* 10:25 am - From what I gather this morning, Versace didn’t have a replacement lined up when Pearson left, so this is a bit odd…
Congressional candidate Dick Versace and his campaign manager parted ways Monday.
The decision was mutual and amicable, Versace said. His former campaign manager, Alex Pearson, said he’s worked on numerous campaigns on the local, state and federal level, but declined to officially elaborate on his reasons for the abrupt departure.
* 10:44 am - If I were you, I’d watch CBS 2tonight tomorrow night (long weekend and Wednesday session start has messed up my time awareness). That is all.
*** UPDATE *** Here’s a teaser. Watch the full report Wednesday at 10 pm.
* 10:48 am - Wyoming is now backing Illinois’ FutureGen bid…
Gov. Dave Freudenthal has endorsed Illinois’ bid for a project that aims to refine coal gasification and other “clean” technologies for coal.
Freudenthal indicated his support for Illinois on the FutureGen project because officials there have agreed to share research and other information regarding clean coal technologies.
The administration appears to be doing a pretty good job at lining up support from other states. Rare show of competence?
Lawyers for Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, will appear before a three-Judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals this morning at 9 a.m. to urge that a lower court ruling that Illinois begin producing “Choose Life” specialty license plates be overturned. The argument will take place in the appellate courtroom on the 27th floor of the Dirksen Federal Building at 219 South Dearborn Street – the corner of Adams and Dearborn Streets – in downtown Chicago. Each side will argue for twenty minutes before three appellate Judges, whose identities are never disclosed until the morning of the oral argument.
* 11:55 am - The Chicago Federation of Labor released its endorsement list today. I didn’t include the judge list, but Anne Burke was endorsed for Supreme Court. Dean T. Maragos, Kathleen Therese Meany and Cynthia Santos (the wife of Rep. Rich Bradley) got the nod for MWRD. Joe Berrios and Larry Rogers, Jr. were endorsed for the Board of Review.
The CFL endorsed Tom Allen for State’s Attorney, “because of his long record of fighting on behalf of working families as a Public Defender, attorney in private practice, and member of the Chicago City Council where he has served since 1993.”
Here are the rest…
* Dorothy Brown - Clerk of the Circuit Court
* Eugene “Gene” Moore - Cook County Recorder of Deeds
* Bob Fioretti – 2nd Ward Committeeman
* Pat Dowell – 3rd Ward Committeeman
* Sandi Jackson – 7th Ward Committeeman
* Toni L. Foulkes – 15th Ward Committeeman
* JoAnn Thompson – 16th Ward Committeeman
* Willie B. Cochran – 20th Ward Committeeman
* Sharon Denise Dixon – 24th Ward Committeeman
* John A. Fritchey – 32nd Ward Committeeman
* John Corrigan – 42nd Ward Committeeman
* Patrick J. Levar – 45th Ward Committeeman
*** 1:37 pm *** I heard the AP folks were working on this yesterday. Apparently, the governor is taking money from at least two different bond series than he said he would…
State records show that Governor Rod Blagojevich propped up Chicago mass transit systems with money intended for other purposes.
The Chicago Transit Authority and its suburban counterpart were about to run out of money earlier this month when Blagojevich gave them $27 million while lawmakers try to reach a permanent solution.
Aides at the time said the grant was coming from money set aside for railroad and rapid transit systems. But Blagojevich took $22 million from money reserved for bricks-and-mortar construction, highways and energy projects.
The story goes on to say that the governor’s office won’t respond to inquiries about the apparently illegal skim. Huh. Imagine that.
What he’s done here is raided cash from bond funds that have nothing to do with public transportation. This won’t exactly help his cause with Downstate legislators who are already worried about the prospect of using GRF money for his proposed transit bailout.
*** UPDATE *** The AP has added to its original brief…
The $27 million technically is from a bond fund set up for mass transit and aviation projects. But only $4.6 million was in that account to start.
The day he announced the stopgap, Blagojevich transferred $10.2 million in bond money reserved for coal development and alternative energy projects, $7.4 million for highway construction and $4.8 million for general building projects.
*** 1:51 pm *** Daley’s endorsement of the transit “deal” means more pressure will now be exerted on Gov. Blagojevich to release his five House Democratic votes tomorrow, and on Senate President Emil Jones, who is facing stiff opposition in his caucus to doing any transit deal before a capital bill is finalized…
Following Madigan’s lead, [Mayor] Daley today endorsed a plan by Gov. Blagojevich and Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) to redirect at least $385 million a year in state sales taxes on fuel to mass transit. The mayor said he’s optimistic the plan will pass both legislative houses at Wednesday’s special session.
Hizzoner also appeared to back Speaker Madigan’s refusal to hurry up a deal on the gaming bill, which will provide cash for the capital plan…
But, the mayor said a casino deal that has eluded the General Assembly for more than a decade cannot be pulled together during a special session.
“It’s very complicated - especially when you go into the casino issue. It’s very, very complicated,” he said.
* 2:48 pm - Funny, touching tribute to the late John Drury [Another one is here]…
* Stephanie Coontz, the author of “Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage,” penned this interesting and eye-opening Op-Ed in the New York Times the other day….
Why do people — gay or straight — need the state’s permission to marry? For most of Western history, they didn’t, because marriage was a private contract between two families. The parents’ agreement to the match, not the approval of church or state, was what confirmed its validity.
For 16 centuries, Christianity also defined the validity of a marriage on the basis of a couple’s wishes. If two people claimed they had exchanged marital vows — even out alone by the haystack — the Catholic Church accepted that they were validly married. […]
Not until the 16th century did European states begin to require that marriages be performed under legal auspices. In part, this was an attempt to prevent unions between young adults whose parents opposed their match.
The American colonies officially required marriages to be registered, but until the mid-19th century, state supreme courts routinely ruled that public cohabitation was sufficient evidence of a valid marriage. By the later part of that century, however, the United States began to nullify common-law marriages and exert more control over who was allowed to marry.
By the 1920s, 38 states prohibited whites from marrying blacks, “mulattos,” Japanese, Chinese, Indians, “Mongolians,” “Malays” or Filipinos. Twelve states would not issue a marriage license if one partner was a drunk, an addict or a “mental defect.” Eighteen states set barriers to remarriage after divorce.
And her conclusion…
Perhaps it’s time to revert to a much older marital tradition. Let churches decide which marriages they deem “licit.” But let couples — gay or straight — decide if they want the legal protections and obligations of a committed relationship.
* Question: Do you agree with this reasoning? Explain. And try to stay civil. Thanks.
* This item in a Boston Globe story tells us a lot about trusting the national media’s polls in Iowa…
In making [caucus turnout] projections, campaigns rely above all on their “hard count,” a tally of voters who have pledged to support them, and a list of previous caucusgoers made available for sale by the state party.
