*** 12:36 pm *** After a very long House Democratic caucus, it appears that there are now enough votes to accept the governor’s amendatory veto of the mass transit bailout bill. Expect much gnashing of teeth during debate, however.
* 12:43 pm - OK, this I gotta see. From a press release…
The Northwestern University and Evanston communities are invited to attend the LEGISLATIVE LEADERS FORUM: January 23, 2008, 7:00 pm, in Ryan Auditorium, in Northwestern University’s Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston.
Participating will be:
EMIL JONES, President of the Illinois Senate;
FRANK WATSON, Senate Republican Leader;
MICHAEL J. MADIGAN, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives;
TOM CROSS, House Republican Leader.
HENRY S. BIENEN, Northwestern University President, will moderate.
The four legislative leaders of the State of Illinois will meet to discuss top issues of today and the importance of civic participation, followed by written questions from the audience.
…Adding… I’m told that the contact person for this event is Andrew Madigan, son of the Speaker. A peacemaker in the family? Good for him.
*** 12:46 pm *** The House is starting now. Listen here.
*** 2:02 *** The House has accepted the governor’s amendatory veto. Slightly narrower margin. (One vote less than before.) The bill now goes to the Senate.
*** 2:05 *** The trailer bill is now being debated. SB 1409. The bill will take effect if and only if the mass transit bailout becomes law. The proposal applies the Circuit Breaker program to the free mass transit rides.
*** 2:12 *** Rep. Fritchey just said he’s drafting a Constitutional amendment to do away with the governor’s amendatory veto power. “We’re going to take his toys away from him,” the governor’s own state Rep. said.
Fritchey promsed to file his proposal by the end of the day today.
…Adding… Just in case you’re wondering…
Amendments approved by the vote of three-fifths of the members elected to each house shall be submitted to the electors at the general election next occurring at least six months after such legislative approval
I highly doubt the Senate will go along with this, to say the least.
*** 2:32 *** Just so you know what’s going on. The trailer bill being debated in the House would use Circuit Breaker eligibility to determine who gets free rides in mass transit districts, rather than give the freebies to everyone. Circuit Breaker also includes the disabled, so the freebie would be expanded as well as constricted.
Also, a Senate Democratic spokesperson said a few minutes ago that she didn’t know yet whether the trailer bill would be called in that chamber.
*** 2:42 *** The trailer bill has passed the House with 86 votes. It now goes to the Senate, where it’s fate is uncertain, as they say.
The House may have just made a bit of lemonade themselves. By expanding the eligibility for free rides to relatively low-income disabled and excluding wealthy seniors, they might’ve “found a pony in a pile of manure,” to coin a phrase. lol
…Then again, a commenter makes this point…
I can’t wait to tell my mother who makes $23k a year in retirement how lucky she is – she now is apparently “Wealthy”
*** 3:06 *** It looks like there will be no trailer bill in the Senate. No suprise about that. “We do everything the governor tells us around here,” said one Senate Democrat a few minutes ago - sarcastically, of course.
The lack of a trailer bill is causing one Senate Democrat to switch to “No.” The original bill only passed with 30 votes, but other downstaters have said they’ll vote to accept the governor’s AV.
* 3:20 pm - Sen. Sandoval just compared the governor’s amendatory veto to Fidel Castro’s dictatorship. He also just blasted the media for focusing on the senior freebie and ignoring the tax hike.
* 3:39 pm - The Republicans are now claiming that Senate Rules don’t allow for two “co-sponsors” of a motion. The objection here is that Sen. Rickey Hendon, who is involved in a spirited primary race, was belatedly given lead sponsorship of the transit bailout bill and then allowed to co-sponsor the motion with Sen. Cullerton (who did most of the Senate work on the bill) to accept the amendatory veto.
*** 3:47 pm *** Sen. Terry Link is complaining bitterly in debate about Metra’s incredibly stupid decision to announce a ten percent rate increase before the bailout was finalized. Link said Metra ought to reconsider the increase or it could cost them in the future. “What the General Assembly giveth, the General Assembly can take away,” Link said.
*** 4:06 pm *** Senate President Emil Jones said just before the Senate began voting on the AV motion, “I want to do a trailer bill,” but said he wanted to “do it right.” Jones pointed out that several senior discounts (property taxes, Chicago car stickers, etc.) aren’t based on income. Sen. Hendon promised a few minutes later that he would work with “all of you” on the trailer legislation.
*** 4:07 pm *** The Senate just voted to accept the governor’s amendatory veto with 32 votes.. It now goes back to the governor, who must certify that the language in the legislative motion matches his AV.
* 4:13 pm - The Chicago Federation of Labor just issued a press release about today’s events. There were hearty congratulations all around, but not one mention was made of Gov. Blagojevich.
* 4:32 pm - The governor will be speaking to reporters soon, so we’ll have tape in a while.
