He believes that a tax hike would be politically disastrous.
Next year is an “off-year” election, and down-ballot Democrats tend not to do as well during those years. The hugely unpopular Cook County sales tax hike makes a state income tax hike that much more politically dangerous. And the sorry mess created by Rod Blagojevich and his Senate appointee Roland Burris won’t help the Democratic brand much, either.
So, Madigan refused to put votes on a tax increase until the Republicans did so as well. It wasn’t because he wanted bipartisanship. Madigan wanted to shield as many of his more politically vulnerable Democratic members as possible. The more Republican votes, the fewer Democrats required for passage.
And since it’s now after May 31, when the Constitution requires a three-fifths majority to pass anything, there’s almost no way the Republicans can come up with the votes Madigan wants to reach that super-majority. Word is, Madigan wants as many as 20 Republican votes. Impossible. So, he’s most likely content to wait a while for a final resolution. With Madigan, it’s always about retaining control of - and over - his majority. Always.
Last week, House Republican Leader Tom Cross told Gov. Pat Quinn during a private meeting that he’d better be prepared to wait until January - when only a simple majority will be required to pass a tax hike - for a resolution to this horrific budget mess. Cross, who told Quinn that he has just eight votes for a tax hike, looks more right than wrong. And later in the week, Quinn said he could be “open” to extending the state budget for another five months if that’s what it took to reach an agreement.
And as for this widely assumed “grand scheme” by Mike Madigan to undercut Quinn in order to help get his daughter elected governor so they could control our state’s political world … How did that work out?
If you were one of those who believed that the “chess master” was really trying to help his kid, then you now have to admit that he made a horrible mess of things and isn’t much of a genius.
Instead of helping her, Speaker Madigan further poisoned an already toxic political atmosphere - making a gubernatorial campaign incredibly difficult for Lisa in the process. After this horrific session, the father would’ve been a constant and deadly anvil around his progeny’s political neck.
But, the tinfoil hat types won’t ever admit that. Instead, they’ll probably come up with yet another conspiracy theory about Lisa’s decision or her future, or, more likely, conveniently forget about their dark predictions and move on.
Mike Madigan is Mike Madigan. And Mike Madigan is all about his majority. Yes, he would’ve done everything possibly to help his daughter if she had announced for governor. But the Speaker’s behavior during the past six months has been infinitely more about Mike Madigan than Lisa.
* I’m visiting my uncle, who has no high speed Internet access and who lives in a town that appears to be so far off AT&T’s 3G system that the wireless access I do have is slower than dialup. Bad, AT&T. Bad.
Anyway, things are taking much longer today. Sorry about that. I’ll be back in a few with a new post, I hope.
Sanders, 21, of Harvey, was shot and killed Thursday evening at 154th and Center Avenue in the south suburb while walking with his cousin. Sanders had been home on furlough to visit his family.
The cousins had just gotten french fries at a restaurant and heard men arguing — some on the sidewalk and some in a car, family members said. Wanting to avoid trouble, the cousins tried to cross the street, and got caught in the crossfire.
The three victims — ages 18, 21 and 29 — were sitting on the porch when a four-door car drove up and a passenger sitting in the driver’s side rear of the vehicle opened fire, police said. The car then fled from the scene northbound.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has rated Illinois’ homeland security program among the top four percent nationwide.
Quinn says Illinois received an overall effectiveness score of 91 out of 100. He says the national average was 71.
Low income utility customers could benefit from a new state law that limits how much they can be charged for gas and electric.
Legislation signed Friday by Gov. Pat Quinn would create a payment program that allows power bills to be paid over time.
For certain low income customers, seniors and others on fix incomes, the program would cap gas and electric bills at six percent of a household’s income and also would establish a payment program in case someone falls behind on their bills so payments could be made over time to avoid disconnection.
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias plans to announce a revamped state program that allows banks to give low-interest loans to farmers who need money for seed, fertilizer, and other expenses.
A spokesman for Giannoulias says the Democrat will make the announcement Monday in Moline. In a press release, the treasurer says a review of Cultivate Illinois, the state’s annual agriculture loan program, showed violations and abuses dating back to 2000.
* Ill. officials: Accounting error caused bad checks
Illinois officials say an accounting error caused worthless checks to be sent to several state health care providers.
