Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Jun 29, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Rate Pat Quinn’s performance as lt. governor.

Also, as a bonus question, is GOP LG candidate Joe Birkett an asset to the ticket or a drag? Explain.

Thursday, Jun 29, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

This is very big, campers. Very big.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top lawyer issued a sweeping order Wednesday directing state agencies to compile lists of everyone who worked in their personnel offices since 2003 and to inventory their computer records, signaling a broader federal investigation of hiring than the governor’s office has previously acknowledged.

The order, in a memo from the governor’s legal counsel obtained by the Tribune, covers 15 state agencies, far more than the three departments that the Blagojevich administration had previously confirmed as having received federal subpoenas.

Administration sources familiar with the federal investigation and the document-gathering order said Wednesday that additional state agencies had received federal subpoenas since October of last year, when the governor’s office acknowledged subpoenas had been received by the Departments of Children and Family Services, Corrections and Transportation. The sources would not say how many more agencies had received subpoenas. […]

The administration sources cautioned against interpreting the state order as a sign of an expanding federal probe, saying the investigation was broad from the start.

Bull.

The initial investigation focused on just a few agencies and the governor’s personnel office. If they’d found no problems, it’s doubtful that they would have expanded their probe into so many other agencies.

Meanwhile, the governor was hit on another “Reform and Renewal” front today.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich awarded a lucrative special deal to a California company that employs his campaign managerâ€™s sister as an executive.

The $100 million contract to oversee the stateâ€™s much-touted program providing poor seniors with prescription drugs went to Pacificare, where Nancy Monk works as a vice president. Sheâ€™s the sister of Lon Monk, the governorâ€™s longtime friend and chief of staff at the time the deal was announced last fall.

And the Tribune ran an editorial with the headline “Gov. Rod Ryan”

Blagojevich is making just like George Ryan, handing out free money to legislators’ friends, relatives and constituents for their pet projects.

And, finally, I had a little about this in Wednesday’s Capitol Fax, but Topinka claims that a Blagojevich staffer was videotaping her fundraiser guests and taking down their license plate numbers.

‘’If we wanted a list of her contributors, you can get it on the computer in 30 seconds. We wouldn’t go through a ridiculous process to send a staff person out to videotape license plates,” [Blagojevich spokesperson Sheila Nix] said.

You would if you were trying to intimidate people into not contributing or checking to see if any state employees were in attendance.

53 Comments

Stroger roundup

Thursday, Jun 29, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· The Sun-Times starts us off:

Ald. Todd Stroger (8th) has the votes among Democratic ward bosses to replace his stroke-stricken father as County Board president, Ald. William Beavers (7th) said Wednesday, predicting the younger Stroger will grow in the pressure-cooker job.

“When your father is a powerful man, you kind of step back. … He’s never been Todd Stroger. He’s always been John Stroger’s son. He’s going to become Todd Stroger,” Beavers said.

Â· But has Beavers really rounded up all the necessary votes? Tribune:

Chicago Ald. William Beavers (7th), a veteran South Side political power broker who has been making calls on Todd Stroger’s behalf, told reporters “there’s enough votes” for Todd Stroger to succeed his father. But when asked if he had the votes already lined up for Todd Stroger, Beavers said, “We’re working on that right now, OK?”

Â· What Mark Brown is really saying here is that Todd Stroger has been a back-bencher for his entire political career. And he’s right, that does make a big difference.

Unlike the progeny of some of the other politicians boosted up the ladder, the characteristic so often remarked upon in regards to Todd Stroger is his utter lack of ambition in everything he’s done. A nice guy, they’ve always said, but no fire in the belly. Beavers says he’ll be different now.

Â· The Sun-Times editorializes:

We have to admit we are not aware of widespread anger over the utter disregard the John Stroger camp has shown the voting public since the Cook County Board president was sidelined by a stroke in March. But we hope people are finally getting mad as heck over the concerted efforts to keep Stroger’s health a secret, to resist interim measures that would actually put someone in charge of county government and to pass on the presidency as a hereditary title.

Â· As does the Tribune:

By what right do they ordain as Stroger’s successor in this crucial post–the second most important job in local government–a son who has shown no leadership whatsoever in the Illinois legislature or the Chicago City Council?

After John Stroger’s decades of public service, those closest to him want this to be his legacy?

This is a debacle that doesn’t have to be.

Â· And Mary Mitchell says the deal is unfair to Steele:

But if the scheme to install Ald. Todd Stroger (8th) as Cook County Board president is an indication of the direction black politics is heading, good government is still a long way off. Frankly, the actions black politicians have taken since Todd Stroger’s father, President John Stroger, suffered a stroke in March have made us a laughingstock.

These elected officials aren’t even pretending to be interested in public service.

Steele is speaking at the Union League Club next Thursday morning. Should be interesting

36 Comments

Morning shorts

Thursday, Jun 29, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· “Just months after Illinois cracked down on the short-term loan business, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is making another push for restrictions to protect consumers â€“ a push the industry says goes too far.”

