* Whenever your heart starts palpitating after reading a lede like this….
A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.
You should take a deep breath and always scroll down for the buried nugget…
Madigan’s office has notified Obama’s presidential campaign of the probe, which was launched this week. But Obama’s actions in awarding the money are not a focus of the investigation, Smith said.
After helping Cicero’s town president win a close election, political strategist Dan Proft received no-bid contracts worth $578,000 a year to serve as the mouthpiece for the town and two local school districts.
Not only is Proft’s firm receiving $180,000 a year to boost Cicero Town President Larry Dominick’s agenda, but the town—in a highly unusual move—also agreed to pay the company another $308,000 a year to promote the new Municipal Complex.
Proft argues that if ever a town needed positive public relations, it’s Cicero.
Scroll way down to almost the very bottom and you’ll see this…
Proft said the town will spend less than 1 percent of the project’s $60 million budget on public relations. The contract will expire next month when the municipal complex is complete.
The money Urquhart collects is not pure profit, he said, noting it is distributed to subcontractors and a staff of three in addition to paying for the expertise of Proft and his partner, Jeff Davis.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration said Wednesday that it has taken the first formal steps toward recovering a $1 million grant given to a politically connected private school that has yet to open its doors.
The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity wrote to officials at the Loop Lab School and told them they were in violation of their grant agreement.
Scrolling downwards…
But school officials have said Blagojevich himself promised the money to them, and have publicly thanked the governor for his kindness.
The school used the money to buy the second floor in a downtown office building near the Sears Tower and renovate the space for classrooms.
Aside from the general cover-up in this thing, how is the state gonna get its money if it’s already been spent? Are we as taxpayers going to own that second floor now?
*** UPDATE 2 *** A funny example from the New York Times…
CHICAGO — In this state with a history of corruption at the highest levels of government and little history of meaningful reform, lawmakers and the governor have embarked on a sudden, surprising scurry to enact ethics legislation this week.
Scroll down…
Further, some said they were certain that it would die in the House, where the leader, John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.
Fritchey is the leader of the House, eh? Anybody tell Madigan yet?
* It’s intensely amusing to me to watch this debate play out over John McCain’s TV ad that claims Barack Obama was born of the Chicago Machine…
ANNCR: Barack Obama. Born of the corrupt Chicago political machine.
BARACK OBAMA: In terms of my toughness, look, first of all, I come from Chicago.
ANNCR: His economic adviser, William Daley. Lobbyist. Mayor’s brother.
His money man, Tony Rezko. Client. Patron. Convicted Felon.
His “political godfather.” Emil Jones. Under ethical cloud.
His governor, Rod Blagojevich. A legacy of federal and state investigations.
With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead.
* This argument goes way back in Illinois. Does endorsement by and work with Machine leaders mean a candidate can’t be taken seriously as a reformer? As “Objective Dem” noted in comments yesterday…
This issue reminds me of when then Lt. Gov. Paul Simon obtained Mayor Daley’s endorsement for Governor. People thought it was awful and he must not be a true reformer. So they voted for Dan Walker, the true “reformer”
I figure if Paul Simon can work with Richard J. Daley in 1972, it doesn’t bother me that Barack is working with Richard M. Daley now.
In the 1972 primary, to their surprise and regret, meddling Republicans provided the margin by which Walker scored his big victory over Mayor Richard J. Daley. The United States Supreme Court had legalized crossover voting and countless Republicans, wanting to reduce the margin by which they were certain that Paul Simon, Daley’s candidate, would be nominated, went into the Democratic primary.
Always ambitious, the young Simon twice sought party endorsement for the U. S. Senate but settled instead, in 1968, for slating as Lieutenant Governor and won his race though Republican Richard Ogilvie took the governorship. From that often inert post Simon energetically functioned as an ombudsman and helped defuse racial tensions in downstate Cairo. Derailed by a narrow loss in the 1972 primary for governor when the resolutely independent Simon could not fend off criticism for accepting Mayor Richard J. Daley’s blessing that year, he rebounded to win election to the U. S. House of Representatives from southern Illinois in 1974. A decade later, Simon beat his party’s endorsed candidate in the Senate primary and then upset three-term Republican incumbent Charles Percy, a national figure, in the Reagan landslide.