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services spokeswoman Annie Thompson says the checks that began bouncing last month are unrelated to the state budget crisis.
The checks were issued by St. Louis-based HealthLink. The health care network pays out insurance claims for state employees and their dependents.
* Drug, Mental Health and Youth Courts Being Shortchanged $2 Million by Cook County
If you’ve pleaded guilty to something like running a stop sign or speeding in Cook County in the last year you’ve probably had to pay a hundred and 35 dollars in court fees. Some of the fees are earmarked for programs like drug court, mental health court and youth court services. The county has collected a couple million dollars for those three efforts over the past year but the money never actually gets to where it’s supposed to go…
STUTTLEY: Can’t nobody tell me where that money is. I’ve talked to the chief judge, I’ve talked to the state’s attorney, I’ve talked to the presiding judge, I’ve talked to the county board. I’ve talked to everybody and nobody seem to know where the money is. And we talking about a substantial amount of money…
FASHINA: We distribute our funds based on Illinois statute and Illinois statute says in order for a fund to receive its own money it has to be reconciled with the clerk of the court Act.
Yeah, I didn’t really get that the first time around either but Fashina explains. He says the clerk can only give out money as explicitly laid out in a state law called the clerk of court act. So while the cook county board passed a law that allows the clerk to assess and collect a 5 dollar fee for youth court services, Fashina says the legislature needs to pass a second law so the clerk can actually distribute the money. Such a law is awaiting the governor’s signature, but for the past year all the money collected to help troubled teens, Fashina says it’s gone into the county’s general revenue fund.
Indeed, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Illinois’ readmission rate for Medicare patients was the fourth highest at 21.7 percent, behind Maryland (22 percent), Louisiana (21.9 percent), and New Jersey (21.9 percent).
A study of more than 180,000 U.S. veterans over the age of 55 found that 10.6 percent of those who had been diagnosed with PTSD developed dementia within seven years of follow-up, compared to 6.6 percent of veterans without PTSD.
In a separate study released today, researchers from Wake Forest University found that people in their 70s and older who said they had one to two alcoholic drinks a day had a 37 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia. But drinking alcohol did not slow the progression of dementia in people who already had mild cognitive impairment, researchers found.
Joliet officials have projected a three-year $67 million deficit and, as a result, 90 fewer employees are working in city government today than last year.
Springfield is requiring its employees to take eight unpaid furlough days next year. Sales tax also is going up in the Capital City.
Peoria is hardly alone in battling the crippling effect the recession is having on city halls throughout the U.S. and, especially, Illinois.
NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol, one of the most influential players in the Olympic world, blames the United States Olympic Committee for jeopardizing Chicago’s chances to win the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“The only thing that can cost Chicago the Games is continuing squabbles between the two parties,” Ebersol said Friday via telephone, referring to the latest quarrel between the USOC and the International Olympic Committee.
Now it should be pointed out that Mr. Ebersol and NBC have a vested interest in this conversation. He is disappointed that NBC will not be a partner in the new U.S. Olympic Network. Perhaps he is expressing some of that disappointment here.
* Could third airport make way for a new Windy City?
The quest to build an airport out of farmland near Peotone has been an endless source of hot air.
An idea to scrap the airport altogether and turn the proposed airfield into a wind farm, generating electricity to power a decent chunk of the Chicago area, is gaining momentum.
* My brother Denny’s birthday was yesterday. We did the city but good, so I never got around to closing comments. He said he’s been listening to a lot of early Beatles lately, so this one is for him…
* 1:46 pm - Gov. Pat Quinn is meeting with another group of state legislators and Rep. John Fritchey is live-Tweeting. Apparently, the guv is talking about a $3.5 billion pension note plan, instead of the $2.2 billion proposal that failed in the Senate…
Lavin talking about pension reform, healthcare reforms, a billion in cuts. Aim is 5 month budget or 12 month w/ a 5 month sunset.
21 minutes ago
Now they’re floating the idea of 3.5 billion in pension obligation notes instead of 2.2 billion. Job cuts would still come.
19 minutes ago
Plan seems to be that come December, either find revenue or impose more cuts.
17 minutes ago
This meeting with the Gov. and his staff is not giving me a good feeling about session next week.
less than 10 seconds ago
Oy.
As I mentioned below, I have to leave the office soon, so follow along by clicking here. Help out in comments if you can.