Now that the governor has agreed to raise the sales tax for the mass transit bailout, do you think the “seal is broken” and he’ll do it again on other taxes? Or, do you think this is a one-time thing? Explain fully, please. Thanks.
The obsession that some have for keeping all politics hermetically sealed from government is getting way out of hand.
We all know and probably agree that state offices, phones, etc. shouldn’t be used to brazenly campaign for office. But that was taken to an illogical extreme during Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ press conference…
Near the end of his news conference, reporters asked him about his campaigning for Barack Obama, the U.S. senator from Illinois and presidential candidate who was instrumental in helping Giannoulias win the treasurer’s office in 2006.
Giannoulias began answering the questions when his general counsel, who joined him at the news conference, approached him and whispered: “We prefer that you not, during state time, talk about politics.”
“Oh,” Giannoulias remarked aloud, “we’re not allowed to talk about politics on state time.”
Reporters weren’t having it. My colleague Bernie Schoenburg, the SJ-R’s political columnist, informed the treasurer: “This is the Blue Room. People do come in here and discuss campaigns.” At least one other reporter backed him up on that.
I can’t help but wonder what might have happened if Giannoulias had just answered the question without hesitation. My guess is somebody might have pimped him in a column somewhere about electioneering on the state dime.
Gov. Blagojevich uses this same excuse whenever a reporter asks a political question at the Statehouse.
Last year, Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson took reporters outside the building to hold a media availability because reporters wanted to ask her about her congressional bid. She originally wanted to walk down to the sidewalk until somebody (I think it was me) made a wisecrack about how the sidewalk was government property, too, as was the parking lot across the street.
It used to be the accepted standard that a politician could answer a reporter’s question about campaigns no matter where they were or what time of day it was. But Patrick Fitzgerald and some overzealous types in the media have put “The Fear” into a whole lot of people and it’s really getting ridiculous.
Without politics, there is no government. Without campaigns, there are no elected officials. Everybody, including Fitzgerald, needs to take a deep breath, step back and look at where we’re going. This is not healthy.
Gov. Blagojevich’s out-of-the-blue maneuver to hold up the mass transit funding legislation until he gets his free rides for senior citizens was sneaky, brazen, silly, selfish, reckless, manipulative, disingenuous and downright cynical. […]
What you may not have considered is that if the Illinois Legislature fails today to give its final go-ahead to the transit bill by approving the governor’s proposed changes, it won’t necessarily be Blagojevich’s fault. […]
After voting for the measure last week, there is no good excuse why any legislator would take a powder when it comes back before them today.
I say that with the hope of putting them all on notice. Legislators are often made to feel like anonymous fish in the sea while toiling under the Capitol dome, but if anybody from the Chicago area pulls back from this bill now, I can pretty much guarantee they will be identified and made famous for their foolishness. It’s not so difficult to study a roll call and find the rats.
He’s mostly right. Legislators just need to put away their Rod hate, hold their noses, and keep the system running.
* But silly and unnecessary stunts like trucking in a crowd of ringers to yesterday’s House Transit Committee hearing just underscores what sort of a game-player the governor is and will always be…
Angry transit advocates turned out in full throat for the two-hour hearing in a hot meeting room at the James R. Thompson Center. They carried signs that read “Vote yes for seniors and mass transit” and “No Service Cuts!”
They loudly booed any legislator who expressed disapproval of the measure
* Even so, some Downstate Senators in both parties are reconsidering their votes from last week, not wanting to alienate seniors in their districts…
Some central Illinois lawmakers who voted against a Chicago-area mass transit funding bill last week may have changed their minds now that free bus rides for seniors have been added. […]
“I probably would vote for it,” said Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, who voted against House Bill 656 last week. […]
“I was conflicted the last time we voted. The bill is a good bill for downstate,” [Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria] said. “My inclination is to support it (now). I won’t make a firm commitment until I’ve talked to other Democrats.” […]
“I think our opportunity to do capital was last week,” [Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville] said. “To me, this is a different issue. Everybody is going to have to make their own decision on it.”
* The House is where the real problem is right now. And a trailer bill could help ease its way through…
But members of the House committee also discussed plans to introduce a separate trailer bill today that would only provide free rides to low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
The trailer bill, if it passes, would allow the General Assembly to put caps on the governor’s plan to give seniors free rides without jeopardizing a transit funding bill that would avert Jan. 20 service cuts and fare hikes at the CTA and Pace by raising the sales tax in Cook and the collar counties.
Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor supports giving free rides to people with disabilities, but said the Circuit Breaker proposal adds unnecessary hurdles.
“It seems to make more sense to use the existing reduced fare card system that the RTA has in place,” Ottenhoff said. “It’s less complicated, it helps more people and that’s why the governor included that language in the amendatory veto.”
If they don’t come up with an alternative, there will be a huge uproar today. Should be fun to watch. The show starts at 11 o’clock.
