Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Five Jewish legislators and others are now holding a press conference about the appointment to the hate crimes commission of a Farrakhan adviser.

The drama may come soon because several African-American legislators have gathered to offer a rebuttal.

Check the Fax tomorrow.

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Meeks taking steps to run for guv

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I didn’t think he was serious, but Sen. James Meeks has a lawyer looking into a possible third party bid for governor. Phil Kadner writes after a chat with Meeks that he “got the impression that Meeks is very serious”.

One of the leading election law attorneys in the state is exploring the possibility of creating a third-party campaign for governor on behalf of state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago).

Burton Odelson said Meeks contacted him Friday night, three days before Meeks held a news conference to demand that Gov. Rod Blagojevich either retract his no-tax hike pledge or put together a comprehensive plan for funding public education in Illinois. […]

Would Meeks be willing to withdraw from the Senate race to run for governor?

“I am in the process of exploring every possibility at this time,” Meeks said. “But I am willing to do whatever is necessary to make sure that the Democratic Party makes a real commitment to funding public education.” […]

Meeks said some people have called him to suggest that a third-party campaign for governor would split the Democratic vote in November, paving the way for a Republican victory.

“You can look at it and say two Democrats would split the vote,” Meeks said, “or you could look at it and say two white candidates would split the vote allowing the black candidate to win.

Read the whole thing.

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Competition Will Keep Rates Low

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department

(The following is a paid advertisement)

Headlines about the proposed electric rate freeze extension legislation emphasize the prospect of rate increases. While rate increases are virtually inevitable after a nine-year freeze, equally newsworthy is that a rate freeze extension will actually inhibit electric competition from developing. And competition is what keeps prices down.

The Illinois Commerce Commission has endorsed relying on the competitive marketplace for determining what customers pay for electric power after December 31, 2006. That was the goal of the 1997 legislation passed by the General Assembly that sought to restructure the electric utility industry in Illinois.

The decision made by the legislature in 1997 was the right one. Over time, competition will keep rates down. And the more competition over time, the more stable and predictable rates will be.

Competition will benefit Illinois in the long run. But a rate freeze extension has other dangerous consequences. If ComEd cannot recover its costs to buy power, it could bankrupt the company, increase costs for consumers, and put the reliability of northern Illinoisâ€™ electric system at risk.

Thereâ€™s no need to enact rate freeze legislation. The wisest move would be to let the process move forward, and refrain from using the legislature to undo the progress weâ€™ve made.

Dr. Mort Kamien
Director, Heizer Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University

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Question of the day

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

This has been making the rounds on the Internet lately. I’m a little late to the game.

Republicans, Democrats and Independents, including former Republican Representative and Independent presidential candidate John Anderson, joined together today to call for the national popular election of the President. They offered a novel approach which is politically practical because it relies on the Constitutional power given to states to allocate Presidential electors.

â€œThe occupant of the nationâ€™s highest office should be determined by winning the national popular vote,â€ said Anderson, who today is chair of FairVote. â€œThe current system of allocating electoral votes on a statewide winner-take-all basis dampens voter participation by concentrating campaign efforts on a shrinking number of battleground states and can have the disheartening effect of trumping the national popular vote.â€

There is already a bipartisan bill introduced in Illinois on behalf of the national organization, but it never got out of the Senate Rules Committee, so it’s likely dead for now.

The Sun-Times editorial board likes the idea (go read it). What do you think?

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Guv wants to end special accounts

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

This will surely be controversial in Springfield, but it may take some explaining with the general populace.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is ready to end his controversial policy of paying for his own programs by skimming money out of hundreds of special accounts that were set up to collect fees for other purposes.

But critics of the practice aren’t going to like his alternative any better: He wants to close those special accounts, and let those fees go right into the state’s main pool of funds - where it could be even easier for the administration to divert part of that money for other uses.

In an interview with Post-Dispatch editors in St. Louis last week, Blagojevich said he wants to fundamentally change the way Illinois handles millions of dollars in special “usage fees” that are collected every year to fund everything from hazardous waste disposal to teacher certification to new snowmobile trails. […]

“My view is, we should try to get all of those funds collapsed into the ‘people’s budget’ . . . and let the people’s representatives . . . every year make decisions as to whether that money should go to this purpose or that purpose . . . That’s something I’d like to try to do in the second term, if I get one.” […]

“When hunters buy habitat stamps, they buy them with the knowledge that this money is going toward helping habitats,” said Patricia Schuh, spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville. “If it goes instead toward welfare in Chicago, or a bureaucrat’s desk in Springfield, I don’t know that you’re keeping the trust with that hunter.”