…Adding… More from Fritchey…
Gov’s plan would have providers funded at about 90% for the next 5 months. But they keep ignoring the possibility of an override.1 minute ago
* I have to leave the office, so my kinda former intern Mike Murray will be handling the live blogging duties on this post if he can find a live feed of the announcement. Burris is apparently announcing that he won’t run in the 2010 election at 2 o’clock this afternoon. Help him out in comments if you can. Thanks.
* 2pm - I still have not found a live news feed of Sen. Burris’s press conference. If anyone has found one just make a comment to let me know so I can live blog it. Either way, I will post something once the presser is over and and stories start to go up on the web…
2:10 pm -USA TODAY is live blogging it all. CNN also has it on live….
Updated at 3:03 p.m. ET. A little late, but Burris stepped to the microphone, with a big smile, to applause and cheers of “don’t quit” from his supporters. “Run, Roland, Run.” They cheered.
Updated at 3:08 p.m. ET. He talks about how proud he is to have served the people of Illinois for 30 years. “Life is about choices. Make no mistake, I love serving in the United States Senate,” he said. He talks about how he is the only African American in the Senate.
Updated at 3:09 p.m. ET. He gets to the point: “And so today i return to where my political journey began back in 1978 … to announce announce that, my friends, I will not be a candidate in the 2010 election.” He says he cannot raise money and focus on the issues in the Senate.
Updated at 3:12 p.m. ET. “I will keep fighting for the great people of the state of Illinois,” he said, ticking off issues he wants to work on, including health care and military veterans.
Updated at 3:13 p.m. ET. It’s over. That was quick. He took no questions, just walking away to polite applause.
* Sen. Burris is not eligible for Senate pension, from the Trib…
Burris plans to serve out the remainder of the term, which expires in January 2011. Under federal law, he is not entitled to a pension for his Senate service since he did not serve a minimum of five years.
I thought I might see [at the Sheriff Dart press conference] another prominent politico with 19th Ward Democratic organization connections: Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes.
A few years ago Hynes campaigned on cemetery rip-offs and made news splash after news splash about abuses in what he calls the “death care industry.” He vowed to fight them. His Web page is full of such vows.
Though Hynes’ office is responsible for the oversight of privately owned cemeteries like Burr Oak, he wasn’t at the news conference. His office said he has oversight but little legal authority to enforce cemetery upkeep.
Perhaps Hynes was busy making plans to get into the U.S. Senate race. Sen. Roland “Tombstone” Burris, who cozied up to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich for the Senate appointment, has apparently decided to drop out of politics.
It’s hard to believe, but state regulators say that other than checking out records, they literally have blinders on when it comes to checking out conditions at cemeteries. It’s not their jurisdiction, they say. […]
[Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart] was shocked to learn how little oversight there are for cemeteries in Illinois. So were we. Cemeteries are licensed by the Illinois comptroller and required to keep 15 percent of the cost of a grave in a trust fund for cemetery care. Documents show Burr Oak had almost $2 million in its trust funds.
The comptroller’s office says the law only allows them to audit the cemetery care trust funds. Critics argue that when they come to inspect the books, they should take a look around. If they had, they might have found the desecrated graves at Burr Oak before the body count reached 300, and it’s still climbing. […]
Talk about lack of enforcement. The comptroller’s office, which investigates misuse of burial trust funds, says it’s had 20 complaints about Burr Oak but referred them to the cemetery. [emphasis added]
* OK, first of all, the comptroller’s oversight is, indeed, limited, as Zekman pointed out. Here’s the official explanation…
The Comptroller’s Office has limited legal authority over cemeteries, specifically focusing on consumer funds accepted by the cemetery that may be held in trust. The office licenses all funeral homes and cemeteries that sell arrangements in advance of death to ensure proper safeguards are taken with the consumers’ monies. The office requires annual financial reporting and conducts audits to ensure financial compliance.
More specifically, Hynes would require an owner to provide “reasonable maintenance” of the property. […]
The plan has received bipartisan support in the General Assembly, but it faces some hurdles. The Illinois Cemetery and Funeral Home Association is opposed to the package as drafted. The 200-member trade group argues that cookie-cutter standards are unrealistic.
As Larry also notes, the Senate Majority Leader back then was a funeral director, which made it tough on Hynes.
