Chicago businessman Scott Cohen says he will spend up to $3 million of his own fortune on his Democratic race for lieutenant governor. […]
He revealed his spending plans at a Daily Herald editorial board interview today and was quickly rebuked by the three other candidates in attendance: state Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, Elmhurst electrician Thomas Castillo and state Rep. Mike Boland of East Moline.
“I’m not even going to come close to that,” said Link, a veteran Lake County lawmaker. “That is ludicrous for an office of this size.”
The lieutenant governor’s position has no official authority. The lieutenant governor becomes governor if the incumbent state executive is ousted, resigns or is incapacitated as was illustrated by Pat Quinn’s rise to upon Rod Blagojevich’s ouster in January.
Whether fair or not, if it’s his money he can spend it as he wishes.
Boland, by the way, called the revelation of the Quinn administration’s secret early prisoner release program “crazy.” Quinn has now mummed up…
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn isn’t saying when he first knew his administration was releasing inmates who’d served just weeks in prison.
Quinn on Sunday suspended a program that immediately awarded good-behavior credits to inmates instead of requiring them to spend at least 61 days behind bars. His action came after a report by The Associated Press revealed some inmates locked up less than three weeks.
Quinn said Monday that Corrections Department Director Michael Randle has broad discretion to run the department. He says if there are questions about how something is being done, it’s the governor’s job to review it.
* Meanwhile, Gov. Quinn’s campaign has a new promo video called Jobs, Jobs, Jobs…
UPDATE: The Quinn campaign has issued a new version of this video in response to criticism in comments about the claim over how the capital bill “created” and “saved” jobs. The new text says it will “create” and will “save” those jobs. The new video is now displayed.
* The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee has a new Internet video blasting Mark Kirk…
* Related…
* Auction brings $6.5 million for troubled Springfield hotel: Horve estimated it would cost $35 million to build such a hotel now.
Fred and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can’t remember how I’m kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motor home in
They blew our Christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw a breaker and the lights came on
And we sang ‘Silent Night, Oh Silent Night, Oh Holy Night’
* So, how much of a threat is Patrick Hughes to Mark Kirk? Not much so far…
Kirk 41
Thomas 3
Hughes 3
Arrington 2
Martin 2
Lowery 1
Zadek 1
Other cand. (Vol.) 1
Undecided 46
Yes, the undecideds represent 46 percent of the vote, but that 41-3 Kirk-Hughes lead is gonna be incredibly tough to overcome, to say the very least. According to the Tribune poll, just 8 percent of voters have heard enough about Hughes to rate him.
Even Hughes’ own claimed recent polling shows he’s in serious trouble. From a press release…
A recent survey conducted on December 9th and 10th by Wilson Research Strategies of 600 likely Republican primary voters, shows the race for Illinois’ open U.S. Senate seat is largely undecided. 63% of voters indicated that they are undecided about who they will vote for in the February 2nd Primary. 28% of voters indicated they were leaning towards Congressman Mark Kirk and 5% were leaning towards Hinsdale developer Patrick Hughes. Looking closer at the numbers only 7% of voters polled indicated that they were Definitely voting for Kirk while 2% indicated they were Definitely voting for Hughes. No other candidate polled higher than 1%.
Hughes does go on to claim this, however…
When information was given to the voters about Mark Kirk’s support for Cap and Trade support for Hughes surges to 47% and the support for Kirk drops to 13%
Kirk flip-flop explained. You don’t need a weather man to know which way that wind blows.
Kirk is even leading among “very conservative” voters. That could change if Hughes can get his act together, but so far he hasn’t. Hughes sent out a single mailer to quite a few GOP voters a week or so ago, but that won’t get him very far. Even interested voters will only look at a mailer for a few seconds before tossing it in the garbage.
“Thinking now about Senate candidate Mark Kirk - compared to your political beliefs, do you think Kirk is too conservative on the issues, not conservative enough, or do you mostly agree with him on the issues?”…
From the pollster…
Voter composition in a primary can change over time. The current poll yielded 76% of likely voters who describe themselves as conservative, 37% very conservative, up from the previous results.
