* A quick note before I sign off. FiveThirtyEight has slightly adjusted its congressional odds. Just about every Democrat’s chances increased a bit.
Debbie Halvorson’s district went from an 88 percent chance of a Republican takeover to 83 percent. Not much, but I suppose it’s something.
Bill Foster, however, moved enough that his district was switched from “Lean Takeover” to “Even Chance of Takeover.” The percentage chance of a GOP takeover dropped from 63 last week to 55 now. He’s still on the wrong side, but there’s movement.
Democratic candidate Dan Seals edged up two points from 53 percent chance of a D takeover to 55 percent.
“The prosecution has concluded, I assume, that what I have to say doesn’t contribute to their case,” Jackson said. “I assume they have no evidence or else they would have brought a charge.
“If I’m a conspirator — bring it on.”
Probably not a good move. The last time somebody in power said “Bring it on,” they did. And they still are.
* Jackson also said he had no idea that the people sitting at his table were plotting to contribute $1 million to Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund to get Jackson appointed to the US Senate. Why? Because they were speaking Hindi…
“How about this? ‘Congressman meets with director of economic development and trade for the State of Illinois . . . met with him for 30 minutes in the presence of other people and discussed the third airport. Then another gentleman showed up and started having another conversation practically in Hindu, because I don’t speak Hindu . . . and I didn’t participate in any of that part of the conversation, nor do I even remember hearing it. And I have witnesses present.’”
One of the witnesses, Rajinder Bedi, testified at Blagojevich’s trial that Jackson was sitting with him and another fund-raiser, Raghuveer Nayak, when the $1 million was discussed. Bedi, a government witness, did not say he was speaking in Hindu. Bedi then testified he paid a visit later that same day to Rod Blagojevich’s brother, Robert, and passed along a message that the then-governor would receive campaign money if Jackson were appointed.
The brother of former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas said Friday he will run the mayoral campaign of Gery Chico, who has served Mayor Richard M. Daley in several high-profile posts.
Dean Vallas said Chico, 54, will begin circulating nominating petitions Saturday to get on the ballot for the Feb. 22 election to replace the retiring mayor.
Chico told the Chicago News Cooperative on Sunday that he would only enter the race if he could raise $4 million in campaign donations. Dean Vallas said donors already have pledged “at least half” that amount to Chico’s bid for mayor.
Vallas told Chicago Magazine this week that he was behind a “Democrats for Brady” organization. I wonder what Chico thinks about that.
* Did you know that Pamela Abdy, the producer of Garden State and some other bigtime movies, once allegedly lived with a Jersey mobster?
Heck, I didn’t even know who Abdy was until today, let alone anything about her history. But, it turns out, a mobster was busted three years ago while Ms. Abdy was allegedly cohabitating with him. Abdy’s uncle was also apparently busted in the same sweep. And, as it happens, Ms. Abdy just co-hosted a fundraiser for Alexi Giannouias out in Hollywood. Fox News gives us the fair and balanced story…
Giannoulias aides told FOX News that Abdy was not arrested for anything and was never even investigated. Those same aides point out that Abdy is an award-winning executive at Paramount Pictures, no longer romantically linked with Perna and that it’s not fair to lump her in with her mobster uncle.
Communications director for Giannoulias, Kathleen Strand, called the story, “another ridiculous lie being pushed by Congressman Kirk’s desperate campaign. His earlier attacks have been called out as false by independent fact check organizations, and this one will find the same resting place.”
Uh, Kathleen, when defending one’s involvement with an alleged mob niece/moll, it’s probably best to avoid the use of phrases like “resting place.” Just sayin’.
I challenge all commenters to come up with a snarky mob-talk response that we can substitute for Ms. Strand’s quote. Have fun, but let’s not get sued.
* House Republican Leader Tom Cross is accusing House Speaker Michael Madigan of calling Cross’ big donors and intimidating them. Madigan, in return, accuses Cross of helping elect the new chairman of the RTA in exchange for a contribution, and of accepting “laundered” money through a little-known political committee.
Trouble is, nobody but the two sides are speaking on the record to the press so far, except to issue denials and no comments.
Madigan has, indeed, been calling bigtime Republican donors since at least early August, and the House GOPs have been trying to push the story. The contributors were certainly surprised to get the calls, some said they were angry, but nobody I talked to said they were threatened. Cross tells Greg Hinz something different, however…
“A dozen or so of my donors have been called by [Madigan],” Mr. Cross said. “Some of them never had talked to him before.”
Mr. Madigan asked questions like, “Why are you helping (Cross),” Mr. Cross said. And some — including Mr. Gates — faced “accusations” by the speaker.
And check out this quote by Madigan’s spokesman…
“Usually, when people support political candidates, they support candidates. They don’t go through some side process and launder money.”
You mean, like, well, sending money to the Democratic Party of Illinois instead of directly to candidates? Oh, wait. Nevermind. That’s totally different, I’m sure.
* Joe Berrios and Forrest Claypool were apparently supposed to be at the Tribune editorial board today for a debate. Claypool’s campaign manager says Berrios didn’t show up and taunted the candidate via Twitter…
joeberrios doesn’t show up to the Trib Debate. Baauck, buck, buck, buck. Baaaauuck, Buck, buck. BECAAK!
