CME Group Inc. paid its former CEO Craig Donohue $6.1 million last year, making him its highest-paid executive even though he held the post for only the first four months of 2012, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.
Donohue’s total compensation, including salary, bonus and stock and option awards, exceeded his previous year’s take of $6 million, the company’s 2013 proxy statement showed.
That was more than Phupinder Gill, who succeeded Donohue as CEO on May 1, 2012. Gill received total compensation of $3.3 million last year.
And it was more than Executive Chairman and President Terrence Duffy, whose total compensation was $4 million.
* Sen. Terry Link, speaking about trying to pass a gaming expansion bill and Gov. Pat Quinn’s demands…
“We have to figure out how (the bill) gets passed before we can do anything else,” Link said of accommodating Quinn’s demands. “At last count, I don’t remember him passing any legislation in his lifetime.”
“Any Republican in Illinois who betrays the cause of marriage will be casting a career-ending vote and will be held accountable to their constituents,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage.
1. Eliminate the individual state income tax and the state corporate tax.
2. Give every parent in the state a school voucher to send their children to whatever school they want to send them to — public, private, religious, or home.
3. Place every government employee on a defined contribution, 401(k) style retirement plan.
4. Begin immediately tapping into our natural gas and oil reserves.
5. Eliminate township governments.
6. Give every law-abiding adult the right to carry a concealed weapon.
7. Have a federal prosecutor investigate how Michael Madigan and his legal clients have benefited financially at taxpayer expense from his role as Speaker.
8. Tell Judy Barr Topinka to retire.
An early reference to Chicago’s institutional dysfunction involves a double entendre. “Madigon” can double as a slur and a reference to an Illinois political power-family, the Madigans. Lisa Madigan, the Illinois attorney general known for her tough stance on gang violence, is the adopted daughter of another bigwig in state politics. Michael Madigan has been speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives for the better part of a quarter-century. The Audy Home, meanwhile, is an infamous under-18 prison in the Chicago area.
* Roundup…
* Southern Illinois counties seeing first of fracking rush: Hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees have flowed into county coffers from a stream of “land men,” often out-of-staters who converged in recent years to scour title records for prime parcels for exploration. County clerks funneled much of that windfall into digitizing bulky, age-yellowed record books that took a toll from all the frenzied searches.
* Debt piles up behind bars: An Illinois prisoner can accrue tens of thousands of dollars in child support debt while incarcerated because of Illinois child support laws.
* Logan Correctional Center: Prison inmates housed in gym: The Illinois Department of Corrections placed about 30 female prisoners into temporary dorm units at the Logan Correctional Center’s gymnasium on Wednesday, according to IDOC spokesperson Stacey Solano.
* Diplomat Killed on Afghan Mission She Coveted: “Only 25 years old, this brave young woman knew social justice was her calling, and selflessly lost her life while serving others in a war-torn country,” [Gov. Pat Quinn] said. “She was devoted to protecting America and improving the lives of others.”
* I went to see Dwight Yoakam last night. I’d heard earlier that a friend of mine had seen him walking with a cane near his hotel and wondered how the show would go. From my seat in the bleachers I could see Yoakam hobbling back stage. It looked like the poor guy could barely walk.
But then Yoakam hit that stage and played for over two hours, dancing away while belting out song after song, plus an encore.
Yoakam’s most recent album is last year’s “Three Pears.” The title of the album was inspired by a scene in a George Harrison documentary that showed John Lennon playing around with three pairs of glasses. Yoakam liked the contrast between the serious personae that Lennon had developed at that point in his life and the playfulness being depicted on screen.
Three pairs became “Three Pears,” which then became one of the most critically-acclaimed albums of 2012. Yoakam appeared on more critic’s year-end lists than any other country artist, including NPR’s “50 Favorite Albums” and Rolling Stone’s “50 Best Songs,” for the single “A Heart Like Mine.”
He emerged on the national scene in 1986 with the album, “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.” The title track hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country chart, and then 26 years later inspired a local business owner to name his new bar Guitars-n-Cadillacs Saloon.
I heard he ended up at that bar last night, but I had to go home. Duty calls. I did wake up feeling kinda bad this morning, but that image of Yoakam struggling to walk and then toughing it out onstage got me out of bed. The man is a true professional and an inspiration. Above all else, though, he’s one heck of an artist.
* After going through the standard explanations of why state courts could use the Illinois Constitution’s strict language to strike down most of the pension reforms currently being debated, Laurie Reynolds, the Prentice H. Marshall Professor of Law at the University of Illinois talks about another possibility…
The other interpretive path is that no provision of any constitution is absolute, no matter how absolute its language. The U.S. Constitution, for example, has a “contracts clause” that explicitly states “No State shall make any law … impairing the obligation of contracts.” Just like the Illinois pension clause, that clause appears on its face to impose an absolute ban on any law that would impair contractual obligations.
If you were to read the U.S. Supreme Court’s case law interpreting that provision, however, you would find that the court has interpreted the clause to mean that, “No state shall make any law impairing the obligation of contracts … unless the impairment is reasonable and necessary to serve an important public purpose.”
If the Illinois Supreme Court takes this approach to the interpretation of the pension clause, then the constitutionality of any legislative action to solve the pension crisis is going to depend on how clear and convincing the evidence is that the state is in a disastrous fiscal crisis. If the state of Illinois can establish that there are no reasonable alternatives to reducing benefits that have accrued – and that, for instance, tax increases and spending decreases just can’t fill the hole – then I don’t think the Illinois Supreme Court is going to issue an opinion that would in essence push the state of Illinois into default. If, in contrast, a strong case can be made that the state can meet its unfunded pension obligations without running itself into the ground, then the court is more likely to invalidate the legislative cuts.
Q: Recently, an Arizona Superior Court overruled an attempt to lower cost-of-living-adjustments for existing employees. Arizona also has a constitutional impairment clause similar to the one in Illinois. What, if anything, can we conclude from this precedent?
Reynolds: Each state is the “master” of its own law. Illinois courts do not have to follow the decisions of courts in other states and the court decision in Arizona is technically irrelevant to Illinois. While courts of one state do occasionally cite decisions from another state, there are remarkably few cases in which one state court uses a different state’s court opinion as a persuasive precedent. On the other hand, state courts routinely parrot federal constitutional and statutory interpretation cases in developing their own jurisprudence, which is another reason why we would not be shocked to see Illinois following the U.S. Supreme Court’s line of analysis with regard to the contract impairment issue.
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** From a subscriber…
There is, of course, the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling from Jorgensen v. Blagojevich that draws what appears to be a pretty clear line in the sand.
* I’m told that state Sen. Michael Frerichs (D-Champaign) will report raising almost $200,000 in the first quarter, giving him more than $500,000 cash on hand. As you may already know, Sen. Frerichs is gearing up to run for state treasurer.
Here’s a little nugget to contemplate while discussing Frerichs’ chances: The last time a non-federal statewide Democratic candidate won both the primary and the general election was 1982, when southern Illinoisan Jim Donnewald won the treasurer’s race.
I’m sure there’s a real hunger out there for a statewide Democratic Downstater. But there are also some serious roadblocks, mainly caused by Cook County. They like their candidates liberal and local.