* Here are a couple more stories…
* Rod Blagojevich: This time we can get what we need — with compromise
* Analysts disagree on effect of governor’s recent support of increase
* Larry Suffredin’s lobbying gig was the main source of contention at last night’s debate among Cook County State’s Attorney hopefuls…
County commissioner Suffredin called himself a proven reformer who can fix an office that’s broken. And, he said, he resents the status quo under Bob Milan, Dick Devine’s top deputy, and Anita Alvarez, Devine’s number three lieutenant. But they’re firing back at Suffredin for making big bucks as a corporate lobbyist.
“How can someone stand up here and say he is a reformer, say he is progressive, when he has spent the last 30 years of his career making money off special interest groups,” said Milan.
[Ald. Tom Allen (38th)] also took a shot at Suffredin, saying, “I agree with Mr. Suffredin that he fights for justice — as long as somebody pays him to do it.”
Devine’s top two aides, Robert Milan and Anita Alvarez, emphasized the need for a prosecutor to hold the office as they criticized Suffredin’s suggestion that he wouldn’t plea bargain gun cases that resulted in great bodily harm.
“It’s an empty promise. A real prosecutor could never run an office like that,” said Milan, 46, stressing the need for flexibility in prosecutions.
* And he wasn’t the only target. Howard Brookins also got some grief…
Brookins was criticized by Allen for problems he had in paying rent on his office and city violations for a building he owned. Brookins has said the building was effectively in someone else’s possession and his in name only.
* You can read extensive notes from the candidates’ Daily Herald editorial board interviews at this link.
I’ve lately kept articles about this race in Morning Shorts, but I’ve noticed an increase in comments about it, so have at it…
The number of naturalized citizens in suburbs ringing Chicago is growing fast. But some still face barriers when they try to vote. In a lawsuit last fall, the U.S. Department of Justice charged that Kane County had violated parts of the federal Voting Rights Act. County officials quickly agreed to remedy the situation. And the first big test of whether Kane County is living up to the agreement is February 5. That’s when the Latino vote might make the difference in several hotly contested primaries.
In a city where cost overruns have vexed big projects from Millennium Park to O’Hare International Airport expansion, Mayor Richard Daley expressed confidence Wednesday that new financial projections by Chicago Olympic planners are on target.
“I don’t have special sympathy for scofflaws,” said state Rep. Paul Froehlich, a Schaumburg Democrat, on Wednesday. “But you have to have some fairness built into the system.”
*** 3:34 pm *** The governor has dropped three of his counts in his four-count lawsuit against House Speaker Michael Madigan. The only remaining count asks the courts to declare that the governor has a Constitutional and statutory authority to schedule the time and date of special sessions.
Of the remaining counts, one asked that the courts compel Madigan to produce a quorum whenever the guv calls a special session. According to the guv’s office…
The remaining counts, which address the Speaker’s duty to assemble a quorum for special sessions, may no longer be an issue once the Court confirms the Governor’s constitutional authority to set the date and time of special sessions. If it becomes necessary, we could always re-file them later.
*** 3:38 pm *** Reporters tried to get Mayor Daley to whack Gov. Blagojevich again today. Instead, he did his best to dodge the questions…
“Let’s just get it passed.”
And…
“The only thing I objected to was the way the governor did this at the last minute,” [Daley] said. “He could have told the legislators who were already down there last week to add it to the bill. This is just drama.”
* Meanwhile Treasurer Giannoulias wasn’t impressed with the governor’s amendatory veto of the transit bill…
“I love my grandma. I love senior citizens. But I don’t think this was done in the best way possible,’’ Giannoulias said.
He said it seemed a little “disingenuous” for Blagojevich to drop this new program into the transit bill at the last minute when “they have been talking about this for six months or a year.”
* And Rep. Sid Mathias, who said he might not vote to accept the AV, said today that he will vote to accept…
“I’m angry, and even though I’m angry, I am still going to vote for this tomorrow,” said Rep. Sid Mathias (R-Buffalo Grove), one of 62 House members to vote for the plan as it passed by a slim margin last week.
*** 3:42 pm *** According to exit polls, black primary voters in Michigan picked “uncommitted” this week over Hillary Clinton 68 to 30. Ouch.
*** 4:50 pm *** The House Mass Transit Committee just voted to accept the governor’s amendatory veto by a lopsided margine of 16-5, according to a reporter who is there.
You may have noticed the new image ad for “Midwest Politics” on the right side of the page.
Here’s the official spin on what we’re doing…
MidwestPolitics.com is a cooperative venture between six independent political and government news sites based in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Its goal is to provide readers with background and coverage of the crucial Midwest battleground in the months leading up to the 2008 presidential election.
Actually, the real goal is to sell advertising, but I digress.
The idea here was to bring together the best political websites in the Midwest in one spot. It’s a sort of one-stop shopping for those interested in our region’s political and governmental scene. Right now, the site is still pretty basic, but there is a lot of content with more to come.