* OK, well, what about those “20 complaints” about Burr Oak? Turns out, that’s 20 over the past decade. The problems apparently started four years ago. There was just one complaint filed this year, according to the comptroller’s office. That complaint was about maintenance of the facility. It was filed in April and it concerned potholes in the road and standing water, the comptroller’s office said.
* And Zekman’s claim that if the comptroller’s office had just “looked around” while they were auditing the books they might have found something? Well, a Google search shows a major Chicago Tribune story about the maintenance problems at the cemetery back in May of this year…
Burr Oak Cemetery — known as an historic resting site for a number of prominent African-Americans — has been drawing complaints from visitors appalled by the apparent lack of care and upkeep.
Sunken or tilting gravestones, unmanageable roads, rivers of rainwater, and an abundance of uncut weeds dot the Alsip cemetery where Emmett Till, blues legend Dinah Washington and heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles are buried along with many other famous figures.Complaints over the years have led to reprimands from the state and a bevy of fines issued by village officials. But little has improved, probably because laws regarding the cemetery don’t come with enforcement powers.
So, a reporter and a photographer both visited the cemetery looking for a story, but neither noticed that graves had been dug up and resold. I’m not completely sure that the “look around” criticism has much value. It took a pretty intense police investigation to find those problems. Just looking around obviously wasn’t enough.
The scam came to light after someone who paid [former Burr Oak general manager Carolyn Towns] cash asked another cemetery employee about the purchase of a plot. When no record of the transaction could be found, the Perpetua Corp. president questioned Towns in March. Court documents show Towns confessed to stealing the $8,400 cash deposit and showed company officials all the other cases in which she kept the cash.
The general manager’s firing was reported to the comptroller’s office. The report included notification that the local police had been called into the case, the comptroller’s office said today.
Also, since the stolen cash was “off the books,” the comptroller’s office says, it wouldn’t show up in an audit of the official records.
* Without a doubt, Hynes should’ve been all over this thing once the cemetery scandal story broke. He wasn’t. That’s not good for him at all. But whether he’s actually to blame for this mess is entirely another matter The fact that he’s from the 19th Ward shouldn’t automatically mean he’s guilty, no matter what some may think.
Still, his office should immediately release all 20 complaints. Were there any hints over the past four years? If so, I, for one, would like to know about it.
And, considering the Tribune story back in May - which was bad enough as it was even without the dug up graves aspect - Hynes should’ve been a whole lot more proactive.
But I’m not sure we should be burning him at the stake just yet.
Yet.
*** UPDATE *** From the comptroller’s office, here is a list of the complaints filed…
5/13/02 Care related complaint regarding flooding.
5/6/05 Inquiry regarding an exhumation.
5/9/05 Care /professionalism complaint against CBOC staff.
11/1/05 Consumer received 2 headstones with wrong design.
12/13/05 Consumer wants to change the design on grave marker.
5/26/06 Care complaint regarding drainage/pot holes in roads.
6/15/06 Care complaint regarding raising of markers and potholes in roads.
3/5/07 Mother’s grave was not opened on time.
4/23/07 Care complaint regarding pumped water making her parent’s section inaccessible.
5/16/07 Care complaint regarding potholes.
10/16/07 Care complaint regarding poor upkeep in cemetery.
10/22/07 Consumer’s mother was temporarily displaced by CBOC staff.
10/26/07 Family spaces occupied by non-family members.
10/30/07 Care complaint on overgrown grass and fence down.
2/19/08 Contract dispute regarding open/closing fees and Saturday burial fees.
5/29/08 Care complaint regarding mud and water in cemetery.
6/3/08 Care complaint regarding water drainage.
6/9/08 Care complaint regarding sitting water, potholes, and poor grass cutting.
11/19/08 Consumer feels his mother was not buried deep enough. Cemetery verified that depth was sufficient.
4/23/09 Care complaint regarding standing water and potholes in the road.
* Zorn mocks the dogged LMadigan conspiracy theorists…
What’s Lisa Madigan really up to?
* She’s secretly angling to challenge Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2011.
* She and her father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, are setting her up to run for governor in 2014.
* She’s biding her time until her friend and former legislative seatmate, President Barack Obama, appoints her to a Cabinet post or perhaps even to the U.S. Supreme Court.