But no media organization is believed to have purchased such a list, so instead of knowing who has participated in past caucuses - considered the best indicator of turnout - pollsters are random-dialing households and asking voters whether they have voted before and how interested they are in the current race.
Iowa’s goofy process is drastically different than a traditional primary. You have to go to a neighbor’s house and openly declare your support for a candidate. So you’d think the media’s polling methods would be different. They’re not. Oops.
* I looked through today’s mass transit “deal” stories to find a different angle than we used yesterday, and figured this was as good a place to lead off our coverage as any…
As a high school choir sang “Winter Wonderland” at a tree-lighting ceremony at the Thompson Center Monday, a group of activists tried to drown them out, chanting “Tree lights out, bus lights on!”
The 10 ministers and wheelchair-bound CTA riders crashed the tree lighting, hosted by first lady Patti Blagojevich, to demand action in Springfield on the CTA funding shortfall. […]
“We’re here to tell elected officials enough is enough,” said Roosevelt Watkins, pastor at Bethlehem Star Church and a member of Pastors United for Change. “How can we sing Christmas carols when we know 2,400 people will lose their jobs?”
I don’t know much about that group, but it is a bit different. Rev. Watkins hosted a forum for Hillary Clinton in May, for instance, which allowed her to claim African-American support in Barack Obama’s home turf.
* Anyway, back to transit. Like I said, there’s not much “new” here if you were on the blog yesterday afternoon. Gatehouse…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan now supports a mass transit funding plan backed by House Republicans and Gov. Rod Blagojevich — but the Chicago Democrat’s change of heart still may not be enough to get the transit bailout put into law.
Downstate Senate Democrats reiterated Monday that they will not support any mass transit plan until the General Assembly also approves a public works construction bill.
While Madigan now appears more in lockstep with Blagojevich and other legislative leaders about transit funding, his letter was silent about how to backfill the $385 million budget hole that redirecting gas-tax dollars to the RTA would leave. That’s among a host of issues that could derail the transit-bailout train in Springfield.
Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said the speaker intends to work with Blagojevich to fill the gas-tax hole by ending corporate tax breaks.
Other lawmakers have suggested that new forms of gambling — including a Chicago casino, additional casinos outside Chicago and slot machines at horse tracks — could plug that gap and also fund a multibillion-dollar state construction program for roads, schools and other projects.
David Dring, a top Cross aide, was cautiously optimistic about Madigan’s new stance but stressed the construction program still has to be part of the overall transit-funding equation.
As far as plugging the hole in the state’s general fund, Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, mentioned the governor’s proposal to end some corporate tax breaks. “The speaker has been supportive of closing corporate loopholes in the past,” Brown said. “I suspect it’ll be something that will be addressed down the road. I don’t envision that being addressed this week.” He said the state Constitution limits the legislature to discussing a specific topic designated by the special session.
If the House can approve the transit funding proposal Wednesday, when Blagojevich has called the Legislature into special session, that will put the onus on the Senate, where leaders of both parties have indicated a transit measure will go nowhere without the accompanying construction program.
If all they’re worried about is who should take the blame, that’s easy.
Blame Mayor Daley. It really is mostly his fault that it’s come to this point, which probably hasn’t been emphasized enough.
He’s the one who continued to milk the agency for its political patronage benefits while failing to grasp the depth of its problems or at least to treat them with the proper urgency until the system came to the brink of collapse. It’s his crisis more than theirs.
Blame Daley and move on.
Daley has effectively skirted blame in this mess, so Brown is right that some fingers ought to start pointing at hizzoner.
* Sen. Dale Righter puts his own spin on the situation…
What is the solution? First, the service reductions and fare increases that transit officials have warned us about should be implemented — they would be far from the catastrophe that the “doomsday” rhetoric has led some to believe. In fact, they consist of entirely reasonable and necessary fare increases of approximately 10%, and elimination of duplicative routes. After that is achieved, the systems’ compensation and oversight structures must change — they have become bloated and ineffective, as demonstrated by last year’s fire and the resulting NTBS findings. Then, and only after then, should there be a serious discussion of additional funding.
* But the CTA Tattler counters some of that logic…
[GOP Rep. Sandy Cole of Grayslake] makes this spurious argument in favor of a fare increase:
“”Between 2001 and 2006, the price of gasoline has increased 68 percent, but CTA cash fares have only increased 15 percent. It is fair to expect riders to pay for increased fares, just like motorists have to pay more for gasoline.”
Carfree Chicago has a good retort to that argument in comments on a post about the subject at Illinois Transportation Issues:
“Why should transit riders be punished for using an efficient form of transportation not affected as much by the shifts in the price of gasoline? Trains don’t run on gasoline. It justs sounds like pure whining — we have to pay more so you should too!”
I’d like the Republicans to fully show their cards on what that fare increase should look like.
* Lawsuit stirs debate over program that some say leads to ‘academic bankruptcy’
But legislatures are starting to get involved — at least at the public school level — because of financial issues, Nassirian said. The more times a student can withdraw from a class or get grades forgiven, it “may induce existing students to sort of hang around” as perpetual students, he said.
That means the state is paying more for a frequent-repeater student’s education than someone who goes straight through. Meanwhile, eligible students trying to enroll can’t get in because the seats are full.
“So it becomes a kind of subsidy issue,” Nassirian said.
In Texas, the legislature recently voted to limit students to six withdrawals during a student’s career, Nassirian said.
The oddity was first noticed by my SouthtownStar colleague, John Hector, who was glancing at the State of Illinois Candidates Guide for 2008 when a date jumped out at him.
Under a category labeled “Annual Municipal Election,” there was a subsection marked “Municipal Primary (if required) … Dec. 25, 2007.
“As far as I know, no one else in the state has noticed that,” said an official at the state elections board. “And I mean every candidate in Illinois looks at that thing. How the heck did you spot it?”
* Deadline changed for write-in filing in Will Co.
By leveraging “friend” connections and using virtual “word-of-mouth” marketing, these social sites offer an opportunity to break through the media cacophony. On sites like Facebook, trusted people spread political messages in a way only dreamed of in the age of mass media.
Social technology assists politicos and advocacy organizations in five key areas – branding, voter registration, fundraising, volunteering, and voter turnout.
I’m not a big fan of Tony Peraica, but I have to say that I am impressed that he had the cajones to do his own damn petition challenge against the other Republican running for Cook County States Attorney.
First, this is the holiday season, when local governments often get away with unpopular outrages because some citizens are too busy to protest loudly.
Second, Stroger knows that — unless pressure from voters changes one or two minds — soon — he probably can pass big tax increases. Nine of the 17 County Board members have told the Tribune in recent weeks that they think Stroger’s government needs more revenue from taxes.