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Oberweis goes negative

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I had a little on this in today’s Capitol Fax, but Krol has more details about the new Oberweis ads.

Republican governor candidate Jim Oberweis today will begin airing a pair of TV ads blasting opponent Judy Baar Topinka for a controversial Springfield hotel loan deal and a pending federal investigation in her treasurerâ€™s office. […]

â€œTopinka tried to give away millions of taxpayer dollars to insider friends. A deal so rotten the Republican attorney general ordered it blocked,â€ an announcer says. […]

The other ad refers to a list of hotel investors that top Topinka aides allegedly ordered a spokesman to shred. The aides denied it.

The second ad also refers to a 2003 subpoena for documents by the U.S. Attorneyâ€™s office following an ex-employeeâ€™s complaint that political work was being done on state time.

She’s definitely taking a beating. Can she survive?

UPDATE: Governor Blagojevich gets into the act.

Sketching a likely general election theme, Gov. Blagojevich came out swinging Tuesday against GOP gubernatorial front-runner Judy Baar Topinka, accusing the state treasurer of being a shill for the National Rifle Association and the right wing.

“The NRA just gave her an A rating — an A rating — and if you get an A rating from the NRA, you’re basically taking their talking points and doing their bidding,” Blagojevich said. “And I would urge her to forget about the NRA, stop pandering to the right wing and join us and help us pass a ban on assault weapons.”

UPDATE: The Trib has more on the Oberweis ads (thanks to some alert readers for the link).

Republican governor candidate Jim Oberweis is launching two TV ads that use made-up newspaper headlines to attack front-runner Judy Baar Topinka’s integrity.

The words are displayed as if they appeared on the front pages of the Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the State Journal-Register of Springfield.

But Oberweis campaign manager Joe Wiegand said, “those aren’t headlines.” Instead, he said, the “text is excerpted” from stories that appeared in those publications. A review of the stories did not find the exact words as they were presented in the ads, which are to begin airing Wednesday.

“We are not printing a newspaper,” Wiegand said Tuesday. “We are doing a television advertisement.”

Charles Wheeler, a journalism professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, called the ads deceitful.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: I just saw one of the Oberweis ads and was able to get a couple of screen captures of the phony headlines:

46 Comments

Smoking bill passes

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

This concept appears to be on the fast track in both chambers. A tougher bill to ban smoking throughout the state may be stalling out. More in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax. (Link may be broken by the time you read this.)

County governments could ban smoking in public places under a plan that cleared half of the Illinois legislature today.

Lawmakers gave cities the power to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places last year. The Springfield City Council recently used that right to impose a ban that goes into effect this fall.

Now supporters say counties should have the same right but only for unincorporated areas, so cities would still have the final say on bans within their borders.

The state Senate voted 45-10 for the proposal.

7 Comments

Morning shorts

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· No more med-mal crisis?

Â· Daley backs Stroger, but says nice things about Claypool.

Â· …less than one percent of the respondents could identify the five protected rights [in the 1st Amendment]: freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly and to petition the government.

Â· Republican Jewish Coalition wants Farrakhan aide removed from anti-hate panel.

Â· Gidwitz talks jobs.

Â· University presidents bought off? And so cheaply, too.

Â· East St. Louis’ recent history of public corruption.

Â· Security for federal judges questioned.

Â· Here’s that Mary Mitchell column I referenced in today’s Capitol Fax.

Â· Stroger endorsed by Latino leaders.

Â· Marin on Blagojevich.

Â· “The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation is taking issue with Republican congressional candidate Kathy Salviâ€™s use of the former presidentâ€™s image in a flier this week.”

Â· I received a Kathy Salvi press release yesterday that was pretty funny. In it, she noted that her opponent David McSweeney had triggered the “millionaire’s amendment” with his “spending spree,” then added that she had loaned her own campaign $450,000.

Â· More later.

7 Comments

Almanac

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I use the Almanac of Illinois Politics all the time. It’s an indispensable tool of the trade.

The new edition is now out and the publishers asked that I let you know where you can get your own copy. That way, the next time your local paper tries to make you believe that an area legislative race is hot, hot, hot, you can see for yourself that the incumbent’s party won the last statewide race there by 40 points.

