Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Tuesday, Mar 6, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Kelly Kraft of the governor’s budget office went on Fox Business News because somebody had said on the channel last week that Gov. Pat Quinn had asked for a federal bailout. The interview was at times pretty contentious, with host Stuart Varney regularly interrupting.

Varney offered up what he claimed was a simple solution to the state’s pension problems: All new hires should be put into 401(k) plans. “I know how this works, I know how this works,” Varney said. What he didn’t know, though, was that Illinois would have to start making Social Security payments for tens of thousands of workers if the state followed Varney’s advice.

Varney also claimed the state’s income tax hike didn’t bring in the amount of money that was expected. Wrong.

And Varney flatly stated than long term municipal bonds paid lower interest rates than short-term bonds. He made that claim while arguing that a ten-year California bond’s interest rate which is much lower than that for a recently sold 25-year Illinois bond meant Illinois’ credit problems are worse than California’s. Um.

* Watch part of the exchange…

For whatever reason, I couldn’t download the whole video, so the rest is here. That’s where it gets really fun.

And some people wonder why I refuse to appear on cable TV.

* Meanwhile, the Decatur Herald & Review is hot under the collar…

An interest rate of 300 percent is usually associated with lenders who threaten kneecaps if payments aren’t made.

But in Illinois that interest rate is allowable, and it appears it will remain so after a House committee last week refused to consider legislation that would have imposed new regulations on car title lenders.

Currently, the interest rate that can be charged by car title lenders is capped at 300 percent, if you can call that a cap.

The House Consumer Protection Committee, a misnamed group if there ever was one, was asked last week to consider a bill that would have capped that interest rate at 36 percent. Only five of the 21 members of the committee voted “yes,” putting the legislation in turmoil. The legislation had been supported by many groups, including the Decatur City Council, which had approved supporting the cap. […]

(T)he state has a role in regulating such loans. In this instance, the House Consumer Protection Committee acted more like a predatory loan protection committee.

I can see their point.

* Phil Kadner is right to be upset that local legislators aren’t returning his calls to talk about a very important issue…

I’ve been waiting for an outcry from Southland legislators about a plan being discussed in Springfield to shift the state’s obligation to pay teacher pensions onto the backs of homeowners.

I haven’t heard a word.

I’ve called state senators Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields), Maggie Crotty (D-Oak Forest) and James Meeks (D-Chicago) and have yet to get a return call.

I ran into Crotty at a charity fundraising event, and she apologized for not returning the call. She told me that legislative leaders are discussing all options on pension reform, and rumors about a “done deal” when it comes to shifting the pension payments to school districts are inaccurate.

But representatives of the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, have told me that such shifting is the one proposal they’ve heard that would be constitutional.

* Let’s end this on an up note. Toronto Star travel editor Jim Byers attended a tourism briefing held by Gov. Pat Quinn this week and filed a long report about our state’s wondrous beauty, including this…

The state also is home to more bald eagles than any other state in the U.S. except Alaska, and, according to Quinn, is an excellent place for bird-watching. (Actually, Quinn made this point several times in an entertaining speech that made me think the guy is quite smart but likes playing up the image of a good old boy hunkering for a tasty snack at the Bar-B-Q Barn in Harrisburg, complete with a country fried steak and a big old Coke)

Welcome to our world, Jim.

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Manzullo’s new ad again slams Kinzinger for not being a conservative

Tuesday, Mar 6, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Last month, the prestigious National Journal gave Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger a 58 percent conservative voting record score. It gave Kinzinger’s GOP primary opponent Congressman Don Manzullo a 74 percent conservative score. Manzullo is now up with a TV ad that yet again claims Kinzinger is a false conservative and drags in Nancy Pelosi, President Obama and Debbie Halvorson. Kinzinger defeated Halvorson in 2010. Halvorson’s National Journal conservative score was 48 percent at the time, so Manzullo’s ad claims that Kinzinger isn’t much different than the Democrat he replaced. Watch the ad…

* There has been much consternation over National Journal’s rankings, according to Politico’s Dylan Byers…

So I took my first foray into congressional rankings last week and noticed some major discrepancies between the list published by the National Journal last month and those published by conservative groups like Heritage Action and Club For Growth — which, I quickly learned, is an ongoing source of frustration among many conservatives here in Washington.

