* The DC publication RollCall takes a look at possible cabinet appointments in an Obama administration and comes up with one somewhat surprising name…
Transportation Secretary. Possibilities from Congress include Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Aviation
That’s the first time I’ve heard Costello’s name mentioned for the cabinet. Thoughts?
* So, do these two TV ads look alike to you?
Oberweis Dairy ad…
Jim Oberweis congressional campaign ad…
It’s probably no surprise that both eerily similar ads were produced by the same company, Aspect Media Inc.
* From a DCCC press release…
Resorting to his old tricks of using his ice cream empire to get ahead in politics, in recent days, Jim Oberweis is under fire again for releasing campaign ads resembling those of his Oberweis Dairy ads and the production company just happens to be the same for both. According to the Federal Election Commission, Aspect Media Inc was paid thousands to produce ads for Oberweis. Aspect Media Inc also produces commercials for Oberweis Dairy […]
* The FEC has previously sanctioned Jim Oberweis and Oberweis Dairy and fined them $21,000 for illegally using corporate resources for campaign purposes. [Associated Press, 7/27/07]
That sort of ad campaign really makes me uncomfortable.
Then again, the Oberweis campaign ad is one of the stronger ads I’ve seen from him to date. I’m not sure if the rebranding program will work, however.
* Meanwhile, up until now, both sides in the 11th Congressional District race have been doing mailers, robocalls and cable TV. Today, though, Democrat Debbie Halvorson’s campaign hits network broadcast TV…
Friday the race will go before a much wider audience, however, with a new commercial by state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, set to run on Chicago broadcast stations, her campaign said Thursday.
Halvorson’s aides gave few details of the 30-second spot in advance of the initial airing, including the size of the purchase or duration of the run, other than to say it will be a positive portrayal of Halvorson and her top issues.
While her Republican opponent Marty Ozinga, of Homer Glen, has already aired three cable ads and two more have come from the independent expenditure wing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,
Friday’s spot will be the first on broadcast television by either of the candidates or an outside group. The move will put the Halvorson ad in more than 80 percent of the district and reach cable and non-cable television viewers, although the vast majority of viewers will not be in the 11th District. While Ozinga has bought ads on cable systems serving similar or higher percentages of the district, those ads have not reached broadcast-only and satellite television viewers.
The commercial will also mark the beginning of Halvorson’s paid communications effort. Up to now she has relied on personal campaigning, with the DCCC airing television and radio ads and producing mailers in support of her candidacy and against Ozinga.
*** UPDATE *** Here’s the Halvorson ad…
* The Tribune takes a look at how GOP “moderates” are viewing the GOP convention…
Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) says she is excited about the ultimate selection of Palin for the slot, because she’s a woman who “busted the old-boy network.”
Still, she said she was disheartened by repeated avowals this summer that McCain would suffer if he selected a candidate who supported abortion rights.
“It always bothers me that they say they can’t choose this person or that person for a running mate because they’re not pro-life,” said Biggert. “I respect all members of the party no matter what their views are, but [that attitude] does make it a little harder for us.”
Rep. Mark Kirk struck strategically at the convention, flying in briefly for a round-table discussion before heading back to Illinois to start a collection drive for hurricane victims. Like many GOP officials who are skipping some or all of the convention this week, he has a tough re-election campaign going on back home.
Kirk, a leading GOP moderate, praised the Palin pick but cautioned that her socially conservative views wouldn’t play well in his affluent district in the northern Chicago suburbs.
Instead, he urged her to emphasize her record of taking on ethically tainted Republican officials in her state and challenging the controversial “bridge to nowhere” earmark.
“If she goes out and says, ‘I threw out of office another corrupt, old bull Republican,’ my voters will think anti-[former Illinois Gov.] George Ryan; they’ll like it. ‘Then I killed the bridge to nowhere’; then they’ll hear fiscal conservative,” said Kirk. “On the other hand, if we emphasize the social issues, [the voters] won’t be there.”
Kirk is facing a serious challenge from Democrat Dan Seals, one of the best-financed candidates in the country.