I got not words for that.
*** UPDATE *** The Berrios campaign responds by sending me a copy of the letter they sent the Tribune on September 2nd…
I will not be attending the Chicago Tribune’s endorsement session scheduled for September 13, 2010.
The Tribune has shown time and again that it has already selected its candidate to endorse, and that it cannot be fair and unbiased as a media outlet should be. I need to look no further than your editorials over the past few months to know that you have long been backing my opponent, former Democrat Forrest Claypool.
Republican congressional candidate Adam Kinzinger is upset over protesters’ pictures that portray him and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin with Hitler-style mustaches.
Kinzinger, a veteran and member of the Wisconsin National Guard, and Palin were both shown in the pictures with rectangular black mustaches sandwiched in between the caption, “Naz-Tea Party” and their last names, according to pictures supplied by Kinzinger’s campaign.
The protest occurred outside an Americans for Prosperity rally Wednesday night in Joliet, Kinzinger spokesman Brad Hahn said.
“I saw the picture and I just almost have no words. It’s unbelievable. I’m the grandson of a man who fought the Nazis and I fought to protect our country too,” Kinzinger said in a telephone interview. “It’s beyond any political satire. It’s terrible.”
The conservative group held a rally with about 500 people, including Samuel Joseph “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher as a keynote speaker, said Joe Calomino, state director for the Illinois chapter of Americans for Prosperity. The protest with the anti-Kinzinger and anti-Palin pictures occurred across the street from the rally, Calomino said.
The Kinzinger campaign sent over a video taken of the counter-protest. It looked to me like the two guys carrying the Hitler signs stood separately from the other ralliers. The video also shows some of the protesters going into the coordinated campaign’s nearby office, but neither of the morons with the Hitler mustache signs appeared to be with them.
The Halvorson campaign flatly denied any involvement. From a statement they sent me yesterday…
Some of the protesters stopped by the Illinois Victory office after the protest to say hello and get some water. In fact, some folks who were there in support of the AFP rally stopped by and dropped off some of their literature on the fair tax and negative lit on Debbie.
Our campaign had nothing to do with anyone holding signs linking Adam Kinzinger to Nazis. Those signs are not only offensive, they distract voters from the real issues in this race, like protecting jobs and seniors. Congresswoman Halvorson condemns these offensive tactics and would never condone such actions.
Verdict: Not totally clear, but not guilty yet, either.
This week on WBEZ’s political podcast: It is all about campaigns and corned beef. We broadcast from the legendary Manny’s Deli on Chicago’s near South Side.
Chicago City Clerk Miguel De Valle and State Senator Ricky Hendon join Steve Edwards to discuss their candidacies for Chicago mayor. They lay out their plans and talk about the prospect of running campaigns against Rahm Emanuel.
Right Nation rumbles into Hoffman Estates this weekend and we gather GOP analysts and operatives to talk about the Tea Party and its impact on Illinois.
Our panel includes: John McGovern, Christine Dudley and Ryan McLaughlin.
And don’t forget to subscribe to their free iTunes podcast.
* The people working with the Democrats’ coordinated campaign have been saying for weeks that they hope to convince people who didn’t vote in 2006, but voted in 2008 for Barack Obama to come out on November 2nd. The coordinated campaign has a staffer overseeing this effort.
According to [Jerry Morrison, the political director of SEIU’s state council], there are around 875,000 voters in Cook County who voted in the 2008 presidential contest but not in the 2006 governor’s election; many, but not all, are newly registered voters. SEIU will target about 500,000 of them, beginning with a $1 million advertising blitz it will roll out in a couple of weeks. The goal is increasing the likelihood that at least 100,000 of those folks head to the polls.
Off-year elections are tough. Lots of folks just don’t vote unless the presidency is on the ballot. The union has commissioned a poll to see what will motivate this targeted audience. Most plan on sitting out the election…
However, 41 percent of respondents told BNP that three messages made it “extremely likely” they would vote: One focused on Republicans attacking Obama and possibly trying to repeal the 14th Amendment, which guarantees all citizens equal legal protections. Another ties Obama with other Democratic candidates, saying Obama and the Democrats want to restore the economy and clean up the mess President George Bush left behind. The last focuses on “Sarah Palin and the Tea Party crowd” wanting Democrats to stay home on Election Day.
References to the ex-Alaska governor and the Republicans proved the most motivating, according to the memo, trumping issues like crime, state budget cuts, or student loan issues. “Two of the three top testing messages also have to do with Republicans, including Sarah Palin, taking the country backwards,” a summation of the poll reads. “The best motivating messages are dominated by evoking negative images of what could happen, more from an ideological perspective than one focused on issues.”
“It is a very partisan message, which is that Sarah Palin and the Republican Party want to take power so they can stop the Obama agenda,” Morrison said. Final decisions about the messaging strategy are still being made.
