* Yesterday I wondered how John Laesch would respond to Dan Hynes’ endorsement of Laesch’s opponent Bill Foster in the 14th Congressional District. I didn’t have to wait long…
Laesch, who ran and lost to Hastert last year, said he’s not chasing endorsements in Springfield or Washington, D.C.
“There are very few leaders in those places that I admire,” he said.
Joe Serra, another Dem candidate, had the funniest reply, however…
Serra, of Geneva, said he doubted the endorsements would factor into voters’ decisions. “I don’t think the voters are paying attention,” he said. “People don’t pay attention to the primary.”
Good luck with that campaign strategy, poindexter.
* An award-winning national study gave the Illinois General Assembly a perfect score for legislative committee “autonomy.” They weren’t joking and it’s not April Fool’s Day. I checked.
* To my great surprise, The Lipinski Symposium wasn’t at all about how to get your slightly embarassing kid re-elected to Congress. Go figure.
* That Bill Beavers sure is one funny guy. Here he is speaking about a proposed $4 per line monthly tax on all phone lines in the county, including cell phones…
“They say it’s unconstitutional, but if we can get it passed we will let it go to court to see if it is constitutional. I think it is,” said William Beavers, the county commissioner sponsoring the new tax. […]
“A number of people do support it,” he said.
“A number” would be… oh… I’d guess around two: Beavers and Todd Stroger.
Still, though, nothing says “goofy” quite like Blagojevich.
A couple of weeks ago, Blagojevich announced he was using some of the money he vetoed from the budget to pay for free mammograms for Illinois women. The money really wasn’t coming from the vetoes, which I’ve already told you before, and there already is lots of money for mammograms in the state budget.
What I didn’t tell you before was that Blagojevich actually vetoed a $40,000 appropriation to a group called Sisters Embracing Life. The money was supposed to be used to provide breast exams for minority women.
Perfect.
* Former Chicago Ald. Ted Matlak spent years on the city council laying down for real estate developers. Now, he is one of them…
Former 32nd Ward Alderman Ted Matlak has landed in the real estate business.
“It’s somewhat of a natural fit,” said Matlak
Yep.
* And finally, Eunice Conn sums up just about everyone’s outrage when she asks…
Is it any wonder why so many conservatives are turned off by our Party leadership?
She’s referring to state GOP Chairman Andy McKenna’s “refusal” to meet with Mike Psak, a truck driver who is running for US Senate as a Republican. Make sure to read the comments, then take a look at Psak’s campaign video…
Despite the governor’s contention that a “do-over” on juvenile sex offender registration requirements “condones leniency toward sex offenders,” the General Assembly’s override of his veto instead struck a blow for fairness.
The override, 76 to 34 in the House and 41 to 8 in the Senate, axed the requirement that juvenile sex offenders must register as adults at 17 and made it possible for them to eventually ask a judge to remove their names from juvenile registries.
Those overrides were a wise acknowledgment of an over-reactionary law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2006. It actually read that a juvenile sex offender “upon attaining 17 years of age shall be considered as having committed the offense on or after the sex offender’s 17th birthday” — even if he was 12 or 13 at the time of his offense.
In Illinois, where no distinction is made between types of offenses or the age of offenders, that means a 13-year-old who touched a girl’s breast and then fled was equated with an adult rapist or child molester. That simply is not fair, especially since juveniles who took plea deals under one law might have rejected them under the terms of the later, harsher law.
Under state law, juvenile sex offenders still must register, but their names are withheld from all but law enforcement, schools and day-care organizations. Those registrations can run from a short time to life.
Go read the whole thing and then answer the question: Was this veto justified? Why or why not?
Springfield’s daily newspaper is offering a voluntary severance program to nearly half its staff. The State Journal-Register cites the need for flexibility as it adjusts to rapid changes in the newspaper industry.
The company says it sent letters at the end of last week to 149 full-time employees who are not in the union and have been with the newspaper for at least a year. It’s also negotiating with its collective bargaining units to be able to make the same offer to 47 union employees. […]
The newspaper has a work force of 345, including part-time employees.
* Billy Dennis has been closely following the SJ-R’s parent company GateHouse for some time now, and isn’t really surprised…
Just this morning, I left a comment at Rich Miller’s site about how I was worried that by not replacing workers who leave, GateHouse Media was making it harder to practice newspaper journalism at the Peoria Journal Star. […]
They wouldn’t be offering early retirement to people they plan to replace. So this means more beats won’t be covered (or will be covered poorly as workloads increase). It probably means earlier deadlines because fewer people will need more time to get their jobs done.
