Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Jun 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* 11:53 am - That poll I told you about earlier today had a couple of other items that weren’t originally published…

Over half of Illinois voters (55%) said that Gov. Blagojevich is doing a “poor” job in office. Just under a third (31%) said he’s doing a “fair” job, while 13% said he’s doing a “good job.”

The General Assembly fared only slightly better: 26% said it was doing a “poor” job while a majority (52%) said the General Assembly is doing “fair” and 17% ranked its performance as “good.”

Remember, this poll was conducted before the Tony Rezko verdict and the end of session meltdown. Oof.

[402 interviews were conducted… by telephone April 21 through May 4, 2008… The margin of sampling error for the Illinois survey is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points at the 95% level of tolerance… The survey was funded by the Joyce Foundation]

* 12:00 pm - Via the SJ-R’s flood blog, check out the interactive news map for the Flood of 2008.

* 12:09 pm - From a press release…

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today added St. Clair and Edgar counties to a state disaster declaration, a move that will expedite state assistance needed to help Edgar County in southeastern Illinois recover from recent storms and flash flooding and St. Clair County battle flooding along the Mississippi River. The Governor also announced that the state’s public health director will be visiting public health departments in western Illinois Thursday to ensure medical and health needs are being met in counties affected by historic Mississippi River flooding.

* 12:54 pm - Guv orders cancellation moratorium…

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich directed the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to impose a 60-day moratorium on the cancellation of any insurance policy for late payment by policyholders who live in counties impacted by the recent storms and flooding. The moratorium covers the insurance policies of families and business owners in all of the counties designated as disaster areas by the Governor since June 10, 2008.

* 1:53 pm - With a hat tip to PI, MSNBC reported about an hour ago from Quincy…

* 3:36 pm - From a press release…

Several thousand state employees, retirees and their families will rally at the State Capitol in Springfield on Monday morning, June 23, then march to the Hilton hotel downtown, site of scheduled negotiations over a new union contract between the state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31.

The state workers and their families will come from all over Illinois to express their growing impatience with the slow pace of contract negotiations and the Blagojevich Administration’s insistence on massive economic concessions from workers, including higher pension contributions and sharply increased health insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays.

* 4:46 pm - I’ll bet 20 bucks he never pulls the final trigger on this…

A rumor that State Rep. Jack Franks plans to announce a 2010 gubernatorial bid at a Monday fundraiser is not true, the Democrat from Woodstock said Thursday.

Franks, a long-time and harsh critic of embattled Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said he is mulling a run for the office. But he said any decision he makes will not come until after the presidential election. […]

The rumor stemmed from a Sunday column by Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed, who said she heard that Franks would enter the race at an annual fundraiser held for him by Chicago 33rd Ward Alderman Richard Mell and other Democratic politicians. […]

“I think that Sneed just got a bit overzealous,” Mell said.

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Ethics and reform poll results

Thursday, Jun 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The goo-goos have a new poll…

Residents of Illinois clearly express distrust in their state government. A large majority of residents (77% overall) trusts government to do what is right “only some of the time” (52%) or “almost never” (25%). Just two in ten (20%) trust government “most of the time” and only three percent “almost always” trust state government to do what is right. Distrust of state government has increased since 2006 when 64% trusted state government “some of the time” or “almost never.”

I guess you could look at it the other way. 72 percent trust the government some or all the time. But I see their point.

* This result is undoubtedly a reflection of the revelations about governors Ryan and Blagojevich…

For Illinoisans, “corruption in state government” and “the influence of money in state politics” continue to be major concerns; nearly half (49%) say they are “extremely” concerned about corruption in state government, and almost the same number (46%) is “extremely” concerned about money in politics.

Corruption and the influence of money in politics rate with the economy (45%), public schools (42%) and health care (41%) as serious concerns, and rate above jobs (39%) and taxes (37%). The only concern more salient than corruption and money in politics for Illinoisans is gas prices (68%).

* The public is either hopeful or they’re suckers. Let’s be charitable and assume they’re hopeful…

Despite their lack of trust in government, Illinoisans still have hope for change in state government.

