Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’m amazed that he actually went through with it. And I’m not surprised at the reaction by the governor’s office. With a guy who has been knocked around by the press as much as Dominic Longo has, the most effective response is ridicule.

A convicted felon who worked on some of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s past campaigns says the governor is defaming him and trying to hide their friendship.

Dominic Longo told reporters today that he wanted to defend a reputation he claims has been smeared by Blagojevich. He says he plans to sue the governor if he doesn’t get an apology within 30 days.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson released a statement today calling Longo’s claims “ludicrous, ridiculous and laughable.”

34 Comments

Rubbing his nose into it

Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

UPI/Washington Times has an excellent analysis of Comptroller Dan Hynes’ refusal to pay a $2.5 million bill for 256,000 unused flu vaccines from Europe. (If the link doesn’t work, just copy and past this into your browser: http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050201-031000-4302r.htm )

An attempt by Illinois’ governor to obtain unapproved flu vaccine directly from Europe at the height of last fall’s vaccine shortage has backfired, turning into a statewide embarrassment. […]

The signed contract with Ecosse didn’t reach the comptroller’s office until Jan. 24, and with flu season half over. Hynes wants to know why the deal was signed.

“Perhaps there are side agreements that we don’t know about. Perhaps they have verbal assurances that we don’t know about,” Hynes told Chicago Public Radio. “All I can work under is the written contract and I don’t believe we owe the money.”

Hynes said common sense showed the vaccine deal was bad from the beginning. Ecosse will have to sue for payment for vaccine it never shipped. Hynes, a former U.S. Senate candidate who plans to run for re-election in 2004, denies his stand is political. […]

“Why are we assuming the risk (when) the federal government doesn’t approve of the vaccines being imported?” Hynes asked. “And then, worst of all, why are we assuming the risk for supplying flu vaccines for citizens of other states and cities?” […]

Was the vaccine purchase a political gamble by a publicity-seeking first-term governor that didn’t pay off? Had the winter of 2004-2005 produced a horrible flu season Blagojevich would have said that he did everything he could to protect the people and was thwarted by a foot-dragging FDA.

Because millions did not get sick the governor has egg on his face. Some think the comptroller is rubbing his nose in it.

Heh.

5 Comments

“Not so fast”

Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Here’s the link to the Ungaretti & Harris analysis of Illinois’ new gay rights law that I wrote about today in Capitol Fax.

Here, again, is the last paragraph written by the firm’s attorney Nicholas Anaclerio, which is now being used by the religious right to condemn the new law for allegedly forcing churches to hire and retain gays and lesbians:

“Thus, while adding another protected status to Illinoisâ€™ Human Rights Act, the measure may ultimately force courts to consider and balance its ban on sexual orientation discrimination with State and Federal constitutional safeguards of religious freedom.”

Go here and here to see how the anti-gay Illinois Family Institute uses Anaclerio’s analysis to tear into the new law as an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of religious institutions. (And, yes, it’s “anti-gay” not “anti gay rights” because IFI routinely uses terribly harsh language to describe homosexuals and homosexuality.)

By signing into law SB 3186-a bill that, according to its sponsor, would ban churches from ‘discriminating’ against homosexuals-Gov. Blagojevich is signing away the First Amendment freedoms of churches and anyone who disagrees with homosexuality, Illinois Family Institute Executive Director Peter LaBarbera said today

You can also go here to see a bunch of links to stories, blogs, etc. that are using Anaclerio’s analysis to bash the gay rights law.

And since this thing is exploding all over the Internet, and because Anaclerio’s analysis is being misused so much, I thought I’d break my usual rule and provide a quote from today’s subscription-only edition:

“I didn’t then and I don’t now take a position about whether it does affect the abridgment of religious liberties.” Anaclerio also said he is not claiming that the law is an unconstitutional infringement on religious liberties. “That’s not what I said. And I wouldn’t have said that without a whole lot more study of it.”

“My point was the controversy arose over whether there was an express exemption (in the legislation),” Anaclerio said, “There are arguments that can be fashioned that exemptions can apply… and I did not purport to speak globally about that.”

Subscribers already know that there’s much more to today’s story which refutes the religious right’s contention that the law abridges their churches’ freedoms.

3 Comments

Longo speaks

Tuesday, Feb 1, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Here and here.

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Outrage of the month

Tuesday, Feb 1, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Illinipundit is puzzled because his links to internal Illinois State Board of Elections pages aren’t working. He’s trying to link to campaign finance reports of individual candidates, but users are redirected to another site.

