* I’ll close the week with a message to the governor’s press staff: If you’re gonna have a Statehouse press briefing on the budget, please invite all the Statehouse bureaus, not just some. How difficult could that possibly be? Thanks for listening.
* And now, Johnny Winter plays some Bob…
I got forty red, white and blue shoe strings
And a thousand telephones that don’t ring
The governor also will propose $850 million in additional state cuts and make a potentially hefty cut in the state’s pension payment, while proposing a scaled-back pension plan for new state hires. Quinn aides would not provide more specifics on those plans.
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich released the following statement on the proposal from Gov. Pat Quinn to raise the state income tax:
“This is exactly what I said was going to happen. It is unconscionable that the new governor, Pat Quinn, wants to raise the income tax by 50% especially at a time when people are hurting and the economy is in shambles.
“When Pat Quinn and I ran as a ticket we promised the people not to raise their income taxes. For six years I kept that promise. It took him less than six weeks to break it.”
Former Gov. Blagojevich is not available for interviews and will not be making any other public statements today.
*** UPDATE 4 - 4:02 PM *** I told subscribers about this new $11.5 billion deficit estimate in late February, and recently pointed out the crashing income tax numbers, but this is still astounding…
The state’s budget hole has grown to an estimated $11.5 billion — “an unprecedented tsunami of red ink” — aides to Gov. Pat Quinn disclosed Friday afternoon as the new governor began to sketch out how he proposes to fix the state’s financial woes. […]
At the same time, while promising that Mr. Quinn will unveil $1.3 billion in proposed spending cuts when he introduces his fiscal 2010 budget on Wednesday, they and Mr. Quinn in an earlier appearance confirmed that a state income-tax hike definitely is on the way.
Officials said the tax increase, of unspecified size, would be paired with a tripling of the personal exemption, a combination that would freeze or cut taxes for a family of four if it earned no more than about $60,000 a year, but would require those in higher income brackets to pay more. […]
Over fiscal 2009 and 2010 combined, state revenues from individual and corporate income taxes and the sales tax are projected to be off a projected $3.2 billion — an “unprecedented” decline, according to Mr. Stermer.
At the same time, he said, Medicaid will cost the state an additional $1 billion or so in fiscal 2010, which begins on July 1, higher social services will cost taxpayers an additional $300 million, scheduled employee wage hikes and group health insurance another $300 million, and employee pensions potentially well over $1 billion, depending on possible cost savings..
Quinn wouldn’t give specific details Friday on the income rate or personal exemption levels he plans to propose.
But he did give a hint about who would be affected by any tax increase. The governor says a family of four making less than about $57,000 a year won’t see its taxes go up. The less money people make, he says, the more of a tax cut they’ll see.
*** UPDATE 2 - 1:47 pm *** The governor’s comments…
“There will be some that will have a higher tax burden,” Quinn told reporters today during an impromptu news conference at the James R. Thompson Center, adding it would be based on the ability to pay. Quinn said an increase would be part of a “fundamental reform” of the income tax system that would provide tax relief for many Illinoisans. He said that would come from more generous tax exemptions for working families who are suffering amid the nation’s economic decline.
Gov. confirms taxes will go up for folks earning above 56k in Illinois.
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* This possible tax hike isn’t as much as some thought, especially considering the higher exemptions…
Gov. Pat Quinn is considering raising the Illinois income tax by 50 percent in a politically risky bid to address one of the biggest budget dilemmas in state history, sources said Thursday.
An increase to 4.5 percent from the current 3 percent tax rate on individuals would include a corresponding hike in the corporate income tax on businesses, according to sources familiar with the new governor’s preparations for his first budget address Wednesday.
The first state income tax increase in 20 years would be cushioned in part by raising the standard tax exemption up to $6,000 per person from $2,000, the sources said. […]
Fee increases for license plate stickers and driver’s licenses are also under consideration by Quinn, sources said. The governor has also emphasized he wants to “cut, cut, cut” state government.
‘I think this economy makes it almost impossible to place an income tax increase on people.”
What Illinois politician said that this week?
Rod “No Tax Hikes on People, But I’ll Gladly Take Your Bribe” Blagojevich?
A Republican?
A conservative “Blue Dog” Democrat?
Nix, nein Frankenstein, as we used to say in Germany.
The answer: Attorney General Lisa Madigan, talking to the Aurora Beacon News.
Has Congressman-in-waiting Mike Quigley’s winning campaign strategy of bashing Todd Stroger’s tax increase spread to the staid, soft-spoken, liberal attorney general?
This is the same Lisa Madigan, after all, who fumed at Rod Blagojevich last year for vindictively slashing her office’s budget to the marrow. Now, she wants every other state agency subjected to the same cruel slash?
After waiting around all day for a response, Madigan’s spokeswoman finally called to explain that her boss really meant to say all other options should be looked at before any tax increase was proposed.
That’s not what she said, but whatever.
So, I asked, does Lisa Madigan support a tax hike?
“She’s waiting to hear what the governor proposes in his budget address next week.”
Is she open to a tax hike?
Same answer.
The message seems to be clear, however. She’s reserving the right to bash Gov. Quinn for raising taxes during an economic downturn.