A majority (58%) disagrees that “money will always influence government decisions, so it is not worth trying to reduce the amount of money in politics,” while 41% agree. Sixty-seven percent reject the idea that “corruption in government will always be a problem, so trying to fix it will not make much difference,” while only 33% agree.

* One of the issues currently in play now is the ethics bill sitting on the governor’s desk. There appears to be a strong majority who think this bill will make a difference…

“Not allow state contractors to make political contributions to elected officials who issue contracts” (88% make a difference; 61% “big
difference”)

* Other issues…

• “Require lobbyists to fully report their clients, what issues they are
working on, and the money they spend on lobbying lawmakers” (88% make a difference; 61% “big difference”)

• “Pass tougher campaign finance laws to limit the amount of money special interest groups can give to candidates and political parties” (86% make a difference; 57% “big difference”)

* Public financing…

• “Public financing of campaigns which would use tax dollars to give
candidates the same amount of money to run their campaigns and not allow them to take money from special interests” (81% make a difference; 58% “big difference”)

• “Public financing of campaigns which would use tax dollars to give candidates the same amount of money to run their campaigns and limit spending by each candidate” (80% make a difference; 54% “big difference”)

• “Public financing for election of judges – that is letting judges use tax dollars to finance their campaigns rather than asking for contributions from lawyers and special interest groups” (74% make a difference; 42% “big difference”)

* This is one that really ought to be in any new Constitution…

• “Instead of allowing politicians to be in charge of redrawing their own district lines every ten years, establish independent, non-partisan commissions to draw district lines” (81% make a difference; 52% “big difference”)

Read the whole thing.

Thoughts?

[The 2008 Belden Russonello & Stewart survey for the Midwest Democracy Network (www.midwestdemocracynetwork.org) is a random sample telephone survey of adults… In Illinois 402 interviews were conducted… by telephone April 21 through May 4, 2008… The margin of sampling error for the Illinois survey is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points at the 95% level of tolerance… The survey was funded by the Joyce Foundation]

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Even Hoffman’s district wants Blagojevich impeached

Wednesday, Jun 18, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* IlliniPundit points to a story today that featured several Republican legislators pushing for the capital construction plan…

The state could gain 18,000 jobs a month if the legislature could pass a capital spending plan, bipartisan advocates said.

IP then goes over a history of the governor promising the world to the University of Illinois and not delivering and concludes…

Rep. Hoffman is the Governor’s buddy, so his motives are transparent, but [Republican] Rep. [Bill] Black and Rep. [Chapin] Rose should know better than to participate in this. Why are they standing with Blagojevich on this when they know he cannot be relied upon to fulfill commitments made more than five years ago?

* And speaking of Democratic Rep. Jay Hoffman, the IP has been slipped a new poll which shows 65.46% of the resident’s of Hoffman’s Democrat-leaning district think it is “appropriate for the Illinois Legislature to form a special impeachment committee.”

65.67% said they want their “local legislators to support the formation of that special impeachment committee.”

56.81% said that based on what they know about Gov. Blagojevich, they think the “legislature should attempt to remove him from office.”

Remember, that’s the Blagojevich floor leader’s own district we’re talking about here.

IP gets the last word…

Can someone please explain to me why the House Republicans are standing with Rod Blagojevich to call for this $34 billion capital plan, when nobody trusts him, even in a Democratic district represented by his staunchest ally?

[AskIllinois poll conducted June 11, 2008 of the 112th House District. 3,772 respondents, with a margin of error of ± 1.57%]

…Adding… IP doesn’t mention it, but his company built Dwight Kay’s website. Kay is Hoffman’s GOP opponent. This shows you how upside-down things are going to get before this is over. Republicans vs. Republicans, Republicans siding with Democrats against other Democrats and Republicans. Fascinating. [Hat tip to a commenter.]

…Adding More… From Gordy…

I built the campaign website for Hoffman’s opponent several months ago, but I don’t have any ongoing involvement with that campaign. I didn’t talk to them about this post, didn’t get any information for it from them, and did not get the poll from Hoffman’s opponent or his campaign.

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