* Greg Hinz at Crain’s writes today about an editorial board meeting with Bill Brady late last week. Among other things, Brady said he wants to do a huge pension bond deal, perhaps as much as $50 billion.
But most of what Hinz writes about today is Brady’s claim that he can cut ten percent of all spending to balance the budget. The object, Brady said, is to cut 10 percent from $45 billion of available spending. But Hinz heard something different…
Mr. Brady’s own number guys have told him that so many things like federal programs and debt service would have to be exempt that the remaining programs would have to be cut nearly 20%.
No, he hasn’t been told that, he replied. But “it’s possible” the average cuts would exceed 10%, depending on how fast his administration could boost income by creating new private-sector jobs.
And Brady’s numbers for the deficit are off as well….
Once you take things like the $14-billion Medicaid program off the table, which is mostly funded by the federal government, “maybe $30 billion” remains on the table for the 10% cuts. And the real deficit actually is more like $7 billion than $5 billion, [Taxpayers Federation president Tom Johnson] says.
In other words, without new revenues, “you’d need about 20%” in cuts to balance the budget.
That would be on top of what has already been cut.
And according to the comptroller’s office, the state’s bill backlog for last fiscal year now stands at more than $6.4 billion, or 23 percent of total FY 2010 base revenues. On top of that, the state has accumulated another $3.5 billion in unpaid bills for this fiscal year.
For sure, $44,000 isn’t a whole lot of money compared to the state’s $13 billion budget deficit.
But, when it comes to cutting the state budget during an economic downturn, you have to start somewhere.
The early returns on one of Gov. Pat Quinn’s attempts to reduce state spending show at least three of his agencies have complied with an edict to cut out magazine and newspaper subscriptions.
The governor’s directive, issued in July, also asked agencies to find savings in other areas, including telephone costs, travel and overtime. […]
At the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the order has meant the end of morning delivery of two daily newspapers and the political newsletter Capitol Fax.
Like every other publication in this state, I do have several agencies as subscribers. I haven’t pushed them for payment or complained about late payments and I’m more than willing to work with the agencies as they try to get through this. All they have to do is ask.
Gov. Pat Quinn says he’d push for legislation forcing public officials to pay income tax on their state salaries, even if business losses wipe out their income.
Quinn has criticized Republican Bill Brady for not paying federal income taxes, implying the state senator did something improper.
But Brady didn’t pay taxes because his state salary was more than wiped out by his business losses.
Quinn said Monday that Brady should’ve paid taxes on the publicly funded part of his salary anyway.
Gov. Pat Quinn says Republican opponent Bill Brady and House Speaker Michael Madigan wouldn’t be in office today if a constitutional amendment to impose term limits he supported years ago had gotten on the ballot.
In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Quinn wouldn’t say if Madigan has overstayed his welcome in Springfield. Quinn says it’s up to voters in Madigan’s district and lawmakers in Springfield to decide if he keeps his seat and remains speaker.
Thoughts?
* Related…
* Quinn vague on ideas for Ill. future: Gov. Pat Quinn isn’t offering many details on what more he would do to repair the state budget or where he’d like to take Illinois if he wins a full term.
* A new Suffolk University poll has Gov. Pat Quinn leading Bill Brady 43-37. The toplines are here. From the pollster…
Quinn’s margins over Brady among ages 18-44 years (+25 points), Cook County voters (+30 points), and minority voters (+38 points) are the driving forces behind the Democrat’s edge in the statewide numbers.
I called the pollster because I noticed an error in the toplines. They show “Chicago” as being 38 percent of their universe. The pollster said this was a typo and it should read “Chicago and suburban Cook County.”
If you look at the extensive crosstabs, you’ll see Quinn is leading Brady 41-33 43-36 with women and 41-34 42-39 with men. I just don’t buy either of those results yet unless Quinn has performed some sort of crazy voodoo magic.
Still, the poll had Mark Kirk leading Alexi Giannoulias by a point, 42-41, which is in line with most other recent polls. And they had the generic congressional ballot essentially tied at 42 Democratic and 41 Republican. That is essentially the same result that Public Policy Polling got. So, it’s odd, man. Odd.
According to the pollster, Scott Lee Cohen is at 7 percent, Rich Whitney is at 3 percent and Lex Green is at 1 percent. I can buy those, too.
* The pollster was the first to survey the constitutional ballot question this year providing for gubernatorial recall. Just 48 percent were in favor and 44 percent were opposed.
* Other races…
* Lisa Madigan 63, Steve Kim 14
* Jesse White 60, Robert Enriquez 15
* Judy Baar Topinka 39. David Miller 23
* Dan Rutherford 32, Robin Kelly 26
* They also asked some policy questions. 18 percent said an ounce or less of marijuana should be legal, 19 percent said the amount should be decriminalized, and 33 percent said it should be legal only with a prescription. Total that up and you get 70 percent in favor of changing the state’s stupid laws. Just 21 percent said an ounce or less should be illegal under any circumstances. Another 10 percent was undecided.
* 37 percent of voters came out “absolutely against” any legally recognized unions for same sex couples, while 24 percent supported civil unions and 30 percent backed legal marriage.
* And 69 percent backed term limits for Congress of six, two-year terms. 25 percent opposed it and 5 percent were undecided.
* Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson looks like this year’s version of Carol Moseley-Braun. No, not the CM-B who became the first black female US Senator in 1992. I mean the incumbent who spent six years doing basically nothing, not coming home, walling herself off from the media and compiling a less than mediocre legislative record.
When the choice is between a mediocre first-term U.S. representative who tends to vote your way and a young upstart of great promise who would just as likely vote the other way, whom do you support?
We’re going with the kid.
Halvorson was a good state legislator who understood how to win tough campaigns. She was out and about in her district and generally kept in touch. It was tough for her to watch her voting record after she became the Senate Majority Leader, but she was such a strong campaigner/legislator that she was wooed hard by the DC Dems. Apparently, she forgot every lesson she ever learned in Springfield.
…Adding… The Halvorson campaign just called with several instances where she was available to constituents. But the fact remains that the people I’ve talked to in her district who are in this business say she just hasn’t been nearly visible enough.
* In other congressional campaign news, the National Association of Realtors is spending $300,000 on television ads supporting Democratic incumbent Bill Foster. Watch the ad…
* FiveThirtyEight, by the way, has downgraded Republican chances of taking this seat and now has it as an even chance of a takeover. Nate Silver had categorized this as a “Lean Takeover” seat.
The NRCC has launched a TV ad blitz targeting 45 districts this week, marking the first time Republicans have been on the air in as many districts as they’ll need to take back control of the House. Republicans are spending big on the effort, dishing out $4.4M on the ad buys this week.
The blitz is significant because, like last week, Republicans are spending much more on the airwaves than Democrats. The ads are part of the GOP’s strategy of going on the attack early in an attempt to lock up seats. The DCCC, on the other hand, is reserving the bulk of its resources for the final couple of weeks before Election Day.
