* There were lots of rumors earlier this year of bigtime bucks for legislative races coming from people like Ken and Ann Griffin this fall. Maybe not…
The Nov. 6 contests for the White House and Congress are only part of the picture for the new cadre of wealthy financiers who are looking to magnify their impact by focusing on state and local politics. They are not putting much money into state Republicans’ slim chances of reversing Democratic control of the Legislature this year, but insiders expect their influence to grow dramatically with statewide offices, including U.S. senator and governor on the ballot two years from now. […]
Also stepping into a new activist role are mega-donors Kenneth Griffin, who founded the hedge fund firm Citadel LLC, and Anne Dias Griffin, who founded her hedge fund firm, Aragon Global Management. The husband and wife have donated more than $6.1 million to candidates and causes at the state and federal level since 1998. […]
“All these people, they make decisions based on data, on ROI (return on investment), based on performance. That’s how they make money,” the consultant said. “You can’t just call up these folks and say ‘I’m a Republican. I need money.’ What is your plan? How do you get across the finish line. What’s your ROI? What’s your approach?”
And it appears that the investment community will pull back if results aren’t delivered.
“They’re no longer interested in jumping behind (someone) who has tried and failed,” the consultant said. “They want to do it themselves because the (politicians) at the head tables haven’t done it.”
The investment community provided substantial seed money, including $190,000 from the Griffins, to the Two Party System Inc. PAC that in 2010 spent more than $800,000 to back state House GOP candidates and campaigns. But promises of major pickups against Democrats never materialized. Through the first half of this election year, the PAC has made no contributions.
The Griffins have contributed just $30,000 since July.
Newsweb media mogul Fred J. Eychaner ranks 13 on the nation’s list of top political donors.
In addition to his efforts for President Obama, Eychaner is one of the 2012’s highest national indiviual donors to liberal legislative candidates and political action committees in the 2012 cycle.
In this cycle alone, Eychaner has donated over $3 million to federal Democrat-affilliated Political Action Committees […]
Of the $377,000 he has given thus far to Illinois Democrat candidates and the Democratic Victory Fund and the Senate Democrats, nearly half - $190,000 - went to the abortion advocacy group Personal PAC
* OK, here’s a weird story. A southern Illinois man claims that somebody stole some yard signs from his yard last week. No big deal. Happens all the time.
But then the man alleges that the thieves returned the signs on Friday, replanted them in the ground and then set them on fire. WSIL reports…
Here’s a hint to any aspiring political vandals, or people who want to damage their own stuff and then blame it on the opposition: This state has no statute of limitations for arson. Don’t do it.
* The Question: What’s your favorite political vandalism story?
* They really never had a decent case. But they did have plenty of taxpayer money to spend on lawsuits, so they appealed all the way to the top…
The U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear a challenge from Illinois Republicans who want a Democratic-drawn legislative map thrown out.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno and other Republicans. They say the maps drawn by Democrats were gerrymandered to benefit the party and were unconstitutional. The lower courts have thrown out their complaints.
…Adding… Coincidentally, the Tribune published an editorial yesterday calling the remap “Grand Theft Illinois.” No hyperbole there, though.
Notice that slightly fewer Catholics favor gay marriage than the state as a whole, but fewer Catholics oppose all legal recognition than the rest of the state.
Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is getting hit with a nationwide backlash over his suggestion that the federal government bail out the state employees’ pension program.
Critics have in the past several days pounced on the suggestion, made last year when Quinn, in announcing the state’s fiscal 2012 budget, said part of Illinois’ long-term effort to reduce the estimate $167 billion in under-funded liabilities would be to seek “a federal guarantee of the debt.”
A national backlash? Maybe in the conservative echo chamber. As far as I can tell, nobody else cares much, if at all.
The basic plan floated by Quinn would be for the federal government to rescue the pension program through buying the state’s bonds, which critics say are too financially risky to attract investors.
Quinn said after announcing the budget that seeking the federal guarantee was only a precaution, then later called the related wording a “drafting error,” according the non-partisan Citizens Against Government Waste
* OK, we’re gonna take this one point at a time…
* 1…
The basic plan floated by Quinn would be for the federal government to rescue the pension program through buying the state’s bonds
* Former budget director David Vaught did make that suggestion, but not recently. He said this way back in October of 2009…
According to newly installed state Budget Director David Vaught, Gov. Pat Quinn recently brought up the idea with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and others at the White House. The governor got a good enough reception that “he intends to extend” his efforts, Mr. Vaught said.
