Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Today’s State Week in Review program from Illinois Public Radio should be good. The archive is here, or just click below.

[audio:10132006.mp3]

* OneMan responded to my call yesterday for snarky ads to help Gov. Blagojevich out of this mess by actually producing a TV ad himself. Great music. His best effort to date and it can also be found at the Capitol Fax YouTube “vlog.”

* Also at the vlog is this kinda goofy but somewhat entertaining “song” for Dan Rutherford’s SoS race:

* IIS: Early voting for the November election kicks of Monday

[audio:early.mp3]

* Also from IIS is this bad news for farmers: Asian soybean rust found in IL

[audio:rust.mp3]

* This afternoon’s IIS story package inclludes this one about the U of I offering live video visits with soldiers in Iraq

[audio:soldier.mp3]

* This is a pretty good positive ad for Rod Blagojevich.

20 Comments

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Street-Tracy; Myers-Frerich; Smith-Dagit; Bond-Simpson; Roth-Noland; Flider-Cain; Flider-Ameren; Syverson; Koehler-Russell; Tuite TV ad; Target Feed (use all CAPS in password)

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Enter your password to view comments

This just in… Rezko given another week to appear *** Updated x2 ***

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I was working on my syndicated column and the subscriber-only post and missed this a few minutes ago.

Antoin “Tony'’ Rezko, a key adviser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich who was scheduled to appear in court this morning on federal charges, missed his arraignment because he is traveling outside the country, his attorney said.

When asked when Rezko would return to the United States, lawyer Joseph J. Duffy said “soon.”

At the 10 a.m. hearing, U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel gave Rezko until next Thursday, Oct. 19, to show up in court.

Duffy assured Zagel that Rezko is not on the run and will appear in court next week. “There’s nothing unusual about this trip, judge. He travels frequently for business,” Duffy said.

*** UPDATE *** From CBS2:

Rezko has also stopped paying taxes on his North Shore mansion.

The house is one of the largest homes in one of the most desirable sections of Wilmette — not the sort of place to have more than $25,000 in unpaid property taxes. But the Cook County Treasurer’s Web site shows it’s nearly six weeks overdue.

On Thursday, some insiders saw the tax issue as a sign that Rezko may not be planning a quick return to the United States. A native of Syria, Rezko has reportedly been on a lengthy visit to the Middle East.

This is not the first time Rezko’s been late paying his huge property tax bill. He was 16 days late last March

*** UPDATE 2 *** Rezko’s attorney talks about the charges against his client.

“Obviously Mr. Rezko feels strongly about these charges in that they’re baseless, and that he will be vindicated at trial. I will tell you, you really need to study these indictments.

The second indictment (alleging Rezko obtained $10.5 million in fraudulent loans for a pizza business) is really nothing more than the result of some civil litigation that’s been going on for years against GE.

And the other indictment (alleging Rezko tried to shake down firms seeking state business), I think, is predicated upon the alleged production of an individual who’s trying to curry favor with the government.”

49 Comments

Question of the day

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

There were plenty of stories today about how Illinois Democrats were scrambling to dump cash donated to their campaigns by Tony Rezko.

Blagojevich, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White, Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama were among those announcing Thursday they’d make donations to charities equal to what their campaigns had received from Rezko and his affiliated businesses in recent years. […]

Blagojevich’s campaign said more than $65,000 in past contributions directly tied to Rezko would be split between charities benefiting juvenile diabetes research and breast cancer research. Madigan’s campaign planned to make donations totaling $48,000. Obama’s donations would total $11,500. White planned to donate $6,500. Quinn was traveling Thursday and had not tallied his Rezko donations, but state campaign finance reports show he’d collected more than $17,000 from Rezko or his affiliates since 1998. […]

Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat, has no plans to make similar donations, a spokeswoman said Thursday. As recently as April, Jones accepted a $2,000 contribution from a business enterprise co-owned by Rezko.

It was uncertain what House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat and head of the state party, planned to do with past donations. Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, said he’d not spoken to Madigan, who’s also co-chairing Blagojevich’s re-election bid.

What about the rest of the money? Rezko raised lots of cash for many of those people and committees.

Question: Should all of the candidates and committees shed themselves of all Rezko-tainted contributions, including money he helped them raise? Why or why not?

Bonus question: Suggest a charity where the money should go.

62 Comments

New polling has some surprises *** Updated x1 ***

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

[Bumped up closer to the top because it was posted so late yesterday. It’s also been slightly edited this morning.]

Constituent Dynamics has posted some interesting poll results in IL congressional races.

Go here and click on the districts, or just click on the links below:

* Roskam-Duckworth, 47-47 (crosstabs pdf)

* Hastert-Laesch, 52-42 (crosstabs pdf)

* Shimkus-Stover, 53-36 (crosstabs pdf)

*** UPDATE *** ArchPundit has DCCC numbers from the Duckworth-Roskam race.

IL-06 (Open): Tammy Duckworth (D) vs. Peter Roskam (R)

Head to Head: Duckworth 51%, Roskam 46%.

Only 34% of voters in Illinoisâ€™ 6th district think that the country is going on the right track, while 57% say weâ€™re headed down the wrong track and only 21% give President Bush a positive rating for the job he is doing. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 409 voters; October 8-9; margin of error 5%]

24 Comments

They can’t watch it if nobody covers it

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

There’s a saying in politics that if it isn’t on TV it didn’t happen. But what about if it’s not on TV?

