* The time off from work was going swimmingly until I made the mistake of checking the Intertubes this afternoon…
A black Hillary Clinton delegate on Sunday accused state Senate President Emil Jones of calling her an “Uncle Tom.”
Jones — Barack Obama’s political mentor — denied using the racially loaded slur against Chicago political consultant Delmarie Cobb, but two aldermen who said they witnessed the Saturday night exchange back up Cobb’s account.
“Last night, I was called an ‘Uncle Tom’ by Emil Jones in the lobby of the hotel, right in front of [Ald.] Freddrenna Lyle and [Ald.] Leslie Hairston and [Ald.] Latasha Thomas,” said Cobb, a member of Clinton’s Illinois Steering Committee. “I walked over to him and asked him, ‘What did you just call me?’ ” […]
Lyle, alderman of the South Side’s 6th Ward, said she was standing with Jones when the conversation took place in the lobby of the hotel where the Illinois delegation is staying, but she dismissed it as Jones engaging in harmless banter with someone he knows, although Lyle said she told him, “Emil, that’s bad even for you.”
The chief of Illinois’ National Organization for Women chapter today called on Barack Obama’s “political godfather” to resign immediately from the Illinois state Senate for calling an African-American Hillary Clinton delegate an “Uncle Tom.”
“That was a pretty horrible comment,” said Illinois NOW president Bonnie Grabenhofer, also a Clinton delegate, who issued the demand for Senate President Emil Jones’ resignation. […]
“I’ve never heard anything as awful or as sexist or as racist as to call her that for supporting Hillary,” said Clinton delegate Gay Bruhn, another NOW member in Illinois who called for a public apology from Jones.
* Larry believes this doesn’t sound like something Emil Jones would say.
I beg to differ. Jones has often referred to African-American Illinois House members as “House n—-rs” for following House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is white, instead of doing what Jones believes is right for the black community.
Larry does make this point, however…
What is missing is that Bruhn isn’t just another NOW member, she’s [Illinois NOW president Bonnie Grabenhofer’s] partner. That would be mentioned in any story referring to a heterosexual couple. So the story misses the context and treats same sex couples differently.
* Patterson interviewed Delmarie Cobb and it’s clear that she is not exactly an unbiased source…
“So when I tell that story he comes over to me and he said, ‘There were 35,000 in Springfield (for Obama’s introduction of vice presidential pick Joe Biden) 35,000 people in Springfield’
“I said, ‘Well that doesn’t mean anything, just that 35,000 more people drank the Kool-Aid.’
“I said, ‘See, he will not let this alone.’ I said, ‘What are you signifying.’
“He said, ‘I’m not signifying.’
“I said, ‘Oh, they’ve got another name for it now?’
“I said, ‘Why can’t you be gracious in victory as I am gracious in defeat?’” [emphasis added]
Cobb and at least two Chicago aldermen told friends that Jones made the “Uncle Tom” reference after a back-and-forth with the Senate president that started lightheartedly.
* And I doubt all of them could have misheard Jones…
Jones, himself an African-American, maintained Delmarie Cobb, a longtime Chicago public relations executive, misunderstood a comment in which he said it was time for those who continue to back the New York senator and former first lady to stop being “Doubting Thomases” and rally around Obama.
“She walked away and I said, ‘All you Doubting Thomases have to get on board,” Jones said of his discussion with Cobb over the weekend. “She turned around and said, ‘You called us?’ and I said, ‘No. That’s not so.’ I thought it was all over with. She just caught the last word of what I said. People make mistakes.”
Gov. Blagojevich [announced today] that he’s rewriting a state-government ethics bill that has been sitting on his desk, adding changes that include sweeping new limits on campaign contributions and an effort to stop “double-dipping” by some legislators.
The governor also plans to use his power as the state’s chief executive to impose a ban on “businesses, their affiliates and affiliated persons” with state contracts that total more than $50,000 from making contributions to himself, other state constitutional officeholders, legislators, candidates for state office and state political parties, effective Jan. 1, 2009.
