* A pro-coal rally in southern Illinois turned political over the weekend when first one speaker then another denounced President Obama…
Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association, said although coal production was up 13 percent last year in Illinois, growth might be short lived. He said the administration in Washington wants to put the coal industry out of business.
Although the event was billed as an apolitical rally, some speakers, including Gonet, made it clear that politics is playing a large role in the current state of the industry.
“I want to be clear today: Some said this isn’t a rally about politics, and it isn’t — it’s about coal,” he said. “But I want to be clear right at the beginning, if you’re for coal, you can’t be for the present administration, you can’t be for President Obama.”
So, Illinois coal production was up 13 percent last year, but… Obama is killing it? I’m not sure I follow here.
* Things really got heated when the next speaker took the podium, Bob Murray, president of Murray Energy…
Murray continued several minutes outlining how Obama is hurting the industry and how Republican challenger Mitt Romney would support the coal industry.
Murray was eventually interrupted by a heckler in the crowd, who yelled the rally wasn’t supposed to be political.
Murray replied, “This is very political, that’s’ what the coal industry is all about,” he said. “I’ve been invited to speak, when I’m done you can speak — until I’m done, you shut up.”
Moments later Murray was again interrupted, to which he replied, “Shut up, you’re no coal miner,” and began a chant of “Coal, Coal, Coal.”
Several miners at Murray Energy’s Century coal mine in Beallsville, Ohio, contacted a nearby morning talk radio host, David Blomquist, over the last two weeks to say that they were forced to attend an Aug. 14 rally for Romney at the mine.
Murray closed the mine the day of the rally, saying it was necessary for security and safety, then docked miners the day’s pay.
Asked by WWVA radio’s Blomquist about the allegations on Monday’s show, Murray chief operating officer Robert Moore said: “Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event.”
Murray is right about one thing, though. Coal is more about politics than anything else. Everybody promises to revive coal, and then nothing happens until the next election, when everybody promises to revive coal. But when coal finally does rebound, the person in charge is denounced for killing the industry.
State Treasurer Dan Rutherford said the Illinois coal industry is a billion dollar industry that employs 3,500 people. Rutherford said the industry needs to be sustained in order to protect American interests and security.
3,500 employees. That’s it.
Coal extraction is so mechanized now that even a huge increase in production wouldn’t employ all that many people.
Trust me, I understand the strategic aspect of the resource. But a jobs producer it really ain’t. Take a look at this graph of Kentucky coal mining output and employment…
* I can’t keep all my polls secret. I figured this one would get picked up by at least some major media outlets. Indicted and expelled former state Rep. Derrick Smith has a huge 48-9 lead over his third-party opponent, Lance Tyson…
The survey, which showed 43 percent of respondents undecided, was performed by Illinois pollster We Ask America on Sept. 12 and first reported Monday by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rich Miller in his Capitol Fax newsletter.
Gregg Durham, chief operating officer of the polling group, said it appears residents in the 10th House District may be unaware of Smith’s August expulsion from the House because of his federal bribery charge.
“Usually, when we dig into these types of details, there’s a surprising amount of people busy making a living, raising kids and going through normal struggles of life who are unaware of what has happened,” Durham told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Former Rep. Smith has a common last name, and it’s not uncommon anywhere in Illinois for people to not pay attention in a state representative race, especially when there’s an important presidential race at hand,” he said. “If this election were held today, he’d swamp Mr. Tyson.”
Smith was indicted last spring after allegedly accepting a $7,000 cash bribe from an undercover FBI informant who claimed to be acting as an intermediary to a purported daycare operator wanting Smith’s help in obtaining a $50,000 state grant. Smith allegedly wrote a letter of support for the daycare operator before taking the informant’s money.
Durham said another factor is that the automated poll informed voters of Smith and Tyson’s political affiliations, and many Democrats likely were swayed by learning Smith is the only Democrat in the race.
Among respondents who identified themselves as Democrats, 57 percent favored Smith, and only 7 percent chose Tyson.
* From Carol Marin’s weekend column on Derrick Smith…
(Y)ou might assume that some party regulars would be thrilled to endorse Tyson, running on the Unity Party ticket.
Secretary of State Jesse White, who launched Smith’s political career and now renounces him, supports Tyson.
But others? Not so much.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is “neutral” in this race, according to her political director.
As is Madigan, whose own political committee was providing financial resources to Smith at the same time lawmakers were ousting him.
There are a lot of political subplots to this story, including beleaguered West Side politicians struggling to keep their power base who think Smith — even under a federal cloud — helps them more than Tyson.
* And Eric Zorn’s take on Marin’s column was prescient, since he didn’t know the poll results when he posted this…
My theory: They’re anticipating Smith will be convicted at his federal corruption trial, scheduled to start later this year, and will therefore be ineligible to serve in the General Assembly. And they’re afraid that Smith still has enough support in his district to deal the party an embarrassing loss. So rather than risk the humiliation of extending themselves for Tyson — who was once former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s chief of staff — they’d rather wait and hand-pick a safe and compliant replacement for Smith.
The other theory I’ve heard is that the House Democrats would rather not “waste” precious money on Smith which could be used to defeat Republicans. The ball may be entirely in Jesse White’s court now.
