Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· I posted this below, but it’s way buried. House GOP Leader Tom Cross will endorse Judy Topinka today, along with about 22 of his members.

Â· Charles Box was finally confirmed today as ICC chairman.

Â· No CTA strike until April 9 - right after the General Assembly adjourns.

Â· “Pro-family” groups deem guv’s budget “unacceptable.”

Â· Zorn drops his two cents into the Nation of Islam fiasco.

Here’s a suggestion, offered to me by a friend: The governor should generate a statement of tolerance, respect and fairness that pointedly but perhaps not specifically repudiates remarks such as those made by Farrakhan. Then he should risk offending any closet anti-Semites and homophobes on the commission by demanding that all members sign it or be given a swift and deserving boot.

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Exelon CEO John Rowe on the State of Illinoisâ€™ Electric Market

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department

(The following is a paid advertisement)

â€œMaking a market system that works here [in Illinois] is still a problemâ€ that must be worked out. John Rowe, Wall Street Journal, February 28, 2006.

Mr. Roweâ€™s candid comments perfectly demonstrate the need for HB 5766 â€“ the Electric Consumer Protection Act.

In June 2002, the General Assembly extended the rate freeze for two additional years because competition had yet to develop.

Now itâ€™s 2006 and nothing has changed. Residential and small business customers still have no options. And, in the words of Mr. Rowe, our electric market is still problematic.

Letâ€™s stay the course and extend the rate freeze just like we did before â€“ as, under our current rate structure, Ameren and Exelon/ComEd have record profits, record earnings, and near-record share prices.

Then letâ€™s work together to fix our broken market by adopting innovative policy solutions such as municipal aggregation, real time pricing, and a Power Development Authority to help finance cost-based coal gasification plants in southern Illinois.

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Question of the day

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Choose a song (a real song, not a made up one) that best describes this year’s campaign. You can even pick more than one.

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Protected: Check today’s Capitol Fax for password

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

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It still isn’t going away

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

An attempt to replace Jewish members who’ve resigned from the Governor’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes apparently isn’t working very well. From The Forward.

A source at the Chicago Board of Rabbis told the Forward that two of its members had been asked by the governor’s office to fill the newly-emptied slots and that they had refused.

And the commission became an issue after last night’s debate.

Some GOP gubernatorial candidates say a state hate crimes commission should be dissolved because of the controversy over one member who is a Nation of Islam official, calling the commission “dysfunctional” and Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s handling of the matter “pathetic.”

They also accused Blagojevich of playing politics with the controversy.

“He’s decided the African-American community is more important to his re-election than the Jewish community,” Bill Brady said after a Republican debate Wednesday. “He doesn’t care about ending discrimination.”

Candidates Brady, Jim Oberweis and Ron Gidwitz all said Blagojevich should abolish the Gov.’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.

“We clearly need a hate crimes commission but this commission today is dysfunctional and not working,” Gidwitz said after the debate.

State treasurer and GOP front-runner Judy Baar Topinka said the commission can still serve a purpose, but she too condemned Blagojevich’s handling of the issue.

The governor was cornered by CBS2 last night on his way into a fundraiser, but made a hasty exit after mumbling a few platitudes.

But as he arrived for a $250 a ticket fundraiser Wednesday night in a downtown high rise, the governor would not talk about the issue or those resignations.

â€œThings are going forward, and weâ€™re all about encouraging people to work together,â€ he said, but did not respond when the fifth resignation was brought up.

And reporters in Peoria had no luck either.

“Look, I’d love to make more news for you,” he told reporters who peppered him with questions as he left an event in Peoria. “We have no news for you. There’s nothing new to say. Everything’s the same.”

UPDATE: The Tribune editorial page demands resolution.

The governor dug himself into a hole by reviving this once-moribund panel to score points with supporters and then being inattentive to the appointments he made to it. It demands his attention now.