From a press release:

Since its first edition in 1990, the Almanac of Illinois Politics has been a leading source for information on the key players in Illinois government. This widely popular publication is considered an invaluable resource by legislators, governmental staff, lobbyists, reporters, teachers, students, and citizens.

The Almanac of Illinois Politics â€” 2006 is available for $45 plus $3 postage and handling. Contact Center Publications/Illinois Issues, One University Plaza, Mail Stop HRB 10, University of Illinois at Springfield, Springfield, IL 62703-5407. For information, call 217/206-6502. Or visit our Web site.

Let’s make this an afternoon open thread. Illinois politics only, please.

Also, don’t forget about Illinoize. A great place to visit.

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WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN CALIFORNIA â€“ OR YET ANOTHER REASON TO SUPPORT HB 5766 (formerly HB 1944, #1)

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department

(The following is a paid advertisement)

ComEd talks a lot about California but it wants us to forget what actually happened in that state. The California energy crisis was caused by Enron and other shady energy companies manipulating an uncompetitive market that lacked appropriate state oversight.

Donâ€™t take our word for it. Listen to the Enron tapes available at http://www.enrontapes.com/files.html.

Here are two of the more revealing quotes from these tapes:

(1) “He just f—s California,” “He steals money from California to the tune of about a million.”

“Will you rephrase that?”

“OK, he, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day,”

(2) “They’re f——g taking all the money back from you guys?”. “All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?”

“Yeah, grandma Millie, man”

“Yeah, now she wants her f——g money back for all the power you’ve charged right up, jammed right up her a—— for f——g $250 a megawatt hour.”

Now ComEd wants to eliminate state oversight here in Illinois and import a risky auction scheme that has caused massive rate increases in New Jersey. Letâ€™s stay the course and extend the rate freeze like we did in 2003. The only thing thatâ€™s changed since then is that both Exelon-ComEd and Ameren are billions of dollars richer. Vote Yes on HB 5766.

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Question of the day

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Should the General Assembly impose a statewide ban on all cigarette smoking in public places? Why or why not?

52 Comments

Black legislators not happy with guv

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

What goes around, comes around.

Black lawmakers urged Gov. Rod Blagojevich to take back his no-tax-increase pledge because of its impact on schools, warning Monday that the position could cost him votes.

“The governor cannot take the African-American vote for granted in the general election,” said Sen. James Meeks, chairman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. “There is no guarantee that that vote is going to be there, especially since those individuals who are African-American, their priority is educational funding.” […]

Caucus members haven’t discussed their concerns with Blagojevich, who announced his pledge last week when he launched his re-election campaign.

“Since we had to find out about it in the press, then he’ll find out about how we feel in the press,” Meeks said.

Ouch.

I thought the governor’s response was interesting.

Blagojevich declined to comment, issuing a conciliatory written statement:

“We…share many of the concerns expressed today.”

And here’s that quote from Meeks that I had in this morning’s Capitol Fax:

â€œIf the governor does not take back his pledge, and if the governor is not willing to work with the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, it’s a third candidate that I’m hoping will step forward,â€ Meeks said.

26 Comments

Oberweis challenges Topinka

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

After staying relatively quiet for the past week or so, Jim Oberweis emerged yesterday to demand answers from the gubernatorial frontrunner.

Republican governor candidate Jim Oberweis called on foe Judy Baar Topinka to release a 2003 inspector general probe into whether political work was being done on state time at her treasurerâ€™s office.

â€œHer internal investigation is over. Letâ€™s see what it found,â€ said Obeweis at a Monday news conference in Chicago.

The probe began about three years ago after U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgeraldâ€™s office subpoenaed documents following an ex-employeeâ€™s complaint that treasurerâ€™s employees did campaign work on state time.

Topinkaâ€™s deputy treasurer, Martin Noven, dismissed Oberweisâ€™ request as â€œdisingenuous at best.â€

â€œLegally, weâ€™re not allowed to release that information,â€ said Noven, citing a state law that bars inspector general reports from being released unless misconduct is found.

Noven said there was no misconduct. If such a finding had been made, it would have been forwarded to the stateâ€™s office of executive inspector general. That office would have had to release a summary of the misconduct and any punishment.

While Topinka’s office makes a valid point, anything that keeps that old investigation in the public’s eye can’t be great for JBT. Your thoughts?

37 Comments