Tax-increase foes have valid economic points, but too many fail to see the plain, hard facts.
There are those who say that the state’s budget deficit is about half or even less than half of the $9 billion to $12 billion estimated by Comptroller Dan Hynes and Quinn. All we need to do, they say, is cut $4 billion to $5 billion this fiscal year and again next fiscal year and the problems are solved. Poof.
What those folks never mention is that there are about 100 days left in the current fiscal year. Cutting $4 billion to $5 billion by June 30 would require turning out all the state’s lights. Open up the prison doors, lay off all the cops, no school payments, no Medicaid, no driver’s license facilities, no parks, no road repairs, no aid to local governments, no attorney general . . . no nothing, except for a skeleton crew to process our tax payments. And that still probably wouldn’t be enough.
We simply cannot cut our way out of this deficit. We shouldn’t fully tax our way out, either, of course. Real cuts should be made. But there are no magical solutions, and Lisa Madigan most certainly knows it.
This week, the two Republican state legislative leaders called for more gaming to fund a multi-billion-dollar capital construction program. It’s a pipe dream.
Quinn is widely expected to propose an income tax increase to help balance the budget, so Madigan’s tax comment was probably predictable. Madigan can sit back and let her father, House Speaker Michael Madigan, push through Quinn’s tax increase and then reap all the populist benefit.
But Madigan in the role of the angry white tax-hater and lifelong populist Quinn as the bumbling Strogerish incumbent?
Seriously?
Well, Blagojevich did win his first election as a reformer, so I suppose anything’s possible with enough campaign money.
I just can’t see it. And I sure hope Madigan doesn’t try.
…Adding… I just noticed that something got cut for space. It was a couple sentences after “This week the two Republican state legislative leaders called for more gaming to fund a multi billion dollar capital construction program. It’s a pipe dream.” Here’s what was edited out…
MGM spent almost a billion dollars to put a casino in downtown Detroit a couple of years ago. Those days are over. MGM’s stock price has lost 90 percent of its value since last summer and the company is in danger of defaulting on its debt. MGM is far from alone in the industry.
* Related…
* Illinois Republicans call for more gambling to raise revenue
Local politicos have been buzzing about a domestic dispute between Palatine Township GOP Committeeman Gary Skoien and his wife, but most stopped short of publicly calling for Skoien’s resignation.
Even Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles, whom Skoien unseated as committeeman in 2002, said only that he doesn’t agree with allegations the police messed up.
“He’s made some innuendos about the police department, but these are good men and women who don’t lie on reports,” Tatooles said, adding he hasn’t had much contact with Skoien in the last seven years.
Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins also ran and lost against Skoien in the 2002 election. She called the situation “very unfortunate” and said, “My heart goes out to his wife.”
State Rep. Suzie Bassi, a fellow Palatine Republican, went further to say she was “not willing to endorse him in the future” and that the situation has hurt the image of the party.
“It’s about time he got his life together and spent some time taking care of his family,” Bassi said. “Step down? That’s going to be a choice he is going to have to make, but I hope he is willing to think long and hard about doing the right thing for the Republican organization and the community.”
“I hope he is willing to think long and hard about doing the right thing…” Isn’t that what Mayor Daley said about Burris?
Kinda funny that there’s no outraged rush to the cameras on this one. The Tribune editorial page, which has led the charge against Burris, has been mute. Kass hasn’t come up with any silly nicknames for Skoien like he did with Burris. And there’s been almost total radio silence at the conservative blogs.
*** UPDATE *** Thanks to a commenter, here’s part of a letter to the editor published last week year in the Daily Herald…
Recently a group calling itself the United Republicans of Palatine Township posted a full-page ad in the newspaper and sent out a mailing attacking Gary Skoien, the Republican Committeeman for Palatine Township.
We, as your Republican and local elected officials, could not be more adamant in our statement that this attack was factually inaccurate, mean-spirited and absolutely ridiculous.
Sadly, this is far from the first time that attacks in the name of “United Republicans” have been leveled against Gary Skoien, the local Republican Party, and other Republican officials working to deliver good government to the residents of Palatine Township. Since Skoien’s successful election over their chosen candidate in the committeeman race in 2002, it has been this same small group of purported leaders in this organization who have continued to attack him and anybody who dares associate with Gary Skoien.
The signatories…
Congressman Mark Kirk, 10th District
State Sen. Matt Murphy, 27th District
Mayor William McLeod, Hoffman Estates
Gregg Goslin, Cook County Commissioner
Gene Dawson, state central committeemen, 8th Congressional District
Ruth O’Connell, Wheeling Twp. Republican Committeeman
Linda Fleming, Palatine Twp. supervisor
Kevin O’Connell, Palatine Twp. clerk
Terry Kelly, Palatine Twp. assessor
John Powers, Palatine Twp. Highway Commissioner
Art Goes, Bill Huley and Lisa Moran, Palatine Twp. trustees
Cary Collins, deputy mayor, Hoffman Estates
Ald. Tom Rooney, Rolling Meadows
Sue Quinn, Dist. 15 school board
Tom Donohue, Inverness Park District commissioner
Oops.