* Here’s how the legislation would be changed, according to the governor’s office, with commentary by myself in brackets and in bold…
* Expands contributions ban: Governor Blagojevich is using his constitutional authority to improve House Bill 824 by applying the campaign contribution restrictions contained in the bill to all constitutional officers, members of the General Assembly, candidates for office, and state parties. [A shot at House Speaker Michael Madigan, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois - This provision was first suggested by Senate President Emil Jones, a Madigan enemy.]
* Requires legislators to affirmatively accept pay raises: Unlike the current system, legislative pay raises would have to be passed by both houses in order to take effect. [Also a suggestion from Senate President Emil Jones, who believes that the House always takes the easy way out by rejecting the pay raises in the hopes that the Senate will not follow suit.]
* Double-dippers: Outside employment by legislators with any unit of state, county or municipal government would be prohibited (except teachers, school counselors, university instructors, police officers, firefighters and elected officials). [The governor has repeatedly blamed Chicago “double dipper” legislators for killing his capital projects plan, so this is retribution on a grand scale.]
* Disclosure: Lawmakers and their spouses must disclose lobbying activity before boards, commissions, and units of local government. Legislators would be required to disclose their client, who they lobbied, and their fees. [This is a direct shot at Rep. John Fritchey, one of the co-authors of the original ethics bill who represents legal clients in Chicago zoning matters.]
* There is an agreement to override any gubernatorial changes, however…
“We’ve already talked about it: We will override him,’’ warned state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, D-Chicago Heights. “This has to be signed, as is. . . . We have worked way too long with this.”
The chief Senate sponsor of the bill, Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, predicted both houses will override the veto. While elements of the governor’s action makes sense, the bill that passed was a consensus measure that lawmakers agreed was the most that could be approved, Mr. Harmon said.
But Senate President Emil Jones, a staunch Blagojevich ally, said he was not aware of any agreement to move an override of the governor’s changes. [emphasis added]
“The governor claims he will strengthen HB 824 with an amendatory veto and executive order, but it is apparent he is trying to bypass the legislative process, rather than work towards real reform. Some of his proposed changes have merit and should be debated as separate bills. In the meantime, the General Assembly should reject his veto and put the most important reform in state statutes.”
If the Legislature refuses to accept his changes and doesn’t vote to block them, the original pay-to-play prohibitions would die entirely — and, ironically, Blagojevich could hit legislators for blocking ethics reform that he had a hand in killing.
llinois Senate President Emil Jones has never been fully appreciated as a legislative leader. Jones, who announced his retirement last week after years at the helm, has a manner of speaking which leads far too many people to assume that he is not intelligent.
Nothing could be further from the truth. He has been a supremely crafty tactician, who, despite all the bad raps and his recent blunders, has won far more than his share of legislative battles. He is literally a larger than life character.
Yet, there’s little doubt that Jones has been the most publicly vilified legislative leader in memory, particularly in the past two years.
His constant and unwavering support for Rod Blagojevich, the most unpopular (and most investigated) governor in the nation, certainly contributed to the shwacking. Jones stood by the governor’s hugely controversial Gross Receipts Tax idea last year when everyone else had abandoned it and when it had become clear that the proposal had probably killed off his professed life’s dream of enacting permanent, real education funding reform.
Jones appeared to brazenly block electric utility rate relief at the behest of his buddies at ComEd. He stood by the governor throughout a long, bitter overtime session last year and this year. His family benefitted from pay raises and no-bid contracts from the Blagojevich administration. He allegedly lied to House Speaker Michael Madigan about upholding last year’s budget agreement when he refused to override Blagojevich’s vetoes that targeted House Democrats and Senate Republicans for political punishment.
Jones blocked a constitutional amendment for recall of public officials and deliberately slow-walked an ethics reform bill at the governor’s behest. He railed against attempts to block a pay raise for lawmakers, infamously telling reporters that he needed that raise and some food stamps. And he just managed to replace himself on the November ballot with his son.
Sen. Jones has certainly become a liability for his members. You can’t get thumped for all of those outrages on an almost daily basis without at least some mud splashing on your rank and file. So his announcement last week that he would give up the Senate presidency may help ease the pain of some of his incumbents.