* That brought a strong response from a women’s political group in Kirk’s district…
To the women of the 10th District, there is nothing encouraging about Palin’s extreme political views, including her opposition to a woman’s right to choose even in the cases of incest and rape, equal pay for equal work, and gun control. Nor is her support for abstinence-only sex education, teaching creationism in our schools, and banning books from our public libraries.
A lion of the Illinois Republican Party called the state GOP organization “weak” in a blunt assessment of how much Republicans still must do to rebuild from the ruin left by George Ryan’s corrupt tenure as governor. […]
“That’s why we don’t have a constitutional office in Illinois, we don’t have a senator in Illinois, because our organization has been weak,” said [ormer U.S. House Minority Leader Bob Michel] […]
“All the polling ahead of time doesn’t mean two hoots unless you have the ground forces to get the vote on Election Day, and we just haven’t had that the last several years,” Michel said.
* And there was some disagreement…
“I think he’s talking about the past. He certainly can’t be talking about today,” said Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville). “We’ve had our problems. There’s no doubt about the fact we have. But we are rebuilding, and I think that’s what he was talking about.”
* Retiring congresscritter Ray LaHood, who took Michel’s House seat, mentioned the obvious…
U.S. Rep. Ray Lahood, speaking after Michel, said the party must broaden its base.
“You can’t win in these congressional districts and you can’t win in Illinois with just Republicans,” Lahood said, adding that the party can win back statewide offices only by recruiting candidates capable of reaching out to Democrats and independents.
“This is not to give up on principle and not to give up on philosophy,” said Lahood, of Peoria, “but to recruit candidates who can say, ‘This is what we believe in, and we know there are discerning Democrats and independents who believe the same thing that we do.’ “
“Anybody who has spent any time focusing in what has been going on in Illinois in the last six years can’t make a single case for explaining to me why anybody in this state would vote for a Democrat in Illinois politics,”Cross said.
Republicans must give residents reasons to vote for them that go beyond dissatisfaction with Illinois Democrats. He cited this party’s “agenda for change,” which includes creating jobs, shoring up ethics law and making college more affordable. He said party leaders have not written off the November elections even though Chicagoan Barack Obama tops the Democratic ticket.
Citing Chicago school reform and welfare reform, Watson urged delegates to tell voters that Republicans made progress on issues when they controlled both legislative chambers and the governor’s office in the mid-1990s.
State Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, of Greenville, took the makeshift stage at the final morning breakfast for the Illinois delegation and hugged state Rep. Jim Durkin of Westchester, his co-chair for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign in Illinois.
“You know what the difference is? We mean it. We mean it,” Watson, who sounded possibly a bit overcaffinated, shouted to the audience. Then, inspired by the moment, he challenged the crowd.
“Why doesn’t everybody just get up and hug their neighbor, huh? Let’s talk about togetherness. Let’s get together. Grab your neighbor and hug. There’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s have some excitement around here,” Watson chanted to the audience.
“Let’s show the Democrats they’re not the only ones that can do the hugging. Republicans love each other. We can be all about togetherness. We can move ahead. We’re going to take this nation back. Let’s get together,” he said.
After members of the audience stood to hug their neighbors, Watson laughed and said, “I’m glad to see that actually worked. … “I’m shocked. I didn’t think it would actually work.”
* Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Mayor Daley scoffed at former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s claims about the Chicago machine…
“I don’t know where we get this, this idea that there’s a big Democratic machine going on. Chicago and the metropolitan area is very Democratic and the state is. There’s no, this machine. I thought it was laughable.”
On Thursday [Whitley] informed the Springfield-based business group’s board that he is forming an exploratory committee to run as a Republican for governor in the 2010 election, and the chamber issued a statement saying it is “supportive” of the move.
“It’s safe to say I’ve definitely been considering it and giving it a lot of thought,” said Mr. Whitley, 58. “Republicans need to find fresh blood and fresh faces.”
* But not everybody was pleased with the news…
“They have no idea what they’re getting into,” said U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, who is not running for re-election this year. “They should start out running as a precinct committeeman. You can’t start out in the top job.”
* Jim Edgar warns in a Daily Herald story about possible contenders…
“It is one thing to talk about running for governor. It is a whole different thing to do it.”