The union won’t do phone-banking or direct mail, but it’s planning to buy ads on websites, place banners on buses and trains and in the Trib’s Red Eye. It will also use mass text messages…
The point is to deploy the message where the Obama voters actually are. Fifty-six percent of respondents in BNP’s poll reported sending a text message every day, 42 percent search Google every day, and 30 percent use Facebook every day (all the rates are higher for weekly usage). Nearly one in four respondents rides a CTA bus at least once a week while almost one in five rides the train weekly. Just 15 percent reported getting most of their news by reading a local newspaper. Thirty-one percent said they got their news from local television broadcasts.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE 1 *** Republican consultant Smart Media Group just claimed on Twitter that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has “just placed a broadcast buy in Chicago to start on 9/20.” We’ll see soon enough.
*** UPDATE 2 *** CQPolitics has the buy amount. Smallish…
The DSCC placed a quarter million dollar independent expenditure broadcast buy in the Chicago media market on Friday, according to a Republican source who tracks Democratic ad buys. […]
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has yet to spend any IE money on the race, but it has announced plans to move $3.4 million to Kirk in the form of coordinated funds. Unlike independent expenditures, coordinated funds are limited and $3.4 million is the maximum that the Senate committees can spend in Illinois this cycle.
* Independent gubernatorial candidate Scott Lee Cohen was endorsed by National Taxpayers United yesterday. Jim Tobin runs the NTU, of course. He’s best known in recent years for his demand that the Illinois State Police be abolished.
“Scott Lee Cohen signed our Taxpayer Protection Pledge, in which he declared: ‘I, Scott Lee Cohen, pledge to the taxpayers of Illinois, that I will oppose any and all efforts to increase state or local taxes.’ […]
“The Democratic candidate, Gov. Patrick Quinn, and the Republican Candidate, Bill Brady, have refused to sign our Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” said Tobin. “Quinn, if elected, would make good on his promise to raise the state income tax a staggering 67 percent to pay for the lavish, gold-plated pensions that have made Illinois’ retired government employees millionaires. Brady, the Republican candidate, would continue the tax-and-spend policies of Springfield Republicans, who have been responsible for the largest state tax increases in Illinois history.”
“Scott Lee Cohen is not a career politician. As a father of four, a lifelong Illinois resident and a small business owner, he understands the challenges that Illinois residents face. He has hosted job fairs, putting thousands of Illinois residents back to work. He knows how losing one’s job can devastate a whole family. As Governor, Scott will continue to use his experience as an entrepreneur to ensure that the people of our state have good paying jobs to support their families.”
Cohen put “thousands of Illinois residents back to work”? Really? I’d like to see some evidence.
Still, no matter what you think of either man, that endorsement will look pretty darned good in Cohen’s ads.
* In other third party news, Steve Rhodes writes about Green Party gubernatorial nominee Rich Whitney…
I’ve never met [Whitney] and for all I know he’s a royal goofball.
Then writes…
It will be no surprise to regular readers that the Beachwood will, in all likelihood, offer its institutional endorsement of Whitney in our annual voters’ guide, just as it has in the past.
Oh, yeah. Now I’m really comfortable with that “voter guide.”
* Perhaps Steve could look through this site for clues. Here are just a few of the stories we’ve published and posted…
Yes, I’ve knocked Whitney for his inept campaign and lack of fundraising skills, but when someone has been running for governor for four years and has no money or even a decent network, I tend to get frustrated with him.
You won’t see as much coverage here of independent and third party candidates as the two major parties, but you’ll still find more here than anywhere else. It certainly beats mindlessly republishing a candidate’s press release and calling it a day.
The wide open Chicago mayor’s race could have some unintended consequences for the Illinois Senate contest — most of them negative for Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias. […]
“The Chicago media is wall-to-wall mayor’s race,” said Thomas Bowen, a Chicago Democratic operative. “It’s like a solar eclipse that is blacking out opportunities for free media up and especially down the ballot.” […]
The front-page citywide race could also have a deleterious effect on fundraising for Giannoulias, who reported having just a quarter of Kirk’s $4 million bank account at the end of June. That’s no small concern, because Chicago is one of the most expensive media markets in the country, and now Giannoulias will have to compete for funds with the myriad candidates assembling campaigns for mayor before the Nov. 22 filing deadline — less than three weeks after the general election.
On the other hand…
Some Democrats argue that the mayor’s race won’t have much impact on Giannoulias’s ability to raise cash, because he has already scoured his hometown — typically, the first place candidates for office go to raise money — and has moved on to a national donor network. […]
“There are going to be a lot of people who want to demonstrate [get out the vote], whether or not they give a crap about this midterm election,” said John Michael Gonzalez, a Democratic strategist from Illinois. “I don’t know how that can help Kirk. I do know how it can help Alexi.”
* The Question: Which hand is right? Does the focus on Daley’s retirement hurt Giannoulias or help him? Explain. And if you think it’s somewhere in between, then tell us which way the argument tips and why.
And let’s just stick to the Kirk-Giannoulias contest, please.
* The big Right Nation 2010 to-do featuring Glenn Beck is tomorrow at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates. It’s been getting quite a bit of press lately, but let’s focus for a moment on one aspect. From the RN2010 website…
Right Nation 2010 is a joint venture of Republican, conservative, libertarian, free market, and Tea Party independent organizations and individuals, facilitated by the 75 year-old United Republican Fund.