The solution: Ask Muhammad publicly to renounce the anti-Semitic comments of Farrakhan–and ask her to leave the commission if she will not do so.

UPDATE 2: More trouble. From a press release:

Today Stonewall Democrats Illinois, an organization of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender Democrats, regrettably calls on Governor Rod Blagojevich to remove Sister Claudette Marie (Johnson) Muhammad from the Governorâ€™s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.

It is unfortunate that Sister Claudette refuses to repudiate statements made in a recent speech by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in which he reportedly equated Jews and gays to â€œfilthâ€ and told his audience: â€œdonâ€™t be afraid to hateâ€, said Stonewall President Rick Ingram. â€œIn a Tuesday interview on WVON radio, the Associated Press reported that Sister Claudette referred to criticism of her actions as â€œabsolutely ridiculousâ€, and referred to Farrakhanâ€™s remarks as only being â€œperceived by some as anti-Semiticâ€ (emphasis added). â€œHow can she combat discrimination and hate if she doesnâ€™t even recognize it,â€ said Stonewall Democrats Vice President Tom Chaderjian.

Sister Claudette is in a leadership and advisory position at the Nation of Islam as Farrakhanâ€™s Chief of Protocol and National Director of Community Outreach. â€œ When you combine her ridicule of her critics with her refusal to repudiate Farrakahnâ€™s speech, it leaves us no choice but to conclude that she is in agreement, and there is no room on the Commission for anyone who represents a position advocating hateâ€, said Ingram.

â€œGovernor Blagojevich is a strong supporter of equal rights for GLBT Illinoisans, and we applaud him for that, but Sister Claudette is doing the Governor and the Commission a great disservice. Her continued presence on the Commission has proven to be disruptive and divisive, and she should resign from the Commission. If she refuses to do so, Governor Blagojevich should remove her. â€œThe real tragedy here is that her actions have been allowed to divide traditional allies in the human rights community. For the good of the Commission and its important work, she should step downâ€, said Ingram.

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Ads and debates

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

As expected, this ended up being the top story from last night’s GOP debate - something which happened after the debate ended.

The Republican governor candidates split Wednesday night on whether Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich should abolish a state anti-discrimination panel torn asunder over his appointment of a follower of Louis Farrakhan, whose strident comments have offended Jews.

Also, let’s continue our discussion from last night on the new Dem TV ads.

Edwin Eisendrath’s new political ads are here. Rod Blagojevich’s are here.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Bernie blasts another big hole in Marty Kovarik’s statement to the Oberweis campaign.

In the sworn statement, Kovarik said nothing about passing on the alleged request from Topinka to shred the document. In fact, when asked by the lawyer if he ever shredded the document, he said: “It’s a state document. I wouldn’t shred the document. You’re crazy.”

But speaking with me on Wednesday, Kovarik said that, after getting the order from Topinka, which he said happened as he muffled the phone in his shoulder, he lifted the phone back to his ear and “I said, Jim, shred it.”

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: House GOP Leader Tom Cross and several other House Repubs will reportedly endorse Judy Baar Topinka today at 12:30.

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Lots of reform and renewal today

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I checked the records and they never spent any of this tainted money on any campaign, but you gotta wonder what the heck is going on here.

In 2002, candidate Rod Blagojevich seemed to be vigilant about vetting contributions from questionable supporters. For instance, Buffalo Grove businessman John Burgess and one of his companies gave Blagojevich $125,200 that year, but Blagojevich gave the money back. His campaign learned that Burgess had been convicted of attempted grand larceny and was disbarred in New York.

The campaign also learned that Burgess pleaded guilty to patronizing a 16-year-old prostitute and that two business partners at International Profit Associates had criminal records. […]

Since 2002, Burgess or one of the many entities affiliated with his management-consulting firm have given $200,700 to the governor’s campaign fund. That money was returned–eventually. A $25,000 contribution arrived on Dec. 30. Only after the Tribune editorial board asked about it last Friday was that money returned. […]

But then, explain this: Last year, the governor’s supporters created something called the Democratic Victory Fund. Its chairman is Doug Scofield, a lobbyist and the spokesman for Blagojevich’s campaign.