*** UPDATE *** This won’t help the governor’s argument. The state’s prison population just hit an all-time high…
State records analyzed by The Associated Press show the population topped 49,154 over the weekend. That’s 19 inmates more than the Corrections Department’s previous record, set on Oct. 6, 2011. […]
The prisons were designed to hold 33,700 people. Last spring corrections officials declared a downward trend in prison numbers and predicted an overall average for the year of less than 46,000.
Quinn wants to close five correctional centers — a loss of 1,700 more beds — to save money in a budget crisis. A lawsuit by a state employees’ union has stalled that.
The Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon has denied the state’s appeal of a 30-day restraining order issued earlier this month in Alexander County.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees had sought the restraining order to temporarily halt closures of state facilities, including Tamms Correctional Center, Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro and Southern Illinois Adult Transition Center in Carbondale.
An arbitrator had ruled in the union’s behalf, ordering the state and AFSCME to return to the bargaining table for 30 days before closures could begin. The union filed suit in Alexander County to effectively give that decision the weight of law.
Associate Circuit Judge Charles Cavaness of the First Judicial Circuit granted the 30-day restraining order Sept. 4. The state appealed Sept. 6.
The Appellate Court unanimously rejected the Quinn Administration’s appeal of the TRO, issued earlier this month, and dismissed the claim that Alexander County Circuit Court Judge Charles Cavaness had abused the court’s discretion in issuing the order in response to a motion filed by AFSCME. The ruling clearly stated that the “trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo until the court rules upon the request for injunctive relief.”. The TRO is affirmed and remains in effect.
At the same time, the Quinn Administration has also filed suit in Cook County seeking to vacate the arbitrator’s order on which the TRO is based. In response to two grievances filed by AFSCME Council 31 earlier this month, Arbitrator Steve Beirig ruled that the Administration had not fulfilled its contractual obligation to bargain over the impact of the scheduled closures in DOC and DJJ. The arbitrator directed the parties to continue negotiations for up to 30 days to resolve the outstanding issues—especially those related to the impact of the closures on employee health and safety throughout the corrections system.
The Administration has also filed a motion in Cook County seeking an emergency stay of the arbitrator’s order. If the stay is granted, then the state would not be obligated to bargain and could go forward with the closures while the State’s motion to vacate the arbitrator’s ruling is pending before the court.
AFSCME has filed counter motions to dismiss the state’s motion to vacate (and with it the motion for the emergency stay) or else to move the case to Alexander County Circuit Court to be considered in conjunction with the Union’s pending case seeking an injunction to halt the closures.
Both the Administration’s motions and the Union’s motions will have an initial hearing in Cook County Circuit Court at 10:30 AM on Wednesday, Sept. 19.
The union is seeking the injunction “in aid of arbitration” to prevent the state from moving forward with the closures until the issues raised in impact bargaining have been addressed. If the injunction is granted, it will likely be on the same basis as the TRO. A TRO can be granted without the full-scale legal proceedings that are required for an injunction—and is granted on an emergency basis until the hearing on the injunction can be completed.
A hearing on the Union’s motion seeking an injunction to halt the closures in aid of arbitration is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 24 in Alexander County Circuit Court.
An official with the comptroller’s office said the hacker couldn’t access the main frame, so no data was compromised. The Inspector General is investigating.
* In related news, one of my e-mail accounts was hijacked this morning. All they appeared to have done was change my password, though. No e-mails were sent from my account. I hope I caught it quickly enough.
The hackers got access to my account when they changed my password by answering my secret question, which, in retrospect was a stupid secret question: “In what town were you born?” Pretty much anyone can find out that answer.
* The Question: Have you or your business/agency ever been hacked? Explain.
[Democrat David Gill’s] campaign manager quit last week, saying he needed to spend more time on his own campaign for Champaign County Board. […]
Alte couldn’t say last week if a full-time campaign manager will be brought on board for the final 52 days of the race.
“I’m not really certain about that,” Alte said.
And the NRCC has pounced on Gill’s assisted suicide issue. From the Pantagraph…
“I don’t think people should have to put up with the amount of suffering the state says they have to. A lot of physicians feel disgruntled, ashamed and disgusted in their inability to assist patients,” Gill said in an article in The (Bloomington) Pantagraph.
He added that physician-assisted suicides already occur.
For example, Gill said some doctors will keep increasing a patient’s dosage of pain-relieving morphine, fully aware that respirations will eventually stop.
“It goes on everyday,” he said at the time.
It wasn’t until two years later that he was fired by OSF after writing a letter to the editor in support of euthanasia. A hospital spokeswoman said physician-assisted suicide goes against the teachings of the Catholic church.
“In view of the fact that Dr. David Gill embraces and advocates medical treatment methods that are unlawful in this state and that are not acceptable by community medical standards, Dr. Gill cannot be employed by OSF HealthCare System,” a company representative said at the time.
* From the NRCC…
As you cover David Gill’s DCCC makeover attempt to not appear as radical as he is, please consider the following editorial and comment.