Discuss.
* Frerichs is a tall guy with huge hands. I took this photo of him several years ago…
Much of NOM’s money has been spent on consultants and pastors who oppose gay marriage. For instance…
The PAC’s public face, Bishop Larry Trotter, got $1,000 for “clergy consulting”. The PAC’s chairman, Lance Davis, got $1,000 for “clergy consulting.” The PAC’s treasurer, Marlo Kemp, got $2,100 for “administrative management.”
Public relations flack, Sean Howard, who has hovered under Trotter’s halo for years and who flits from office holder to officer holder, has pocketed $3,600 for “media” and “production.” Lobbyist Frank Bass got $3,600 for “consulting.” Attorney Anthony Bass pulled in $4,000 for “legal services.”
Convergent Consulting Group, whose Illinois corporate status was involuntarily dissolved in 2002, got $2,100 for a cheesy-looking Web site whose mission statement says nothing about opposing same sex marriage.
State Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr. of Mundelein said Sunday he will support a bill to allow gay marriage in Illinois, becoming the second House Republican to do so and first among leadership.
Sullivan, who is chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, said his decision to back same-sex marriage represented a personal and family evolution on the issue. Previously an opponent of civil unions, Sullivan told the Tribune that his mother-in-law, who lives in the southwest suburbs, has been in a same-sex relationship. […]
A state representative since 2003, Sullivan and state Rep. Ron Sandack of Downers Grove are the only House Republicans to publicly announce their backing of the same-sex marriage bill, which already passed the state Senate. With House lawmakers returning to Springfield on Monday after a two-week break, supporters of the measure have said they were within a dozen votes of the 60 needed to pass it.
Sullivan said he believes more Republicans among the 47 in the House will sign on. […]
“I try to err on the side of being a public servant and serving my district as opposed to potentially being a politician and just serving that subset (opposed based on religion) and those within my party who don’t necessarily want this to pass,” he said. “I look at this as a freedom, as a conservative view of treating people equally.”
You can always tell when somebody is losing an argument because they’re constantly backtracking and recalibrating. And it’s no different with gay marriage.
In January, for instance, newly elected state Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) freely admitted that gay marriage was at the heart of his desire to oust state Republican Chairman Pat Brady, who’d recently announced his support for a Senate bill to legalize same-sex marriage.
“I believe we have to have a meeting to ask Pat for an explanation, to modify his actions or get a new CEO,” Oberweis told the Kane County Chronicle then. “Our CEO has taken very open, public action contrary to the organization, and that’s unacceptable.”
Immediately, however, more moderate GOP leaders pushed back hard against Oberweis, saying that ousting the party’s chairman over gay marriage would send absolutely the wrong message to the voting public, which was coming around fast to supporting the issue.
Young people, in particular, count themselves as strong supporters of the concept, so staunchly advocating outdated policies would continue to stunt the party’s potential growth.
Oberweis didn’t give up his challenge to Brady. Far from it. Indeed, he apparently came within a weighted percentage point of the required 60 percent vote to oust Brady during a planned emergency state party meeting last month.
The meeting was canceled when some central committeemen decided to heed the commands of party leaders such as U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) and backed off.
But while Oberweis didn’t drop his attempt to force Brady out, he did change his tune on the reasons. A month after saying it was all about gay marriage, Oberweis told Chicago Public Radio “it has nothing to do with gay marriage.”
That even a guy like Oberweis felt the need to drastically retool his public message shows how far this issue has come — and how even some on the hard social Right now understand that they have to walk a whole lot more softly or risk a voter backlash.
Since then, Republican leaders who want Brady ousted have kept a lid on their conservative colleagues’ inflammatory rhetoric and tried to focus their ire on Brady’s performance during last year’s election campaign.
Those objections ring hollow, however, because none of the state central committeemen uttered so much as a peep about Brady’s tenure during a post-election state party meeting in December.
This putsch is all about gay marriage, but the coup plotters at least have the sense to try and couch their terms in a more acceptable manner, which means that even they know they’ve lost the public debate.
State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), a conservative Catholic who has long opposed gay marriage, has not taken a public position on Brady’s tenure.
Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), who has moved further to the right since losing the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination to Bill Brady, is, like his former opponent, staunchly opposed to gay marriage. But like Sen. Brady, Dillard has refused to take a position on Chairman Brady’s support for the issue, leaving it up to the state central committee to decide whether he should remain as chairman.
None of this is meant to suggest that state Sens. Oberweis, Brady and Dillard are about to switch sides and support gay marriage, as Kirk did recently.
But it does suggest that even these hardened conservatives understand that they’re on the wrong side of this issue and must tiptoe around it for fear of damaging their political party.
Two years ago, it would’ve been considered impossible that an Illinois Republican chairman would so publicly support gay marriage. That, in and of itself, shows how far and how quickly public sentiment on the issue has changed.
But Pat Brady has always been a part of the party’s more moderate wing. I think what’s more important here is how even some of the state’s top social conservatives are moderating their public messaging on same-sex marriage.
The battle for the potentially pivotal votes of African American legislators on a bill to legalize gay marriage in Illinois intensified Friday — as opponents and proponents alike pulled out the big guns.
Leading the opposition, Cardinal Francis George and a group of black ministers launched an aggressive campaign against same-sex marriage to be waged through radio commercials and telephone calls.
Weighing in on the other side, national civil rights leader Julian Bond sent a letter urging legislators to grant equal rights to “my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.”
All politics is local and Julian Bond is not local. No contest on this one.
He approved a measure that allows the governor to deny collective bargaining rights for up to 3,580 managers and supervisors.
The traditionally pro-labor Quinn has supported the idea, sponsored by fellow Democrats, since it got House approval in 2011 — while at the same time excoriating his Wisconsin Republican counterpart for pushing through a law that rolled back union bargaining rights.
The law applies to “managerial or supervisory” positions under the governor and other statewide offices — such as the secretary of state and attorney general — that are not currently represented by a union or those who have gained representation since December 2008.
Supporters of the measure argue that state executives can’t effectively run the government with so few managers loyal only to them. They say that 97 percent of the state workforce now wears the union label.
* AFSCME Council 31 explained the bill to its members late last week via e-mail…
Allows the governor to designate up to 3,580 positions as exempt from coverage under the state collective bargaining law based on extremely broad criteria;
Provides that up to 1,900 of those can be positions that had previously met the criteria for coverage under the collective bargaining law and are currently represented by a labor union;
Provides that those designations must be made within one year of the effective date of the legislation;
Allows the governor’s designations to be challenged before the Illinois State Labor Relations Board, but provides that such designations “shall presume to have been properly made”—making it extremely difficult to prevail in such challenges.
* The union also updated members on negotiations to water down the bill’s impact…
AFSCME has been following up on the commitment made by its sponsor, Senator Don Harmon, to attempt to minimize the negative impact that the bill will have on union-represented employees. Sen. Harmon is facilitating negotiations between the union and CMS in which AFSCME is seeking to secure an agreement that:
1. the governor will not remove all 1900 positions that the law permits;
2. no employee removed from the bargaining unit will suffer a reduction in pay;
3. employees designated to be removed will be offered the option of taking another bargaining unit position.