* And one of his commenters had this to say…
There are two really odd things about this buyout offer — or at least what we know about it:
1. The huge number of people involved. One wonders how many buyouts they are really willing to accept. I can’t believe it’s all 149. There appears to be a rather extensive (but not revealed) list of reserved positions. For example, if every copy editor or every photog quit, that would be a problem.
2. The short service that makes an employee eligible for the offer. None of the dozens of newspaper buyouts I have read about in the past year or so has been offered to employees with only one year of service.
It’s an odd one. One can only guess at how overstaffed the bean-counters think the place is.
* A while back, I posted this map of GateHouse’s papers in Illinois [click for a larger image]…
* Retired Army Colonel Jill Morgenthaler hasn’t even announced that she’ll run against freshman Republican Peter Roskam yet, but she’s already being attacked by a flier in the 6th Congressional District.
The flier, which was apparently sent to Democrats in the district, damns her with praise, claiming, among other things, that she was the Army’s “go-to” person during the notorious Abu Ghraib torture scandal.
Morgenthaler said this morning that she was indeed the Army’s spokesperson during the scandal and a quick search shows she was widely quoted in the media.
“I was trying to make sure we got the facts out,” Morganthaler said, claiming that the scandal and the lack of leadership “led to a lot of good things being discounted.”
The flier also claims that Morgenthaler was a member of the Army’s Psychological Operations team in Qatar, but Col. Morgenthaler, who is Gov. Blagojevich’s deputy chief of staff for homeland security, said her involvement with Psy Ops was limited to a tour in California back in 1984 and likened her job to “advertising and marketing.”
Apparently, however, somebody is using Psy Ops against her now. Morgenthaler said this morning that, despite the claims made in the flier, she was not recruited by Congressman Rahm Emanuel. She has spoken with Emanuel, she said, but others, including fellow soldiers and Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, who lost to Roskam last year, have been far more influential.
Morgenthaler is taking vacation time this week to mull the bid against Roskam, talking to various people and assessing the situation, including the possibility of a continued smear campaign against her.
Morgenthaler is also quoted in the flier complaining about the lack of coverage of the good things that the military was doing in Iraq, and the retired colonel said today that while she was there (she arrive in early 2004 and left in October of 2004) a constitution was formed and elections were held. “Things got positive.”
As for the future, she doesn’t want an immediate pull-out, but said, “We can’t stay the course either.” She thinks several important voices have been overlooked in a search for a solution, including the British and other regional leaders like the Queen of Jordan, whom Morgenthaler praised for her insight.
Morgenthaler currently doesn’t reside in the district (she was mapped out in 2002), but she and her husband live on the Des Plaines River and the flooding this summer has already prompted a search for a new house.
She promised to get back to me as soon as she makes a decision. Stay tuned.
“Mine is a strategy about elevating my name recognition and my overall qualifications for the candidacy and then going after fundraising after we’ve got that reputation and name recognition established,” McConoughey said Tuesday, adding the money he received was not solicited.
McConoughey. who wants to replace retiring Congressman Ray LaHood, got into the race just a month after state Rep. Aaron Schock, but raised just $3,000. He loaned himself the rest. Schock raised $375,000, including a loan to his campaign. John Morris raised about $218,000.
I’m not sure how you establish name recognition before you raise money to establish name recognition, but whatever.
* And, finally, the Daily Southtown urges GOP congressional hopeful Tim Baldermann to consider reprioritizing…
The Issue: Tim Baldermann insists he can run for Congress without shirking his duties as full-time police chief (and part-time mayor).
We say: If campaign proves to be too rigorous, Balderman will have to reassess his situation as chief and do what’s best for taxpayers.
Tim Baldermann wants to be congressman from Illinois’ 11th District. That’s the same Tim Baldermann who also is mayor of New Lenox. And it’s the same Tim Baldermann who also is police chief in Chicago Ridge.
If Baldermann wins the Republican primary in February and qualifies for the general election in November 2008, he will have spent more than 12 months as chief, mayor and candidate.
Compulsive gamblers are getting a new tool meant to help them avoid the temptation of buying Illinois lottery tickets.
Lottery officials launched a “self-exclusion” program Tuesday that lets problem gamblers place themselves on a list of people who aren’t allowed to collect major prizes. They can still buy tickets and collect prizes of up to $600, but the huge jackpots will be off limits.
“We’re trying to limit the incentives,'’ said lottery spokeswoman Katie Ridgway.
So, if a compulsive gambler buys a scratch-off ticket that nets him or her enough to buy five more tickets, that’s OK (and a fairly regular occurrence). But if miracle upon miracle happens and that same person somehow comes up with the winning $25 million Lotto number, there’s no prize.
I don’t get it.
According to the article, only seven people have signed up for a similar program in Iowa in the last two years. Understandable.