For some reason, Blogger is messing with the links, sending them to a very strange 404-not-found site. If you are taken to a strange site, please either refresh or copy the links and paste them into another browser window if you’re having problems. Thanks, and sorry for the trouble. I’m trying to figure out what the problem is, but I’m stumped.

It’s not Blogger’s fault. The ISBE is up to its old tricks again.

Years ago, my old website was set up to search ISBE pages. The Board quickly blocked the searches, but I raised a big stink and they lifted the blockade, but not before coming up with some totally lame excuses about why they shouldn’t have to do it.

I’ve noticed in the past several months that they’re doing it again.

I didn’t say anything because, well, because I really don’t know why. But this is ridiculous, and incredibly arrogant of the ISBE, especially in the blogging age when people use internal links all the time.

Blog owners and their readers who are upset about this should send the board’s webmaster an email, or pick up the phone and call the Board at (312)-814-6440 or (217)-782-4141. Ask the Board why it’s against the public’s right to know. Also, check this page and see if you know anyone on the House Elections Committee. If you do, contact that person and ask him or her to look into the matter.

6 Comments

Light blogging today

Tuesday, Feb 1, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’ll be on the road to Springfield today, so blogging could be light.

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Contractors

Tuesday, Feb 1, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Tribune and the Sun-Times both cover the item in today’s Capitol Fax about the politically connected construction company that was paid to remodel the governor’s new campaign office.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign paid more than $164,000 last fall to a Markham construction company that recently won a $24.3 million state contract and has links to the governor’s chief fundraiser, disclosure reports filed Monday show.

Castle Construction and a related construction firm have donated $224,000 to Blagojevich’s campaign.

The campaign fund is chaired by Chris Kelly, a close Blagojevich confidant. In December, the campaign fund repaid a $250,000 loan to Kelly’s consulting firm. The loan, dating to March 2002 when Blagojevich was running for office, was made by Kelly’s CGK Consulting.

The payment to Castle Construction, of Markham, was for work at a new campaign office in the Ravenswood neighborhood, according to the governor’s campaign.

There’s a big push by some Democrats and Republicans to forbid the governor to raise any more campaign cash from state contractors. Stay tuned.

2 Comments

Promises made….

Tuesday, Feb 1, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Rockford Register-Star has a long list of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s campaign promises and whether he’s kept them yet.

It’s worth a read, and the governor doesn’t come out too bad in the end.

2 Comments

Race to the bottom

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’ve seen plenty of arguments pro and con about the impact of a single state increasing its minimum wage (as Illinois did). It’s not clear from the evidence that it has a huge impact.

But new technologies appear to be allowing corporations to change the dynamic.

The McDonald’s restaurant in Hermiston, Oregon is outsourcing customers drive-thru meals to North Dakota.

The restaurant on Highway 395 has outsourced one of the most important jobs at the drive-through window — order taking.

When a customer drives through, they’ll be patched through to Grand Forks, North Dakota to place the order. Why? Because the minimum wage in North Dakota is five-dollars and 15 cents, compared to Oregon’s seven-dollars and 25 cents.

I wonder when McDonald’s finally outsources this task overseas at a buck an hour.

4 Comments

Statewide sites

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’m going to add a new link category on the right side of the page for statewide candidate websites and their non-blogger tormentors. The NoLaHood.com link shouldn’t be under “blogs,” for instance, and I’m going to change that.

If you know of any STATEWIDE candidate-related sites, please post them in comments. Thanks.

The latest one I’ve found is Rod Gidwitz’s site. Kinda lame, but he does have a “Road Diary”.

3 Comments

New IRMA chair

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

From Crain’s online:

The Illinois Retail Merchants Association named Western Springs True Value Hardware owner Linda Johnson as chair to replace Jewel-Osco executive Pete Van Helden, who was promoted to the head of the grocery store chainâ€™s California division.

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Hynes says no

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Comptroller Hynes says “No” to paying the governor’s bill.

Illinois’ chief financial officer said Monday his office would refuse to pay for the millions of dollars in flu vaccine that Gov. Rod Blagojevich ordered from Europe but never got federal approval to import, even though the state signed a contract.

In a letter to the governor’s chief of staff, state Comptroller Dan Hynes’ office said the lack of approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to import the vaccine should let the state cancel the contract under a provision about “circumstances beyond its reasonable control.'’

The letter also notes that Illinois’ $2.5 million contract for 256,000 doses of flu vaccine was not submitted until Jan. 24 — three months after Blagojevich struck the deal to import the vaccine.