* Lack of support may postpone vote on Stroger’s $888 million tax plan
* Clout Street: Vote on Stroger tax hike plan may be delayed
* Editorial: State auditor should dig out duplication
Auditor General William Holland found out there is no master list of programs operated by state agencies.
Holland sought such a list at the request of the Legislative Audit Commission, which wanted to see whether services were being duplicated by more than one agency or program. But before Holland could get to that stage, he had to ask each agency for a list of their programs; there was no master list.
His request turned up about 1,750 programs - and Holland suspects the list is incomplete.
* Lawmakers in Illinois hear about nursing home buyout; more here
A panel of Illinois lawmakers on Monday was urged to scrutinize closely the pending sale of 31 Illinois nursing homes to a private-equity firm.
The hearing of the state’s House Committee on Aging centered on Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group’s $6.3-billion leveraged buyout of Toledo, Ohio-based Manor Care Inc. Manor Care operates more than 500 nursing homes and other facilities nationally, including 31 Illinois facilities that care for a total of 3,500 residents.
* Hastert resignation now official- gives Gov just enough time to schedule primary on Feb. 5th; more here and here
* GOP leaders, contenders laud Hastert’s hard work
* Wurfwhile: 14-CD candidate burns TV ad seems stiff, won’t get job done
*** 2:13 pm *** Speaker Madigan is agreeing to the mass transit bailout proposed by House GOP Leader Cross and Gov. Blagojevich. However, both of those men have demanded that any transit deal be tied directly to a capital program. Madigan apparently hasn’t agreed to that yet.
In other words, Madigan is accepting their transit language as a standalone proposal and leaving it up to Cross and Blagojevich to decide whether they’ll support their own idea divorced from capital.
From a letter Madigan sent to state legislators today…
On Wednesday, November 28, in response to Governor Blagojevich’s special session proclamation, the General Assembly will convene for the purpose of considering legislation that provides “funding solutions for mass transit.”
Last week, the governor sent a letter to all representatives and senators indicating that he supports a plan advanced by Republican Leader Tom Cross, contained in House Bill 4161, which re-directs the state’s share of the sales tax on gasoline in Cook and the collar counties to the RTA.
This is not our preferred solution. As is well known, we favor Senate Bill 572 because it is structured to not be merely a bailout or a band-aid, but to provide the RTA and its service boards with a reasonably stable source of operating funds that would help them avoid the need to return in a few years to the capitol with hat in hand.
However, as an act of compromise, we are willing to accept the Blagojevich-Cross plan and ask that our fellow lawmakers support it, too. We face a genuine crisis and the time to act is now. It is irresponsible to continue to leave workers and employers wondering about travel to jobs, students concerned about making it to class and senior citizens worried about preserving their independence and ability to get to leisure activities, visit relatives, go shopping and see the doctor. This compromise will put an end to the piecemeal cash infusions, months of anxiety for transit riders and workers, and the incessant, and unfortunate, legislative drama that has surrounded this issue for the past several months.
In brief, the legislation we will advance, with some technical adjustments, is modeled on House Bill 4161. It does not include a general sales tax increase, nor would it allow the city of Chicago to increase its real estate transfer tax. The reform components of Senate Bill 572, which include substantial pension and benefit concessions from transit unions and other requirements to protect the best interests of taxpayers and transit riders, will remain in the bill. Allocations to Metra, Pace and the CTA are generally comparable to those in Senate Bill 572. For a more detailed explanation of the measure’s provisions, please see the accompanying fact sheet.
Just as we believe that others should not hold hostage transit riders in northeastern Illinois for the sake of accomplishing unrelated ends, we will not treat mass transit riders as pawns to be used as leverage to pass our desired solution. Instead, we choose to take Governor Blagojevich and Republican Leader Cross at their word and, for the sake of transit riders, will support the funding mechanism they favor.
We also share the governor’s expressed desire to see this bill passed before the holidays and fear that a failure to do so will jeopardize the broad and significant reforms it contains.
The heads of the service boards, RTA chairman, transit unions, and Mayor Daley have made it clear that we cannot afford any further delay. The damage to the livability and economic viability of the northeastern Illinois region would be severe, possibly catastrophic, if its mass transit system is allowed to deteriorate. The issue at hand is mass transit and now is the time to set aside alternative agendas and embrace this compromise.
Session begins at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday. We expect to proceed to partisan caucuses shortly thereafter and to call this measure for a floor vote sometime later in the day.
Click here for the full Madigan letter with attached info sheet.
*** 2:48 pm *** From Blagojevich spokesperson Rebecca Rausch…
This was a compromise solution we embraced several weeks ago. We made this compromise the center-piece of the special session we called for Wednesday. We hope the legislature can muster the votes necessary to pass it quickly.
Now, the question becomes whether Blagojevich releases his five House Democrats who voted against the earlier bill.
*** 3:13 pm *** From House Republican Leader Tom Cross’ spokesman…
We believe it is positive that [Madigan] agrees with us that now is not the time to burden citizens with higher taxes.
We hope he will continue to work on passing a capital bill to address the great needs of mass transit, road construction, school construction and higher education.
I’ll have more on what that actually means in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax.
But it’s uncertain whether the proposal he now says he’ll support will go anywhere. That’s because a letter Madigan released this afternoon makes no mention of finding money to pay for a statewide construction program.
*** 3:20 pm *** Big trouble in the Senate.
Sen. John Sullivan (D-Rushville) just said that Downstate Senate Democrats still believe that transit and capital are “absolutely locked together,” and reiterated their earlier vow to vote against a transit bill until a capital deal is worked out. Sen. Sullivan said he and his colleagues were more than willing to work out a solution.
*** 3:56 pm *** Senate President Emil Jones’ office has “No comment” on the proposal.
*** 4:17 pm *** From the Senate Republicans…
It’s a mirage. Without a proposal to backfill GRF, this particular bill is not a plan.
*** 4:49 pm *** More from the Senate Republicans. Apparently, this e-mail bounced back at them from my account…
It appears the Speaker and Rep. Hamos have come to the realization that there is little support for a tax increase. Senate Republicans have been clear all along that asking the taxpayers to foot the bill is not the solution. We believe the transit systems must be invested in the solution — with greater efficiences, budget cuts and reforms.
* I immediately thought of three things when I realized that last week was the 20th anniversary of Mayor Harold Washington’s death. The first was how I learned of his passing. Some friends and I were jovially traveling north from Springfield for Thanksgiving break when the news broke. We sat in stunned silence as we listened to the radio.
