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*** UPDATED x3 - Quinn hits Brady on “Bombshell” *** Governor’s debate raw video

Thursday, Oct 21, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

[Bumped up for visibility.]

* Many, many thanks to ABC7 for posting the raw footage of the gubernatorial debate. Part 1…

*** UPDATE *** Roundup…

* WGN VIDEO: Gloves come off in governor’s debate

* NBC5: Quinn, Brady Spar on Jobs, Ethics: In his opening statement Quinn outlined his main themes — job creation, compassionate governance — while accusing Brady of “reckless” budget plans and legislating in his own interests. “I’ve created jobs,” Quinn said. “I’ve brought honesty to the governor’s office.” Brady, in retort, accused Quinn of failing to create jobs in Illinois, leading the state into a record $13 billion deficit, and running a “secret” government that isn’t accountable to the people.

* Tribune: Quinn, Brady lash out on ethics, taxes, education at governor debate: Quinn accused Brady of voting to help his real estate development business. Brady offered his strongest response yet, flatly denying there was any problem with him voting three times for improvements around a planned highway interchange in Champaign that was near land he was working to develop. “There was no conflict of interest in these pieces of legislation,” Brady said. “I’m above that.” Afterward, Brady said he does “not regret voting for those three pieces of legislation.”

* AP: Gubernatorial candidates differ on social issues - Brady opposed to gay marriage, civil unions and abortion: A gubenatorial debate has highlighted big differences on social issues between Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and his Republican opponent Bill Brady. Brady is against gay marriage and civil unions. He’s opposed to abortion — even in cases of rape and incest. Quinn supports a woman’s right to have an abortion and civil unions.

* Rockford TV: Gubernatorial Debate Gets Heated: The word “spending” dominated the debate between the two candidates for governor. “This is a house of cards, the governor is not being transparent, he’s spending money recklessly and Illinoisans are going to have to pay for it” says republican candidate for governor, Bill Brady. “I’ve cut more than any other governor in Illinois; I’ve cut my own pay” says Governor Pat Quinn.

* Daily Herald: Hot-button issues at center of governor debate: State Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican, told moderator Ron Magers and panelists at the ABC 7/League of Women Voters debate that he is proud of his social beliefs opposing abortion in the cases of rape and incest, and opposing civil unions and gay marriage but is not “using them to divide Illinois.”

* Sun-Times: Brady rips Quinn for handing out big construction checks: GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Brady Wednesday ripped Gov. Quinn’s barnstorming tour of vote-rich areas during the past two weeks to hand out multimillion-dollar construction checks. Brady, the state senator from Bloomington, accused his Democratic rival of ticking down the campaign season clock by using one of the advantages of incumbency: doling out money from last year’s $31 billion capital construction program. Since the start of this month, Quinn has crisscrossed the state, handing out $368 million in construction funds. That total doesn’t include another $73 million in state or federal allotments that were the basis for Quinn press conferences… Quinn denied using the projects that benefit the city’s South and West sides and areas far Downstate — areas where the governor is trying to gin up voter turnout for his campaign — for political gain.

* ABC7: Quinn, Brady trade jabs in ABC7 debate: During one question, the governor learned of a link between Senator Brady and Dean Martinez, a former deputy to ousted Rod Blagojevich. “I really was surprised to learn that the former deputy to Rod Blagojevich was hosting a secret fundraiser for Senator Brady,” said Quinn. “Governor Quinn is drawing for straws. These are fine people. Let me talk about governor Quinn,” said Brady.

*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Quinn campaign…

But the bombshell of the evening came when moderator Rebecca Sanchez asked Senator Brady about a secret fundraiser thrown for him by Rod Blagojevich’s Deputy Governor.

In public, Brady denounces the entire Blagojevich administration. But privately, Brady is attending secret political fundraisers thrown for him by Blagojevich aides. The hypocrisy was not lost on voters.

Brady is one of the most right wing, partisan members of the General Assembly. But when it comes to secret fundraising, Brady is more than willing to cross party lines.”

* Bill Brady’s quote on Juan Ochoa and Dean Martinez…

“I believe they are leaders in the Latino community. They did host a fundraiser for me… They are good people who care deeply about their community and their state. And i look forward to their guidance.”

Guidance? Really?

From a friend…

I get the strategy, but those guys are transactional

That’s a word.

* ABC7’s 10 pm debate coverage is here, but here’s the relevant Ochoa/Martinez clip…

*** UPDATE 3 *** CBS2 leads with the story…

CBS 2′s Dana Kozlov reports that while publicly, Brady has been criticizing Quinn for his association to Rod Blagojevich, behind the scenes, one of Blagojevich’s former top aides has been raising money for him.

Dean Martinez is his name. And Bill Brady admits Blagojevich’s former deputy governor has been helping his fundraising efforts. Brady says he doesn’t see any hypocrisy in that alliance. Gov. Quinn sees it another way.

“We’d like to know more details about that,” said Quinn. “Apparently, the only time he wants to deal with the Blagojevich administration is when it comes to raising money for himself. We need some answers there.”

“Gov. Quinn is drawing for straws, these are fine people,” said Brady.

Click here for CBS2’s video.

* Fox Chicago…

The Dean Martinez stuff is about 4 minutes in.

73 Comments

Feds explain Rezko’s claims that Blagojevich was innocent

Friday, Oct 15, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Phil Rogers tells us how the feds plan to use Tony Rezko against Rod Blagojevich, despite Rezko’s now infamous letter to his judge proclaiming his innocence and accusing prosecutors of forcing him to tell lies about his dear friend…

In a filing Thursday, federal prosecutors said longtime fundraiser Tony Rezko came to them in July of 2008, offering to cooperate in their investigation of former governor Rod Blagojevich. […]

Rezko had previously written a letter to his own trial judge, Amy St. Eve, accusing the government of pressuring him to lie about Blagojevich and others. But in Thursday’s filing, prosecutors state that Rezko had in fact recanted that letter, “and admitted it was false when written in an attempt to secure bond during his trial.”