It would be interesting to hear what these people say about Skoien now.
Police have rejected a request from a top suburban Republican to change a police report that states he was with two prostitutes when his wife attacked him over the weekend in their Inverness home.
Barrington-Inverness Deputy Police Chief Jerry Libit said today there would not be “any changes to the report,” as requested by Gary Skoien, a Palatine Township GOP committeeman and a former Cook County Republican chairman.
Libit said Skoien met Wednesday night with the officer who wrote the report.
Skoien has disputed that the women were prostitutes. He said he was with two friends early Sunday when his wife, Eni, punched him and swung a guitar at him.
* WARNING: Take it easy in comments. Follow the guidelines. In fact, stay well within the margins on this one. I’m in no mood today to deal with over the top posts. Don’t get yourself banned.
* Fox Chicago News takes a look at how Frank Zucharelli’s “Z Team” political machine uses South Suburban College as a power and fundraising base…
* Zell never contributed any money to Blagojevich, but this story does show us, once again, the Blagojevich mindset…
Tribune Co. chairman Sam Zell was targeted for $25,000 by the Blagojevich campaign last November while the company’s Wrigley Field deal was under consideration and two weeks before the ex-governor was arrested, internal campaign documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
Zell’s name appeared on a Nov. 25, 2008, document titled “Focus List” among a group of 33 potential donors. Alongside Zell’s name was the $25,000 figure and a notation that read: “Rod to follow up.” On a Sept. 22, 2008, fund-raising document titled “Call List,” an entry noted “Sam Party on 9.27.”
In another campaign document dated Dec. 3, 2008, Tribune Co. sports consultant Mark Ganis is listed among 143 names of potential donors for tentative or scheduled fund-raising events. Next to Ganis’ name are the notations “New York Event” and “Rod went to dinner on 9/19. Rob needs to follow up.”[…]
The revelation comes after Tribune Co. disclosed Wednesday that federal agents interviewed Zell in January as a “potential witness” in the Blagojevich case. Among the charges facing Rod Blagojevich is that he schemed to have members of the Chicago Tribune editorial board fired in exchange for helping push through the Wrigley deal.
* The Tribune has a story from the Al Sanchez trial that you need to read all the way through…
John Barrera wanted to work for the city, so he joined the Hispanic Democratic Organization, a feared political street army that wielded power over jobs inside Mayor Richard Daley’s administration.
So the story goes, Barrera was told he got a city job through HDO without even applying. But later in the story is this…
One of Sanchez’s lawyers, Patrick Blegen, got Barrera to reveal to the federal jury that he had political connections of his own. Blegen suggested that was how he got his city job. Barrera acknowledged that his father was a former ward committeeman and that he started working on political campaigns as a child.
It’s a tricky thing to explain to a jury, but the fact that Barrera’s dad was a committeeman should actually make Sanchez look MORE guilty, not less.
Barrera’s dad was an independent Dem committeeman allied with the Balanoffs. His committeeman father couldn’t get him a job, (in fact, they probably wrote NO in big red letters on his application) so he felt he had to go through HDO instead.
But the funniest part is how Mayor Daley is reacting to all this…
When reporters pressed the mayor to explain how one city employee got her job, Daley grew angry and shut down the line of questioning.
“I’m not answering questions about that,” he said.
The college announced on Thursday that Patrick Fitzgerald, U-S Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, will deliver the commencement address at Knox on June 6th. Knox College President Roger Taylor called Fitzgerald’s leadership in combating crime “exemplary” and says the students have once again picked a national figure to address their class at commencement.
State Rep. Brandon Phelps says if downstate lawmakers help Chicago vie for the 2016 Olympics, they should get something in return - perhaps a law allowing Illinoisans to carry concealed weapons.
“They’re going to ask us for a lot,” the Harrisburg Democrat said Thursday.
Four proposals aimed at allowing Illinoisans to carry concealed weapons have been introduced this year. But, long running philosophical disagreements over gun rights between downstate lawmakers and their Chicago colleagues could keep them from becoming law.
Phelps hopes some horse-trading could benefit gun owners and Olympic supporters.
* The Question: If you were a downstate legislator, for what specific thing would you trade your Chicago Olympics vote? Explain.
* As I told subscribers yesterday, the circular firing squad had another fine day…
The Illinois Republican Party has retained a prominent law firm and is warning state lawmakers of both parties it will fight any proposed changes to how Republicans choose their top governing body.
State GOP Chairman Andy McKenna today issued the warning after an Illinois Senate panel backed a measure to require that the 19-member Republican State Central Committee be elected by voters at the primary election every four years. Currently, the representatives from each of the state’s congressional districts are chosen by Republican township and county committeemen.
The change long has been pushed by a group of insurgent conservatives looking for a toe-hold in running a political organization beset by strife and hobbled by the scandals surrounding imprisoned former Gov. George Ryan.
The legislation to make the governing change, backed by state Sen. Chris Lauzen of Aurora, got out of an Illinois Senate panel earlier this week on a 5-4 vote. Only one Republican voted for it along with four Democrats. In a video posted on his Web site, Lauzen has blasted the state’s GOP leadership as “domineering parasites” and “self-serving, officious, lying, arrogant thugs” for not supporting his bill.