So if you’re interested in states beyond Illinois, then you should make MidwestPolitics.com a regular visit on your daily (hourly… minutely?) trek through the Intertubes.
Sneed hears rumbles Jim Oberweis, the Oberweis Dairy owner being backed by former U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert to fill Hastert’s vacant House seat, has plans if he wins.
Translation: Oberweis is telling pals privately he’ll probably only be a one-termer because . . . he would use the congressional seat as a launching pad to run for Illinois governor again.
Mike Boland isn’t waiting for opportunity to knock. Instead, he plans to march door-to-door, looking for it himself.
After dabbling with plans to run for higher political office for several years, state Rep. Boland, D-East Moline, said he is considering running for governor or lieutenant governor come 2010.
“It would probably depend on what my good friend Pat Quinn, the lieutenant governor, does,” he said Monday.
Rep. Boland originally jockeyed for the lieutenant governor’s seat in 2001, but ultimately did not run. In 2005 he eyed the state Senate and in 2006 he tried to feel out the 17th Congressional District seat. He also has expressed interest in running for state treasurer.
The difference between Oberweis and Boland is that Oberweis actually runs for the offices he covets, while Boland never pulls the trigger.
* Anway, on to the question: Of all the people currently in Illinois politics (both parties), which one (or more) would make you vote for Rod Blagojevich? Explain.
* Ben Joravsky makes a very good point about the governor’s proposal to let seniors ride free on mass transit…
Mayor Daley was among those who promptly blasted Blagojevich’s plan. “Any politician can give things for free, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” Daley lectured reporters over the weekend. “Someone has to pay for it.”
Amen, brother. Though I have to say the mayor’s fiscal restraint caught me by surprise. By coincidence, I’d attended the party-down scene at the January 8 meeting of his Community Development Commission, where city officials were throwing around property tax dollars like confetti: $75 million to Rush University Medical Center, $8.5 million to Grossinger Auto, and a to-be-announced TIF handout to a consortium of developers led by former First Ward alderman Ted Mazola to build a bunch of town houses in a swamp down by Wolf Lake, on the city’s southeast side. And that’s just one CDC get-together — they meet once a month.
So on the city pushes with its massive transformation, tearing down public housing, closing schools, selling off property on the south and west sides, moving out the poor people, and driving up the cost of living with higher fines, fees, and taxes. Then free rides for seniors get condemned as a waste.
It’s a great day to be a zoning lawyer, or a lawyer working on commercial property tax appeals, or a developer, or an alderman-turned-developer, or a Daley-administration-aide-turned-lobbyist, all merrily riding the gravy train. But it’s not such a great day for old ladies riding the bus.
“Process” arguments about a super-unpopular governor’s pandering publicity stunt are just that. Process. The bottom line is that Democrats and Republicans pander to oldsters all the time, and bigtime corporate handouts are the acceptable way of the political world. So now letting Grandma ride the bus for free is somehow unconscionable? Please.
Sneed hears Ald. Isaac Carothers and Ald. Ed Burke are preparing an amendment keeping senior citizens exempt from the new real estate transfer tax proposal hidden in the transit bailout package.
The buckshot: “It’s a burden they shouldn’t have to shoulder,” said a Sneed source . . . referring to the proposed tax increase on the sale of a home from $7.50 to $10 per $1,000.
Owners have dropped their effort to retain possession of the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center, which owes more than $29.5 million on its state-backed loan.
Their decision should pave the way for the state to obtain title to the hotel, which is at Seventh and Adams streets, and sell it to a new owner later this year. Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay off at least part of the debt. […]
“Going forward, the days of sweetheart deals and cronyism at taxpayer expense are over,” Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said in an interview Tuesday.
Giannoulias’ office began foreclosure proceedings on the hotel shortly after he took office in January 2007. The owners, who include influential Springfield Republican Bill Cellini, were fighting to block foreclosure.
In 1991, in the final days of former Gov. James R. Thompson’s last term, Cellini secured a controversial sweetheart deal in which his investment consortium didn’t have to make payments on the loan so long as the hotel didn’t turn a profit.
The saga began in 1982 when the state gave a $15.5 million loan to the hotel, which is owned by 80 investors, including William Cellini, a politically connected Springfield Republican. Since then, the hotel has made only intermittent payments, with the last one coming in August 2002, state officials said.
Thus, the hotel owes nearly $30 million in principal and interest, according to Giannoulias, who put the cost to taxpayers at more than $2,300 a day.
* If you missed the live CBS 2 debate between Jim Oberweis and Chris Lauzen last night, you can watch the whole thing at this link.
* Here’s the station’s coverage…
After a brief handshake dairy magnate Jim Oberweis came out swinging — talking about Lauzen’s biggest single donor in his political career and his decision to return almost $100,000.
“It’s easy to see why you would give the money back, the donor was convicted of patronizing a 16-year-old prostitute,” Oberweis said.