…the event doesn’t endorse any specific candidates, because it’s meant to appeal to a broad audience. What unifies them, according to the Right Nation Web site, is that the left has “destroyed our states and nation.”
But notice how the word “libertarian” is not capitalized on the RN2010 website. That’s because the conference is only involving small “l” libertarians. The Libertarian Party candidates weren’t invited…
[Libertarian US Senate candidate Mike Labno] is not scheduled to appear at Right Nation 2010. He told me he was not invited to speak, not surprising since the sponsors include GOP organizations.
Yes, totally not surprising. Much of the statewide Republican Party ticket and several GOP congressional candidates are on the list of participants. The state GOP has been promoting the event on its website and via e-mails and its chairman and several other GOP bigwigs and campaign contributors are listed as hosts.
Constitution Party candidates weren’t invited, either. The party was kicked off the ballot by the Republicans (who also challenged the Libertarian Party’s petitions), but they’re appealing that ruling. The party’s US Senate candidate and chairman Randy Stufflebeam sent out a press release this week about the convention…
“I wholeheartedly support the Right Nation event and applaud Glenn Beck who has done much to unify and educate conservatives across our nation,” said Randy Stufflebeam, Constitution Party candidate for U.S. Senate.
“However,” added Stufflebeam, “a principled man like Glenn Beck should not be sharing the stage with Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady. Mr. Brady has proven by his actions this summer that he has very little in common with 9/12’ers, tea partiers, conservatives, and libertarians. Pat Brady’s co-sponsorship of Right Nation 2010 makes a mockery of the event’s very admirable goals.”
In other words, this convention looks a whole lot like the Illinois Republicans are feeding some timely pre-election red meat to their base while claiming they’re just engaging in good, old fashioned, non-partisan fun.
* The Republicans are also trying to do this without dirtying their hands by sidling up too closely to those unwashed tea partiers…
A prominent suburban Republican has made a promotional YouTube video encouraging attendance at a conservative conference in Hoffman Estates later this month.
But state Sen. Matt Murphy insists he isn’t aligning himself with everything the featured speakers stand for. That’s the same approach that event hosts and General Assembly Republican leaders Tom Cross and Christine Radogno have taken on the event.
Many of Illinois’ top Republicans are not attending, including Rep. Mark Kirk, who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno. State Sen. Bill Brady, running for governor, is a maybe.
Translation: “We want you to get fired up and ready to vote for us, but we’d rather not hang out with you, so we’ll send a few of our conservatives, but not the big boys and girls.”
* Meanwhile, Alexi Giannoulias’kind words on behalf of the Libertarian Labno has been getting some coverage…
* Giannoulias Endorses Libertarian Candidate: he Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate is getting a ringing endorsement. In the wake of the defeat of a moderate Republican at the hands of a conservative activist in the Senate primary in Delaware, an e-mail Wednesday touts Mike Labno, the Libertarian, as the alternative for conservatives to moderate U.S. Rep. Mark S. Kirk (R-Highland Park) for Senate. That e-mail comes from the campaign of Democrat Alexi Giannoulias.
* Kirk ally rips Giannoulias vote ploy: Alexi Giannoulias’ Democratic Illinois Senate campaign is talking up a marginal Senate candidate — Libertarian Mike Labno — to try to drain conservative votes from his Republican rival, Mark Kirk.
* A U of I economist claimed yesterday that almost half of Illinois’ $13 billion budget deficit is due to lost jobs over the past decade, with another decade of slow growth ahead of us…
“Before the current recession, it has never taken us more than eight years to recover from a recession. We’re now in our 10th year, with few prospects to get out soon,” economic analyst Geoffrey Hewings warned local government leaders Thursday. “We’re now essentially looking at the prospect of a lost two decades.”
Hewings is the director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He continued…
One factor in the problem is that Illinois’ taxes are outdated, based on a 1970s-era economy when there were far more manufacturing jobs, he said. That sector still is important, and job-heavy, as current workers retire. But it has shrunk, which links to a related factor in Illinois’ changing demographics. The state is not losing population. But the people moving in make far less money than the people moving out. Illinois has dropped from fourth to 15th in per capita income.
Oof. More…
According to Hewings’ figures, Illinois is about 600,000 spots lower than the employment peak in November 2000. The state made up some ground after a recession in the following year but never completely recovered, and another 386,000 jobs were lost in the current recession. Some people have stopped looking for work. Illinois has been slower than other states to recover, but in the 2000s, there was only one high-growth year when more than 50,000 jobs were added.
“This is not a pretty picture,” he said. “Even at twice the high-growth, it will take us five years to get back to November 2000.
People too often forget that the current “Great Recession” is only the latest hammer to hit Illinois. The decline began in the 1970s, then we were hit badly in the early 1980s. After some real growth in the 1990s, the post 9/11 recession never fully abated. We were totally unprepared and in the worst possible position when this current recession took hold. The surplus generated by Jim Edgar was spent, and then some, by George Ryan. And it just kept getting worse and worse under the clueless Rod Blagojevich. As we sank like a rock beginning in 2007 and 2008, the Democrats were too busy fighting each other to do anything about it.