AFSCME will not give up this fight. We’ll continue to represent to the fullest extent possible under the Personnel Rules members who are removed from the bargaining unit. And wherever the facts warrant, we’ll challenge removals at the Labor Board.
* In other news, AFSCME warned its members about possible upcoming pension votes…
The assault on retirement security for state employees is going into high gear in the House of Representatives. Just before legislators went home for their “spring break,” the House passed HB 1165, with strong bipartisan support. HB 1165 was considered a “test bill” to see if enough legislators would vote to cut the pension cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for active and retired state employees.
The COLA plan they voted for is the same one that is included in HB 3411, the Nekritz/Cross bill. It would reduce the pension benefit of an average state employee by some $50,000 over the first ten years of retirement. HB 3411 would also raise the retirement age and increase employee contributions. It puts the whole burden of solving the pension crisis on the backs of public employees.
HB 3411 is now expected to be called for a vote when legislators return to Springfield [this] week. […]
We Are One Illinois has made clear that public employees recognize the severity of Illinois’ pension crisis and are prepared to do our part to help ensure the solvency of the state’s pension funds. The coalition stands ready to work collaboratively toward developing a fair and constitutional solution.
I haven’t been able to confirm whether the Nekritz bill will be called for a vote this week. Stay tuned.
* A good friend sent me an e-mail about Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s fundraising report for the first quarter. Yes, she did outdo Gov. Pat Quinn by quite a bit, but my friend reminded me “she’s playing a longer game now than just him.”
First, he pointed to Rod Blagojevich’s D2 for the first six months of 2005, the same period we’re in now ahead of the 2014 race. Blagojevich started the period with $10 million and raised $4.6 million. As my friend points out, that averages $2.3 million a quarter and $773K per month.
By contrast, Madigan had $3.6 million in the bank at the end of last year and has disclosed raising about $770K so far this year.
* He also pointed to Scott Kennedy’s quite comprehensive web page which totals campaign contributions by race for the past several years.
After transfers between funds are calculated, Quinn spent about $38 million on his 2010 primary and general elections combined. From my friend…
A governor’s race costs $30 million in this state, minimum.
So, her $4.3 million on hand is way, way behind. She’s going to need to blow open the caps or a superpac needs to do the dirty work for her.
Otherwise, her floor is 4 million dollars a quarter going forward.
In the wake of President Barack Obama apologizing to California Attorney General Kamala Harris for complimenting her on her good looks comes this blockbuster finding from a new study: when it comes to a female candidate, any media coverage about her appearance–even positive–hurts her with voters.
That’s a key conclusion of the poll for the Women’s Media Center and She Should Run, to be released Monday in Chicago at the Council on Foundations annual conference at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan.
The survey’s release is timely because Obama’s remark about Harris is the latest in the long-running struggle of women seeking public office, not to have their looks influence how people assess their credibility. […]
The “Name It. Change It” survey, conducted by Celinda Lake of Lake Research and Robert Carpenter of Chesapeake Beach Consulting found that when any media coverage focuses on a female contender’s appearance–positive, negative, or neutral–”it made voters less likely to vote for her.”
* Lt. Governor Sheila Simon’s Firearms Working Group has released a “checklist” that it hopes the General Assembly will use when drafting a concealed carry bill. From a press release…
* Constitutionality: The concealed carry law must uphold the right to keep and bear arms, consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution.
* Basic Qualifications: Concealed carry permits should be issued only to adult residents of Illinois who hold valid Firearms Owner Identification Cards (FOID) and do not pose a danger to themselves or others.
* Funding: The concealed carry law should also create a fund made up of user fees in order to finance the concealed carry permit application and renewal process.
* Permitting Authority: The Illinois State Police (ISP) should be the permitting authority for concealed carry, and the ISP should maintain a database of permits issued.
* Local Input: County sheriffs and local law enforcement authorities should be allowed to provide the ISP with information about whether an applicant poses a safety risk if the applicant were allowed to carry a concealed firearm.
* Background Checks: Prior to issuing concealed carry permits, comprehensive criminal background checks should be conducted along with investigations into an applicant’s mental health history, record of substance abuse and history of domestic violence.
* Firearm Training: Concealed carry permit applicants should be required to complete firearm safety and live fire training prior to receiving and renewing permits.
* Permits: Lost, stolen or destroyed concealed carry permits should be reported to authorities in a timely manner.
* Sensitive Places: Concealed firearms should be prohibited in certain public places, such as schools, which is consistent with U.S. Supreme Court guidance. Private property owners should also be able to prohibit concealed weapons on that property.
* Violations: An applicant who violates the concealed carry law or makes material false statements on concealed carry permit applications should be subject to criminal penalties.
Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake), Sen. Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park), Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago), Sen. Michael Hastings (D-Orland Hills), Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield), Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford), Sen. Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago), Rep. Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago), Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch (D-Hillside), and Rep. Kathleen Willis (D-Addison).
A couple of Downstaters are on that list, including Andy Manar, who may have some statewide ambitions.
Another takeaway for me is that the announcement makes clear that quite a few liberal Democrats have come to the conclusion that a concealed carry bill has to pass. They’re not sticking their collective heads in the sand and hoping the issue goes away.
Cunningham moved to the Senate from the House and Manar was the Senate Democrats’ chief of staff before winning a Senate seat last year, but otherwise these are all freshmen. For the most part, they aren’t as beholden to the old ways of doing business in Springfield. It was an interesting move by Simon to persuade these freshmen to get on board.
“Gimmie Shelter” is a song about fear; it probably serves better than anything written this year as a passageway straight into the next few years. The band builds on the dark beauty of the finest melody Mick and Keith have ever written, slowly adding instruments and sounds until an explosively full presence of bass and drums rides on over the first crest of the song into the howls of Mick and a woman, Mary Clayton.
It’s a full-faced meeting with all the terror the mind can summon, moving fast and never breaking so that men and women have to beat that terror at the game’s own pace. When Mary Clayton sings alone, so loudly and with so much force you think her lungs are bursting, Richard’s frames her with jolting riffs that blaze past her and take it back to Mick. Their answer and their way out matches the power of the threat: “It’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away … it’s just a kiss away, it’s just a kiss away.” The truly fearful omen of the music is that you know just a kiss won’t be enough. This song, caught up in its own momentum, says you need the other too.
I bet I’ve listened to this song ten thousand times, but it still gives me chills…
Caterpillar Inc. says it plans to lay off more than 460 employees this June at its plant in Decatur.
Rachel Potts is a spokeswoman for the Peoria-based company. She said Friday that Caterpillar is laying off the employees as part of an ongoing series of production cuts.
Caterpillar has said those cuts are in response to reduced global demand for mining equipment. The plant in Decatur builds products used in mining.
Cuts in some other locations have been temporary. Potts said the Decatur cuts are permanent.
As if Decatur doesn’t have enough problems already…
Decatur had the state’s highest jobless rate. It spiked from 10.9 percent in February 2012 to 13.7 percent.
It really looks like this state is going backwards.
* As noted below, the governor was quite pleased with himself for raising half a million dollars last month. Well, Lisa Madigan just filed an A-1 today totaling $740,315.
It’s on, campers.
…Adding… For perspective, AG Madigan raised $797,231 in the first six months of 2009.