But it took about forty minutes before state senator Chris Lauzen responded.
In his opening statement, Oberweis brought up Lauzen’s decision last month to return a $100,000 campaign contribution from a convicted felon whose company was under investigation by the Illinois attorney general. Oberweis said he doubted Lauzen’s claim that he didn’t know about the issues surrounding donor John Burgess and his company, International Profit Associates, until recently despite numerous media reports over the past few years. […]
“In my entire career, I have never asked for nor taken anything that doesn’t belong to me,” said Lauzen, a state senator from Aurora. “My desire is to serve you well. When I’ve been confronted with a problem with a campaign contributor, I’ve sent the money back without being told or even asked. … For my opponent to say otherwise is cruel and a politically motivated lie and conduct unbecoming someone who wants to represent us in any public office.”
The problem for Lauzen is that he waited so long to respond. The Tribune wrote that the state Senator “appeared taken aback,” by the assault…
“It’s not about your character or even your integrity, it’s about your judgment,” said Oberweis, who devoted his entire opening statement to the topic at an Aurora University debate. “Chris, you can’t fix the problem if you can’t see the problem.”
* The two candidates agree on most actual “issues,” so all they have left is personalities and he-said-she-said’s…
Greg Buchner, who has voted for both candidates in the past, came to the forum Tuesday night to hear more about the issues. He left feeling he saw more venom than viewpoints.
“Unfortunately, I saw a lot more of that,” Buchner said. “They traded punches pretty evenly.”
…Oberweis responded to Lauzen’s “dead cow” mailer, in which he stated that a previous Oberweis campaign had been fined by the FEC for using funds from Oberweis Dairy for political advertising. Essentially, the issue was whether Oberweis himself could appear in ads for his dairy while running for political office.
Oberweis said that the $21,000 was a “civil penalty” agreed upon by all parties to avoid litigation, and noted that the campaign never paid a cent — the penalty was paid by the dairy.
* Meanwhile, in another race, Carol Marin writes about Lipinski family ethics…
Dan Lipinski loves his father, Bill Lipinski, and said so forcefully Tuesday at a meeting of the Sun-Times editorial board. But the question at hand is whether the family patriarch is both blessing and curse.
* More congressional stuff, compiled by Kevin…
* 3 GOP candidates debate again - Congressional hopefuls address world security
* Quinn makes endorsement in Dem race to succeed Hastert
*** UPDATE *** Larry at ArchPundit has more on the Quinn endorsement of Laesch
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Tribune didn’t list this endorsement editorial on their “Opinion” web page, so I missed it. Here are more of the Trib’s nods for congressional candidates…
* Oberweis…
This page has been critical of Oberweis’ campaign tactics, particularly his vitriolic anti-immigration message. He has acknowledged that he made mistakes in past campaigns. He has a much better grounding on national issues than Lauzen, and to our knowledge, has never tried to change his name to Jim Oberweis, Dairy King.
* Foster…
Local Democratic leaders, though, seem to be coalescing around Bill Foster of Geneva, a particle physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Here’s a first for an Illinois campaign: Foster is endorsed by 22 Nobel Prize winners. Foster is a strong candidate, and he has our support.
* Seals…
They’re both smart, well-prepared candidates. Voters, though, might have reason to question either candidate’s long-term commitment to them. Seals still lives a couple of blocks outside the district — he says he can’t afford to move into the 10th. Footlik just recently returned to the area, renting a home in Buffalo Grove. Seals gets the edge, based on a better grasp of local issues and concerns. He is endorsed.
Looks like the Tribune folks are telegraphing they’re intentions for the fall contest.
* Baldermann…
Baldermann has an impressive civic record, substantial local support and sensible positions on issues. He is endorsed.
* First up, some good news about a long-overdue strengthening of this state’s whistleblower laws…
Until last week, the law only applied to whistleblowers in state government and a handful of Illinois municipalities. Now, the Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act offers protections and rewards for people who identify fraud in all forms of government — from counties to the CTA and the local Water Reclamation District. […]
The law, pushed by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, offers incentives for whistleblowers and also can serve as a powerful deterrent. If the government proves fraud, the contractor must repay the government three times the damages plus fines. The contractor must also pay legal fees both for the whistleblower and the government.
And we’re not talking about petty cash. In a recent case initiated in Illinois by the Goldberg Kohn law firm, the Illinois attorney general’s office and federal authorities, the insurance company Amerigroup was found liable for $334 million for discriminating against pregnant women. The Vietnam veteran who identified the fraud is eligible for between 15 percent and 30 percent of that money.
Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan’s office asked a Cook County judge Tuesday to remove a law firm with close ties to Gov. Rod Blagojevich from the criminal case of a one-time Blagojevich friend charged with stealing $2 million from the state.
