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Bollywood and Johnny Cash
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Guv goes back to positive spots
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The traditional campaign cycle is essentially beginning - start positive, go negative, finish positive.
There are actually two new TV ads. “Amber Alert” and “Ethanol” What do you think? UPDATE: If he wants to help kids, maybe he should’ve had a talk a while back with one of his biggest supporters. CHICAGO (Aug. 23, 2006) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice have reached an agreement with A. Finkl & Sons Co. on alleged clean-air violations at the company’s steel forging plant, 2011 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. The company agreed to do two environmental projects totaling $620,000, to pay a $75,000 penalty and to comply with the Clean Air Act. […] [Hat tip: MV at SoapBlox]
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Team Blago is back on the air this week with another flight of ads. The buy started Wednesday, August 23rd and runs at least through Monday the 28th. In placement it appears much like the waves of ads they ran in April, May, and June before taking most of July and August off: heavy on news and public affairs with a few prime time spots thrown in for good measure.
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Another landmark lost
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller This sucks. Department store operator Bon-Ton Stores Inc. said today it is closing its Carson Pirie Scott store on Chicago’s State Street. I was in Carson’s a few weeks ago and it was just about empty. I browsed the men’s suit section, which covers thousands of square feet, for almost an hour and there were no other customers around. (By the way, I didn’t buy anything because even with all those clothes nothing really caught my eye.) That said, I can’t help but wonder who owns the building and what the dastardly person has planned. UPDATE: More from Crain’s: Mr. Bergren said the current owner is working on “very exciting plans for the Carson Pirie Scott building and we think the city and people of Chicago will agree.†· More from the AP: The building — with 1 million square feet — is owned by Joseph Freed and Associates, which has been renovating it in recent years — including extensive work on the terra cotta facades and the ornate cornice at the corner of State Street and Madison Avenue.
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Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Question of the day
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller From the Tribune: Topinka had been under pressure from the Blagojevich campaign for several weeks to show voters how she would fund her campaign proposals. But Blagojevich campaign spokeswoman Sheila Nix said the governor would not produce his own four-year financial plan before the Nov. 7 election, instead relying on his record of state budgets. After all the grief that Topinka has taken since March for “not having a plan,” should the press and the pundits now turn the tables on Blagojevich and demand more details from him? As a bonus question, should Blagojevich now be pushed hard to address property tax relief? Explain why or why not.
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Judge the contest
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Comments are now closed on yesterday’s caption contest. An astonishing 100 of them made it past my censorious actions. My personal favorite was from “Scoop,” who wrote: (AP) — Upon exiting her campaign bus during a stop on her statewide tour, State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka was told she was under arrest for impersonating a Republican. Which was your favorite? The commenter with the most votes will win lunch on me at a cheap restaurant of my choosing. UPDATE: I didn’t see this one: Wait! A garage sale! Hold the bus!! UPDATE: OK, based on the votes so far I’m declaring “Garage sale” the winner. Here’s how this’ll work. The winner should send me an e-mail first with a “secret message” that they’ve made up all by themselves. And then after waiting a few minutes that person should post the same “secret message” here in comments. If the messages and IP addresses match, I’ll send details about the lunch.