The retirement’s legislative impact is not completely clear. It’s thought that Speaker Madigan and maybe even some of Jones’ own members will want to put off a multi billion dollar capital construction plan until Jones leaves office. Why cut a deal now when a better one might be concocted after January?
There’s a legitimate concern in some circles about what this retirement announcement may mean for Jones’ fundraising. He is allowed to withdraw about $577,000 from his personal campaign fund because of a clause inserted into a mid 1990s ethics bill.
That would leave his bank balance at just over $1 million — about a half million shy of Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson’s June 30th total. Except for his most loyal friends, it’s difficult to see how Jones can easily add to that account now that he has made himself a lame duck.
Members were assured that there would be plenty of money in the campaign fund for incumbents, but Watson and his cohorts have to be breathing just a bit easier now that Jones has taken himself out of the game.
Meanwhile, loads of candidates are engaged in the Jones succession battle. It’s every man (literally, because there are no women in the race as I write this) for himself. And it’s far too early to make any predictions of how things will play out. There are no locks, there are no true frontrunners. This thing is wide open.
Also, word is that some candidates are already beginning to reach out to Senate Republicans in an effort to pad their margins and reach the magic number of 30 required to win the presidency — a majority of those elected in the entire Senate, not just among Democrats.
But forget about those 30 votes today. The big problem now is just finding 19 votes — a majority of the Democratic caucus. Almost that many Democrats are currently floating their names for president.
There is certainly no shortage of egos in the General Assembly, and the Senate Democratic caucus has an overabundance. It will likely take some time before many are ready to set aside their vanity candidacies and start actively engaging in the process.
* I’m taking at least this week off because the Democratic National Convention will likely drown out most state news. The Republican convention may not do so, simply because of the way things are in Illinois. I’ll make a decision later this week, and I’ll try to keep a half an eye on things and will post if necessary. Of course, our numerous automated news feeds will be running throughout, which makes this website more valuable than most places you can visit during my personal hiatus.
Meanwhile, make sure to visit Illinoize and dont’ forget to check the ads at InsiderzExchange. It’s on the move.
* As is my custom, I won’t be attending either national party convention. The Capitol Fax and the blog will be on hiatus next week, but I’ll keep an eye on things and write or post if something important happens. Doubtful.
* I see at least three possible reasons behind this free reception during the Democratic National Convention…
1) The governor has been shut out of just about every other public event, so he’s using Duckworth’s speaking role at the convention to glom a bit of attention;
2) This is yet another hint that the governor may appoint Duckworth to Obama’s Senate seat if Obama wins, which, of course, will attract more people to the party and give him a bit more attention;
3) He’s justifiably proud of his appointment of Duckworth to head the state’s veterans agency and wants to help showcase her talents in Denver.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and choose “3″ because I’m so nice.
* Rep. John Fritchey predicts that Gov. Blagojevich will use his amendatory veto power to “Rewrite to Do Right” the ethics bill next week. The deadline for action is a week from today…
I’m guessing that you AV the bill while everybody is focused on the Democratic Convention, while most of the major political reporters who are familiar with the story are half a country away, and while stories of Barack’s nomination are taking up most of the media space. I’ll even predict a Thursday or even Friday announcement of his action, so as to provide for maximum story burial potential, under the shadow of Barack’s acceptance speech.
So while many Illinois Democrats hope to ride Barack’s coattails, it looks like the Governor will try to hide behind them. It may be a good political move, but a profile in courage it isn’t.
We’ll see what happens. He might AV the thing today or tomorrow, which would really get buried.
JERRY KELLMAN: The Chicago native hired Obama in the early 1980s as a community organizer for Chicago’s Developing Communities Project and is often cited as a mentor to Obama.