NRCC Statement: “Illinois families need to know that David Gill thinks physician-assisted suicide is an acceptable medical treatment. This is the same man that is running for Congress and wants to be put in charge of representing the healthcare needs of Illinois families in Washington. Sending David Gill and his radical ideas to Washington is dangerous for Illinois families.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Katie Prill
I was in Edwardsville over the weekend and Gill was being followed there Saturday by some guy dressed in a surgeon’s outfit and holding a sign that I couldn’t read as we sped by. By the time we dropped off our passenger and returned to the scene, the whole thing was over.
* Meanwhile, the negative TV ads are flying fast and furious these days. The DCCC’s new ad against Republican incumbent Bobby Schilling is entitled “Broken Records.” Rate it…
* Script…
Records are made to be broken.
And Bobby Schilling is giving it his best shot.
In two years flat, Schilling voted to give tax breaks to millionaires…
Voted to protect tax breaks for companies that send our jobs overseas… and voted for more unfair NAFTA-style trade deals.
And to pay for it all? Schilling voted to cut Medicare, costing seniors an extra sixty four hundred dollars a year.
Bobby Schilling. From one of us to one of them…in record time.
Joe Ricketts, whose family owns the Chicago Cubs, is moving forward with plans to bankroll a major ad campaign to help Mitt Romney and Republican candidates. […]
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Ricketts will spend $12 million on ads starting this week, with $10 million to back Romney and $2 million to assist Republicans running for Congress.
The ads funded by Ricketts will feature ex-Obama supporters talking about Romney, a tactic that Romney used on his own in a video played at the GOP convention in Tampa. The WSJ says the ads will run in battlegrounds such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia and Iowa.
Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, is behind the Ending Spending Action Fund. The super PAC has assisted Republican Deb Fischer, the Senate candidate in Nebraska, and spent money on an ad supporting Gov. Scott Walker in the Wisconsin recall election.
* Related…
* Word on the Street: Ethics group cites Schock over campaign fundraising: The Reader’s Digest version is this: Schock apparently sought a $25,000 donation from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to a super PAC that was helping Rep. Adam Kinzinger in his successful primary bid against Rep. Don Manzullo for territory including all of Putnam County and part of Stark and Bureau counties. The groups filing the complaint - Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal center - allege that Schock was only legally permitted to ask for a $5,000 donation.
* The Tribune editorial board claims it has researched the proposed pension “cost shift” to local schools and has come to believe that it won’t increase property taxes. A phased-in cost shift coupled with reforms in the current proposal make the plan “affordable” for school districts, the paper claims. It also has what it calls a compromise solution…
We’ve been shopping a compromise solution to some smart Republicans and Democrats, with nobody screaming, “No!” Today we humbly take it public:
Legislators, pass pension reform with the cost shift plus language that would render moot the local distrust of Springfield. How so? By giving local districts and other governments not only the responsibility to fund pensions, but the freedom to negotiate benefits with their employees — just as they negotiate wages. Springfield still could maintain its pension investment pools and make sure local governments pay into them. In rough terms, then, we’re suggesting a model that borrows from, and adds to, protocols under which the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund successfully operates.
Republicans, the party of grass-roots government, should like this expanded local control. Local districts and other governments should be thrilled to have not just responsibility for, but control over, their compensation packages. The best question we’ve heard: Won’t this create a gap between pensions offered by have and have-not governments? Maybe or maybe not; governments already can tweak pay and other compensation components to fit their needs and resources.
* US funds fall out of love with commodities: A brief love affair with commodities is over at the $36bn Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, one of the biggest public pension funds in America. Four years after hiring managers to make new commodities investments, the pension fund has scrapped the strategy and shuffled money into a portfolio it says “better reflects conditions in the world economy”.
* AFSCME under siege - Union faces unprecedented challenges, even from allies
* Andy Shaw: End pension scams for clout crowd: Will this solve the state’s giant pension problem? No. But a crackdown sends an important grass-roots message: Governments of all sizes have to stabilize public pensions for the hardworking rank-and-file workers — not the insiders who use power, clout and cunning to game the system.
Chicago Public School students appeared less likely to be heading back to school Tuesday after a Cook County judge declined Monday morning to take up immediately a lawsuit by Chicago Public Schools asking the judge to end the teachers strike.
In a brief hearing, Cook County Judge Peter Flynn told a city attorney he preferred to schedule a hearing on the matter for Wednesday, a city law department spokesman said. The spokesman could not immediately provide a reason for the delay.
Wednesday is, for now, the earliest possible time students could return if the teachers union House of Delegates votes to approve the tentative deal at its meeting Tuesday.
Chicago Public Schools balked at that timeframe, wanting to sent students back on Tuesday. It filed a lawsuit in Cook County court Monday morning, asking a judge to end the teachers strike because it is illegal and presents a “clear and present danger to public health and safety.”
With Chicago Teachers Union delegates voting to stay on strike at least through Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel Sunday accused the union of using children as “pawns’’ and vowed to seek a court order to halt the walkout.
The announcement from Emanuel came about an hour after CTU President Karen Lewis said “a clear majority’’ of delegates refused to suspend the strike until they had seen the exact contract language of the entire deal — something not expected until Tuesday.