The ads - 25 of which are brand new — come a week after the NRCC went up in 30 districts. The NRCC has planned to spend $35M on TV in 55 districts so far.
The NRCC is targeting 17 Democrats with ad buys of $100K or more.
The NRCC is apparently running ads in 10 (Kirk open seat), 11 (Halvorson) and 14 (Foster).
* In other down-ballot news, the Tribune, as expected, endorsed Forrest Claypool. They laid it on thick…
No task for Cook County voters is more important than denying the Democratic machine control of the assessor’s office whose calculations of real estate values drive your property tax bills. Its candidate, Joe Berrios — who sits on the county’s tax appeals board, moonlights as a lobbyist and heads the County Democratic Party — is a one-man conflict of interests. Most egregiously, he lobbies Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton in Springfield — then returns to Chicago to handle their law firms’ tax appeals on behalf of big commercial clients.
There’s more. Can’t wait for the scourge of legalized video gambling to arrive at restaurants and bars near you? Thank lobbyist Berrios and his compliant cronies in Springfield. And did we mention that Berrios supported his pal Todd Stroger’s notorious hike in the sales tax? Stroger wound up with a 1-percentage-point tax increase; Berrios was happy with Stroger’s initial proposal for a 2-point gouge.
Berrios’ supporters have a warning for the renegades.
“Everyone will be held accountable,” 1st Ward Committeeman Jesse Ruben Juarez told me. “They don’t realize how many Latinos they have in their areas.”
In truth, neither race nor ethnicity nor controversial social issues are involved in this contest. It’s a simple matter of reform, and political strategist Kitty Kurth says it boils down to this:
“If Berrios is able to win, the Machine still exists.”
And if he loses?
There will be an eye-popping chink in the little that’s left of its armor.
* I’ve been having serious problems with my Firefox browser for a few days now, so I made the decision a couple of hours ago to switch over to a new browser. I’m not sure what’s going on, but the thing is freezing up constantly. Safari doesn’t work well with this blog platform, so I’m trying out Opera. Seems OK for now. But that’s why I’ve been so slow to post today.
* Anyway, on to The Question: Who do you think will be the biggest surprise winner this November? Explain.
* Last week’s Tribune poll with Pat Quinn leading Bill Brady by a point kick-started a whole lot of buzz behind the GOP curtain that the paper’s Senate poll would have Alexi Giannoulias with an even larger lead. So, Kirk did a little preemption by leaking his ad buy and his own internal poll to POLITICO, which dutifully published its story a couple of hours ahead of the Tribune poll release Friday night…
Republican Mark Kirk has reserved almost $5.2 million worth of advertisements for the final weeks of the competitive Illinois Senate race, POLITICO has learned. […]
Kirk’s campaign is prepared to empty its arsenal and spend about $1 million each week in an effort to win the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama. […]
Kirk campaign’s own polling shows him ahead: An internal polling memo from the Kirk campaign and obtained by POLITICO shows him holding a 9-point lead. Kirk had 42 percent and Giannoulias had 33 percent, per a Kirk-sponsored Fulcrum Campaign Strategies poll taken Sept. 26-29 of 900 likely voters in Illinois. About 22 percent of survey respondents were undecided and the Green Party nominee, LeAlan Jones, received 2 percent in the poll.
A potentially troubling sign for Kirk is that voters in the traditionally Republican-leaning collar counties were almost equally split between the two candidates on the trustworthiness question.
In addition, 41 percent of voters, including 42 percent of independents, said they were less likely to vote for Kirk because of his exaggerated military claims, while 59 percent said it made no difference or didn’t know enough to decide.
About one-third of voters, including the same percentage of independents, said Giannoulias’ connection to the bank and loans to convicted felons would make them less likely to vote for the Democrat. The remaining nearly two-thirds said it didn’t matter or didn’t know enough to weigh in. […]
Kirk’s esteem dipped among independent voters, a key swing demographic. A month ago, only 17 percent viewed him unfavorably. Now 34 percent do. Overall, Kirk holds a 38 percent to 27 percent edge over Giannoulias among independents, similar to his margin last time, though 22 percent are undecided.
Rahm Emanuel’s campaign for mayor got underway today without a formal announcement of his bid to replace retiring Mayor Richard Daley. Instead, he is inviting Chicago residents to give him an earful in what’s shaping up to be a carefully orchestrated tour of neighborhoods.
Emanuel, who just left as White House chief of staff on Friday, started what he says is several weeks of community visits by hitting CTA bus stops near Roosevelt Road and State Street at 8 a.m. He spent about 45 minutes atop the “El” platform shaking hands with commuters and parents taking their children to school.
It was a scene of old-school street politics as Emanuel gladhanded, asking people where they worked, where they lived and wished them a happy Monday. […]
A throng of reporters and cameras, both newspaper and TV, recorded the events. Emanuel, though, wasn’t answering any questions from the press.
A reader’s take…
I caught the first appearance of Rahm on his “listening tour” this morning. He came to the Roosevelt Road L stop. Tons of reporters, cops and CTA personnel, very little interaction with potential voters, much less Rahm listening to the voters’ concerns. He was there for less than 30 minutes and then ran across Roosevelt Road, press and everyone else in tow, to go into the Jewel at Roosevelt and Wabash.
This is no “listening tour.” It’s a publicity stunt. The media allowed itself to be used once again by this guy.
Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has chosen Scott Fairchild, the chief of staff for Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), to manage his campaign for mayor of Chicago, POLITICO has learned. […]
Fairchild was also a senior adviser to Illinois Rep. Bill Foster’s successful 2008 campaign to claim former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s seat. After the election, he oversaw Foster’s transition in Congress.
*** UPDATE *** Many thanks to a commenter for pointing me to this story…
“I was born here and my wife Amy and I raised our three children here,” he says. “I’m glad to be home.”
But an Emanuel spokeswoman, Lori Goldberg, confirms that the video itself was actually filmed in Washington, D.C., in the offices of AKPD media, the firm founded by David Axelrod. […]
Emails Joe Trippi, a consultant to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, “A DC office? I guess there is no place like home.”
As Emanuel apparently still owns his home and has a longstanding residence in Chicago, I think he’ll have no problem declaring and demonstrating that he had an intent to return.
This issue is of some importance here as professors on sabbatical or otherwise away have been known to rent out their homes while they are gone. This does not take away their right to vote.
“The guy does not meet the statutory requirements to run for mayor,” said attorney Burt Odelson. “He hasn’t been back there in 18 months. Residency cases are usually very hard to prove because the candidate gets an apartment or says he’s living in his mother’s basement. Here the facts are easy to prove. He doesn’t dispute he’s been in Washington for the past 18 months. This is not a hard case.”
* Rahmup…
* Chicago aldermen offended by Emanuel’s royal send-off: Asked whether he believes Obama should “stay out of it,” Burke said, “I think he ought to get into it and help elect Pat Quinn and Alexi Giannoulias.”
While the Republicans say the pollsters are contacting the wrong people, the fact remains that three polls released last week had the Illinois governor’s race within 2 percentage points. And five polls released in the past month have shown it to be a single-digit race.
