* Golden Horseshoe for best commenter was pretty easy to choose. Wordslinger gets it. Even Bill, who generally hates everybody, nominated him…
He remembers great stories I haven’t thought about in decades. He seems to have been everywhere when everything happened (or he has a great Wiki link). Plus he plays it straight most of the time and calls them like he sees them.
Honorable mention goes to my old friend Steve Schnorf. Here is Yellow Dog Democrat’s nomination…
Schnorf brings a gravitas to the discussion that no one else does. Amidst the ad hominem arguments, the rhetoric, spin, flakiness, and on-up-manship, Schnorf stands out as a reminder that the issues we debate here are important and that the outcome of the public debate in Springfield has real consequences for real people.
* Best non-political legislative staffer is Jessica Handy of the Senate Democratic staff. Jessica told me she was taking herself out of the running because she left staff last week for another job, but this isn’t a prospective award, it’s for the past year, so she wins…
Jess gets both the policy and the politics and, in an environment where it’s easy to become jaded quickly, she never forgets that what she’s doing affects real people. She’s so invested it’s almost unhealthy.
Tasked with education and pensions over the last few years, she handled a huge workload–not just a large number of bills, but some of the most complicated and controversial bills to come before the GA in recent memory (HB 174, pensions reform, and vouchers, to name a few). President Cullerton has had enough faith in her to call her in to brief not just his own caucus but the House Dems, as well. She’s completely top notch, and the caucus is losing a huge asset.
Honorable mention goes to John Hollman…
John Hollman on House Democratic staff is indispensable! He is organized and works well under pressure, making him a perfect candidate to have his hands in many of the big projects House Democrats deal with each session. His understanding of and familiarity with the legislative process is incredible. He works hard not only on his own committees but staffs the all important rules process as well.
* A roundup of all our winners, with honorable mentions in parentheses…
* Best political bar in Springfield: The Globe
* Best political restaurant in Springfield: Saputo’s
* Best Springfield hotel: Statehouse Inn
* Best campaign staffer - state legislative: Shaw Decremer (Heather Weir Vaught)
* Best campaign staffer - constitutional office or congressional: Eric Elk (Mary Morrissey)
* Best campaign spokesperson: Aaron Chambers (Patty Schuh)
* Best government spokesperson: Steve Brown (Ashley Cross)
* Best Senate secretary/admin assistant: Nancy Beaty (Robin Gragg)
* Best House secretary/admin assistant: : Beth Hamilton (Kristin Milligin)
* Best Illinois state Representative: Bill Black and Greg Harris (tie)
* Best Illinois state Senator: Don Harmon (Gary Dahl)
* Best Statehouse contract lobbyist: Dave Sullivan (Mike Kasper)
* Best in-house lobbyist: Eileen Mitchell (Pat Devaney)
* Best “do-gooder” lobbyist: Jonathan Goldman (Dick Lockhart)
* Best Statehouse “insider”: Mike McClain (Bill Luking)
* Best Illinois state agency director: Julie Hamos (Gary Hannig)
* Best Illinois congresscritter: Dick Durbin (Peter Roskam)
* Best Illinois statewide elected official: Dan Hynes (Bill Holland)
* Best state legislative staffer - non-political: Jessica Handy (John Hollman)
* Best CapitolFax.com commenter: Wordslinger (Steve Schnorf)
Congratulations to all!
* Anyone up for a holiday party? It’ll probably have to be in Springfield, unless we do it the week between Christmas and New Years Eve.
* I have a meeting with State Police Acting Director Jonathon Monken later today to ask him about yesterday’s worthless and perhaps even harmful press conference….
Illinois State Police refused Tuesday to release any details about the death of Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin, whose body was found Tuesday morning in his home on Apple Creek Drive.
Sources told The State Journal-Register that Davlin, 53, died from a gunshot wound, apparently self-inflicted, but State Police Director Jonathon Monken refused Tuesday afternoon to confirm that or say even whether the mayor had been shot. […]
Monken did not rule out foul play.
