* Dan Hynes threw a big punch at Gov. Pat Quinn today. He claimed the governor played politics with the capital bill so long that the state missed the construction season…
“Pat Quinn had the opportunity — and the responsibility — to put the people of Illinois back to work, but he failed,” the three-term Democratic comptroller said in his prepared remarks.
“Pat Quinn had a choice. He could have signed the capital bill immediately, created jobs and given the economy a jump start. Or he could use this essential legislation as a political chip, holding its passage over the heads of lawmakers reluctant to pass his misguided 50 percent income tax increase on middle class families,” Hynes said.
“Pat Quinn chose to play politics. So in this time of economic uncertainty and record unemployment, after yet another construction season has ended, not one job has been created from the capital bill. And future jobs are in doubt because the funding mechanism doesn’t seem to work.”
Hynes is right that Quinn tied up the capital bill after explicitly promising not to try and hold it hostage to other issues, like his tax hike. Speaker Madigan and others warned the governor not to break that pledge, but he did it anyway. Hynes wants him to pay the price for it.
The “not one job has been created from the capital bill” line might not be accurate. I don’t know. I’m asking the guv’s office for some info, and I’ll let you know what they say.
Speaking of the funding mechanism which “doesn’t seem to work” (according to Hynes), more communities are opting out of video poker. Arlington Heights is about to say thanks, but no thanks, and McHenry County is doing the same. As I noted below, the horse racing industry is offering to host the video terminals at their tracks, but the idea is a long shot at the moment. They gotta do something, though.
*** UPDATE 1 *** We’re finally getting some hard numbers on when video poker will start and how these opt-outs are impacting the cash flow. The answers: About a year and no big deal yet…
It’ll be at least a year before legalized video gambling machines will be online in bars, restaurants and truck stops across Illinois, state gambling regulators said today.
News of the delay in video poker came as regulators also said that the number of communities opting out of video gambling is not large enough yet to impact revenue projections. The state estimates it will rake in anywhere from $288 million to $534 million once video gambling is fully implemented.
Eric Noggle, a senior analyst for the revenue forecasting group, said the communities that have opted out only represent about 10 percent of the state’s population. That number would have to creep closer to 20 percent before revenue projections would have to be reevaluated.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the governor’s office…
The assertion by Comptroller Hynes that no jobs have been created by the state’s capital construction program is incorrect.
We estimate that approximately 4,000 jobs have been created or retained to date by the early phases of the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program. In fact, approximately $360 million has been awarded to capital projects to date.
Governor Quinn signed the first components of the Illinois Jobs Now plan into law in April to ensure that projects started and jobs were created this year.
That was the “jump start” capital program from April, however, not the capital bill signed in the summer.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Is the train starting to move on video gaming at tracks? Maybe…
llinois Gov. Pat Quinn a few minutes ago told reporters in Chicago that he thinks the state should “take a look” at a controversial proposal by the horse racing industry to have slot machines at the tracks as a means of helping pay for a huge new infrastructure program.
“As far as the race tracks go . . . they have a proposal and we ought to take a look at it,” Quinn said in the news conference, which was piped to the Statehouse in Springfield. “I don’t think categorically I’m going to say `no’ to that.”
It may not sound like much of an endorsement, but in the on-going debate over expanded gambling, it’s a major opening of a long-shut door — and another indication of just how nervous Quinn and other leaders are about the failure of the state’s new video poker law to generate the kind of anticipated revenue they had hoped for.
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* As expected, the Cook County Board voted to override President Stroger’s veto of the partial sales tax rollback. From Tony Peraica’s Twitter page…
The County Board proved today that it is not the City Council or the State Legislature, but that it is truly a legislative body. Congrats!
* From a press release by Democratic comptroller candidate Clint Krislov…
I am pleased to announce that the objection to my ballot petition will be withdrawn, ending any doubt that I will be on the ballot for the Democratic Nomination for State Comptroller.
That said, it has now been a week since my lawyer notarized the withdrawal, and the State Board of Elections has not yet received it from the Miller campaign. Although I presume Mr. Miller will actually file his withdrawal, it’s unfortunate that they chose such a slow way to file it, unlike the haste with which they filed his objection
Which brings me to the main reason for this press conference.
The current batch of challenges is just one part of what’s wrong with Illinois politics, but it’s an important problem. Owing to the shortness of time for this primary, and the fact that Illinois is one of the few states in which candidates may challenge each other’s petitions, this year we have a record number, more than 180 at someone’s count, of people trying to pre-empt voters’ choice of candidates.
1. Converting the ballot process into intramural Dodgeball to the Death, is not good. How do we hope to get good people to run for office, knowing they will be tied up in baseless accusations of fraud, forgeries or “pattern of fraud”, lodged against each other, and each other’s family and friends; all with no downside risk, done solely to drain resources, and eliminate competition. And, while the objection in my race is an annoyance that will pass, look at the judges races, with lawyers baselessly accusing each other and each other’s families of being criminals. This is wrong, and it is something I will address, both inside the campaign and by other avenues.
2. We need candidates with courage. Candidates, like Mr. Miller, who conduct these objections under the name of some campaign worker, do not display the courage we need in a Comptroller. How can we expect someone to stand up to the special interests in Springfield, if they’re too timid to even put their own name on their own challenges.
3. Can’t Count. Finally, Mr. Miller’s challenge should never have been filed. As we asked the election board to dismiss the objection, because as bogus as it was, it never even challenged enough signatures to drop me below the necessary 5000 signatures. If he can’t count to 5000 reliably, what’s he going to do when he’s dealing with a budget in the billions?