“In light of these facts … the Office of the Comptroller will refuse any requests for payment,'’ the letter said. Hynes spokesman Alan Henry said that if the vaccine suppliers still feel entitled to the money, they will have to sue the state.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor’s office was looking into the letter and had no immediate comment.

Stay tuned for more.

2 Comments

Recommended reading

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Rockford Register-Star’s Aaron Chambers sits down with the governor’s commerce director, Jack Lavin.

The interview is transcribed online, Q&A style, a practice that has been used by more and more of this state’s newspapers in the past year or so. It began when House Speaker Madigan decreed last year that he would only allow himself to be interviewed if it was reprinted verbatum, and then everyone else asked for the same treatment.

Imagine that. Mike Madigan, of all people, helping to reshape news coverage for the better. Kinda weirds me out.

14 Comments

Pulitzer sold

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Bloomington Pantagraph are being absorbed by Lee. All of Lee’s Statehouse reporters operate out of one office right now, but it’s getting kinda crowded in there, so I wonder if they’ll make Erickson and McDermott (both very good reporters) move.

Pulitzer Inc. has agreed to a $1.46 billion acquisition by Lee Enterprises Inc., that will create the seventh-largest U.S. newspaper chain in terms of circulation.

The deal, announced late Sunday, ended two months of speculation about the fate of Pulitzer, whose holdings include The Pantagraph and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. […]

Lee operates 44 daily newspapers in 19 states. It had revenue of $683 million and profits of $86.1 million in its latest fiscal year. Pulitzer owns 14 dailies and more than 100 weekly newspapers and other publications. It had revenue of $444 million and profits of $44.1 million last year.

Lee’s deal for Pulitzer also includes a small stake in the St. Louis Cardinals. Pulitzer Inc. and Michael Pulitzer together own slightly less than four percent of the baseball team.

One question not answered by the above Pantagraph article was how the SP-D’s very strong employees’ unions will be impacted.

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Survey says…

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Despite some of the bad press resulting from the state’s “C-minus” in the Government Performance Project’s latest management survey of all state governments, Illinois appeared to be praised more often than it was criticized.

You can see the complete Illinois study here, or you can just peruse the press release here.

In the end, whether you see Illinois management as a glass half full or a glass half empty doesnâ€™t matter a great deal. The bottom line is that thereâ€™s an enormous amount of catching up to doâ€”but at least now thereâ€™s somebody checking to see that the glass doesnâ€™t fall off the table.

And some basic facts:

The state takes longer than average to hire new employees and terminates an above average number of new workers before the end of their probationary period. Despite recent high retirement turnover, the state boasts comparatively low voluntary turnover. Illinois spends an average amount of money on benefits per salary dollar for employees, including a 19 percent contribution of employee salary to retirement and payment of 90 percent of an employeeâ€™s health insurance costs.

* 51,127 state employees (excluding temps)
* 20% of employees are covered by the merit system
* 45 political appointees serve in the Executive Branch
* 80% of state employees are covered by labor contracts […]

Total benefit dollars per state employee:

* $16,347 for state classified employees
* $16,347 for state non-classified employees
* $20,812 for Environment classified employees
* $29,577 for Environment non-classified employees
* $24,700 for Transportation classified employees
* $36,100 for Transportation non-classified employees

Benefits dollars per dollar of salary:

* $.29 for state classified employees
* $.40 for state non-classified employees
* $.40 for Environment classified employees
* $.32 for Environment non-classified employees
* $.57 for Transportation classified employees
* $.57 for Transportation non-classified employees

Percent of health insurance covered by state:

* 90.9% for state employees

Employee relations:

* There were 1,211 grievances for state employees
* There were 23.7 grievances per 1,000 state employees
* There were 110 appeals for state employees
* There were 2.2 appeals per 1,000 state employees
* There were 138 discrimination charges for state employees
* There were 2.7 discrimination charges per 1,000 state employees

There’s more, and I’m sure other reporters and bloggers will dig it up. I’ll keep looking as well.

3 Comments

Turn me on, dead man

Monday, Jan 31, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Very trippy:

Remember when the “White Album” came out and we were worried that Paul might be dead?

Remember ruining our needles playing songs backwards searching for hidden messages?

Remember wondering what the entire song of “Revolution #9″ would sound like backwards? […]

Not every family had reel-to-reel tape recorders and it was impossible to play an 8 minute song backwards on a turntable so I don’t think many people ever got to hear the whole thing. I longed for the day that technologies would allow this type of sonic manipulation to be simplified and of course that day is here now! Using Cool Edit Pro, I have completed the project for all to hear.