“There is absolutely no confidence among law enforcement agencies that a gambling casino currently being considered could be operated without infiltration by organized crime,” Jim Wagner, President of the Chicago Crime Commission, said during a news conference.
The proposal calls for a city-owed casino run by a five-member board, three appointed by the mayor and with a license, critics say, that could never be revoked even if mismanagement or corruption flourished.
Jay Stewart of the Better Government Association questioned how the city could manage a billion dollar casino, when it “can’t do a $40 million hired truck program.”
Tuesday, Mayor Daley made it sound as though all casino decisions were out of his hands.
“We don’t have any decision making there, the state regulates, the state basically okays all contracts,” Daley said.
But critics say, the proposal also allows no-bid contracts to manage the casino, contracts the state gaming board wouldn’t oversee.
Scoopsville? Sneed hears a super secret deal is afoot at City Hall, which could potentially cause an aldermanic revolt . . . and sigh of relief!
• • Translation: It’s hush hush, but Sneed is told Mayor Daley’s fiscal advisers are working on a deal to privatize the city’s parking meters, which could potentially reap 1 BILLION bucks for the cash-strapped city. […]
• • The backshot: “If the aldermen knew what was going on secretly — and that come June or July, there might be this $1 billion windfall, it would make it harder to push for the higher property tax, which would only net the city about $108 million,” a source said. […]
• • The shot in the arm: The sweetener to the deal is already on the books; a provision to raise the parking meter rates, which is clearly a carrot for whomever buys the meters. Sneed hears the city has already hired a law firm to do the legal work on selling the meters and retained an investment banking firm to do the financial advisory work.
• • The flipshot: “In fairness to Mayor Daley, these are not easy transactions, and even though it might be a good idea, the revenue may not be forthcoming in time to help the 2008 budget . . . hence the need for the property tax raise,” said a fiscal source. “It took two years to seal the Skyway sale. And they are still working on selling Midway airport. And the beauty of the property tax is the ability to use it as a federal income tax deduction.”
* You can bet the tongues will be wagging at the Hall about Sneed’s story today. Aldermen are desperate to avoid Daley’s tax hikes and are in full panic freakout mode, and Daley is talking about unspecified compromise…
One week after chiding recalcitrant aldermen — and calling newspaper editorials that blasted his $293 million tax package “an insult to me” — Daley struck a more conciliatory tone.
“It is very controversial. I understood that when I presented it. I could have ducked the other way. But I was willing to propose it and listen to the comments about. … I’m very optimistic. I think … we can work it out and compromise in a lot of different ways,” Daley said.
“This is going to be a whole process of listening to criticism, listening to praise, suggestions to improve it. It’s like a moon coming across. The state has been in such a controversy for the whole year and I’m being part of that. … Then, you have the county. But you live with that. I have a responsibility, which I will fulfill. But at the same time, you understand these are very challenging economic times. I’m not pulling things out of the hat.”
By talking compromise, the mayor is simply facing reality: There is no way he can get the 26 votes he needs to approve the largest property tax increase in Chicago history.
Residents of DuPage County can expect less effective law enforcement and cutbacks or longer waits for health and virtually all other services provided by the county if the proposed 2008 budget released Tuesday is adopted, officials said Tuesday.
It calls for the layoff of about 235 county employees, or about 10.6 percent of county government. Hardest hit are the agencies related to law enforcement, including the Sheriff’s Department, which loses 104 positions, the state’s attorney’s office, three, the Probation Department, 29, and the court clerk, 18.
The $376 million budget plan is about $52 million less than the 2007 plan, which had called for cutting about 40 jobs and trims of social programs, including the county’s Convalescent Center.
Officials whose functions would be affected by the proposed cuts expressed dismay. […]
The board must adopt a new budget before the 2008 fiscal year begins Dec. 1. Members could make some changes in the plan, but raising new revenue in any significant amount is unlikely unless the legislature passes and the governor signs a pending bill authorizing DuPage and other suburban counties to impose a sales tax on cigarettes of $1 per pack. Even that appears to be insufficient to roll back the cuts proposed by Schillerstrom because it would raise an estimated $25 million a year for the county when the cuts total $52 million.
* The last time Scott Reeder did a big investigation of the state’s school system, his series on teacher tenure prompted a major back and forth on this blog between himself and the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
This time, Reeder takes a look at how difficult it is to fire teachers accused of misconduct, among other things. He doesn’t paint a pretty picture. Here are three stories that are posted so far at a special Small Newspaper Group website…
A seven-month national investigation conducted by Small Newspaper Group found that Illinois has one of the worst track records for removing errant teachers from the profession.
