Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

*** UPDATED x2 - Andrzejewski alleges fraud *** It ain’t easy out there

Thursday, Jan 5, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* As I told subscribers yesterday, Sen. John O. Jones has dropped out of his Republican primary bid after his inadequate petitions were challenged by fellow GOP state Sen. Kyle McCarter...

Jones, a 16-year veteran of the General Assembly, withdrew from his March 20 matchup against state Sen. Kyle McCarter, saying he wasn’t sure he could survive a challenge of his nominating petitions by his opponent. […]

McCarter challenged Jones’ nominating petitions and found enough potential problems that Jones exited the race rather than embark on a legal fight. To run in the Senate primary, a candidate must have at least 1,000 valid signatures from registered voters within the district. Jones said if each of McCarter’s challenges had been successful, he would have been dozens of signatures short of staying on the ballot. […]

It wasn’t clear Wednesday whether the move means an end to Jones career in Springfield, which began in 1995 when he was elected to the House. He moved into his Senate seat in 2003.

“I’m going to leave my options open,” Jones said.

Gathering enough signatures to run as an independent will be a whole lot harder than it was in a party primary, so he’d better get his act together if that’s what he’s going to do.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Adam Andrzejewski is alleging fraud. From an e-mail…

Furthermore, seven signed affidavits alleged petition signature forgery. Evidence of more forgery was gathered on five more petition sheets. Rather than fight these legal assertions, Jones decided to drop out of the race. In addition, the objector was prepared to allege that union reps circulated nine pages of petitions on government property: inside a state prison and a school.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Only a relative handful of people, like Democratic Sen. Dave Koehler, had an easy time gathering petitions this year.

It used to be, candidates could just flood the Board of Elections with thousands of iffy petitions, making it very difficult if not impossible to find enough signatures to kick them off the ballot (that’s what happened with Scott Lee Cohen and his gigantic mountain of signatures in 2010, for instance). Now, there’s an upper limit, after which the Board stops counting. Candidates have to make extra sure they’re turning in their most valid signatures or face the boot.

* But the current political climate is so toxic for politicians of all stripes that just going out a couple of weekends and gathering tons of sigs is no longer a viable option. People are in no mood to cooperate, and lots of candidates ended up turning in petitions on the last day of filing this year because they weren’t prepared for the reaction at the doors.

“Hi, I’m running for the Illinois General Assembly, you know, the people who raised your taxes and your electric utility rates, haven’t solved the pension mess, can’t pay the state’s bills, are still handing out legislative scholarships, forced you to register with the government when you buy Drano, allowed Chicago to install speed cams…”

[Sound of door slamming.]

* And it isn’t just legislators and legislative candidates having trouble…

Chicago’s election board voted unanimously Wednesday to remove Ald. Rey Colon (35th) from the March 20 primary ballot for Democratic ward committeeman because he did not collect enough valid signatures from registered voters in the ward.

Colon has served as committeeman since 2004, and his exit leaves only one candidate for the top party post: Nancy Schiavone, a lawyer who unsuccessfully challenged Colon for alderman last year. Schiavone could not be reached for comment. […]

Colon is the third incumbent ward boss who has encountered trouble staying on the ballot for this year’s primary. Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) dropped her re-election bid after her nomination papers were challenged. Raymond Lopez, who ran against Foulkes for alderman in last year’s election, will run unopposed for committeeman of that ward.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is currently fighting to stay on the ballot after a preliminary examination by election board officials found he was about 100 signatures short of the required total.

That’s just craziness. These are ward committeemen. They’re supposed to have an organization. But, things are tough all over and sometimes people can get lazy.

Reformers thought the new signature requirements would work against challengers before filing started. So far though, more incumbents than usual are having real problems. Heck, even the Obama campaign didn’t file petitions on the first day, and, as of this moment, hasn’t filed yet.

* And this story probably won’t help, either…

A southwest side community activist who’s running for State Senate says he was offered a state job and money to drop out of his political race, and he said that offer was secretly taped by the FBI.

Democrat Raul Montes Junior is running in the 12th District, a job that is also being pursued by incumbent 11th District Democrat Steve Landek, who is also the mayor of southwest suburban Bridgeview.