“It’s always considered when you’re looking at a death investigation,” Monken said.
Asked during a Tuesday afternoon news conference whether residents in the area should be concerned about the possibility of homicide, Monken did not give a direct answer. […]
Monken would not say why he would not tell reporters whether the mayor had been shot. He also refused to be specific when asked whether anyone else was in Davlin’s home. […]
Speaking more than six hours after the mayor’s death, Monken said police also had not yet determined who called 911 or what telephone number the call came from.
Not good at all. There’s really no excuse for withholding all information from the public. Last I checked, this was still a democracy. But we’ll see what Monken says.
* Todd Renfrow just said on the radio that Mayor Davlin’s wake will be at Blessed Sacrament tomorrow at 2 o’clock. The funeral will be at 10 o’clock on Friday.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Strike those times and dates. Renfrow may have made a mistake. Checking.
Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin died Tuesday of a gunshot wound to the chest, apparently self-inflicted, according to Sangamon County Coroner Susan Boone’s office, which conducted an autopsy Wednesday morning.
* I’m sure they’ll find a way to do it, but I don’t think anyone can say that Joe Morris was unfair to the people objecting to Rahm Emanuel’s candidacy during yesterday’s 11-hour hearing.
Morris only lost his cool a couple of times. Objector Jeffrey Joseph Black was going on and on about some weird thing or another and claiming that Morris was helping covering up for Emanuel, Morris finally said “I don’t know if I have contempt powers, but I’m getting close to wanting to find out.”
He probably should’ve done that before the hearing. Check out this exchange with Black…
“Did you travel to Waco, Texas three days prior to or three days after April 19, 1993?” Objector Jeffrey Joseph Black asked, referring to the government’s raid on a cult compound during the Clinton administration.
“No,” Emanuel said.
“Have you ever heard the term, ‘Smiling like a butcher’s dog?’” Black asked Emanuel.
Hearing officer Joe Morris cut off Black, saying, “You are allowed to treat the witness like a hostile witness — you are not allowed to be hostile to the witness.”
Emanuel enjoyed an extended laugh.
Another objector asked Emanuel if he was a citizen of Israel and if he was a “freedom fighter” for Israel.
Another, a woman named Zakiyyah Muhammad, wanted to know what role Emanuel played in the U.S. Agriculture Department’s request that Shirley Sherrod leave her job as Georgia’s director of rural development after comments she made in March were misconstrued as racist.
Sheesh.
* If you have time, take a look at the video of some of the objectors’ oftentimes bizarre and almost uniformally ill-informed “questions”…
* Black Alleges Conspiracy Involving Emanuel, Election Officials: Perhaps the most combative of all the objectioners, Black goes after Joseph Morris, the election hearing commissioner, and alleges a wide cover-up to allow Emanuel on the ballot. Morris continually strikes Black’s questions and statements and takes him to task for his line of questioning.
* Queen Sister Georgetta Deloney Offers Statements, Few Questions: This activist makes arguments, rather than asks questions of the witness. She asks Emanuel how, if it’s been a life-long dream to be mayor of Chicago, he wouldn’t have had the forethought to make sure he had residency in the city. Morris jumps in and clarifies that it’s exactly what Emanuel thought he’d done.
* Paul McKinley Asks About Residency, Communism: After asking questions that had already been addressed earlier in the day, election commissioner Joseph Morris seems to nearly beg for an appropriate question from objector Paul McKinley. He ultimately asks: “Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”
Just imagine Daley in Emanuel’s spot Tuesday with citizens brazenly asking questions. He’d have been a jabbering pile of goo after only an hour, pulling at his collar, sighing, perhaps threatening to take his pants off as he’s done at least twice in the past.
Or he could very well have done a full-blown Mayor Chucky, striking terror into everyone at the board of elections hearing.
That same thought crossed my mind about Daley as well. Can you imagine? Oy.