* These two Chicago concert dates mean I won’t be able to go. Spring session will be in full swing…
The Rolling Stones, who rocked London and New York in 2012, announced that they will kick off their “50 AND COUNTING” Tour in LA and come to Chicago on Tuesday, May 28, and Friday, May 31, 2013. […]
Tickets for The Rolling Stones “50 AND COUNTING” Tour will go on sale on Monday, April 8 at 10:00 AM at the United Center Box Office, Ticketmaster Outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
A bit of advice from Jimmy M.: Maximum cycle characteristics and frequency response at high decibel level have been set according to standards suggested in the GUY STEVENS Producer Manual, chart R-357, in index, page 304. These recommended standards were compiled by the same authority having recently measured audible damage created by supersonic aircraft – if for any reason you do not agree with the standards, turn it up.
And I did. Oh, man, did I ever.
Sure, this is probably just a nostalgia tour, but Mick Taylor is worth the price of admission. Wish I could go.
* The Question: Your favorite Rolling Stones song? Explain.
* Doc Herrin claims that he might not have been the SIU Board of Trustees Chairman this week had an actual vote taken place…
Herrin told The Southern Illinoisan Thursday he didn’t go to Wednesday’s board meeting under the assumption he would be elected chairman. The bylaws of the board of trustees, he added, dictated it was time for the group to decide on a slate of officers.
“We were simply following the bylaws. The bylaws are clear,” Herrin said. “I have no idea who they were going to elect as chairman. I didn’t try to get appointed; I showed up for a meeting.”
The Board shall, at its first regular meeting following the third Monday in each January, elect by roll call vote from its own membership and by a majority vote of those voting members present, a Chair, a Vice-Chair, and a Secretary, who shall hold office until their successors are elected and qualified. If only one person is nominated for an office the nominee may be elected by acclamation.
* But the two trustees who walked out of the meeting had been blocked when they tried to elect temporary officers…
Wiley moved to elect only temporary officers to serve for the duration of Wednesday’s meeting, which is allowed under the bylaws of the board.
The rest of the board, which includes Roger Herrin of Harrisburg, Don Lowery of Golconda and Donna Manering of Makanda instead began to call for a vote that would have seated a chairman, vice chairman and secretary for a full year.
That’s when Wiley left, followed by Hamilton. That left the board without a quorum and unable to do business.
To be clear here, Herrin and two other board members wanted to elect a permanent chairman with just three votes. There are supposed to be eight board members.
* And if this isn’t a foreshadowing of what was designed to transpire this week, I don’t know what was…
“I apologize to all of you for what’s about to happen,” warned Trustee Don Lowery as the meeting began.
* Lowery, by the way, was appointed to the SIU board of trustees by Gov. Quinn a couple of years ago. He was a tea party darling when he ran against US Sen. Mark Kirk in the GOP primary…
Most of the crowd’s disdain was aimed at the Obama administration, seen by TEA Party organizers as moving the country toward socialism. Loud applause greeted mention of Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. Shimkus walked out of a presidential address to congress last week. Wilson famously called President Barack Obama a liar during the same speech. […]
Several speakers referred to Wilson, including Don Lowery, a retired Pope County judge running for U.S. Senate.
“Joe Wilson is telling it like it is,” Lowery said.
TEA Party speakers all expressed frustration and anger with the direction of federal government under the Obama administration, saying the administration’s proposals on health care, energy, corporate bailouts, cash-for-clunkers and spending generally are running the country into socialism and bankruptcy.
“The goal of the Obama administration is to gut private industry and create a government that will control every aspect of your life,” Lowery said.
* Meanwhile, Carbondale-area legislators aren’t thrilled with Democratic Sen. Bill Haine’s plan to dump all the trustees and start from scratch…
“My problem with that bill – and I think even (Haine) understands this – it sets a precedent I’m not even sure the legislature wants to go down,” state Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville said. “What I mean by that, if you can do that at SIU Carbondale, then any legislator in the future, who is unhappy with what is going on at their university, would have the right to do what they think ought to be done.”
State Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, said he’d have to talk more with Haine before making a decision on it, but expressed some concerns about singling out SIU’s governance with a piece of legislation.
State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said the SIU board’s problem is a result of politics in the system. You don’t solve that, he added, by introducing more politics.
“The reality is it shouldn’t be about the politics…it should be about the betterment for the students and the system as a whole,” Bost said. “We’ve been drawn into a fight that goes way beyond SIU.”
There is a real danger that the more this fight amps up, the more likely it’ll be that the General Assembly will finally accede to the wishes of Metro East legislators and split that university in two. And if that happens, the struggling Carbondale campus will be in deep trouble.
If we had a governor interested in moving this state forward instead of participating in crud like this, maybe we could get a solution to the problem. But Quinn has refused to meet with Metro East legislators about the controversy for months. That’s a real slap in the face. Appointments are made with the advice and consent of the Illinois Senate. He needs to come to terms with that. He’s the top dog, so because he stuck his nose into this it’s all on him, like it or not.
President Obama assessed the beauty of California’s attorney general Kamala Harris, calling her “the best looking attorney general,” during remarks at a fundraiser in Atherton, California.
“You have to be careful to, first of all, say she is brilliant and she is dedicated and she is tough, and she is exactly what you’d want in anybody who is administering the law, and making sure that everybody is getting a fair shake. She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country — Kamala Harris is here.”
“It’s true! C’mon,” he said as the crowd laughed, according to a report provided by a print reporter at the home of John Goldman, an heir to the Levi-Strauss fortune.
“And she is a great friend and has just been a great supporter for many, many years. She’s brilliant and she’s dedicated,” Obama said at a luncheon fundraiser benefiting the DNC.
AG Harris…
* I asked Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s spokesperson for comment. Unfortunately, AG Madigan is tied up in meetings, so we may not get a response.
Imagine that.
This is one of the better photos I could find of AG Madigan…
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** From Attorney General Lisa Madigan…
“Kamala is terrific. But if you ask me, I’d vote for Jack Conway. But let’s be honest, there’s not a lot of competition—there’s a reason people say elected office is ‘Hollywood for ugly people.’ Have you seen some of my predecessors??!?”
Oddly enough, Daley and Rauner may be the only two establishment candidates [for governor] who know enough about how business does business to actually govern Illinois.
* I told subscribers about this earlier in the week…
With a late-March surge of fund-raising, Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign chest amassed more than $550,000 in the first three months of 2013, narrowing the substantial lead in funds of potential 2014 Democratic gubernatorial challenger Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Quinn, who had just more than $1 million in campaign funds - a relatively scant sum for a mid-term governor - by the end of 2012, received more than $490,000 in contributions on three consecutive days in the last week of March, according to Illinois State Board of Elections data.
“It shows that Gov. Pat Quinn has a lot of support and will continue to have a lot of support as he gears up for re-election,” a Quinn campaign spokesperson said. “The governor will continue to make money as needed.”
Nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) say that in general, government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth. And when it comes to the question of whether the federal government should enforce marijuana laws in states that have approved marijuana use, a majority (60%) says it should not.
There is agreement across partisan and demographic groups that federal government enforcement of marijuana laws is not worth the cost. Fully 78% of independents, 71% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans say government enforcement efforts cost more than they are worth.