Blagojevich’s office and Madigan have repeatedly clashed over the governor’s use of private law firms to represent state agencies or his administration. Madigan’s office argues that only the attorney general has the authority to represent state agencies in court or hire outside firms for that work.
The development is the latest twist in the case of Anita Mahajan, who is facing fraud charges that her firm, K.K. Bio-Science, billed the Department of Children and Family Services for drug tests it did not perform. […]
Bruce Meckler said lawyers for his firm were in court Tuesday only because Mahajan’s lawyer was demanding records from the firm related to its work for DCFS in the Mahajan case last fall.
“We were there representing our law firm, which had been subpoenaed,” Meckler said.
Kinda tangled, if you ask me.
You can find lots of background on the Mahajan case here.
According to documents filed with the Illinois Auditor General, there was a water leak in the governor’s private quarters on the upper floors of the mansion in November.
The leak damaged the ceiling of the mansion ballroom and threatened a walnut-paneled library next to the ballroom. Because of the leak and the resulting repairs, mansion director David Bourland shut off the water in the governor’s private apartment. […]
The cost to fix the problem: $20,986.
That’s not nearly as expensive as his legal bills.
At seven o’clock tonight, CBS 2 will broadcast a live debate (Internet-only) between Jim Oberweis and Chris Lauzen, the two Republican candidates for the open 14th Congressional District seat.
Those two guys really don’t like each other, so this should be a fun one.
* The governor was at an upscale Lake Shore Drive senior center today for a town hall meeting on his amendatory veto of the transit bailout bill.
The response wasn’t completely what he had hoped for, apparently. While the Tribune claims that “most seniors expressed appreciation” for his proposal, there were several questions about why there wasn’t means testing in his transit AV.
Most seniors at the gathering welcomed the free-rides plan. But when Blagojevich asked who would oppose such a benefit, several seniors in the audience of around 30 raised their hands.
*** UPDATE *** Chicago Public Radio has the audio of the governor’s event, featuring some interesting questions from seniors. Or just listen below…
* A recent statewide poll commissioned by Forest County Potawatomi, an Indian tribe in Wisconsin, asked a lot of questions about how Illinoisans felt about gaming expansion.
I’ll have more for subscribers tomorrow, but here are a couple of interesting results to tease you with today…
Now, as you may know, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn has called for a ballot referendum to directly ask Illinois’ voters if the State should allow an expansion of casino-style gambling in Illinois.
Would you Support or Oppose the State of Illinois placing a referendum question on the ballot to determine if Illinois should allow an expansion of casino gambling?
77 percent support a statewide referendum, eh? Interesting.
* And then there was this completely unsurprising yet still troubling result…
Now, I’m going to read you the names of several people who are active in politics. I’d like you to rate your feeling toward each one as either very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative or very negative. If you don’t know the name, just say so.
Rod Blagojevich...
Very Positive: 6
Somewhat Positive: 14
[Total positive: 20]
Neutral: 13
Somewhat Negative: 21
Very Negative: 42
[Total negative: 63]
Do Not Recognize: 2
Don’t Know 2:
Ouch.
[Fako & Associates poll of 801 registered voters, conducted January 3 - 6, 2008, with a margin of error of +/- 3.46.]
* Buried at the very bottom of an AP story about the upcoming trial of Tony Rezko is this bit of ominous news for Barack Obama…
The upcoming trial is starting to attract a national media spotlight because Rezko also was a contributor and fundraiser for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Reporters from The Los Angeles Times and NBC News as well as local newsmen were on hand in Judge Amy J. St. Eve’s courtroom Tuesday.
* And the Times of London points the way to a new website…
The website www.hillaryis44.com, widely viewed as an unofficial arm of the Clinton war room, has taken up the [Rezko] scandal with gusto and is offering a Rezko for Dummies guide on its site. “Imagine this,” it crows. “A Chicago politician wants things he can’t afford. Wifey likes expensive things and wants a big mansion to live in.”
* Brian Ross of ABC News had this report the other day about the Rezko matter…
* MediaMatters, however, claimed Ross broadcast a “misleading account of Obama statements in order to assert inconsistency.”
* And on a somewhat related note, WBBM Radio had a report today on an overlooked bill that passed both chambers last week and is heading to the governor…
llinois is on the verge of joining a plan to elect the U.S. president by popular vote instead of by the all or nothing vote of the electoral college. […]
Under the National Popular Vote plan, the Illinois electoral college would put all its votes behind the candidate with the most votes nation-wide instead of behind the candidate with the most votes within Illinois.
Illinois House Sponsors Robert Molaro and Leshawn Ford say this would have two benefits:
1. When enough states sign on, the President would then be picked on the basis of the popular vote, not on the basis of the electoral votes. This would eliminate the 2000 situation where Al Gore lost the election to George Bush even though Gore had 500-thousand more votes nationwide.