Delegates just didn’t trust Chicago Public Schools not to try to slip one over on them if they called off the first CTU strike in 25 years without more study and discussion of the offer, Lewis said.
“Please write ‘trust’ in big giant letters because that’s what the problem is,’’ Lewis said. […]
“The big elephant in the room,’’ Lewis said, “is the closing of 200 schools”—a number CPS officials have denied.
“They [delegates] are extraordinarily concerned about it. It undergirds just about everything they talked about.’’
One delegate agreed the group wanted “something in writing to go on….We need more than just the bullet point break down.’’
* Mayor Emanuel’s full statement…
I will not stand by while the children of Chicago are played as pawns in an internal dispute within a union. This was a strike of choice and is now a delay of choice that is wrong for our children. Every day our kids are kept out of school is one more day we fail in our mission: to ensure that every child in every community has an education that matches their potential.
I have instructed the City’s Corporation Counsel to work with the General Counsel of Chicago Public Schools to file an injunction in circuit court to immediately end this strike and get our children back in the classroom. This continued action by union leadership is illegal on two grounds – it is over issues that are deemed by state law to be non-strikable, and it endangers the health and safety of our children.
I have also asked the President of the Board of Education, David Vitale, and the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Jean-Claude Brizard, to explore every action possible to get our kids back into a classroom or educational facility.
While the union works through its remaining issues, there is no reason why the children of Chicago should not be back in the classroom as they had been for weeks while negotiators worked through these same issues.
CTU spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin responded: “They said the Montgomery bus boycott was illegal, too.”
CTU leaders have said they believe teacher evaluation and recall are linked to pay and are thus fair game for a strike. The union also sought to insulate itself against a court injunction by filing an unfair labor practice complaint, just days before the strike.
The basis of that complaint was the union’s charge that CPS started illegally implementing provisions that had not been negotiated in the contract, such as failing to pay teachers step increases and implementing a new teacher evaluation system.
Filing an injunction is a risky move for Emanuel. If he loses in court, he would further anger teachers and make them more suspicious of the deal. If he wins, forcing teachers to end their strike could anger members of other unions.
Be clear in your own mind. Your leverage is gone. The deal doesn’t get any better after this and your standing with the community only goes downhill.
In fact, it started going downhill precipitously the moment union President Karen Lewis stepped before the television cameras Sunday to say school won’t reopen until Wednesday at the earliest. I don’t need to wait for a public opinion poll to know this.
By delaying, you don’t underscore your distrust for Mayor Rahm Emanuel or the leadership at Chicago Public Schools. You only expose a lack of trust in your own negotiating team and the leader of your team, Lewis.
You’re not showing you have a democratic union. You’re showing you have a union that is as tone deaf as all those national commentators have been saying for the past week. You’re showing yourself to be a union out of control.
If you don’t take this deal, you might as well dump Lewis and her team and start over because their credibility will be gone at the bargaining table.
*** UPDATE *** From the same parade as below, we hear the Democratic tracker in this video hollering at a parade watcher “Don’t wave, she’s gonna send you back to Mexico!” The offending comment is at about the 30 second mark…
Ugh.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* This is definitely not how to deal with a video tracker. What appears to be a motorcycle-riding volunteer for Congresswoman Judy Biggert’s campaign threatens to run over a Democratic tracker…
Not good at all.
Chill out, people.
Seriously.
* In other news, the NRCC has a new TV ad blasting Democratic congressional candidate Bill Enyart…
* Script…
BILL ENYART: The job market is gradually getting better under President Obama.
ANNOUNCER: Getting better Mr. Enyart?
Twelve million Americans are out of work.
Millions more have lost hope all together.
Even worse Mr. Enyart, your support for keeping the government takeover of healthcare will raise taxes on small businesses and could destroy another 249,000 jobs.
Bill Enyart,
Out of touch, liberal, wrong for the economy.
* Democratic congressional candidate David Gill has a new radio ad…
* And a group called the American Action Network launched a $350,000 TV and digital campaign against the Democratic Gill. This ad will run on St. Louis TV for two weeks…
* Script…
David Gill supported the failed stimulus and government funding of companies like Solyndra, which lost a half a billion of our tax dollars.
Now, Gill wants a single-payer health plan more radical than Obamacare.
Gill would eliminate Medicare, put bureaucrats in charge of healthcare decisions, and add a new 2 percent tax to pay for it, costing families one thousand dollars a year.
David Gill: Radical ideas we just can’t vote for.
American Action Network is responsible for the content of this advertising.
* Schilling moves into an ignominious first place…
Rep. Bobby Schilling, R-Colona, now has spent $446,000 on mass mailings in the last two years, the highest amount of any member of the House of Representatives.
The number is revealed in the latest disclosure of congressional expenses and means that Rep. Schilling has distributed over 1.1 million flyers in the 17th District since he took office in 2011.
He has surpassed Nevada Republican Congressman Joe Heck to take the number one spot in the House in terms of money spent on mass mailings, according to the expense report for the House that covers the period up to June 30. Rep. Heck has spent $422,000 on mass mailings. […]
Terry Schilling, Rep. Schilling’s campaign manager, said the mailings have led to a doubling in the caseload handled by the Republican’s offices.