* I’ve seen this one floated a lot since the AG’s announcement…
[Lisa Madigan] could have had the democrat nomination for either seat. For the asking. And here’s where the tell comes in: she’d have to run for either office as a Democrat. In 2010, that looks like a very risky situation. My gut tells me that Madigan has calculated the same thing, i.e. 2010 is going to be a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad election year for Democrats.
Running for reelection, she’s essentially decided to sit this one out. By the time national Democrats realize what Madigan signaled today, it will be too late for them.
…it’s just dreadful for the White House, which seems to be striking out everywhere in terms of influencing statewide elections. Joe Sestak, Carolyn Maloney, and now Lisa Madigan. Obama should give Emanuel a good time-out.
I think Chris Cillizza was the first to use that particular theory…
For the moment, however, the team that beat Hillary Clinton in a primary and then overwhelmingly elected the nation’s first black president last year hasn’t been able to recreate that magic in downballot contests.
[Jim Nalepa] said correctly when we had lunch earlier this week that Lisa wouldn’t run either for governor or Senator but for reelection. Then he added that in the future she will run for only one thing more: the Illinois Supreme Court where she will spend her time waiting to later to be named to the U. S. Supremes.
Mike Madigan, the Illinois House Speaker: Found himself in a dilemma. He wants his daughter to become Governor, or possibly now US Senator — Senators do become presidents — but he also wants to maintain his iron fist majority rule in the Illinois House and the battle over the budget could jeopardize that. He’s held back on an income tax increase to protect his daughter and to protect the many spineless legislators who don’t want to say if they will support an income tax increase until they know for sure no one of substance will be running against them in this Spring primary.
I have no doubt her father, House Speaker Mike Madigan, would have twisted enough arms among his fellow House Dems to get a tax hike passed. That way, a budget fix would be in place by now, Lisa Madigan could criticize Gov. Pat Quinn for raising taxes in a recession but still reap the financial benefits when she took office in 2011. That Mike Madigan didn’t get a tax hike passed through the House was a pretty big red flag that his daughter wasn’t going to run for governor in 2010.
“It’s the worst kept secret in Springfield that a lot of this is driven by the Attorney General’s political ambitions,” said Righter.
Sen. Righter also claimed in that article that the Senate passed a budget this year which went nowhere in the House. I don’t remember that.
* My personal favorites came from a couple of often strange commenters on my own blog…
lake county democrat - Wednesday, Jul 8, 09 @ 11:19 am
Come on people, there’s more smoke here than in Wasilla, Alaska — people who wouldn’t believe Sarah Palin for an instant think that Lisa Madigan who HERSELF has indicated interest in both races suddenly drops out because she likes her present job/wants more time with her family/etc.?
Conservative Republican - Wednesday, Jul 8, 09 @ 11:30 am
Good example of liberal hypocrisy here:
Palin quits: she’s a coward and a loser
Lisa Madigan wimps out on higher office run: she is “wise” and a “gift” to the people of Illinois in deciding to continue as a “wonderful Attorney General”
* Stu Rothenburg rates the US Sen. race closer now that Lisa Madigan is out of the picture…
Here are our latest Senate ratings, reflecting Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s (D) decision not to run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois and Cong. Mark Kirk’s (R) decision to run.
*- Moved benefiting Republicans
Narrow Advantage for Incumbent Party
Burris (D-IL) *
Asked about the news that Lisa Madigan plans to seek re-election as the Illinois Attorney General and not seek higher office, Hamos said Wednesday that’s one post off her list.
Everything else — Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller, Treasurer — remain options, said Hamos, whose profile has soared recently from her work on transportation, the budget, and call for tougher ethics reform.
I’m also hearing 10th Congressional District, believe it or not.
As many as 300 bodies were unearthed and dumped in a mass grave as part of a scam that netted the workers about $300,000, authorities said Thursday.
The empty graves were resold to unsuspecting families for cash — off the books, authorities said.
“There should be … a special place in hell for these graveyard thieves,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who appeared with authorities at a press conference at the cemetery Thursday.
The four cemetery employees charged in the alleged scheme to dig up bodies at Burr Oak Cemetery and illegally resell their grave sites have been moved into a special section of Cook County Jail to avoid serious injury from other inmates, Sheriff Tom Dart said this morning.