Similarly, there is substantial opposition to the federal government enforcing marijuana laws in states that permit the legal use of marijuana: 64% of independents say the federal government should not enforce federal marijuana laws in such states, as do 59% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans.
By 77% to 16%, most say that marijuana does have legitimate medical uses. In an ABC News survey in 1997, a smaller majority (58%) said it had legitimate medical uses, while 34% said it did not.
There are only modest partisan differences in views of the medical uses of marijuana: 82% of independents, 76% of Democrats and 72% of Republicans say it has legitimate medical uses. Age is also a factor in these views, but even among those 65 and older – who oppose legalizing marijuana use by nearly two-to-one – a majority (60%) says that marijuana has legitimate medical uses.
And we don’t have medical marijuana in Illinois… why?
Over the past three decades, there has been a substantial decline in the percentage saying that for most people marijuana leads to the use of hard drugs. Just 38% express that view currently; in a 1977 Gallup survey, 60% said marijuana led to the use of hard drugs. […]
The percentage of Americans who say that smoking marijuana is morally wrong also has declined dramatically since 2006. A survey earlier this year found that 32% of Americans say that smoking marijuana is morally wrong, down 18 points since 2006. Over the same period, the percentage saying it is not a moral issue has increased by 15 points (from 35% to 50%).
The bottom has almost completely fallen out from under prohibition supporters. The public is no longer with them. Now if only our state and federal legislators would start listening we could stop this insane drug war.
* An appendix…
Only medical marijuana is legal:
AZ, DE, DC, HI, MI, MT, NJ, NM, VT
Marijuana is decriminalized:
MN, MS, NE, NY, NC, OH
Medical marijuana is legal and marijuana decriminalized:
AK, CA, CO, CT, ME, MA, MS, NV, OR, RI, WA
Not decriminalized or medical:
AL, AR, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MO, NH, ND, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WV, WI, WY
* Methodology…
Most of the analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted March 13-17, 2013, among a national sample of 1,501 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (750 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 751 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 385 who had no landline telephone). The survey was conducted by Abt SRBI. A combination of landline and cell phone random digit dial samples were used; both samples were provided by Survey Sampling International. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Respondents in the landline sample were selected by randomly asking for the youngest adult male or female who is now at home. Interviews in the cell sample were conducted with the person who answered the phone, if that person was an adult 18 years of age or older.
[Roger Ebert], 70, who reviewed movies for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years and on TV for 31 years, and who was without question the nation’s most prominent and influential film critic, died Thursday in Chicago. He had been in poor health over the past decade, battling cancers of the thyroid and salivary gland.
He lost part of his lower jaw in 2006, and with it the ability to speak or eat, a calamity that would have driven other men from the public eye. But Ebert refused to hide, instead forging what became a new chapter in his career, an extraordinary chronicle of his devastating illness that won him a new generation of admirers. “No point in denying it,” he wrote, analyzing his medical struggles with characteristic courage, candor and wit, a view that was never tinged with bitterness or self-pity.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ebert blogged that he had suffered a recurrence of cancer following a hip fracture suffered in December, and would be taking “a leave of presence.” In the blog essay, marking his 46th anniversary of becoming the Sun-Times film critic, Ebert wrote “I am not going away. My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers hand-picked and greatly admired by me.”
“‘Kindness’ covers all of my political beliefs,” he wrote, at the end of his memoirs. “No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”
* This whole idea that gay marriage ought to be decided via referendum, when Illinois has no binding referendum provisions, is basically just a dodge. Likely gubernatorial candidate Sen. Kirk Dillard is for deciding the issue by referendum, and so is Bruce Rauner. From his appearance on WLS Radio this morning…
Cohn: This has been an important topic that’s being discussed all around the country right now - gay marriage. Where do you stand on gay marriage?
Rauner: Gay marriage is, it’s an important issue. I think it’s best decided by the voters. Frankly either voter referendum or whatever format voters think makes sense. I think the voters should decide that issue.
Cohn: You don’t have a personal feeling about gay marriage?
Rauner: I really don’t. I think it’s best done by the voters. By society should accept it when the time is right for them. […]
I believe the voters should decide on gay marriage. That’s not lacking leadership, that’s saying voters decide. If, for example, the legislature passes gay marriage, I’m not gonna fight to reverse it. If they don’t pass it, I’m not gonna advocate for it. At the right time, the voters will make their views known. I think that’s a good outcome.
Rauner said he wants to focus like a laser on other issues that are important to him…
There are many very important social issues - reproductive rights, abortion, gay marriage, other issues - and the reality is, our state is in dire, dire condition. And if we argue among ourselves on social issues today rather than focusing like a laser on our economy, on the graft in the inefficiency and corruption and waste in springfield and on our education system - which is the future for our children and the Illinois economy - unless we focus like a laser on those three issues, if we allow ourselves to get distracted by other arguments, they’re important arguments, but if we allow ourselves to get distracted, we won’t fix the core problems of the state.
He’s running for governor, not office manager.
Just because a candidate wants to focus on a set of issues and avoid another set doesn’t mean he’ll be allowed to. Eventually, he’s gonna have to answer these questions.
* Meanwhile, yesterday’s post about some of Rauner’s past business dealings prompted an ally of one of his opponents to toss some opposition research over the transom. From that OR report about Rauner’s involvement in Lason, Inc. through his company GTCR…
After Gaining Control Of The Company, GTCR Installed William Rauwerdink As CFO Of Lason. “Ironically, shortly after GTCR’s original investment in Lason in the mid-1990s, the firm installed as CFO William Rauwerdink, who was fresh off of an SEC settlement related to insider trading charges.” (“Watercooler,” Mergers & Acquisitions, 8/1/11)
Rauwerdink Had Settled With The SEC Over Insider Trading Charges Shortly Before Being Hired At Lason. “Ironically, shortly after GTCR’s original investment in Lason in the mid-1990s, the firm installed as CFO William Rauwerdink, who was fresh off of an SEC settlement related to insider trading charges.” (“Watercooler,”Mergers & Acquisitions, 8/1/11)
In 2003, Rauwerdink And Two Other Lason Executives Were Indicted For Conspiring To Commit Fraud And Lying To The Securities And Exchange Commission.
Lason Filed For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy In December of 2001. “Lason Inc., once a high-flying high-tech company, soughtbankruptcy protection Wednesday, after amassing more than $ 360 million in debt in recent years.” (“Troy, Michigan-Based High-Tech Firm Seeks BankruptcyProtection,” Detroit Free Press, 12/6/01)
Lason Had Burned Through $450 Million In Cash, $220 Million In Stock, And Amassed $320 Million In Debt By Purchasing 76 Companies In 4 Years. “The company’s road from rising tech power to bankruptcy illustrates the perils of growing too fast. Risher, who joined the company in November 2000 as chief financial officer, said Lason’s prior management team spent roughly $450 million in cash and $220 million in stock to acquire 76 companies in four years. The buying spree loaded Lason with about $320 million in debt, causing a flurry of troubles over the past several years.”(Cheryl Meyer, “Buying bing, faulty books drove Lason into bankruptcy,” Daily Deal,12/7/01)
Lason’s Disastrous Acquisitions Strategy Began While GTCR Was The Controlling Shareholder. “The company’s historical strength is as a printing company for automakers and companies who needed a company to print paychecks, bills and statements. Lason acquired eight companies before 1996, and Monroe estimates the company has purchased 50 more since.” (Brent Snavely, “Lason’sbuying binge sends company into stock free fall,” Crain’s Detroit Business, 7/3/00)
Rauner Served On Lason’s Board Of Directors For Nearly The Entire Period Of The Company’s Buying Binge.