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Topinka’s plan - UPDATED x1
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Lots and lots of stuff today. Let’s get to it. This is probably the most cogent critique of Judy Baar Topinka’s plan to expand casino gaming. It’s from Elgin Mayor Ed Schock, who is conflicted because he has a boat in his community, but he makes sense. …casino owners would have to invest in their existing facilities to build the new stations. As for Elgin’s casino, a new boat at a cost of $150 million would have to be built to accommodate the new spaces or they would have to be built on land - a concept that has so far been rejected by the public, Schock said. Gov. Blagojevich also made a very valid point. [Blagojevich] said if Topinka’s plan has any chance of passing in the Legislature, it wouldn’t wind up just being one casino for Chicago because other communities would want theirs and other groups would clamor for gaming, including slot machines at horse racing tracks. Topinka pretty much confirmed this yesterday. Republican governor candidate Judy Baar Topinka refused Thursday to rule out new casinos for Waukegan and the south suburbs and slot machines at horse tracks, throwing some doubt on her stated opposition to gambling expansion. Meanwhile, my Sun-Times column this week is also about the plan. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a serious candidate for governor lay out a detailed budget plan as Judy Baar Topinka did this week. Gov. Blagojevich went on the offensive, Gov. Blagojevich was in Chicago, touting figures that show Illinois added more new jobs than any other state in July, and he called the GOP casino proposal a “fraudulent gimmick†that would do anything but balance the budget. He also said… “She’s spent the last year or so getting on her high horse attacking my administration, saying things like quote-unquote we have to live within our means, that we shouldn’t have any quick fixes,” the governor said during an event at a Chicago pretzel factory. “And yet, when you propose a massive expansion of gambling that nearly triples the amount of gaming positions that would exist in Illinois, if that’s not a gimmick, I don’t know what is.” Mayor Daley talked more about the two competing education funding ideas. The back-and-forth between the candidates came as Mayor Richard Daley appeared to soften his previous demand that a Chicago casino be owned by the city; the state’s nine existing casinos are privately owned. The Sun-Times editorial was positive for JBT: This page has long favored a casino for Chicago, as well as more gambling positions for existing casinos, to generate more revenues for state and local governments. And while it is not the ideal way to fund schools, we think it’s better than Blagojevich’s plan to sell or lease the lottery. It gives the state a steady, significant revenue boost that won’t expire a few decades down the road. The state should look to a Chicago casino. Education funding needs more than a casino quick fix, of course, but right now, it’s the best proposal out there. And an Indian tribe announced plans for a bingo center near DeKalb. Just months after paying top dollar for a family farm near this southern DeKalb County community, a Kansas Indian tribe announced ambitious plans Thursday night to bring Indian gaming to Illinois. UPDATE: I asked some of the other state Republican candidates whether they supported Topinka’s plan. Sen. Dan Rutherford, who previously said that gambling is “an inappropriate way to feed the jabberwocky of a hungry government,” is now in favor of JBT’s proposal. From the campaign: Sen. Rutherford supports the plan as long as it is an allocation of the 10th license, as has been his position in the past.
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Natarus continues his dramatic self-destruction
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Chicago Alderman Burt Natarus recently left this voicemail for Tribune columnist Eric Zorn. I have stood your criticisms for many many years, and quite frankly I don’t regard you as being very innovative or humorous. The fact of the matter is that dog doo is a cause of rats. And rats are a very, very important problem in terms of eradications and keeping my ward clean. I have the cleanest ward in the city…. There was “no Michigan Avenue” before he was an alderman? Was it just empty prairie? Has Burton completely and finally lost it? Those were rhetorical questions.
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Morning shorts - UPDATED x1
Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller · Notice how this story didn’t come out until after his Bridgeport fundraiser? “Sorich talks to grand jury” · IVI-IPO backs Todd Stroger · “Two of three janitors accused with a secretary of state administrator of a scheme in which they were paid for some 8,000 hours not on the job pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of wire fraud.” · “The state Department of Human Services is not doing enough to verify that low-income residents who receive federal grants deserve them, an audit released Thursday said.” · “This month’s Diageo/Hotline poll should serve as a small splash of cold water on “Speaker” Pelosi and “Majority Leader” Reid. But just a splash. The upshot: our snapshot of likely voters suggests that, nationwide, Republicans may be as ginned up as Democrats. Or both Dems and Republicans may be equally motivated to vote — even if that level of motivation is low. That said, control of Congress won’t be decided by the votes of a majority of likely voters in the country. It’ll be decided by voters in about a dozen states across several dozen congressional districts.” · “But if you are betting on the generic ballot to predict control of the House, even when it looks awfully strong for Democrats, you might want to think again. The relationship has weakened and the uncertainty is huge.” · Champaign Co. Dems change rules to allow party to endorse in primaries · Friday Beer Blogging · It’s funny because it’s true: What your favorite Springfield radio show says about you · Muir: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. · Hiram: In Illinois 6th Roskam Supports Less Than 1.3% Of Illinois Residents With Estate Tax Repeal · Austin Mayor: NRCC: Taking The Low Road · Morning-after pill OK without prescription · O’Hare flight caps in place through 2008 · UPDATE: This is fascinating. Bill Tancer’s latest post about Hitwise having advance indications of yesterday’s announcement of a drop in July home sales is fascinating. In short, Bill points out that the National Association of Realtors require 3-4 weeks to put their analysis together, so, even though September’s almost upon us, we’re just now hearing that home sales in July fell.