Earlier this month, Montes says he got a call from a political consultant he believes was representing Landek. They met in a restaurant on Taylor Street, where Montes said the consultant tried to entice him to withdraw from the primary race.

“He said, ‘We could compensate you for your time,’” Montes said. “‘Thousands of dollars, and possibly get you a Chicago coordinating job, and you’ll be working for Senator Steve Landek. What do you think about it?’ I started smelling something fishy.”

Montes said he didn’t feel comfortable about the offer and called the FBI. On Christmas Eve, he said he received a voicemail from Landek asking to set up a face-to-face meeting.

Montes said the FBI equipped him with an undercover recording device when he met with Landek last Thursday in a suite at Toyota Park in Bridgeview. He said they talked for nearly two and a half hours, and at the end of the conversation, Landek asked Montes what it would take to get him out of the race.

“He said, ‘What if I offered you something to come on staff with me at the Senate? You’ d be making over $30,000 a year,’” Montes said. “I listened to him. He goes, ‘What about if I give you some money?’ I go, ‘Money?’ He says, ‘Yeah. I can give you a check right now for $3,000, but you gotta withdraw. Go on vacation. Go somewhere you want. Come back in a few days, and then you work for me on my campaign.’”

Sen. Landek insists he did nothing wrong. But, wow, what a story this is.

*** UPDATE *** Interesting…

Well-known election lawyer Burt Odelson says that he took a phone call from his friend Landek and advised him that it was perfectly legal for Landek to offer Montes a job for dropping out of the race.

“I talked to Steve in the middle of the meeting,” said Odelson, who is also representing a challenger to Montes’ nominating petitions. “Steve offered him a position on his campaign committee to help him in the campaign.

“Steve and I talked about this before he did it, because [Montes] did pass a lot of petitions and he did it all himself, and you can’t find people like that anymore who do that hard work.

“Especially, he lives in an area that’s new to Steve’s district. He’s Hispanic. It makes all the sense in the world to get young blood involved in the organization. Additionally, if you can get your opponent off the ballot, you get him off the ballot.”

Odelson said Landek did nothing wrong in offering Montes a job.

“It goes on every single day in politics,” Odelson said, “from every level of government including the judiciary. Steve offered a job on his campaign staff, and if that worked out he would consider him to work on his senate staff. … And it would save a lot of money not having to run against somebody run against him, even though Steve is going to beat him 80/20 or 75/25. He’s not a serious challenger. He lives with his parents in the basement.”

73 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 - Fritchey responds *** No, I’m not joining in

Thursday, Jan 5, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A recent Sun-Times headline read “Felon William Cellini’s family still profits off state contracts.” But that’s not exactly what’s going on…

As a convicted felon, William F. Cellini — the longtime Republican power broker recently convicted of corruption tied to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s “pay-to-play” schemes — can no longer do business with the state of Illinois, as he has done for more than four decades.

But the Illinois law under which Cellini faces a five-year ban on getting any state contracts doesn’t apply to his vast network of business ventures, some of which have been turned over to his daughter and son, according to state officials.

Cellini companies — New Frontier Management and an affiliate, Pacific Management Corp., which is owned in part by his daughter and son-in-law — have agreements with private landlords to manage 18 buildings now occupied by state agencies that include the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Transportation, state officials say.

* Under current law, the state cannot force private property owners to hire or fire certain management companies…

Untangling the state’s relationship with Cellini-associated companies might be difficult. The state is not paying rent to Cellini-associated companies. The companies that own the buildings pay the Cellini-associated firms fees to manage them.

“I don’t think state has the authority to dictate for a landlord with whom they can do business,” said [Alka Nayyar, a spokeswoman for the Department of Central Management Services].

When the state seeks to lease property, it puts out a request for information from property owners, spelling out the amount of space needed and other requirements.

“We can’t pre-determine who responds to an RFI,” Nayyar said. “In all cases possible, we try to go with the lowest respondent as long as their particular proposal meets all the space requirements for the agencies.”

And since when do we start actively punishing children for their fathers’ crimes?