GTCR Profited From Lason While Shareholders Lost Everything
Ordinary Shareholders Were Wiped Out By The Lason Bankruptcy. “The company will cancel its current stock, now trading under LSONQ over the counter on pink sheets at 3 cents per share, and issue 30 million new shares of common stock with the majority, 26.25 million, going to the remaining creditors. Current shareholderswill get nothing.” (Jeff Bennett, “Judge Approves Rescue Plan for Troy, Mich.-Based Tech Firm Lason,” Detroit Free Press, 5/1/02)
One Shareholder Reported Losing $50,000 He Had Saved For His Daughter’s College Tuition. “David Norman feels a little vindicated today, knowing the men who may have had a hand in making his $50,000 investment disappear have been charged for their involvement in the downfall of Lason Inc. Norman, 41, of Romulus bought shares of the Troy-based company’s stock through his 401(k) plan in 2000. He thought he was getting in on the ground floor, even though the stock was trading at $2 after hitting a high of $64.94 in 1999…As for Norman, he would like the chance to show Monroe and Messinger the red ink splashed across his portfolio. “I have a daughter who is 2 1/2, and I was going to use the money to send her to the University of Michigan, but who knows now if she will be able to go,” he said. “I am afraid to invest anymore because we have been burned. What company is going to do it to us next?”” (Jeff Bennett, “Troy, Mich., High-Tech FirmShareholders Take Solace in Executive Indictments,” Detroit Free Press, 5/16/03)
That could make a good TV ad. More to come, I’m sure.
* And this is from the Rauner campaign…
Bruce Rauner announced the addition of Dick Uihlein, Mike Keiser and Matt Kibbe to his Exploratory Committee.
Dick Uihlein and Mike Keiser are distinguished entrepreneurs and business leaders, and Matt Kibbe is a highly-regarded figure in the conservative movement. Brief biographies of each individual are below.
“Two things Illinois desperately needs are jobs and a fresh approach to government in Springfield. I am extremely excited to add to my exploratory committee respected leaders who know what it takes to create more jobs and shake up state government,” said Bruce Rauner. “All three bring great political and business insight to the committee. I couldn’t be more excited to have their support.”
Uihlein has been a huge backer of Dan Proft in the past. Kibbe is President and CEO of FreedomWorks.
* SJ-R on the income tax increase’s upcoming expiration…
University of Illinois economist J. Fred Giertz said he doubts lawmakers would be willing to forgo the money when the state already is in dire financial trouble.
“I don’t see people willing to do that,” said Giertz. “Even with the tax increase, we have a shortfall. If you add pension costs, they are not going to think seriously about getting rid of the tax increases unless they are willing to make horrendous budget cuts.”
Next year is an election year, including for governor. Giertz said elected officials might consider it easier to extend the rate than to raise rates in the first place.
“Maybe they believe the political cost of not letting them expire won’t be as great as increasing the rates,” said Giertz.
* The Question: Do you believe the General Assembly will pass a bill that is signed into law permanently extending the tax hike? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the coincident indexes for the 50 states for February 2013. In the past month, the indexes increased in 45 states, decreased in three (Alabama, Illinois, and New Mexico), and remained stable in two (Hawaii and Wyoming), for a one-month diffusion index of 84. Over the past three months, the indexes increased in 46 states, decreased in two (Illinois and Wyoming), and remained stable in two (Alaska and Alabama)
The coincident indexes combine four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic. The four state-level variables in each coincident index are nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index (U.S. city average). The trend for each state’s index is set to the trend of its gross domestic product (GDP), so long-term growth in the state’s index matches long-term growth in its GDP.
* Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s brother doesn’t think the foes of Chicago school closings have a chance…
“Give in now. Give in now. Rahm will win. Rahm always does win,” Ezekiel “Zeke” Emanuel told The Huffington Post, when asked what advice he’d give the teachers union.
Emanuel said his brother’s policies are intended to decrease neighborhood crime and improve how the city educates its students. He offered little hope to those who want to fight the mayor’s administration.
“Like I said, you’re not going to beat him. … You can bang your head against the wall, but he’s pretty tough,” Zeke Emanuel said.
I really think this Emanuel family hubris is gonna backfire one day.
* Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn is not all that ecstatic with the school closings and wants an elected school board…
Governor Pat Quinn offered a serious admonition to Chicago Public Schools leadership about closing 50-some elementary schools when he stopped by for a special edition of Chicago Newsroom on Friday.
“That has to be done with extreme care,” he warned. “I would recommend to the school board of Chicago to take this in a very careful manner and not to do anything that’s hasty or ill-conceived. To try and do it all in a very short period of time I think is dangerous.”
But he went further, saying he also feels that very board should be replaced by an elected body.
“Ninety five percent of the school boards in America are elected by the people,” he told us — in direct disagreement with Mayor Emanuel — “And I think the Chicago Board of Education which for years has been appointed, it would serve us well to have an elected school board… Don’t you think that if we had an elected school board in Chicago, where I live, that more of the issues of education would be debated by folks who are elected by their fellow citizens? I think that’s a healthy process.”
An effort to elect officers on the Southern Illinois University’s governing board short-circuited when two members walked out of the panel’s meeting.
Trustee Marquita Wiley and SIU-Edwardsville student trustee David Hamilton left just before the board’s expected vote Wiley had sought to delay. The vote didn’t happen because the board didn’t have a quorum after Wiley and Hamilton left the meeting.
Wiley says the vote shouldn’t take place until Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois Senate sign off on three new members to replace a trio whose term has expired. The Senate recently rejected three of Quinn’s appointments to the panel.
Tensions on the university board have been high since trustees voted last year to remove Herrin as chairman of the group, a post several trustees and Poshard say he obtained at the request of Gov. Quinn upon being appointed to the board in 2011.
Things boiled over in February, when Quinn removed the three Metro East trustees and sought to replace them with three other individuals. Metro East lawmakers led an effort in the state senate to reject those appointments. Senators regarded Quinn’s removal of Simmons, Hightower and Hinrichs as retaliation for voting Herrin out as chairman, as well as a maneuver to put the Harrisburg resident back in the chairman’s seat.
* This thwarted move by Quinn’s allies was obviously intended to elect Herrin as chairman. Sen. Bill Haine, who is about the most chill legislator I’ve ever met, went fully ballistic after the meeting adjourned…
State Sen. Bill Haine said Wednesday he will file legislation to have all of the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees removed from office after a board member tried to have himself appointed chairman. […]
“I find it to be disturbing, and I find it to be an insult to the Senate, and to SIU itself, that [Herrin] would attempt, with a rump board, to ensconce himself as chair of the board, rather than wait for the constitutional process to work through, and the negotiations between the metro-east legislators and the governor’s office to conclude,” said Haine, D-Alton. […]
He added, “I’m going to pursue a bill which eliminates all of the trustees, and gives the governor another shot at a clean slate, to appoint an entirely new board.” […]
Poshard said the metro-east legislators have been pleading to meet with Quinn since November and it has not happened yet. “Maybe Bill’s got the right idea here,” he said. “That’s probably what it’s going to take.”