Trotting out his campaign manager to defend taxpayer financed mailers in the face of criticism that the mailers are actually campaign pieces was probably not a good idea.
Just sayin…
* From his opponent’s campaign…
“It’s clear that Bobby Schilling’s number one priority is keeping his job in Washington, not creating them here in Illinois. Congressman Schilling chose to spend nearly half a million dollars of taxpayer money to keep his job while voting to send American jobs overseas,” said Allison Jaslow, campaign manager for Cheri Bustos for Congress. “It’s clear where Schilling’s true priorities lie.”
* Meanwhile, Democrat David Gill has a new TV ad called “Dishes.” Rate it…
* And Republican state Senate candidate Barbara Bellar is getting massive YouTube love for some very funny remarks about Obamacare. When I posted this video for subscribers yesterday, it had over 770,000 views. It now has over a million views…
That has to be a record for an Illinois state legislative candidate’s video.
* Other stuff…
* Jackson, Kirk still absent as Congress ends recess
* Surprise bipartisanship: Walsh bill also pushed by Obama: On the chamber floor, Missouri Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson extended congratulations to Walsh, noting “I suspect that he is as surprised as I am that one of his first bills to reach the floor was proposed to Congress by the Obama administration.”
* Tammy Duckworth says she’s not a rubber stamp for Obama: “There’s a lot of work to do and I think that we need to let the Bush tax cuts for people who make more than a million dollars expire, it’s one of the places where I disagree with the President. He would set that number at $250,000. I think that everyone should have their shot at making their first million, but then after that let’s let the Bush tax cuts expire on your second million dollars.” Duckworth said she would work to ease the Obamacare tax burden on small businesses who employ between 50 and 100 workers.
* Massive Database to lay bare organizations’ politicking: The Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org today plans to unveil a database profiling the politicking of more than 20,000 corporations, unions, nonprofits, trade organizations and other special interests. The profiles — several years in the making — will include information about the organizations’ campaign contributions, lobbying and outside spending, as well as the campaign contributions of their employees. Expect it to go live mid-afternoon.
* VIDEO: Plummer: Repeal Progressive Income Tax (Franklin County Town Hall, July 14, 2012)
* VIDEO: Plummer: Flat Tax and “Fair” Tax Both Superior (Franklin County Town Hall, July 14, 2012)
* House Speaker Michael Madigan has already said that he didn’t believe his chamber would override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto of the gaming bill. Senate President John Cullerton is of a like mind…
Cullerton said he does not think Senate lawmakers could override Quinn’s veto of a major gambling expansion, and that they should focus instead on working with the governor to come up with a package both sides could support.
Quinn vetoed a measure last month that would have legalized five new casinos, including one in Chicago, and allowed slot machines at horse tracks. Quinn said more work needs to be done on oversight issues, arguing that more gambling dollars should be funneled into schools.
“We agree that lawmakers cannot override the governor,” [Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson] said. “As the governor has made clear, we are willing to work on a better bill.”
Cullerton also said he didn’t believe that pension reform would be voted on until after January 1st. No surprise there.
* “A pox on both their houses,” is basically what Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth said when asked about the Chicago teachers strike…
A Democratic congressional candidate with heavy union support says the Chicago teachers strike is the result of “a failure on both sides.”
Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates went on to say that the Chicago Teachers Union could learn from suburban teachers unions and school boards, many of which have successfully hammered out issues without disrupting classes.
“It didn’t have to happen,” Duckworth said. The weeklong Chicago strike “shows that there’s a failure on both sides.”
The former Obama administration member said she is “in an interesting situation” since she has both union backing and a close friendship with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is at odds with union leader Karen Lewis. […]
Duckworth said the Chicago negotiators could learn from suburban schools, citing “instances of managing to avert strikes by real, honest discussion.”
* But Republican incumbent Joe Walsh pounced anyway via press release…
Thursday, Tammy Duckworth spoke to the editorial board at The Daily Herald. The board pressed Duckworth for her thoughts on the Chicago Teachers Union strike. In response, Ms. Duckworth stated that due to her strong backing and close relationship she enjoys from both the teachers union and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the strike put her “in an interesting situation”, in which she did not want to upset either side.
Congressman Joe Walsh later stated, “Ms. Duckworth should be less concerned about which campaign supporter she offends. She should instead worry more about siding with the children and families of Chicago and seeking good policy that will reform these broken schools and put the system on sound financial footing.”
Actually, Joe, she offended both sides.
* Speaking of which, I asked spokesperson for the governor and four legislative leaders to react to the strike earlier this week. I already told you the governor’s response…
We want the parties to negotiate in good faith and reach a resolution quickly that puts the students first.
* From House Republican Leader Tom Cross’ spokesperson…
We hope a fiscally responsible settlement is achieved quickly so that the children can return to school.
From Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesperson…
He’s simply encouraging all parties to stay at the table until a solution can be reached Chicago’s kids can return to the classroom.
Responses from the other two leaders were almost identical.