A federally guaranteed bond issue could be an enormous help to Illinois in dealing with a huge fiscal 2011 budget hole that Dan Long, executive director of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the Legislature’s fiscal research arm, now pegs at $11 billion to $12 billion.
Mr. Vaught said a federal guarantee would cut the interest rate on such a bond to “in the 3% to 4% range” from “5% to 6%.” That would make it much more profitable — and less risky — for the state, which would invest the funds in higher-yielding stocks and bonds.
Since any profits could be booked up front, at least in part, the state would be able to avoid making hundreds of millions and perhaps billions in annual contributions to worker pensions that it otherwise would have to come up with in the next few years.
* 2…
state’s bonds, which critics say are too financially risky to attract investors
* Actually, the state’s bond sales have consistently been way over-subscribed. From July…
State receives $14.9 billion in orders for $1.5 billion bond deal
* 3…
Quinn said after announcing the budget that seeking the federal guarantee was only a precaution
* Um, he never said that. Citizens Against Government Waste claimed Quinn said this last month when it awarded the governor its “Porker of the Month” honor…
When queried about it then, the governor claimed that the inclusion of that bailout language was a “precaution.”
The governor of Illinois said Friday he is not seeking a federal guarantee of his state’s pension debt, but that he included the proposal in his budget last week “as a precaution” as he struggles to fund pension obligations for public employees.
“That’s not something we’re pushing, really,” Gov. Pat Quinn (D-Ill.) said in an interview with Fox Business, after he and a dozen fellow Democratic governors met with President Obama at the White House to discuss possible moves to boost the economy.
OK, so he did say that. Let’s move on….
* 4…
then later called the related wording a “drafting error,”
* In reality, Quinn’s staff immediately said a staffer made an error when the analysis was written when queried by Fox Business News and others in 2011…
Brie Callahan, spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said Quinn would turn down all offers of federal bailout if the state finds itself out of cash.
“We believe that the states have an obligation to pay their bills and to meet the demands they have put upon themselves,” she said. “We don’t want any federal assistance in terms of bankruptcy.”
* So, what happened between 2009 and 2011? Back in 2009, and then again in 2010 Quinn used borrowing to make the full pension payment. But then he declared that there would be no more bonding for pension payments. Why? Well, the income tax hike gave him the revenues to make those payments. So, there was no pension bond request in his FY 2012 budget proposal in February of 2011. The tax hike revenues will fall short of making those payments in the coming years, which is a big reason why he’s pushing pension reform. Also, the Republicans took control of the US House in November, 2010 election, so by early 2011 there was no way in heck any idea like that would fly.
In other words, when the state was borrowing to make pension payments, Quinn discussed a federal bailout. But he was apparently denied by the President and DC Democrats back in 2009 because nothing ever happened, even with Democratic control of both congressional chambers.
And now, for whatever reason, the echo chamber is dredging these old stories up.
In addition, an editorial Tuesday in the Chicago Tribune argued that saving Illinois will “start a stampede of demands for equal treatment from other financially troubled states” with public pension debts ranging from $1 trillion to $25 trillion.
That was no “editorial.” It was an op-ed by Dennis Byrne. Big difference. [And no offense meant to Dennis, either. Just pointing out that an op-ed ain’t an editorial.]
* Bad things happen when you hang out with Lindsay Lohan. That’s not in dispute. But a former John Shimkus staffer partying down with Lindsay Lohan is highly unusual…
A 25-year-old former aide to Illinois Rep. John Shimkus — who was initially arrested on an assault charge after Lindsay Lohan claimed he grabbed her in a New York hotel room in an argument over cellphone images — was freed Sunday and his arrest voided when the charge could not be substantiated, law enforcement officials said.
Instead, Christian LaBella of Valley Village, Calif., and Lohan were filing harassment complaints with police against each other after they were interviewed by police about their run-in, law enforcement officials said.
He worked for John Shimkus? The man who believes that climate change is a fiction because the Book of Genesis says so?
I probably wouldn’t be surprised if, say, a Jan Schakowsky staffer was partying with Lilo. But Shimkus? That’s just odd.
How about, just for fun, we make up some other weird celebrity pairings with the Illinois delegation?