You’ve probably never heard of the Democratic Victory Fund, but, somehow, Burgess did. His companies gave four contributions to the fund on the same day last May, totaling $20,000.

Why was the fund set up? And why were its only contributions from Burgess’ companies? A spokesman for Burgess declined to comment.

“It’s something we haven’t really thought too much about what we’re going to do with,” Scofield said Friday. Later that day, he called back and said all the contributions were being returned that afternoon.

Â· Mismanagement and cronyism?

Crucial achievement testing is being delayed across Illinois because the company hired by the state to provide the exams has failed to deliver test materials to school districts on time.

Harcourt Assessment Inc.’s multimillion-dollar contract to overhaul the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests, beginning this year, was awarded in 2004. The contract is spread out over nearly four years and is worth $16.6 million this fiscal year alone. […]

Harcourt sealed its ISAT contract after hiring lobbyist John Wyma, a former top aide and adviser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Blake has said Wyma was retained in the summer of 2004, when the company was worried the state board might reopen bidding on a contract it had said would go to Harcourt.

Blake acknowledged last month that Wyma’s connections were “a consideration” but said Wyma ultimately was hired because he was recommended “as someone who was effective and capable.”

I wonder who recommended him?

Â· File this final entry today under: “And they wonder why they have a credibility problem.”

An Illinois Department of Transportation reorganization that the agency claims is saving nearly $2 million a year actually costs at least $440,000 more annually, data in an audit released Wednesday shows.

Auditor General William Holland reported that IDOT rushed the 2004 reorganization of its traffic safety division, having no written rationale for the revamp and not analyzing potential cost savings until after it took place.

IDOT laid off 17 employees from the division that uses federal money for highway-safety programs. The agency says itâ€™s saving $1.9 million a year in those employeesâ€™ salaries and benefits. But that did not count costs associated with additional employees hired to take on the fired workersâ€™ duties and others for expanded division programs.

The auditor generalâ€™s computation of costs since then shows the agency now is spending at least $2.35 million in traffic safety.

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A desperate plea to the Chicago Tribune

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Chicago Tribune’s website has gone all to hell.

The Trib has added several new features, which would normally be a good thing, but the site is now so disjointed and spread out that it’s almost impossible to keep track of what’s going on unless you hire an intern or quit your job.

Most state-related stories have always been posted on the Local News page, although lately there’ve been a few that have been hidden in other sections. They’ve since added a Breaking News page where several state politics-related stories are posted.

They finally put up their elections page - a mere 13 days before the election. It’s obviously still a work in progress because none of the extensive Tribune questionnaires were posted last night and the video links I checked didn’t work.

And then there’s something called Trail Mix, which is kind of a bloggy (sans comments) news updatey thingy that just kicked off yesterday.

For whatever crackbrained, Luddite reason, Mother Tribune refuses to use RSS feeds in an intelligent way, so there’s no easy way to track updates to any of these pages (except a single outside source for the local page, which requires that we view an ad first). And since stuff is posted willy nilly all over the place, it’s absolutely frickin’ maddening trying to keep up. Seriously, talk to this guy right away. He can help.

Get it together, Tribsters. Please.

(Updated to add “in an intelligent way” because the feeds they do have are wholly inadequate to the task of keeping up with that behemoth of a site)

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Morning shorts

Thursday, Mar 9, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· Quote of the week. Governor Blagojevich answering a question about limiting his fundraising.

Now (people) are saying I should, suddenly, operate under a different set of rules when I have the possibility of Ron Gidwitz selling a Picasso for $50 million.

Â· The defense rests.

Â· Sweet writes about the 3rd CD.