2. And Molaro and Ford say Presidential Candidates now ignore Illinois after the primary because it’s generally considered a democratic state….secure for democrats, lost for republicans, and thus no place for presidential candidates who’ll focus their energy and attention on just a few battle ground states where the electoral vote is in doubt like Wisconsin, Iowa, or Michigan.
Illinois would be the third state to sign onto this plan. New Jersey and Maryland are the others.
The bill can be read here. Zorn has more, including this…
The idea appears to be a nifty way around the difficulty of totally abolishing the electoral college — an idea I’m open to but, honestly, haven’t given much thought in the last 7 years.
* The Chicago Tribune began rolling out their endorsements today with their picks of Democratic congressional candidiates. After spending much of their piece on the 3rd Congressional District zapping Mark Pera for claiming that incumbent Dan Lipinksi “works too well with Republicans,” they got to the meat of the matter…
We were tempted to wash our hands of this race. But the 3rd District is going to be better served by someone who rolls up his sleeves and gets things done, than by someone who goes to Washington spoiling for a political brawl. Lipinski wins that calculation hands down.
There are two other candidates in the race. We like Jerry Bennett, the longtime mayor of Palos Hills, who has been involved in south suburban development efforts. He may surprise us, but based on fundraising and organization it looks like Pera presents the stiffest challenge to Lipinski, and Pera’s campaign style leaves us cold. James Capparelli, a Chicago attorney, also is running.
So, Lipinksi will “roll up his sleeves,” but they “like” Jerry Bennett and Pera will probably put up the “stiffest challenge” to the incumbent. Looks like all three could do a mailer from that one.
* The massive DailyKos website, along with some others, are pushing for 5,000 new contributors for Pera this week. So far, Kos’ Blue Majority page shows a bit over 1,000 contributions, but that doesn’t appear to be just from this week. Kos has been pushing Pera for quite a while. More here and here.
* Aaron Schock was hammered by his fellow Republican candidates on “family values” at last night’s 18th Congressional District debate…
“I think having those conversations that I’ve had with my wife at our kitchen table about our children’s grades, about worrying about the moral climate, about getting them to church on time, informs me in a different way,” Morris said during a televised debate Monday held at WEEK-TV studios and sponsored by that station, the Journal Star and the League of Women Voters.
Throughout the debate Morris continued to promote his family background as a benefit to the job.
* Jim McConoughey wouldn’t go so far as to criticize the unmarried Schock for being sans family, but got in a dig nonetheless…
“As an experienced family man and a father, my life is richer and I make different types of decisions based on having a family.”
* Schock’s response made sense…
“What I think is important to note is that you can’t be everything to everybody,” Schock said. “You can’t be 60 years old and represent seniors, you don’t have to be a farmer to represent farmers and you certainly don’t have to be married with children to represent families or have family values.”
* WEEK-TV has more on the debate here. The debate will supposedly be posted sometime today on WEEK’s website. It’s not there as I write this.
* The Peoria Pundit thought McConoughey won. C.J. Summers at Peoria Chronicle wrote: “I thought Schock really shined at this debate.”
Schock does not run from his age. His campaign plays up his advanced life story, which includes his election to the Peoria School Board at 19 and the state House at 22.
“People want to know, at 26 years old, are you prepared to run for Congress, are you capable of serving in Congress,” Schock said. “In many cases, I think I’ve had to work harder and perform better than my colleagues simply to prove that I’m up to the task.”
* From a press release…
Today the campaign of Bill Foster for Congress announces that NARAL Pro-Choice America endorses his candidacy for the 14th Congressional District seat.
I think we’ll make this a weekly thing until primary day.
What sort of mail or other contact have you received from you local legislative/congressional candidates since I last asked this question? Describe the contact(s) and tell us if it influenced your vote at all.
* In the laws of unintended consequence of new laws department…
The Safe Rides program, in which teenagers in suburbs north of Chicago offered rides home to other teenagers on weekend nights, stopped this month because [a new state law] made it illegal for drivers younger than 18 to be on the road after 11 o’clock on Fridays and Saturdays.
Most volunteer drivers were 17.
Oops.
More…
State Senator Jeffrey Schoenberg, Democrat of Evanston, said he would introduce a bill this week in Springfield to rescue the program.
But there’s a problem with Schoenberg’s idea, too, as explained by Sen. John Cullerton, who wrote the original bill…
“We have to make sure we draft it tight enough,” Mr. Cullerton said on Monday, noting that the program has critics who accuse it of encouraging teenage drinking.
OK, good point. Then again…
The program, which the Boy Scouts of America sponsors, has been at New Trier for about 15 years.
* Late yesterday, I told you that Rep. Julie Hamos was hinting at possible changes to the governor’s amendatory veto of the mass transit bailout proposal, or at least a trailer bill. She opened up a bit more to ABC-7…
Hamos says that what she is willing to do is possibly alter Governor Blagojevich’s proposal and maybe give free rides to seniors at a certain income level or giving free rides to seniors during off-peak hours.