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Caption contest!
Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller 
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Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Third party survives, not voted off the island - UPDATED x1
Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Here’s an important story that I missed.
As I’ve said before, it’s time to take this Rich Whitney guy and the rest of the state slate seriously. If nothing else, pollsters need to find out what impact they could have on the race. And now that they’ve survived an intense ballot challenge, they ought to be included in the debates. UPDATE: From a Whitney press release about the governor’s energy proposal. “Rod Blagojevich promised in 2002 that he would push sustainable energy sources like bio-diesel and wind power - and yet only two-tenths of one percent of our State’s energy needs are now being provided by such sources. In fact, he raided the Renewable Energy Resources Trust Fund for $9.5 million and the Energy Efficiency Trust Fund for $3 million, to put into the general fund, so that he can continue to brag that he (supposedly) balanced the budget without raising taxes. So I think Illinois voters are justified in being a bit skeptical over the latest round of grandiose promises.”
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The Illinois Green Party will likely remain on the Nov. 7 general election ballot despite Democratic efforts to knock the third party out of the race, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign said Tuesday.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller I have to finish up some things, but I’ll blog a little more later this morning or early afternoon. Meanwhile, here’s the setup: Making voters produce a picture ID before they can cast a vote is not designed to pick on minorities, according to a veteran Illinois legislator. And the question: Do you agree or disagree with Rep. Stephens’ proposal? Why or why not?
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Topinka plan round-up - UPDATED x3
Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller This is the sort of thing that I like most about Topinka. “Is it great? Probably not. Is it the very best in the world? Probably not,” Topinka said, describing her plan to the Sun-Times editorial board. “But it does the job. It’s practical.” And this is the sort of thing that I like least about Gov. Blagojevich: The Blagojevich campaign also immediately pointed out via an online ad that Topinka was flip-flopping on gambling, citing her previous comments that relying on more gambling to balance the state budget was a bad path to take. Sen. Link makes a good point: The plan does not contain new casinos, which allows Topinka to claim she’s not expanding gambling. But that absence also makes it tough to get the idea through the Senate. And the Tribune editorial board lays down the gauntlet. The initial response Wednesday from Team Blagojevich wasn’t encouraging. The governor’s campaign sharpshooters immediately issued pages of rhetoric intended to discredit this or that line item of Topinka’s four-year financial plan for resolving Illinois’ bleak plight. UPDATE: Something I forgot to mention today was that Sen. Steve Rauschenberger is handling the detailed budget questions for the Topinka campaign, which may seem a little odd considering Rauschenberger’s harsh comments about Topinka last year. I just talked to Steve and he has agreed to write a detailed response to Budget Director John Filan’s claim that the JBT proposal would produce a $5.7 billion annual deficit. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post it tomorrow morning. Director Filan will, of course, be offered the opportunity to respond. The resulting back and forth may bore some of you, but the idea is to move beyond the pimpy little digs and get to the heart of the matter. UPDATE 2: Bill Brady State Sen. Bill Brady, a conservative GOP member who ran against the moderate Topinka in the March primary, said he’s pleased that the proposal doesn’t raise taxes. UPDATE 3: Missed this one. Reaction among lawmakers who will have to vote for it if Topinka beats Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich in November was tepid.