The motion filed by prosecutors goes on to say that Rezko offered damning evidence against his longtime friend. Prosecutor Reid Schar declared that “on the very first day Rezko began being interviewed by the government, Rezko incriminated the defendant and himself in far reaching corruption schemes.”

The problem, of course, is that even if Rezko really did tell the truth to the government after lying to the judge, he’s still an admitted liar. And a felon. And probably looking to cut himself a deal. Not the most sterling witness.

You can read Rezko’s letter to his judge by clicking here. And here’s an excerpt…

“They are pressuring me to tell them the ‘wrong’ things that I supposedly know about Governor Blagojevich and Senator Obama,” Rezko wrote St. Eve in an April bid to be released on bail during his trial. “I have never been party to any wrongdoing that involved the Governor or the Senator,” Rezko continued. “I will never fabricate lies about anyone else for selfish purposes. I will take what comes my way, but I will never hurt innocent people.”

More…

“I am not Levine, Loren, Mahru or Winter. I am simply an honest, humble immigrant who believes in the American dream,” Rezko wrote as he was kept in solitary confinement in a downtown lockup earlier this year. He was speaking of numerous people who testified at his trial or talked to prosecutors. […]

In his letter, Rezko states that he’s been under pressure by federal prosecutors to give information on Obama and Blagojevich. However, Rezko has never submitted to an interview by the feds nor has he proffered a statement to them.

* Prosecutors also tore into Blagojevich’s defense attorneys yesterday…

In a 34-page filing Thursday, prosecutors said Sam Adam Jr. and Sam Adam Sr. made statements to the media that included made-up numbers and outright lies, all in an effort to speak to the next jury. Blagojevich was convicted of just one count — lying to the FBI. He faces retrial on 23 other counts next year.

The filing takes the Adams to task, saying they made up numbers, telling TV crews a retrial would cost the government up to $30 million.

Prosecutors say that sum nearly equals the annual budget of the U.S. attorney’s office, including rent, civil cases and salaries and expenses of more than 150 non-Blagojevich prosecutors.

* And the feds also defended themselves against claims of misconduct on their part…

“The defendant’s allegations of misconduct are just broad statements or rhetorical questions that make for nice quotes in newspaper articles, but are completely unfounded,” prosecutors wrote. The accusations are just a shield to distract the public from Blagojevich’s own misstatements, prosecutors said.

As an example, prosecutors pointed to Blagojevich’s repeated accusation that the government lied about what was on its secretly made recordings.

“The trial made clear, however, that the government accurately quoted transcripts in context and it was the defendant who was convicted of lying,” the government said.

Thoughts?

11 Comments

Station: Kelly’s no reporter

Thursday, Oct 14, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* We all watched a video yesterday afternoon of Republican gadfly William Kelly at a Rahm Emanuel press conference. Kelly repeatedly insisted that he was a reporter for WIND Radio as he shouted at Emanuel and was shoved aside and yelled at by a couple of real live TV reporters. Turns out, Kelly ain’t a reporter…

In July, Kelly debuted a one-hour Saturday evening radio talk show called “The Kelly Truth Squad” on WIND-AM (560). But Kelly buys the air time on WIND and is not an employee of the station — an arrangement that the host argues gives him more leeway in what he can say and do on the show.

But that arrangement caused WIND general manager Jeff Reisman to take issue with one aspect of Monday’s video. “It was wrong for Kelly to call himself a reporter at WIND when he does not work for the station,” said Reisman

* The Drudge Report linked to Kelly’s video with this headline…

Chicago hometown reporters shield Emanuel from outsider’s questions

But the TV stations rightly backed up their guys…

Neither Levine or Thomas were available for comment, but a Channel 7 spokeswoman downplayed any suggestion the video might have captured an unflattering side of Thomas as street reporter: “What the video shows is Charles Thomas trying to get in position so that he could have his question answered,” said the station spokeswoman. A Channel 2 spokeswoman said the station stands by Levine. “Jay is an aggressive reporter, and we let his reporting do the talking for him,” added the spokeswoman.

So, to summarize, we have a loud, odd individual whose greatest claim to fame when he ran for comptroller was his attempt to goad state treasurer and US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias into a boxing match showing up at a Rahm Emanuei press availability with a video cameraman while claiming to be a radio reporter (notice the problem right there), but he isn’t a radio reporter because he only buys time on the station once a week for his talk show, but he managed to get some national attention because a site that lives to whack Democrats used the worst possible spin in its link. And, boy, does this person have high ambitions…

“I’d like to be the conservative version of Larry King,” said Kelly, referencing the longtime CNN talk show host who is about to retire.

Ah, America.

* Meanwhile, speaking of our nation’s highest journalistic standards, Robert Feder swings at the Tribune editorial board…

Overshadowed by the frat house hijinks detailed in David Carr’s New York Times opus on Tribune Co. last week was a potentially more damaging allegation — that owner Sam Zell tried to use the Chicago Tribune to benefit his other business interests.

Former editor Ann Marie Lipinski recalled a June 2008 meeting at which the billionaire mogul told her the newspaper should be harder on then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (“Don’t be a p*ssy,” she quoted Zell saying. “You can always be harder on him.”) Later that day, she learned that Zell was negotiating to sell Wrigley Field to the state sports authority. Lipinski quit the following month.

Up until just a few short weeks ago, anything that even looked like a Blagojevich-related story was big news in this state. But now, we’ve got a potential barn-burner and there’s almost total silence. Strange, that. Apparently, “Rahm” is the new “Rod” for our press corps.

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