* Yesterday was Cyber Monday, when online sales really start to kick off during the holiday season…
Cyber Monday sales rose 14% this year compared to 2008 and consumers also bought nearly 30% more items per order versus last year, according to research firm Coremetrics.
Also, the firm said shoppers bought 10% more items per order online than they did in stores on Black Friday.
Gatehouse takes a look at estimated state sales tax revenue from online sales. It’s puny…
Estimated state sales tax collections on retail sales to households
* 2005 — $47 million
* 2006 — $57 million
* 2007 — $68 million
* 2008 — $73 million
* 2009 — $78 million
Illinois doesn’t automatically collect sales tax on online purchases. Hence, the low numbers.
* Rep. John Fritchey’s prodigious social media usage was profiled by Chicagoist this week. Fritchey adds his own two cents at his blog…
But the point that I tried to convey in the article is that I think the key to maximizing both the intention and the value of social media in the political arena is to use it to let the public see more of who you really are as opposed to simply repackaging the canned messaging that they get all too often from their elected officials.
I know elected officials with Facebook pages and Twitter accounts who likely couldn’t turn on their laptop if their lives depended on it; they have staffers handle everything. In my mind, that not only defeats the whole purpose, it actually sends just the opposite message from the one you want to convey.
He’s right. All of that is very important.
It’s also important that you not say something stupid online, like Jim Ryan’s campaign did the other day. As I told subscribers this morning, JRyan’s campaign found itself in hot water - again - with the Illinois State Rifle Association. From a Rifle Association press release…
The ISRA-PVF is today calling upon Illinois gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan to retract claims that he received the group’s endorsement during his failed 2002 run for governor against Rod Blagojevich. Such misleading claims have surfaced on Ryan’s social networking internet sites in recent days. Additionally, individuals have made reports to the ISRA-PVF that Ryan campaign staffers have made similar endorsement claims when questioned about Ryan’s stands on issues important to law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.
The fact of the matter is, the ISRA-PVF declined to make an endorsement in the 2002 race for Illinois governor as neither the Republican candidate, Jim Ryan, nor his Democratic opponent, Rod Blagojevich, were deemed suitable for endorsement.
Ryan’s campaign then issued a kinda/sorta apology on its Facebook page…
Our campaign staffers in 2002 recalled working closely with ISRA on several issues and remembered being endorsed. If we erred in our recollection, we apologize. We have deep respect for gun owners in Illinois and for the ISRA. We look forward to working with them in the governor’s office, with or without an endorsement.
That would’ve been pretty easy to check. Sheesh.
* Speaking of ill-advised remarks, Greg Blankenship takes me to task for referring to Dennis Byrne as an ultra conservative today on the blog. He may be right about a possible mislabel, but his analysis is a bit off…
Maybe it’s just a knee jerk reaction to someone who disagrees with Miller. I guess disagreement means your some kind of extremist or something. I’ve asked in the comments section for a definition of an ultra-conservative is. Let’s see if I get answer.
As I noted in comments, I might define an ultra conservative as someone who labels suburban women voters as “out-of-touch suburban ditzes.” Just sayin, buddy. lol
* Tony Peraica is live-Tweeting the Cook County Board’s override vote of President Stroger’s veto of the partial sales tax rollback proposal. Have a look.
Here’s some other stuff on Twitter today…
* QuinnStories: Check out our first installment of Quinn Stories, a behind-the-scenes documentary on Governor Pat Quinn: http://ow.ly/Hvbt
* kmrasmussen: QuincyNews poll finds bad re-elect numbers for Rep. Phil Hare. 66% believe stimulus hasn’t helped western IL http://bit.ly/7jOwGz#twill
* And here’s today’s online video, from the Quinn campaign. It’s about the governor’s holiday card drive for the troops. Watch it…
What are you seeing out there on social media today?
* Related…
* Cop Blog, CTA Tracker Among Top Local Web Searches - Google Compiles Lists Of Unique Searches For Chicago, 30 Other Cities: The Chicago Police officers’ blog Second City Cop made the list with an assortment of transit, education and other local Web sites, is one of the most popular Google searches in the Chicago area this year.
* WUIS launches ‘alternative’ digital station: The station, called “Xponential Radio,” first arrived on the airwaves in mid-October and can be received using an HD radio or listening online at www.wuis.org, according to Bill Wheelhouse, WUIS general manager.
* 11:45 am - As I’ve told you before, Joe Laiacona is running against Rep. Deb Mell (D-Chicago) in the Democratic primary and challenged Mell’s nominating petitions because she wasn’t registered to vote at the address she used on her sheets. A hearing officer recommended that Laiacona’s challenge be rejected last week and the full Chicago Election Board heard the case today. Mell won.
I just got this e-mail from Laiacona’s attorney Rich Means…
Argued this morning before Chicago election board. We lost and are considering appealing to the circuit court.
More background here. Rep. Mell, of course, is the daughter of Ald. Dick Mell and the sister-in-law of Rod Blagojevich.
Despite no charges yet filed, a federal probe into alleged hiring fraud under impeached ex-Gov. Blagojevich remains active, Gov. Quinn’s office confirmed Monday.
This is the statement released by Quinn’s office late yesterday…
“There is an ongoing federal criminal investigation into unlawful acts by persons associated with the Blagojevich administration. The U.S. Attorney’s office asked the state not to do anything that might interfere with the investigation, and the state continues to honor that request.”