Almost nobody wants to take sides in this war. Getting dragged into such a huge fight is never a good thing, politically speaking, except when you’re so far removed from the fight that sticking your nose into it will only likely help you back home. From an Illinois Policy Institute press release…
Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon), Senator Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) and Representative Joe Sosnowski (R-Belvidere) stand with the Illinois Policy Institute and call for the creation of opportunity scholarships (also referred to as vouchers) and the removal of caps on the number of Illinois charter schools.
“There is no better time than now to provide opportunities to children in Chicago by ensuring that they have an excellent education. Vouchers and charter schools are the opportunities that we can provide today to better their education. In the midst of a Chicago Teachers Union strike, hundreds of thousands of children are being displaced amongst their peers, while those in charter and private schools are advancing daily in their educations,” said Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon).
Senator Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) noted, “The way to improve performance in our public schools is through market-based solutions which expand choices for parents, improving education opportunities for all children while having the added benefit of increasing parental involvement in their children’s education. All children should receive a quality education regardless of the income level of the school district. We can accomplish this by eliminating the cap on charter schools that meet accountability standards. Another important aspect of this solution is in providing parents tuition vouchers, which empowers them by allowing them to ‘vote with their feet’, while incentivizing teachers to constantly strive to improve.”
Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) stated, “Being a parent, legislator and former teacher, I see the need for a strong educational system for our children. Giving parents the ability to choose the best education for their children should be foremost. I support opportunity scholarships in Illinois along with removing the cap on charter schools, and I strongly urge my colleagues to do the same. While the CTU and other suburban teacher strikes are currently depriving an education from hundreds of thousands of children, over 30,000 charter school students are learning today and becoming the leaders of tomorrow.”
Representative Joe Sosnowski (R-Belvidere) stated, “If Chicago teachers’ true concern was educating children then they would still be in the classrooms, not in the picket lines. CTU’s decision to fight for huge raises is indicative of them being out of touch with what average Americans are dealing with in these tough economic times. This current situation highlights why we need to empower parents to choose an education for their children, whether that be public, charter or private schools.”
* The Community Media Workshop’s rating of Chicago news sites is now out. Here’s how they established rankings for “news quality”…
* Website covers a range of topics or geographic areas within its area of focus.
* Website’s coverage is thorough.
* Website coverage attempts to reach and cover multiple points of view in storytelling, especially those whose viewpoints are not necessarily heard from.
* News writing is strong and engaging (not scored for aggregators).
* Aggregation practices are fair (with clear links to sources and not excessive reuse of content) (for aggregators only).
* The source of aggregated content is clear and understood (for aggregators only).
* Website is well designed and takes advantage of all the tools of online/multimedia to tell stories.
I took a look through all their categories, and discovered that this site’s rating was the second highest for all websites examined, including the Tribune, Sun-Times, Crain’s, etc. Only the Chicago Reporter scored higher, at 4.8
This is the “authoritative” news blog on Illinois politics by journalist Rich Miller. Reviewers praised the writing for its conversational quality and for inviting comments. Miller engages with readers on the website and on Twitter, and he also uses his personal Facebook page to promote CapitolFax and interact with readers.
* AFSCME’s Henry Bayer told me in an early morning e-mail that he’d been doing some research on a 2003 lawsuit filed against the state’s Department of Corrections and came across this golden nugget…
Much of the litigation focused on plaintiffs’ attempts to depose the Governor. On February 27, 2007, the state defendants sought a protective order to block plaintiffs from deposing Governor Blagojevich on grounds that it would just “disrupt a busy public official who should not be taken away from his work.”
What passed for intelligence from the otherwise unaccomplished student was merely “an uncanny knack for memorization,” which he put on display in political debates as early as college, “declaiming verbatim (Teddy) Roosevelt’s famous ‘Man in the Arena’ speech,” for instance. […]
He famously hid out in his home to avoid coming to the office, though he peppered his aides with such frequent, annoying, needy requests that former deputy governor Bradley Tusk recalls in the book barking at him ““I have to run the government. Stop calling me.”
FBI Director Robert Mueller wanted to hear some of the tech cuts himself. Walking past piles of papers heaped on the desk of Robert Grant, Chicago FBI special agent in charge, in his near West Side office, Mueller settled in. He asked his bodyguards to leave the room. With only Mueller, Grant and top FBI supervisor Pete Cullen left, the tapes rolled. Mueller, who has overseen numerous terrorism and corruption cases at the bureau, listened to the conversations for the first time.
He stopped and looked up. Who was dropping all those f-bombs? he asked.
“The judge would not let him play his tapes… there had tapes in both trials that would have established his innocence. The judge wouldn’t let us play them,” he said.
* Blago’s Advice To Fellow Inmate’s Son: “Don’t Get Into Politics”: “Your dad is a good guy. He is manning up to the mistakes he’s made. He is well liked here and has many friends. Happy birthday, good luck in school and whatever you do — stay out of politics,” signed Rod Blagojevich.
* The DCCC has a new negative ad blasting Republican Rodney Davis and connecting him to two Ryan’s, George and Paul. Rate it…
I accidentally lost access to my YouTube account and created a new one, and now I can’t seem to figure out how to reclaim the “real” one. So, for now, we’ll just have to use direct embedding. Make sure to tell me if this is working on your end. Thanks. [Finally figured it out. Whew.]