* But Kass is completely wrong to claim that state law is cut and dried on this issue…
The wacky behavior helped Rahm by diverting attention away from the facts and the law. And though some pundits and Rahministas develop a terrible case of hives when I mention it, Illinois law is quite clear on this residency issue.
It simply states that anyone wishing to run for mayor of Chicago must have lived in the city for at least a year prior to the election. And we know Rahm did not.
The law doesn’t say “lived” it says “resided,” and “resided” is a legal term. Legal terms are open to interpretation and that’s what this case is all about. The statute…
A person is not eligible for an elective municipal office unless that person is a qualified elector of the municipality and has resided in the municipality at least one year next preceding the election or appointment, except as provided in subsection (c) of Section 3.1-20-25, subsection (b) of Section 3.1-25-75, Section 5-2-2, or Section 5-2-11.
What’s left here is a legal question of whether Emanuel did enough to preserve his Chicago residency, an issue Emanuel admitted Tuesday he’d never even contemplated until lawyer Burt Odelson raised the matter after Emanuel signaled his intention to run.
Emanuel says he and his family always intended to return here and kept the Ravenswood house as their official legal residence. Odelson, an election law specialist who I would characterize as the one serious objector, maintains Emanuel abandoned his legal residency when he rented out the house and didn’t take another place.
As I’ve said, I think it’s a legitimate question to raise, although one that ought to be eventually resolved in favor of Emanuel. He shouldn’t have forfeited his right to run for public office here on the basis of serving the president of the United States. It’s certainly possible that the Supreme Court of Illinois will decide otherwise.
* The end of the hearing was interesting, however. Emanuel has so far succeeded in convincing Morris not to call his wife to the stand. But he was forced to admit that perhaps his wife would know more about certain aspects of the case under questioning. We’ll see.
* In other news, the Chicago Tribune has a new poll showing Rahm Emanuel leading the pack with 32 percent. Gery Chico and Danny Davis are tied for second, but are in single digits at 9 percent…
Davis, an African-American political veteran who also served on the City Council and the Cook County Board, was backed by 21 percent of black voters, but just 2 percent of Hispanics and 1 percent of whites.
Among blacks, 30 percent are undecided, 19 percent back Emanuel, 13 percent favor Meeks and 10 percent are for Braun. Burris, once a popular African-American politician, had just 3 percent support among blacks.
Chico — of Latino, Greek and Lithuanian heritage — had 15 percent support among whites, 12 percent among Hispanics and just 2 percent among blacks.
Chico and del Valle combined trail Emanuel in the Latino community. Among likely Hispanic voters, 36 percent are undecided, 27 percent favor Emanuel, 14 percent del Valle and 12 percent Chico.
The Chico campaign is claiming that Emanuel is losing support even as he spends cash. From an internal campaign memo…
After spending well over a million dollars on television ads, our internal polling shows that Rahm’s support has actually decreased by four percent – and despite not having run a single campaign ad – Gery’s numbers have risen by five percent. A nine- point swing before Christmas is a great start.
* Related…
* The ‘Waco’ wacko and other goofballs make high comedy of the Emanuel hearing
* Chicago neighborhood integration grinds to halt, according to Census data: Here, 81 percent of blacks would have to move in order to be distributed as evenly across the city as whites, down slightly from 83 percent in 2000, according to a Sun-Times analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s 5-year American Community Survey. For Hispanics, that figure is 49 percent for 2009 compared to 47 percent in 2000… Nationwide, a similar index calculated by professors from Brown University and Florida State University showed an average of 65 percent for black-white segregation and 52 percent for Hispanics.
* Lincoln-related tourism drops after 200th anniversary of birth: A post-bicentennial drop in tourism numbers reduced attendance by more than a third at some Lincoln sites this year. Hotel stays also fell. But tourism and historic-site managers say the fall-off from the 200th anniversary celebration in 2009 of Abraham Lincoln’s birth was anticipated. They remain encouraged that numbers in most cases were ahead of 2008
* Center for women shuts down: One of the city’s pioneering social service entities to combine non-profit and for-profit strategies to train low-income women for work has folded — a victim of the economy.