* And while this story is certainly heartbreaking…

A suspected drunken driver charged with killing a pedestrian on a northwest side of Chicago street last year is now on the run — and the victim’s family is pointing the finger at Cook County’s elected leaders.

William “Denny” McCann’s family believes the suspect, Saul Chavez, would still be in the custody of law enforcement — and not a fugitive — if the Cook County Board hadn’t passed an ordinance that the family argues paved the way for the suspect to disappear.

“They f—– up,” Kevin McCann, the victim’s brother, told the Sun-Times. “He (allegedly killed) my brother, and they let him out of jail.”

The alleged felon made bail. The reason this is garnering media heat is because he was an undocumented immigrant…

In the days after Chavez’s arrest, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a “detainer” for him, asking that the county jail notify the agency when the suspect posted bond and to detain him up to 48 hours so agents could pick him up for possible deportation proceedings.

But in September, county commissioners passed an ordinance instructing the jail to ignore the immigration detainers, whether the charges are for misdemeanors or felonies — describing the detainers as requests and not arrest warrants, as a federal court ruled earlier in the year.

Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle championed the measure, saying the detainers sometimes targeted U.S. citizens and became costly as federal agents routinely would ask for the hold and forget about it. Both say they feel sympathy for the McCann family but that this points to problems with setting bonds.

The bond was set at $250,000. A family member scraped up the cash and he was let go. If Cook County had not passed the ordinance, he would’ve been turned over to Immigration, which would’ve then deported him south of the border. John Kass is riled up…

It wasn’t as if the politicians of the Cook County Board weren’t warned that they were creating a Willie Horton problem.

They were indeed warned, by Cook County Commissioner Timothy Schneider, as they passed a foolish new law.

But, as Kass himself notes…

The proposal passed. And the feds weren’t notified. Chavez, a Mexican national who had previously been convicted of a DUI, came up with $25,000, bonded out and disappeared. Now he’s believed to have skipped back home.

In other words, Chavez is right where the feds would’ve sent him anyway.

~~The problem in this particular instance is the bond, not necessarily the law.~~

…Adding… A couple of commenters have pointed out that the feds would likely have held Chavez in detention until his trial. So, yeah, this is a problem. Apologies all around. However, as another commenter pointed out, what bail bondsman in his right mind would agree to a $250,000 bond on a flight risk like this?

* Yes, I’m fully aware that both of these positions put me way out of the so-called “mainstream.” But when the media pack attacks, I usually try to take a couple of steps back to see if it’s a valid attack. Both of these stories allow people to get all worked up and fume at the powers that be, but, in my opinion, the outrage is misplaced.

*** UPDATE *** Via e-mail from Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey…

While there is no simple answer to this issue, what is being ignored in this story is that the suspect was being held in county jail for over FIVE MONTHS and ICE did nothing to take him into their custody.

The problem with the detainers is that they don’t require any probable cause and have been ruled to be voluntary detention requests. Candidly, some of you may be fine with this concept as long as it involves an undocumented person but what about if the detainer were erroneously used against a U.S. citizen or even a veteran, as has happened?

There are a few leading factors that allowed this situation to turn out the way it did.

Factor One: If the judge or State’s Attorney thought the suspect was a flight risk, they could have, and should have, set a higher bail or no bail.

Factor Two: If the feds wanted to deport him, they had five months to take him from county custody. They repeatedly choose not to because they don’t want to absorb the costs of processing and incarcerating these individuals.

Factor Three: And last June, a 7th Circuit Federal Court ruled that the ICE detainers are voluntary requests meaning that we have NO legal right to hold somebody once they post bond. To then comply with the detainer means that we would be unconstitutionally holding depriving somebody of their liberty.

And I am confident that once the county would be required to pay out the first million dollar plus judgment for a civil rights violation, there would be shouts that we shouldn’t be holding people without due process. Again, if the feds feel that they have a basis to hold somebody, they are more than able to take them from the county while we are legally detaining them.

Also not pointed out in the article is that the county ordinance provides that the Sheriff can still hold these individuals provided that the feds indemnify us for doing so.

To blame the outcome on the county policy is overly simplistic, misplaced and incorrect.

39 Comments

« NEWER POSTS