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Morning shorts
Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller · “More questions than answers filled a Capitol hearing Wednesday on whether the state should sell or lease the tollway — and how exactly it might go about doing so.” · Roskam focuses on tax cuts · Duckworth gets backing of big education unions · ComEd employees air dirty laundry · ‘All Kids’ display gets snub at LCHS · Everyone, it seems, wants to jump on the downstate bandwagon · Republican bus tour stops in Olney · Richards: Pols focus on the frills, not the bills · The Illinois State Board of Education tapped Christopher Koch, the agency’s assistant superintendent for special education, as interim school superintendent to take over when Randy Dunn leaves in December. · Still more problems with the Museum of Broadcast Communications · Four debates slated in 8th District race
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Thompson resigns
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Maybe now he’ll go to work full time for the Blagojevich campaign. Former Gov. James R. Thompson is resigning as chairman of law firm Winston & Strawn LLP. I was just kidding at the top of this post, of course.
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On the bus
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller [Bumped up because the post was getting lonely underneath that mountain of budget stuff.] Unlike our last installment, this only looks like satire. Rutherford high-fived all the candidates, then, realizing he failed to introduce Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stu Umholtz, the candidate for attorney general, rushed back to the podium and startled Umholtz by saying, “On your feet. Stu Umholtz.” 
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This just in… Topinka to unveil budget plan - UPDATED x19 (Most intriguing update so far: Daley has kind words for JBT casino plan)
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Here’s a few highlights of Topinka’s budget proposal which will be unveiled soon. Check back for more updates. Chicago casino - 3,000 slots. [Full JBT press release is here… Blagojevich campaign official response is here - both are “pdf” files] UPDATE:Tribune: Topinka contended her plan would not be an expansion of gambling, largely opposed by her fellow Republicans, because it would use the state’s only unused casino license for Chicago. […] UPDATE 2: Topinka press release: Other highlights of the plan include: I’ll post the full release in a few minutes. There’s quite a bit more. UPDATE 3: I have posted the press release as a .pdf file UPDATE 4: Crain’s: One local civic leader, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce CEO Gerald Roper, said he is “very, very positive†on the proposal for a Chicago casino. The chamber for years has pushed for a Chicago casino as a boost to the city’s convention and tourism business. Shouldn’t the governor have a campaign person respond to a campaign proposal, or did Filan leave state employment for a campaign job without telling us? [Hat tip to a commenter.] UPDATE 5: The AP has a small placeholder story posted here. You can probably check that link in ten or fifteen minutes for the full story. UPDATE 6: The AP piece is slightly longer now: Topinka, currently the state treasurer, acknowledged that she has not been a proponent of gaming in the past. UPDATE 7: More from the AP: Topinka said she had discussed her proposal with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and he reacted “reasonably well,” but wanted to look at the plan further. UPDATE 8: I’ll be on WYLL Radio with Dan Proft starting at about 3:20 to talk about this and other developments. You can listen on the Internet here. UPDATE 9: Daily Herald: The level of detail in Topinka’s four-year budget proposal was unusual for a governor’s campaign, but also required her to flip-flop on her previous opposition to gambling as a panacea for the state’s financial woes. It was a change in position Topinka acknowledged she was “not excited about” making. UPDATE 10: Tier One targeted Republican state Sen. Cheryl Axley comes out in support, suggesting JBT may have done her homework with the leaders on at least the suburban races. From a press release: State Senator Cheryl Axley (R- Mt. Prospect) is applauding Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Judy Baar Topinka’s newly unveiled education and budget plan that would freeze suburban property taxes for two years, while providing more funds for school construction and classrooms. UPDATE 11: Topinka’s response to an anti-gambling group shows this was probably in the works for some time. There are no explicit mentions of a Chicago casino. UPDATE 12: This excerpt from an e-mail I just received from a Blagojevich person likely gives us a preview of Filan’s statement. …her proposals would do nothing more than gut health care, expand the size of government and add billions in unfunded new spending to our budget. We’re talking in the neighborhood of a 5 billion annual deficit — and maybe more. UPDATE 13: The Blagojevich campaign already has an Internet ad up on the issue. Click the image to go straight to the .mov format ad. [Hat tip to a commenter.] 