In four previous GOP primary polls, Jan., ’08, Dec. ’07, March ’06, and Feb. ’06, total conservatives ranged from 64% to 66% including 21% to 26% very conservative. Who is on the ballot may affect composition of voter turnout. But it is also likely that national politics is having an effect on elections this year.
So, the GOP electorate is getting more “very conservative” than in years past, but it’s still probably not enough to defeat Kirk in a primary with anyone in this field.
Conservative polling history…
Notice that the number of Republicans who once defined themselves as “moderate” dropped to 29 percent. That is partially because so many of those people left the party.
Nearly half of voters who call themselves conservatives said they are undecided in the contest. About the same number of conservative voters said they did not know when asked if Kirk’s ideology was too conservative or not conservative enough.
But Hughes’ candidacy represents an emerging, and very real, challenge for GOPers: In an era of tea partiers, the centrist Kirk has to move to the right to win a primary. Those moves have already cost Kirk, as Planned Parenthood and environmental groups have repudiated him for recent statements. Conservative challengers to more centrist favorites in NH, FL, OH, CO and other states could make those favorites move to the right.
Dems have been hammering Kirk for his rightward move, and they stand ready to do the same for the more moderate candidates in other states. Kirk has a big lead, and one has to wonder whether he needed to leap so quickly to his right, given his lead in the primary. Other centrists should look to their own poll results to see just how much of a threat conservative candidates really are; it might make their general election mission of appealing to centrist voters all that much easier.
Kirk, whose centrist positions on certain issues have led to some speculation about his primary vulnerability, is not over 50 percent. But no other candidate appears to have asserted him- or herself as a strong alternative with a month and a half to go in the primary.
Conaty’s contract was not renewed, a station spokeswoman confirmed. His last Channel 32 appearance is expected to be on this weekend’s “Fox Chicago Sunday,” which was to be taped Friday and air Sunday morning at 8:30.
Of those who launched WFLD’s news operation under Fox in 1987, Conaty was among the last remaining few still at the station along with 9 p.m. anchor Robin Robinson and reporter Anne Kavanagh, whose contract was not renewed in July but has remained a regular contributor.
“We appreciate all of Jack’s hard work and dedication during his time with Fox Chicago,” a station statement said.
Citadel Broadcasting Corp., the nation’s third-biggest radio company and parent of Chicago’s WLS-AM 890 and WLS-FM 94.7, is preparing to file a prearranged bankruptcy before the end of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal and later the New York Times.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the newspapers said the proposal presented this week to creditors — and reportedly supported by many — would have lenders trade a substantial amount of the $2 billion they’re owed for 99.5 percent equity in the reorganized company, which would have about $760 million in debt. […]
Citadel loaded up on debt to fund its acquisition of Walt Disney Co.’s ABC Radio stations, but not Radio Disney or ESPN Radio, in 2006, not a particularly good time to be in radio acquisition mode, it turned out.
Apparently, the bad karma from giving Rod Blagojevich his own show was just too much for the company. [/snark]
Reports of Roe Conn’s demise — like that of another Midwestern humorist — have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, the Chicago radio veteran is close to signing a new deal to continue as afternoon personality on Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890).
Barring a last-minute snafu, sources said, Conn is expected to sign a two-year renewal any day now, superseding his current contract, which expires June 1. In exchange for the additional security, he’s likely to accept a reduction in his previously reported seven-figure salary.
The only obstacle to finalizing the deal could come from Citadel Broadcasting’s top bosses, who were reported to be preoccupied Thursday preparing to file for bankruptcy by the end of the year. Such a move would allow the company to restructure its $2 billion debt.
Word of Conn’s renewal comes despite speculation that his days are numbered at WLS. After the latest Arbitron survey showed him significantly underperforming the rest of the station, the Sun-Times’ Lewis Lazare cited unnamed “observers in the local radio market” who asserted that “the high-priced WLS talent might not be able to hold on at the station much longer.” My friends at the ever-vigilant ChicagolandRadioandMedia.com went even further, declaring it “the end of the line for Roe Conn at WLS,” and identifying three potential replacements for him.