* Here are a few more quotes from that Daily Herald story about possible statewide candidates…
[House GOP Leader Tom Cross] said running for statewide office is something he “will give serious thought to.” And he added, “It is not something I have at all dismissed.” […]
Former Gov. Jim Thompson commented in Minneapolis, “We will have to wait for Aaron Schock to grow up.” […]
On running for governor or another statewide post, [DuPage County chairman Bob Schillerstrom] says, “That is one of the things I’m going to take look at and give some consideration to.” […]
Asked in Minneapolis if he will run again, Gidwitz said, “I had a great time last time. Who knows?”
* Congressional candidate Aaron Schock was the only Illinois Republican to speak at the RNC this week, and it was just for a couple of minutes. Here it is…
* Related…
* Watson: Illinois Senate ‘Hardly the Training Ground’ for White House
* It’s hard to fathom how Sen. Dick Durbin could be this stupid…
Nor does Durbin agree with the characterization that Palin’s experience as governor means she is more prepared than the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden to take over as vice president or, if needed, as president.
“How you could possibly draw a parallel between that experience as Alaska governor and being a vice president or even president of the United States is a stretch, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
That’s just a blatant insult to Alaska. Yes, it has fewer residents than Lake County. But remember what Barack Obama said just last week in Denver? “Change doesn’t come from Washington, it comes to Washington.” This tack by Durbin just doesn’t jibe with last week’s message.
* The Republicans were obviously woefully unprepared to defend their nominee in the face of this crazy storm of criticism, innuendo and probing. And they’ve flip-flopped completely about “experience” since just last week.
If you don’t feed the Beast, the Beast will feed on you. The Beast is now feeding like crazy on Palin.
But Durbin walked right into it. His party has a standard bearer with zero administrative experience (not counting his so-far impressive campaign), and Durbin wants to talk about the experience issue?
* Billy Dennis pointed to this Andrew Sullivan piece the other day…
Palin looks to me like a lovely person and a good local politician, with some inevitable rough spots. I’d be delighted if she took a leadership role in the GOP in the future. But in the same league as Obama?
Do Republicans really think that little of him?
I guess they do. We are looking at a different person.
* As somebody wrote the other day (can’t remember who, but I think it was Larry), this is the same sort of mindset about Obama that Illinois Republicans had in 2004. Just get a well-spoken black guy to run against the Democrats’ well-spoken black guy and things will cancel themselves out. Big mistake.
It’s also, obviously, at least some of the mindset behind Palin. Hillary supporters are unhappy? Well, let’s throw a woman out there. No matter that her political beliefs are completely the opposite. She’s got the right chromosome arrangement.
* But local and state leadership is way too often dismissed by the Beltway crowd (including, as we can plainly see, Dick Durbin) as insignificant and irrelevant. It’s part of the problem with that town. Anything or anyone outside of their tiny radar screen just isn’t worth examining. Obama was almost universally dismissed at first because nobody in the punditocracy had apparently ever attended a cocktail party with him. That goes quintuple for Palin.
As a result, the Palin pick has caused one of those oh so special media frenzies that the DC establishment press revels in like pigs at the trough. It’s fascinating to watch, of course, but completely goofy. We’ve got the teen pregnancy thing, the secessionist thing, the Ted Stevens thing, the Abramoff thing, the car wash thing, the book banner thing, even the wacky preacher thing. It’s all coming at us faster than we can comprehend, and without the proper context or perspective, it’s just an infotainment blur.
Because of this gross overreaction, the bar has now been set exceedingly low. A decent convention speech by Palin tonight - one that defies the media portrait of a backwards, white trash mountain woman (which should be pretty easy to accomplish, since she isn’t) - will likely settle things down quite a bit. After things have calmed, a follow-up press conference should do the trick. Reporters will look like raving lunatics, and if she keeps her cool and answers the questions, she’ll come off fine.
* Let’s do our very best in comments to keep the multitude of goofy DC talking points out of our discussion. Try to be original, please. I know this story is like crack cocaine, but we can attempt to rise above.