Explaining Simon’s success as a reformer in a machine-politics state and as an unabashed liberal in a mostly conservative era draws attention to his principled defense of controversial stands, his “can-do” pragmatism, his moral earnestness leavened with gentle humor, and his generosity to opponents. Simon is, in a phrase he often uses to describe others, “a class act,” able to rally such bitter foes as Chicago Alderman Edward Vrdolyak and Mayor Harold Washington when he needed both to unseat Charles Percy in 1984. Although he has kind words here for many, including Senator Jesse Helms, columnist Robert Novak, and the first (though not the second) Mayor Daley, Simon can be quite critical and is willing to name names, as he famously did in a 1964 Harper’s article, “The Illinois Legislature: A Study in Corruption.” Simon regrets allowing himself to believe that Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell had left his bribe-taking days behind, observes that Richard J. Daley only dealt with those who had something to offer him, records U. S. Rep. William Lipinski’s double-cross after endorsing Simon in the 1984 primary, deplores Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle’s position– changing deference to Robert Byrd over the Balanced Budget Amendment, and laments that Judiciary Committee chair Orrin Hatch is dominated by his staff.
* There are more recent examples, of course. Judy Baar Topinka was one of the most honest, decent politicians I’ve ever met, yet she was made to look like a horrid George Ryan clone in the 2006 governor’s race. Guilt by association.
* Obama did not start out as a Machine guy. He ran for US Senate against Dan Hynes, the organization’s guy, and Blair Hull, the governor’s guy.
The real question is whether Obama has sold his soul over being endorsed by the organization, and endorsing some Machine candidates. To many people, as with Paul Simon in 1972 and JBT in 2006, that’s a deal-breaker. But it completely ignores Illinois political realities. Everybody has to swim in the same tank with the sharks here. The object is to avoid being eaten alive while maintaining their own principles. That ain’t easy. Simon did it. Topinka, I believe, did it. Both paid a heavy price, however.
Whether Obama maintained his principles should be the subject of the debate, not this extraneous stuff like who endorsed whom. It tells us nothing. Is there any doubt whatsoever that Paul Simon would’ve been a much better governor than Dan Walker?
* We have two relatively recent polls from Democrat Debbie Halvorson and Republican Martin Ozinga in the 11th Congressional District contest.
* The Halvorson poll is slightly older. Taken September 14-16 of 500 likely voters, Halvorson’s poll shows her leading 43-35.
* Ozinga’s poll is more recent - Sept. 17-18 vs 14-16 - but the survey sample size is smaller - 400 likely voters vs. 500 likelies. It’s impossible to discern how each campaign is defining “likely” voters in their screens, so that could be one reason for the discrepancy. Ozinga claims Halvorson’s lead is just two points - 38-36.
* Judy Baar Topinka actually won the 11th District two years ago 50.3 to 49.7 by almost exactly a thousand votes over Rod Blagojevich. Considering she lost the state by about ten points, that’s pretty good for the GOPs. The following will give you an idea of how closely divided the district is. From the Halvorson pollster’s analysis…
The generic ballot in this district is virtually even (38% Democrat / 40% Republican). Those numbers are better than you’d expect in a Republican-held district
* From the Ozinga polling memo…
The Presidential ballot underscores the competitive nature of this district.
The Presidential ballot is a statistical tie (44% McCain/43% Obama) in an open seat district in Obama’s home state.
* And here’s some back and forth on TV messaging. From Halvorson…
Halvorson’s television buy is doing a good job of expanding her personal popularity, but she needs the resources to sustain it. She currently receives a 38% favorable / 20% unfavorable rating – an increase of 14 points in her favorable rating since May. While Halvorson’s ratio of favorables to unfavorables is nearly 2:1, Ozinga’s unfavorable rating is nearly as high as his favorable rating (28% favorable / 22% unfavorable).
* Ozinga…
Despite significant spending on the part of the Halvorson campaign, Debbie Halvorson holds a tenuous two point lead on the ballot (36% Ozinga/38% Halvorson). This represents a net 15 point improvement for Ozinga since our April survey (26% Ozinga/43% Halvorson) and a net five point improvement since August (33% Ozinga/40% Halvorson).
* Halvorson’s slightly earlier poll showed no movement…
Halvorson has maintained her vote share since May (43% Halvorson / 32% Ozinga). The small amount of movement in Ozinga’s vote is within the poll’s margin of error, in spite of his strong spending on television ads (more than $400,000) and his extensive direct mail
program, which has included more than ten pieces and has been heavily negative.
* Ozinga’s poll did show movement. Lots of it…
Since April, Halvorson has dropped five points (43% to 38%) and Ozinga has climbed ten (26% to 36%). In addition, John McCain is holding his own in IL-11, despite Obama’s favorite son status in Illinois.
* Halvorson’s poll included the Green Party candidate…
Halvorson leads Ozinga by a 43% to 35% margin, with Green Party candidate Jason Wallace at 6%.
