This just in…
Friday, Dec 16, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Tammy Duckworth says we should support the troops, but “Going to Iraq was a mistake.”
Interviewing her now.
UPDATE: Duckworth claims she and her husband made the decision to run back in August/September. “I know the speculation out there is that the DCCC reached out to me, and that’s not the case.”
UPDATE 2: On the speculation that she was asked to run: “Nobody’s drafted me for anything I’ve done in my life.”
UPDATE 3: “We need an aggressive plan based on benchmarks for bringing our troops home. There’s one out there now that for every Iraqi battalion that stands up we bring an American battalion home” […]
“I think the administration has failed to come up with a plan to aggressively train the Iraqi troops.” […]
On reading blogs, and the vitriol in comment sections directed at her: “It’s been kind of interesting to sit there and read and not be able to get back on there and say anything. It’s been very frustrating for me to sit on my hands…
“The negative attacks and stuff, that’s not me, that’s not who I am. I think it’s great people are expressing their opinions, that’s why I became a soldier… Ultimately we’ll let the voters decide…
“I would never ask anybody to drop out of the race just because I was in it, and I certainly wouldn’t want anybody to ask me that I should drop out of the race.”
(She said she regularly reads three blogs, mine, Daily Kos and DuPage blogger Wurfwhile.)
On her residency: “I think that I can certainly adequately represent the district without living in it. Voters are going to decide who shares… their value system… I think I’m that person… My identity is with the 6th District. I live in the Village of Hoffman Estates. Part of Hoffman Estates is in the 6th, part is in the 8th.”
I’ll have more later this weekend, but I need to go Christmas shopping now.
UPDATE 4: I intentionall tossed in several local issues questions to see how she’d respond. She did pretty well. I’ll post those answers Sunday afternoon/evening.
I’ve interviewed a lot of political novices in my day, and she did better than most. Her talking points were evident, but they didn’t overwhelm the conversation. You can’t coach that or create it out of whole cloth. It’s an innate talent and she’s obviously got it.
Meanwhile, the Daily Herald has a pretty good Q&A on their site. Not much in the way of local stuff, though, so this blog may be the only place to find it tomorrow.
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State split on immigration
Friday, Dec 16, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
A new SurveyUSA poll shows that a slight majority of Illinoisans think that immigrants do jobs that Americans don’t want.
“Which of these 2 statements do you agree with more:
One: Immigrants take jobs away from Americans.
Two: Immigrants do jobs that Americans don’t want.”
43 percent of Illinoisans chose “one,” while 52 percent said “two.” That’s almost the same as the nationally weighted average of 42/53.
Notice, though, that the question didn’t ask about illegal immigrants. Just immigrants in general. Also, SurveyUSA didn’t ask whether people believed that access to cheap immigrant labor keeps wages down.
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A bit much
Friday, Dec 16, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Kinda over the top if you ask me.
Tollway officials are quietly attempting to add a laundry list of penalties for I-PASS users, including revoking transponders for traffic tickets and charging $25 for drivers whose accounts run dry or who forget the device.
The proposals, of which even some tollway directors were unaware, are drawing criticism from a watchdog group, which called them “ridiculous,†and a tollway reform leader, who says they “go too far.â€
Under the proposed rules:
•Get a traffic violation and you could lose your I-PASS
•Fail to properly use your I-PASS, and it may be cut off
•Let your I-PASS account go into debt and pay a $25 fine
•Forget your I-PASS and pay $25
•If you drop change near a toll basket, it belongs to the tollway, and you could face a $75 fine for picking it up.
The new penalties were found in a 46-page document of rule changes submitted to a lawmaker panel charged with overseeing state agency rules.
There was no debate on these new rules at the tollway board in October, and members told reporters they were merely voting on minor changes.
Not.
The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules has three months to approve or disapprove the proposals.
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Question of the day
Friday, Dec 16, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
I thought this was a nifty bit of spin.
Topinka, who favors abortion rights, and Birkett also said they agree on one aspect of the abortion debate: the need for a state law that requires parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion.
“This is an invasive procedure and parents should be involved,” Topinka said, adding that any law should allow for minors to ask a judge for an exception.