* The NRCC ad which implies that Cheri Bustos used her influence to connect her street to her country club has been pretty much universally panned in local editorials as blatantly misleading. And now Bustos is running her own ad on the subject. Rate it [Fixed link.]…
[The campaign took down the other version and replaced it with the one above.]
It’s a pretty good response ad. Trouble is, Bustos waited about eleven days to respond. Not a great idea. The other side had plenty of time to burn their own message in.
* Meanwhile, PolitiFact has “awarded” its not-so-coveted “Pants on Fire” rating to a recent NRCC ad against Democrat David Gill on Medicare…
Attacks that say a candidate would “end Medicare” have typically come from Democrats. But this one comes from the Republicans. […]
The proposal Gill was referring to was published on Aug. 30, 2003, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and it remains on the physician group’s website. Here’s an excerpt, with some key points in bold:
“We envision a national health insurance program that builds upon the strengths of the current Medicare system. Coverage would be extended to all age groups, and expanded to include prescription medications and long term care. Payment mechanisms would be structured to improve efficiency and assure prompt reimbursement, while reducing bureaucracy and cost shifting. Health planning would be enhanced to improve the availability of resources and minimize wasteful duplication. Finally, investor-owned facilities would be phased out.”
So let’s put this in perspective. The NRCC isn’t merely criticizing Gill’s “plan” — one he praised with some limitations eight years ago, a time well before passage of President Barack Obama’s health care bill, which was intended to solve some of the health care policy challenges Gill perceived in 2004. Instead, the NRCC is also saying it’s Gill’s intention to “end Medicare.”
But that’s true only in an Alice in Wonderland sense. The Physicians for National Health Care plan would “end” Medicare only because it would aim to put everyone — not just senior citizens — in a system designed to run, yes, just like Medicare.
The NRCC ad claims, “David Gill: His plan would end Medicare.”
But we find that’s a ridiculous claim that ignores the sweeping nature of what he supported. He actually supported an expansion of a government-run plan so that everyone would have Medicare-like coverage — including seniors.
The NRCC ad completely distorts the plan in an attempt to scare seniors. Pants on Fire!
One of those was on the disclosure of financial or conflict-of-interest information by candidates. Most of them got pretty overwhelming support from the respondents, in that they said something was either very important or somewhat important for a candidate to disclose.
The poll asked things like how important is it to know if a candidate has real estate or other investments that may benefit from actions by the government? More than 92 percent think that’s either very important or somewhat important to know.
Interestingly, one of the lower rated items was disclosure of income tax returns. That’s become almost a routine demand of some candidates for office and at times a campaign issue when the returns aren’t released. Yet, only 79 percent thought releasing tax returns was very or somewhat important.
Obviously, a lot of people still think it’s important, but maybe not as much as the hoopla over releasing tax returns might suggest.
Voters don’t agree on much of anything these days. So when 79 percent of voters agree on something, that’s a huge amount.
* It turns out, however, that the issue is lots more important to Democrats and independents than Republicans. From the crosstabs…
Still, 65 percent of Republicans is pretty darned high as well.
It’s about a woman named “Susan” that Dr. Gill says he resuscitated after she had a heart attack. Susan had to go home, however, because she didn’t have health insurance.
In a 2006 campaign video produced when Gill was making an unsuccessful bid for Congress in Illinois’ 15th district, he told a similar story about a 39-year-old person who died of a heart attack that may have been prevented had they been covered by health insurance.
But in the 2006 telling — and in another version published on a blog in 2009 — the subject of the story was a man, not a woman named “Susan.”
After a bit of back and forth, the Gill campaign hedged…
In a follow-up statement, Gill campaign spokeswoman Lucy Stein suggested Susan may be an amalgamation of a number of similar experiences Gill has had over the years.
“In his 13 years as an ER doctor caring for thousands of patients, David has seen too many young families devastated by heart attacks. These stories are the tragic but preventable result of a profit-driven health care system,” Stein noted.
*** UPDATE 1 *** The full 2006 Gill campaign video is here. I’ve excerpted the relevant quote…
[ *** End Of Update 1 *** ]
*** UPDATE 3 *** Total denial of the report by Gill’s spokesperson…
I never suggested the amalgamation story… Both are real people, but the point is that there are countless others just like them
She’s right that she was never directly quoted as saying such. And it’s not clear she was even implying it from the story’s quote.