For instance, Representative Justin Amash — who ranks as the most conservative House member on the Club For Growth’s list and fifteenth most conservative congressman on the Heritage list — ranks as the fourth most liberal Republican representative on the National Journal list. Utah Senator Mike Lee, the second most conservative congressman on the Heritage list, is less conservative than Utah Senator Orrin Hatch on the National Journal list. Per the National Journal, Mitch McConnell is more conservative than Marco Rubio, who is more conservative than Rand Paul, and so on down the seemingly backward line.

“In no planet is Mitch McConnell more conservative than Marco Rubio or Mike Lee,” one source at a conservative think tank told me. “Only in bizzaro world is Rand Paul considered the 32nd most conservative senator.”

Erick Erickson, the editor of Red State, made an even more aggressive critique shortly after NJ’s list came out in February: “I think National Journal must hand over its rating of the most conservative and liberal members of congress to an outsourced shop in Mumbai filled with mental midgets,” he wrote. “There can really be no other explanation for this year’s embarrassing list of the most conservative members of Congress.”

However, in this particular contest, both Heritage Action and the Club For Growth rate Manzullo as far more conservative than Kinzinger.

These two guys have been arguing over who is the more conservative candidate since they kicked off their campaigns. But now Manzullo has some statistical support to back up his claims. From a Manzullo press release…

American Conservative Union lifetime scores: Manzullo 96, Kinzinger 72.

Heritage Action for America: Manzullo 84, Kinzinger 63.

Americans for Prosperity: Manzullo A+, Kinzinger B.

National Journal (conservative composite score): Manzullo 74, Kinzinger 58.

* Kinzinger, by the way, was just endorsed by Dan Proft…

The consequence of failing to return Adam to Congress will be to tell other young, bright, diligent, and principled conservatives to again “wait their turn”. If we do that, we will again suffer the corresponding brain drain.

The benefit of returning Adam to Congress will be to signal to the Regressive Left that they are on the wrong side of history for the next generation of conservative grassroots leaders is ascendant and prepared to abide the Burkian contract between ourselves, our ancestors who provided for us and our posterity to whom we owe a responsibility to act responsibly.

The letter is signed thusly…

Regards,

Dan Proft
WLS Radio Talk Show Host*

*Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WLS-AM 890 radio or Cumulus Media, Inc.

* Meanwhile, if you live in the Chicago area, you could soon be seeing some Republican presidential ads. I’m told the Mitt Romney-backing super PAC Restore Our Future just booked a heavy schedule on the Chicago Cable Interconnect plus AT&T Verse and DirecTV. No Illinois ads are posted on the group’s YouTube site as of yet.

* Fox Chicago commissioned a poll a week ago today and found these Illinois results…

* 29 percent favored Mitt Romney
* 29 percent favored Rick Santorum
* 10 percent favored Ron Paul
* 15 percent favored Newt Gingrich
* 17 percent were Undecided

But…

It’s misleading to publish a popular vote poll in this primary, because that’s not how the delegates will be awarded. They’ll be awarded according to the winners of each of the state’s 18 new Congressional districts. This gives Romney a huge advantage, because Santorum isn’t running delegate slates in four districts: the 4th, 5th, 7th and 13th. […]

In addition, Illinois will choose 12 unpledged delegates at the state party convention in June. The Republican National Committeeman and Committeewoman, Richard Williamson and Demetra DelMonte, plus the state party chairman, Pat Brady, will go as “superdelegates.” Romney has the support of Pat Brady, Sen. Mark Kirk and the Illinois Republican Party establishment, so most if not all of those 15 votes will be his.

* Related…

* VIDEO: Bill Foster “Family”

* 10th District Democrats look to newcomers to break losing streak

* Democrats Fight it Out in the 11th

* Two more debates in the 8th District

* VIDEO: Sen Dick Durbin’s Address on Lincoln’s Leadership

* Gingrich in Palatine next Wednesday

* Illinois GOP chair: Santorum finished

* VIDEO: Netanyahu, Israel PM wishes Sen. Kirk a speedy recovery

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and a big campaign roundup

Tuesday, Mar 6, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

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