* Now, let’s dig into the newly released unemployment numbers, shall we? Click the pick for a larger image…
The Illinois Department of Employment Security says August represents the eighth consecutive month the rate was steady or declined. It was down slightly from July’s rate of 10.3 percent.
IDES Director Maureen O’Donnell says the long-term trend of falling unemployment may not be felt yet in local neighborhoods. But she says creating jobs, retaining workers and encouraging investment will help Illinois recover from the recession.
There were 671,400 people unemployed in August, about 12,000 fewer than in the previous month. The Illinois economy lost about 4,200 jobs in August due to declines in government-related jobs and Census 2010 positions.
Actually, as you can see from the above chart, it wasn’t just lost government jobs which led to the decline. Another 16,000 jobs were lost in various sectors. And I checked with IDES and was told that Illinois lost 5,900 federal jobs in August, mainly due to Census layoffs. But it gained a bunch of jobs at schools as they began to reopen, and another 500 local government positions. The “Educational” line in the report is mainly for private schools and colleges.
The biggest gain was in construction, due in large part to the state’s capital spending and the federal stimulus program. The Chicago Tribune and others regularly attack those two programs, but they’re the only thing keeping us from the abyss right now.
* IDES is right about the encouraging trend, however. Progress Illinois’ chart…
We seem to be improving much better than the nation as a whole since December, but we were in a much deeper hole to start with.
On the same day Illinois got some better job news, Gov. Pat Quinn got another chance to talk about the state’s improving economy. But it remains to be seen if voters will ever hear the good news.
The Quinn campaign is quick to point to its economic selling points. Campaign officials say Illinois led the Midwest in new jobs in the first half of 2010. That one in every 10 new jobs in the US was in Illinois in the first half of the year. Illinois is outpacing the growth of the nation (0.07 to 0.05), and that the state [grew] 43,000 new jobs this year.
These are some of the very same points I made in yesterday’s Capitol Fax. It’s good to see that the faction within the campaign pushing for a jobs-focused message is starting to make progress, but Quinn needs to run some ads on this stuff for crying out loud. Enough with the decades-old wedge issues, already. It’s about the jobs, not the guns.
Mark Denzler, vice president of the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association, said after many months of idled production, companies are ordering once again.
“Manufacturing has picked-up slightly this year, we’ve added about 13,400 jobs since February. Companies are filling those shelves again, they got low on goods and manufacturing orders are up.” […]
But Denzler is quick to point out that while Illinois has added more than 13,000 manufacturing jobs in 2010, other Midwestern states have added more.
“All of our neighboring states, in the last year, have added more manufacturing jobs than Illinois. So we generally trail other states when it comes to manufacturing recovery.”
The manufacturing uptick is heartening, but there’s still obviously a long way to go. And the fact that we have 7,200 fewer jobs in the economy than a year ago may seem like we’ve hit bottom, but that also means there’s been no overall growth at all. We need more darned jobs, man. Businesses are starving for customers, and they definitely need help as well.
“I’ll be very frank. We need money in America,” he said. “I will take money around the world, if we can reinvest it in the city of Chicago and put people to work and rebuild our city.”
Lame duck Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration rang up a $13,000 tab for new furniture in recent months, according to county documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
All of the furniture — including four chairs that cost $736 apiece — were delivered to the offices of Stroger’s childhood friend and chief spokesman Eugene Mullins at 118 N. Clark, according to sources at the county and owner of the company that handled the order.
Marcel Bright, 54, a retired Chicago cop, started Monday as an $89,000-a-year deputy director of communications for Stroger. He replaces Sean Howard, now working for a county-run youth job-training program.
You might have missed it in the hubbub surrounding Mayor Richard M. Daley’s retirement announcement, but the Chicago City Council just placed a billion-dollar bet on the city’s economic future.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has determined further investigation is warranted into possible violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act by an advisory committee created to make building recommendations in the Midland School District.
The case, first reported by the Journal Star, involved a vote by secret written ballot by the nine-member facility committee on the controversy-charged issue of whether to repair, rebuild or eliminate an aging elementary school in Lacon, the Marshall County seat and the district’s population center.
* 4:30 pm - Charlie Cook has just moved Democratic Congressman Phil Hare’s race from “Lean Democratic” to “Tossup.”
Not unexpected. But things sure are going south in a hurry for the Democrats. Cook rates this as a +3 Democratic district. It’s not one they should be in danger of losing.
* And just so we have something else to talk about in comments, our old friend Simon Edelman has produced another video for the Quinn campaign. Check it out…
Sources close to Jim Edgar are confirming that the former governor is endorsing Bill Brady for the state’s top government job.
After a few days off, I found out about it from Capitol Fax. But Mr. Edgar blabbed about his intentions in a little-noticed Downstate radio interview a few days ago. Beyond that, Mr. Edgar sponsored a fundraiser for Mr. Brady featuring horse-racing industry types around the state fair last month, though he wasn’t able to attend himself. Wife Brenda Edgar hosted.