The Chamber of Commerce is up with a generic attack ad pushing all sorts of crazy distortions about me. And the businesswoman they feature in his spot? She’s from Minnesota. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a local voter.
CAMPAIGN UPDATE: We just got new poll numbers in. They confirm that David has an excellent opportunity to win.
Despite a million dollars being spent against him so far, Dr. Gill is in the lead and doing exceptionally well with voters who have seen our advertising.
Yeah. They’ve seen the “Susan” ad, which could now be blown out of the water.
* Also, Gill’s campaign is changing staffers on the fly, which makes it look quite disorganized…
MICHAEL RICHARDS, 33, a member of the Champaign County Board, recently left the campaign. TOM ALTE of Normal remains deputy campaign manager. The campaign’s political director is JACK QUIGLEY of Chicago, a friend of Gill. SHERRY GREENBERG, originally from Los Angeles, is a senior political strategist sent by the DCCC, Alte said. And the new press secretary is LUCY STEIN, who previously worked for a Senate committee in Washington, D.C.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Rodney Davis has a new campaign ad. Rate it…
In late September, Gov. Quinn took a six-day junket to meet with CEOs and politicians in Brazil. Public employees and labor leaders there were waiting with their own “Pat Quinn Truth Squad”! The signs in Portuguese read, “Governor Quinn, Bad for Workers”. In this photo: Graca Costa (left), president of the National Confederation of Municipal Workers (CONFETAM), and Vagner Freitas (right), vice president of the Unified Workers Central (CUT).
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today launched a new voter education and grassroots campaign in Illinois’ 10th congressional district, highlighting Brad Schneider’s support for policies that will hurt Illinois job creators. The new ad features Darlene Miller, the U.S. Chamber’s 2008 Small Business of the Year winner, urging Chicago voters to know where their candidates stand on policies that will advance job growth and investment. This launch is part of the Chamber’s largest voter education campaign in its 100-year history to elect pro-business candidates to Congress.
“Voters need to know where their candidates stand on issues that promote free enterprise,” said Rob Engstrom, the U.S. Chamber’s senior vice president and national political director. “Unfortunately, Brad Schneider instead supports policies that will stifle growth and job creation in Illinois’ 10th district and across the country. He supports government-mandated health care that will raise taxes and hurt job growth. With small businesses facing prolonged uncertainty, tax hikes are last thing they can afford, let alone elected officials who support them.”
* Meanwhile, the Daily Herald caught Schneider in a big flip-flop…
Despite his claims to the contrary, congressional candidate Brad Schneider’s public stance on extending the Bush-era tax cuts has changed since the Democratic primary.
In a recent Daily Herald candidate questionnaire, Schneider — who’s running against incumbent Republican Robert Dold for the suburban 10th District seat — said he supports extending at least some of those tax cuts.
“I have continuously said that, at the very minimum, the Bush tax cuts for income under $250,000 should be extended,” Schneider, of Deerfield, said.
Except he hasn’t.
When the Daily Herald asked Schneider about the tax cuts ahead of the March primary, he said nothing about extending them.
* Related…
* Is Israel a wild card in 10th Congressional race?: For the first time since Lauren Beth Gash lost by 2 percentage points to Kirk in 2000, the Republican incumbent — Congressman Bob Dold of Kenilworth — faces an opponent who has deep ties to the local Jewish community. Brad Schneider, of Deerfield, boasts “more trips to Israel than he can count” and past work in a kibbutz as he challenges Dold in a newly drawn, mAore Democratic-leaning 10th District. Dold, who has molded himself in the image of Kirk, is well-respected for his work on behalf of Israel over his 20 months in office, including pushing for tougher Iran sanctions and calling for fully funding the nation’s security commitment to Israel.
The founder of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches said during a Sept. 18 panel discussion in Chicago that he will relocate the company’s licensing division to Florida, where he plans to move in early 2013. Mr. Liautaud said in January 2011 that he applied for residency in Florida out of anger when Gov. Pat Quinn raised the corporate tax rate to 5 percent from 3 percent.
In remarks made last week as part of a half-day conference in Chicago on how tax policies affect corporate growth, Mr. Liautaud said the Florida move was just the first part of leaving Illinois for good.
