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Thursday, Jan 12, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The tradition in Illinois is to not challenge petition signatures for presidential delegates. We’ll know by Friday if the tradition will continue…

Delegates for GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum have filed the minimum legal number of petition signatures to appear on the ballot in just four of Illinois’ 18 available congressional districts.

In 10 others, delegates who filed signatures came far short of the 600 required to appear on the ballot, a review of the signatures found. They didn’t file any delegates in four districts.

* In other news, the Illinois AFL-CIO released its list of primary campaign endorsements this week. Click here to read the full list. From the press release…

Topping the endorsement list were Democratic candidates for U.S. Congress including Bobby Rush (1st District), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (2nd), Dan Lipinski (3rd), Luis Gutierrez (4th), Mike Quigley (5th), Leslie Coolidge (6th), Danny Davis (7th), Jan Schakowsky (9th), Bill Foster (11th), Brad Harriman (12th), Matt Goetten (13th), Dennis Anderson (14th) and Cheri Bustos (17th).

No congressional Republican primary candidates were endorsed. Several state legislative candidates in tough primaries got the state fed’s nod, including Senate candidates Donna Miller (the wife of former Rep. David Miller) and Sen. Mike Jacobs (up against former Rep. Mike Boland). The labor umbrella group didn’t endorse anyone in the open seat race for Illinois Supreme Court.

…Adding… 600 people? That’s some intense interest, man…

Frustrated Chicagoans accused aldermen of shattering communities to protect their incumbencies at the first public hearing on the city’s ward remap process Wednesday night.

At least 600 people flooded into DePaul University’s Student Center in Lincoln Park, with many forced to wait temporarily outside closed doors due to concerns that attendance would exceed fire code limits. For three hours, scores of city residents hurled criticism at the more than 20 attending aldermen, and the two maps they created.

* Republican Congressman Don Manzullo continues to whack his primary opponent Congressman Adam Kinzinger as not conservative enough. From a press release…

An analysis of Congressional votes shows that U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-16) continued his strong conservative record of voting against wasteful Washington spending in 2011 while his opponent voted much more often for big government.

Manzullo, who maintains a lifetime 96 percent rating with the American Conservative Union, voted 79 more times to cut spending in 2011 than Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-11), who says he came to Washington in 2010 to cut spending. An analysis of all 949 roll call votes cast in 2011 shows Kinzinger voted to spend $209 billion more than Manzullo.

* Kinzinger zings back…

“Rather than speaking out as a voice of fiscal responsibility in Washington, Congressman Manzullo joined in the ‘big government’movement by voting to support taxpayer funded bailouts, advocating for Obama’s spending projects and voting twelve times to increase the debt limit piling on $5 trillion to our nation’s debt.

“Only when Congressman Manzullo realized he would have his first serious Republican opponent in decades, he began to take drastic measures to correct twenty years of overspending by voting in favor of the RSC budget, which would slash seniors’ Social Security and Medicare and threaten veterans’ benefits all in a desperate attempt to continue his two-decade congressional career.

“It is unfortunate that Congressman Manzullo is now disingenuously following the freshman class’ lead by talking about fiscal restraint when for the last twenty years he supported the failed policies that put us in this mess to begin with.

“In just one year, Congressman Adam Kinzinger and his freshmen class have changed the conversation from how much to spend to how much to cut. His class has brought a fresh approach, with strong, conservative voices that will fight tooth and nail to stop the reckless mistakes of the past by both parties. He will continue to lead this mission in Congress.”

* Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi has a new web video. Have a look…

* Republican state Sen. Carole Pankau is running a new cable TV ad. Rate it…

Pankau is up against Rep. Randy Ramey in the GOP primary.

* Other stuff…

* Manzullo trumpets conservative rating in House race with Kinzinger: For what it’s worth, the only other “perfect” A-plus score in Illinois went to Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh. Just about every other Republican except the north suburban 10th District’s Robert Dold got a B — he got a C — while Democrats rated from D on down.

* Manzullo says U.S. should manufacture way out of debt

* Mulligan update

* Gloria Lind’s election hearing pushed back

* State Election Board Certifies Rowe Candidacy, Dismisses McSweeney Challenge

* What’s smart, what’s not: In the no-planning camp was Steven Klingbeil, who thought he could run as a Republican candidate for the 108th state House District without his personal financial problems getting in the way. But he dropped out of the race last week, right before a story detailing those problems was scheduled to run. Of course, the story and the problems had nothing to do with his abrupt about-face.