* Mitsubishi workers set to vote on contract changes
* Cook County orders audit for promotions and pay hikes
* Preckwinkle makes financial checks in first Cook County Board meeting
* Former Chicago revenue inspector accused of soliciting bribes
* Northwestern attorneys seek to seal evidence in wrongful conviction case
* Career prosecutor sworn in as DuPage state’s attorney - Robert Berlin was sworn in Tuesday morning as DuPage County state’s attorney after a 17-0 vote
* Cahnman found not guilty in solicitation case: Springfield defense attorney Dan Fultz argued to the seven-woman, five-man jury that Cahnman didn’t solicit the women, but simply accepted the offer they made to him. “You can think he was stupid, you can think that he was morally wrong, but he’s not on trial for any of that,” Fultz said.
* I didn’t want to open up comments this morning on the Mayor Tim Davlin post because we didn’t really know what was going on and I didn’t want any speculation here.
However, I think people in our community would probably like an opportunity to express their thoughts and remembrances. So, I’m going to open up comments here.
I know I don’t have to say this, but, please, be respectful. A man is dead. He was a father, a grandfather, a son and a brother. Keep that in mind.
Remember to explain your votes or they won’t be counted.
* And here are our winners from yesterday. Julie Hamos wins best state agency director…
Julie Hamos, for preventing her agency from completely disintegrating. All the agency directors deserve credit for working with duct tape and WD40 to keep things running, but Hamos has one of the biggest agencies.
Gary Hannig wins honorable mention…
I think Gary Hannig does a great job as agency director. He’s a former legislator who knows everyone, is well-liked and gets things done.
* Best Illinois congresscritter is, once again, Sen. Dick Durbin…
In Congress, Dick Durbin remains above the pack. He has constantly fought to bring home federal resources. Politically, where the state Democratic Party has often had a narrower, more local focus (ahem), Durbin has filled the void, helping congressional candidates and building the larger party.
Honorable mention goes to Peter Roskam for this nomination…
Roskam shows the best promise for the future, while doing a very good job for his district. Remember his days in the GA. He is very smart without being cocky, and this has been recognized by colleagues and leaders in DC (out there they are not threatened by that kind of talent). He goes to all the key meeting when Boehner needs 3 or 4 sharp people to do the bargaining. He has been selected chief deputy whip for next congress, which is a huge deal in DC. Makes him #5 among House GOPrs — what Hastert was when he stepped-up. He will essentially recommend what bills get called. He is also great for the district. Every call is returned promptly, and he will never suffer from forgetting what “the people back home” expect. 5 years from now the talk will all be about what Roakam has achieved for Illinois in Congress
* Best Illinois statewide elected official goes to Comptroller Dan Hynes. Here’s what I wrote…
A hostile comptroller can shut down a government by just paying a few state bills on time. Hynes lost the primary, but hasn’t played politics with Quinn on the budget this year. He could’ve completely undercut the guv and didn’t. He also runs a very solid shop. Topinka may wish she had run for treasurer again once she takes office. A thankless nightmare of an office run by a class guy.
I don’t think Hynes gets nearly enough credit for the way he’s run his office during our fiscal crisis. He’s done the best possible job in an impossible situation. And he’ll be missed.
I should’ve said “constitutional officers” instead of statewide elected officials. However, Auditor General Bill Holland qualifies as both, since he is elected by the Legislature. He wins honorable mention…
For Const. Officer I’ll go with Bill Holland if he qualifies. Very respected by both sides and doesn’t play favorites.
* The media reaction to Jack Lavin’s elevation to chief of staff has been wholly predictable. Tribune…
Quinn raised eyebrows when he first brought Lavin into his administration following the arrest and impeachment of Blagojevich due to Lavin’s ties with convicted fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko.