Quinn was reacting to a press release yesterday by Dan Hynes…
Last week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that at least 70 Blagojevich appointees were holding onto their jobs despite Pat Quinn’s pledge to fumigate state government, including George Rada and Surami Garcia, who got their well-paying jobs by sidestepping veterans preference laws and then lying about it to investigators.
The report prompted the paper to editorialize “Why are we still paying their salaries?” It’s a fair question, and today Illinois Comptroller and Democratic candidate for governor Dan Hynes challenged Pat Quinn to answer it directly. Hynes further called on Quinn to fire Rada and Garcia immediately, and to give a full accounting of the status of the 70 or so Blagojevich appointees whose hiring has been called into question by federal prosecutors.
“I cannot fathom for the life of me why these two people, who managed to leapfrog 17 veterans for jobs at a time our nation is at war, no less – and then lied about it to investigators – continue to draw state paychecks and benefits at taxpayer expense,” Hynes said. “Pat Quinn owes the people of Illinois an explanation.”
The lawyer for those two employees, Rada and Garcia, was not pleased with Hynes’ statement…
Representing both Garcia and Rada, Draper called Hynes’ demand that the pair be fired a “cheap shot” and said neither should be penalized for possible wrongdoing under Blagojevich when they had no knowledge of it as job applicants
Draper said that Garcia was actually fired, but got her job back when she appealed the case to the state’s civil service commission.
US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has been silent about the probe into Blagojevich’s hiring practices since he asked Attorney General Lisa Madigan to give him her files and stop her own investigation…
That had led to speculation the case has taken a backseat to the more sensational allegations lodged last December against Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell Illinois’ then-vacant U.S. Senate seat, among other corruption charges.
It’s possible that with the US Supreme Court taking a close look at the alleged over-use by federal prosecutors of the “honest-services fraud” law, the feds may end up charging Blagojevich or people around him with more stuff soon to buttress their case against the former governor.
Thoughts?
* Related…
* Illinois Continuing Legal Education Discusses Recent Media Events And Legal Professionalism: Illinois CLE presents a topical CLE event titled Tales from the Media II: Blagojevich, Interrogation Memos & More. The program is scheduled for Thursday, January 21, at the UBS Tower & Conference Center, One North Wacker Drive, Chicago. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. and adjourn at 12:45 p.m.
* Gov. Quinn has appointed countless blue ribbon panels since he took over the state’s top job in January. He created an ethics commission, a budget commission, a cemetery commission among others. He’s now looking at a new one…
Gov. Pat Quinn says he may consider a special commission to look at the racial disparity in how Illinois schoolchildren are disciplined. […]
Quinn said Monday he read with “interest” a report by The Associated Press that shows blacks account for half of all student suspensions even though they make up only one-fifth of the enrollment.
But he doesn’t like the idea of the General Assembly setting up a special commission to look at Quinn’s proposed Thomson prison sale…
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn says the state doesn’t need a panel to study the impact of selling the Thomson Correctional Center to the federal government.
That’s despite Republican calls to form a commission.
The GOP idea is most likely just a stall tactic, but they do bring up some valid points about the sale, including how local security will be handled. It would also be nice if somebody looked at what price we ought to be setting for that facility, and how a sale would impact the rest of the state’s prison system, which some (including AFSCME) contend is under-staffed and over-crowded. The Pantagraph makes a good point…
The proposed sale of the state’s nearly vacant Thomson Correctional Center to the federal government once again highlights the lack of long-range strategic planning when it comes to our state’s prison facilities.
By the way, Dennis Byrne’s column today has an interesting tidbit about Thomson. Normally, I wouldn’t post such an extreme statement, but Byrne is an ultra-conservative by nature, so I thought it was worth a look in that context…
Ironically, in opposing the Thomson transfer, Republicans have placed themselves on the side of the detainees, who would rather stay at Guantanamo. Zak (who for security reasons was only identified by this name), an Arab-American appointed by the U.S. government as a liaison to the detainees, told England’s Sunday Telegraph that the detainees would rather stay in Guantanamo than spend a life sentence, or years waiting for execution, in America. “They know (they) will not receive the same privileges as here,” Zak said. “Given the choice of being sentenced forever in Guantanamo or moved to supermax, it is, ‘No, can I stay in Gitmo?’ Here they can be outside, they can smell the sea.”
Illinois’ public health chief Dr. Damon Arnold is joining advocates and state lottery officials to raise awareness about AIDS.
Tuesday is World AIDS Day, and the Illinois Lottery will unveil a new Quality of Life scratch-off ticket called “Red Ribbon Bonus Bucks.” All proceeds will fund HIV/AIDS-prevention education and awareness across Illinois.
The state has the nation’s seventh highest number of reported AIDS cases, totaling 30,000 since 1981. Arnold is attending a news conference Tuesday in Chicago to highlight the toll and the new Lottery program.
* Springfield church among five Illinois sites to premiere AIDS documentary
Subsidies under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act began in March covering 65 percent of premiums for COBRA coverage, which is a continuation of health benefits offered by a previous employer’s plan to the departing worker.[…]
The stimulus funding made what before was considered unaffordable coverage for the unemployed possible.
While commissioners today are expected to successfully override Stroger’s veto of a half-penny-on-the-dollar rollback, the lobbying is expected to continue until they vote. Some commissioners have flip-flopped on the issue.
The political war over Cook County’s unpopular sales tax increase outwardly has pitted county board President Todd Stroger against a majority of county commissioners who want to roll it back.
But behind the scenes, the battle has involved labor unions that have stood with Stroger against the business community, which has been howling from the start about the July 2008 tax hike. Both sides have pushed their positions strongly in the tax controversy.