* The National Republican Congressional Committee issued this response to reporters…
So it looks like David Gill and his Washington Democrats are even more delusional than one would think. Today, a new TV ad hit the airwaves paid for by Nancy Pelosi’s campaign arm the DCCC. Yeah, so you are thinking is this the type of outside, Wall Street funded group that David Gill said he would never take money from. Bingo! But that’s another story of hypocrisy that we can get into later.
The biggest gaffe of this latest ad from Gill’s Washington attack dogs is the part of the commercial where they start talking Medicare. You would think since they begrudgingly have David Gill as their candidate, who said he supports a plan which makes Medicare no longer exist, they would steer clear of this topic. But in true Washington Democrat style they decide to look past the details.
If you decide to cover the latest false ad from David Gill’s Wall Street and Nancy Pelosi funded attack group, please consider the following quote.
NRCC Statement: “Illinois families need to know that David Gill supports a plan in which Medicare would no longer exist, Americans would be forced into government run healthcare and taxes would be raised to pay for it all. David Gill is looking out for his own radical interests over Illinois families.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Katie Prill
While Davis has told me in the past that he likes “a lot of things that have been proposed in Washington, the Ryan budget included,” he’s also made it clear he wasn’t talking about all specifics of that plan.
In a meeting I had with Davis last week, I asked about the Medicare part of the proposal, which seems to be a political flashpoint. After the GOP-dominated House passed the plan in March, a New York Times article reported that in Ryan’s budget, Medicare would be turned into a subsidized set of private insurance plans, with the option of buying into the existing fee-for-service program.
“The annual growth of those subsidies would be capped just above economic growth, well below the current health-care inflation rate,” the story says.
“I have never said that I support the Ryan budget in its entirety at all,” Davis said, adding that it has “some laudable goals that I hope … when I’m elected to be able to address.”
“Medicare right now is going to go broke, so what we have to do is find some ways to ensure that our overall health-care delivery system is more cost-effective for all Americans.”
When asked if he liked the Medicare part of the Ryan plan, Davis said, “I’m not committing to any part of any plan that’s out there. I’m not going to box myself into a corner and get lumped into what my opponent’s trying to do, which is to demonize me by associating me with somebody who they think is going to be a political issue.”
He added, “I can’t wait to work with Paul Ryan and I can’t wait to work with NANCY PELOSI and all the others who are going to have a say in how we actually preserve and protect Medicare as we know it, because right now, those that have been there haven’t done a good job of that.”
* Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan is being used by Democrats all over the country. The DCCC recently called Ryan a “down-ballot disaster” for the GOP…
“The reason for the momentum is very simple,” said Israel at a Thursday morning briefing with reporters in Washington. “Paul Ryan has become a down-ballot disaster for Republicans across the country.”
He argued that the Ryan pick, as well as Missouri GOP Senate nominee Todd Akin’s controversial comments about “legitimate” rape and the GOP congressmen swimming in the Sea of Galilee, had put a breeze at the Democrats’ backs. He cited several generic ballot polls that were close at the start of August in which the Democrats have now opened up leads.
Israel said the Ryan pick “gave us the debate we wanted. We’ve been spending most of the cycle talking about Medicare versus millionaires, and Mitt Romney gave us a bullhorn.”
“Our candidates across the country grabbed hold of that nationalized debate and have vocalized that debate in their own districts,” he added.
* The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has a new poll. The most interesting result is Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval ratings, which, according to this poll at least, are trending up…
Now I would like for you to tell me how Governor Pat Quinn is doing his job. Do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job Governor Quinn is doing?
There are 42.2 percent who approve of Quinn’s performance, while 49.1 percent disapprove. A year ago, only 35.5 percent approved and 56.4 percent disapproved, according to a poll taken in October, 2011 by the Institute. Quinn’s approval rating is highest in the Chicago suburbs and lowest downstate.
“The big surprise in this poll is that Gov. Quinn’s popularity is actually getting better,” said David Yepsen, director of the Institute. “The state’s problems are headline news just about every day and people aren’t in a good mood about the state but they do feel better about the way Quinn is handling his job.”
“Still, his poll numbers remain underwater because more people disapprove of the job he’s doing than approve of it,” Yepsen said.
In the city of Chicago, 47.5 percent approve of the job he’s doing while 37.9 percent disapprove. In the suburbs, 50.3 percent approve and 43.7 percent disapprove while downstate, only 25.5 percent approve and 65.1 percent disapprove.
A lot more people disapproved of Quinn’s job performance than approved of it right up until the end of the 2010 election. He won anyway. I think it’s a template for Obama in the swing states. What does that mean? Paint your opponent as an untrustworthy, extreme right-winger.
And those aren’t great city numbers for Quinn, by the way. I think the suburbs are a bit high and Downstate is probably on the mark.
Also in 2011, 74.5 percent said the state was headed in the wrong direction and only 14.9 percent said it was headed in the right direction. Today, 69.9 percent say it’s going in the wrong direction and 19.6 percent say it’s going in the right direction.
So, a little bit of progress, but not nearly enough.
• President Obama is supported for re-election by 47.1 percent of registered voters. Romney captures 33.8 percent. There are 16 percent undecided and 3.1 percent for someone else.