UPDATE 14: Hizzoner is staying neutral on the two competing plans. That’s hugely good news for Topinka. If he had rejected it out of hand, she would’ve been sunk before she got out of the harbor. Apparently, the meeting between Topinka and Daley went better than she has admitted. More later. CBS2: Daley is not taking a position on Topinka’s proposal to put a land-based casino in the city. UPDATE 15: I asked the governor’s campaign spokesperson, Sheila Nix, whether the governor still opposes a Chicago casino. Her answer? “Yes.” UPDATE 16: Statement from Illinois Republican Party Executive Director John Tsarpalas: “It’s troubling that Governor Blagojevich’s Budget Director, who is paid with taxpayer dollars, is standing up to react to the campaign announcement of Republican candidate for Governor Judy Baar Topinka. If the Blagojevich campaign wants to react to Judy’s plan, they should use the millions in ‘pay-to-play’ money collected in their campaign fund to pay for it. John Filan should tell taxpayers whether he is on leave from the Governor’s office or being paid with taxpayer dollars.” UPDATE 17: E-mail from the Blagojevich campaign: Filan told everyone there that he was taking a vacation day so JBT’s campaign knows that — there is no question about taxpayer dollars. Also, since JBT’s announcement was about the budget, it makes sense to have someone who really understands the numbers and process give an opinion on its credibility. UPDATE 18: CBS2 has posted a viewer poll UPDATE 19: Blagojevich press release (Or download a pdf file here): …State Budget Director John Filan, detailed why her numbers didn’t add up.
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Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller Is rhetoric like this too over the top or is it fine for August when Topinka can provide a little red meat for the base? “This man has driven this state into such hole and we have to dig it out now,” Topinka said Tuesday from the Double Tree Hotel. “We haven’t had hurricanes or tsunamis like some states. We’ve had our own disaster. We had Rod Blagojevich, and that’s just finished us.” […]
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Send in the clowns
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller The former patronage honcho for Cook County government didn’t exactly get the boot this week. In fact, nobody seems to know what his new job is. Monday, new county board president Bobbie Steele was at a loss to explain what Gerald Nichols does other than act as the godfather of good jobs, so she gave him the boot. It turns out he went from one unexplainable county job to another.
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Alternate universe
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller You know how you hear the complaint from voters that the Republicans and the Democrats are basically alike? Well, here’s some evidence from our neighboring state of Indiana. House and Senate Democrats have been calling for immediate relief from high gasoline prices as an addition to energy proposals. Sound familiar? The Illinois Republicans are demanding the same thing. The party in power won’t cut the tax because they don’t want to give up the revenues. The minority parties in both Illinois and Indiana know this but continue with the harangue because it sounds good to voters, who are fed up with incumbents. Still, it does sometimes feel like we live in an alternate universe here in Illinois. For instance, I chuckle every time I read a comment from an obviously partisan Republican blasting Gov. Blagojevich for allowing the budget situation to get out of hand. Not a word has been uttered by those same people about the national budget situation. And, by the way, I have yet to see any Republican plan here in Illinois (or Democratic plan in Indiana) to either replace the lost tax revenue from a reduction in the sales tax on gasoline or provide for budget cuts to offset the impact. UPDATE: Topinka has now proposed funding for her idea.
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Morning shorts
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller · Here’s a way to kill some time: Try to find the word “Republican” on Congressman Mark Kirk’s campaign website. Mentions of the word in news stories posted on the site don’t count. · Mayor Daley mocks an ordinance that he didn’t veto · Dueling reports on charter schools suggest that Chicago’s are outperforming neighborhood schools, while charter-elementary-school students nationally are lagging behind their peers in traditional public schools. · While Topinka and her ticket tour the state, the governor’s office has been running a statewide All Kids tour · Daley sees no problem with Sorich’s fundraiser · Alexi Giannoulias wants to auction unclaimed property on eBay. From a press release: Instead of conducting an annual live auction that lasts only a few hours and attracts a limited number of people, Illinois can hold several online auctions during the year that will attract a worldwide audience. · Contract talks resume in Sheridan prison strike
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