“That’s what we’re going to do to start, but I think you’ll probably see us out of Illinois in the next four years and probably see us in Indiana or Austin (Texas), if I was to guess,” he said in the video. […]
While Mr. Liautaud said a year ago that the tax rate made him consider leaving Illinois, he said last week that it was state policy that cemented the move.
“What I mind is how they spend the tax,” he said. “I would stay, but the way they spend the tax is really driving me away.”
* Back in January of 2011, after the income tax was increased, Liautaud claimed he was already in the process of moving out of Illinois…
Liautaud said he has rented a house in south Florida and his children started school there last week. He said he has applied for Florida residency and plans to commute to Champaign.
He said he doesn’t know yet whether he will put his home on West Armory Street on the market.
* But Liautaud apparently didn’t ever enroll his kids in a Florida school. At the event last week, he said this…
“My wife’s gonna stay in Champaign with the kids and we’re gonna file separate income tax returns.”
* And instead of leaving Illinois himself almost two years ago, Liautaud became a Mitt Romney delegate in Illinois. Liautaud said last week that because of his delegate status, he’ll be around until January 1, when he’ll then move to Florida.
*** UPDATE *** As you can see if you try to watch the above video, the Illinois Policy Institute has claimed my excerpt is somehow a copyright violation.
This was a two minute excerpt from a 51 minute video, which was linked here and on my video’s YouTube page. Fair Use Doctrine ought to apply here and I intend to inform YouTube of this.
Ridiculous.
Anyway, go to about the 4 minute mark on their video and you’ll see Liautaud’s full comments.
Alexandra Anderson, a 25-year-old law student at Northwestern University, is among a growing number of people flocking to downtown homes in major cities across the United States, a group described in a Census Bureau report released Thursday.
The report found that the number of people living within two miles of Chicago’s City Hall rose 36 percent from 2000 to 2010. Though many of the largest U.S. cities experienced a similar trend in the last decade, Chicago outpaced them all in that category.
More than 48,000 moved to downtown Chicago in the last decade, according to the report. New York City saw a 9.3 percent increase in its downtown population, or about 37,000 people.
Anderson said she didn’t think twice about her decision to live in a downtown studio apartment when she moved to Chicago last year. Her apartment is around the corner from Northwestern Law School. A grocery store, a post office and multiple restaurants, bars and coffee shops are all within a five-minute walk.
I moved downtown in early 2001. There were no grocery stores, and lots of other stores closed at 5 o’clock because the Loop used to empty out after work. But things changed fast. I eventually moved back to Springfield, but from what I can tell, downtown appears to be a lot more liveable these days.
Despite some of the problems, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to walk to things like the ballet (I had season tickets back then). The lake was a short hike. Big festivals were more fun to attend because I could easily go home and rest up for a couple hours if I wanted. Getting to baseball games was super easy because the L was right around the corner. Covering downtown news events was a breeze. Back when Chicago still had July 3rd fireworks, I’d often throw a viewing party. You could watch the display in air conditioned comfort without dealing with crowds. I loved living downtown.
But then I started thinking about moving back to Springfield after the brutal 2004 overtime session. The commute was just killing me. The drive down wasn’t so bad. It was the drive back north, after long nights spent, um, “gathering information.” I moved a year later, and I’ve never forgiven Rod Blagojevich for that. Don’t get me wrong. I have a very nice place in Springfield. I enjoy my life here. But I do miss the action.
* Democrat congressional candidate David Gill has a new TV ad about how an insurance company refused to pay for his late wife’s helicopter med-evac to St. Louis. Rate it…
* Democratic congressional candidate Cheri Bustos has released new poll numbers which purport to show her race against Republican freshman Bobby Schilling is neck and neck. From the pollster, GBA Strategies…
Democrat Cheri Bustos is surging in her race against incumbent Republican Congressman Bobby Schilling in Illinois’ new 17th congressional district. A new survey1 of 600 likely voters shows Bustos has closed the gap dramatically since advertising in the campaign began, pulling to within 45 – 47 percent—well within the survey’s margin of error.
But the pollster then did some weird voodoo, which makes me uncomfortable…
In a vote simulation where undecided voters are allocated by their partisanship, Bustos and Schilling are completely tied 49 - 49 percent.
I really wish campaigns wouldn’t do that stuff without at least offering up some detailed explanations. It undermines their numbers.