* Rick Pearson at the Tribune rightly points to a very real problem with passing the gay marriage bill: African-American House members…
With the measure a dozen votes or less shy of the 60 required for final approval, advocates on either side of the issue consider the 20 black House members key swing votes in the spring session.
The traditionally liberal black caucus, however, has not uniformly lined up in favor of gay marriage, even as home-state President Barack Obama switched course and backed it. Only one of the 14 House co-sponsors is black.
Some African-American lawmakers are uncomfortable with characterizations of gay rights as the latest front in the civil rights movement.
Others fear political repercussions, saying ministers opposed to same-sex marriage have warned legislators who vote for it to never come back to their churches, where politicians traditionally campaign on the final Sundays before an election.
“To be honest with you, it’s a little disheartening,” said Democratic Rep. Will Davis of Homewood, a black caucus member who has not made up his mind as he works out whether gay marriage is a moral or public policy issue.
“There are so many large-scale issues important to the black community, but you’ve never heard from them,” Davis said of the churches opposed to gay marriage. “This doesn’t create jobs. It doesn’t create opportunities and, for the most part, they are silent on helping African-Americans getting job opportunities in this state. They are silent on the increasing prison population.”
* And on that same note, we have two competing press releases…
AFRICAN AMERICAN CLERGY COALITION TO MEET WITH CARDINAL FRANCIS GEORGE TO DISCUSS LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS AGAINST PENDING REDEFINITION OF MARRIAGE BILL
BISHOP TROTTER, PASTOR MEEKS AND BISHOP DAVIS TO LEAD OTHER AFRICAN AMERICAN DENOMINATIONAL LEADERS INTO MEETING WITH CARDINAL GEORGE
Friday, April 5th, 2013@ 11:30 AM (Press Conference)
Archdiocese’s Archbishop Quigley Center, 835 N. Rush St., Chicago, Illinois
Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago in his role as chairman of the Catholic Conference of Illinois and members of the newly formed African-American Clergy Coalition (AACC) will join to express opposition to redefinition of marriage legislation at a press conference at 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 5, at the Archdiocese’s Archbishop Quigley Center, 835 N. Rush St.
Senate Bill 10, which changes the state’s legal definition of marriage from “between a man and a woman” to “between two persons,” has passed the Illinois Senate and is under consideration by the Illinois House. The House returns to session on Monday after a two-week spring break, while the Senate returns on Wednesday.
Cardinal George earlier this year issued a letter to parishioners on redefinition of marriage efforts, and also sent a letter with other faith leaders representing more than 1,700 faith communities to every Illinois lawmaker, urging a “no” vote on any redefinition of marriage legislation.
The African-American Clergy Coalition formed last month and announced a public relations/lobbying effort against redefinition of marriage that includes radio ads, a website, field operations and robo-calls. The Catholic Conference of Illinois supports AACC’s efforts. (africanamericanclergycoalition.org)
The following clergy are confirmed to be joining Cardinal George (in alphabetical order):
Bishop John Bryant, Presiding Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
Pastor Byron Brazier, Senior Pastor of the Apostolic Church of Christ
Bishop Lance Davis, Senior Pastor of the New Zion Christian Fellowship Church of Dolton
Pastor Kenneth Giles, Senior Pastor of the Greater New Mount Olive Baptist Church
Pastor James Meeks, Senior Pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago
Bishop Horace Smith, Presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
Pastor Steven Thurston, President of the National Baptist Convention USA
Bishop Larry Trotter, Presiding prelate of the New Century Fellowship International
* And…
African-American Clergy Urge Immediate Passage of Marriage Equality Legislation in Illinois Pastors, Faith Leaders Call on General Assembly to Act Now in Approving the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act
Who: Prominent African-American Clergy and Faith Leaders
What: Faith leaders call on Illinois General Assembly to grant equal protection to all Illinoisans and their families.
Where: Screening Room II – 3rd Floor
Allegro Hotel
171 W. Randolph Street, Chicago
Conservative Republican state Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) — who was a chief critic of Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady’s embrace of gay marriage — had a different take on U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s surprise backing of same sex marriage on Tuesday.
Oberweis said there’s enough room in the Republican tent to embrace differing beliefs.
Oberweis, who raised objections to Brady, said that was not due to the underlying issue, but because Brady on his own took a position against the party platform.
As for Kirk’s future in the party, Oberweis’ response: “Mark Kirk is a smart guy. I assume he made some political calculation that this was OK or would help him. I have no idea, I didn’t talk to him,” Oberweis said. “Mark is usually pretty careful, and pretty political. I assume that he made a calculation that he believes it helps him not hurts him.”
Following an Illinois tradition that resembles a Stalin-esque concentration of power, the incumbent political party of North Riverside kicked the Transparency & Accountability in Politics Party off the ballot — because the ampersand allegedly made its name too long to be there legally. […]
While laws limiting ballot access are necessary to weed out genuinely ineligible candidates, election panels and court precedent have transformed those laws into a labyrinth so favorable to insiders, so undemocratic, that Josef Stalin himself would blush with pride.
* Oh, please. Stalin would’ve scoffed at such silly notions as “ballot access.” He was a real live and awfully brutal dictator, not some powerful Illinois politician that a newspaper doesn’t like. Stalin would have had the offenders murdered, or if he was in a good mood, sent to concentration camps…
After the Soviet Union dissolved, evidence from the Soviet archives also became available, containing official records of 799,455 executions 1921-53,[112] around 1.7 million deaths in the Gulags and some 390,000 deaths during kulak forced resettlement – with a total of about 3 million officially recorded victims in these categories.
Stalin didn’t rely on electoral technicalities in Poland, either…
The parties at Yalta further agreed that the countries of liberated Europe and former Axis satellites would be allowed to “create democratic institutions of their own choice”, pursuant to “the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live.” The parties also agreed to help those countries form interim governments “pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections” and “facilitate where necessary the holding of such elections.” After the re-organization of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland, the parties agreed that the new party shall “be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot.”One month after Yalta, the Soviet NKVD arrested 16 Polish leaders wishing to participate in provisional government negotiations, for alleged “crimes” and “diversions”, which drew protest from the West. The fraudulent Polish elections, held in January 1947 resulted in Poland’s official transformation to undemocratic communist state by 1949.
So, yeah, our election laws are goofy in Illinois. I don’t dispute that. But Stalin wouldn’t have been proud of us, he would have thought us weak and not sufficiently blood-thirsty. And to say otherwise is amazingly stupid.
* Sometimes, comments here can be quite interesting. For example, this comment about possible Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner was posted yesterday…
SEIU had something called GTCR watch.org but it is no longer online. Anyone know what they found?
I looked up the site on the Wayback Machine, but nothing came up. I used “.org,” “.com” and “.net.” However, I did find this press release via the Google…
A leading private equity firm with a history of investing in companies with poor corporate governance is being taken to task by SEIU of an indictment for fraud at one of its portfolio companies.