Â· Stefanski busted for DUI again. S-T reports he’s finally gone.

Â· Roland Burris hosts funder for Blagojevich. Tix are $500.

Â· A commenter asked last night about Andy Martin. Today, the Daily Herald runs a profile.

Â· More later.

Â· Sen. Carole Pankau calls Comptroller Dan Hynes a Blagojevich lapdog.

Â· Pioneer Press has a 6th CD roundup.

Â· Pharmacist still refuses to compromise beliefs.

Â· Dave Clarkin has spoken often about his grandmother with me. I never met her, but she sounds like she was a fascinating lady. Dave’s a friend and I asked him to write up an obituary for her. Here it is:

Mary â€œCarolâ€ Clarkin, a newspaper reporter whose career spanned six decades, passed away Tuesday. Carol began writing in the 1940â€™s for the Jacksonville Journal-Courier and then the old Springfield State-Register. After a stint in p.r., she joined the Alton Telegraph, where she covered politics for 28 years. Among her career highlights, Clarkin interviewed Truman Capote, Cesar Chavez, and enjoyed a lifetime friendship with newspaper colleague Paul Simon, whom she said â€œlaunched his campaign on Edwardsvilleâ€™s courthouse steps, speaking not from a piece of paper but from the heart, and then took questions from the crowd. It was classic Paul.â€ In her semi-retirement, Clarkin was a columnist for St. Louisâ€™s Suburban Journals until 1996, drawing upon her experiences as a member of Americaâ€™s â€œGreatest Generation.â€ Carol Clarkin was 85.

Final arrangements are pending courtesy of Weber Funeral Home. Memorials are being accepted in lieu of flowers on behalf of Hospice of Southern Illinois.

Â· Clean air measures advance.

Â· Note to DuPage Dems: Hiram’s got your weekend planned.

11 Comments

New EE ads

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Edwin Eisendrath has posted his three new TV ads on his website.

View them there, rate them here.

UPDATE: AP now has a story.

A Blagojevich spokesman calls the ads silly distortions that are sad and irrelevant.

UPDATE: Governor Blagojevich has two new ads up. One’s about education standards and his college tax credit plan. The other is about healthcare.

Watch them both here and then rate them below. We’ll continue this tomorrow. (Hat tip to a commenter.)

UPDATE: Comments closed. See Thursday’s post.

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Tonight’s debate

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Andy Shaw just told me that ABC7 will be carrying the debate tonight on the Internet live at 7pm. It will be on TV at 10:30.

I just checked the website and they have something up about it, so go here at 7pm and watch the debate.

Consider this a debate open thread.

UPDATE 1: Supposedly, we’ll be able to find the debate link somewhere on this page.

UPDATE 2: Ron Gidwitz just reported loaning his campaign another $830,000.

UPDATE 3: Anyone else having trouble with the Internet feed? The audio and video don’t appear to be synced properly.

UPDATE 4: Same opening statements as last night.

UPDATE 5: Everyone seems so “reasonable” so far. I gotta figure it heats up, though.

UPDATE 6: I’ve met Ron Gidwitz on a few occasions, and he’s so personable and at ease with himself in person. He has such a hard time on TV, though. With all that money you’d think he could have hired a better debate coach.

UPDATE 7: Just in case you’re wondering, I was told today by somebody at ABC7 that since there has been no very recent polling, the League of Women Voters believed it had no choice but to invite Andy Martin to the debate.

UPDATE 8: Last night’s Channel 20 debate moderators aggressively enforced very strict time allotments, and that seems to have spooked Ron Gidwitz tonight, who appears to be abiding by the letter of the ABC7 time rules by abruptly cutting himself off mid-sentence.

UPDATE 9: This has happened before when the debate was staid and the press conference afterwards got insane.