* The second thing that came to mind was the Royko column referenced by the Tribune editorial page the other day…
So I told Uncle Chester: Don’t worry, Harold Washington doesn’t want to marry your sister. — Mike Royko, Feb. 23, 1983
That’s how Mike Royko opened his column the day after Harold Washington stunned Chicago and won the Democratic primary for mayor.
Washington would be Chicago’s first black mayor. If you were too young at the time, or weren’t in Chicago, you may not realize just how extraordinarily well that one sentence from Royko captured the angst of many people in this city.
Marry your sister, run your city; there wasn’t much difference in the eyes of many white Chicagoans. To them, the election of Harold Washington spelled trouble.
In fact, Mr. Washington has cleverly worked the [Al Capone] theme into his standard stump speech, saying that the time will come when people overseas who used to reply, ‘’Al Capone - rat-a-tat-tat'’ when they met someone from Chicago, will ask instead, ‘’How’s Harold?'’
* Question: What’s your strongest memory of Harold Washington?
In what can only be seen as another maneuver to set public policy from the Governor’s office, Illinois’ Department of Human Services recently informed Project Reality — the state’s key abstinence education provider — that the non-profit group has been eliminated from the state budget.
* But the other side says the federal rules which governor the program don’t make sense…
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy just released Emerging Answers 2007 (www.thenationalcampaign.org) by Dr. Douglas Kirby, a leading sexual health researcher. The report studied 48 programs to see how well they prevented unintended teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Two-thirds of the programs showed positive behavioral changes among students, including delayed initiation of sex and increased condom or contraceptive use. Almost 30 percent of students had less sex or no sex; and more than 60 percent had unprotected sex less often.
How did these programs succeed? They taught both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives - a comprehensive approach to sexuality education and prevention all Illinois students deserve.
Unfortunately, Illinois accepts federal funding for abstinence-only sex education from the Title V program, which requires Illinois to provide $2.5 million in matching funds. These are squandered resources because abstinence-only programs have never been able to show success in keeping students from engaging in sexual activity. A study released in April 2007 by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. found that such programs had no effect on the sexual abstinence of youth. The only abstinence consistently linked to this kind of education is an abstinence from safety, because these courses do not teach young people how contraceptives, including condoms, are used.
In fact, to get federal funding for abstinence-only programs, you must prove the instructors never discuss any form of contraception. This poses a serious public health risk to Illinois youth.
* Meanwhile, the Southtown ran a column today in place of mine (I took the week off) which looks at the hugely controversial “moment of silence” law that a federal judge recently enjoined from being enforced. The piece was written by Dean Koldenhoven, the former mayor of Palos Heights…
I believe the intent of a “period of silence” for approximately 20-30 seconds could be saved if the legislators would delete the words “silent prayer” from the law. When our Illinois state legislators meet in Springfield, they could take up this change in wording and salvage the law without giving up the few moments of silence at the beginning of school-day activities.
An alternative proposed by Rep. John Fritchey would delete the word “prayer” from the law as well as kill off the mandate to hold a moment of silence altogether.
Politically, though, I wonder how some legislators are gonna deal with the prospect of “eliminating prayer” in an election year. Pretty much all of them recognize that they’re in a tough spot with this controversy, but there’s no easy way out.
* Remember before the Thanksgiving break when Gov. Rod Blagojevich had this to say about the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules’ blocking of his emergency healthcare proposal?
“Where is it written that a handful of legislators — 12 of them — can tell the executive branch what it’s going to do when it comes to administering the executive branch?”
I’ve been mentioning here and in the Capitol Fax that Gov. Blagojevich signed legislation that vastly expanded JCAR’s powers, so he ought to have known where it’s “written.” Aaron Chambers digs deeper…
Since 1980, JCAR has had the power under Illinois law to veto administrative rules. In 2004, a year after taking office as governor, Blagojevich strengthened that power — effectively putting himself at a greater disadvantage in any battle with JCAR over his administration’s own rules.
Before 2004, JCAR’s objection to a rule was temporary unless the Legislature voted to sustain it. Thanks to the governor’s signature, however, JCAR’s objection is final unless the Legislature votes to overrule it.
Before Blagojevich approved that 2004 law, JCAR’s power to block a rule depended on whether the Legislature backed up its objection. Thanks to Blagojevich, it may permanently block a rule on its own — without the support of the Legislature as a whole.
“I am somewhat flabbergasted that the governor would just kind of say, ‘I’m not going to pay any attention to that,’” Edgar said, adding that “I don’t think is very productive in trying to solve the major problems that are facing the state of Illinois.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich… will ask the Legislature next year to create a state-regulated pool of affordable private health insurance policies for individuals, families and small businesses.
“It would be kind of a public-private partnership,” deputy governor Sheila Nix told The State Journal-Register last week. “The thing I think we like the most about it is that it gives everybody an option to buy an affordable insurance plan.”
That insurance pool idea was part of the governor’s ill-fated Illinois Covered plan, which never got out of the Senate, despite strong support by Senate Democratic leadership.
He wants to fund the subsidized insurance pool, as well as other initiatives to benefit uninsured and insured residents alike, with a proposed 3 percent payroll tax on all but the smallest employers that offer workers little or no health benefits.
But passing such a tax is unlikely at best in an election year, not to mention the governor’s awful poll numbers. So, expect another legislative bypass…
Though the governor needs the proposed $1.1 billion-a-year employer assessment to fund Illinois Covered in future years, Nix said he will start up several of the plan’s programs with money he cut from the budget.
As you might imagine, the new idea isn’t going over too well in the House…
“It’s an already difficult relationship,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. “This probably makes it more difficult.”
* It’s not difficult to understand why the Daily Herald would slant towards the horse racing industry, since the Arlington track is in the paper’s prime coverage area. But, still, isn’t this a bit much?
After getting nothing but coal in their stockings for the past decade or so, officials at Hawthorne Race Course and Arlington Park are hoping to get the one gift they really want this holiday season.
Slots.
With Gov. Rod Blagojevich calling a special session of the Illinois legislature this week to discuss a gaming expansion bill — one that would include slots at the two local tracks — the odds are steep but they’re as good as they’ve ever been for the thoroughbred industry to get the added influx of money it believes it needs.
“Everything seems to be pointing in that direction,” said Jim Miller, assistant general manager at Hawthorne. “But too many times we’ve had high hopes before.”
Not mentioned in the article is that the tracks have received a state subsidy for years. There was a time when the tracks subsidized the state. Now, it’s the other way around.
Personally, I think horse racing is a fine thing. And as long as any gaming expansion plan includes super-strict, binding rules requiring the tracks to focus lots of that newfound cash on expanding and vastly improving their deteriorating core business, then I guess the idea wouldn’t be so bad. But the poor-mouthing really gets old.