TOM BALANOFF: The president of the Illinois Service Employees International Union also burnishes Obama’s labor credentials. Balanoff has praised Obama’s votes against trade deals such as the Central America Free Trade Agreement. […]
REP. JESSE JACKSON JR.: The son of the civil rights activist has represented the Chicago area since a special election in 1995 and is a national co-chairman of Obama’s presidential campaign. In 2004, Jackson was an early supporter of Sen. John Kerry for his party’s presidential nomination. Party leaders say Jackson’s speech will “tell Barack Obama’s life story.” […]
LISA MADIGAN: Illinois’ attorney general has at times been mentioned as a candidate to replace Obama in the U.S. Senate for the remaining two years of his term if he wins the presidency.
DAN HYNES: Like Madigan, Illinois’ comptroller has been mentioned as a possible Obama successor in the Senate. Hynes unsuccessfully challenged Obama for the 2004 Democratic Senate nomination but has since been a major Illinois supporter of Obama’s.
ALEXI GIANNOULIAS: The Illinois treasurer was backed by Obama, an endorsement that helped the banking heir win his seat. In return, Giannoulias helped Obama win support among Greek voters in the Chicago area and has raised more than $250,000 for Obama.
MIGUEL DEL VALLE: Chicago’s city clerk rounds out Monday’s group of Illinois officials talking up the candidate from their home state.
People planning to attend Barack Obama’s pre-convention appearance in Springfield on Saturday should be ready to be patient.
“We’re going to be very patient, and we ask that they do the same,” said Eric Pingolt, Secret Service resident-agent-in-charge for an 85-county region of downstate Illinois. “We’re going to get people into the event, but it’s going to be in a secure manner.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich will likely send legislation back to lawmakers that could affect the possible prosecution of former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson after an oversight left out the measure’s effective date, according to the bill’s sponsor.
“The governor’s likely going to do an amendatory veto, and the amendatory veto is going to make it clear that the bill is effective immediately,” said Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (D- Joliet). “It’s unfortunate that this got left out, but we’re making sure that the bill . . . is corrected.”
The bill, pushed by Will County State’s Atty. James Glasgow, would allow a judge to decide at a pretrial hearing whether hearsay testimony could be admitted into court if the prosecution could prove that the defendant made the witness disappear. The bill would apply only to first-degree murder cases.
But without an effective date written specifically into the bill, the law wouldn’t take effect until July 1, 2009, said Brian Williamsen, a spokesman for the governor’s office. He declined to comment on whether Blagojevich will send the measure back to lawmakers through an amendatory veto, adding that it was still “under consideration.”
Wilhelmi said he hopes the legislature can reconsider the measure in September. Both Wilhelmi and Glasgow are confident the issue will be resolved. [all emphasis added]
Critics of the proposal argue that it runs counter to the 6th Amendment, which states, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”
Last month, however, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that hearsay testimony could be admitted into trial if it is proven that the defendant’s wrongdoing made the witness unavailable to testify.
* Question: Do you think that Gov. Rod Blagojevich ought to call the General Assembly back to town in September to fix this bill? Or should it wait until November? Explain.
* The Sun-Times has an interesting story today about why this latest school funding lawsuit has better prospects than the previous two, which were shot down by the IL Supreme Court…
As in Illinois, previous suits challenging New York State’s school funding system had failed. But in 1993, a coalition there filed suit alleging for the first time that the system had a “disparate racial impact” based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
After 10 years and several appeals, New York’s highest court ruled in 2003 in favor of the plaintiffs. Further appeals by New York’s governor ended with the Court of Appeals upholding the ruling in 2006 and ordering the state to meet a minimum funding figure. That new funding level was finally enacted in April 2007.
Those involved in two previous lawsuits in Illinois said that without the new “disparate impact” claim, the Chicago Urban League’s suit would face bleak prospects.
“The earlier ruling of the court that there really wasn’t a binding right to a quality education had put a roadblock in the path of any lawsuits,” said Don Moore of Designs for Change. Still, he said, this new battle “is going to be difficult.” […]
Others argued that the Urban League’s suit has merit beyond its civil rights claims. Illinois courts declined to hear an earlier suit, based on a lack of criteria to determine whether schools were providing a “high-quality” education.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act and Illinois Learning Standards since enacted by the State Board of Education now fill that gap.