“These people need to be put in a special place because there is the strongest possibility of serious injury if that doesn’t happen,” he said. “We jumped on that right away.”…
Former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49, foreman Keith Nicks, 45, and dump-truck operator Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago, and back-hoe operator Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, were each charged with dismembering a human body, a Class X felony. All face up to 30 years in prison.
Towns’ bail was set at $250,000, the others’ at $200,000. Towns was placed in the psychiatric wing of Cermak Hospital. “We’re concerned for her based on a psychiatric evaluation,” said sheriff’s office spokesman Steve Patterson.
* Exclusive: Emmett Till’s casket left to waste at Burr Oak
Broken. Rusted. Battered. The image of a glass-covered casket with the body of Emmett Till was shown around the world in the 1950s. But on Thursday, as hundreds of African Americans searched frantically for the graves of love ones, the battered casket of Till was rusting in the back of a shack at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip…
“When we opened it up trying to find what we have, a family of possums ran out,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
Cemetery workers had been cooperative and informed law enforcement officials that it was indeed Till’s original casket.
“It sure looks like all of the photos I have ever seen,” Dart said. “This is absolutely horrible.”
Tristan’s lawyer, William Coulson, sent a letter Wednesday to the mayor in which he defended Tristan’s conduct and suggested Inspector General David Hoffman violated a federal court’s wishes and a city ordinance by making his investigative report public.
“Mr. Hoffman’s report is, in my view, shockingly deficient in both factual support and analysis, and falls far short of the high standards which the citizens of Chicago should expect from the Inspector General,” Coulson wrote to Daley.
Various city employees who also were mentioned in Hoffman’s report have hired a lawyer and separately asked a federal court judge to remove Hoffman’s report from the public file.
The unidentified employees want the report sealed, Hoffman and other city employees barred from making any more comments about it, and future reports by Hoffman that recommend employee discipline to be filed under seal.
Here are a few suggestions for the mayor as he considers Tristan’s replacement:
• • Pick a professional with no deep political ties. We’re not saying all top city professionals need to be free of politics, but if you want this post to have credibility, pick an outsider.
• • Hire someone who understands that the federal court order on city hiring means what it says. When an alderman sends a letter advocating for a city employee, it’s time to pick up the phone and inform the federal hiring monitor — not ship it along to the city’s legal department to see if it absolutely, positively has to be reported.
• • Select someone who understands the best way to end the costly federal monitoring of the city’s hiring is to work with the federal court monitor, not around her.
The Daley administration moved Thursday to fire a $91,008-a-year plumbing inspector caught doing a side job with no permit, city license and without signing a secondary employment form allowing him to perform the work.
The violations were particularly egregious because Kendrick was assigned to a task force that busts people for working without permits.
On Thursday, Kendrick was placed on administrative leave pending termination proceedings. The fact that he allegedly asked Water Management investigators for city-owned parts — lead packs and copper — to repair the broken pipe did not factor into the decision.
“It’s not that we’re making light of that. It’s just that we have enough to fire him without delving into that,” said Buildings Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey.
Daley said 69.8 percent of Chicago elementary students passed their 2009 state exams.
There’s just one problem: That’s not correct. It’s actually 67.5 percent — 2.3 points lower than what Daley and CPS’ leaders announced. This is the real number, the one that goes on the state report card.
There is a logic to using two numbers, but CPS and Daley didn’t explain it, preferring to highlight the higher number in their press release, which is what many reporters and the public rely on. The higher number, you see, excludes Chicago students still learning English. The lower number includes them.
* Alexi Giannoulias’ fundraising slowed down in the second quarter. That usually happens. The first round of calls is almost always the easiest. Still, he’s raised an impressive amount of dough…
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias raised $1.8 million to date for his Senate bid, while his likely Democratic rivals have zero dollars in their warchests.
Giannoulias has been fund-raising since March. Federal fund-raising reports, public next week, will show that Giannoulias raised about $670,000 in the second quarter of 2009. […]
Giannoulias is also in a position to pour some of his own money in his campaign; his federal financial disclosure statement–which requires that only the range of assets be listed–will show that he is worth between $13 million and $62 million, I’m told.
Yikes.
* Comptroller Dan Hynes posted a message to his FaceBook page yesterday about the governor’s race…
…Over the next couple of weeks I plan on taking a serious look at running for Governor and what we can do together to solve our problems. I’m confident that, with your support, we can bring progress back to Illinois.
