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ISPeeved
Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Wanna see what Illinois State Police officers are talking about behind the scenes? I’ve been watching the ISPeeved blog develop for months. Only with this particular blog it’s not the posts but the comments that are so fascinating. I didn’t want to link to it before because it was still young and I wasn’t sure that the powers that be knew about it. That’s no longer the case. Plus, I gave the founder a heads-up last week and he wasn’t concerned. Have a look. Somebody ought to start one of these for every state agency.
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Question of the day
Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Mark Brown thinks Mayor Daley will run for re-election. A whole bunch of convicted former politicians can tell him that you don’t get a pass when you leave office, not that he wouldn’t have already noticed on his own. Plus, there’s the possibility that the Justice Department might hold a decision to prosecute to a higher standard before indicting an incumbent who has just been duly elected. Plus, it’s easier to fight back when you still have the power to initiate popular new programs — and raise campaign funds. What do you think? Will Daley run again, despite the federal investigation? UPDATE: President Bush’s press conference is going on right now. Bush was just asked about Mayor Daley’s troubles and whether his opinion of the mayor had changed from last year when he called Daley a “great mayor.” Here’s my rush transcript: I still think he’s a great mayor…
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“The headlines are great”
Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The governor continues with the Junior G-Man schtick. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has said he is investigating Blagojevich’s hiring practices, including whether the system was fixed to favor those with political clout. Recent news reports have also raised questions about the administration’s hiring. I truly doubt that anyone except hardcore partisans are buying this line. But it could make a great TV ad, the governor’s quote followed by a scroll of headlines. Oops. I forgot. Topinka doesn’t have the money for TV ads yet. And Krol senses a change in the conventional wisdom. Suddenly, the conventional political wisdom is leaning more toward the notion that Topinka has momentum on her side without really doing much of anything herself. It’s not tough to see why. She’s running against a guy who promised four years ago to “end business as usual†but who now, if Fitzgerald’s letter is any indication, could soon see major federal indictments befall his administration. Given that Blagojevich follows the soon-to-be-sentenced-for-corruption George Ryan as governor, federal indictments are about as “business as usual†as it gets.
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Wishful thinking?
Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Here’s your quote of the day. Ronald Safer, who is representing the Blagojevich administration in the current state hiring investigation, said last week there was another forum to handle the allegations. And here’s your prediction of the day. Repeating a theme made by defense lawyers during the trial, Ettinger said there was not a shred of evidence that any of the men demanded a payoff or accepted a bribe. “This verdict just gives the federal government a green light to forge ahead anywhere,” he said.
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The Stroger beat
Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Buried way down at the end of this Tribune piece about the Cook County Board interim president battle (it was buried yesterday as well) is this little nugget. Peraica voiced support for retiring Commissioner Carl Hansen, a fellow Republican, for the interim job, and he said Hansen needs the backing of only one more commissioner to guarantee him the needed votes. All of the Republican commissioners and three Democrats, whom he declined to name, are prepared to support Hansen, Peraica said. I’m wondering if that means the “reformers” are on board for Hansen. Could all of the Westside vs. Southside, black Dems vs. white Dems silliness be for naught? Meanwhile, the person who was thought to be the leading contender for interim president, Bobbie Steele, refused to answer questions about her family members on the payroll after demanding that the county be cleaned up. Steele wouldn’t say much when asked about the relatives she has on the county payroll or receiving county contracts.
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The Anti-Christ starts squealing
Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Tristano rolls over. In the Thursday filing, Tristano seems to lay some of the blame on his boss, saying Tristano “had the authority with Leader Daniels agreement” to give out compensatory time and employee assignments. The problem for the feds here is that the statute of limitations is about to expire on much of what Daniels is alleged to have done.
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Guilty
Thursday, Jul 6, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller  Quote of the week: “I don’t understand the verdict,” Sorich defense attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin said of the split result. “I don’t quite understand how they divided the counts up.” UPDATE: Interesting move by the jurors: But the jury’s foreman said jurors agreed at the outset not to discuss the defendants’ higher-ups. Jay Olshansky, a University of Illinois-Chicago professor, told the Associated Press that Daley’s name never came up during deliberations. UPDATE: Statement by Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., who has talked about running for mayor. “These are some of the mayor’s closest friends and political allies. The mayor cannot have it both ways. He can’t boast about being a hands-on mayor who guides the city that works, yet simultaneously claim to be unaware or naive about the corruption and criminality that is occurring within his Administration and multiple city departments.â€
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Question of the day
Thursday, Jul 6, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Blogging will be light for at least a while because of an important meeting this morning. In the meantime, here’s your setup: GOP gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka said Wednesday that she has accepted invitations to three debates against Gov. Rod Blagojevich. And your question: Is this enough? How many debates should there be? What topics, if any, should the debates be designed to cover? UPDATE: From the Topinka campaign: Per your blog post — just know that the 3 debates JBT agreed to are the floor, not the ceiling, of what she’ll agree to do. In your question today about “is 3 enough” kind of implies that this is all we’ll agree to do.