Saying he was “deeply troubled” by the “misguided and unconstitutional” proposal, McKenna said “the Illinois Republican Party will vigorously defend its rights under the United States Constitution.” […]
“Political parties in Illinois have a right to freedom of association - in other words they have a right to be free from exactly this sort of meddling,” McKenna said. “The Illinois Republican Party takes its First Amendment rights seriously and will not cede those rights to any governmental entity nor to any opposing political party.”
But Lauzen must rely on Democratic support to pass his plan since Republicans only hold 22 of the 59 state Senate seats. Lauzen said he will keep working toward passage.
“How can it be unconstitutional to restore what was there in the beginning?” Lauzen asked. Before 1988, Republican primary voters elected the party’s central committee. Democratic primary voters already elect their central committee.
Lauzen has a point about the constitutionality. The state currently gives state parties two organizational options. Lauzen’s proposal essentially deletes one of those options. The party strongly feels otherwise, however.
…Adding… From the state GOP’s lawyer Bill McGinley of Patton Boggs…
The State’s intrusion is no less unconstitutional now because the Party did not challenge previous statutory regulation: in Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208 (1986) the Supreme Court held unconstitutional a statute that had been in effect for decades before the Republican Party finally challenged it.
In that case, the law requiring parties to hold closed primaries had been on the books since 1955 and the state parties had not protested. In 1984, the Republicans adopted a new rule to permit independents to participate in their primary . . . after the old law had been enforced against them for THIRTY YEARS. The Party won this challenge and the Supreme Court held that the state could no longer enforce the statute against them.
The Court later reaffirmed this principle, concluding that “[w]e have never held that a political party’s consent will cure a statue that otherwise violates the First Amendment.” Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Cent. Committee, 489 U.S. 214, 226 (1989).
In short, a state party does not “waive” or “give up” its constitutional rights simply because it did not protest prior regulation. Freedom of association entitles Parties to determine their current internal governance in accordance with the desires of current members; this is the entire point of protecting their right to define their own organization, its membership, and its message in response to changing times. State regulation that infringes that internal control is unconstitutional, regardless of whether past Party members objected to similar encroachment in prior legislation.
* Yesterday, the governor reversed Rod Blagojevich’s decision to close the Pontiac prison. Today, Gov. Quinn is reversing another one…
After months of uncertainty, the state’s traffic safety division is not moving to southern Illinois.
Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, said he received a voice mail this morning at his Springfield office from new Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig that an announcement about the division staying in Springfield would be made later today.
Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, confirmed the union also had been notified an announcement was coming today.
Spokespersons for IDOT and the governor’s office did not immediately comment on the news.
Illinois ranked seventh nationally in foreclosure activity last month as Cook County filings surged in recent weeks despite pledges by big banks to a temporary cease fire, according to two reports released Thursday.
Residential and commercial properties in some stage of foreclosure totaled 14,218 last month, down 1.6 percent from January but up more than 62 percent from February 2008, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing company.
State lawmakers from Springfield oppose Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes’ decision to deny a request by The State Journal-Register for records regarding a troubled funeral trust fund.
“This has occurred during the last six years under the comptroller’s watch, and he is the one that is supposedly doing the auditing, so let’s get all of that out in the open and solve the problem,” Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, said Thursday.
* Olympic apartments won’t be ‘white elephant,’ IOC chief says
* Chicago Sun-Times editing jobs won’t be outsourced to India, Canada
Union officials representing Sun-Times editorial employees said management informed them Thursday that the paper is scrapping the radical January proposal to eliminate up to 30 jobs.
The Newspaper Guild was braced for a fight. But, in the interim, a shareholder-led overhaul upended parent Sun-Times Media Group’s board and a succession of other changes, including John Barron replacing Cyrus Freidheim as Sun-Times publisher and Don Hayner succeeding Michael Cooke as editor.
Paint it silver? No. Call it Willis? Why not? Our immediate reaction upon hearing that Chicago’s landmark Sears Tower soon would be renamed Willis Tower was not good. Why, we wondered, can’t people leave Chicago iconography alone?
Macy’s should be Field’s. The Aon Center should be Big Stan. Cellular Field should be Comiskey Park.
Lost a tooth filling, which led to a tooth infection, which led to lots of nighttime pain, which woke me up in the middle of the night, which caused me to oversleep this morning and miss my dentist appointment. Feeling just ducky. Anyway, some posts will be up shortly. Trying to shake the grog.
Pontiac Correctional Center is off the chopping block. In an announcement Thursday, Gov. Pat Quinn said he would halt efforts by his predecessor to close the maximum-security facility.
“Keeping Pontiac Correctional Center open will ensure nearly 600 people in the region keep their jobs, prevent hundreds of families from being uprooted, and allow Pontiac to maintain one of its largest sources of revenue,” Quinn said in a prepared statement.
The decision brought relief to those who had fought former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s effort to close the facility. […]
While Pontiac may be spared, it remains unclear what Quinn intends to do with Thomson, located north of the Quad-Cities.