* Illinois political docket: Cook County tax showdown
Mayor Richard Daley’s administration today proposed using $1.5 million in new annual revenue expected from a lawsuit settlement to boost spending in next year’s budget.
Daley is facing a huge budget deficit of more than $500 million, while he dips into reserves from the parking meter lease deal that were supposed to last the city for years.
He’s cutting city services as he puts workers on furlough.
Yet his slush fund remains untouched, except for the projects he wants to spend it on.
Video gambling will not be allowed in Arlington Heights, despite gambling at Arlington Park and Trackside, the village board indicated Monday during its committee meeting.
Meeting as a committee, the village board expressed support Monday for a new, 3 percent tax on electric and natural gas usage as well as a property tax increase of 5.74 percent in the fiscal year that begins in May.[…]
In total, 25 positions would be eliminated, most through attrition.
City officials told bar owners Monday that a 1 percent sales tax will be added next year on “immediately consumable” beverages and food — and package liquor — to help stave off layoffs of police and firefighters.
* Canal to be poisoned to stem spread of Asian carp
* We’ve wasted millions on electric barrier boondoggle
That’s the first — pretending Asian carp aren’t already in Chicago — of two main reasons I don’t want the corps anywhere near poisoning the rebounding fisheries on our urban/suburban waterways.
Census tracts — not race — will play a key role in deciding admission to Chicago’s coveted magnet and selective-enrollment schools under a new proposal up for a Chicago School Board vote on Dec. 16.
A new admissions policy for elite Chicago public schools is little more than a plot to free up seats for middle-class white families tired of paying private school tuition, black aldermen charged Monday.[…]
The new policy followed a federal judge’s decision to void a 1980 desegregation consent decree that let CPS use race to decide admissions to the coveted schools. Now, census tracts, neighborhood income levels and other socio-economic indicators will be determining factors.
Over the last 15 years, aldermen have made at least four attempts to slap a ceiling on the number of dogs to eliminate noise and stench, only to be reined in by colleagues who don’t want to find themselves in the doghouse with dog lovers.[…]
Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) had hoped to break that losing streak by rounding up 27 co-sponsors. But, the avalanche of opposition at today’s License Committee hearing made it clear that he, too, would get the leash.
llinois Treasurer and U.S. Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias said Tuesday that a “minimal” amount of the $70 million he and his siblings received in 2007 and 2008 dividends from Broadway Bank, the troubled Chicago lender the family owns, actually went to them individually.
That was obviously not the greatest choice of words, since he alone received $2.5 million before taxes.
So, rival Democratic US Senate candidate David Hoffman has responded with a “people in the street” video. The beginning is horribly dull and badly done, but it gets better about 15 seconds in. Watch it…
Ouch.
However, just to be clear, Giannoulias got to keep “only” $1.5 mil from that pile. As I already told you, the rest went for taxes.
…Adding… A minor point, but it appears that the video’s voice-over setup asks a different question than the “regular” people were asked. “What could people in Illinois do with $2.5 million?” appears to be the actual question, but the video claims it was: “What would two and a half million dollars mean for you and your family?” Again, no big deal, but the answers seem a tad bit confusing without that context.
U.S. Senate candidate Cheryle Jackson has garnered the support of more than a dozen black pastors and church officials whose congregations have thousands of members.
Jackson said Monday the ministers from Chicago and the suburbs are organizing pastors downstate to support her campaign.
From Jackson’s press release…
The group based its endorsement on Jackson’s experience fighting for jobs, education and health care. Jackson repeated her call to begin bringing troops and resources home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In attendance at the news conference were Dr. Brazier, Pastor Tyson, Pastor Gray, Bishop Tridestone, Pastor Drummons, Rev. Johnson Jr., Rev. Redwell, Rev. Harrison Sr., Rev. Turner, Rev. Greer, Rev. A Richardson, Pastor Andrews, Rev Michael Eaddy, Apostle Sylvester Brinson III, Jerry Harris and Mickarl D Thomas.
* Former governor/AG candidate John Schmidt has endorsed Dan Hynes. From a fundraising e-mail…
I don’t find it easy to oppose an incumbent Governor of my own party. But I have come to the conclusion - one that I find is shared by many others - that the incumbent is simply not capable of governing competently and effectively.
As Democrats, we have a profound obligation not to give our state another failed Governor. As citizens, setting aside any consideration of party, we have an obligation to do everything we can to elect a Governor who will govern competently and effectively at a time of enormous challenge to our state.
GOP Rep Mark Kirk, who’s running for Senate and facing a primary challenge from the right, is now claiming that if health care reform passes, it “could become law” for the government to deny coverage for mammograms.
Kirk’s Senate campaign is out with a new email that is presented as a questionnaire, asking: “Could the Government Deny Mammogram Coverage?”
* Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard has a new cable TV ad which features former Gov. Jim Edgar. Rate it…
It’s a $50,000 buy on Fox News for the week. The ad will be running throughout the day and evening on the cable channel.
*** UPDATE 2 *** As some commenters have pointed out, there’s more to the buy than just Fox News. But just barely. From my usual industry insider…
* Dillard booked a total of 95k statewide - broadcast and cable
* Markets - Champaign - cable only 4k total
Chicago- booked 50k on cable and 10k on broadcast
Paducah booked 5k broadcast no cable
Peoria- 19k broadcast, 3k cable
Rockford- 3,500 on cable only no broadcast
This is a very light broadcast buy, to say the least.
