Weekend shorts
Saturday, Aug 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
· Apparently, the Illinois Republican Party has been in a running dispute with its webmaster Jake Parillo and hasn’t paid its bills. So, yesterday afternoon Jake pulled the party’s site offline. UPDATE: Not long after this post appeared, the IL GOP and Jake worked out their differences. The link now works.
· As the Tribune correctly notes, this Stu Levine flipping story has been one of the hottest political rumors of the summer.
Republican insider Stuart Levine, indicted for alleged corruption at two state boards, is cooperating with the federal investigation of state government, sources familiar with the case said Friday. […]
Despite Levine’s long-standing Republican ties, his decision to cooperate with federal prosecutors could have dramatic implications for the Democratic governor, whose administration faces multiple corruption investigations as he seeks re-election on Nov. 7.
Levine was accused a year ago of using his position as trustee on the teachers’ pension board to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from investment firms seeking business with the pension plan.
In September 2005 co-defendant Joseph Cari, a nationally prominent Democratic fundraiser, pleaded guilty to attempted extortion. In his plea agreement, Cari said that Levine told him a prominent government official, cited as “Public Official A,” and the official’s two associates had steered pension fund business to individuals and firms in exchange for campaign donations.
· Charlie Cook turns even more pessimistic about Republican chances nationwide.
Time is running out for Republicans. Unless something dramatic happens before Election Day, Democrats will take control of the House. And the chances that they’ll seize the Senate are rising toward 50-50.
The electoral hurricane bearing down on the GOP looks likely to be a Category 4 or 5, strong enough to destroy at least one of the party’s majorities. The political climate feels much as it did before previous elections that produced sizable upheavals, such as in 1994, when Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats, and control of both chambers.
· AFSCME ups the ante in its dispute with Gateway.
About a dozen drug counselors at two Illinois prisons have voted to join a union that is locked in a nearly two-month-old strike at the state’s only prison for drug-addicted inmates, officials said Friday.
The newly organized counselors at Dwight and Vandalia correctional centers are employed by the Chicago-based Gateway Founda-tion, a nonprofit organization whose workers at Sheridan Correctional Center walked out June 6 amid a stalemate in talks for their first union contract.
Gateway workers in Vandalia voted 3-2 Friday to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, union officials said. Counselors at Dwight approved the union by an identical vote on Thursday.
· I’ll open comments on Monday.
UPDATE: Comments are now open. I’m running a little late, so have at it.
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When you don’t have the facts on your side (or in this case, signatures) , you argue the law. That didn’t work either.
From a Protect Marriage Initiative press release:
Yesterday we received word that United States District Court Judge Elaine B. Bucklo (a Clinton appointee) had ruled against our complaint that the Illinois election code for advisory referenda (such as the Protect Marriage Illinois referendum) is unconstitutionally burdensome to Illnois citizens–thus infringing on their right to petition their government.
We think Judge’ Bucklo’s decision was rushed and shallow. So, with the help of our good friends at the Alliance Defense Fund, we are appealing it. Our appeal was filed today.
Judge Bucklo disregarded our First Amendment claims and therefore did not agree with our contention that the referendum rules as applied by the State Board of Election (SBE) were unfair and unreasonable. Basically, she acquiesced to a very low standard when it comes to the state upholding citizens’ rights to petition their government. The advisory referendum rules are incredibly arcane and complicated: eight Illinois cities are their own election jurisdiction (treated separately from Illinois’ 102 counties), which led to thousands of PMI signatures being disqualified or not submitted to the SBE.
It’s not looking good for Peter LaBarbera’s people.
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I wondered how long this would take
Friday, Aug 4, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
Whether it’s a legitimate question or irrelevant red herring, this is still an interesting development.
In attempting to keep control of a key suburban congressional seat, Republicans are trying to make Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s ethics issues a factor.
This week, Republican Peter Roskam sent a letter to Democrat Tammy Duckworth asking her to publicly say if she supports Blagojevich, a Chicago Democrat who’s come under federal scrutiny for his administration’s hiring and contracting practices.
“Throughout this campaign, you have repeatedly brought up the issue of ethics on the campaign trail. Many times, you have issued a press release on any scandal related to the Republican Party,†Roskam said in the Aug. 2 letter addressed to Duckworth. “Yet, you have been noticeably silent on corruption when it involves the Democratic Party and high-ranking leaders who have been instrumental in your campaign.†[…]
In a letter back to Roskam, Duckworth says she supports Blagojevich’s re-election.
“But that does not mean that I give him, or anyone else, a pass on ethical behavior,†she said in the letter. “Should he or his administration be proven to have engaged in illegal or unethical actions, they should suffer the consequences.â€
What do you think?
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Voice of the people
Friday, Aug 4, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
This letter to the editor in the Kankakee Daily Journal should win an award for the most bugaboos in one document. I’ve highlighted them for your ease of use. [ALNAC, by the way is the commission that will run the Peotone area airport]
ALNAC and the foreign company that will finance and operate the airport would destroy Beecher and the surrounding area by their decision that if a passenger airport won’t fly, they are going to make it a cargo airport. This means most flights will be made at night. ALNAC has decided to extend the runway from 10,000 to 12,000 feet to accommodate the new Airbus 380.
This airplane can fly directly from China to Beecher, with more Chinese and other foreign products to undercut U.S. products. It weighs in at 1-1/4 million pounds, takes 82,000 gallons of jet fuel, has 190,000 horsepower and has no pollution devices — like all other aircraft.
The plane will take off and land on an east-west runway — right over the new houses in the Hunters Chase subdivision. I have checked with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and found that 80 percent of the major airports have had crashes on approach and departures in the past 40 years. There is only ONE runway planned at Peotone airport.
You need to have some understanding about jet fuel. It is a hydrocarbon like auto gasoline. However, it has an additive package that is so toxic it has to be registered with the EPA. A jet engine is only 37 percent efficient — the rest is toxic waste
The case to build this airport is that it is going to create jobs. If the politicians would send the millions of illegal aliens back to where they came from, we would have plenty of jobs.
It looks to me like Jesse Jackson Jr. is like some of the rest of the politicians. They are selling or leasing our ports, roads, banks, shipyards, and businesses — even our airlines now — to foreigners. If I didn’t know better, I would think our country is bankrupt!
The national debt is accelerating past $9 trillion, our trade deficit is $60 billion and rising, the average credit card debt is $9,000, the state is stealing money from pension funds and companies are dropping pension funds altogether. Our economy is in a very precarious position.
The people who want us to have a global economy don’t tell you about the diseases that humans can get; diseases our crops are getting; other new critters that are killing our native trees, and jobs that are being lost to cheap foreign labor. Isn’t this too high a price for America to pay for globalization?
Dude, you forgot global warming and Islamofascism.
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Morning shorts
Friday, Aug 4, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
· “Former Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood has just closed the books on her campaign fund, but an associate said Wednesday that does not mean the Lake Forest Republican is finished with politics or losing her second battle with breast cancer.”
· “Congressman Weller, being that it is an election year, he said that he would try to see if he could get us some funding for some of this stuff… No promises or anything, but it’s a start.”
· Topinka: Stop the bleeding at the state’s border
· Measure proposes veterans care at closed facility
· “White supremacist Matthew Hale, serving 40 years in a Colorado prison for plotting to kill a federal judge in Chicago, is suing his former attorney for malpractice.”
· Error causes spike in property tax bills
· Editorial: In a streamlining mood?
· Daley mocks Meeks over n-word
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