The biggest supporter of Thomson’s prison is Rep. Mike Boland, who is a longtime Quinn ally, although the governor has appeared to distance himself from Boland somewhat since his inauguration. The decision on whether to fully open Thomson could be the more politically interesting move.
A state audit found fault with the way Illinois chose Pepsi as its exclusive soft-drink vendor.
Auditor General William Holland reported Thursday that the Revenue Department didn’t properly document how bids from Pepsi, Coke and other vendors were evaluated, how references were checked, or what evaluators discussed in meetings about the bids.
* 1:22 pm - I asked AFSCME what Gov. Quinn should do about the Thomson prison and here’s the e-mailed response…
Thomson was intended to relieve dangerous overcrowding, not to replace any other prison. If there is additional funding for Thomson it should be for that purpose. The governor should take this opportunity to start turning around a department that was terribly mismanaged by his predecessor: That means hiring adequate staff and relieving overcrowding to reduce inmate violence and lower overtime costs.
Check out this correlation between staff cuts and overtime costs:
* DOC staff, 2001: 16,930
* DOC/DJJ, 2009: 12,700
* DOC overtime cost, FY02: $12 million
* FY08: $44.3 million
Clearly the money wasted on overtime is better spent to restore adequate staffing levels.
* Oldtimers still call the Aon Center the “Standard Oil Building,” so I’m wondering if this’ll ever stick…
Sears Tower will become Willis Tower.
The insurance broker announced Thursday morning that it will move to the Sears Tower and that the building will be renamed Willis Tower.
London-based Willis Group Holdings said it will consolidate five local offices into more than 140,000 square feet in the 110-story building at 233 S. Wacker Drive. Almost 500 employees will move into the building, Willis said.
Willis said the space is costing the company $14.50 a square foot and that it is not paying extra for the naming rights.
Federal estimates released Wednesday show that 16.5 percent of Illinois households have dropped landlines to go wireless.
Oklahoma and Utah lead the way in cell phone-only households, with at least 26 percent, according to data released Wednesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rate was at least 20 percent in nine other states, including two that border Illinois. The CDC said 22.2 percent of households in Iowa and 21.4 percent in Kentucky are landline free.
But Illinois came out ahead of other Midwest states, including Wisconsin (15.2 percent), Indiana (13.8 percent) and Missouri (9.9 percent).
* The question: Do you have a landline phone at home? If no, why not? If yes, do you think you’ll keep it? Explain.
Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Sam Zell hired well-known defense lawyer Anton Valukas and was interviewed in January by federal prosecutors as a “potential witness” in the criminal investigation of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the company acknowledged Wednesday.
Some unanswered questions are finally addressed…
In their subpoena to Tribune Co., federal authorities sought information about potential staff cuts or changes to the newspaper’s editorial board. The company has said Tribune Co. executives did nothing inappropriate.
Tribune Co. also acknowledged state records, recently obtained by the Chicago Tribune, that show Zell making a phone call and giving a gift to Blagojevich. According to records of Blagojevich’s telephone logs, Zell placed a call to the governor Dec. 8, the day before the arrest.
Zell placed “courtesy calls” to several elected officials, including Mayor Richard Daley, that day to notify them the company had just filed for bankruptcy protection, according to the statement from Liebentritt. “Mr. Zell’s call to Mr. Blagojevich was not returned,” the statement said.
A bit of background on that December 8th phone call from Zell…
In an exchange of e-mails between [Tribune Co. adviser Marc Ganis] and [Rod Blagojevich’s chief of staff John Harris] on the day prior to the arrests of the governor and his chief of staff, Ganis provided Harris with a copy of a news story noting Tribune Co. had filed for bankruptcy. Harris responded, “Lousy product. Inevitable.” […]
Ganis also noted the Cubs were not part of the firm’s bankruptcy filing and said “Nils is going to call you and Sam is going to call the Gov.”
Zell and the Tribune Co. were attempting to work out a deal to get state help with selling Wrigley Field.
A city driver disciplined after five work accidents — including one that seriously injured a co-worker — told a federal jury Wednesday “yes, I am” a good driver.
Denise Garcia Cortez’s remarks came during the corruption trial of Al Sanchez. She testified that she first got her job after doing political work for the Hispanic Democratic Organization. She said she was trained but had little experience.
Last week, a witness testified that Cortez, whose name was Alcantar, won the job after Sanchez chose her from a political hiring list. Her test scores were doctored, former personnel director Jack Drumgould said.
Cortez admitted on the stand she applied for her job, not at City Hall, but at a club where HDO met. She said she left it on the table and was later called in, and eventually hired in 2002.
Other witnesses in the trial, which began last week, have discussed how HDO was an important part of Mayor Richard Daley’s political organization.
But in putting Alcantar on the stand to talk about her checkered driving history, prosecutors clearly hoped to personalize what otherwise might be a relatively dry tale of rigged hiring processes and election campaigns.
That’s how Gary Skoien decided to fend off allegations by his wife that she caught him in their children’s playroom with two prostitutes. Skoien is the Palatine Township Republican Committeeman and former Cook County GOP Chairman.
Inverness Police say former Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien admitted having two prostitutes in his children’s playroom when his wife walked in on him early Sunday morning.