* Some Illinois Republicans think their party needs a daddy figure, and they’re looking to former US House Speaker Denny Hastert…
“I think we need to have in this next election cycle, as we get to 2010, someone who has the respect of everyone in the Republican party, to make sure that we have civil primaries and that we support whoever wins,” said state Rep. Jim Durkin, of Western Springs.
Illinois Republicans, Durkin said, have self-destructed during the last two elections by demonizing one another in intense, post-primary battles.
In order to capitalize in 2010 on Illinois Democrats’ own internal feuding, Durkin said, Republicans need “basically someone with that big stick who is going to be able to institute party discipline and who’s going to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Hastert fits the bill, Durkin said, because he’s widely respected and because he holds no office himself.
This is somewhat bizarre, considering that Hastert couldn’t even stop the intra-party bickering in his own congressional district between Sen. Chris Lauzen and Jim Oberweis. Democrat Bill Foster ended up winning the special election this year, which is not exactly a great resume padder for Denny.
Also, Hastert is one of the prime motivators behind helping the spectacularly unpopular Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s push for a gigantic, multibillion dollar infrastructure program.
* House GOP Leader Tom Cross comes out of Denny’s political organization (which is one reason why he’s so gung-ho about the capital bill), but he’s not too keen on Durkin’s party daddy idea…
“I think, and this is not a negative comment, that it also is time for others to kind of step up to the plate and build the party and grow the party and bring it back,” Cross said. “I think [Hastert] will help when asked. I also think he realizes that it’s other people’s time.”
Cross is considering a statewide bid in 2010, possibly for governor or attorney general. The “it’s other people’s time” comment makes more sense in that context.
Thoughts on a party daddy?
* Meanwhile, the IL Repubs had a bit of a messaging problem at the convention this week. Frank Donatelli, the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, was speaking to the state’s delegates yesterday morning and lit into Barack Obama’s slogan…
Donatelli belittled the mantra of change being pushed by Democratic nominee Barack Obama, though without mentioning the Illinois senator’s name.
“The key point in John McCain’s public service, in addition to serving a cause greater than himself, is one word: Reform,” Donatelli said. “That’s a different, I would argue, a different concept than change. What does that mean? Change from what to what? It’s just a word that you throw out. reform is a much meatier topic.”
Donatelli was apparently unaware of the sign on the lectern from which he addressed the Illinois Republican delegation. The sign read: “Change for Illinois.”
Oops.
Then again, it’s a valid criticism. What does “Change for Illinois” really mean?
At the Republican National Convention, former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson is promoting his choices for Governor in 2010. Thompson says Bloomington State Senator Bill Brady, along with House Minority Leader Tom Cross and Congressman Mark Kirk are all viable candidates to replace Governor Blagojevich. […]
Meanwhile, a top ally of John McCain is also considering running for governor. State Representative Jim Durkin is the co-chairman of McCain’s state campaign in Illinois.
Bad ad: State Sen. Kirk Dillard, a major supporter of John McCain but a close friend of Barack Obama, tells Sneed he inadvertently wound up in that Obama campaign ad that ran in Iowa. “It was only 10 seconds, but I asked (top Obama strategist) David Axelrod to pull it,” said Dillard.
• • The upshot: Axelrod did.
“Inadvertently”? Did he not see the cameras, lights and makeup people?
Q: Could you still play some kind of surrogate role for McCain?
A: I would submit because I said 10 seconds of nice things about Sen. Obama, I’m probably a better surrogate than many people. I know Sen. Obama. I respect him. But I’m overwhelmingly for John McCain for president and I think that says a lot, as opposed to just the total partisan line.
Q: Will 2010, when all statewide offices are up for election, be a good rebuilding year for the Illinois GOP?
A: In 2010, it will be a decent year for Illinois Republicans. First, the Illinois Republicans are better for our economy than the Democrats. And I think Illinoisans have overwhelmingly seen how bad the total Chicago machine Democratic control of state government is for our job climate and the state of Illinois as a whole.
Q: Do you plan to run for statewide office in 2010?
A: I don’t have any concrete plans for 2010 other than to see who emerges and how things shake out. Most importantly, my children are a little older, and for the first time in recent times, I’m able from a family situation to travel around the state of Illinois, which I’ve not been able to do. But I’m not like some other folks who are around here today with active, behind-the-scenes plans to run statewide.