The investigation found:
* Among the 50 states, only Virginia revokes or suspends fewer teaching certificates than Illinois.
* No investigators are employed by the Illinois State Board of Education so reports of teacher misconduct are often not investigated or acted upon.
* The Department of Children and Family Services has found 323 cases providing credible evidence of abuse by teachers, but none have had their licenses suspended or revoked.
* Teachers hired before 2004 have not had to undergo a state-mandated national criminal background check.
* Physicians are 43 times more likely than the state’s teachers to have their license suspended or revoked. Lawyers are 25 times more likely than teacher to have their license suspended or revoked.
* None of the tenured teachers fired in the last decade have also lost their teaching certificate and certification officials are not notified when a school district disciplines an educator.
Unlike most states, Illinois has never employed investigators to examine allegations against educators.
* Out of 95,000 tenured teachers in Illinois an average of seven are fired each year, two for poor performance and five for misconduct.
* Eighty-four percent of Illinois’ school districts have never given any tenured teacher a bad job evaluation during an 11-year period.
* Over a five-year period school districts that retained attorneys and attempted to fire a tenured teacher spent an average $219,000 per case in legal fees alone. […]
Even so, school boards lose one-third of the cases heard by tenure hearing officers. But even if a hearing officer upholds the firing of teacher, they are free to seek employment in another school district.
In fact, none of the tenured teachers fired in the last decade have had subsequent action taken to revoke or suspend their teaching certificates.
That is not the way it works in some other states. For example, in Pennsylvania and New York, after a tenured teacher is fired the teacher licensing board automatically considers whether a teaching certificate should also be revoked.
Both the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers also expressed concern about the logistics and cost of fingerprinting 127,000 teachers.
“I think if someone has been serving honorably in a school district for 25 or 30 years or even longer the idea that they should take time out their day to be fingerprinted doesn’t make a lot sense from any perspective,'’ said Charlie McBarron, spokesman for IEA.
The compromise bill, which passed in 2004, only requires fingerprinting for teachers when they are first hired by a school district. That means most teachers hired before 2004 have not undergone a complete criminal background check and likely will not for the remainder of their careers.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart contends this approach is a mistake.
He noted that some teachers hired before 2004 may continue to be in the profession for 30 or more years.
The likely culprit is a higher standard. In 2007, 55 percent of students in a school, along with each subgroup — including racial and ethnic groups and special education students — had to perform at grade level. It was 47.5 percent last year.
By 2014, the No Child law expects all students to be at grade level. To get there, Illinois began with a modest goal in 2003 of 40 percent and increased it every other year. Starting in 2007, the target goes up every year.
One GOP strategist who asked not to be identified credited Sauerberg for genuinely wanting to make the daunting run against Durbin, a two-term senator who is the second-ranking member in the chamber’s Democratic leadership. Rallying around Sauerberg allows the party to move forward to focus on three open-seat congressional races in the state that had been held by Republicans, the strategist said.
Federal campaign finance reports show Durbin with more than $6.6 million in cash on hand after raising more than $800,000 in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30. Sauerberg reported $170,137 in cash on hand after raising $65,750 in the previous quarter. Sauerberg had previously lent is campaign $250,000.
* Brady to chair Illinois campaign for Fred Thompson
* Smoking on beaches, playgrounds likely to be banned by city parks; more here
It seems as if Daley, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and Gov. Rod Blagojevich are in a race to see who can raise your taxes the highest.
The city’s “corruption tax” is something I tried to calculate when I was exploring a run for mayor in 2006. While an exact figure is impossible to pinpoint, I conservatively estimated that the tax exceeded $1.5 billion in recent years — including $300 million for the do-nothing hired truckers; $500 million for illegal hiring under the Shakman decree; well over $100 million in fraudulent “minority” contracts to white-owned businessmen; and at least $25 million in legal fees and settlements for police torture cases. And that’s just scratching the surface.
* Stroger open to outside control of health system
* Cook Co. taxes could quickly add up for local families
And then Cook County voters may finally rise up in righteous indignation and vote against Stroger and all the political hacks who have demonstrated their complete disdain and contempt for taxpaying citizens.
It was the poorest of the poor who helped put Stroger in office.
They felt he was getting bad press. Many called it racism.
Since that time, Stroger has not only cut services that benefit some of the neediest folks in Cook County, but he has continued to pad the county payroll with friends and relatives.
In the other ear are politicians and hangers-on urging him to think twice about giving up control of 7,000 jobs and millions of dollars in contracts at a hospital system long seen as ground zero of the county patronage dumping ground.
On Tuesday, Stroger offered only tepid support — and a request for more time — for a proposal that would take control of the $745 million-a-year health system away from Stroger and the 17-member board.