* There was no reference to Wallace in the Ozinga press release, but Gov. Blagojevich rated a mention…
Halvorson’s negative attacks on Marty Ozinga have not improved her ballot numbers and have instead reinforced her image as a typical politician who is inexorably tied to the incredibly unpopular Rod Blagojevich (15% fav/72% unfav).
* Halvorson poll methodology…
Anzalone Liszt Research conducted n=500 live telephone interviews with likely 2008 general election voters in Illinois CD-11. Interviews were conducted between September 14-16, 2008. Respondents were selected at random with interviews apportioned geographically based on expected voter turnout. Expected margin of sampling error is ±4.4% with a 95% confidence level.
* Ozinga poll methodology…
Public Opinion Strategies conducted a telephone survey among 400 likely voters in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District. The survey was conducted September 17-18, 2008 and has a margin of error of +4.9% in 95 out of 100 cases.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Our very own Kevin Fanning caught up with Treasurer Giannoulias, an Obama protege, and asked him about the McCain ad flap…
“One of the things that keep people out of politics is sleaze and mud-slinging. I experienced this when I ran, with people trying to make my family look dirty. I’m biased because I’m a friend of Barack Obama, but I thought the ad was ridiculous. It never mentioned what Daley did for Obama, I’m pretty sure it just said something like Bill Daley, brother of Mayor Daley. I actually spoke to Bill Daley this morning, and he told me that John McCain actually helped him become Commerce Secretary. The ad also mentioned something about Barack being responsible for Governor Blagojevich’s failure to lead. Everyone in Illinois knows that is ludicrous. “
In response to a recent ad from the McCain For President campaign, Mayor Richard Daley said Tuesday that “people are desperate.” […]
At an unrelated event on Tuesday, Daley said, “If people throw mud, it comes back in their face.”
The mayor suggested that perhaps there should be more talk of the Keating Five investigation in the early ’90s — which included Sen. John McCain. It was, in Daley’s words, “… the biggest example of greed … as so many lost their homes.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Bill Daley takes another whack at McCain via CNN…
Daley accused McCain of hypocrisy for attacking Obama on lobbyists: “When I was at [telecom company] SBC, I had to hire [McCain campaign manager] Rick Davis to see John McCain,” he said. “He wouldn’t see anyone unless you hired one of his lobbyist friends. Telecom was his and Rick Davis was his telecom lobbyist. That was in ‘02, ‘03, ‘04.”
***************************
* Bill Daley has been drawn into the Obama-McCain presidential contest, and it appears that McCain goofed in his TV ad, whether deliberately or not. I posted the ad yesterday, but here it is again…
Daley’s son, William Daley Jr., is a former lobbyist for Fannie Mae. Daley Jr. is now with Morgan Stanley, and he is registered with Cook County and the State of Illinois as a lobbyist for the firm.
“The whole thing is an outright lie,” said Daley, who is furious with a new anti-Barack Obama ad released by the John McCain campaign that focuses on Chicago’s shady politics and its political machine. […]
Quoth Daley: McCain “cuts an ad making it look like I’m a thief and a gangster like Rezko” — that would be Tony Rezko, the former campaign fund-raiser for Obama and Gov. Blagojevich who was convicted on federal charges in June.
Added Daley: “The ad claims I’m a lobbyist. I’ve never been a lobbyist! My son, Bill, was a lobbyist five years ago. I don’t know what they’re talking about,” Daley told Sneed.
“A year and a half ago, he [McCain] called me the greatest U.S. commerce secretary ever, at a conference being held at Deer Valley,” Daley said. “I certainly thought he was being extreme, but he even voted for my confirmation as U.S. commerce secretary when he was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee!” […]
“This past March, I even went over to visit McCain at his Hilton Hotel fund-raiser — and walked away with an autographed picture!” […]
Daley, who is identified as Obama’s economic adviser, is furious with being associated with Rezko, described in the ad as a convicted felon — and Obama’s patron and money man. Furthermore, he’s included in a list that describes Blagojevich as having a legacy of federal and state investigations.
But the suggestion that Obama is a politician in the classic Chicago mold is way off base. He wasn’t a machine candidate in his bid for the Illinois Senate in 1996, and he won the 2004 nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in a heavily contested primary without Daley’s support. Though he now enjoys the support of establishment Democrats, Obama is a man governed by his conscience, not by his associations.
Obama wasn’t “born of the corrupt Chicago political machine,” and that makes his rise all the more remarkable. But the McCain camp is betting voters know less about Obama than they think they know about Chicago, which can usually be summed up in three words: Dead people vote.
Chicago, regrettably, deserves that rap. Obama does not.