The allegation is in a domestic battery report from Skoien, 55, against his 36-year-old, 5-foot-4-inch, 110-pound wife. He said she beat him with her fists and an electric guitar.
But Skoien said the police report inaccurately stated that he had prostitutes in his home. Skoien said he and a friend were talking in the playroom when his wife came down and began beating him.
Eni Skoien spent two nights in a lock-up before being released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.
Skoien said two female friends were visiting around 1 a.m. Sunday, when his wife, Eni, who had returned home a bit earlier, came downstairs and attacked him.
“I was not in a compromising position other than I had friends over to my house,” Skoien said.
Allies of Mayor Daley in both parties had been upset with Skoien since he offered a $10,000 “bounty” four years ago for information leading to the conviction on corruption charges of the Chicago mayor.
The remark got Skoien fired from his real estate job, cost him a seat on the Metra board and resulted in calls for his ouster as county Republican chairman.
But he survived a re-election vote, serving from 2004-to-2007 as the head of Cook County’s Republican party, which has not succeeded in electing a Republican to countywide office in 17 years.
As word of the incident got around local political circles, two candidates on the Republican slate for Palatine Township board asked the Daily Herald to remove Skoien from their lists of endorsements.
“I think Gary needs to respectfully resign and work on mending his family,” trustee candidate and retired Des Plaines police officer Sharon Johnson said. “He’s not the person of character I had originally thought.”
Sue Johnson (no relation), who’s running for township collector, also backed off Skoien’s endorsement. But later Wednesday she said via e-mail that she was no longer seeking to remove Skoien’s name from her list of endorsers, having made the initial request “without having all the information. … My concern is for Gary and his family during this difficult time.”
A person who answered the phone at the home of Carol Tesmer, the Palatine Township GOP committeewoman, simply called the story “a lie” but would not elaborate.
I think it’s best to keep comments closed on this one. Sorry, but I just can’t stomach the prospect of dealing with this all day.
* No surprise here, but Gov. Pat Quinn wants to make sure that any income tax hike includes higher personal exemptions to assist lower income taxpayers…
“If you have a generous personal exemption then you can help a lot of families right now ward off higher taxes and also have some income that they can spend to get our economy moving again,” Quinn said.
* But Progress Illinois finds this buried nugget at the bottom of an Aurora Beacon News article…
“I think this economy makes it almost impossible to place an income tax increase on people,” [Attorney General Lisa Madigan] said.
Apparently, the first gauntlet has been thrown in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
* Sen. James Meeks also isn’t thrilled with a plain ol’ income tax hike, unless it includes significant property tax relief…
[Sen. Meeks said] his peers in the Senate likely would not support an income tax increase if it didn’t lead to education funding reform and property tax relief.
That’s a tall order considering the huge budget deficit.
[Quinn] said he doesn’t want to reduce spending on state health insurance programs or education.
He also said paying off the state’s backlog of bills is a priority.
“I don’t think it’s right or proper to see people lose their job because their employer didn’t get paid by the state of Illinois,” he said.
* And the two Republican legislative leaders offered up some alternative ideas to fund the capital projects bill…
The two GOP leaders offered up a menu of gambling-related options that could be used to raise money to pay for a $25 billion construction program, including adding gaming positions at current casinos and racetracks and adding a casino in Chicago.
They also said they could support a plan to allow for the purchase of lottery tickets on the Internet, as well as video poker.
Radogno said some of the ideas already have won support in the Senate, but never advanced in the House. She acknowledged that expanding gambling might be distasteful to some lawmakers, but said it would be fairer on taxpayers because gambling is “voluntary.”
“The fact of the matter is, we have gambling,” Radogno said.
A property tax hike may well be needed to fill a projected $475 million Chicago Public School budget deficit — the largest in at least 10 years, CPS officials said Wednesday.
CTA service cuts and more fare increases must be among the possible options to erase a projected $155 million budget deficit this year, transit officials warned Wednesday, adding that a decision will be made next month.
“We are going to take some type of action at the April board meeting,” CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown said.
Urgent steps to cut costs are required, partly because of the uncertainty over the accuracy of sales-tax projections provided by the Regional Transportation Authority, Brown said.
Congress has approved $34.6 million for nationwide efforts to combat and prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced Wednesday.
* Reality sucks: Unemployment in Illinois climbed to 7.9 percent in January — the highest levels since April of 1993 — as the state’s employers chopped another 29,300 workers from their payrolls in response to worsening economic conditions.
* My intern’s rough notes from today’s House Executive Committee meeting on HB 12, the “One gun per month purchase limit” bill…
NRA: …The 2nd Amendment says that the right to bear arms will not be infringed upon. Can’t say one book a month, and due to the same constitutional rights you can’t say I gun a month. ….
Rep. Arroyo: How many people are killed with books each year?
NRA: (Now he is yelling) That is not the issue. Guns are not the problem. All these laws do is restrict the rights of law abiding citizens and violent criminals ignore these laws anyway… they are still able to get guns… the problem is the Chicago public schools system that only has a 47% graduation rate.
Rep. Arroyo: You are not answering the question…How many kids do books kill each year…
NRA: Well, Mein Kampf killed about 6 million people.
