*** UPDATE *** Todd Stroger uses a familiar tactic to “all but declare” his reelection candidacy…
Appearing combative and animated, he all but declared his candidacy for re-election, saying there are “always people on two sides of the fence.” He asserted that the tax-repeal battle had not wounded him politically.
At a press conference at Provident Hospital, he also introduced three black ministers who praised Stroger in stump-like speeches for saving the county health system by not agreeing to the percentage point tax rollback.
And Skoien drops the charges…
Former Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien does not want to testify and the domestic battery charge against his wife should be dropped, the prosecutor in the case said in court this morning.
Skoien has 180 days to change his mind and cooperate with Cook County Assistant State’s Atty. Ketki Steffen, who could then reinstate the case against Skoien’s wife, Eni.
Eni Skoien was charged with battery after an incident at the couple’s Inverness home on March 8.
According to a report filed by a Barrington-Inverness police officer, Eni Skoien came home early that morning and discovered “Gary was downstairs in the children’s playroom with two prostitutes.” The report says Eni Skoien swung a guitar at her husband and punched him.
[ *** End of Update *** ]
* Attorney General Lisa Madigan appears to have dodged reporters’ questions today in Chicago about campaign finance reform and term limits…
When asked about campaign finance reform and term limits, Madigan says that she is in favor of “campaign contribution reform” and says that it is “one piece of many” that must be dealt with in Illinois to have a “comprehensive system of reforms” that “are going to change the culture” in Illinois.
Straight answers are just not her forté, apparently.
* Zorn and potential GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft spar via e-mail after Zorn suggested that Proft’s candidacy would be “fun”…
PROFT: I’m sure. I can only imagine your fair and balanced treatment in store me should I enter. Thankfully, I’m used to the counterfeit objectivity characteristic of most of the Chicago press corps. The bullies with bylines for bankrupt outlets in this town who confuse their liberal orthodoxy for intellect only encourage me. No decision yet thus no announcement date, either way.
ZORN: See, now that’s what I’m talking about! What could possibly be more fun than regular explosions of just this sort of bilious contempt for anyone who disagrees with you? I can’t wait. I mean it.
PROFT: Please. I get along famously with many people who disagree with me. Just not folks who cherry pick their facts and work backward from pre-drawn conclusions, discarding inconvenient facts. You cheap-shotted me in our previous exchange when cornered by the incongruity of your critique. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if you choose to offer anything more constructive or substantive, but that is, of course, your choice. I don’t worry about things beyond my control. It’s okay when you throw punches, even below the waistline, but when someone throws back, you resort to (silliness)–erecting straw men to knock down. Your salivating only serves to reinforce my argument.
Yep. It’s gonna be fun.
* US Sen. Roland Burris denies that US Sen. Dick Durbin ever asked him to resign. From The Hill…
“I told him that under the circumstances I would consider resigning if I were in his shoes. He said he would not resign and that was his conclusion,” Durbin said after the Feb. 23 meeting.
But Burris says Durbin never urged him to consider resigning, publicly or privately.
“I don’t know what he said at his press conference, but he did not say that to me,” Burris said. “I explained to him what happened, and he said it was going to create a problem for me. But I know what the situation is, so I’m going about my business and trying to be a good U.S. senator, and I know I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Durbin most certainly did publicly call on Burris to resign, so our Junior Senator must not be reading the papers. As to the private conversations, I think I’ll choose to believe Durbin on this one.
* Related…
* Roland Burris Gears Up for Doomed Reelection Bid
* Schakowsky ramps up fundraising