The Chicago Tribune’s pollster had Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn leading Republican state Sen. Bill Brady 39 percent to 38 percent last week, which is a narrower margin than its 5-point Brady lead a month ago. A CNN/Time poll had Brady up by 2 points, and a Democratic Governor’s Association poll had Brady up by 1 point. Public Policy Polling had Brady with a 7-point lead.
The Republicans say the “universe” is skewed on all these polls. They believe that Republicans actually outnumber Democrats come Election Day by a narrow margin. At the very least, they say, those other polls just skew too far Democratic.
If the Republicans are right, it would be the first time their party would outnumber or come close to outnumbering Democrats in any Illinois election in a very long time. This is a weird year, so nobody really knows who’s correct at the moment. Still, you need to keep the GOP’s strong objections very much in mind as we head into the final weeks of this campaign.
The other thing to remember is Quinn’s horrific job-approval rating. The average of the four polls that asked the job-approval question (CNN did not) was a 26 percent approval rating for Quinn, while 58.5 percent disapproved of his performance. He’s already vastly outperforming his approval rating, so it will be darned tough to push his own numbers up much higher unless people start feeling better about him soon.
Still, you simply cannot ignore five polls in a month showing Quinn within single digits of Brady. Whether the governor can pull this off is another story.
Why does this race suddenly look so close? For months, polls have shown it to be a blowout for Brady.
I now firmly believe this race has been much closer than I thought for weeks, if not months. The reason why I and others got this wrong is very bad polling.
Every poll published from the beginning of August to before last week had Brady leading Quinn by anywhere from 9 to 13 points.
Well, actually, one poll did show a close race. At the beginning of last month, the Chicago Tribune’s poll had Brady leading Quinn by only 5 points.
That Tribune poll was so different from the others that it essentially was ignored. But then last week, those other polls came out that showed a tighter race than widely assumed, and I noticed something curious. Pollsters who did not include millionaire independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen’s name in their polls showed a far wider gap between Brady and Quinn than those who did.
Last month’s Tribune poll included Cohen’s name in the mix, as well as the other candidates. The polls released last week that showed a tight race included his name as well.
The average of all five polls during the past month that included Cohen’s name is 38.6 percent for Brady and 35.8 percent for Quinn - a roughly 3-point split. The two-month average for polls taken that didn’t use Cohen’s name was 46.4 for Brady to 35.8 for Quinn - an almost 11-point race.
Notice that Quinn’s average is exactly the same in both sets of numbers. Brady’s is different. Why?
In a two-person race, when you attack an opponent, a portion of your opponent’s supporters eventually will cross over to your side. But in races where lots of people are running, when you attack your main opponent, then his or her supporters might end up with one of the other “minor” candidates.
If you drill down into the polls, it appears that significant numbers of women voters left Brady after Quinn’s early attacks and moved to Cohen. Now, I know that sounds absolutely insane, considering the domestic abuse allegations involving Cohen and his arrest for allegedly holding a knife to his girlfriend’s throat. But lots of people still don’t know who and what Cohen is. And the news media has all but stopped reminding them.
Some top Republicans have been increasingly jittery that Cohen might be making this thing a little too close for jubilation. They appear to have been right.
Finally, maybe Mayor Daley’s retirement from public office did not suck all the oxygen out of the state-wide races - as many pundits predicted. It was thought that the free-for-all for the Chicago Mayor’s Office would shift all attention and resources to that election. But, it may have merely caused Chicagoans to focus more on politics in general.
The last theory is purely speculative. But, the way things looked for him a few weeks ago, Pat Quinn needed any help he could get. With one month to go, the Illinois governor’s race may be less about change and more about whether Illinois’ typical Democrat/liberal base goes to the polls.
That’s certainly part of it. The oxygen was surely sucked out of the coverage, but maybe not out of the interest.
Thoughts?
* Related…
* Brady discounts polls that show Quinn gaining ground: “We don’t really believe it’s tightening,” Brady told reporters at a tea party event in front of the Statehouse. “Our internal data … shows that our momentum is growing every day. Our internal polls continue to show a strong, growing support for us.
* Brady rallies local support: “I have a problem with red light cameras being used too extensively,” he said.
* Northwest Herald: Governor: Bill Brady: For small-business owners, the backbone of our local communities, Brady proposes a five-year moratorium on federal payroll taxes and the creation of a Main Street Small Business Advisory Board to help the owners of small and fledgling businesses get off the ground and grow.
* Civil unions, concealed carry could confront next governor: “Bill believes marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” said Brady campaign spokeswoman Patty Schuh. “Our current laws reflect that.”
* Journal-Standard: Candidates need to step up: The report complains that 32 percent of the state inspection reports reviewed by the federal EPA were not detailed enough to determine if a confined-animal operation was complying with environmental laws; that state enforcement actions were rarely taken, and in more than 60 percent of the cases reviewed by the feds the state failed to get compliance even after violations were found. The report contends that the Illinois EPA is slow to respond to citizen complaints or take formal action against big feedlots and dairies that violate federal and state environmental laws.
* Tax policies display sharp differences for Quinn, Brady: While Brady is currently proposing elimination of the estate tax, “we don’t know what the feds are going to do,” Schuh said. “If they set it for estates over $10 million, maybe we’d take a look at it.”
Weis said there were 343 murders committed from January through September, eight fewer than last year at this time. The drop puts the city on pace with 2007, a year in which the murder total was the lowest in the city since 1965, Weis said.
Overall crime in the city dropped 4.5 percent, he said. In nearly every category, crime was down, and for the 21st straight month, crime dropped overall and in violent and property offenses.
Violent crime fell more than 11 percent in September.
Murder declined by 2.3 percent after a slight increase in August, police said, adding that the department is on pace with 2007, a year that ended with the lowest murder total in the city since 1965.
Also in September, police said they seized 130 firearms.
Violent crime overall was down more than 11 percent. Aggravated batteries alone declined 7.7. percent, which was the single greatest decrease in this category in 2010. Robberies and aggravated assaults each showed double-digit declines, and criminal sexual assaults were down just over 9 percent, police said.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers plans to add a new classification of workers who will not be required to complete the union’s standard training program and, as a result, will receive less pay than many card-holding electricians.
ComEd says it is still weighing whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court after an appellate court Friday struck down the utility’s plans for a $396 million rate increase to support major infrastructure improvements.
Antoine “Tony” Rezko has plead guilty to a 2006 charge of defrauding GE Capitol out of $10 million in loans for Rezko Enterprises and his Papa John’s Pizza restaurants.
The one-time confidant of Rod Blagojevich appeared in federal court Friday before Judge James B. Zagel wearing a federal prison uniform and leg shackels.
Rezko has been imprisoned at an undisclosed Wisconsin county jail since June 2008 on charges stemming from his association with the former Illinois governor.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal prosecutors are expected to drop the additional counts against Rezko in exchange for his guilty plea.
[Judge James Zagel] said federal guidelines call for sentence of at least eight years and one month.