What Chicago students need even more than higher per capita spending is what New Trier, Naperville and Geneva schools provide: middle-class environments. It’s an advantage to have peers who are academically engaged and expect to go to college; parents who actively volunteer in the classroom and hold school officials accountable; and highly qualified teachers who have high expectations. On average, all these ingredients to good schools are far more likely to be found in middle-class than poor schools.
[…]
To provide genuine equality of educational opportunity, Sen. Meeks shouldn’t be seeking merely equal funding—a 21st Century version of “separate but equal.” Instead, a reasonable number of low-income students in failing Chicago schools should be given the opportunity to attend high-performing schools in Chicago’s affluent suburbs.
This may sound like a radical idea, but long-standing interdistrict public school choice programs exist in several metropolitan areas—including Boston, St. Louis, Hartford, Conn., Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Rochester, N.Y., and Indianapolis. Typically, low-income students who transfer into these programs achieve at high levels and are more likely to graduate and go on to college.
Even Chicago has experienced successful urban-suburban integration through the historic, court-ordered Gautreaux housing programs, which gave low-income minority families a chance to live in the suburbs. Gautreaux students rose to the occasion and performed significantly better when given the chance to attend good middle-class schools. Meeks would do well to push for a new school-based version of Gautreaux allowing low-income Chicago students a chance to attend good middle-class suburban schools. Overwhelming evidence suggests that equal spending just isn’t enough.
* The Tribune editorial board supports some of Meeks’ agenda and offers up a bit of advice…
“If we’re not going to evaluate educators on student performance, we’re missing the boat,” he said Thursday. “If we evaluate students based on their performance every week when they take a test, why shouldn’t we regularly evaluate teachers on the job they’re doing?”
This sort of imaginative thinking drives the public education industry berserk. Follow Meeks’ line of thinking and you might get to other frightening heresies, such as paying big bonuses to the best teachers—and promptly firing the worst.
* And Phil Kadner recalls former state Sen. Art Berman’s scenario from nearly 20 years ago…
Berman predicted at the time that state legislators never would address the [school funding] problem. A tax hike would be required, and they wouldn’t want to put their careers at risk by voting for such a measure.
“So how is this problem going to get solved? I asked. Berman’s response seems prophetic today.
Someone is going to file a lawsuit against the state, he said, claiming it has failed in its constitutional responsibility to adequately and fairly fund the public schools.
A court then will order the state to change the way it funds public education, Berman continued.
“And that will solve the problem?” I inquired.
Berman laughed and shook his head from side to side.
“No, because the legislators will never be able to agree on a solution,” he said. “They will argue a lot. But they will do nothing. And then someone will file another lawsuit claiming that the state of Illinois had failed to follow the previous court directive to change the school funding system.”
Then the court would spell out exactly what the state had to do to comply with the law, and the legislators would be happy because they could go home and tell the voters that it wasn’t their fault that taxes were being raised. The legislators would blame the court system.
“And then we’ll get public school funding reform,” Berman said. “Of course, that process could take five years.”
* No surprise here. The committeemen in Senate President Emil Jones’ district voted unanimously yesterday to appoint Jones’ son, Emil Jones, III, to the November ballot…
At the meeting, the elder Jones defended his decision to anoint his 30-year-old son and asserted he would remain active in politics after he retires in January.
“Just because you’re in public office does not mean you’re a second-class citizen,” he said. “And I respect fathers who take care of their children. So would I support my son? Sure I’m going to support my son.”
* The younger Jones spoke to the gathered Democratic committeemen before the vote…
The 30-year-old Jones touted his longtime residency in the district and the skills he would bring to the job. He works for the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in economic development.
“Economic development is my strongest point,” he said.
The Jones post-primary, hand-the-office-off-to-a-family-member plan, is reminiscent of events that led to Dan Lipinski’s 2004 election to succeed his father, Bill, in Congress:
“I think it’s really the news media the only ones who focus on anything that happened four years ago,” said Rep. Dan Lipinski, (D) Chicago.
Yeah, right. Only the news media cares. Sure. Great spin, congressman. Did you think of that all by yourself or did daddy help?
* Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) represents half of Jones’ district and has been involved in a long-running feud with the Senate president. Davis was portrayed positively in just about every story…
Even though Emil Jones, Jr., is her state senator, State Rep. Monique Davis are longtime rivals. She said voters in the 14th Senate District know little or nothing about 30-year-old Jones III.
“A naïve young 30-year-old man, with limited knowledge, limited wisdom,” Davis said. “People have not had the opportunity to hear from the son… when you’re running for office and you want a seat, you really should have made some sort of communication with the district that you’re running in.”
Davis’ nominee, 73-year-old retired schoolteacher Dozier Thomas, didn’t score any votes. But Davis used his candidacy to make a point that others should have been encouraged and given time to seek the South Side and south suburban seat the elder Jones is vacating after 25 years.
“The public, in my opinion, should be much more involved,” said Davis, a fierce opponent of the Senate president despite living in his district. “You have a meeting, and anyone interested should come and present yourself to the public. Then there could be a final meeting.”
Davis complained that the elder Jones, by announcing his retirement Monday, did not leave other prospective candidates time to mount a campaign for the nomination - other candidates, like her own son:
“He worked with me and Harold Washington and worked in government. He was a researcher. And he’s also a former staffer for (house) speaker (Michael) Madigan,” Davis said. [emphasis added]
Emil Jones III has never before faced reporters in a political campaign. But minutes after being chosen by the Democratic committee to run in place of his father he jumped right in and immediately faced questions about nepotism.
“I did not get in through the back door. I am officially on the ballot and will run in the election on November 4,” said the newest 14th District state senate nominee.
* Former Gov. Jim Thompson was in Rockford yesterday and discussed the obvious…
“The current situation in Springfield is one of the most distressing I’ve ever seen. Certainly what I hear on the streets from Democrats and Republicans alike is that there’s plenty of blame to go around,” Thompson said. “There’s an inability to agree on most challenging problems. We haven’t had a construction program since Gov. George Ryan,” he added.
“There’s failure to agree on how to finance a program, failure of Democratic legislators to trust the governor to fairly appropriate money for programs; that’s something I’ve not seen before,” he said.
By way of contrast, Thompson, a moderate Republican and Chicagoan who worked with mostly Democratic majorities in one or both houses of the General Assembly, said he got everything he wanted from lawmakers “except a World’s Fair. I wanted to have a 1992 World’s Fair in Chicago, and they said no.”
* But, of course, Thompson shares some of this blame. He co-chaired Blagojevich’s transition team in 2002-2003, his law firm has made hundreds of thousands of dollars off the governor during the ongoing federal investigations, he helped create even more controversy this year when he agreed to negotiate on the governor’s behalf for a state buyout of Wrigley Field, and he recently defended Blagojevich’s radical amendatory vetoes…
Former Republican Gov. Jim Thompson said he used the amendatory veto to try to improve bills. Lawmakers are the check on that executive power because they can reject changes they don’t like.
“He’s not out of bounds,” Thompson said of Blagojevich.
That’s right. Throw even more gasoline on the fire.
Amazing.
* Covering politics has been fun until this year. No more. Our miserable political situation is producing miserable “real world” results…
The unemployment rate in the Chicago metropolitan area jumped to 7.5 percent in July from 5.4 percent a year earlier, and the area lost 2,700 jobs, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday.
The higher rate followed a report last week that the state’s unemployment rate in July rose to 7.3 percent from 5.1 percent.
All 12 metropolitan areas in the state reported unemployment rate increases. The highest rate of joblessness was reported in Rockford, where the rate hit 9 percent, up from 6.1 percent. That was followed by Kankakee-Bradley, where the rate jumped to 8.6 percent from 6.2 percent; and Danville, where the rate was 8.6 percent, up from 6.8 percent.
Notice that Rockford number? Nine percent. Wow.
A capital bill would help, of course. But, as Thompson noted above, there’s a “failure of Democratic legislators to trust the governor to fairly appropriate money for programs.” He isn’t making things better with his enabling schtick.