*** UPDATE 3 *** A pal with the Dillard campaign says Champaign network (WCIA) was bought this week.
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* Meanwhile, in other political news, Adam Andrzejewski says he’s on a “fact-finding mission to Poland” with his dad…
I’m currently visiting the Republic of Poland as part of an economic and political fact-finding mission. My four day mission trip will include both official and familial appointments. The goal of the mission is to discover how the State of Illinois can improve its economic and cultural relationship with the Republic of Poland in order to promote job growth, economic vitality, and increased international trade between the two.
* Adlai Stevenson has endorsed Justin Oberman for state treasurer and Oberman is featuring Stevenson in a new radio ad. I’ll have the audio during the lunch hour, so watch for an update. For now, here’s the script…
Your state treasurer can be a big help in these troubled times—from improving state finances to creating new jobs. I know, because I served as state treasurer before you elected me senator.
I’m Adlai Stevenson and I’m grateful for your past support. But now I want to tell you about an outstanding candidate with a strong professional background and great plans for the treasurer’s office—including job creation.
Justin Oberman served our country in transportation and homeland security, managing a large staff and budget. He now runs his own financial firm helping green companies grow. His qualifications are unmatched for managing the treasurer’s office and investing state funds wisely. But he can also bring private investment back to Illinois, which will mean more new jobs.
I urge you to support Justin Oberman for State Treasurer in the Democratic primary.
Justin: Thank you for your support. Paid for by Oberman for Illinois.
Stevenson: It’s a new generation, but the name Oberman still means reform.
“It was just ridiculous. It was chicken scratch, it was scribble-scrabble. It didn’t look well at all. It looked obviously fake and false,” said Brown spokeswoman Lily Kim.
The electoral board will continue its review of additional allegations including invalid signatures, irregularities and forgeries in Brown’s documents on Thursday.
In 2008, I joined over 100,000 Republicans in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and 38,000 in Mississippi who voted for Hillary Clinton to put Republicans in the best position to win in the general election.
The first-term treasurer has been criticized by Democratic Senate opponent David Hoffman for large Broadway Bank payouts to him and his family.
In all, there were $70 million in payouts in 2007 and 2008. Giannoulias’ campaign said the payouts were was triggered by the 2006 death of Giannoulias’ father, Alexis, who founded Broadway Bank. His will called for estate and income taxes to be paid for with dividend payments from the sale of Broadway shares, the campaign said.
Alexi Giannoulias’ portion of those payouts totaled $2.5 million — $1 million of which he has said went to pay income taxes. The campaign has noted that Alexi Giannoulias didn’t have a say in whether to sell the shares because he divested himself of his voting shares when he was elected treasurer.
“I feel strongly about full disclosure in government, but I do not believe posting my personal tax returns, or the tax returns of the other candidates for governor, would further the public interest in any tangible way. I have yet to hear anyone make a compelling argument how this would benefit voters,” he replied to an Associated Press questionnaire.
Bill Brady released his returns the last time he ran for governor, but won’t this time. Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney also refuses…
“It’s time to stop looking at trendy gimmicks as a pathway to clean government, and time to look at the real public policies needed to establish it,” Whitney said.
* The Question: Do you think it’s important for candidates to release their tax returns? Explain.
* My latest Sun-Times column talked about Congressman Kirk’s rightward lurch and what it may mean…
I try hard not to hate. Hating is bad for your health. Plus, the holiday season has officially begun, so hating should be put off until at least after New Year’s Day.
But I have to admit that I absolutely hate the infantile, ear-splitting, hyperpartisan politics that emanates from our nation’s capital.
So, I probably should’ve known better when Republican Rep. Mark Kirk announced his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Soon afterwards, a national Democratic operative called to see what I thought about Kirk’s chances. I told her that Kirk would probably be a lock.
As a liberal Republican on issues such as gun control, abortion and gay rights, and as a strong voice within his party for paying attention to the needs and wants of suburbia, he fit the ideal Illinois profile.
One of the biggest problems that Republicans have had in this state, I explained, is that their nationally conservative party has scared the living daylights out of suburban women, who tend toward liberalism on guns and abortion and are more open to discussing gay rights. Without those votes, the statewide math doesn’t add up. You just can’t win without them, as the extraordinary Democratic surge in suburbia over the past decade or so clearly has shown.
Not only that, I told the operative, but the Chicago media tends to dote on socially liberal Republicans. No way, I said, would the city’s media turn on Mark Kirk.
The flaw in my argument was that I failed to take into account Kirk’s long exposure to DC-itis, first as a staffer and then as an elected official.
After initially citing strong national security concerns as a reason why he voted for the “cap and trade” energy bill in the U.S. House, Kirk flip-flopped almost immediately after he announced for Senate and blamed his vote on his congressional district’s liberal bent. Why? Because his party’s right wing viscerally opposes the legislation and it has become a touchstone issue, so he abandoned principle for party.
Then, Kirk reached out to former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who is way more unpopular with women than she is with men, but is the darling of his party’s far right.
And if that weren’t enough, Kirk’s head all but exploded along party lines when the Obama administration announced that it wanted to buy a state prison and transfer in terrorist detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay.
Kirk’s over the top, hyperbolic, error-riddled, extremely partisan fear tantrum finally tipped the media against him. Just about every significant newspaper in Illinois, including this one, which endorsed Kirk’s re-election last year, mocked Kirk’s meltdown and severely chastised him for needless and baseless fear-mongering.
The general election is 11 months away, and the Republican primary is Feb. 2, so I figure Kirk will lurch back leftward sooner or later. Maybe that’ll be enough to regain his mojo with the media. Reporters and editorial writers could just chalk up his recent rhetoric to standard-issue politics and move on.
