Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Wednesday, Dec 5, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

I was in an auto accident Saturday afternoon. We were heading to Chicago to see the 50th anniversary concert for the Old Town School of Folk Music during that big ice storm. Just north of Pontiac, I hit the slickest patch of ice I’ve ever seen and wound up in the median ditch. Oops.

We were both wearing our seat belts so neither of us was hurt beyond some minor bruises, even though I did total the car. Five minutes after our wreck, a car driving south on the frontage road hit an ice patch and flipped four times. The driver was apparently not wearing his belt and he was thrown from his vehicle and died almost instantly.

Usually, I like to keep my private life private. It’s really none of your business what I do or what happens to me when I’m not working. But I’ve been thinking all week that maybe if I show you a photo of my car, it’ll convince some of the recalcitrants out there to wear their freakin’ seat belts, so here it is…

Again, we weren’t hurt other than a bit of soreness. It could have been much worse if we were stupid enough not to wear our belts.

So, on to the question: Do you ever go beltless? Why? Also, do you have any friends or family members who refuse to wear their belts? What’s their excuse?

138 Comments

Spin and fallout

Wednesday, Dec 5, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I told you yesterday about the lawsuit filed by business groups to stop the governor from ignoring the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules’ vote to block his emergency rules to greatly expand health care programs. How did the governor’s office react? Well, by shifting into partisan campaign mode, of course…

The Blagojevich administration issued a written statement blasting the lawsuit as the work of “Republican activists.”

“It’s unfortunate that two prominent Republican activists would go to court to take health care away from families,” Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said in the statement. “President Bush wouldn’t even go to those lengths. Every Democratic leader in Illinois should join us in fighting this lawsuit and help protect the hardworking people who rely on us for health coverage so they can keep seeing a doctor.”

* More…

“Every Democratic leader in Illinois should join us in fighting this lawsuit and help protect the hardworking people who rely on us for health coverage so they can keep seeing a doctor,” Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said in an e-mail.

* And then there’s this breathtaking spin…

This is the first time, lawmakers note, that Blagojevich has disregarded an action by the 12-member panel, which he strengthened several years ago by giving it the power to permanently block rules sought by the administration.

Previously, such actions had to be ratified by the entire General Assembly.

Ottenhoff said the administration’s track record of obeying the panel’s rulings is “irrelevant” and insisted that the panel’s votes on rules are merely advisory.

He signed a law to specifically allow JCAR to block his emergency rules and then claims it can’t. Amazing.

* I told subscribers about this next development earlier this week, and the Trib buries it way down in their story today…

Lawmakers are watching the suit closely, saying its outcome could greatly shape the way future laws are written. It also could force legislators to rewrite many existing statutes to prevent state agencies from hiking fees or taking other major actions that would normally require approval from the rule-making committee that shot down Blagojevich’s health-care expansion, they said.

Bills are gonna get really, really long and detailed if legislators have to write the rules as well.

* More stuff…

* Kaduk: Blago too hooked on sports?

* The money crunch is underway for schools

* Business group says governor can’t go around legislators

51 Comments

News and views on a couple of primaries

Wednesday, Dec 5, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Both of these endorsements are important in a Democratic primary, and neither will come with a whole lot of cash….

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced Tuesday he will back Geneva scientist Bill Foster, and the Illinois AFL-CIO announced its support for Yorkville carpenter John Laesch in the 14th Congressional District Democratic primary election.

“As a scientist and businessman, Bill Foster will be a voice for common sense solutions in Congress,” Durbin said in a statement. “I’m proud to lend him my support and I look forward to working with Bill Foster to bring an end to the war in Iraq, pass affordable health care for all Americans and end our dependence on foreign oil.”

On Feb. 5, Foster will compete with Laesch, Genevan Joe Serra and St. Charles attorney Jotham Stein for the Democratic nomination to fill the seat formerly held by Rep. Dennis Hastert. […]

Also on Tuesday, the state AFL-CIO announced its backing for Laesch, who ran against Hastert in the 2006 general election.

The AFL-CIO listed the union carpenter among a group of national and local candidates the organization said “have long track records of standing up for workers’ rights, workplace safety, education, healthcare for all, fair trade and corporate accountability.”

Laesch is probably still struggling to gain some credibility after his gaffe-filled race in 2006, so the endorsement will help a lot. Foster has a hill to climb on name recognition, which Laesch already has because of the ‘06 bid, so the Durbin endorsement will help there.

* Meanwhile, Jim Oberweis was interviewed this week…

“I think there’s pretty good name recognition for the Oberweis name,” Oberweis said. “In fact, as I go door to door, It’s not unusual for people to, before I’m able to introduce myself, say ‘I know you.’”

I wonder what they say right after that. Anyway, back to the interview…

“As I’ve gone door to door, I’ve asked people what’s on their mind, and I really expected the war in Iraq to be the number one issue, and it wasn’t,” Oberweis said. “In fact, illegal immigration was the number one issue on people’s minds. I would say I get more questions on illegal immigration than on all other issues combined.”

People often hear what they want to hear, but he’s walking doors and I’m not, so I’ll take his word for it.

“I’m really an entrepreneur. I have really spent my life in business,” Oberweis said. “I’m not really a politician, and I never will be a politician.”