Both criticized Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich on the issue, saying he supports parental consent for minors getting tattoos but not for abortion.
Blagojevich’s spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor does not support such a notification law because he believes minors who become pregnant after they were raped by a stepfather or other relative should not be forced to tell a parent or a judge.
Further, she said, “To compare rape and incest to tattoos shows a complete lack of understanding and sensitivity of the issue.”
Even though bringing rape and incest into the equation avoids talking about well over 95 percent of the parental consent issue, I thought it was a pretty good pivot.
What do you think about the comparison between the two parental consent issues? Can it be an effective attack on the governor? What do you think about the governor’s response?
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Veterans’ preference skirted
Friday, Dec 16, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Two short stories from the AP were up last night.
Illinois officials in Governor Rod Blagojevich’s (bluh-GOY’-uh-vitchz) administration hired a man to work in Cook County for a job located in another part of the state.
The Department of Employment Security put George Rada (RAY’-dah) in the administrative post that had been transferred to Freeport just three weeks before his March 2003 hiring. But Rada has always worked in Chicago.
Transferring the job to Stephenson County meant I-D-E-S could hire Rada without having to confront state laws that give veterans preference in state hiring. Federal prosecutors already are scrutinizing Blagojevich’s hiring practices.
I-D-E-S had no plans to reverse what it acknowledged was a “flawed” hiring process until The Associated Press asked about it. A spokeswoman says the agency began the paperwork today to return the position to Cook County.
The second quotes a governor’s spokesman saying they would not reopen the job after it was discovered that the hire was improperly executed.
What appears to have happened here is they moved a Cook County job out to Freeport so that no veteran in that region would likely qualify. Then they gave the job to Rada and moved it back to Cook County, thereby skirting the veterans’ preference hiring mandate.
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Thompson in legal trouble?
Friday, Dec 16, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Oy.
The scandal swirling around the Hollinger company hit close to home with word Thursday that former Illinois governor Jim Thompson is the target of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
Thompson was on the audit committee of the company which owns the Chicago Sun-Times and several suburban newspapers. Bloomberg News reports Thompson was served with papers warning him that SEC investigators may be close to seeking civil charges against the former governor.
Governor Thompson said by e-mail Thursday that he can’t talk about the on-going investigation. This comes on a day when the federal government lodged new charges against Conrad Black, the one-time head of Hollinger, charges that include obstruction of justice. […]
Former governor Jim Thompson and two other members of Hollinger’s audit committee are reportedly under SEC investigation for supposedly turning a blind eye to widespread fraud at the company.
David Ruder headed the Securities and Exchange Commission in the late ’80’s. He says it almost unheard of to see a corporate board member face this kind of scrutiny.
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Today at Illinoize
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
David Morrison of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform writes about judges not filing on time.
Diane of Respublica Blog has a post up about the Philip Morris case.
Jill Stanek on the mainstream media and blogs.
Jim Muir of the Southern Illinoisan has yet another very good post.
Go there.
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Eisendrath announcement
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Edwin Eisendrath has kept all details about his gubernatorial announcement pretty close to the vest. His secrecy has been kind of maddening, actually. But someone on his supporters’ list forwarded me this e-mail a few minutes ago.
We are hoping you can join us on Sunday, December 18th when Edwin formally announces he is running for Governor of the great State of Illinois. We need all of you there to cheer him on as he officially begins the fight to bring honesty, integrity and independence to our statehouse. It’s a family affair so please bring your kids! The press will be there, too, so be ready to show them how enthusiastic we are about Edwin’s campaign and what it means to our future.
What: Edwin Eisendrath Announces for Governor
Where: Kendall College- 6th floor
900 N North Branch Street (Chicago & Halsted)
When: 11am (guests need to arrive by 10:45)
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Deja Vu all over again
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Apparently, somebody didn’t learn from Monday’s litte episode here.
Ric Klau busts out an astro-turf blogger today.
The reactions to my comments about Tammy Duckworth’s campaign sure have been interesting. As expected, some of the comments (and private e-mails, of which there have been a number) express support for Christine and dismay at the DCCC’s handling of the race, a few have expressed support for Major Duckworth, and a few even addressed the substance of what I was writing about: the ham-handed efforts by a couple of local party officials to restrict Duckworth’s ability to solicit support at party functions.