The Chicago Machine concept is one that Republicans in Illinois had long urged the McCain campaign to tell the nation, noting the dysfunction of Democratic-controlled Illinois government. Yet it also is a premise that McCain draws overly broadly in the ad and one that risks confusing voters unfamiliar with the day-to-day players in Chicago politics.
The Obama campaign had anticipated the Chicago Machine card would be played in the campaign and the candidate, himself, noted earlier this year that he felt he had done well in rising politically “without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics.” […]
Obama has worked to distance himself from Blagojevich and notably invited three potential challengers to the governor’s possible 2010 re-election bid to speak at the recent Democratic National Convention. But Obama also has said little about the Blagojevich-led Democratic debacle in Springfield that has largely kept state government in a stalemate.
Obama was not spawned by a Chicago “machine” ward organization. His Hyde Park-Kenwood community is one of the few “independent” outposts in the city. In his early political career, as a state senator, Obama steered clear of local entanglements. He ran and lost a U.S. House race without Mayor Daley’s backing.
The remnants of the Daley machine — a confederation of political families — the best known named Madigan, Lipinski and Hynes — did not back Obama in his U.S. Senate Democratic primary bid, though he did have as his top consultant David Axelrod, Mayor Daley’s key adviser.
As a U.S. senator, Obama rarely used his popularity to force change in the local culture of corruption.
This John McCain ad is mostly accurate and largely pointless.
The one serious distortion is in claiming that Barack Obama was “born” of the Chicago machine. Obama was actually an independent outsider who challenged the party establishment, both in running for the Illinois Senate and in unsuccessfully opposing U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush. Obama did use hardball tactics on occasion but was not embraced by the party apparatus until later in his career.
Three of the four names included here do no damage to the senator from Illinois and serve mainly to reinforce the impression that Obama swims with sharks. Bill Daley may be a lobbyist and the brother of Mayor Richard Daley, but he is a former commerce secretary with a solid reputation. State Sen. Emil Jones gave Obama a boost early in his career, in part by assigning him to shepherd ethics legislation through the legislature. Obama has no connection to allegations that Jones has helped some of his own family members on the state payroll. And while Blagojevich is Obama’s governor — indeed, he is the governor of Oprah Winfrey and Mike Ditka and every other Illinois resident — he and Obama are not close politically.
Rezko is the exception, a major albatross for Obama. He was a key fundraiser for Obama and sold him a patch of land adjacent to Obama’s home — a deal that the Democratic nominee has called a “boneheaded mistake.” But the Chicago businessman, who was convicted of corruption charges in June, was not under investigation at the time of these dealings.
While the ad is a stretch, McCain is trying to tie Obama to the specter of ethically challenged big-city machine politics, undoubtedly hoping the word “Chicago” will turn off suburban and rural voters.
Besides the multiple federal investigations he’s facing, Gov. Blagojevich has 65,000 other reasons he might have trouble persuading state lawmakers this week to “follow my lead” on ethics reform.
The governor has kept $65,000 in campaign contributions from one of his administration’s former top employees, Ali D. Ata, even though Ata pleaded guilty to felony charges earlier this year.
After cutting a deal with federal prosecutors in April, Ata testified against former top Blagojevich adviser and fund-raiser Tony Rezko, who was convicted in June of wide-ranging corruption involving state deals.
After a Sun-Times reporter asked about the Ata contributions, Blagojevich campaign spokesman Doug Scofield said Sunday he was not aware of Ata’s money being dumped.
* Despite his own, very real problems, Gov. Blagojevich had the temerity to call out Rep. John Fritchey by name during his press conference last week…
Blagojevich is proposing a more comprehensive ethics plan that would… require lawmakers who lobby on behalf of corporate clients to disclose the clients and the fees. That’s a direct slap at Speaker Michael Madigan and state Rep. John Fritchey. The speaker’s law firm handles corporate property tax appeals, and the governor says Fritchey did legal work for pay day loan clients.
“Across the board ethics reform so that the taxpayers can have a better bang for their buck,” the governor said.
However, Fritchey was infuriated by the allegations. He says he never lobbied for pay day loan companies and that Blagojevich knows it.
“The governor has resorted to an all-new low, even for him. His allegations are pathetic and border on pathological,” Fritchey said. [emphasis added]
Now the point of this post isn’t to retract my statements. I stand by everything that I said. But that being said, I sincerely think that it is unfortunate that the situation has devolved to the point where our state’s Governor is routinely vocally derided by people from across the political and geographical divides of our state. […]
I want to publicly say that if my comments somehow are taken to be disrespectful to our state, they are intended to be anything but. I believe in our state, and I believe that we deserve better. I want to believe that the public knows the passion that underlies my statements, but I feel better making sure that there is no doubt.