* Schilling released numbers last month showing him leading the race by 13 points, 50-37. But the new polling shows President Obama is doing very well in the district…
President Obama leads Governor Mitt Romney by a wide 54 – 41 percent margin in this race.
So, the unmentioned bottom line here is that Bustos is still vastly underperforming the top of the ticket.
Survey of 600 likely voters conducted by GBA Strategies September 24-26, 2012. Respondents were reached on land lines and cell phones. Results have a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence interval.
* Downstate and suburban Democrats are finding themselves on the defensive this campaign season over their Chicago leaders’ idea to shift employer pension costs to Downstate and suburban schools districts. Here’s one example from the Metro East…
The Illinois Senate’s Republican leader said Wednesday she suspects Democrats in January will try to use a lame-duck session of the legislature to shift the costs of downstate teachers’ pensions onto local school districts.
Such a shift would likely force local school districts to raise property taxes.
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, said she suspects Illinoisans will get a “January surprise” on the pension cost-shift because it was during a lame-duck session in January 2011 when the Democrat-led legislature passed a temporary, 67 percent increase in the state income tax.
Radogno made the prediction during a campaign stop in Glen Carbon with Republican Senate candidate Mike Babcock of Bethalto.
But Babcock’s opponent in the 56th Senate District, Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, said there’s been no discussion of having a pension-reform vote during the lame-duck session. Even if there were, there just aren’t enough votes to pass such a shift, Haine said.
“The Republicans and Democrats downstate are united on a few things, and this is one of them. It’s a no-go,” Haine said.
* But Radogno insists that history could be repeating itself…
She and Babcock both said Haine voted for the tax increase during a lame-duck session after saying he would oppose such an increase.
Haine said he absolutely did not say he would vote against the measure, which eventually passed. He said he opposed a permanent income and sales tax increase but voted for a temporary tax increase of four years to avoid a statewide financial disaster. The tax hike will “sunset” in two years.
Haine said he opposed a permanent income tax increase bill, which also included several sales tax increases.
He said the temporary measure was the only way to save SIUE from closing its doors, to prevent nursing homes and hospitals from having to lay off employees and to keep school staffing intact.
“I find it odd that he (Babcock) is criticizing me for voting for a temporary tax increase that prevented teacher layoffs, but now he’s saying he’s opposed to a measure that he says could cause teacher layoffs,” Haine said.
If you’re explaining, you’re losing. Haine may not lose the election, but he could very well be losing this argument.
I first met Maze Jackson when he was running the Chicago and suburban ground game for Gov. Pat Quinn’s Democratic primary campaign.
He’s brash, smart, funny, with a mind that can go a dozen directions at once. I couldn’t help but like the guy. And now Jackson is running his toughest campaign ever.
Jackson is managing Lance Tyson’s uphill race against indicted former state Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago). Smith was expelled from the House in August, months after being arrested for allegedly accepting a $7,000 bribe.
There is no legal way to kick Smith off the ballot, and he refused to drop out of the race. If he wins, the House can’t use the indictment to kick him out of office again because the Illinois Constitution forbids such a move.
A poll taken two weeks ago showed Smith with a huge 47-9 lead over Tyson, with the remainder undecided, so things don’t look good for Maze Jackson right now.
Tyson was picked by the district’s ward committeemen to challenge Smith after Tyson threatened to spend thousands of dollars of his own money whether or not he was chosen. Some committeemen had their own candidates in mind, but they begrudgingly went with Tyson after Secretary of State Jesse White intervened on his behalf. White engineered Derrick Smith’s appointment to the House, so he’s being held responsible by the powers that be for defeating Smith in November.
White drafted Jackson as Tyson’s campaign manager. Jackson knows the West Side legislative district well, having run Ald. Walter Burnett’s campaigns.
Jackson thinks the poll, taken by We Ask America, showed lots of residents were choosing their candidate on party lines. If a pollster asks a West Side Democrat how he or she plans to vote, they will naturally pick the Democrat. Jackson says he has to convince voters that his candidate is “the real Democrat.”
So far, House Speaker Michael Madigan has decided to stay neutral because a Democrat will be elected regardless, according to his spokesman. But Jackson believes this campaign has potentially national ramifications, and he’s not giving up hope yet that Madigan and/or the local Democratic Party will come to his candidate’s aid.
That’s a lot of hope, but is there a plan? Election Day is in about five weeks.