Lavin served as Blagojevich’s director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity after Rezko recommended him for the post. Lavin once worked as the chief financial officer for Rezko’s food-related business, and took more than $12,000 in donations from Rezko’s firm while considering a run for elected office in 2001.
Despite those connections, Quinn spokeswoman Ashley Cross said Lavin has the governor’s “full confidence.” Lavin previously worked for Quinn in the state treasurer’s office.
Lavin, who has known Quinn for years and worked for him when Quinn was state treasurer, used to run the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity under Blagojevich. Lavin also has ties to convicted Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko.” Rezko had recommended Lavin for the DCEO job and Lavin previously worked as a financial officer for a Rezko company.
* The Blagojevich and Rezko stuff is just left to hang out there without any real explanation. Zorn did much the same thing yesterday.
But, here’s how I look at this, and have since Quinn first elevated Lavin after Quinn became governor. Lavin worked for Rezko and Blagojevich and came through clean. He wasn’t dragged into either man’s trial. As far as I know, he’s never been the target of any probe. He went to work for Rezko when there were no concerns about the man’s criminality. Quinn actually recommended him for that job. He took over DCEO when tons of Democrats flocked to the first Democratic governor in 26 years. If there was a place to get in trouble working for Rod, it was DCEO, and he didn’t.
* My real problem here is that Gov. Quinn replaced Jerry Stermer with Michelle Saddler in August. At the time, Quinn was still having trouble with women and minority voters. Now that the election is over, Saddler goes back to running DHS and the white male is promoted. Also, because of the expected media reaction over Rezko/Blagojevich, Quinn probably couldn’t have appointed Lavin to the spot during the campaign. Saddler is a decent person, but I can’t help but feel that she was used.
* Every time there’s a recession in this country, Medicaid spending becomes a major issue for the states. Back in the early 1990s, it was said that Medicaid was eating states’ budgets alive. Now, the Associated Press refers to the program as a budgetary “monster”….
In Illinois, Medicaid sucks up more money than elementary, secondary and higher education combined.
“Medicaid is such a large, complicated part of our budget problem, that to get our hands around it is very difficult. It’s that big. It’s that bad,” said Illinois Sen. Dale Righter, a Republican and co-chairman of a bipartisan panel to reform Medicaid in Illinois, where nearly 30 percent of total spending goes to the program.
* Some stats…
During the Great Recession, millions of people relied on the Medicaid safety net. Between 2007 and 2009, the number of uninsured Americans grew by more than 5 million as workers lost jobs with employer-based insurance. Another 7 million signed up for Medicaid.
Just when caseloads hit their highest point, the nation’s new health care law required states not to change the rules on who’s eligible for Medicaid. That means states can’t roll up the welcome mat by tightening Medicaid’s income requirements.
* And a bit of perspective…
Contrary to stereotype, it’s the elderly and disabled who cost nearly 70 cents of every Medicaid dollar, not the single mother and her children.
That’s a very good point. While over half of the recipients are children, it’s the elderly and the disabled who cost the most, even though they represent only 20 percent of the recipient population.
* There are a handful of ways to cut medical costs. Cut payments to providers, like doctors and hospitals, cut benefit levels to recipients, kick people off the programs, reform the way payments are made.
Providers in Illinois are already receiving fairly low levels of disbursement and Illinois has one of the lowest costs per patient ratios of any Medicaid program in the nation. So, moving on those two items just isn’t very realistic, although some tweaks can be made.
That leaves things like managed care, which the Republicans have been pushing and the state is already doing to some extent, and kicking people off Medicaid. They aint’ gonna kick old people off because they vote, so that leaves everyone else. One area being looked at hard is undocumented immigrant children…
One area some committee members were concerned about was the practice of the state paying for health insurance for more than 50,000 undocumented immigrant children. Unlike other sections of the state-funded children’s health care program, the care for undocumented children doesn’t receive any federal match. All of the funds must come from the state’s general revenue fund, according to Julie Hamos, director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and a former Democratic state legislator.
