Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Monday, Jul 3, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I told Capitol Fax readers that this would happen last week.

Gay marriage opponents have hit a hurdle in their efforts to get a measure on the November ballot because they don’t appear to have enough valid signatures, a state Board of Elections spokesman said Monday.

A check of 64,000 signatures — a sample of the more 330,000-plus submitted — did not find enough registered voters to put a measure on the ballot that would ask voters if the state should amend its constitution to ban same-sex marriage, said elections board spokesman Dan White.

The requirement is that 95 percent of signatures be valid and they had 91 percent, White said.

Still, the measure can make it to the ballot because supporters can appeal the findings of the board’s review, which they plan to do, said Peter LaBarbera, executive director of a conservative group pushing to get the gay marriage advisory referendum on the Illinois ballot.

UPDATE: Cal has more at Illinoize.

UNRELATED UPDATE: I’ve changed the Congressional news feed (scroll way down, on right) by deleting Denny Hastert, Barack Obama and Dick Durbin. The previous feed was pulling up way too many national stories. It’s a lot more localized now. I’ve also added both candidates in the state’s only open seat race, Peter Roskam and Tammy Duckworth.

Comments Off

You ~~don’t~~ need to know

Monday, Jul 3, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· My syndicated newspaper column this week was written before Friday’s hullabaloo over Patrick Fitzgerald’s letter.

Should citizens of this state have a right to know whether their governor and his administration are under criminal investigation?

According to the governor, the answer is “no.”

Â· The Tribune has set up a new page solely for Blagojevich investigation/corruption stories.

Â· And because it’s been pushed so far down the page, here is that special Google news feed I put together which searches for Fitzgerald, Blagojevich and Madigan.

And here is the Illinoize feed.

Â· Finally, don’t forget about your July 4th present!

Comments Off

Wow

Sunday, Jul 2, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Here are quotes from former Inspector General “Z” Scott that were published in today’s Tribune article about the leaked report.

The investigation concluded “the governor’s office improperly exercised a great deal, if not all, control over the hiring” at the Illinois Department of Employment Security since shortly after the Democratic governor took office in January 2003.

“This effort reflects not merely an ignorance of the law, but complete and utter contempt for the law” […]

“Evidence shows non-compliance with state hiring laws… In fact, it reveals a concerted effort to subvert the laws including veterans’ preference and the hiring process” […]

“This administration has made many public statements critical of the way in which those seeking political gains have compromised systems. We urge a similar response to the issues raised in this report” […]

“The evidence supports the conclusion that the real machine driving hiring decisions in the IDES HR department was the Governor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs rather than any professional management team in place in the agency.” […]

The inspector general recommended that six employees at Employment Security be disciplined, “up to and including discharge for unethical and fraudulent activity.” Three of those employees are still working for the department, including one who has been promoted since the report to become deputy director of administration. […]

“this sampling may not represent the entirety of the illegalities in hiring at IDES.”

The Trib ought to post the whole report online.

The accompanying editorial isn’t kind.

On Friday, the governor’s office asserted that there were “some bad apples who violated the rules” among the officials who were hired to run state government after Blagojevich took office in 2003. “The systems we put in place in our first year helped ferret out this wrongdoing.” That’s hard to square with the disclosure in Sunday’s Tribune that in 2004, Blagojevich’s own inspector general said the involvement of the governor’s patronage office in state hiring reflected “not merely an ignorance of the law, but complete and utter contempt for the law.”

Comments Off

« NEWER POSTS