Â· “Jill Blodgett… attended a Judy Baar Topinka event Wednesday in Palatine looking for one answer.”

Â· Editorial: Governor’s claims require proof to be fact

Â· Good for him: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich declared his disapproval of plans for a toll bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis. “It will never happen as long as I’m governor,” Blagojevich said.

Â· Drives designed to boost Hispanic votersâ€™ clout

Â· “Faced with a hefty fee increase, a group representing the state’s 1,400 Korean-American dry cleaners has proposed scrapping a program that oversees the licensing of dry cleaners and provides money to clean up chemical spills”

Â· “A trade group that represents liquor retailers is mounting a legal challenge to Springfield’s new indoor smoking ban for public places.”

Â· “… But the stage for politicians is going to be a little smaller this Independence Day because of changes prompted by parade-watchers who complained that too many politicians made the event boring.”

Â· Suit costs could have paid 28 teachers

Â· “He is a high school dropout, but imprisoned killer Brian J. Dugan has become something of a jailhouse lawyer over the years”

Â· GOP calling â€˜big oilâ€™ rallies political stunt

6 Comments

“The votes are there”

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The spin and the stories are flying fast and furious.

Mr. Munoz added that he believes Todd Stroger already may have lined up 80% of the vote.

Friends of the Stroger family were quick to ridicule those accusing the family of nepotism.

Its not right when black folk do it? asked Committeeman and Ald. William Beavers (7th), noting that a parade of white families including the Hyneses, Daleys, Madigans and Lipinskis have handed elected posts to a second generation. Why cant we do it?

Mr. Beavers said he has not yet decided to take up the Strogers on an offer to run for John Strogers board seat while leaving the presidency to Todd Stroger.

It doesnt bother me at all, said another African-American leader, Comitteeman and Ald. Ed Smith (28th). The younger Mr. Stroger has gone to school. Hes taken care of his kids. Hes been elected. And hell do the same wonderful job that that Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, the daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, has done, Mr. Smith said.

Political sources said Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose brother John chairs the county boards finance committee, had signed off on the Todd Stroger matter.

20 Comments

Staff survey on legislative influence

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

State Legislatures Magazine recently completed a survey of legislative staffs across the nation. Karl Kurtz at NCSL’s blog The Thicket gives us a preview.

One of the questions we asked was, on a scale of 1-no influence to 7-dictates policy, “What do you think is the relative influence of the following participants in the legislative process in determining legislative outcomes in your state?” Of the 11 choices that we gave our 1,522 respondents to the survey, majority party leadership ranked far and away the highest with a score of 5.9.

Also scoring 5 or more were the senate (5.2), the house (5.1), the governor (5.0) and committee chairs (5.0). These four scores are so close that they can be considered to be equal.

Interest groups/lobbyists scored 4.8 and executive agency staff 4.0. Regarded as relatively less influential in the process were partisan staff and the media (both 3.6), nonpartisan staff (3.3) and, bringing up the rear, minority party leadership (3.0).

I wonder what the Illinois crosstabs were? For you staffers and former staffers out there, is this about right?

UPDATE: Karl gives us a peek at the Illinois crosstabs, which are not statistically significant since there were so few of them (just 19 out of a nationwide total of more than 1500 - which doesn’t surprise me in the least).

But, for what itâ€™s worth, Illinois respondents did score the majority party leadership somewhat higher at 6.3 on a scale of 1-7. There were only two other major differences in the responses from Illinois compared to the rest of the country: the House was regarded as more influential than the Senate, and the influence of partisan staff was ranked considerably higher.

Staff has enormous influence in Illinois, so that’s definitely on the money.

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Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Question of the day

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

First, read Carol Marin’s column.

…I would rather see the jury in the Sorich corruption case acquit the four defendants on trial than convict them. Or that there be probation rather than prison time. […]

But does this rise to the level of a federal crime worthy of prison time? I don’t think so. I think this is nothing short of a federal expedition to catch far bigger fish by the names of Degnan, Reyes and Daley. And I have no problem with the federal government going after any of them if they have the goods, but the way they have gone about this is unworthy of truly excellent prosecutors. […]

But it’s also wrong for the government, in making this case, to put on witnesses whose testimony is so limited that jurors don’t come close to getting the whole story. […]

But, sad to say, this case just isn’t worthy of the government’s mighty sword.

QUESTION: Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?

UPDATE: I just called Carol and told her that she had helped break a new record - 15 comments by 3:30 has gotta be an alltime low. We talked about why the comments are so sparse and I jokingly wondered whether some might be afraid that the FBI would subpoena IP records of those who agreed with Marin.

Do people just not care about this topic? By design, I didn’t expect to get a whole lot of comments on this today, but I am kinda surprised by the lack of debate.