There was no official plea agreement, so prosecutors remain mum on whether he will appear as a witness in the second trial of Rod Blagojevich. Defense attorney Joseph Duffy said Rezko is “ready, able and willing” to testify against Blagojevich and would be a “formidable witness.”
Rezko’s next court date will be December 17, but there is still no indication when he will be sentenced for either of his two cases.
Rahm Emanuel reached out to Chicago voters in his White House resignation speech even though he hasn’t formally announced he’s running for mayor.
He connected to Jewish voters by mentioning his bar mitzvah. He got to sports fans by mentioning the Chicago Bears’ 3-0 record. He talked about how his mother marched with Martin Luther King Jr., in a nod to black voters and others. He choked up talking about his family, showing his sensitive side.
Wow. Just, wow. I’ve seen campaign-generated tip sheets which were far more subtle than that idiotic tripe.
* Robert Gibbs had this to say at today’s White House press briefing when asked if the president would campaign for Rahm Emanuel…
“I don’t — I don’t believe any — I don’t have anything on that. I don’t — I don’t know the answer to that, to be honest with you. I think — I mean, obviously the president was — you’ve heard what the president said over the past several weeks and what the president said today about Rahm and his next endeavors.”
Smooth talker, that Gibbs. And just in case anyone at the White House sees this, have Gibbs return my call, please. I want to ask him about a topic I’ve never seen the president address: State Sen. Bill Brady. The two often played poker together back when Obama was a colleague. Brady’s been in the race for months, but Obama has been curiously silent.
Sneed is told [Rev. Sen. James Meeks], a state senator who is very unpopular in the gay community for his track record on gay issues, requested a hush-hush meeting with Rick Garcia, a top Illinois gay rights activist, days after Mayor Daley decided not to run again.
“Rev. Meeks, who would never return Rick’s calls in the past, is now treating Rick like his best friend,” said a source familiar with the meeting.
• The upshot: “It’s true we met, and Rev. Meeks has a completely anti-gay voting record and said horrible things about the gay community,” Garcia, a founder of Equality Illinois, told Sneed. “But my job is to build bridges, so we met at his Salem Baptist Church.”
• The final shot: “He [Meeks] told me he knows its going to be a hard sell and a hard stretch to endorse him, but he wanted to make sure he didn’t say things wrong. It was mainly an educational meeting,” said Garcia, “but it lasted two hours.”
Glenn Poshard snubbed the gay community in 1998 and it cost him dearly. Meeks won’t change his stripes, but at least he can change his rhetoric. Whoever wins will be mayor of the entire city, so it’s good to see he realizes that he needs to work on his mouth, as well as his heart.
* Greg Hinz has an interesting take on where the big money is going. Mostly, right now, to THE MAN WHO MUST NOT BE MENTIONED, but Sheriff Dart is picking up some bucksters…
Insiders say a second candidate, Sheriff Tom Dart, is likely to have one big business name in his camp, Mesirow Financial’s James Tyree — who’s also an owner of the Sun-Times. Mr. Tyree wouldn’t commit when my colleague Steve Strahler briefly chatted with him early in the week, but he has deep roots in Mr. Dart’s home 19th Ward on the Southwest Side.
Mr. Dart also may be best positioned to get money and troops from the Service Employees International Union, with whom he’s had a decent relationship at Cook County Jail.
SEIU absolutely despises THE MAN WHO MUST NOT BE MENTIONED. That’ll be a lot of fun to watch.
Hinz claims that Gery Chico is saying he can raise $5 million and reports that the Illinois Restaurant Association is gearing up to spend $150,000. More…
Preacher-politician James Meeks has deep respect in portions of the business community for his willingness to back school vouchers. Others, in the gambling business, like him because he’s against any further expansion of legal gambling here.
But many African-American business types are said to really like former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun. And it will be fascinating to see where President Obama’s circle of black business folk ends up — with Mr. Meeks, Ms. Braun or Mr. Emanuel.
*** UPDATE *** Your weekly exclusive preview of WBEZ’s “Best Game in Town” has just arrived. Click here to listen. From the producer…
This week on Best Game in Town – we head to Chicago’s Daley Plaza to talk about the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and the rest of the week’s political news with NPR’s David Schaper and Crain’s Chicago Business Columnist Greg Hinz.
Also, we sit down with Nancy Kaszak to talk about her experience running against Rahm almost a decade ago.
* Rahmup…
* Emanuel mayoral team would need to explain $17 million bank pay: Emanuel, 50, earned at least $17 million in three years as an investment banker after leaving the Clinton White House, public records show. While that part of his resume didn’t hurt him when he first ran for Congress in 2002, any new bid for public office would come amid criticism of Wall Street’s excesses and a U.S. unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. “It didn’t have traction because it was before the markets went down,” said Nancy Kaszak, who lost to Emanuel in the 2002 Democratic primary to represent part of Chicago’s north side and northwest suburbs. “There are a lot of people who are very angry now because of the finances they are facing. I think it is a potentially more harmful issue now.”
* Emanuel leaves White House: Alderman Ed Burke says he cannot remember when Emanuel ever visited his Southwest Side 14th Ward and wonders if just under five months is enough time for any candidate to make a citywide impression.
* It’s the Big Leagues Now, Rahm: “He’s a big political bully,” said Ricardo Munoz, an alderman who admits that he is “not a fan” of Mr. Emanuel. “There’s talk at City Hall, people out loud saying, ‘Do we want to go from a Daley dictatorship to another bully dictatorship?’ ”
* In one word sum up the Chicago media’s coverage of state political stories during the past month. Do not use the words “Rahm” or “Emanuel” or any iteration thereof. That’s just too easy.
OK, I’ve changed my mind. You can’t talk about this past month without somehow using those words. Feel free, but try to be creative with it.
She’s only a few weeks old but she already owes the federal government 43,000 dollars.
Will she have a better life than us? Or worse? How will she afford college, her first home?
Mark Kirk: If you’re as worried as I am about our skyrocketing national debt, runaway spending, and the lack of jobs, I need your vote. I’ll fight to spend less, borrow less and tax less so our children have a better future.
I’m Mark Kirk and I approved this message.
* Response from Giannoulias campaign…
After two decades in Washington DC supporting all of the Bush economic policies that sunk our economy into recession, Congressman Mark Kirk today released another ad that lies about his fiscal record.
“In ad after ad, Congressman Kirk expects voters to throw truth to the wind and forget his record of doubling the national debt and voting against tax cuts for the middle class,” said Alexi for Illinois campaign spokesman Scott Burnham. “The record is clear: Congressman Kirk’s votes took the country from record surpluses to record deficits by handing out tax cuts to millionaires and large corporations, while leaving the middle class and small business to fend for themselves. That’s not a record to be proud of, and it’s not the type of leadership that Illinois families can trust.”