You can hear Edgar briefly mention that he’ll endorse Bill Brady on WDWS Radio by clicking here. Edgar, of course, has been highly critical of Brady in the past. A little background…
* Edgar whacks Brady again: Edgar has previously called Brady’s plan for a 10 percent across-the-board cut “naive,” which he conceded Thursday led to angry calls from Brady backers.
* Edgar says he’ll vote for Brady: Edgar, however, said he likely wouldn’t hit the campaign trail to help shore up support for Brady. He said he would rather sit this election out and spend more time in his role as an academic at the University of Illinois.
* Pat Quinn Gives Former Governor Jim Edgar Some Love
* Hold Quinn’s Horses: Jim Edgar Takes Bill Brady to the Racetrack
* In other campaign news, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be in Illinois next month for a fundraiser and rally. The event will be hosted by Bill Brady. Ticket info is here. Many thanks to a commenter for the tip.
* Emptying out the queue…
* Brady Responds to Lotto Pick: “I’m concerned of the secrecy that has clouded this selection,” Brady said. “The [Better Government Association] was right on target when they demanded that Gov. Quinn be more transparent.”
* In speaking today with the Chicago Board of Elections, it seems like everybody’s trying to get their hands on the racial makeup of the city’s voters. The Board doesn’t have it, but Sen. Dick Durbin tried to lay out the ethnic situation…
“In the population, there are more Hispanics than blacks [and] more blacks than whites. In the voting population, there’s more whites than blacks, [and] more blacks than Hispanics. So Mayor Daley has put together a coalition of mainly white voters and Hispanics, and enough blacks to get a majority. And the liberals would come his way, usually. Not his father, but for him. Now, you put in a black or a Hispanic or a white [candidate], and you say, ‘OK, what’s your coalition?’ You can’t do it alone. No single group can do it.”
He’s right about the coalition aspect, but wrong about the numbers. There are more whites living in Chicago than blacks and more blacks than Latinos, according to the 2000 Census.
The Chicago Elections Board estimates about 15 percent Latino registered voters, but they admit it’s just a rough guess.
* However, the folks at the Illinois Manufacturers Association ran the city’s Census block groups through the voter file and have come up with this breakdown of the city’s registered voters by race and ethnicity…
Including “other” into the mix means whites and Latinos increase by about three points each. Also, keep in mind that “registered voters” doesn’t equal turnout. Latino turnout is notoriously low. Black turnout has been very strong.
*** UPDATE *** From the IMA we get 2008 turnout…
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
And while we’re at it, the website Radical Cartography has a map of the city’s racial breakdown…
Rush says he is focused on trying to unify African-Americans around a single “consensus candidate.”
“I’m trying to be a diplomat, a local George Mitchell, to try to help my community out of this maze that exists,” he told the Chicago News Cooperative, referring to the former Senator and Middle East peace envoy for the Obama administration. “And I’m having some success in it.”
If he’s having success, there’s no evidence of it yet. African-American folks like Larry Rogers, James Meeks, Terry Peterson, Jesse and Sandi Jackson, Jim Reynolds, Rickey Hendon, Carol Moseley-Braun and a cast of dozens still to be named are all out there floating their names. Congressman Danny Davis thinks he’s the one who could unify the city…
Davis thinks he could be the one to lead Chicago’s disparate factions to the promised land, saying that he could unify “all the different groupings of people” jockeying for power since Daley said last week he would not seek a seventh term next year. He said hundreds of people, “everywhere I go,” have asked him if he would run in the Feb. 22 election.
Now, a lot of the people mentioned above and many, many others are floating their names so they can be in on the game later. They’ll announce that they’ve decided not to run and are throwing their vast support to such-and-such candidate. Try to remember that as we move forward.
* On to the Latinos, where yet another Hispanic politician is claiming he’s in. Newly appointed Illinois Commerce Commission Chairman Manny Flores is confirming a report by Windy Citizen that he is circulating petitions and will make a “special announcement” this Saturday.
A possible successor to City Clerk Miguel del Valle has emerged, one week after del Valle joined the stampede of mayoral hopefuls.
State Rep. Susana Mendoza, a Southwest Side Democrat, told the Chicago News Cooperative on Wednesday that she is gathering the voter signatures that would qualify her to appear on the ballot for city clerk in the Feb. 22 election.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met privately with Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Wednesday night to discuss the race for mayor of Chicago, a post for which both men are potential candidates. […]
“Rahm and I agreed that the city’s financial crisis puts Chicago at a tipping point. The ramifications of this tipping point could tear at the social, political and economic fiber that holds our city together and makes it great,” Jackson said. “Both of us are very concerned about the upcoming November 2nd election and the subsequent municipal elections, and agreed that every possible contender should conduct their effort on the moral high ground because our city deserves a very serious debate about its economic future.”
Jackson has had some harsh words for Emanuel, so if he and Emanuel stick to their pledge it could lower the temperature gauge a bit. But that’s just them. And Jackson talked a bit of trash today to RollCall…
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) may not be ready to announce whether he will run for Chicago mayor, but he is already talking tough about taking on another potential candidate — Rahm Emanuel.