24 Comments

Statewide stuff

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

UPDATE: This story has been getting a lot of play in comments, so I thought I’d post it.

Honda has scheduled a press conference Wednesday to announce that Indiana has been chosen as the site for its new North American assembly plant, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Illinois, Indiana and Ohio had been the finalists for the $400 million facility, which will employ 1,500 workers and produce 200,000 cars annually starting in 2008. It will be Honda’s sixth plant in North America.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich flew back from Washington Tuesday to meet with Honda officials, hoping to lure the plant to Illinois. He had been briefing members of the Illinois congressional delegation on the status of talks with the carmaker.

Instead, it is believed Blagojevich came home to learn that the automaker did not choose a site in Fithian, a town of 500 near Danville. Sources familiar with the negotiations said Japanese automakers out of courtesy notify the winning state and those that lost at the same time.

Lynn Sweet claims that the guv’s DC visit didn’t go all that well.

Gov. Blagojevich was in Washington on Tuesday. Let me first summarize the developments or rather, the debacle.

*Blagojevich stiffed Mayor Daley and Sen. Dick Durbin by originally skipping a joint press conference with the two other top Illinois Democrats, only to scamper to it in retreat after his chief of staff, John Harris, and an aide could not shake reporters who had questions for the governor.

*The governor said the proposed Prairie Parkway was not a priority for him even though it was listed as a transportation priority in the official joint city-state federal initiative document being handed out Tuesday signed by Daley and Blagojevich. The document was released at the news conference at the exact time Blagojevich, a few dozen yards away, was downplaying his interest in the road. […]

Blagojevich and Daley threw a lunch Tuesday (in Durbin’s offices) for the 21-member Illinois delegation — only 10 lawmakers bothered to show — to review the joint city-state agenda.

And Topinka held a press conference to announce that she would announce her economic development proposals next month. She also took another swipe at the guv.

For example, Topinka said Tuesday that federal labor statistics showed that Illinois lost 3,800 jobs in May. Earlier this month, Blagojevich touted state and federal figures that showed that Illinois in April led the nation in monthly job growth.

Blagojevich spokesman Gerardo Cardenas said the state’s unemployment rate also dropped to 4.6 percent in May â€“ in line with the national rate â€“ from 5.1 percent in April.

18 Comments

The other white meat

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Tribune has a long story today on a different sort of political pork.

In a new kind of political pork, state officials awarded $12 million to more than 100 non-profit groups, businesses, schools and churches for after-school programs that, in some cases, served few students or failed to deliver on their promises, the Tribune has found.

The sister of a state senator got $25,000 to run a drama program that had only four students.

A Chicago woman and her son received $30,000 to teach a hip-hop exercise class for 12 to 20 students at a shopping mall.

A religious group was given $30,000 to run an arts program at an elementary school, but never did. Instead, two group members patrolled the lunchroom and counseled some students about behavior problems.

And $5,180 of the after-school money went to pay off debts–including an old tuition bill–that recipients owed the state.

Read the whole thing. Fascinating.

20 Comments

Is Stroger off the ticket?

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I heard this late last night. Amazing.

More than three months after suffering a serious stroke — and winning renomination in spite of it — Cook County Board President John Stroger is expected to withdraw this week and ask Democratic ward bosses to replace him on the November ticket with his son.

Ald. William Beavers (7th), self-declared spokesman for the Stroger family, has already started lining up votes for Ald. Todd Stroger (8th) and appears to be well on his way to securing a majority of the weighted votes of 80 ward and township committeemen to place the younger Stroger on the ballot, sources said.

The complex political deal calls for Beavers, powerful chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee, to replace John Stroger as county commissioner and for Todd Stroger to replace his father as president of the board, where he would have no vote. Until the election, John Stroger would remain in office. If Beavers wins the seat, he would resign as 7th Ward alderman on the condition that Mayor Daley appoint his daughter to replace him.

So, a son would replace a father and a daughter w9ould replace a father. Chicago is without a doubt the world capital of nepotism.

47 Comments

Morning shorts

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· “Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn broke ranks Tuesday and urged Gov. Rod Blagojevich to put some heat on a state contractor that allegedly refuses to negotiate with striking employees at Sheridan Correctional Center.”

Â· Editorial: Remember when Gov. Rod Blagojevich took office and promised to keep politics out of state hiring? The hiring of Brian Keen, U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello’s son-in-law, is compelling evidence that Blagojevich never meant it.

Â· For the presecution’s sake, I hope there are no Sox fans on that jury. “Training Mayor Daley’s patronage chief in how to avoid political considerations in city hiring is about as useful as giving sensitivity training to Ozzie Guillen, a federal prosecutor argued Tuesday during closing arguments.”

Â· Governor backs bid for Olympics

Â· Praise plentiful, critics silent on Niles mayor

Â· New Medicaid law is called a threat

Â· I love the Bottle Rockets, and so, apparently does the Austin Mayor

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