…Adding… The Kirk spot appears to be a popular one this year. Ohio Republican congressional candidate Steve Stivers is running basically the same ad, except that he uses his own daughter…
* Meanwhile, in news from Kirk’s home district, Bob Dold has been threatened with an FEC audit. One of his constituents filed a complain alleging that he hadn’t reported spending money on his big campaign tour bus…
“I noticed he made very careful filings of expenditures under two dollars and I couldn’t imagine why an expenditure of this size was not listed,” Stowell explains of a motor coach that was used in Dold’s ads as part of a bus tour he touted post-primary and through the summer. In April, the cost was disclosed as about $15,000, but in July’s report, it wasn’t there.
Stowell wrote the FEC and she got a letter back. The Dold campaign got one too, threatening audit or enforcement action if he failed to provide more information. The FEC said Dold’s numbers don’t add up.
In Dold’s amended report, we found around $22,000 in debts that had gone unreported, as well as about $24,000 in expenditures. His cash on hand is listed as $22,000 more than it was the first time. But he did add the debt for the bus- it cost around $17,000.
“It would be really hard to say that a $17,000 miss was just sloppy bookkeeping. It looks a little funny,” said Burt Odelson, an election attorney who represented President Bush in the 2004 recount.
* Dold also complained to the Daily Herald about his opponent’s campaign posting a harsh remark on his Facebook page…
Republican congressional candidate Robert Dold and his Democratic rival, Dan Seals, have something new to fight about: Facebook.
On Wednesday, a posting appeared on Seals’ Facebook page tipping off his Internet followers to a news report about Dold.
“Uh oh,” began the post, which was attributed to Seals and ran next to his picture. “The Cook County Clerk and States Attorney are now looking into Dold’s potential property tax fraud.”
An electronic link to a Chicago-area media report raising questions about Dold’s residency and voting record in the last decade followed. The comment was posted on Seals’ Twitter account, too.
However, representatives of the clerk’s office and the state’s attorney’s office insist there is no investigation.
The matter was referred to the state’s attorney by the Cook County Clerk. But the state’s attorney claims there’s nothing going on with the issue.
What Dold did manage to do, however, was move the residency story from the Sun-Times, where it began, to the Daily Herald.
Every county in the Chicago area except Kendall experienced slightly increased poverty rates during the four-year period, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Cook County’s rate was 15.9 percent in 2009, up from 14.8 percent in 2008 and 15.3 in 2006.
In Illinois, the poverty rate rose to 13.3 percent in 2009, up from 12.3 percent in 2006. The national poverty rate last year was 14.3 percent.
A report released Thursday by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows there were 8,909 second-quarter foreclosure sales, accounting for 24.32 percent of all homes sold in the state. That was an increase of almost 5 percent from the first quarter of 2010.
For his part, Mr. Singh, who gave more than $30,000 to local Democratic politicians in the most recent presidential cycle and $2,000 to Ms. Schakowsky’s campaign in 2006, says he owns property on North Clark Street with a $5.6 million loan from Mutual Bank. He says United Central had rebuffed his attempts to ease the terms of his loan as he rounded up potential new tenants at his property, prompting him to spur the action from the tight-knit Indian-American business community in Chicago.
* Ald. Stone rips problem building crackdown as too extreme
Only 2 percent of eligible households — about 7,000 — have signed up for free meters since the program began in March 2009. And the city has installed only 2,500 of the devices.
Many Chicagoans don’t believe the meters will lower their water bills, thinking it’s cheaper not to have one. But few realize just how unfair the city’s water-billing system is.
Hardik Bhatt, Chicago’s chief information officer, has resigned his $141,840-a-year job to join Cisco Systems, a California-company that bills itself as the “worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.”
Bhatt is the first member of Mayor Daley’s cabinet to pull the plug since the mayor chose political retirement over the quest for a seventh term.
But he’s not expected to be the last.
All 956 city policymakers exempt from the federal Shakman decree banning political hiring and firing must decide whether to stick around — and hope they can defy the odds and be retained by Daley’s successor — or dust off their resumes now.
* Eric Zorn once again provides us a transcript of one quite interesting part of yesterday’s Chicago Tribune gubernatorial debate. Scott Lee Cohen talks about why he dropped out of the lt. governor’s race…
COHEN: The governor made it very clear to me that he was going to take away my responsibilities, put me in a room with nothing to do. […]
Q: You had a conversation with Governor Quinn before you withdrew in which he told you he was going to put you in a room with nothing to do?
COHEN: I did not have a conversation with Governor Quinn. Next question.
Q: You say did you did not have a conversation with Governor Quinn? You just said that he told you —
COHEN: He made it clear. I did not say he told me. I said he made it clear.
* Of course, Gov. Pat Quinn argued with Bill Brady about Brady’s taxes…
Quinn called for all candidates to make available to the public their income tax returns, pointedly noting that Brady only made his returns available to reporters for about three hours in Springfield and would not allow copies to be made. Quinn also said that public officials should pay state and federal taxes on their public jobs even when their overall tax matters would allow them to not owe the state or federal taxes. Brady did not owe federal income taxes for two years and state taxes one year, citing the ups and downs of construction and other businesses he operates.
“I think we ought to end the Brady loophole,” Quinn charged.
A pre- Labor Day Tribune survey had Brady leading Quinn 37 percent to 32 percent. But in the last four weeks, Quinn’s abysmal job approval rating improved a little, and voters view him slightly more favorably than a month ago. And the governor is attracting more support from traditionally key sources of Democratic vote, particularly in Chicago and among African-American voters.
On the other hand, Brady’s numbers flipped and he is now liked and disliked by about the same percentage of voters, though more than a third say they still haven’t formed an opinion about the veteran state senator. Brady, who hails from a prominent Bloomington homebuilding family, continues to trounce Quinn downstate, though his lead in the collar counties has disappeared.
Democrats are coming home. A month ago, Quinn had only 56 percent of Dem voters. Now, it’s 71. He’s almost at 60 percent of Chicagoans, up from less than half of city voters a month ago.
Brady’s unfavorables have risen 10 points, from 19 to 29.
The poll found 39 percent of those surveyed think Brady would do a better job of restoring the state’s economy, compared to one-third who said Quinn would do the better job. […]
Quinn remains heavily out of favor with voters outside the Chicago area — a possible explanation for his recent spate of downstate visits to cut ribbons for public works projects. Almost half of downstate residents view the governor unfavorably, and Brady has the backing of 51 percent of the region’s voters compared to Quinn’s 27 percent.
Among independent voters, a group key to Republican chances for victory, Brady holds the advantage but has failed to distance himself significantly from Quinn. The poll found Brady favored by 37 percent of independent voters, compared to 33 percent a month ago. But Quinn also gained and is now backed by 29 percent of independents, up from 24 percent last month.
But the Trib says they’re basically tied in the collar counties. That’s hugely significant. Huge.
…Adding… I forgot to mention the other guys. Scott Lee Cohen is at 4 percent, Green Party nominee Rich Whitney is at 3 and Libertarian Lex Green is at 2.
…Adding more… The reason I say this looks like a trend is that we have now seen four polls released this week which put the race in single digits. Three of the four are public, one is private, except for subscribers. And three of those four polls have this as a one or two-point race.