Approving a long-awaited Illinois ethics bill could give political ammunition to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, according statements Gov. Rod Blagojevich made on Friday.
With two proposals on the table in Springfield this week, Blagojevich said voting for the one the governor opposes could make Barack Obama look soft on ethics.
“What I’m afraid of is that this is a Republican trap and they’re setting Barack Obama up by using this ethics issue in Illinois,” Blagojevich said in Chicago on Friday.
“Sometime in October in those battleground states, you’ll be seeing TV ads that … will start accusing Sen. Obama of coming back to Illinois to help his old friends in the Illinois General Assembly.”
* Well, McCain does have a new TV ad, but it’s not quite what the governor predicted…
Text…
ANNCR: Barack Obama. Born of the corrupt Chicago political machine.
BARACK OBAMA: In terms of my toughness, look, first of all, I come from Chicago.
ANNCR: His economic adviser, William Daley. Lobbyist. Mayor’s brother.
His money man, Tony Rezko. Client. Patron. Convicted Felon.
His “political godfather.” Emil Jones. Under ethical cloud.
His governor, Rod Blagojevich. A legacy of federal and state investigations.
With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead.
Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, called Blagojevich’s comments “delusional” and “loony.
Her group opposed the governor’s changes and asked Obama to speak with Jones.
“He doesn’t care about his political party or the course of this nation,” Canary said of the governor.Obama’s campaign declined to comment on Blagojevich’s remarks. But Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, a close Obama friend and former state legislative colleague, said the governor was attempting to kill the original ethics measure.
* Related…
* State Capitol Notebook: “I think the governor will do whatever it takes,” spokesman Lucio Guerrero said Friday, when asked about the possibility of keeping lawmakers in town until they approve his “real” ethics reform ideas.
* Blagojevich says he’s ‘followed every rule that exists’: “You’re missing the heart of it and missing the truth of it. The reality is I’ve followed every rule that exists and no one has said otherwise,” Blagojevich said.
Excellent 3%
Good 9% Fair 28% Poor 60% Not sure 0%
Oof.
The crosstabs show that just 5 percent of African-American voters rate the guv’s performance as “Good” while 0 percent say he is doing an “Excellent” job. Double oof.
Excellent 5%
Good 31% Fair 36% Poor 20% Not sure 9%
* I’m not sure why but the Post-Dispatch’s Research 2000 polling firm always has Blagojevich’s job approval ratings far higher than everyone else…
If public opinion is the measure, Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be losing his continuing war of wills against the Legislature.
A new poll conducted for the Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV (Channel 4) finds Blagojevich facing a dismal 34 percent favorable rating among likely Illinois voters, halfway through his contentious second term. That’s a significant drop from the 42 percent rating he received in a similar poll in January. Almost two out of three poll respondents now rate him unfavorable.
At the same time, the Democratic-controlled Legislature has seen a slight improvement in its own still-low favorable rating. The body’s 37 percent rating from January now stands at 41 — this after a year of open rebellion against fellow Democrat Blagojevich on budgetary, ethics and constitutional issues.
“He’s losing that war,” said pollster Del Ali.
The poll was conducted from Sept. 15-18 by Research 2000, a Maryland-based polling firm. A total of 800 likely Illinois voters who vote regularly in state elections were interviewed statewide by telephone.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin enjoys a 24-percentage-point lead in his bid for re-election.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the incumbent leading Republican opponent Steve Sauerberg 59% to 35%. That’s little changed from a month ago.
Durbin, the number two ranked Democrat in the United States Senate, is seeking his third term in the Senate. Sauerberg is a doctor from the Chicago suburbs.
Durbin is viewed favorably by 59% of Illinois voters and unfavorably by 35%. Sauerberg’s numbers are 39% favorable and 33% unfavorable, while 28% are not sure.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in [Illinois] shows Obama attracting 56% of the vote while McCain earns 40%. Those results are little changed from last month when Obama held a fifteen point advantage.
Fifty percent (50%) of Illinois voters say that local reporters will try to help Obama win the White House while 8% believe they will try to help McCain. Thirty-three percent (33%) believe the media will try to remain neutral and offer unbiased coverage. These figures are similar to perceptions on a national basis.
McCain has the support of 88% of Illinois Republicans, while 91% of the state’s Democrats are backing Obama. The Democrat has a twenty-one point advantage among unaffiliated voters.
Obama’s is viewed favorably by 66% of Illinois voters while McCain earns positive reviews from 53%.
As for the running mates, 63% have a favorable opinion of Delaware Senator Joe Biden while 50% say the same about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