That last question is what this rehab effort is really all about.
In a recent Daily Herald survey, suburban Republican delegates to the convention offered a scattershot of names when asked who they wanted to be the GOP nominee for governor in 2010.
Some of the delegates offered as many as three answers. Those most often mentioned included state Sen. Kirk Dillard, House Republican leader Cross, state Sen. Bill Brady, DuPage County Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett and state Rep. Jim Durkin.
Q: How can the Republican party in Illinois overcome its internal divide between social conservatives and social moderates?
A: While the Republicans have had bumps in the road, the Democrats are downright fratricidal. It is very dark in those relationships. We are poised to make good progress.
Who do you see leading the Republican party of Illinois over the next few years?
It will not be difficult to put forward a candidate. We are in the middle of a Shakespearean meltdown of the Democratic party. I think voters are ready for anybody but the people who participated in the meltdown. I don’t want to name any names. But there are some people out there who have built up a good reputation.
Are you interested at all in running for a statewide office in Illinois?
(He laughs hard.) I’m totally and completely focused on the 10th Congressional District.
Will it be hard for Republicans to regain a foothold in Illinois?
It may be affected in the future by who is in the White House. If you have a Republican president in the White House, it will be tough times ahead because that president will have to make tough choices and you will have people disagreeing with that.
I’m not a pessimist like some people are and I think many in the media like to talk about the death of the Republican party. We had a tough go. I never thought Rod Blagojevich would get away with it twice … it’s now our turn. I can assure you whether he’s on the ballot or not in 2010 we’ll run against him.
I don’t know that the Republican Party is any worse off as a party. It’s just that we don’t have that anchor that we had for so many years–the governor’s office.
Word is U.S. Housing Secretary Steve Preston, who hails from Hinsdale, is being urged to consider a run to unseat Gov. Blagojevich. It was the whisper amongst top GOP Illinois delegates at the Republican National Convention here.
You gotta wonder who is is urging him. Any thoughts?
* Related…
* Illinois convention delegates offer diversity of political experience
* TOPINKA: Spent 42 bucks, got three great suits. Fifty percent off on everything. A Ralph Lauren suit for like seven and a half bucks. That’s incredible, you know and it’s brand new, it still has the tags on it.
It was the “Hug heard ’round Illinois,” but did it really mean anything?
Gov. Rod Blagojevich showed up late to the Democrats’ national convention in Denver. Most others arrived the weekend before the official Monday kickoff, but Blagojevich didn’t get there until Tuesday, just in time to attend a reception that evening and then a Wednesday morning breakfast sponsored by organized labor.
You all know what happened next. Blagojevich and his lifelong nemesis House Speaker Michael Madigan held a long sidebar meeting at the Tuesday evening reception. They talked about how they haven’t talked in months and agreed to talk some more. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s call for party unity earlier that evening had apparently sunk in.
But the following morning’s labor breakfast brought seemingly stunning developments. At the urging of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Madigan and Blagojevich hugged - and it wasn’t one of those “I’m gonna hug you until I break your spine,” hugs, either. It looked almost, well, genuine. The two enemies who had locked each other in a death vise for months were smiling ear to ear, patting each other on the back, while the stunned partisan crowd roared its approval with an extended standing ovation.
“I gotta cut back on the ’shrooms,” cracked one reporter who witnessed the blessed event but still wasn’t quite sure if he hadn’t just hallucinated the whole thing.
Party elders and labor union leaders were immediately hopeful that the supposed new era of good feelings meant that the odious Denver Boot, which Blagojevich and Madigan had locked onto all four wheels of state government years ago, would finally be removed by the magic of Denver’s rarified air. Might a way finally be found to implement the much-needed but perennially stalled multibillion dollar infrastructure program, and patch the horrific state deficit, and resolve education funding reform, and provide universal health insurance?
Maybe not.
“It’s all theater,” confided one top Blagojevich aide later in the day. A Madigan lieutenant pointed out that Madigan was the one who walked over to Blagojevich at Jackson’s urging and had to practically pry the governor out of his seat. No happy talk could be found.
