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Obama clashes with the Machine… in Philadelphia

Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Barack Obama has been endorsed by most of the Chicago Machine, but he is refusing so far to play ball with the Philadelphia Machine…

…Sen. Barack Obama has collided with the gritty political traditions of Philadelphia, where ward bosses love their candidates, but also expect them to pay up.

The dispute centers on the dispensing of “street money,” a long-standing Philadelphia ritual in which candidates deliver cash to the city’s Democratic operatives in return for getting out the vote.

Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party’s workforce.

It is all legal — but Obama’s people are telling the local bosses he won’t pay.

The article also quotes an unnamed Obama official as saying it had never been the campaign’s practice to make street payments.

* Obama is not unfamiliar with this practice. In the days leading up to his 2004 US Senate primary, Obama’s campaign fund distributed more than $47,000, mostly to Chicago ward organizations. The list of his pre-primary contributions can be found here, since the State Board of Elections website still doesn’t allow direct linking to search results, even after its much anticipated rehab.

Obama’s presidential campaign didn’t appear to hand out street money before this year’s Illinois primary. Not like he needed to.

* But Philly is a far different story. According to the article, the ward groups there want $400,000 to $500,000 from Obama alone. Wow. That’s borderline banditry.

Hillary Clinton is expected to pay up, by the way.

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Morning Shorts

Friday, Apr 11, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning

* CBS2 interview with Obama

* Cook County Home Rule vote dies

* ISMIE pays $11.5-mil. dividend

Citing a “healing medical malpractice climate” in Illinois, the state’s largest liability insurer said it will shave $11.5 million off its policyholders’ future premiums.

ISMIE Mutual Insurance Co., which insures about 13,000 physicians statewide, said Wednesday that a drop in the number of malpractice claims filed over the last two years allowed it to return money to policyholders through dividend payments.

* Patients rate their hospital care

On average, 60 percent of patients surveyed in Illinois said hospital staff “always” provided help as soon as they wanted, meaning four out of 10 patients had waited longer than they’d hoped for assistance. An average 68 percent of patients in Illinois hospitals said their pain was “always” controlled, leaving nearly one in three patients with pain they thought was poorly managed.

* Daley pitches youth violence program but specifics in short supply

* Central Illinois Flood Victims Get Help With Coping

* Rita Rezko under fire for alleged sporadic monthly board attendance worth 38K per year

* Levine banned from downtown hotel

* Duffy to Levine: ‘Do you have telepathic powers?’

* Judge to Levine: Answer the questions. Nothing more.

* We’ve reached the point of ridiculousness

* With jury away, the defense will play

* Gavel-to-Gavel: Recess comes at good time

* Energy expert top candidate to be Illinois power czar

Mark Pruitt, senior program manager for UIC’s Energy Resources Center and manager of energy procurement for state government, is the lead candidate to be the first executive director of the Illinois Power Agency, according to people familiar with the matter.

* Are we too nice to homeless?

* Senate expected to bury election recall

* Colleges reaching out to recruit gay, lesbian and transgender students

* FutureGen official touts Mattoon site to Senate panel

Mudd said Wednesday that he believes building one plant in Mattoon will ensure the process of capturing and storing carbon far below the earth’s surface is implemented as quickly as possible.

* What’s all this about licensed and bonded?

* Coury leaves as Edwardsville publisher

* Sun-Times Media Group’s Lake County paper gets new publisher

* Wash. Post Editor Says He Can’t See a Time When There Won’t Be a Print Edition

“I do think the cities will have some newspaper in it, but what kind of newspaper it’s going to be, what kind of journalism it’s going to be doing – that’s an issue.”

* Grand Red Line station rehab — a giant mess

* CTA tests student smart cards

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