* David Reis appointed to Firearm Public Awareness Task Force

* Lauzen’s son involved in pirate rescue

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Campaign Updates: Manzullo; Raja-Duckworth; Walsh; Nugent

Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Congressman Don Manzullo is doing his very best to use his incumbency and experience as an advantage oer Republican primary challenger and freshman Congressman Adam Kinzinger, including holding out the possibility that he is in line for a plum committee assignment, according to Chuck Sweeny…

I asked Kinzinger, a freshman on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, why voters should choose him over Manzullo, who has 19 years of experience, including six years chairing the Small Business Subcommittee. Manzullo has a reputation as a relentless fighter for U.S. manufacturing.

“Don is going for his 21st year in Congress. He’s been a committee chairman, and usually after you’re a committee chairman you’re kind of in the wind-down part of that session,” Kinzinger said. “He’s maybe going to be there for another two or four years.”

But Rich Carter, Manzullo’s spokesman, said that should he win re-election, the veteran representative may become Foreign Affairs Committee chairman in the next Congress.

* Manzullo is also attempting to “prove” that he is by far the more conservative candidate in the primary. From a press release…

An analysis of Congressional votes shows that U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-16) continued his strong conservative record of voting against wasteful Washington spending in 2011 while his opponent voted much more often for big government.

Manzullo, who maintains a lifetime 96 percent rating with the American Conservative Union, voted 79 more times to cut spending in 2011 than Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-11), who says he came to Washington in 2010 to cut spending. An analysis of all 949 roll call votes cast in 2011 shows Kinzinger voted to spend $209 billion more than Manzullo. Click here to view the full analysis. […]

Manzullo was recently endorsed by the Illinois Conservatives, a statewide organization of about 4,000 young conservatives under 35. He was endorsed last month by Family PAC-Federal, Illinois’ leading pro-family political action committee, and he is consistently recognized for his efforts to cut wasteful spending by many national conservative organizations.

Heritage Action, the sister organization of the conservative Heritage Foundation, shows a wide disparity in conservative rating in its Legislative Scorecard, with Manzullo receiving an 83 percent rating and Kinzinger receiving a 60 percent rating.

By the way, I checked the Illinois Conservatives’ Facebook page and website the other day and couldn’t find any explanation for how the endorsement was made. I was told by the leader of the group that ten board members took a vote.

* In other campaign news, the Illinois AFL-CIO decided today not to make an endorsement in the Democratic primary race between Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi, according to the Krishnamoorthi campaign, who say they fell just a couple of votes shy of the nod. The Krishnamoorthi folks are portraying this endorsement fight as a national vs. local contest, and are basically saying that their local supporters were able to keep DC labor leaders from handing the nod to Duckworth.

* Indeed, the SEIU Illinois Council endorsed Democrat Duckworth’s congressional bid just this week…

“The SEIU Illinois Council is proud to endorse Tammy Duckworth as the next Congresswoman from the 8th Congressional District and looks forward to working with her in advancing President Obama’s agenda for working families,” said Tom Balanoff, president of the SEIU Illinois Council.

“To have the endorsement of the SEIU Illinois Council is so significant and I am honored by it,” Duckworth said in response to the endorsement. “I look forward to working with SEIU to provide a better life for working families.”

Duckworth is running against Raja Krishnamoorthi for the Democratic nomination in the 8th congressional district. Krishnamoorthi announced the endorsement of State Sen. Michael Noland (D-22) of Elgin earlier today as well.

Duckworth was also endorsed today by Teamsters Joint Council 25, which represents 20 locals in the Chicago area.

* Meanwhile, Roll Call takes a look at Google’s “autocomplete” function and how it means that some politicians can’t get away from their pasts…

And anyone looking for Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) will be reminded that he made headlines when his wife accused him of having unpaid child support.

* How the study was done…

One of the difficulties in monitoring and potentially managing autocomplete is that Google provides different suggestions to different people. As a part of Google’s ongoing attempt to personalize its search tool, autocomplete provides suggested terms based on a number of factors, including the location of the user and the previous searches from that Google account, according to industry experts.

(To ensure the searches Roll Call did for this story would be a good indication of what most users would see while searching with the same term, the searches were conducted after clearing location information, Google account information and browsing history from the computer used.)

