* Comptroller Dan Hynes is not running for reelection. He may run for attorney general if Lisa Madigan moves up, or he may run for governor is LMadigan stays put. But you can probably expect this issue to haunt him…
In the strongest language yet, funeral homes that have lost millions of dollars from a pre-need funeral trust fund are blaming Illinois regulators charged with keeping money safe.
Furthermore, funeral home directors allege, the state comptroller’s office, which regulates the pre-need funeral industry, kept the burgeoning financial crisis under wraps. By the time the truth emerged, it was too late to stave off losses that might now exceed $100 million, say funeral directors who are suing the Illinois Funeral Directors Association and others.
“Even state regulators who took on the responsibility for monitoring the pre-need trust failed to protect plaintiffs and other pre-need trust depositors,” funeral directors say in court documents filed Friday. “Indeed, when questioned by funeral directors on why the issue was not addressed in 2001, when the (Illinois Office of the Comptroller), but not the funeral directors, knew of a budding deficit, the (comptroller’s) response was that the deficit was ‘pennies on the dollar,’ as if that excused (the comptroller) from doing anything about it.” […]
“I’m not going to talk to you, I think that’s pretty clear,” Peg Roth, assistant comptroller, told a reporter after a June 4 meeting with funeral directors upset about the fund’s financial prospects. Roth told a reporter to ask the department’s spokeswoman what the comptroller’s office did about the troubled fund before 2006. But spokeswoman Carol Knowles did not return a phone call.
Not only did the fund lose money, but it was started by Roland Burris when he was comptroller. Burris was a registered lobbyist for the funeral home people, although Hynes claims he had no direct contact with Burris once he found out who Burris worked for. Still, it’s a bad connection. Nothing connected to Burris will turn out well.
* Meanwhile, remember last week when we discussed the “shackling” of pregant Cook County prisoners while they were delivering their babies? Well, the SouthtownStar has a follow-up entitled: Shackled in labor: ‘Dehumanizing,’ ‘outrageous’ which includes this quote from an attorney who is filing a class action suit…
[Attorneys] said it is absurd that women in labor could be a security threat or flight risk.
“We think that’s nuts,” [Kenneth Flaxman] said. “And we think the courts will agree with us.”
But, last week, the Sheriff Dart’s office shared a few news stories with me about attempted escapes by women prisoners, including one who was pregnant…
JAIL GUARD SUSPENDED AFTER PRISONER ESCAPE Chicago Tribune June 13, 1997
A Cook County Department of Corrections officer was suspended without pay Thursday pending an administrative hearing for allegedly leaving a prisoner unattended Wednesday night at Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical Center.
The prisoner, Latanya Burks, 26, of the 1500 block of South Keeler Avenue, escaped during the officer’s absence after giving birth. Burks has since been caught and is being held on $5,000 bond at Cermak Hospital…..
HOSPITALIZED INMATE DIES IN WINDOW FALL Chicago Tribune May 10, 1998
Joyce Nathan, 39, a Cook County Jail inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge, died Saturday afternoon after falling or jumping from a fourth-floor window at Cook County Hospital.
Nathan was in the jail’s unit in the hospital recovering from stomach surgery performed on Thursday, said Bill Cunningham, a Cook County Sheriff’s spokesman.
Guards stationed outside the ward saw Nathan going out the window, and they believe she was trying to escape rather than commit suicide, Cunningham said, though he declined to say what evidence led to that assumption. He could not say whether windows on the ward were locked, but he said that was being looked into.
HEADLINE: Sheriff nabs suspect who fled hospital
BYLINE: Frank Main and Stefano Esposito, The Chicago Sun-Times
Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan personally nabbed a drug suspect Friday after the hospitalized woman slipped past one of his guards — who was cited earlier in the day for leaving her unattended.
Lawanda Warren, 40, of University Park, escaped about 10 a.m. from Loretto Hospital on the West Side. The escape gave more ammunition to critics of Sheahan after a recent spate of escapes from the jail.
Warren had been arrested Tuesday by Chicago Police for alleged heroin possession and was admitted to the hospital after she complained of chest pains. She had not yet been booked into the jail.
* One of the problems with the complicated federal campaign finance regulatory system is it’s a federal regulatory system. Relatively small mistakes can make honest people look like criminals or hapless fools. Still, there’s really no excuse for this…
The Federal Election Commission is reviewing a complaint against the campaign of Democratic 10th Congressional District candidate Michael Bond, who currently serves Illinois’ 31st senate district.
According to Lake County Republican Chairman Dan Venturi, who filed the complaint against Bond with the FEC, Bond has declared himself a congressional candidate and expended money on behalf of his candidacy — without timely filing the proper paperwork and disclosures (due 15 days after declaring one’s candidacy). Venturi notes that, as reported by Team America some time ago, Bond has reserved a website address and several draft pages of the site can be accessed (although not by design, it appears).
In addition, it is beyond question that Bond officially declared himself a candidate weeks ago (April 29), as evidenced by a press release and statements to the media. According to Venturi, Bond’s campaign could be subject to a fine for failure to properly and timely file his disclosures.
The above story is from a highly partisan GOP blog, so keep that in mind, please. But Bond did declare his candidacy back in April, so the clock apparently started ticking then…
“After speaking with people in our communities, listening to their ideas and hearing their concerns, I’ve decided to run for Congress.”
If you’re gonna get in the arena, you have to be prepared, and part of that preparation is hiring experienced lawyers who can help you through the labyrinth of federal regulations.
…Adding… From Larry…
In fact, if you don’t spend $5,000 and run you don’t have to file at all. Obviously you aren’t going to win, but there are minor candidates who often don’t file for this very reason.
If you haven’t raised $5,000 yet, you don’t have to file. When you reach that threshold you have 15 days to file from that date. There is nothing in the complaint that alleges Bond raised more than $5,000 before May 16, 2009 so the Lake County Republican Chairman Dan Venturi is wasting FEC time and money with nothing other than a harassment technique while the FEC can barely keep up with legit complaints.
The Democrat Bond wants to run for Republican Mark Kirk’s seat, but Kirk still hasn’t made up his mind…
Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk is still deciding what office he wants to run for in next year’s election.
Is it U.S. senator, governor or a sixth term in Congress?
Kirk wasn’t saying Monday. But he said he’s raising money for a “big campaign.” He wants to assess next year’s races before deciding.
Kirk, by the way, engaged in a bit of healthcare grandstanding yesterday…
As President Obama spoke with doctors gathered Monday for the American Medical Association’s annual meeting in Chicago, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Highland Park) spoke with reporters about legislation he has introduced that would assure patients can keep their current doctor. […]
Kirk’s “Medical Rights Act” restricts the government from interfering with any decision and individual makes with his or her doctor.
Illinois Republicans are demanding that the state use more managed care for Medicaid, which would deprive people of choosing their own physicians and allow somebody other than their doctors to make decisions for them, but Kirk is apparently going the opposite direction.
Also, according to a recent National Journal article, Kirk’s district doesn’t appear on either Democratic or Republican “top tier” lists, which leads Swing State Project to speculate…
…maybe they aren’t confident about Mark Kirk vacating IL-10?
Discuss