But could it be that the aides de camp hadn’t gotten the message? That very evening, Madigan and Blagojevich continued their detente by sitting next to each other at the Democratic convention.
Remember, these are two men who have been trying to destroy each other for years. Perhaps it would just take a while before their top soldiers could be demobilized and reprogrammed.
Or not.
Blagojevich, Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones had promised Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) that they would sit down and discuss Meeks’ idea to avoid a threatened student boycott of the Chicago Public Schools. Meeks was proposing a $120 million plan to reform the state’s worst public schools. He flew out to Denver to set up the confab, and he then waited and waited for the governor to agree to a meeting time. Madigan had said he was willing to meet whenever the governor was ready, so it all depended on Blagojevich.
The call never came.
The governor, it turns out, had flown back to Chicago to announce huge state budget cuts Thursday morning, including the layoffs of hundreds of state workers and the closures of several state parks and facilities. The cuts were announced at a time when they would be buried far underneath the coverage of Obama’s finely choreographed acceptance speech and John McCain’s dramatic vice presidential announcement.
All of a sudden it seemed to many like everything had been some sort of cynical ploy.
There was no inkling that the same governor who seemed so pleased with the new political thaw was secretly sharpening his meat ax. He had no time to meet with Meeks for a few minutes, but had plenty of time to fly back to Chicago to lay off downstate workers.
If Illinoisans listened carefully, they could almost hear the bile boiling over all the way from Denver.
By the end of the week, the only truly happy people were the House Republicans. They’ve been closely allied with Blagojevich on the stalled infrastructure proposal, but have been simultaneously searching for ways to tie Madigan and his Democratic House candidates to the horribly unpopular governor, in order to gain some political advantage this November.
The “hug” photos were all they needed.
“Coming to a mailbox near you!” gloated one House GOP operative last week.
* Related…
* Kadner: When politicians start hugging each other, you can be sure they’re about to kick the little guy in the rear.
* Andrew McKenna: It’s one thing to be hugging each other in Denver, the other 364 days a year the voters expect these people to work for them, and I don’t think that’s a record the voters are looking for.
* Marin: This past week in Denver, Illinois Republicans got a good laugh out of all the hugging their warring Democratic counterparts did in Denver. For all House Speaker Michael Madigan’s power and might and Gov. Blagojevich’s gubernatorial perch, they crow, we have no capital bill, no ethics bill, and we face a Chicago school boycott because of the dismal state of funding inner city schools.
* Belleville News-Democrat: However, that hug probably was as believable as Blagojevich’s pronouncement this week that he is a “great governor.” His questionable ethics, his pay-for-play politics and his disdain for the legislative process are just a few of the reasons why he’s a terrible governor.
* Sen. Gary Dahl: “The bull—- keeps getting thicker and thicker. I’m disappointed and shocked. This is no way to run the state.”
* Southern Illinoisan: THUMBS DOWN to the eerie wave of hugging that went on behind the scenes at the Democratic National Convention among Illinois political leaders long at odds with each other. House Speaker Michael Madigan hugged bitter rival, Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley even embraced his nemesis, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. We can’t help but call this a shameless public relations grab at a time when residents in Illinois need true statesmanship and leadership to craft a sorely needed public works improvement plan and put an end to the gridlock among the state’s top elected officials.
* Finke: Was Blagojevich-Madigan hug just for show?
* Topinka : “We do a lot of hugs and kisses but they are usually sincere and they are not for trying to make peace. They are just done because you feel good about hugging people… I didn’t buy the hug. I thought it was stupid – really stupid.”
* SJ-R: Meeks’ protest deserves a look The Meeks/Gidwitz proposal, with its emphasis on both funding and accountability, deserves serious consideration. A flamboyant protest like the one planned for Tuesday in Winnetka could light a fire that spreads across the state.
“As long as it is a tentative agreement and not a final contract, we believe AFSCME members should be able to review the contract, study its terms and ask any questions in confidence,” said AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall
That recall provision, sponsored by state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), would have placed a question on the statewide November ballot, asking if voters supported a recall amendment being added to the Illinois Constitution. Three-fifths of House and Senate members needed to vote “yes” to start the process. While the House voted in favor of the recall bill, the Senate fell three votes short.