But I think there’s more at work here than just the usual rightward drift during a Republican primary. Kirk is clearly showing that he’s far too susceptible to our disgusting and mindless national political wars, which endlessly play out on those idiotic cable TV “news” channels. And all this makes me question how Kirk would behave if he were elected next November.
Somehow, Kirk needs to forget the stupid and divisive D.C. wars and find his own center and stick with it. Maybe some holiday introspection is in order.
* Related…
* Governor takes first step to close and sell Thomson prison to feds: In documents filed with a legislative review panel, Quinn’s prison chief outlined why the administration thinks selling the facility to the federal government to house prisoners from the terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay makes sense.
* Editorial: Get politics out of discussion about Thomson prison: But in the simmering atmosphere of a young election campaign, discussion appears to be the last thing Cross or any other political leader really wants. Partisan battle lines were drawn virtually the moment it was proposed to shift more than 100 Guantanamo Bay detainees to the underused prison in tiny Thomson, and the only talk either side appeared to want to engage in was to show how far it could puff out its chest.
* Illinois House Republicans call for slowdown on fast-paced Thomson prison deal: Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, said today that holding hearings would be unproductive until there is a firm proposal from the federal government and an action plan from Quinn. But Brown said watching Republicans “flip-flopping” on whether to oppose or support the Thomson site has been “entertaining.”
* Quinn leaves port board hanging: Selling the state prison in Thomson to the federal government could bring jobs to northwestern Illinois, but officials in the region also are gearing up to launch what someday could become a major development along the Mississippi River.
* Irony alive and well in Illinois: Gov. Pat Quinn’s push to sell the mostly vacant maximum-security prison in Thomson to the federal government has not only generated controversy among Republicans, but it is riddled with irony.
* Congressman Has More Concerns About Thomson Prison Proposal
* Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan can’t shake ties to corrupt player Stu Levine. The Sun-Times take a look at some contributions to Ryan’s last gubernatorial campaign while Levine was the finance director. The contributions seem curiously timed to some investment votes by the Teachers Retirement System, on which Levine served. The story relies heavily on Levine’s testimony at Tony Rezko’s trial…
When his testimony turned to the teachers’ pension fund, Levine told jurors he helped one firm — the John Buck Co. — win a deal to manage $100 million of real estate investment money for the fund.
Levine also testified he helped a second investment firm — Walton Street Capital — get a deal with the teachers’ pension fund to handle another $75 million.
The TRS approved the investments on Oct. 29, 2002 - just before the November election. And here’s the contribution timeline…
• On Oct. 1 — 28 days before the TRS board meeting — six employees of Bluhm’s Walton Street Capital and one from another Bluhm company gave a total of $33,500 to Citizens for Jim Ryan.
• On Oct. 11 — 18 days before the meeting — the John Buck Co. contributed $35,000 to Ryan and spent another $2,000 to host a Ryan fund-raiser at the Union League Club of Chicago.
Everybody denies a quid pro quo and Ryan’s campaign won’t give back the money.
* A challenge to state Rep. Deb Mell’s petitions was dismissed last week by Chicago Board of Elections hearing officer Barbara Goodman. From the transcript…
I find nothing in the Election Code that tells me that a candidate has to be a registered voter at all….I think we all agreed that the petition signers have to be registered voters at the addresses shown on their petitions, and I have a hard time understanding the logic used to require candidates to have a lesser connection to the voting process than petition signers. But there it is….However troubling I find this issue….I believe I’m compelled to grant the motion to dismiss.
The chief of staff for a state social service agency has left her job after allegedly using her state-issued phone to harass another woman because the two had a relationship with the same man.
Champaign County authorities also said Tamara T. Hoffman boasted of her position in state government in the threats to the Rantoul woman, threatened a police officer when he contacted her and posted photos of herself and the man holding guns on a social networking Web site belonging to the alleged victim’s daughter. […]
Rietz said Hoffman began repeatedly calling the Rantoul woman about Aug. 14. One threat, according to Rietz, began with an expletive and continued, “If you see him again, something bad is going to happen to you. I work for the State of Illinois, and you don’t know who you’re messing with.” […]
When a Rantoul police officer called Hoffman, Rietz said, Hoffman threatened him with unspecified retaliation from “investigators in the Illinois State Police.”
Wow.
* But if you really want to get your weird on today, take a look at a short piece of fiction in New York Magazine’s latest issue, entitled: “The King of Mop - Blago in Vegas, looking to make a deal with Michael Jackson’s father”…
Threading through the Venetian, Rod cast an appreciative gaze at the painstakingly painted murals of Italian skyline, while gondoliers poled between linen-laid tables. Some folks pilloried Las Vegas for being fake, but they didn’t get it—the power and the glory of façade. It never rained in this dive, and its sun never set.
* Related…
* Anti-corruption law: Supreme Court decision could derail ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s trial - Justices are asked to scale back or strike down prosecutors’ key tool for public corruption cases
With a roughly $11 billion budget gap of its own, Illinois can only duck a similar meltdown by raising taxes, says Daniel McMillen, an economist with the U. of I. Institute of Government and Public Affairs who co-wrote an analysis of the state’s fiscal crisis for an upcoming report on critical issues facing Illinois.
“In the end, I think we have to face up to the fact that Illinois has to have higher taxes,” he said. “Budget cuts can’t close a gap this wide and worsening. It’s just not possible with major expenses like pension and Medicaid obligations that you simply can’t reduce.”