Jackson described an expensive campaign plan of mail, black radio and cable TV, but I haven’t seen much of an uptick in Tyson’s lackluster fund-raising.
A recent event hosted by Gov. Pat Quinn helped bring in some bucks, Jackson said. “People just wanted to see a sign that there’s going to be a campaign,” Jackson said. And now that the wheels are “getting in motion,” more cash should begin flowing. Some outside groups reportedly will spend money attacking Smith, Jackson said.
Jackson said he needs to persuade 30-40 percent of voters in the heavily African-American 27th and 28th Wards to break their lifelong habit of automatically voting for Democrats. The 27th is White’s ward, so that should go somewhat smoothly. The 28th is run by Ald. Jason Ervin, who, after some early trepidation, is now on board, according to Jackson. But the former Democratic committeeman there is Ed Smith, and he’s working against Tyson, so trouble is afoot.
The idea is to “run up the score” in the district’s other wards, which are more racially diverse. The walk card Tyson’s campaign is using features a mock “Wanted” poster with a mugshot of Smith, who is “wanted” for “disgracing the Democratic Party,” “Crimes against the residents of the 10th District,” and “Federal bribery.”
If only it were that easy to win a crazy campaign like this.
* Lawyers for Bill Cellini sent out a press release quoting from some of the hundreds of letters they’ve collected on their client’s behalf. Some were from major players, others were from small fry. But they all praised the man, who faces sentencing on a federal corruption conviction. The press release is here.
“On many occasions I did not agree with Bill’s position on an issue and I would often take action which was contrary to Bill’s position. In all of this time and in all of these issues, I never personally saw nor did I hear on any of those occasions that Bill acted improperly in any manner. Bill never asked me to take any action which I deemed inappropriate.?
“Never and I repeat N-E-V-E-R did Bill Cellini ever ask me to do anything illegal, immoral or unethical. Nor have I heard of anyone I respect say that Bill Cellini was anything less than honest.”
Citing the trial record and jury verdict, the lawyers said that the government’s theory of his presumed political influence was rejected by the trial jury that acquitted Mr. Cellini on the two counts of the charges related to the widespread corruption alleged during the terms of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. They argued it would be a legal impropriety to allow that theory to infect the sentencing and it would be fundamentally unfair. […]
[Cellini’s attorneys] also said the nature and circumstances of the offense support a probationary sentence.
“…Mr. Cellini stands convicted of some participation in a conspiracy to extort Tom Rosenberg, but it is undisputed (and likely almost without precedent in cases involving comparable facts) that Mr. Cellini was never even informed of and did not participate in the most critical aspects of that conspiracy, including the actual decision, planning, and alleged attempt to extort Rosenberg by providing him a choice between paying a kickback and making a campaign contribution. Indeed, it is uncontroverted that at least for a time, Mr. Cellini actively attempted to aid Rosenberg and defeat the extortion efforts of the mastermind of the conspiracy, Stuart Levine…Against that background, the evidence at trial and jury’s verdict established that Mr. Cellini did no more than act as a middle man for the purpose of smoothing out a situation he knew little about involving corrupt individuals with unknown plans and ulterior motives.
* And Cellini’s lawyers are also playing up the health angle…
In addition to a recent heart attack and persistent heart disease, they wrote, Cellini, 77, has had prostate cancer and is treated for “a frequently crippling neurological disorder, cervical spinal stenosis, that has twice resulted in his losing feeling in his arms and hand and needing to undergo emergency evaluation as to whether he had actually had a stroke.”
He has also been diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis, another degenerative disk disease “that can result in weakness or numbness in the limbs and difficulty walking,” the memo says.
Cellini suffered a heart attack June 4 while undergoing a heart catheterization, the document says. Tests showed afterward that his heart had been seriously damaged, it states.
“Mr. Cellini has not been able to commence full cardiovascular rehabilitation as yet … because following the heart attack and stent implanting, an acute (blood) clot was discovered in his leg and groin, which was deemed by his physicians to be a life-threatening health risk,” the lawyers write.
“Medications have contained the clot in the area, but a doctor has told Cellni that ‘he has a propensity for clots for form, which can be deadly,’ and if there are any symptoms of clotting, ‘Mr. Cellini must immediately obtain emergency treatment or risk the possibility of a stroke or death.’”