Think about it. In the first two hours of my day I spent almost $4. Two hours to spend more than some people can afford to spend in an entire day… and I am going out to lunch today because I didn’t get around to packing one last night or this morning.
For example, BesGrove said American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents prison workers, buys 500 to 600 turkeys every Thanksgiving. If the prison closes and his sales slow, he’d have to cut some of his own 168 employees.
“The biggest damage, I think, is to the community and how we already have layoffs (from other businesses), an economic downturn and the flood in January,” he said. “It’s been a distressed community for a while.”
Mayor Daley vigorously defends the rule. He once said, “If I’m mayor, should I live in Waukegan? If it’s good enough to work and earn your salary, it’s good enough to live.”
As his sentencing nears, pressure is mounting on Tony Rezko to cooperate with federal investigations into some of the highest-profile politicians in the state — including Gov. Blagojevich. […]
Now, sources tell the Chicago Sun-Times that Rezko has been seen at the federal courthouse as many as a dozen times since his June conviction. He’s been held since then at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.
A state panel Wednesday urged Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration to cancel a multimillion-dollar deal to rent office space from a politically connected developer whose family has been a major donor to the governor.
Under the lease, the state is paying downtown Chicago rental rates—more than $19 per square foot—for a building in economically depressed Harvey that was conceived as a model center for child welfare agencies but never reached its potential.
The lease is at the center of what has been a quiet but intense fight between the Blagojevich administration, which sought to sweeten and extend the contract, and a little-known oversight panel.
“It is a bad situation, and every month we delay, the taxpayers of Illinois are paying money for no reason,” said Edward Bedore, a member of the Procurement Policy Board who calls the deal “outrageous.”
Here’s the rest of the story on Gov. Blagojevich’s announcement this week that he wants to “rock the system” with new ethics reforms:
The West Side building where the governor held his news conference was once co-owned by Ali D. Ata. That would be the same Ali Ata who has pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges involving Rezko, a former Blagojevich adviser and campaign fund-raiser.
Blagojevich hired Ata to head the Illinois Finance Authority in January 2004 even though Ata and three partners didn’t pay the mortgage on the 3500 W. Grand building they’d been leasing to the state and had been foreclosed upon in September 2003. In the 10 years before the foreclosure, Ata and his partners had taken in $3.2 million in rent from taxpayers.
At Rezko’s trial, Ata — a onetime Rezko business partner — testified he made hefty campaign contributions to Blagojevich, at Rezko’s urging, to land his state post. Blagojevich has denied that the contributions were behind Ata’s hiring.
State Sen. Rev. James Meeks said on Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co., that he would continue to push his boycott of the first day of school in Chicago.
However, in Chicago, dozens of parents said the idea was not for them, and would walk their children to class, NBC5’s Dick Johnson reported.
“On the first day of school, we are going to work to make sure that 100 percent of Chicago Public School children are in school on that first day,” said Phillip Jackson of the Black Star Project. […]
“I talked to the governor last night, I talked to the speaker yesterday,” Meeks said. “They said that sometime this (Wednesday) morning, we’ll schedule a time to meet.”
Layoffs, furloughs and a hiring freeze are being implemented by Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes to cope with cuts made to his office budget by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The comptroller - just the latest among statewide elected officials to implement such measures - is also offering incentives for workers to retire early in hopes of avoiding even further involuntary cuts.
* Related…
* “If you do things the right way, pay your dues, you get to be Dan Rostenkowski — you don’t get to be president,” said Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “Chicago politics is not geared to producing presidents — it produces aldermen and mayors.”
* A New York financial services firm that employs Mayor Daley’s nephew stands to make millions if the mayor gets his way and the Chicago Children’s Museum moves from Navy Pier to Grant Park.
* Maybe the good people of Denver should leave Chicago pizza to Chicagoans
* The 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield has ruled that a hospital in Urbana has to pay property taxes. The court agreed with the state Department of Revenue and local tax authorities, who contend that Provena Covenant Medical Center doesn’t provide enough charity care to be tax exempt.