(W)hen [Scott Lee Cohen is] included in polling, the Capitol Fax calculated that Democratic numbers improve.
Look at the polls that have included Cohen’s name going back a month, when the Tribune had this as a five-point race. Every major pollster who included Cohen had this contest in single digits. Every one. Rasmussen, PPP (until now) and the rest have simply been churning out completely wrong numbers. This race has been close for a while. And now it’s probably closer.
* Sen. Bill Brady’s latest TV ad is a blistering attack on Gov. Pat Quinn over the widely vilified AFSCME endorsement/no layoff story. Rate it…
The ad was recorded off the air this evening during “Wheel of Fortune.” Here’s the script…
Pat Quinn sold us out.
When union bosses endorsed Quinn, Quinn guaranteed them jobs until June of 2012.
Using 190 million of our tax dollars.
Newspapers called Quinn’s actions, “A return to the state’s pay to play politics,” “Horrible for the state,” “A conflict,” and “A sellout for Quinn’s benefit and not ours.”
Every time he sells us out, we learn that Pat Quinn’s only priority is Pat Quinn.
During yesterday’s debate, you mentioned how Texas was doing so well. They ain’t…
Earlier this month [Texas] House Speaker Joe Straus told county administrators the state budget deficit would be at least $18 billion.
Tuesday legislative budget staff said the shortfall has grown to $21 billion.
But on the same day, when Governor Rick Perry sat down with KERA, Perry said the gap to fund the next two-years of state government will be only half that bad, no more than $11 billion.
Meredith Whitney, the analyst who correctly predicted Citigroup Inc.’s dividend cut in 2008, will release a report rating California’s financial condition as the worst among the 15 largest U.S. states, Fortune said. […]
After California, New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio tie as the second-worst
A suburban political candidate said he regrets saying the nation’s attitude toward gay marriage will change because older people eventually will die.
“It was a poor choice of words,” said Rich Voltair, a Round Lake Beach Democrat running for the 62nd District seat. “I definitely realize that.” […]
“As a 32-year-old, I hold views that are consistent with my age group,” he said in that story, which was based on e-mail exchanges with both candidates. “These views represent the future and it is only a matter of time before the previous generation expires and our generation takes over.”
The Great Die-Off you speak of will also “solve” our Social Security, Medicare and state pension problems. But it’s not something you’re supposed to cheer for, dude.
Over the last several months, [Republican lt. governor nominee Jason Plummer] said he has been on the campaign trail, visiting those cities – Rockford, Moline, Danville – that are located near borders with other states.
But, then again, Chicago also has reporters who probably wouldn’t write puff pieces about you. So, better stick with the little towns.
* Dear Adam Andrzejewski,
Timing is everything. If the primary was later, you and your “forensic audit” proposal might’ve actually won the governor’s race. I mean, even a Chicago alderman is hyping the phrase…
[Ald. Scott Waguespack] now plans to put together an “agenda” — including a “forensic audit” of city finances and contracts — for a City Council expected to assert itself more forcefully in the post-Daley era.
“Open the books. Let’s look at how we’re spending and re-direct the monies towards our most important needs, including the Police Department,” he said.
But by referring to leaving “daily operations of the bank,” the Giannoulias camp clearly was trying to leave the impression that he had walked out the bank’s doors for good.
Giannoulias’ opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, has been no more straightforward on Broadway Bank issues. Last week, in a meeting with the Sun-Times editorial board, he ominously said the Giannoulias family “took $70 million out of the bank before its collapse” without mentioning that most of that money went to pay taxes.
We can only hope both campaigns get more straightforward in the final weeks before Nov. 2.
The public floggings need to continue on a regular basis.
The story line for Election 2010 has been set for months: Republicans are on the march; Democrats are in deep trouble. Is it possible that Democrats have begun a comeback?
Several Democrats say there is modest movement in their direction and some reason for optimism after many dismal months
“It was an unknown person from an internet media source, and I did not reply,” said Steve Tomaszewski, spokesman for Shimkus, when asked about Cary’s request.
The name of Illinois Insurance Director and Chicago resident Michael McRaith is being floated as the first chief of the new Federal Insurance Office, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
If huge, hungry Asian carp end up reaching Lake Michigan, their long-dreaded invasion might turn out to be less ferocious than once expected because a tiny competitor is gobbling up their primary food source, some Great Lakes researchers say.
The quagga mussel — a thumbnail-sized foreign mullosk first spotted in the lakes two decades ago — has devoured so much plankton in southern Lake Michigan that the entire food web is being altered, federal and university scientists say in a series of newly published articles.
Illinois is failing to crack down on water pollution from large confined-animal farms, the Obama administration announced Wednesday in a stinging rebuke that gave the state a month to figure out how to fix its troubled permitting and enforcement programs.
Responding to a petition from environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said its nearly yearlong investigation found widespread problems with the Illinois EPA’s oversight of confined-animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. Many of the cattle, hog and chicken operations produce manure in amounts comparable to the waste generated by small towns.
Rahm Emanuel lunched [yesterday] with Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, chairman of the Tribune Company, as the White House chief of staff mulls a run for Chicago mayor.
The two dined at a chic eatery, Central Michel Richard, a restaurant manager confirmed. The spot is about six blocks from the White House, where Emanuel serves as chief of staff to President Barack Obama.
“They have lunch all the time when he (Zell) comes to D.C.,” according to a source close to Emanuel, who cautioned against reading too much into the power lunch. “He’s known him (Zell) for a long time and I imagined they talked about the race, Chicago, the economy, education and other issues.”
In other words: This is not news. But, hey, if they were really enterprising reporters, they’d tell us what the two men ordered.
WASHINGTON — Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, is resigning to run for mayor of Chicago, people familiar with his plans said today.
We’ve known this for days now. Thanks for retelling us.
* But there was one useful story about Emanuel this week. Medill Reports took a close, even-handed look at his residency questions. State law requires a mayoral candidate to reside in the city for a year before an election. Chicago’s election is February 22nd. Election law attorneys Burt Odelson and James Nally claimed Emanuel can’t run…
Odelson noted that a section of the statute in the Illinois election code allows individuals who are in service to the U.S. to keep their residency status, but only for voting purposes.
“Even if Mr. Emanuel could make a claim that he’s in service of the U.S. and still vote absentee, he cannot make the claim he has been a resident of the city of Chicago for one year prior to the election because he leased his house to a family,” Odelson said.
“Physical presence is very important,” Nally said. “The statute asks, ‘Were you residing in that municipality a year prior to election?’ That’s a pretty straight-up fact question.”
However, Jim Allen with the Chicago Board of Elections disagrees, and says if a candidate maintains a residence and voter registration, then he’ll pass muster. And Ron Michaelson, the former Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Elections, agrees with Allen…
“Intent goes a long way in determining where one’s residency actually is,” he said.
Michaelson also noted that in these types of residency laws, the benefit of the doubt is usually given to the individual claiming intent.