The jokes write themselves.

Oberweis is also attempting to assume the mantle of Denny Hastert, as this quote makes obvious…

Besides vying for the 14th Congressional seat, Oberweis also has run for state governor and [US] senate. He said he became interested in politics after Hastert encouraged him to run for [US] senate.

“My response was, ‘Well if Denny Hastert asks me to run and Peter Fitzgerald wants me to run and other Republicans want me to run, sure.’ I thought that was my way of saying no. But, two days later, I got a call from Denny Hastert asking me to get involved,” Oberweis said. “Since then, I have learned more. I have become more discouraged with the condition of the Republican party in Illinois, and I have become more and more committed to helping change that direction and trying to get candidates who are involved to serve the public instead of people who are involved to make money off of politic

Oberweis also promised to build an ice cream shop in the DeKalb-Sycamore area.

* In other news…

* Seals Beats Out Footlik For AFL-CIO Primary Endorsement

* Democrat Scott Harper Gets AFL-CIO Endorsement In IL-13

* Jill Morgenthaler Gets Key Labor Endorsement In IL-6

Discuss.

16 Comments

Not good

Wednesday, Dec 5, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Many of us have been impressed with the way Alexi Giannoulias has handled himself as state treasurer. But his family’s bank is gonna dog him for a long while, I think. Today’s Sun-Times story is headlined “Alexi the amnesiac?”…

llinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was accused Tuesday of evading questions and playing a “game” about what he knew about a $1 million bank loan he gave in 2002 to an 86-year-old, “feeble-minded” woman.

Giannoulias was loan officer at his family’s Broadway Bank when he agreed to give the loan to Loren Billings, who once ran the city’s Museum of Holography. She had applied for the loan with co-signers who had a history of fraud. Billings’ family is now suing the bank.

Giannoulias testified he had concerns about the co-signers and approved the loan only after their names were removed. Still, Billings’ family says that within a day of Giannoulias cutting her a check, more than half of it was made out to a firm those co-signers were associated with, GnXpert Neural Technologies. […]

Later testimony revealed Billings can’t fill out basic forms on her own, though Giannoulias testified “she was confident in what she was doing” and given that she was willing to mortgage her business and home on the loan, “it would be a prudent loan.”

More…

Giannoulias was the loan officer on the Billings loan, although he had only been working full-time at the bank for about a month. He testified Tuesday that he did not recall whether he personally investigated Billings’ financial records but that he believed other bank officials most likely had done so.

He appeared largely unruffled during about three hours of questioning, though he frequently could not remember details, often repeating, “Again, that was five years ago.”

At one point, William Cook, an attorney for Kasprazak, protested about what he called Giannoulias’ “evasive dodging” on whether the loan was prudent.

Giannoulias eventually agreed that if the loan were based only on Billings’ tax return information, “I’m not sure it would be a prudent loan.” But Broadway Bank attorney Damon Cheronis argued that the question was not proper.

In a statement released Tuesday, bank officials argued that the lawsuit was “fraught with baseless claims and factual errors” and that they expected to prevail.

Billings “clearly understood the terms of the loan,” bank officials said in the statement.

41 Comments

Morning shorts

Wednesday, Dec 5, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson

* Purchase tickets here for the December 16th performance of “No-El, Or How the Blagojegrinch Stole Christmas” - Our Capitol Fax holiday party

* Study finds that IL continues to lose high-paying jobs

* Illinois mental health statistics

According to Mental Health America, Illinois has one of the lowest suicide rates in the nation.

The organization says Illinois ranks number six when it comes to the lowest number of suicides.

The state ranks number eight when it comes to lowest number of depressed people in the country.

But according to Katie Jones of the Mental Health Association of Illinois Valley, that number is misleading because Chicago skews the data.

She says people in bigger cities have lower rates of suicide because of better access to services.

* Reilly Wins First Development Battle

* IL Revenue Dept. posts delinquent’s names

* $310,000 for top cop? Yes, it is worth it says Daley; more here

* Sun-Times Editorial: CPS must solve its payroll problem, and now

For the last eight months, paychecks for hundreds of teachers and staff have arrived late or were short — sometimes by hundreds of dollars. And 1,600 teachers who retired in June have been getting estimated pension checks, rather than the exact amount, with as many as 650 getting much less than they are due, the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Board says.

All because CPS can’t figure out how to work the $17 million payroll system it launched in March.

* Six Dems vyign for State’s Attorney post square off

During the 100-minute exchange, the candidates also addressed a wide range of other issues, including how to handle low-level drug offenders, jail overcrowding and the county’s current budget impasse. The Democratic primary is wide-open, with a large field of candidates and no endorsement by the county party.

On the Republican side, Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica of Riverside, who unsuccessfully ran for board president last year, is running against Edward Barron, an Orland Park attorney.

* State cries foul after getting refurbished copiers

The hit on taxpayers after the transaction with Brooklyn, New York-based M&M Computers is pegged at an estimated $165,217.

The copiers, which had been targeted for use at the Illinois Department of Transportation, were put in storage pending legal review.

* Chicago Public Radio: More IL teachers earning top credentials

* ISU wants state to butt out of smoking issue

* Petitions turned in for GOP candidate Paul in Illinois

17 Comments

« NEWER POSTS