Former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley is inching closer to making a decision about running for the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2010. According to a source close to Daley, he is tying up loose ends with his employer before making any announcement.
“He hasn’t made the final decision, but he’s beyond just seriously considering,” the source said. “He’s very close to making that decision.” […]
The brother of the mayor of Chicago, Daley would presumably enter the race with the backing of his family’s political operation. He has already recruited pollster John Anzalone and media consultant Larry Grisolano of AKPD Message and Media to help him if he decides to run.
* From an e-mail…
I received a written thank you for an on-line contribution to Mike Quigley. It is the first thank you I have received in years. I know that Barack couldn’t have kept up but why isn’t anyone sending thank you letters anymore? Just something I thought I’d pass on to you.
* The theme of a new Village Voice article about the Blagojevich administration is familiar: Blagojevich was a crook who surrounded himself with crooks. The angle is somewhat unique, though: Former Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk’s alleged role in the corruption. The story’s hook is that Tusk was recently named to run NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign, a job Tusk has never before held. The tone is harsh and conspiratorial…
Unlike so many other onetime Blagojevich supporters, Tusk has yet to say one critical word about the former governor. […]
The Chicago Sun-Times compared Tusk to Karl Rove […]
It’s hard to imagine that Tusk, an alert and 12-hour-a-day man, was unaware of this mire all around him […]
The first 31 pages of the 76-page arrest affidavit recount events that occurred while Bradley Tusk was at the helm of the government and notes that the government began the probe in 2003. […]
The Bloomberg campaign claimed a couple of months ago that Tusk had never been questioned, much less implicated, in the investigations—by either federal or state officials—of Blagojevich. But the Voice has obtained a copy of his June 22, 2006, interview with the state’s Auditor General, William Holland, which establishes his culpability for a flu vaccine program that the state itself conceded, when sued by an unpaid vendor, was illegal. […]
In a letter to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, written just eight days after Tusk’s campaign appointment was announced by Bloomberg, the impeachment committee included him on a list of 15 former Blagojevich staffers it wanted to subpoena. Fitzgerald objected, asking the committee not to question any of them, including Tusk, because it “could significantly compromise the ongoing criminal investigation.” […]
Fitzgerald’s criminal complaint against Blagojevich alludes repeatedly to a Blagojevich flight aboard a chartered private plane to New York in 2003 that Tusk helped organize and that included a press conference with Bloomberg about the drug importation program. Five of the seven people aboard—excluding only Tusk and Blagojevich’s bodyguard—have since been charged with federal crimes, and all but the former governor have pled guilty. […]
Edwin Eisendrath, the former Chicago alderman who ran against Blagojevich in the Democratic primary, said: “It’s unimaginable that Tusk didn’t know about the corrupt selling of public services.”
And on, and on, and on, and on.
You have to get to the end of this very long piece before you see the Tusk that some of us knew…
Regenstein tries to put some perspective on his and Tusk’s efforts: “We knew the governor had flaws. We knew all this was going on, but we had no way of knowing if the accusations were true or not. Brad always said to me, ‘How many people did we help?’ We were trying to stay focused on policy.” […]
Aware, no doubt, that the feds were everywhere, when Tusk got campaign calls on his personal cell phone, says Regenstein, he would leave his office in the government center and “go to common space” in the building so he was not doing campaign work “on government time.”
Tusk was a Blagojevich enabler and willfully ignorant. He got out while the getting was good and has since stayed as far away as possible. But while I’ve had countless disagreements with him over policy or style or whatever, I never thought him to be corrupt - at least, not when compared to the typical Blagojevich insider.
The fight to raise the interstate speed limit for semitrailer trucks to 65 mph has raged in Springfield for several years without success.
This year, a roadblock to the plan — former Gov. Rod Blagojevich — has been removed. But whether big rigs will be allowed to drive faster on interstates is still yet to be seen.
Three times, lawmakers have approved raising the interstate speed limit for semis from 55 mph to 65 mph, the limit for smaller vehicles. Three times, Blagojevich vetoed it.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s office said Tuesday the governor hasn’t taken a position on the idea.
* The Question: Should the speed limit be increased to 65 mph for semitrailer trucks? Explain your answer, please. Thanks.
* Predictably, the headlines today were all about a proposed pension change that won’t save more than a few dollars (literally) in next fiscal year’s budget, and a few vague proposals for other gubernatorial budget cuts…
* The Pantagraph also leads with the hype, but its reporters commendably get behind the PR smoke screen to the heart of the matter…
State Sen. Donne Trotter, who is the point man on budget matters for Senate President John Cullerton, said negotiators are discussing boosting the state income tax rate to 5 percent, up from its current 3 percent.
Trotter said officials believe boosting the personal exemption for certain lower income residents could reduce the impact of higher taxes on their pocketbooks. […]
A 67 percent increase in the income tax rate would bring in an estimated $7 billion to help close the gap, meaning additional belt-tightening might have to accompany any increase.
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said he’s onboard with changing the pension system but thinks government will be forced to cut only if there’s not enough support for higher taxes. He said it sounds like Quinn will be proposing an income tax increase.