Rob Ousbey, vice president of operations at search engine optimization firm Distilled, explained that one important factor in autocomplete’s algorithm is the search terms being entered by others.

“The more people search for those things, the more likely they are to be suggested,” he said. Those suggestions are “a genuine reflection of what people have been interested in in the past,” he said.

* And Uncle Ted is making an appearance at the usually stodgy Sangamon County Lincoln Day Dinner…

Singer, hunter and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent will keynote the Sangamon County GOP’s annual Lincoln Day event on Feb. 10, Sangamon County Republican Chairman Tony Libri said Monday.

The 108th annual event, which raises money for the local GOP will be held in the evening instead of the traditional mid-day. […]

Nugent is not expected to sing at the event, which will be held at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. Included are a private reception at 5 p.m., costing $100 per person or $150 per couple, and a dinner at 6 p.m. costing an additional $100 per person. […]

Libri said he’s familiar with the Nugent song “Cat Scratch Fever,” but doesn’t know much about him. However, he said, he’s hoping for a good turnout, and would be “very happy with 800 or more.”

That last quote shows you what sort of people run the GOP in Springfield. The party chairman knows Nugent’s biggest radio hit, but nothing else? Pretty weird.

* How about a little Tederick to end the post…

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No ID required

Monday, Jan 9, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* An article written just before the new year, and others like it, has created a storm of controversy…

Starting Sunday it’s going to be tougher to buy a can of Drano than a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Sunday is when the state’s Caustic/Corrosive Substance Act goes into effect imposing new purchase hurdles for many products including drain and sewer line cleaners.

The legislation is a response to two acid attacks in Chicago where the victims were severely disfigured. It was the final piece of legislation for State Rep. Susan Mendoza, D-Chicago, who now is the Chicago city clerk.

* Here’s another one…

Buying a bottle of Drano will never be the same in Illinois again.

A new state law went into effect today that requires customers purchasing products containing sodium hydroxide, or lye, and other corrosive chemicals to show a legitimate photo ID and to provide their name, address and date of birth. And the store clerk will log the time and date of purchase.

While some consider the regulations intrusive, Illinois lawmakers behind the new law said regulating drain cleaners and other products is needed to protect the public from those who may use them to harm.

“The fact of the matter is there are evil people in the world who will abuse the most normal, everyday household products for sinister aims,” state Rep. Rich Morthland, R-Cordova, said.

According to Illinois Review, Drudge picked up on the story the other day. He linked to a CBS2 story depicting a bottle of Liquid Plummer. I even made a joking reference to the law the other day. Illinois Review and others are attempting to make the case that it’s OK to ban ID checks for voting, but not for buying Drano…

However, those same House members seem troubled about requiring citizens to show that same “valid driver’s license or other government-issued identification showing the person’s name, date of birth, and photograph” in order to vote.

In fact, Rep. Randy Ramey’s bill (HB 3458) designed to reduce voter fraud by requiring valid identification sits dormant in House Rules.

* But is this actually the case? Will you have to register with the state if you buy a bottle of Drano at the local supermarket? Absolutely not, says one of the bill’s Republican supporters…

No, said state Rep. Chapin Rose, you shouldn’t need to show your driver’s license or sign a form to buy Drano or most other bathroom cleaning products.

There’s been some confusion about what is covered by a state law that went into effect Jan. 1, the Mahomet Republican said.

“The way this has been reported is about 90 percent not accurate,” said Rose, whose office has received a few calls about the bill (HB 2193) approved last spring. “There are going to be some high-grade, industrial-grade products available at Menards, for example, that are covered, but they’re industrial grade. Virtually anything on the Walmart shelf is not going to be covered by this.” […]

HB 2193, which passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously, limits who can possess certain caustic or corrosive acids that are regulated by the Federal Caustic Poison Act. Persons who sell or use the substances for commercial purposes are exempt from the restriction on possession. […]

But the law doesn’t apply to most everyday consumer products, said [Tanya Triche, senior counsel with the Illinois Retail Merchants Association], only those that contain the words “causes severe burns” on the label.

The bill passed both chambers on unanimous votes.

* And if you check the Midwest Hardware Association’s website, you’ll see a list of products that would require the registration. The list includes commercial products, like “Rooto Professional Drain Opener.” This stuff has high concentrations of sulfuric acid and other compounds that are far more harmful than household products.

* Also, if you watch the debate on the unamended House bill, you’ll get a lot of other answers to your questions…

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