I agree that Thompson was a very successful governor. I’ve always admired the man. But perhaps Big Jim could offer some advice to his client beyond the legal stuff. At the very least, he should stop encouraging RRB to pick fights with the General Assembly over this “Rewrite to Do Right” campaign.
Stop making things worse, dude.
Please?
…Adding… This David Ormsby post sums up just about everything…
On August 19, Governor Rod Blagojevich signed into law Senate Bill 2857 the 2009 Hospital Assessment which, once approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will bring $777 million in federal matching funds to Illinois.
“Healthcare is a top priority in Illinois. This bill facilitates that process, secures the matching federal dollars and gets the money where it needs to go to ensure everyone gets the quality healthcare they deserve,” said Governor Blagojevich.
On July 9, Governor Blagojevich vetoed $55 million from the state substance abuse treatment budget, and – guess what – that veto will send $55 million of federal matching funds–health care money back to the federal government.
Yep. Health care is a top priority. Except when it is not.
The leaders of that group include: Rock Island County board chair Jim Bohnsack, former U.S. Rep. Terry Bruce, CEO of Illinois Eastern Community Colleges, and Madison County Board President Alan Dunstan.
“Will that be the motto: ‘Come to my university. Drink as much as you can as long as you pay your tuition’? … Do you think you send your son or daughter to come home as an alcoholic? … That’s a bad message … I’m sorry. You have enough time to drink the rest of your life,”Daley said
“Any candidate or elected official who is serious about reducing our reliance on foreign oil has to support the expansion of nuclear power,” Sauerberg said. “There is no realistic path to energy independance in the near future that does not include nuclear power.”
To keep its retail prospects alive, New Lenox officials will ask voters to give the village home rule powers. They pinned their hopes on a special census conducted last year, but it appears they have fallen short by about 1,000 people of the 25,000 needed to automatically become a home rule unit.
[This post was bumped up from last night to today.]
* The governor was in Dallas, Texas yesterday. NBC 5 Dallas reporter Omar Villafranca fills us in…
So why is the highest elected official of Illinois and an admitted Chicago Bears fan visiting Dallas Cowboys practice?
Money.
The Governor was in town for a fundraiser in Texas and decided to swing by Texas Stadium.
I chatted the Gov up about his trip. We talked sports and then the Chicago Cubs came up. I mentioned that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was very interested in buying the North Side’s Team…just to see what he’d say.
Get this….Governor Blag said he met with Cuban Tuesday! What did they have to talk about? Why would the acting Governor of Illinois talk to Cuban? We all know Cuban doesn’t waste his time, so something productive had to have come from that meeting. What? I don’t know. […]
It’d be interesting to see, when the filings come out, if Cuban donated to Governor Blag’s campaign. Greasing the wheel for ownership maybe?
* They appear to be courting each other. Set the Wayback Machine to just a couple of weeks ago…
The biggest draw at the Kerry Wood Strike Zone fund-raiser Wednesday night wasn’t one of the star athletes — it was Mark Cuban.
Fans swarmed outside 10Pin Bowling Lounge, 330 N. State, and when Cuban stepped outside they rushed him for autographs. “I can’t really say anything,” he told reporters when asked about his bid to buy the Chicago Cubs. “I just love Chicago.” […]
Gov. Blagojevich came with his 12-year-old daughter Amy, a major fan who likes to call pitches when she watches games with her dad. […]
The party raised about $360,000, which is being matched in a state grant by the governor, to benefit the Organic Food Project. The money will go to supply healthy lunches to students at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School, 2625 N. Orchard, for a year.
So, to add to Villafranca’s question, I’m wondering if Cuban repaid the taxpayer-funded kindness at the Dallas fundraiser.
* The Dallas TV reporter also posted a photo of our “acting governor”….
That appears to be Blagojevich pal and fundraiser John Wyma standing in the middle. I’ve posted Wyma’s lobbyist client list here, but if you want the links to work, you’ll have to look him up here.
* Since he was in Dallas, I also can’t help but wonder if he remembered to bring his Sun-Times cowboy hat…