“If there’s no tax increases, we will cut,” Cullerton said. […]
[Sen. Larry Bomke (R-Springfield)] said the only possibilities he sees for trimming the budget are in programs expanded in recent years.
“I honestly don’t know where he would cut,” Bomke said.
* There was also this symbolic diversion which won’t save much money, either, but will make newspaper editorial boards happy as clams…
In [House Republican Leader Tom Cross’] plan, all the current lawmakers would stay in their current plan, arguably the most individually lucrative of all the pension plans in terms of how fast members rack up a pension and the added perks.
But freshmen lawmakers and first-time statewide office holders (who are also in the General Assembly pension plan) taking office in 2011 would instead go into the state employees plan.
Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan… currently sponsors legislation that would set up a similar system for the General Assembly’s pension plan, said spokesman Steve Brown.
Citing the state’s “limited action’ in addressing its budgetary problems, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lowered its rating on the State of Illinois’s general obligation bonds to “AA-minus” from “AA.”
The debt-rating concern had placed the state’s so-called “GO” bonds’ double-A rating under CreditWatch review for possible downgrade in December, a move that S&P said at the time “reflects our opinion of the state’s growing budgetary shortfall,” as well as concerns about the distraction posed by the legal charges facing the state’s since-ousted governor, Rod Blagojevich.
In marking down the bond rating Tuesday, S&P took the GO bonds off of CreditWatch.
In general, a lower bond rating means the issuer - in this case the state - must pay a higher interest rate to find buyers for its debt offerings.
[Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno] supports Quinn’s call for a $25 billion capital construction plan but, like Quinn, opposes Cullerton’s idea to pay for it with an increase in the gasoline tax.
Radogno would rather reconsider expanded gambling - a voluntary tax, she said - or leasing the state lottery’s management.
It’s gonna take a while before this thing is soup. In the meantime, look through the smoke to the real story. Tax hikes are coming.
* Two Chicago Democratic VIPs have now contradicted sworn testimony in the trial of Mayor Daley’s former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez. From yesterday…
Former city worker Roberto Medina testified that he was involved in founding the scandal-scarred Hispanic Democratic Organization at the urging of William Daley and others. […]
Medina testified Monday that the meeting was in the early 1990s at a restaurant on Fullerton Avenue and that it also was attended by top mayoral strategist Timothy Degnan, [William Daley], U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and mayoral Cabinet member Ben Reyes.
Yesterday, Bill Daley said…
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the guy,” William Daley said of Medina. “I have no memory of him.”
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) today angrily denied sworn federal court testimony placing him at meeting that led to the creation of the scandal-scarred Hispanic Democratic Organization. […]
In a statement [late yesterday], Gutierrez said: “I’d sue for slander, given that I was never at the meeting, but the settlement would be about as worthless as the witness’ memory.”
In recent years, Gutierrez has heavily criticized HDO and considered challenging Daley for mayor in 2007. But he did not run for mayor and eventually gave Daley a glowing endorsement.
“Given its history, it should never have existed,” Gutierrez said of HDO. “I think they wanted to be god-like and omnipotent.”
Gutierrez has been an HDO target for years, so he may have a point here
* Chicago denials are not always trustworthy, of course. For instance…
Mayor Richard Daley says he accepted flights “once or twice” from a nonprofit company under investigation by the IRS and Congress.
Daley’s spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard said last week that the mayor took one flight in September 2006 to Singapore courtesy of Educap. She denied a CBS News report the Daleys took 58 flights over a five-year period.
At an unrelated news conference with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Tuesday, Daley was asked how often he’d flown on the jet. He said “once or twice,” and added that reporters have “got all the facts on that.”
When asked if he was on more than one flight aboard the private jet, specifically if he took it to celebrate his birthday in Cabo, Mexico, the mayor said, “Yes, a private visit.”
When asked about another 2005 trip where the mayor supposedly took six flights in 28 hours, Mayor Daley said, “I was not on all of those legs. I was just on one. I can’t speak. I don’t have all the facts.”
After the mayor’s press secretary cut off questioning, CBS 2 showed her newly obtained flight log details from the private jet. She acknowledged that Mayor Daley likely took eight trips, involving up to 18 separate flights on the charity jet.
Stops included Monterey, California; Washington, D.C.; Cabo, Mexico; Monterey, again; Van Nuys; Reno, Nevada; Kona, Hawaii, and Singapore; and Nassau, the Bahamas. [emphasis added]
Congressional auditors found significant flaws in the Bush administration’s controversial decision to kill the FutureGen project last year but stopped short of saying it was politically motivated by the selection of downstate Mattoon over two Texas sites.
The Department of Energy compared apples and oranges when it concluded that the costs for the $1.8 billion clean coal power plant had doubled since the project’s inception, according to a long-awaited report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) obtained by ChicagoBusiness.com.
In a pool of water just a football field away from Lake Michigan, about 1,000 tons of highly radioactive fuel from the scuttled Zion Nuclear Power Station is waiting for someplace else to spend a few thousand years.
After years of legal wrangling, 75 white firefighters will share a $6 million settlement reached with the city of Chicago in a reverse discrimination lawsuit filed over a 1986 lieutenants’ exam.