In the meantime, I’d like to hear your thinking on the upcoming election and encourage you to email me at dan@friendsofdan.com or send me a Facebook message with your thoughts….
* No surprise at all. JBT is gearing up for another statewide bid…
Former state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka is looking to return to state government. The Riverside Republican is eyeing a run for state comptroller, a position now held by Democrat Dan Hynes.
“I am very frustrated watching what is going on in Springfield,” Topinka said Thursday. “It would give me a chance to fight back.”
* Sen. Kirk Dillard was in southern Illinois touting his campaign yesterday. No slip-ups about Lisa Madigan this time…
On the matter of Wednesday’s announcement by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan that she will not be seeking the governorship or a seat in the U.S. Senate, Dillard said he hoped the move would help break the budget gridlock.
“We have been sitting back for too long (waiting) for what Lisa wants to do,” he said, referring to her father, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s, lack of action so far.
A friend pointed out yesterday that Dillard’s Republican opponents screwed up even more than Dillard did this week with his “I look forward to having Lisa Madigan as attorney general when I’m the governor” comment.
None of the other GOP gubernatorial candidates had a tracking staffer at the Dillard announcement with a video camera. If they had, that comment could’ve been posted to YouTube before Dillard’s plane landed at the next town. Over.
* There’s more to it than what I wrote today, but things were changing so fast yesterday that I didn’t have time to get to it all before my deadline. Anyway, here’s my Sun-Times column…
Maybe now that Lisa Madigan has decided to stay put as Illinois’ attorney general, Gov. Pat Quinn can finally relax a little and get down to the business of governing.
When Quinn was sworn in after Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal, he seemed like a guy who wanted to do what was right, regardless of the political consequences.
He proposed an unpopular tax increase because he knew it was the only real and honest way to comply with the state’s Constitution and balance the budget, despite the continued protestations of Fantasy Island naysayers.
He demanded serious pension reforms that freaked out the teachers unions and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — two enormously influential interest groups.
He proposed a couple of steep budget cuts that enraged the Service Employees International Union, which has been one of the top players in Illinois politics for most of this decade.
Quinn made it abundantly clear that he was prepared to sacrifice his own political future to do what he believed was right. Whether you agreed with him or not, the new governor’s attitude was quite refreshing.
But then, things started going haywire in a hurry.
He’s not a very capable manager, and it really showed. He is, by all reports, an inexperienced, stubborn micromanager who refuses to listen to sound advice.
And, for whatever reason, he’s one of those guys who doesn’t seem to realize that he loses credibility when he abruptly changes position. After he infuriated the teachers unions by demanding that their members pay another two percentage points from their paychecks into the pension fund, he backed off during a speech to a teachers union rally. But he never got anything from the unions in return, so it was a pointless gesture.
The same thing was true about his tax increase proposal. He refused to budge off a big tax increase for corporations, then offered to drop most of it, even though nobody had ever agreed to support the revised plan.
Quinn’s flip-flops are becoming legendary. He said he’d sign the public works bill right away, but then changed his mind and tried to use the job-creating bill to pry votes loose for his income tax increase. He testified in favor of the Senate Democrats’ tax increase plan, then a few hours later said he was for a different plan. He made his reputation as a government reformer, then wholeheartedly agreed to a woefully inadequate reform bill, then privately indicated that he might veto it.
People around the governor say some of this can be blamed on the threat that Lisa Madigan posed. He knew he was finished if she ran, even if he somehow managed to beat her in the primary. Her father, the House speaker, would’ve made Quinn’s life unbearable. The threat meant the governor just wasn’t thinking right.
Quinn’s news conference earlier this week was described by the Sun-Times editorial page as “confusing and bewildering.”
He looked to me like he was melting down in front of our very eyes. I was actually worried for him.
But, lo and behold, just one day after Lisa Madigan decided to run for re-election, Quinn looked like he was pulling himself together.
First, he announced he would sign the massive public works bill that has been awaiting his action for weeks.
Then, he bowed to the harsh Springfield reality and said he could accept a temporary, five-month budget, even though it could mean he has to sign a tax increase into law a month before his own Democratic primary.
Maybe, just maybe, he’s finally starting to settle down and really govern. Let’s hope so. It was all getting too weird, even for me.