UPDATE 10: Civil, fairly informative, decent debate. Apparently, Oberweis decided he shouldn’t pull another stunt like last night. Chicago is the bigtime and a lot more people will watch tonight’s debate than last night’s. Two meltdowns in a row would have been too much. Still, the press conference awaits. I had the opportunity to go, but just couldn’t. Now, I wish I was there for the after-bang.

UPDATE 11: I just talked to a reporter pal who’s at the debate. Apparently, none of the journalists have much of a lede yet, but they intend to get one at the press conference.

UPDATE 12: Apparently, Oberweis didn’t say anything controversial at the press conference. That overwhelmingly negative coverage today must’ve gotten to him.

UPDATE 13: Illinois Review has some of the few memorable lines from tonight’s debate.

Â· Internet columnist/candidate Andy Martin said: “Judy Topinka says she’s ‘not one of the boys.’ She’s the bad girl that hangs out with the bad boys.”

Â· Jim Oberweis said the placing of candidates onstage — from left to right: Topinka, Martin, Gidwitz, Oberweis and Brady — reflected the candidates’ “conservativeness:” “Judy is on the far left, Bill Brady is on the far right, and I’m just right of center.”

Â· When asked if a bill to ban abortions were to make it to the Governor’s desk, would he or she sign, Judy Baar Topinka said she “still believes in a woman’s right to choose.” “I’m not going to move us back to the 50s,” she said. “I’m not going to throw women under the bus, uh huh. . .”‘

UPDATE 14: If you’re blogging about the debate, or you see someone else has, please post a link in comments.

UPDATE 15: Apparently the biggest “news” out of the debate and post-debate press conference was when all candidates were asked if Gov. Blagojevich should disband his hate crimes commission. According to a reporter I talked to, Bill Brady said something like Blagojevich was choosing his black supporters over his Jewish supporters.

UPDATE 16: The AP story is up.

Republican candidates for governor played nice Wednesday night during a television debate where they disagreed about whether to ban abortion and how to cut money from the state’s budget.

UPDATE 17: At 9:25, ABC7 was starting to put up links to segments of the debates on this page. What this means is you should be able to watch the debate on your own schedule.

FINAL UPDATE: Comments closed. See Thursday’s post.

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Question of the day

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that Illinois has a deportation law and you’re in complete control.

Which person would you deport first? Just one name, please, but explain why.

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Protected: Campaign roundup - Check today’s Capitol Fax for the password (Use all upper-case)

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Such a lot of weirdness to choose from

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Choosing which story to link to about last night’s debate is difficult. I think I’ll just highlight the ledes.

Post-Dispatch:

The race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination entered on Tuesday a bitter new realm of taped phone calls, allegations of shredded documents and counter-claims of sexist “bullying” - all during what began as a staid debate among candidates over fiscal policy.

Daily Herald:

A downstate debate among the four major Republican governor hopefuls turned into a battle of the sexes Tuesday night.

AP:

Jim Oberweis drew boos and jeers twice Tuesday when he accused rival Judy Baar Topinka of unethical conduct during a Republican gubernatorial debate where mudslinging overshadowed substance.

Lee Newspapers:

What started off as a sideshow took center stage at a debate among the four Republican candidates for governor Tuesday night.

Tribune:

With the Republican primary race for governor taking an aggressive turn, Jim Oberweis asked Judy Baar Topinka to apologize Tuesday for criticizing his TV attack ads while Topinka said he was trying to “bully” her because she is a woman.

This one’s not specifically debate-related, but it’s my favorite because the columnist is so nice to me in the piece. lol

Carol Marin:

Marty Kovarik creeps me out. Then again, so does Jim Oberweis.

And check out this great quote Marin got:

When I asked Oberweis spokesman Wiegand if they hadn’t taken an awful lot of knocks for this latest stunt, he had a perfect response that explains a lot about how they look at the world.

“Every knock,” he told me, “is a boost.”

41 Comments

It never stops

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Sun-Times has a good roundup of the latest developments in the hate crimes commission fiasco.