Roe is the coolest, most down-to-earth millionaire I’ve ever met. Glad he’s staying put.
“Why should the voters of Cook County have confidence in a poll conducted by a newspaper whose owner and chairman of the board has made sizable campaign contributions to political opponents of President Stroger? We believe this owner has been the driving force behind the Chicago Tribune’s relentless negative reporting of President Stroger and his administration,” the Stroger campaign statement read.
In the weeks preceding the 2006 Democratic primary, Zell, a real estate magnate with no interest in Tribune at the time, donated $75,000 to Cook County Board Commissioner Forrest Claypool, D-Chicago. Claypool was running against Stroger’s father, John, who was seeking a fourth term as president.
John Stroger was incapacitated by a stroke before the primary, but won, and the Cook County Democratic Party put his son, Todd Stroger, on the general election ballot in his place. Todd Stroger went on to defeat Commissioner Tony Peraica, R-Riverside, to whom Zell donated $30,000.
WUIS/Illinois Public Radio statehouse reporter Amanda Vinicky is back in the United States after spending a week in Germany learning about media and culture.
Vinicky was one of 16 young journalists from the U.S. selected by the German-American Fulbright Commission to visit the country. Journalists from radio, television, newspapers and web outlets all took part in the trip.
“The whole thing was absolutely amazing,” said Vinicky.
* The Tribune has finally uploaded the video from its editorial board “debate” between Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes. You can watch the two-part video by going to the main editorial page and looking at the lower right side.
I excerpted one pretty testy back and forth between Hynes and Quinn. Hynes is usually a pretty placid guy, but he went off several times during this exchange and really showed some passion. The excerpt is definitely worth a look and it gets more interesting as the video goes on, so stay with it…
* Some of that back and forth had to do with Hynes’ refusal to approve Quinn’s $500 million short-term borrowing plan. ABC7 ran a story yesterday about an AARP press conference that you should definitely watch. For some reason, I can no longer get the station’s embed script to work, so it’s just words on this end again today…
The state of Illinois, with an estimated $11 billion to $13 billion deficit, owes an estimated $4.5 billion to its vendors. AARP says the creditors include 200 agencies around the state that serve the elderly that could be forced out of business within weeks.
“I have no funds to make payroll next week for my staff,” said Champaign Senior Care Provider Carol Acord.
“For our last payroll, our family had to deplete all of our savings,” said Norman James of Family Home Services, Inc. “So that we can keep our employees out there working and providing the service that the seniors need.” […]
But the worst-off providers want the state to use whatever means to pay what it owes now and save the politics for later.
“Put aside our partisan differences, our political aspirations, and take emergency action now,” said Democratic Rep. Greg Harris who represents Chicago.
* Comptroller Hynes claimed in the above Tribune debate video that fully a third of state revenues will have to used to pay off existing short-term loans come March and April. And as I told you yesterday, S&P downgraded Illinois’ general obligation debt and retained its negative outlook on the state’s credit. More on that from Reuters…
S&P said the negative outlook was retained because of the state’s “questionable” willingness to implement difficult and politically unpopular measures to restore a budget balance.
“There’s been very limited action on addressing the shortfall,” said Robin Prunty, an S&P analyst.
In its downgrade affecting $19 billion of outstanding Illinois GO debt, S&P said Illinois rolled its fiscal 2009 budget deficit into fiscal 2010, which in turn was balanced “with various spending reductions and a plan for debt restructuring to provide budget savings; the savings from both are uncertain at this time.”
The state also turned to one-time measures, such as a plan to issue $3.5 billion of pension notes to raise money for its fiscal 2010 payment to pension funds. That “might create out-year budget pressure,” S&P said.
The governor says in the excerpted Tribune video that the financial situation here is “stable.” Hynes responded: “If that’s stability, I’d hate to see chaos.” How right he is.