The economists want a 50 percent increase in the income tax and a new tax on services. Combined, the tax hikes would bring in $11 billion a year…
McMillen says tax increases are long overdue in Illinois, where budget shortfalls have been mounting for nearly a decade.
“It really should have been done 10 years ago, when the economy wasn’t in bad shape,” he said. “But even though the recession is a bad time to raise taxes, I still think they need to do it right away.”
* And my syndicated newspaper column looks at the deficit within a political framework…
Four years ago during the last Republican gubernatorial primary, dairy magnate Jim Oberweis was sharply and widely criticized for running false newspaper headlines in his TV ads. Now, it’s happening again with a different wealthy gubernatorial hopeful.
Republican Andy McKenna’s latest TV ad stays with his original theme of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s hair.
The spot begins the same as his first ad, with a visual of a Blagojevich-like wig on top of the Statehouse and a Blagojevich look-alike walking into the shot. McKenna’s first TV ad placed the wig on several previous governors, including George Ryan and Dan Walker, as well as on a baby. The hair is supposed to be a metaphor for the state’s history of corruption.
The McKenna ad’s announcer then claims the state faces an $11 billion deficit while “Governor Quinn hides the truth.” The accompanying visual is the phrase: “Quinn hides the truth” and a reference to a Nov. 18 Chicago Tribune article.
Trouble is, the Tribune published no such article with that headline. The article itself is about a contentious public debate between Gov. Pat Quinn and his Democratic primary rival Dan Hynes, but nowhere in the article does Hynes accuse Quinn of “hiding” anything.
The McKenna campaign claims the reference is to the governor’s statement that day that his administration has had many “missions accomplished” during his first year in office. The Tribune reporters questioned the political smarts of parroting one of former President George W. Bush’s more infamous quotes, but the McKenna people say Quinn’s line “hides the truth” about what’s really happening in Illinois.
Obviously, that’s more than a little bit of a stretch.
It’s not like Quinn has hidden the grim realities about the state’s crippling budget deficit or the need for a tax hike. Considering that most Illinois politicians want to sweep this budget and tax problem under the rug until after the election, Quinn’s been downright honest about the whole thing.
If anything, it’s people such as McKenna who are “hiding the truth.” McKenna and the rest of the Republican candidates know full well that there’s no way to balance the state budget with cuts alone. The deficit is almost half of the budget, for crying out loud.
Here’s the “truth:” Most of the budget is education and health care. So, unless you want to cut most of the $8 billion in state kindergarten to grade 12 spending (which would just necessitate insanely high local property taxes) and kick tens and tens of thousands of children and poor people off of Medicaid, dump the mentally ill into the streets and then quit doing the other things that the state does, like patrol the highways, you can forget about balancing the budget.
Yet to hear McKenna and the other GOP candidates talk, all that’s really required is a nip here and a tuck there. Ridiculous.
Anyway, back to McKenna’s TV ad. You’d think he’d be more cautious about making up headlines, but he’s using an out-of-state media consultant who probably doesn’t know about the 2006 Oberweis fake headline blowup.
A Washington Post columnist claimed last week that McKenna’s “hair” ads are the best he’s seen this year, but the ads have yet to move McKenna past his rivals - probably because while they’re visually striking, it’s tough for most viewers to remember that the ads are for candidate McKenna. The spots have attracted plenty of media attention, however, and probably have been the subject of quite a few water cooler discussions.
McKenna is likely to stick with this “hair” visual throughout the primary, so people eventually may associate his name with the hair spot, although that may not work all that well, either.
McKenna, for one, has a nice head of hair himself. And associating such a strong negative image so closely with a candidate could be dangerous. McKenna could become the “hair guy,” and because “the hair” is portrayed as such a strong negative, that’s a risky proposition with low-information voters.
It’s also unclear how this negative ad will fare as we move into the holiday advertising season. Usually candidates try to avoid negativity starting about Thanksgiving because viewers easily can be turned off by a negative tone during the holiday season.
False and counterproductive. But, other than that, it’s a good ad.
City Council poised to vote Wednesday on Mayor Richard Daley’s new $6.1 billion spending blueprint […]
Austin said Daley’s budget proposal headed off more contentious budget hearings because this year he’s sparing aldermen the politically unpalatable task of voting on tax or fee increases.
Instead, Daley is relying on $370 million from the parking meter lease — far more than he initially planned to use when he persuaded aldermen to quickly approve the deal just days after it was unveiled in December 2008 — to fill a $550 million hole.
1. “Most TIF Funds don’t generate any money,” Daley said.
Wrong. Figures from the Cook County Clerk’s office show the funds brought in $495 million in 2008, the last latest year for which figures are available. “They generate a lot of property tax revenue — a substantial number of dollars in total,” said Woods Bowman, professor of public service management at DePaul University.
2. “Most TIF funds are used for schools, parks, libraries, ex-offender programs, job training, economic development to keep jobs here,” Daley said.
The number of elementary and secondary students in the system — which includes 255 schools in Cook and Lake counties — dropped by roughly 4.5 percent this year, or 4,158 kids, figures show.[…]
“The schools conduct interviews with families as to why they’re leaving, and … we’re being told by 90 percent of our parents that it’s really money,'’ Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, the schools superintendent, said in a recent interview with ChicagoCatholicNews. ‘’So it’s a reflection of the economy. …'’
* Illinois tuition savings program cost goes up Tuesday
Bargains drove people into the stores and to their computer screens, with 195 million shoppers visiting stores and Web sites over the holiday weekend, up 13.4 percent from last year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.
Shoppers weren’t buying more, though. On average, each shopper spent about 7.9 percent less: $343.31 compared with $372.56 a year ago.