“I know what it takes to compete against Rahm,” Jackson said Thursday of President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
* But is Jackson actually backing state Sen. James Meeks? The Senator seemed to indicate that to Kristen McQueary…
[Meeks’] candidacy is telling on several fronts. It indicates that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd), of Chicago, isn’t running, nor is his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson, of the 7th Ward. Meeks and Jackson remain tight. They wouldn’t run against one another.
Governor Pat Quinn today joined the cast and crew of the new television drama “Ride-Along” to highlight its impact on Illinois’ economy. The show is expected to generate approximately $25 million economic activity and create more than 400 Illinois jobs.
“‘Ride-Along’ is great example of how the film industry creates good Illinois jobs and improves our economy,” said Governor Quinn. “The state’s strengthened film tax credit demonstrates our commitment to growing this industry and creating more opportunities for people to work.”
Based in Chicago, “Ride-Along” is a police drama that follows Chicago police detectives in their day-to-day lives on the streets. The show was created by Rockford native Shawn Ryan and stars Chicago native Jennifer Beals. “Ride-Along,” which filmed a one-hour pilot episode in Chicago in April, was picked up as a series by 20th Century Fox Television in May. The show began filming in July and will premiere midseason on FOX.
* The Question: If a TV show was made about this year’s Illinois campaign, what would it be called? Bonus points for suggesting actors, plot lines etc.
* I told subscribers about the slightly changed New York Times FiveThirtyEight projection for Illinois governor. But I thought we’d open it up for discussion. Here you go…
That’s up from an 86.7 percent chance earlier in the month. Not a big difference, but the trend ain’t Quinn’s friend.
In case you’re interested, here’s FiveThirtyEight’s national forecast…
* Meanwhile, as noted below, Bill Brady campaigned with former Arkansas governor, Fox News host and presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee yesterday…
Brady told reporters he admired Huckabee’s record of fiscal conservatism, and promised to emulate it if he’s elected.
“[Huckabee] knows how to rebuild an economy, how to lower the burden of taxes on families and businesses, [how] to grow private sector jobs and spend state resources [responsibly],” Brady said.
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration found that 90 tax cuts were enacted in legislative sessions from 1997 through 2005, while Huckabee was governor, and those cuts reduced tax revenues by $378 million. But Huckabee fails to mention the 21 tax increases that occurred under his watch and that raised revenues by substantially more. The total net tax increase under Huckabee’s tenure was an estimated $505.1 million, says the Department of Finance and Administration’s Whitney McLaughlin, adding that the figure has been adjusted for inflation.
It’s way too late, but the Quinn campaign should’ve hired that guy. Quinn claimed this week that Brady would follow the lead of other Republican governors and raise taxes. If he’d been paying attention, he could’ve used that Huckabee factoid yesterday.
* Green Party gubernatorial nominee Rich Whitney is getting desperate. From an e-mail sent to supporters…
Circumstances force me to be blunt: My campaign is REALLY hurting for money right now. Just when we need to be peaking, so that we can get some radio and cable TV ads and buy yard and window signs, and numerous other essentials, we are instead scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Whitney goes on to say that some of his supporters “have not followed through on such basic fundraising efforts as expected.” Big surprise. More…
It absolutely kills me to go through Chicago and listen to a wealthy vanity candidate like Scott Lee Cohen inundate the airwaves with his radio ads, and coat the streets with his yard signs, whe he has absolutely nothing of substance to say — while I have plenty of substance to say, and yet am struggling to get my message OUT to where people can HEAR it, or see it.
Cohen may indeed be a “vanity” candidate, but the Chicago pawn broker knows enough to realize the value of cold, hard cash to campaigns. The Green Party is basically a joke. Yes, Whitney scored 10 percent during the last governor’s race, but he did it despite himself. He was, essentially, the “None of the Above” candidate. For some reason, he thought he eared those 10 points. So, who’s really the vain candidate here?
Discussions must continue on pension reform, cuts to the state budget and building additional revenues, even if those come in the form of a tax increase, said Sheila Simon, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.
“None of that is going to make the next governor, the next House and Senate popular in the short run, but I think doing the right thing in the long run is going to put all of us in a better position,” Simon said Wednesday. […]
State Rep. Jehan Gordon, D-Peoria, said constituents are concerned with education, crime, the economy and jobs. She still does not support an income tax increase.
“There is not an income tax that would fix the problem that we have. How does the business community respond to raising taxes? For every action there’s a reaction. So is the business community going to cut jobs to keep a strong bottom line?” Gordon said.
“People often say we’re out of the recession, but tell that to the 10 percent of the people in this area who are still unemployed and unable to find gainful employment even though they’ve been looking.”
If Kilbride was thinking politically shrewdly, he’d have declined the offer for at least
two months.
All these national groups deciding whether to pour money into a race to dump him, now Murnane can offer them a bigger scalp, not just a justice but a chief justice. He did not do himself any favors.
Very good point.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Chief Justice Kilbride’s campaign…
The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that the Court’s Justices unanimously elected Tom Kilbride as the Court’s next Chief Justice.
Tom will replace Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald, who is retiring due to health reasons. Chief Justice Fitzgerald is widely respected for his superlative legal ability, grace and dignity. His long and distinguished career is an inspiration for judges and lawyers everywhere. His retirement is a loss for the citizens of Illinois.