A fifth member of the commission, attorney Alan J. Spellberg, plans to resign to protest Claudette Marie Muhammad’s continued presence on the panel and her reluctance to apologize for the Nation of Islam leader’s remarks, which critics have called anti-Semitic. […]

Word of Spellberg’s resignation came as Muhammad, the Nation of Islam’s minister of protocol and a top Farrakhan aide, took to Chicago’s airwaves to explain why she won’t repudiate her leader’s assertion that “Hollywood Jews'’ promote homosexuality and other “filth.'’ […]

On Monday, as the story began attracting attention across the country, Blagojevich declined to say whether he had spoken to Muhammad after Farrakhan’s speech. He also would not answer whether his continued backing of her is tied to concerns over alienating African-American voters, who are vital to his winning re-election. […]

Meanwhile, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, an umbrella organization representing 46 Jewish groups, praised those who quit the commission.

Read the whole thing.

Even Lt. Governor Pat Quinn is piling on.

“I think she should resign, and if she doesn’t resign the panel ought to be disbanded,” Quinn said Tuesday night. “The purpose of the commission is to bring people together and it’s clearly not serving its purpose.

“Personally, I think Sister Muhammad has had ample time to repudiate the anti-Semitic remarks of Louis Farrakhan and she’s not doing that.”

But Rick Garcia of Equality Illinois continues to defend Muhammad, and he seems to have good reason.

Garcia said he attended the Saviours’ Day speech at Muhammad’s invitation, following the February commission meeting at which Muhammad suggested the panel ask the governor for a proclamation welcoming the Gay Games to Chicago in July. […]

“If I did not know Claudette Muhammad, if she didn’t sit across the table from me, I could easily say, ‘Get rid of her,’” he said. “But I know her. I wish that she had had a stronger statement about Minister Farrakhan’s remarks. But I just go back to this: I have never, ever heard her say or seen her do anything that is antithetical to the mission of this commission.”

51 Comments

Not happy

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Belleville News-Democrat wonders if the Dems know where Springfield is.

In a current TV campaign ad, Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he’s older and hopefully wiser after four years in office. However, he still hasn’t figured out that Springfield is the seat of government in Illinois, not Chicago.

Today, Blagojevich’s Democratic buddies in the House are holding three budget appropriation hearings not in Springfield but in Chicago.

Republican Rep. Ron Stephens, a member of one of the committees, is livid: “It is just too inconvenient for the governor to travel to Springfield to attend these hearings. He is the one who chose to live in Chicago, when a beautiful governor’s mansion lies empty here in Springfield.”

Springfield is the state capital for a geographic reason — its central location. A lawmaker from the metro-east or even deep Southern Illinois can drive to Springfield for a hearing and back on the same day. A hearing in Chicago, however, virtually necessitates either an overnight stay or a plane trip.

But so what if the taxpayers have to pay extra for mileage, hotels and other travel expenses for some lawmakers and staff members who will travel from Springfield? This is more convenient for Blagojevich.

Older? Definitely. Wiser? Obviously not.

Sorry for the complete clip. It was just too good to pass up. Go visit other things at the paper.

10 Comments

Mo’ money

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Krol has a decent roundup of campaign finance reports here.

As the governor primary campaign winds down, two-thirds of the candidates are dipping into their own pockets, appealing to well-heeled parents or taking out bank loans to bolster their bottom lines.

The spending never stops.

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Morning shorts

Wednesday, Mar 8, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· Your moment of Lincoln Zen.

Â· Weinberger explains his vote. Good stuff, but, Dan, cross-post it at Illinoize.

Â· Mark Brown’s George Ryan trial prediction.

Â· Man, talk about nitpicking.

Â· Crane backs Salvi for his old seat.

Â· Zuccarelli rallies the troops.

Â· Congress could nullify 200 state food laws.

Â· Sneed asks if the guv is a brick short of a load.