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Oy, Part 467,229
Thursday, Jul 6, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller This is a common practice in state government, but the Blagojevich administration seems to have elevated the “hire a politically connected person as an intern to avoid veterans preference rules” game to an art form. The AP has yet another example today. Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration picked a campaign donor’s son over eight other applicants for a high-level prison job but designated him an intern when it was time to put him on the state payroll, saying he needed more experience. […] This is my favorite part of the story… It’s unknown whether any of the eight applicants who lost out to Ysursa, who has no military experience, were veterans or experienced Illinois Department of Corrections employees. Despite a state administrative rule making job applicants’ names public record, the governor’s office won’t release the list for this job, saying it would violate the privacy of unsuccessful applicants. It turns out he was also on the clout list. In addition to the March memo from Blagojevich personnel director Joe Cini approving the assistant warden hire, Ysursa’s name appears on a list obtained by The Associated Press of nearly 300 names of job candidates and their political sponsors that the administration kept in the months after Blagojevich took office in January 2003. The AP also has a timeline here.
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The Stroger beat
Thursday, Jul 6, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller This pretty much says it all.  Cook County Board President John Stroger’s signature before and after his stroke. John Stroger’s son, Todd, told reporters yesterday that he had spoken with all 80 committeemen, but… when asked Wednesday whether he believes he has the support of a majority of the 80 party committeemen to make that happen, Todd Stroger would only say he has received “good responses” from those party officials. Meanwhile, John Daley has taken his name out of the running to replace John Stroger on an interim basis.
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Schock; Taxes; “Target” News Feed (use all CAPS in password) UPDATE: Senate Dems
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Mid-morning shorts
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller · CQ Politics: IL 17: Surprise Open-Seat Race Showing Increased Intensity · Topinka wants to cap gas sales tax · Roadways will honor Paul Simon · Overdue prison study cost taxpayers $443,000 · Upstate dines on ’secret pork’ · Daley Offers Millions To Bring UAL Downtown · Confused? Here’s how property tax math works · Full steam ahead for Rockford Amtrak line · Is baseball coming back to Springfield? · Josh Marshall wants to smoke out Peter Roskam on Social Security. · Probe could prove fatal for Blagojevich, experts say
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller These numbers aren’t much of a surprise to me. Minority drivers in Illinois were pulled over at a disproportionately high rate last year, according to government data released this week, and they were more likely to get a ticket and have their car searched. Your thoughts?
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Surprise! The deficit still exists
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The governor constantly trumpets his victory over the state’s deficit, but Dan Hynes disagrees. Late Friday, Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes released a report showing the state’s general deficit hit $3.06 billion at the end of the last fiscal year. That’s more than $500 million bigger than the $2.5 billion hole that existed at the end of the previous year.
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The case of Timothy Walker
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Timothy Walker was brought into the Department of Employment Security to replace Georgia Brahos as human resources director after Brahos was deemed “unqualified.” Walker was sponsored by Laborers’ Union leader Ed Smith. But Walker apparently tried to run things the right way and immediately ran into trouble, according to the Tribune. Numerous e-mails corroborate Walker’s account and support the conclusion that he ultimately lost his job over his refusal to favor “connected” candidates, according to a Sept. 9, 2004, report by Zaldwaynaka “Z.” Scott, who served as Blagojevich’s first executive inspector general under a law he championed. […] And the three people who gave Walker the most trouble about hiring politically connected people, George Rada, Elizabeth Nicholson and Surami “Sudi” Garcia, all avoided being fired, as the Inspector General had recommended. They even avoided discipline. Walker was fired on an apparently trumped up charge. He was eventually awarded unemployment compensation after the state ruled that his actions were not misconduct. But that didn’t stop the governor’s office from labeling him as a disgruntled former employee with an axe to grind.
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Guv heckled
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller This sort of thing happens a lot at parades, but usually with down-ballot candidates. Although Blagojevich received some shouts of support from Democrats at the parades he attended, the crowds in heavily Republican suburbs threw barbs his way. This, however, is unusual. Some bystanders in heavily Republican DuPage County rebuffed him, pulling back their hands. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember anyone doing that with George Ryan. UPDATE: And this is from ABC7: As the governor moved on, there came from the crowd the line — the feds are coming — a reference to the ongoing U-S Attorney’s investigation into hiring practices by the Blagojevich administration.
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No objection to Scheurer, but Greens get one
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller According to the State Board of Elections’ website, nobody filed any objections to third party candidate Bill Scheurer’s deficient petitions by Monday’s official deadline, so it looks like he’ll stay on the 8th Congressional District ballot against Melissa Bean and David McSweeney after all. The Green Party had no such luck. Democrats wasted no time counterattacking after the Illinois Green Party - seen as potential spoilers - filed petitions to put candidates for Illinois’ top offices on the November ballot. The Republicans also filed objections to the Constitution Party candidates. Use this as an open thread to discuss the Green’s chances.
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