* The Highway Loss Data Institute released a study this week that claims state bans on texting while driving don’t work. Jamey Dunn fills us in…
The institute compared insurance claims data with stats from before and after the bans, as well as with those of neighboring states that did not have bans. Researchers also considered other factors that can affect collision rates, such as seasonal changes in traffic. The instance of collisions did not go down in any of the states; in fact, it went up a small amount in three of the four states studied. The largest increase was 9 percent in Minnesota. According to the study: “If the goal of texting and cell phone bans is the reduction of crash risk, then the bans have so far been ineffective.”
And I can attest to this…
From the report: “This unexpected consequence of banning texting suggests that texting drivers have responded to the law perhaps by attempting to avoid fines by hiding their phones from view. If this causes them to take their eyes off the road more than before the ban, then the bans may make texting more dangerous rather than eliminating it.”
I’ve held my iPhone down low when looking up phone numbers because I didn’t want to get busted for texting, even though I wasn’t texting. I stopped doing that when I realized what an idiot I was being.
* So, what to do? Ban cellphone usage entirely? Rep. John D’Amico, a sponsor of the Illinois texting ban, says that’s a way to go…
D’Amico said a ban on using cell phones while driving would be a better solution. Illinois currently bans drivers from talking on phones in school and construction zones. He compared a possible ban to laws against driving while intoxicated, which have become more strictly enforced, causing the drunken driving to elicit more of a social stigma than it did in past decades. He said people will eventually see using a cell phone the way people see driving drunk now, and will say: “‘Boy I can’t believe we used to be allowed to do that.’”
But the Institute says that won’t help much, either…
Fleming said another study from the institute found hands-free options to be just as dangerous as standard cell phones. However, the same study also found cell phone bans to be ineffective in cutting accidents. Fleming acknowledges that such results are disappointing to those interested in improving driver safety. But, she said, if police can find better ways to catch violators in the act of texting or talking on the phone, bans could help make roads safer.
A Virginia Tech study last year found that among truckers, dialing a cell phone made a driver 5.9 times more likely to cause an accident, while text messaging increased the likelihood 23.2 times.
* The Question: Should the state ban cellphone usage while driving? Period. Not just mandate hands-free use, but ban it entirely. Explain.
[Gov. Pat Quinn} has received political contributions connected to at least 77 of the people he has chosen for state task forces, agencies, boards or commissions since he became governor in January 2009, according to a Tribune review of public records. At least 20 of the donations from the appointees, their families or their businesses came within two months of the appointment.
We know via the story that three of those contributions were rather large. But we don’t know how big the rest of them were. We don’t even know their average size. $100? $500? $10,000? The Tribune doesn’t tell us, except to say that “many” are under the $25K asking price that Rod Blagojevich had set. They don’t define “many.” And until they tell us, I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions here.
* And of those four examples they gave? The first one was from the father of Mariyana Spyropoulos. Quinn supported her more than two years ago for MWRD. She lost the race, applied for an opening, Quinn gave her the appointment. Shortly before this year’s primary, when Quinn was literally desperate for money, her father contributed $25,000, then another $25,000 after the primary. She kicked in $1K.
While it doesn’t look great, Quinn appears to have known the father for quite a while, and dined with him twice in Copenhagen during the city’s Olympics bid.
Another appointee, William Brandt Jr., is described as a “high school chum” of Quinn’s. People with decent piles of cash often go in heavy for their oldest friends. No surprise The other is Steven Gilford, who worked with Quinn in the Walker administration.
* The last example shows you how much of a stretch some of these “connections” may be…
For an appointment to the Executive Ethics Commission, Quinn needed a Republican because state law required a degree of balance among political parties. He turned to retired Pinckneyville attorney Gayl Pyatt, a former member of the Illinois Gaming Board.
The job comes with a $37,571 annual salary and a ban on political activity. Quinn appointed Pyatt in October. Her husband, Richard, a retired funeral director, gave $500 to Quinn in November.
Gayl Pyatt said the “contribution was made because a very, very good friend” of her family held a fundraiser for the governor. If not, Pyatt said, “that check would never have been written.”
$500? Really? Move along. Nothing to see there.
…Adding… From a commenter…
Also, could the brain trust at the Trib let us know how many of those 77 received appointments to boards that PAY? Most don’t, as I recall.
* Two publicly released polls in two days showing a single digit governor’s race. Something’s up. Subscribers know one theory. From Public Policy Polling…
Bill Brady continues to lead the Illinois Governor’s race but Pat Quinn’s pulling a little closer, trailing 42-35 in PPP’s newest survey of the race. Independent Scott Lee Cohen gets 6%, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney is at 4%, and Libertarian Lex Green is at 2%.
Quinn’s doing better than he was in an August PPP poll, when he trailed by 9, largely because of an improved standing with independents. He continues to trail Brady 39-27 with them, but that’s a significant improvement from his 25 point deficit in the last poll. Quinn is incredibly unpopular with independent voters, at an 18/67 approval spread. But those voters don’t like Brady either, viewing him negatively 32/38.
It’s amazing that Quinn’s still in this given his continuing incredible unpopularity. 60% of voters in the state now disapprove of the job he’s doing to only 24% who are happy with it. In addition to those dreadful numbers with independents only 6% of Republicans think he’s doing a good job and even with Democrats he’s at just a 42/38 spread. But he’s fortunate that GOP voters nominated a very weak candidate themselves. Only 36% of folks in Illinois see Brady in a favorable light while 44% have a negative opinion of him.
The two biggest things to watch in this race over the final five weeks are the undecideds and the 10% of voters currently leaning either toward Cohen or Whitney.
The undecideds are an overwhelmingly Democratic bunch. 67% voted for Barack Obama while only 20% supported John McCain. They’re planning to vote Democratic for Congress by a 44-17 margin this fall. They’re supporting Alexi Giannoulias by a 21 point margin over Mark Kirk. But they don’t like Pat Quinn- only 14% of them approve of him with 42% disapproving. Whether their Democratic loyalties outweigh their dislike of Quinn in the end may determine whether he can still pull out this race despite his very poor personal numbers.
The folks supporting Cohen or Whitney right now are also a Democratic leaning bunch. 52% voted for Obama to only 32% who supported McCain. They’re planning to vote Democratic for Congress by a 43-28 margin. But they really hate Quinn- 4% approve of him and 83% disapprove of him.
If you allocate all of the undecideds who voted for Obama to Quinn and the ones who voted for McCain to Brady, the Brady lead shrinks to 44-43. My guess is that most of the undecideds will indeed end up in the Quinn camp and make this a much closer race. Quinn’s path with the Whitney and Cohen voters is tougher though and he needs to hope those folks’ dislike of him isn’t so strong that they’ll go so far as to vote for Brady to get him out.
This is a pretty fascinating race.
Yes, it is. That undecided info is also quite interesting. The question is whether the Democrats can keep them moving their way and then turn those people out. From the company’s president…
“Things are starting to look a little more encouraging for Pat Quinn than they did earlier in the summer,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “He remains personally unpopular but the minor candidates are starting to pick up some of the anti-Quinn instead of it all going to Brady.”