And then there was this comment left earlier today by “Lisaâ€, who says she lives in Melissa Bean’s district and lays out why she thinks Duckworth is the right candidate. Interestingly, the IP address associated with Lisa’s computer is owned by the Democratic National Committee headquarters
He adds this update:
The DCCC is located on the 2nd floor of the building, so it’s entirely likely that this comment is from the DCCC and not the DNC…
Idiots.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
We read some good advice here the other day about book buying, but I wonder what other Illinois-related Christmas gifts people might come up with today.
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Guess who’ll make this appointment?
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
I’m thinking, oh, I dunno…. somebody who has extensive Middle Eastern ties who provided ten percent of the Blagojevich family household income last year and has the initials “Tony Rezko” might be given just a little input into this venture?
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration wants to reopen an Illinois trade office in the Middle East, part of a new strategy to take advantage of business-friendly changes in the region.
Illinois had a trade office in Jerusalem for several years, but closed it last year. Now the administration plans to reopen an office, but perhaps not in Israel.
Even if the office remains there, it will pursue business aggressively with other countries, officials said, particularly oil-rich nations sending more investment money abroad.
“It’s hard to serve all of the Middle East from Israel, so we have been evaluating, should we try to have an office set up so that we can not only service Israel, but the rest of the Middle East?” said Jack Lavin, head of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Director Lavin, you may recall, once worked for Rezko.
I also don’t remember a big announcement about the closure of the Israeli office. Strange.
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Topinka/Birkett
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Barring unforeseen circumstances (bad weather canceled yesterday’s fly-around) the announcement is today:
Judy Baar Topinka is recruiting an anti-abortion, tough-on-crime running mate in her campaign for the Republican nomination for governor.
Topinka has made clear for days that she was close to sealing a deal for DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett to run for lieutenant governor.
She and Birkett have scheduled a series of news conferences around the state tomorrow where Birkett is expected to announce his candidacy.
Meanwhile, the governor will personally address the Illinois State Board of Education today. From a press release.
During the Illinois State Board of Education’s meeting tomorrow, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich will explain why he believes the board should vote to adopt new rules banning the sale of junk food and soda in elementary and middle schools.
Afterwards, he’ll award a $500,000 grant for educational programs at Chicago’s Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum.
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Ryan trial stuff
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
This is a good example of how the Ryan trial is going.
The director of the computer department in the secretary of state’s office under George Ryan testified Wednesday that IBM lobbyists helped him get the job and he assured them that he thought the office should switch to a multimillion-dollar IBM computer.
Once hired, he played a major part in the conversion from an old, overloaded computer to a $25 million IBM model, Frank Cavallaro told jurors hearing the former governor’s racketeering and fraud trial.
Federal prosecutors say Ryan’s decision to buy the IBM computer shows how an elite circle of well-connected Ryan friends, including co-defendant Larry Warner, made money off state contracts and leases when Ryan was Illinois secretary of state.
And then at the bottom of the story we get this.
Questioned by Ryan attorney Julie Bauer, Cavallaro said that he genuinely believed the state was right to buy the IBM system. He said only a few states anywhere in the nation at the time were using anything other than IBM-compatible systems for driver records and the like.
Emphasis added.
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Oops
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
On the off chance that I might one day find myself in front of one of these judges, I won’t say that I have little to no sympathy for someone who doesn’t even know when to file.
Three Cook County judges face the potential loss of their seats after they missed a deadline last week to file for retention.
“She simply forgot to file,” said Mathias Delort, an election lawyer representing Judge Joan Margaret O’Brien. “She is crestfallen about the situation.”
Delort and Burt Odelson, a lawyer representing Judge Carole Kamin Bellows, who also failed to file on time, are asking a Cook County judge to rule unconstitutional the state statute setting the Dec. 5 deadline.
A hearing before Judge Patrick McGann, the presiding judge of the county division, has been set for Monday. […]
Delort said they need the courts to act quickly so attorneys don’t begin filing petitions to run for one of the three seats, which at the moment are technically open. A veteran election lawyer, Delort said this was the first time he knew of that a sitting judge had forgotten to file for retention.
Emphasis added.
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