Tom is honored to have the unanimous, bipartisan support of his colleagues on the Illinois Supreme Court to serve as the state’s next Chief Justice.
Across the 3rd Judicial District, Tom enjoys broad-based bipartisan support in his race for retention. Prosecutors, police and other law enforcement officers support his retention, as do retired judges of both parties and many former presidents of the Illinois State Bar Association. Tom also enjoys support from business and community leaders.
Tom has a strong reputation as a fair and evenhanded judge with common sense. Tom believes the courts should work for everybody – not just the powerful and politically connected. As a judge on the Illinois Supreme Court, Tom has devoted himself to ensuring average people get a fair shake.
Supreme Court Justice Tom Kilbride has been selected by his colleagues to be chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, Illinois Statehouse News has learned.
The order will come down today naming the 10-year veteran of the high court to be its leader for a three-year term beginning Oct. 26, a source familiar with the situation said late Wednesday.
Expect the elevation to be a done deal by later this morning.
Kilbride is up for retention this year, and has been targeted for defeat by the Illinois Civil Justice League, among others. He’ll need 60 percent to retain his office, and in this environment anything could happen.
The Supremes have shown many times before that they are not above politics. Giving Kilbride a late boost is pretty darned blatant.
Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, Illinois justices rotate who serves as chief, serving three-year terms at a time. Justice Thomas Kilbride of Rock Island has the most seniority on the panel among those who haven’t yet served in the top spot.
That doesn’t mean Kilbride will be the next chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. The justices have no official guidelines directing who becomes chief justice. They vote privately among themselves.
Kilbride’s seniority could put him as a frontrunner. Or, justices could choose someone who’s already served as chief justice to finish Fitzgerald’s term, among other options.
Kilbride is also in the midst of what could be a tough campaign to stay on the court. Every 10 years, Illinois judges face a retention election. To keep their jobs on the court, 60 percent of voters in their districts have to vote “yes.”
So, not as blatant as I initially thought, but still quite advantageous.
Wednesday’s announcement by Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti marks the first time his office has used the 1993 Illinois Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act, although similar operations have been conducted in DuPage and Boone counties.
“We have gang crime in the county. It’s no secret,” Barsanti said. “This just gives us another method of attack.”
So far, 50 of the people listed in the Sept. 8 lawsuit have been served with a summons to appear in civil court in Geneva from Oct. 4 to 7.
A report released Thursday by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows Illinois with 16,808 foreclosure filings last month. Filings include default notices, auction-sale notices and bank
repossessions.
The filings represent one in every 314 housing units in the state. That rate is 29 percent higher than in August last year and ninth-highest nationally.
Farmers have already harvested about a quarter of the corn crop in central and eastern Illinois. That’s well above the five year average and certainly topping the late harvest in 2009.
Above normal temperatures are advancing the harvest season. It’s true in Illinois and North Carolina.
* Higher fines for speeding in Illinois start today
Internet bloggers who anonymously ridicule public officials are like terrorists who hijack American planes and fly them into buildings, according to Mokena Mayor Joe Werner.
Werner made that comment at a Sept. 13 village board meeting. A videotape of that session is available on Mokena’s official Web site (mokena.org).
During a telephone call Wednesday, Werner told me he wasn’t backing off from his statement.
“They’re cowards,” Werner said. “That was the point I was making.
It was supposed to happen this week. We already had the details: 130 officers to be reassigned.
But once the department’s partners in its Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy, or CAPS, started to protest at 7 p.m. Wednesday, the moves were put on hold — until at least next month.
* Tribune: What about … Chicago?: One more prediction: A police union that’s unhappy now isn’t likely to get a lot happier. The next superintendent likely won’t be able to manufacture hundreds of new officers any more than Weis could. Chicago … is … broke.
Commissioners — and even the head of the county’s ethics board, MaryNic Foster — agree that one of the most significant pieces of legislation bans firms from making political contributions to elected leaders if they’ve audited the county’s finances, aided in issuing bonds or done legal work for the county.
But Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, a North Side Democrat who is running for Cook County Assessor as an independent, hailed the passage of other reform legislation that he authored, aimed squarely at his opponent, Joe Berrios.
Schlickman, at his last meeting after five years as RTA chief, said transportation officials were skeptical about the state’s ability to come up with the $2.7 billion the legislature approved last year for five years’ worth of highway, transportation and infrastructure projects.
The state already owes the RTA $300 million this year just to pay its bills.
A former trustee and director of parks and recreation for the village of Hawthorn Woods has filed a federal lawsuit claiming she was fired because of her loyalties to the previous administration.
However, defendants said the lawsuit is typical political fodder from former mayor Keith Hunt, who is the attorney for Kimberly Lynch, the plaintiff of the lawsuit.
The litigation, filed Sept. 8, also claims Lynch was penalized because she told people in the community Chief Operating Officer Pamela Newton kept toys that had been collected for the Toys for Tots program in 2009, and that the village hired Newton and finance Director Kristen Kazenas to full-time jobs despite not having money in the village budget to do so.