“We see the issue of serving undocumented (immigrant) children as a policy issue, one that we’re proud of and one this governor supports, so we are not proposing changes in reducing eligibility for undocumented children,” Hamos said.
However, advocates have noted that health care for children is relatively inexpensive when compared to adult needs.
* Another thing being looked at is requiring recipients to more regularly prove their income levels qualify them for benefits…
One pay stub annually is all a family needs to provide right now to show annual income.
State Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Westmont, who co-chairs the committee, has introduced legislation that would change that requirement to proof of a month’s worth of income. This provides a better sense of what a family makes over the course of a year, proponents claim.
Not everyone wants to see these changes, however. State Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, said that it’s a waste of state resources to chase after people whose income is likely constantly in flux.
“Income varies from week to week, or it could be from day to day … you’re really complicating the situation, making it a lot worse, and you’re clogging up the system chasing after the cheats as opposed to providing the services which you are suppose to be providing,” Flowers said.
Making any changes that might bump people out of Medicaid could be tricky. A clause in the federal health care overhaul act says that states can’t make “eligibility standards, methodologies, or procedures” more restrictive than what was in place as of March 23, 2010, without federal approval.
Both the House and the Senate have bipartisan committees set up to look at all these issues and more. The Senate’s committee is meeting this morning.
* 10:15 am - The SJ-R’s website is down, but this is what is appearing on Bing News…
Springfield police are at a reported shooting at 2604 Apple Creek Drive. Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin lives at 2604 Apple Creek Drive. He did not show up for a court-ordered appearance this morning in a pending estate case involving his late cousin.
The judge overseeing a probate case involving the estate of Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin’s cousin this morning removed Davlin as administrator of the estate after he failed to show up for a court hearing.
I’m told the mayor apparently committed suicide.
* 10:35 am - SJ-R…
Sources have confirmed that Davlin was found dead of a gunshot wound this morning.
It was reported at 9:10 a.m.
A news conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the office of Police Chief Rob Williams.
* 10:41 am - The Springfield police are not commenting on anything other than that Mayor Davlin is dead. The Illinois State Police have been asked to take control of the investigation.
Bolinski has also confirmed that Mayor Davlin shot himself.
* Mayor pro tempore Ward 3 Ald. Frank Kunz will take over as acting mayor until a new mayor is named within 60 days.
* From the governor…
“Today’s news of the death of Mayor Tim Davlin is truly a tragedy. Tim was a great public servant who loved Springfield and its people. The city of Springfield is a better place because of his leadership. As Mayor, Tim led the community through some of its most difficult times and worked hard to revitalize the city. He was not only a champion for Springfield, but also for the entire state, and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him. My thoughts and prayers are with the Davlin family during this most difficult time.”
* 9:47 am - If you care, Rahm Emanuel is testifying at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners about his residency case. Click here to watch. Live-blog in comments if you’d like.
* 11:13 am - The hearing has reconvened.
* From Carol Moseley Braun’s campaign…
“Rahm Emanuel has a long history of personally benefitting from special deals. From his patronage appointment to the Freddie Mac Board, to his election to Congress on the back of illegal city hiring, to making 20 million dollars in just two years greasing deals for investment bankers, it’s always a special deal for Rahm. Now Rahm wants a special deal from the Board of Elections. The reports of Rahm changing his tax returns raise many questions that he needs to answer. The main question is: was Rahm lying then, or is he lying now? Police and firemen must be residents of Chicago and they don’t get special deals. They live by the law, either they reside in Chicago or they are fired. Why should Rahm Emanuel be any different? It’s time for Rahm to quit asking for another special deal and start answering questions about his privileged past.”
* 2:07 pm - We’re into the weirdos now. The current person just asked Emanuel how often he worked at the White House “as a Senator… as a state Representative.” Sheesh.