The latest edition of GTCR Watch, a newsletter for investors, details the fraud indictment at Lason, Inc., a document printing, imaging, and storage firm incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Troy, Michigan.
An indictment for fraud brought in May 2003 by a federal grand jury in Michigan, and civil fraud charges filed on the same day by the SEC, allege that this rapid growth allowed Lason’s executives to fraudulently inflate the firm’s reported revenue, expenses, and earnings from 1997 onward.
The indictment alleges that fraudulent managerial behavior occurred at Lason while GTCR principles Bruce Rauner and Joseph Nolan served on its board and on key board committees, costing shareholders over $900 million in lost equity.
“Any institution contemplating an investment in a GTCR fund should consider the performance of GTCR’s principals as public company directors before undertaking such a commitment,” said Steve Abrecht, Director of the SEIU Capital Stewardship Program.
The report has been posted on a website, www.GTCRWatch.com, which provides investors with detailed information about the corporate governance practices of GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC’s companies.
* The company’s CFO ultimately pled guilty and was sentenced to prison…
William J. Rauwerdink, the former CFO of Lason, Inc., was sentenced to 3 years and nine months in prison for his role in the company’s accounting fraud nearly 10 years ago, according to the U.S. attorney’s office
Rauwerdink pleaded guilty last November to conspiring to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and to filing a false and fraudulent quarterly report with the SEC — offenses which date back to early 1998 through late 1999. It was also not the first time Rauwerdink had run afoul of federal regulators — as CFO of Medstat Group, he agreed in December 1995 to settle charges of insider trading in Medstat stock and was permanently enjoined by a federal district judge from committing securities fraud. […]
“Rauwerdink was deeply involved in this accounting fraud,” said a press release from Stephen J. Murphy, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Rauwerdink, Murphy said, met with other Lason executives “to ensure that Lason’s reported earnings per share met or exceeded the estimates of stock analysts.”
According to the announcement, Lason reported its inflated earnings per share figures every quarter through press releases drafted by Rauwerdink, conference calls in which he participated, and quarterly and annual filings with the SEC that he signed.
I’m attempting to get the files from that now-defunct website. Stay tuned.
They actually “connect” Rauner to Ayers via the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, which is without a doubt the most pro-corporate group in all of Chicago.
Curiously, Kirk, the top Republican in the state, did not use the occasion to explicitly call on the Illinois House to pass a pending gay marriage bill the state Senate already approved.
“I think from what I’ve seen in my talks with Chris Radogno, it would appear that it’s coming soon,” he said in the radio interview. “I do prefer states doing this. I would hope we would restrain our appetite for power in Washington and not take over marriage law for the whole country.”
I’ve said before that Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady’s support of gay marriage might have more to do with distracting from the few actual GOP votes for the bill than convincing Republicans to vote for it. Just one Senate Republican voted for gay marriage, yet Radogno is predicting ultimate passage. Just one House Republican has announced his support for the bill so far, but there appear to be a small handful of others waiting in the wings.
What Brady’s and Judy Baar Topinka’s - and now Kirk’s - endorsements do is attach high profile faces to a proposal that enjoys broad support, particularly among the young. Yes, it could give cover to some Republicans and let them vote for the bill, but the vast majority of votes for this thing will be Democrats.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a smart play by the GOP. They can have their cake and eat it too, as long as the bill becomes law.
* Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking lately that the “Lincoln” movie was somewhat of an allegory about the modern-day legislative push for gay rights. Sen. Kirk apparently saw the same message…
“I must say I was pretty influenced by the latest movie by Steven Spielberg about Abraham Lincoln. You just think as a Republican leader, my job is to make sure that each generation is more free and has more dignity as an individual which is a unique gift of the United states to the world. The thought of treating a whole bunch of people just because of who they love differently is in my view against that Lincoln tradition, which was brought so well to life by the movie,” Kirk said, according to audio of the interview IRN provided to the Sun-Times.
“I thought the country was ready for it,” Kirk said. “The gay community is larger than it ever has been before. And it’s not in the 1950s closet, so most of of us have gay acquaintances at work or at church and we know them. And the thought of discriminating against our own friends and coworkers is an anathema to me.”
Kirk and U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and Illinois Republican Chairman Pat Brady can hide behind the utterly false rhetoric of equality and compassion and thus conceal from America and perhaps themselves their complicity in the destruction of this once great nation.
And what will this mean for America? Diminished religious liberty, diminished speech rights, diminished parental rights, increasing numbers of children denied their inherent right to know and be raised by their biological mother and father, and the ultimate destruction of marriage.
Wait a second. IFA is definitely a strongly pro-life group, and yet they’re bemoaning adoption? What the heck? I thought they were proponents of adoption? I mean, this is from their website…
(T)he truth is that conservative Christians lead the way in worldwide humanitarian relief efforts, they continue to build hospitals and orphanages and schools in many nations, they are active in drug and alcohol rehab programs in the inner cities of America, and they are at the forefront of the pro-life, pro-adoption movement. [Emphasis added.]
Dissing adoption just doesn’t make sense from the pro-life crowd. Seriously, if you totally believe that abortion is murder, then why quibble with who adopts those children and saves their lives as long as they’re law-abiding, loving parents?
* Related…
* Harris: ‘We’ll have marriage equality in Illinois by summer’
Some people apparently believe in magical fairies. You can’t just wish away the desire of investors to make money. Illinois has one of the strongest bond payment guarantee laws in the entire country. Smart bond buyers know they’re gonna get paid. And since Illinois’ fiscal troubles have driven up the state’s interest rates, savvy investors want to make some money.
Hoping for total chaos is not a plan. And it’s really, really wrong-headed.
Buyers awaiting progress on plans to overhaul the worst- funded state pension system demanded about 1.33 percentage points of extra yield above benchmark munis for 10-year tax- exempt debt that Illinois sold yesterday. That’s almost triple what California had to pay last month.
To raise public awareness of the pension burden, Democratic Governor Pat Quinn released a video in November showing a cartoon of “Squeezy the Pension Python” threatening to strangle the capitol building in Springfield.
To raise public awareness of the pension burden, Democratic Governor Pat Quinn released a video in November showing a cartoon of “Squeezy the Pension Python” threatening to strangle the capitol building in Springfield. Source: AP/Courtesy of Gov. Pat Quinn’s office
In sales about a year ago, the Illinois yield penalty was only double that of the most-populous state. Since then, Standard & Poor’s has cut Illinois twice, to A-, six steps below AAA, as legislators failed to advance a pension fix. Meanwhile, the company raised California’s credit for the first time since 2006, to A, one level higher, after Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, proposed a budget for the year beginning July 1 that would leave the state with its first surplus in almost a decade.
“It’s a different credit situation — California has definitely made some difficult steps,” said Robert Miller, who helps oversee $32 billion of munis in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, at Wells Capital Management. He said the company didn’t buy the Illinois offer because the spreads were too narrow. “Illinois at this point is more of the status quo.”
California’s governor is now predicting a surplus. He’s cut and cut and cut again and raised taxes. He’s also been lauded for pension reforms, but those reforms are only for new hires. Illinois did that in 2010.