While that 13-point lead is a comfortable margin for the president and makes it likely Illinois is a safe state for him, that margin is less than the 24.9 percentage-point margin by which he won when he beat John McCain, 61.8 percent to 36.9 percent, in the state four years ago. It is also noteworthy that Obama’s support in Illinois has dropped below 50 percent.
• Key to President Obama’s lead may be his positive job approval ratings (55.6 percent approve either strongly or somewhat) and favorability ratings (53.7 percent view him either very or somewhat favorably). By contrast, not quite four in ten (38.7 percent) of respondents view Gov. Romney very or somewhat favorably.
The Chicago teachers strike enters its fifth day as “number crunching” apparently delayed a deal that both sides had hoped would be reached on Thursday.
Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union began the day saying they were close to a deal that could return teachers and students to the classroom on Monday, but officials left marathon negotiations early today saying they were still ironing out details.
CPS Board President David Vitale, who emerged from talks around 12:45 a.m., said the two sides had “another good day” of work and there had been progress. The two were moving past work on evaluations and focusing on other key issue, the recall of laid-off teachers, he said.
“We’ve got some number crunching to do overnight and we’re going to be back here tomorrow and see if we can’t finish this up,” Vitale said.
Also incredibly sticky is the issue of a new teacher evaluation system, which eventually puts more weight on student growth than the 30 percent required by a new state law.
“The system they are using to evaluate people is based on an extremely complicated, esoteric formula to measure student growth — so complicated I think everybody on the CPS team will admit they don’t understand it,” CTU attorney Robert Bloch said. “Experts developed it but not educators.”
Of special concern is that 70 percent of CPS teachers do not teach a tested subject, yet up to 20 percent of their evaluation would be based on schoolwide test results, Bloch said.
Another at least 10 percent would be based on student growth on district-written “performance’’ tasks being used for the first time this school year.
In addition, the complicated algorithms used to determine student growth — called “value-added” — are being debated nationwide.
“The problem is, how do you hold teachers accountable for improvement when so many things that are used to evaluate them are outside their control or very complicated?’’ Bloch said.
“The science behind the student growth aspects of testing is untested and uncertain, and you’re going to risk a teacher’s career based on some guy in a back room writing algorithms or students who are not tested in the subject you’re teaching?
A good friend e-mailed me after I published a poll in my “Capitol Fax” newsletter Thursday which revealed that 55.5 percent of Chicagoans approved of the Chicago teachers strike.
My friend, a widely known pundit, wanted to tell me that he didn’t believe the poll, which was conducted by We Ask America.
After some back and forth about what the pollster could’ve or should’ve asked, I finally told him that as an older, white person with no kids in the public school system, he’s not supposed to support the strike.
The poll, taken after three full days of no school, found that a 52 percent majority of whites disapprove of the strike. Whites were the only ethnic group that expressed a majority disapproval of the strike.
African Americans approved 63-32 and Latino support was even higher at 65-32.
A majority of parents with kids in private schools opposed the strike, 52 percent to 43 percent, while parents with public school kids approved of the strike 66-31.
And senior citizens narrowly disapproved of the strike 47 percent to 46.8 percent, while all other age groups backed it. The older the person was, the less he or she supported the strike.
Indeed, a whopping 65 percent of older white males with no kids in public schools opposed the strike.
If you’ve been watching the teachers strike unfold on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, you’ve seen that a whole lot of striking teachers are bitter about their treatment by the media.
“People Who Can’t Teach, Write About Teachers,” is my favorite Tweet.
Like my pundit friend, most of the media types fall into the category of older white folks without kids in Chicago’s public schools.
Whites who didn’t flee the city after the schools were desegrated fled the schools. Less than 9 percent of Chicago public school kids are white. And few of those kids are not in charter or other specialized schools. The “real” schools, as Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called them a few days ago, have long since been abandoned by white folks.
With overwhelming poverty in black and Latino neighborhoods, parents simply can’t afford to send their kids to private schools. A whopping 87 percent of all public school students come from low-income families, says the school system.
According to the latest U.S. Census numbers for 2011, almost 843,000 Illinoisans lived in “extreme poverty,” which is defined as half the federal poverty line — about $18,000 for a family of three.
Whoa.
Can you imagine a family of three living on less than $9,000 a year? $173 a week?
The schools are all they have, and the teachers are some of the few decent role models their kids will ever see. Of course they’re siding with the strikers.
Rahm Emanuel used his close ties to President Barack Obama to win the 2011 mayor’s race with an overwhelming number of black votes. But his win was bankrolled by billionaires who are out to break, or at least hobble, the Chicago Teachers Union.
They are the very same people who pushed hard for a reform law in Springfield last year that was mainly aimed at stopping a CTU strike. Obviously, the new law didn’t work.
As an older white male who sends his kids to private school, Mayor Emanuel belongs to pretty much the same subset as my pundit friend.
Yet, Emanuel owes his job to support from black voters.
Somehow, the mayor has to improve the schools while alienating neither his political base nor his fund-raising base.
If he can do all that, my hat’s off to the man.
* On to the live coverage. BlackBerry users click here. Everybody else can just watch..