* Editorial: Stroger should take cue from snub by other county officials
Perhaps most astounding of all, Stroger himself admits his new tax would raise far more money than the county needs. The anticipated shortfall in 2008 is $239 million. But rather than cut his $3.2 billion spending plan, Stroger wants his constituents to give him more than he needs today, so he can continue spending more next year and the year after without having to come back and ask for more in 2008 and 2009.
* Chuck Sweeny: Iowa still has more clout than Illinois primary
* Schoenburg: After getting an earful, Versace talks about issues
DICK VERSACE is answering questions now, and that sure makes him seem like a better candidate than he appeared to be when he made his formal campaign announcement for Congress in early October.
Versace, a former Bradley University and NBA basketball coach making his first foray into politics, said at his Statehouse announcement back then that he wanted to go out on what he called a “common-sense express” RV tour and visit voters in all 20 counties that make up the 18th Congressional District.
Versace refused to answer issue questions then, and it didn’t make for a pretty scene.
* Editorial: Hastert resignation will create a mess
But Hastert is silent on his reason. … Hastert owes an explanation to his constituents and to all taxpayers in Illinois, who will help foot the bill for the likely special primary and special election that will determine not the 14th District representative for a number of years, but for a number of months.
This all strikes us as a ridiculous waste of time, energy and money that could have been averted had Hastert been willing to complete the promise he made to voters when he accepted his latest term.
The moment offered a rare opportunity for Giuliani to side with Obama, saying that “we are all human beings” and should avoid any “pretense of perfection.”
Not a bad idea, since that quality is no more common among politicians than among the rest us. And there’s something else to be said for politicians acknowledging youthful mistakes rather than claim to have led saintly lives: The kids might actually believe them.
An ad hoc committee of the Quincy School Board will send a representative to Springfield to learn how the Illinois Department of Labor sets the prevailing wage rate.
The committee hopes that through learning about the process, Adams County might be able to set its own rate that would save money for the Quincy School District on construction projects.
“We want to know how they do it,” said Dennis Gorman, the School District’s legal counsel. “I hear a lot of questions about the validity of that. There’s an option there that we can do it.”
The winner of the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award from the East Central Iowa-Northwestern Illinois AFL-CIO Hall of Fame is 87 years old and still hasn’t slowed down.
“He’s on the go every day from 9:30 a.m. until midnight,” Jerry Messer, head of the Quad City Federation of Labor, said Friday of the award recipient, Dick Fallow of Davenport.
* Opinion: Illinois plan could cut costs for consumers
Under legislation passed last year, Ameren is required to offer this optional program that allows participants to take advantage of the electricity market’s hourly ups and downs to cut power bills while reducing demand for electricity and preventing pollution.
* Firm exploring Chicago naming rights, sponsorships
Might visitors to the Windy City someday ride the Lowe’s Chicago El, shop on the Microsoft Magnificent Mile and tour Old Navy Pier?
What’s in a name for the future isn’t clear, but the city has hired a marketing firm to explore the potential for naming rights and sponsorships as a way to bring in needed revenue, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
It’s time for a holiday break. We’ve all earned it.
I’m thankful for so many things: My eventual good fortune in life, my family, my friends, my subscribers, my blog readers, my advertisers and, of course, Illinoize…
* And, now, I wanna thank you falettinme be mice elf agin…
Flamin’ eyes of people fear
Burnin’ into you
Many men are missin’ much
Hatin’ what they do
“Morally, [Blagojevich] was opposed to gaming three years ago when he had a press conference,” the mayor said. “Remember the press conference? It changed very quickly, in less than three years. … If you can change your moral viewpoints on casinos, you surely can change your political viewpoint or governmental viewpoint [against raising taxes] on a decision that affects public transportation in this city, in the metropolitan [area].”
* I was talking about this subject with somebody yesterday, so I thought I would share it with you.
Do you think it’s odd that not a single major news outlet appears to have covered the fact that Congressman Bobby Rush decided not to run for reelection as Democratic ward committeeman?
Also, what’s up with the total failure by any of the majors to note that the governor allowed a $48 million tax increase to take effect without actually signing it into law?
* Sen. Bill Brady, a likely Republican candidate for governor, has proposed limiting the governor’s ability to call special sessions…
For instance, a governor would have to give at least four days’ notice before the first scheduled day of a special session. A special session could be convened on shorter notice if legislative leaders and the governor agree that an emergency exists.
Also, the governor would have to be physically present in the chambers of the Senate and House on the first day of a special session, and the session must be “permanently adjourned” if, after 15 consecutive session days, the House or Senate fails to pass legislation dealing with the stated reason for the special session.
* Brady made his pitch on the same day that Blagojevich called yet another special session, this one dealing with mass transit…
“This is the 17th one. He’s made a mockery out of them and the system,” said Brady, a Bloomington Republican who ran for governor in 2006.
“I’m hoping to remove a governor’s ability to use these special-session calls from the perception of a little kid that doesn’t get his way,” he added in a phone interview Monday.
* Meanwhile, the governor has not yet proposed any actual legislation to bail out mass transit. This has been a constant complaint about every single special session the governor has commanded this year…
“If there is legislation proposed, then we’ll have something for the House and Senate to consider,” Brown said of the session, adding that he considers that prospect “a big ‘if.’”
Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said it’s the job of lawmakers to draft legislation they can vote on in special sessions.
Ottenhoff noted there is a pending piece of legislation proposed by a House Republican that would redirect sales tax revenue the state collects on gasoline purchases in Cook and the ‘’collar'’ counties to the mass transit agencies to create a steady stream of revenue for them.
That’s a concept Blagojevich said he favors, although questions still remain about how best to replace that revenue in the state budget.
‘’He can like all the concepts he wants,'’ said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, adding that lawmakers need specifics to vote on.
BROWN: And if he doesn’t identify bills, then there’s nothing for the Senate or the House to consider, and it’s just a meaningless act.
Brown says most of the governor’s special sessions this year have been “absolute failures.” A spokesperson from Blagojevich’s office says the governor is not required to specify bills for special sessions.
Pace is nearly $50 million short of the $261 million needed to run its fixed route and paratransit services next year. To make up the difference, transit officials will cut scores of Metra shuttles as well as weekday and weekend routes. They also are planning to drop all service after 7 p.m. and raise all fixed route fares to $2. Most now are now $1.25.
* Gov. Blagojevich’s decision to forge ahead with his health insurance plan despite the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules’ veto of the proposal is drawing some ire. The SJ-R editorial…
So when the bipartisan legislative panel last week voted 9-2 against the governor’s emergency expansion request, only the uninitiated saw it as a gubernatorial stop sign. Blagojevich didn’t even see it as a speed bump. By Friday, we had learned the orders were already issued to expand the program. He says JCAR’s authority of rulemaking is only advisory.