That can happen in a multi-candidate race. You slam the other guy, but those voters don’t automatically go to you if they have other options. It’s the biggest reason why Rich Whitney scored 10 percent four years ago.
* Methodology…
PPP surveyed 470 likely Illinois voters from September 23 to 26. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.5%.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index released Tuesday ticked up in July from June. But the gain is merely temporary, analysts say. They see home values taking a dive in many major markets well into next year.
That’s because the peak home-buying season is now ending after a dismal summer. The hardest-hit markets, already battered by foreclosures, are bracing for a bigger wave of homes sold at foreclosure or through short sales. A short sale is when a lender lets a homeowner sell for less than the mortgage is worth.
Add high unemployment and reluctant buyers, and the outlook in many areas is bleak. Nationally, home values are projected to fall 2.2 percent in the second half of the year, according to analysts surveyed by MacroMarkets LLC. And Moody’s Analytics predicts the Case-Shiller index will drop 8 percent within a year.
Despite the passage last year of the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, foreclosure filings in Chicago’s six-county region rose 38 percent from the first half of 2009 to the first half of 2010, according to data from the Woodstock Institute, which tracks foreclosure activity in the region.
The program, part of President Obama’s comprehensive plan to address the housing crisis and restore economic stability, helps struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing their monthly mortgage payments.
Among other criteria, eligible candidates must have a monthly mortgage payment greater than 31 percent of their gross monthly income and have suffered a loss of income that prevents them from making payments.
But Katie Buitrago, policy communications associate for the institute, said actual delinquency is not a requirement.
* Marin: Feel Safer? Thanks to Cook County government, you’re not
There were more than 550,000 uninsured people — or 19.7 percent of the population — in the city of Chicago last year, according to the bureau’s American Community Survey. In Illinois, nearly 1.7 million people, or 13 percent of the state’s population, did not have insurance.
Nationally, there were 50.7 million uninsured residents, or 16.7 percent of the population, according to the data.
Despite a 24 percent spike in the number of people below the poverty level statewide over the past 10 years, Joliet’s numbers remained steady over the years between 10 and 13 percent. In 2009, the number of people in poverty was 11 percent.
However, Joliet’s median household income did dip slightly from $61,061 in 2008 to $53,687 in 2009, likely due to an increase in unemployment.
Mudge’s request follows by two days the publication of a News-Democrat investigation, which showed that Bathon took in about $140,000 in campaign donations from investors who bought delinquent property tax debts.
Those investors were routinely allowed to buy property owners’ tax debts at an 18 percent penalty rate — the maximum allowed under state law. The investors took in up to $200,000 apiece in penalties for some years.
“State law affords county treasurers wide latitude on how to conduct these sales,” Mudge wrote. “However, I believe an independent review is in order in light of the recent concerns expressed about these former practices.”
Mudge, a Democrat, added: “Everyone should be careful not to politicize this exercise during a campaign season. These authorities are aware of the situation, and I am confident that they will conduct a fair, independent and proper review.”
Despite it being one of the larger communities south of Springfield, Carbondale and its surrounding area is not within one of those designated areas. That’s not uncommon, but most of the land within Illinois’ borders east of Interstate 55 and south of Interstate 72 is also outside of an MSA. That means communities such as Charleston-Mattoon, Effingham, Mount Vernon, Marion and, of course, Carbondale can be easily overlooked in government reports.
Seems like quite a blind spot, especially when talking about a region that relies heavily on government programs to get by.
Franklin County dropped 1.4%, but is still ranked 3rd highest statewide.
Hardin County remained the same at 12.3 unemployed. Perry County dropped from 12.5% to 11.8% And Saline County is out of double digits now at 9.9% from last year’s 11.2%.
Different officials are blaming each other for why the bills are going out late. But regardless of who’s to blame, Blue Island Mayor Don Peloquin says his city will be hurt by the late payments.
Metra officials said they also want an independent watchdog but prefer someone picked by the Regional Transportation Authority, which has oversight of the three transit agencies in the region. Another option is an IG named by the people who appoint the Metra board of directors, who include the Chicago mayor, the chairman of the DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will County Boards, and Cook County Board members.
Once again the CTA, which faces almost $7 billion in unfunded capital needs, will reluctantly use capital funds meant for improvements to help balance the day-to-day 2011 operating budget and avoid reducing services again, according to the proposed budget released Wednesday.
Certainly, Jarrett fills an important role for Obama: She has deep and personal ties to the president, as well as undivided loyalties, and can talk honestly to him on a first-name basis. But current and former White House officials I spoke with raised questions about Jarrett’s effectiveness and judgment.
With a projected $18 million deficit looming for 2011, the city has once again offered its employees the chance to voluntarily leave city service, with incentives.
For those who stay, the city is requiring each employee to give up 10 percent of their salary. That money can come from wages or benefits. Chief Management Officer Carie Anne Ergo said that however it’s done, the city is seeking a total of $8.4 million in savings.
That amount, Ergo said, would minimize upcoming layoffs, but not prevent them.
* Vote fraud, tax trial resumes for former East St. Louis councilman
Prosecutors allege that Collins lived at 4382 Redfield in Swansea but voted from 22 Loisel Drive in East St. Louis in an election in which a federal candidate was on the ballot. Collins is accused of using the Loisel address to get work in and around East St. Louis and to be the Democratic committeeman in Precinct 26.
* Judge allows former ESL councilman limited mobility until sentencing
* Yesterday, Gov. Pat Quinn claimed during the debate that Bill Brady had admitted his budget cutting plan for schools would raise local property taxes. Reporters asked him about his remarks after the debate and Quinn referred to a comment made by Brady at the State Fair. We posted that video back then. Here’s the relevant excerpt…
REPORTER: How do you cut 10 percent out of school budgets or education money and not fire people?
BRADY: The local school districts will make those decisions.
REPORTER: And where do they get the money?
BRADY: Maybe they’ll have to forego some pay raises
REPORTER: Is that enough? If they’re getting 10 percent less money?
BRADY: We’re trying to drill down and see what the average pay raises are within those those things. So maybe they’ll have to make some decisions like the private sector’s made.
REPORTER: Like raising property taxes
BRADY: No
REPORTER: So less money for schools, but no layoffs but no property tax increases for them to operate?
BRADY: Well, there are some natural property tax increases that will go into effect. I mean, if you drill down to education funding the state of Illinois provides less than a third, OK? So that would be a cut of less than 2.5 percent by what we defined as our budget. I think if you look at pay raises and you look at some other things, there are various options at the local level. I will ask them to be responsible as we have to be.
* And here is the ABC7 report on the debate from Charles Thomas…
* Lots more debate videos and a full news roundup were posted yesterday, in case you missed them.
* MSNBC asked Alexi Giannoulias yesterday about the Tribune’s latest story. WGN ran an excerpt from his appearance in New York and had some more analysis. Watch…