This study is not heartening, but also not surprising.

A University of Wisconsin survey of election coverage on local television news in nine Midwest markets found that stations in Springfield-Decatur-Champaign devoted an average of 21 seconds for each 30-minute newscast to election coverage. […]

All of the stations included in the study averaged about 36 seconds of election coverage daily.

An examination of the data shows that WICS-TV, based in Springfield, provided double the number of election stories when compared to the other two main stations serving the market - WCIA in Champaign and WAND in Decatur.

WICS also had more election-related stories than all but two stations in state capitols covered by the study.

Chicago stations averaged 29 seconds of election coverage.

Chicago stations averaged 2 minutes and 3 seconds for “Teasers, bumpers and intros,” compared to 1 minute 51 seconds for Springfield stations. Sports and weather got 6 minutes and 5 seconds in Chicago, and 7 minutes and 17 seconds in Springfield.

According to the study, “In Chicago, 31% of the [election] stories aired focused on the gubernatorial race. In Springfield, 48% of stories focused on the gubernatorial race.”

I’ll try to get the individual station-by-station breakdowns, so check back later. For now, the Illinois summary is below. Click for a larger image. You can also check out the other state results by clicking here.

9 Comments

Cellini stuff *** Updated x1 ***

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Yesterday, Judy Baar Topinka was asked about her contacts with Bill Cellini. She said she hadn’t spoken to him in ten years.

Topinka has never forgiven Cellini for that hotel deal and all the bad press that has resulted. Nevertheless expect the Democrats to try to level the playing field with revelations like this.

Longtime Republican leader William Cellini of Springfield has been implicated in a pension-fund kickback probe by federal prosecutors.

Jon Bauman, executive director of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, confirmed that Cellini is the person referred to as “Individual A” in the indictment of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a political adviser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, made public Wednesday.

In the indictment, prosecutors say Individual A and several others - including at least four people who have been formally charged with crimes - worked together to pressure investment firms into making political contributions and paying “finder’s fees” to insiders who did no work. Unless the firms paid up, they were told they wouldn’t get any business from the Teachers’ Retirement System, which pays the pension of downstate and suburban teachers, prosecutors allege.

You can also expect this story to re-emerge.

Questions over Bruner’s votes for Commonwealth come after state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka faced criticism last month for her vote in the spring to invest up to $120 million with Commonwealth from another pension system. That’s because, in 1995, Topinka was set to allow the Cellini-led hotel consortium to repay a $15.5 million state loan at a rate equal to only 25 cents on the dollar. That controversial deal was blocked, and now mounting interest has Cellini and his co-investors holding a $27.5 million IOU to taxpayers.

Topinka did not know that Commonwealth had Cellini ties when she allowed her vote with the Board of Investment to be cast, an aide told the Sun-Times last month, and she now favors revoking the Commonwealth deal. The issue could surface when the Board of Investment meets Wednesday.

Cellini yielded his 75 percent ownership stake in Commonwealth to two of his children more than a decade ago, but the firm is based in the same suite of Chicago offices where several other Cellini companies are located.

*** UPDATE *** The Tribune had this nugget today:

Topinka’s efforts to turn the tables on Blagojevich come after months of being hammered in Blagojevich campaign ads linking her to Ryan, convicted earlier this year on corruption charges. Blagojevich campaign aides said a recent commercial featuring Topinka with Ryan at the Illinois State Fair soon will be replaced with the new ad, which doesn’t name Topinka, Ryan or Bush.

Still, the Blagojevich campaign insider said that another commercial showing Topinka dancing the polka with Ryan is “in the can” and ready to be rolled out if they feel it’s necessary. One of Topinka’s GOP primary opponents ran a similar ad showing news footage from years earlier of Topinka dancing with Ryan.

37 Comments

Still in denial

Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The governor says he was completely surprised when Tony Rezko was indicted. His other close fundraising pal/adviser Chris Kelly was referred to in Rezko’s indictment, but Blagojevich continues to believe all is well. At least, that’s what he’s saying in public.

The Southtown editorial board interviewed the governor and posted the transcript online.

Q: But you did not disassociate yourself from Chris Kelly and Tony Rezko.

A: Hold on. Why are you bringing Chris Kelly into this? He has nothing to do with any of this. He’s got nothing to do with the Health Facilities Planning Board.

Q: He was raised when your father-in-law made the accusations that you were trading appointments for campaign contributions.

A: Right. It’s a lie. My father-in-law lied because I did my duty and acted on a recommendation to protect the environment on a landfill that my father-in-law had an interest in.

Q: Are you confident that Chris Kelly is not going to be indicted?

A: Yeah. Yes. They’re two different people, by the way, and it’s a different relationship. Chris and I are much closer. Chris is the head of my political campaign. That’s someone I talk to a lot more frequently. I’m confident, yes.

From my Sun-Times column:

Once again, Illinoisans are forced to wonder whether their governor is an idiot or a crook or an idiotic crook. […]

Kelly is not mentioned by name in Rezko’s indictment, but everyone’s reporting that he is “Individual B.” Individual B is alleged to have participated in a crooked scheme with Rezko and others to make sure that the Teachers Retirement System used investors and lawyers that he and Rezko recommended. According to a guilty plea by another player involved in this corrupt cabal, those investors and lawyers were then to be shaken down on behalf of Blagojevich’s campaign fund.

42 Comments

« NEWER POSTS