Then why even ask? Why even pretend to play by the rules, governor? Maybe it’s time for Blagojevich to break out the crown and scepter and start ruling as the sovereign he apparently wants to be. The sad thing is Blagojevich’s disdain for working within the system may end up harming the cause to expand health-care coverage. It certainly has hindered progress in many other important areas: pension reform, infrastructure and school-funding reform, to name a few.
Consistency is generally a good thing. But it’s nothing to be proud of when you consistently screw up.
* What everyone in the “big media” has so far failed to point out is that the governor signed into law an expansion of JCAR’s powers during his first term. To now claim that JCAR’s role is purely “advisory” is ridiculously hypocritical. The governor had this to say yesterday…
“Where is it written that a handful of legislators - 12 of them - can tell the executive branch what it’s going to do when it comes to administering the executive branch?” the governor said.
Springfield is awash in speculation that Blagojevich wants to push as many people as possible into the state program and spend as much as possible, even while its legality is in question. That way, the theory goes, the program becomes so entrenched that the legislature would have no alternative but to find money to keep it going.
That would be reckless, particularly in a state that has more than $100 billion in debts and obligations, much of it for pensions and health-care costs. The state’s in a fiscal hole. And the governor is digging faster.
Not mentioned are previous reports that state revenues for the current fiscal year appear to be in decline. We’re in for a much nastier session next year (if you can imagine that) than we had this year unless a peace treaty is signed in blood, and soon.
* And Jim Duffet, who has gone out of his way to push the governor’s plan, had this to say…
“This issue isn’t about Governor Blagojevich. This isn’t about JCAR,’’ said Jim Duffett, executive director of the Campaign for Better Health Care. “The people want action, they want the General Assembly to take action on accessible, affordable health care.’’
If a governor had abused his or her authority to deny health insurance benefits despite a JCAR ruling, I’m sure Duffett would have a far different take on what the “issue” is. We’re supposed to live by our laws. Duffett’s position as an advocate is understandable, but he should remember that Blagojevich won’t be governor forever.
* Illinoize: Med-Mal ruling not a surprise, but it will have impacts
In fact, there has never been a doubt that the Illinois Supreme Court would ultimately rule on the constitutionality of the 2005 law and the fastest – maybe the only – way to get the law to the Supreme Court is through a lower court ruling of unconstitutionality.
So the process is a step closer to conclusion and, frankly, no one is surprised.
The building on the Champaign-Urbana campus will house the computer known as Blue Waters, which will be the fastest computer in the world when it is finished in 2011. The university’s bid to build the computer came with a pledge from Gov. Rod Blagojevich that the state would kick in $60 million.
* ‘Illinois Works’ needed to update automotive technology facilities at SIU campus
Watch for former Gov. Jim Edgar to formally endorse GOP presidential contender Rudy Giuliani today at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel & Towers.
“It’s a major endorsement for a state which doesn’t have a single Republican on the statewide ticket,” said a Republican source. “Gov. Edgar has a reputation for integrity and continues to remain popular with the voters.”
Three major Cook County elected officials declined Monday to endorse board President Todd Stroger’s plan to more than triple the county sales tax as they stood with him at what he hoped would be a show of support for his budget.
Stroger’s 2006 foe, Republican Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, had filed a complaint asking that Stroger’s fund be fined the full $255,816. But the election board chose the lower fine because the fund is a first-time violator of state campaign-finance laws.
**** 10:56 am *** I’m hearing the governor has told some legislative leaders that he’s planning to call a special session next Wednesday and Thursday. Topics: Transit and capital plan.
A spokesperson for Speaker Madigan said Madigan will have to wait and see what happens “and then we’ll do whatever is appropriate.” The governor is apparently having a Chicago press conference at the moment.
I am calling the General Assembly into special session next Wednesday, November 28, to pass a long-term funding plan for the CTA and RTA. With the holidays and the next transit “doomsday” fast approaching, we cannot afford more delays. Transit riders that use the CTA, Metra and Pace to get to work and school are relying on you. […]
The transit agencies have indicated that a third, more severe “doomsday” is looming in January. The transit unions have said that if there is no funding resolution by the end of the year, their contract will be in jeopardy. We cannot let history repeat itself. There are not funds available for me to once again unilaterally avoid a “doomsday” for mass transit riders in the Chicago area. The General Assembly must take action soon. That is why I am calling you into special session after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving and the opportunity to gather with family and friends.
Sincerely,
Rod R. Blagojevich
Governor
* 11:35 am - The AP has a story up, but there isn’t much in it, so I’ll just give you the link for now. No need for excerpts.
* 12:14 pm - From a press release…
Two well-known administrators, former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and longtime University of Illinois President Stan Ikenberry will speak on the topic of School Finance on Thursday, Nov. 29 from Noon-1 p.m. at the University of Illinois College of Law, Max L. Rowe Auditorium, 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
**** 1:08 pm *** The second paragraph of the governor’s statement from above says this, in part…
As I have stated before, I support the concept suggested by House Minority Leader Tom Cross, reflected in legislation sponsored by Rep. Skip Saviano, that would redirect revenue from the existing sales tax on gasoline in Cook and the collar counties to the RTA… The revenue could be replaced by closing corporate loopholes that do not benefit the public.
While he doesn’t come out and say it, the guv seems to imply that Cross favors closing corporate loopholes. Asked if that was the case, Leader Cross’ spokesman said, “The answer is no.”
This has been the single biggest problem with the governor’s “plan.” There is no agreement on how to replace that revenue. Until there is a revenue stream deal, there is no plan. Simple as that.
More from Cross’ spokesman…
“We do not support the idea of corporate loopholes, but could go along with possibly some fund transfers, a mild fare increase and small cuts to overall budget.”
**** 1:38 pm *** The Tribune reports this tidbit from the governor’s press conference…
Blagojevich, without offering details, also said he was considering whether he could fund public transit without legislation.
But this is what he wrote in his letter…
There are not funds available for me to once again unilaterally avoid a “doomsday” for mass transit riders in the Chicago area. The General Assembly must take action soon.
Also from the Tribune…
[Blagojevich] poked at unnamed legislative leaders for claiming that they would offer legislation to solve the crisis, but then not acting.
Chicago Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is making a blunt claim as he campaigns to become the next Cook County state’s attorney:
African Americans don’t trust county prosecutors, he says.
“Many [prosecutors] have forgotten that they were put in that job to do justice,” Brookins told 30 people at a town hall-style meeting in Markham over the weekend. They’ve “created a culture that has caused a distrust among the entire [African-American] community. . . . People are apprehensive to cooperate with the state’s attorney’s office.”