The Constitution doesn’t specifically stop legislators from rewriting an amendatory veto, but it does allow the governor to decide if the changes conform to his suggestions in the orginal AV. Then again, they might just run a companion bill that contains the changes.
* The Metra and CTA fare hikes could give the General Assembly some political cover for limiting the senior discounts, without completely doing away with them…
But free rides for senior citizens — a benefit that could kick in as soon as April 1 — may require a “modest fare increase” in 2009, said Ron Huberman, Chicago Transit Agency’s president.
* And this little revelation doesn’t help the governor’s case much….
Chicago Transit Authority president Ron Huberman says Governor Rod Blagojevich never discussed plans with him to offer free rides on public transportation to senior citizens.
* Without a doubt the most underreported aspect of why the mass transit bailout was having so much trouble in both legislative chambers was the Realtors Association’s lobbying effort against the real estate transfer tax. The bill allows the Chicago city council to approve the tax hike, but the Realtors and many legislators (including Rep. Kevin McCarthy) were worried that the idea could spread to the suburbs. Not only that, but with the real estate crisis going on right now, the Realtors believed this was the wrong tax hike at the wrong time.
* Even so, most aldermen knew about the proposal, or at least should have known, so their surprise is a bit disingenuine…
Chicago aldermen who pushed Springfield for a Chicago Transit Authority rescue plan are close to getting what they wanted. But if the deal receives final approval from the General Assembly this week, they’ll also get a political hot potato some had not bargained for: a vote to raise a tax that’s triggered whenever a house or other property is sold. […]
“I won’t vote in favor of it, but I can’t vote against it,” Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) said Monday. “I’ll just walk off the [council] floor.”
Spoken with true courage, I’m sure. Stone is up for reelection as ward committeeman next month, and it shows. His opponent, Sen. Ira Silverstein, supported the bailout bill.
“It’s going to be a very difficult thing to ask people who have just gotten through voting for our budget to come back and increase the tax on an industry that is already crippled,” said Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s unofficial City Council floor leader.
“People are not buying and selling homes right now. They’re losing homes. If the market is going to be dead for as long as they’re saying it’s going to be — at least another year — this is not a tax that’s going to perform the way they need it to perform. It might be better to look elsewhere.”
* But…
Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) predicted that aldermen would “swallow hard” and approve the increase to keep CTA buses and trains rolling. […]
Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) predicted that the transfer tax would pass with more votes to spare than Daley’s property tax increase. That 29-to-21 vote was reminiscent of Council Wars, the 1980s power struggle that also split aldermen 29 to 21.
“You don’t actually feel this tax until you buy or sell something. … If it’s going to help the CTA and help seniors get free rides, it should be an easy” vote, Munoz said.
* More transit stuff, compiled by Kevin…
* Rich Miller: Governor’s new transit plan proves it’s always about him
* The AP’s John O’Connor has a great preview story today of Tony Rezko’s trial. Go read the whole thing, but I’ll post some excerpts here.
Let’s take a look at Stu Levine and his desire to remain on the Teachers Retirement System and Illinois Health Facilities Planning boards, so he could continue receiving kickbacks and other graft…
In a telephone conversation taped by the government, Levine’s reason for “accommodating” the new [Blagojevich] administration through Rezko was simple.
“He could knock me out and I need his people to get the stuff done,” Levine said, meaning he could be bounced off the boards without Rezko’s backing. “But I brought him stuff that he didn’t know existed and he’s makin’ money.” […]
But Blagojevich came in, promising to clean house, and Levine knew his time was short. He would not get reappointed to the TRS board unless he shared the spoils with Blagojevich’s people. And soon, with board appointments expiring, Rezko would be able to stack the boards with his candidates, Levine said. After the April 2004 meeting with Rezko, he thought his new friend was grateful to have Levine as a “player.”
“I could have succeeded without him, but of course only for a limited period of time,” Levine said in a taped conversation. “He said, ‘Well, what do you need to do to proceed?’ I said, ‘Your permission.’ (He) loved that.” […]
The strange political hybrid that allegedly masterminded the scheme began when Levine and another supposed conspirator approached Rezko and Kelly in 2003 about Blagojevich’s proposal to consolidate several pension funds, including TRS, according to the filing. The merger would have left Levine on the street.
Rezko and Kelly stopped the merger and made sure Levine was reappointed when his term ended in 2004 in exchange for a piece of the action, the government says.
O’Connor’s story is a marvelous refresher course for anyone who is interested in the Rezko trial. Like I said above, go read the whole thing.
“State Comptroller Dan Hynes reports that as of Jan. 1, Illinois had more than $1.7 billion in bills it couldn’t pay. That total never before has been so high at the midpoint of a state fiscal year.”
* Early voting blitz — 3,990 breaks record; more here
* IHSA approves steroid tests for student-athletes in postseason
* Illinois AG releases MySpace sexual offender report