Brookins’ comments came as he discussed confessions from tortured black suspects two decades ago by former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge’s crew. Though the Burge abuses date back to when Mayor Daley was state’s attorney, distrust of prosecutors has continued under outgoing State’s Attorney Richard Devine, Brookins said.
Brookins added this tidbit…
But the office chooses to prosecute too many small cases as felonies, giving the predominantly African-American offenders felony records that make them unemployable, Brookins said.
“Things that used to be childhood pranks have now become felonies,” Brookins said. “Outside the schools, there used to be a fire and police call box. You pull the thing, and the Fire Department came. Once a year, we pulled it. That is a felony now. Once you have that first felony, you can’t get a job.”
The question: Is Brookins on-point or out of bounds? Explain.
Warning: Racist comments will be deleted and those who post racist comments will be immediately and permanently banned. Also, I have always had a hair-trigger when it comes to racism, both in my public and my private life. So if you think there’s the slightest chance that I might delete and ban you, you’re probably right. Think before you write. If you don’t like this rule, go somewhere else. It’s not debatable.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is moving ahead with a broad expansion of state-subsidized health care even though a legislative oversight panel told him “no” last week.
The governor’s administration has told state social service agencies that health coverage under the FamilyCare program is being expanded, an increase that could reach an estimated 147,000 people. Those state agencies already have begun signing up new participants despite the panel’s rejection of the plan.
Blagojevich’s move is only the latest in testing the extent of his executive authority against a legislature that has shot down his plans to expand health care, citing questions about its affordability.
On Tuesday, the legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules turned down the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ request for an emergency expansion of the Family Care program. The bipartisan panel of lawmakers was established in 1977 to oversee rules proposed for state programs. Its decisions generally are followed.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich contended Friday, however, that the committee does not have the ability to stop the Family Care expansion.
“JCAR’s role is merely advisory - it does not have the constitutional authority to suspend the regulation,” Abby Ottenhoff said in an e-mail.
She pointed to Gov. Jim Thompson’s amendatory veto of legislation that expanded JCAR’s authority in 1980. Giving the legislative committee the power to determine rules for agencies under the executive branch, Thompson wrote, “would violate the separation and delegation of power provisions of the Illinois Constitution.”
Although the legislature overrode Thompson’s veto, those constitutional concerns still exist, Ottenhoff said.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that there is a legitimate question as to the authority of the Administration to take this path of action, and a legitimate question as to the authority of JCAR to block it. Common sense and decency (both increasingly dwindling commodities in our state capitol) would dictate that a binding legal determination be had BEFORE any attempts to enroll any new FamilyCare participants.
Failure to do so creates a situation in which patients may seek medical care believing that they have coverage only to later learn that they were mistaken (misled?). Health care providers are similarly jeopardized since they have no way of knowing whether a FamilyCare patient is a legitimate one, or one whose status is uncertain. Ironically, this could well lead to providers refusing to treat qualifying patients due to eligibility questions.
In light of this, for the Administration to proceed without clear authority in this critical arena is a reckless and irresponsible course of action. […]
What next? I can’t say for sure. But I would surmise that there exist at least two questions that are ripe for review. First, does JCAR have the authority to suspend the administrative rule at issue? Second, and tangentially related, does the Administration, through HFS, have the authority to undertake this action or does the expansion amount to an unauthorized attempt to expend unappropriated funds.
Controversy has been raging for several weeks over a proposal promulgated by the Illinois State Police that would set the minimum age of issuance for Illinois Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cards at 10 years of age. […]
Approval or denial of the proposed regulation is the responsibility of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR). As of the issuance of this press release, only a few days remain in the period during which the public may submit comments to JCAR regarding the proposal. Once the comment period expires, JCAR will consider all comments and will issue a ruling on the proposed age limit some time in the next several months.
Although adoption of such regulations is strictly within the purview of JCAR, an investigation conducted by the ISRA has revealed that Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent unilaterally established a minimum age for FOID applicants and began denying FOID cards to citizens less than 10 years of age as early as May 2007. […]
“Director Trent has taken it upon himself to nullify the authority of JCAR,” commented ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson. “Last May, he issued a declaration to the FOID division staff that directed the denial of FOID cards to applicants less than 10 years of age. Since that time, the State Police have used this bogus age limit as justification to deny over 200 applications. Of course, Trent’s edict has not stopped the State Police from cashing application fee checks.”
* The Tribune’s restaurant critic has a new piece that makes Detroit’s newest casino look pretty sweet…
Could this be the face of Chicago’s future?
Perhaps. The Illinois General Assembly has yet to grant Chicago a casino license, but the issue is on the front burner. And the MGM Grand Detroit, which opened Oct. 2 to oohs and aahs and a steady stream of gaming-hungry visitors, is precisely the sort of palace that casino advocates envision for Block 37, or any of a handful of other suggested Chicago sites.
Because the MGM Grand Detroit—note the absence of the word “casino” in the official name—is one impressive, $800 million piece of eye candy, loaded with appealing features. A 100,000-square-foot casino floor. An attached 400-room luxury hotel with a 20,000-square-foot spa. Five lounges and bars with tricked-out visual features. And, of course, acres of meeting space.
Most intriguing, at least from my perspective, the complex includes three high-end restaurants by Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina, two critically acclaimed West Coast chefs who have made a lot of money by opening restaurants in casino resorts. (Puck has five restaurants in Las Vegas and one in Atlantic City; Mina four and one, respectively.)
And running Mina’s two MGM Detroit restaurants is executive chef Don Yamauchi, who has spent most of his career cooking in Chicago (Carlos’, Gordon, Le Francais).
When people think of putting a new casino in Chicago, they tend to think of those smallish riverboats that already dot the landscape here. But Detroit shows that a casino can be much more than a dingy gambling hall. It can be a centerpiece.
We reiterate our approval of [House Speaker Michael Madigan’s] insistence that the integrity of Illinois gambling needs to be protected more aggressively. That’s a demand rarely voiced by most of a Springfield crowd that primarily sees gambling as a way for the state to print dollars by the bazillions.
The pluses or minuses of Madigan’s specific agenda will emerge in the final wording. But Illinois gambling thus far has avoided an industry-killing scandal only because of excellent vigilance by understaffed state regulators — and because of some very lucky breaks in uncovering the scandals that already are part of the public record.
Any expansion of Illinois gambling has to mean much more stringent oversight — and much less influence from this state’s pols.
* So who were those “knowledgeable people” whom state Rep. Aaron Schock consulted with on his now abandoned proposal to sell (nonexistent) nuclear missiles to Taiwan to pressure China over Iran? Bernie Schoenburg tried to find out…
“I have listened to knowledgeable people on this issue and they have said I am on the right track with a proposal that has a great chance to diffuse the crisis without military conflict but that I was wrong to include the possibility of selling nuclear arms to Taiwan as a bargaining chip with China,” [Schock claimed in his press release backing down from his proposal].
So I called Schock, a state representative and Peoria Republican, to ask who those advisers were.
There are, he said, “a number of people, both locally, as well as friends I have in Washington, D.C., that have chimed in on it.”
I asked if he was talking to any particular professor or military person.
“Well, they’re not wanting to get involved in the campaign,” he said.
OK, so what about his campaign manager, Steven Shearer, who worked for retiring Congressman Jerry Weller?
“Certainly, as the campaign manager, he has input, as well as other people on my campaign staff,” Schock said.
He said the unnamed “knowledgeable people” also had a part in his announcement speech, presumably including the Taiwan nukes idea.
Here in Peoria — the largest city in the 18th District and the city in which Schock lives — the Journal Star’s coverage of the issue is meager. The PJS’s lead reporter in the 18th District race is Karen McDonald. To date, her byline has appeared above one single article dealing with the controversy, the one in which Schock admitted to a mistake. McDonald attended the announcement in which he detailed Schock’s Taiwan proposal, but her article didn’t even mention it. She did no reporting on the uproar that followed Schoenberg’s column about it and has done no follow up reporting on what has been the single biggest story coming out of the 18th District race so far. She attended a candidate’s forum at which Schock and his two primary foes appeared, and her only mention of the controversy is that no one brought it up.
* And that brings me to my latest syndicated newspaper column, which talks about the influence that political blogs are having on the process here in Illinois…
Political blogs have been getting a bad rap in newspapers for years, but they’re rapidly coming of age and making an impact in campaigns throughout Illinois this year.
* The column goes through the now familiar story of how blogs participated in forcing Schock to back off his wacky idea…
While Schock refused to back down, bloggers kept digging. They found Schock had voted against a bill in the state Legislature to put economic pressure on Iran’s energy business - the driving force behind Iran’s nuclear ambitions - through state pension fund divestment, even though Schock voted for a similar divestment bill for Sudan.
Larry Handlin at ArchPundit.com pointed out Schock’s nuke idea would violate international law. A commenter at my blog noted Schock’s proposal was scarily similar to the Soviet Union’s attempt to put nukes in Cuba (which very nearly triggered a nuclear holocaust).
Billy Dennis, who led the charge on Schock at his Peoria Pundit blog, discovered the Chinese government had helped Schock pay for a trip to that country a few years ago.
It wasn’t until Schock abandoned his goofy proposal that the Peoria paper finally acknowledged almost all of the concerns raised by the bloggers.
* The column then moves on to other races….
Blogs are having a different impact in Congressman Dan Lipinski’s district. Lipinski is a conservative Democrat whose father, former Congressman Bill Lipinski, engineered an unconscionable free ride to Washington, D.C., for his kid, who hadn’t lived in Illinois for years.
Lipinski has strong opposition from Mark Pera in the upcoming Democratic primary. Pera’s cause is being championed by liberal Democratic blogs all over the country, so every local story that trashes Lipinski is put in front of hundreds of thousands of eyeballs that otherwise wouldn’t see them.
As a result, Daily Southtown columnist Kristen McQueary now has a whole lot more fans than she did before the campaign season began. That coverage, in turn, has raised big campaign bucks for Pera when highlighted by the national blogs.
* And more…
Bloggers in Illinois and nationally are expressing interest in Daniel Biss’ campaign for the Illinois House. Biss faces an uphill race in a district represented by popular Republican incumbent state Rep. Beth Coulson, but he’s raising a ton of cash because he has paid so much attention to online media.
Quite a few Chicago bloggers have been aggressively advocating for a financial bailout of the Chicago Transit Authority. Much of their reporting and analysis has been far superior to anything produced by the mainstream Chicago media.
I promised readers of the column a bunch of links to various political blogs mentioned in the story. I’ll post those later this morning, but loyal readers can help out by putting links to their favorite local political blogs in comments.
*** UPDATE *** As promised in my column, here are a few state and local blogs to keep an eye on. My apologies in advance for all those I missed. If yours isn’t here, or your favorite one isn’t listed, do so in comments…
“Certain state job applications, which appeared to be sponsored by individuals on the basis of the applicants’ political affiliation, received special treatment,” begins a passage on the computerized ethics exam, which was taken by a reporter last week with the consent of the state office that administers the program.
The passage is presented as an example of real-life unethical behavior. It doesn’t name names, but it gives extensive details that match previous allegations against Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey, the Springfield-based state employees whose highly publicized firings later boomeranged on the Blagojevich administration.
* Malpractice caps ruling may send state back to 2005
It’s not that the individual elements of the CNN extravaganza were inherently wrong. For example, debates should take place before a live audience, but one that mostly listens rather than cheers or hoots. I sometimes wondered Thursday night whether there was an applause light cuing the crowd like the audience for a Jay Leno “Tonight Show.” A candidate who commits an egregious faux pas perhaps deserves to be jeered, but surely neither Barack Obama nor John Edwards crossed any red lines in their attacks on Hillary Clinton to warrant the boos they got from what seemed to be a Clinton-admiring audience.
That is revealing of the weakness of these debates as tools for helping voters decide which candidate to support. The TV impresarios are so eager for headlines they rarely pause to ask the candidates for evidence to support their opinions or assertions. It is bang-bang, but rarely because-and-here’s-proof.
Rush, who started working as an assistant supervisor in May 2003, was placed on paid administrative leave June 22 while authorities conducted an internal investigation, according to IDOC spokesman Derek Schnapp.
“He was put on leave promptly when the department got information about potential problems,” Schnapp said. “The findings were referred to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.” […]
Bobby Rush, a Democratic congressman representing Chicago’s South Side and southwest suburbs, recommended state officials hire his son in 2003, Abby Ottenhoff, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has said.
* McQueary: Can’t make house payments? March with Jackson
“There is a lot of misinformation about the bill, and it’s always about the interests of the mortgage brokers. No one raises the issue of people going into bankruptcy,” Collins said. “I got a lot of push-back.”
Through four months of arduous negotiations, she heard nothing from Jackson.
“Not once has he mentioned the legislation,” she said. “He’s had these programs at PUSH, and not once has he given me credit or mentioned Senate Bill 1167. I wasn’t even invited to the big rally on Wall Street.”
And yet Collins has been the chief negotiator on legislation Jackson took a significant interest in revamping. She could have used his muscle when faced with the slick mortgage industry’s lobbying tactics in Springfield. Instead, he is organizing a march in New York. That’s good for the cameras, but what about actual policy?