It took those extra shoppers to keep sales practically flat from last year’s biggest retail weekend. Total spending was $41.2 billion, less than 1 percent higher than the $41 billion spent a year ago.
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — It took Google Earth, a little deer psychology and a freak shot for a bow hunter in southern Illinois to bring down one of the largest deer in the state so far this year — a 25-point buck.
* I just found out that Kent, a good friend of mine, volunteered to work on Thanksgiving Day so his co-workers with children can have some time off. I love my friends because almost all of them are as cool and kind as Kentola. I don’t spend my off-hours hanging out with just anybody, y’know.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and we’ll see you on the flip-side. I think I posted a version of this song last year or the year before, but we ought to make it an annual thing because it is the greatest Thanksgiving song ever written, or at least the funkiest…
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Southern Illinois University has $16.5 million to go before it can fully cover its Jan. 1 payroll, President Glenn Poshard announced Tuesday, adding he remains confident the money will come through.
The university received $15.5 million Tuesday in payroll reimbursement from Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes’ office, the first allocation of state appropriations the system has received since July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year. The payment and a combination of steps SIU recently took to save money leaves officials $16.5 million short of what it needs to meet the first payroll of 2010.
Poshard said he remains confident the needed money will be found by the comptroller’s office.
“Believe me, we’ve been in constant communication not only with our universities, but our whole provider community,” Hynes said. “The situation is getting untenable. We have $4.5 billion in bills that we can’t pay, including payments to our universities.”
But Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, insisted officials need to look beyond union wages and work rules to bring costs at McCormick Place in line with those in other cities.
Union workers at McCormick Place have agreed to three changes to work rules in the past 15 years, Gannon said, arguing labor costs there are now comparable to those at convention centers around the country.
“What it costs to be on the floor, what it costs for a case of pop, what it costs for a refrigerator – those ain’t organized labor’s costs,” he said.
Juan Ochoa, chief executive of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority – which runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier — said management changes could be part of the overhaul.
The income the agency gets from the oases is nearly $2 million - less than 1 percent of its revenues. Officials estimated that leasable space at six of the oases is 45 percent to 65 percent unoccupied.
“I do not sense this as something we ought to run or own. It’s not our forte. We’re not good at it,” Board Director Thomas Canham said.
However, the tollway signed a 25-year lease agreement with Wilton and that deal may be difficult to escape, regardless of what happens in the court case.
The roster of 449 inmates at the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility — dubbed the Supermax — includes a Sept. 11 conspirator, Zacarias Moussaoui; the would-be “shoe bomber,” Richard Reid; the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef; and a former Chicago gang member accused of aiding terrorists, Jose Padilla.
The cells here also house the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski, of south suburban Evergreen Park, and Timothy McVeigh’s accomplice in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols.
But if having terrorists imprisoned a 10-minute walk from your home is a safety risk, there’s no sign of that in Florence, Colo., a rural community about 110 miles south of Denver.
“We still leave our doors unlocked at night,” former Mayor Bart Hall said.
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk has certainly tamed his rhetoric lately on moving Gitmo detainees to a western Illinois prison.
But he told Animal Farm today that he “stands behind” his earlier statements claiming the move would increase terrorism activity in northern Illinois and put residents in direct danger.
“There is a danger,” the Highland Park Republican said.
* Employee union blasts plans to sell Thomson prison…
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 says Illinois prisons are overcrowded already, and moving the estimated 200 prisoners housed at Thomson to other state prisons will only exacerbate the problem. Additionally, AFSCME says the Illinois Department of Corrections has renewed a push to close Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, a move that would require shipping an additional 1,500 inmates to other state prisons as well.
“Bottom line, the IDOC plan to eliminate Thomson and Stateville will worsen the state system’s overcrowding crisis at the same time that it turns some 2,000 beds over to the federal government,” said AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer in a statement released in anticipation of Quinn’s announcement.
The IDOC Web site shows that 25 of Illinois’ 28 prisons are operating over capacity, with at least three prisons holding more than double their capacity of prisoners. Compiling the online data shows Illinois prisons hold about 44,000 inmates – almost 14,000 inmates over their combined capacity of about 30,000. Those numbers do not include the state’s adult transitional centers, some of which are overcrowded as well.
Januari Smith, spokeswoman for IDOC, responded via e-mail to AFSCME’s overcrowding worries by pointing out that Thomson is barely being used, and the state’s inmate population has remained stable for the past decade.
“There is no expectation that it will increase under current criminal justice system practices,” Smith said.
* Plan to cut poverty in Illinois needs to include way to pay for it…
“We have to be mindful that there is a shortage of funding and we have to see within the context of that what we can make work moving forward, said state Rep. Sandra Pihos (R-Glen Ellyn).
Though Pihos said she is a member of the commission because she feels the issue of poverty is timely and pressing, she would not commit to a funding plan for the commission. Pihos cited the relatively early stages of the commission’s work and what she characterized as the “goal” timeframe outlined in the legislation as reasons for her reservations.
* Illinois smoking ban: Some bars give smokers a sanctuary - Smokers pitch in extra cash to help bars pay fines
* Greater interactivity, pay walls, potential avenues to revive Sun-Times…
While there’s no panacea for the ills of the newspaper publishing business, small changes will help turn the tide at the money-losing publisher of Chicago’s No. 2 paper, Sun-Times Media CEO Jeremy Halbreich said.
The Washington Post, in a significant retrenchment, is closing its remaining domestic bureaus around the country. The six correspondents who work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago will be offered reassignments in Washington, while three news assistants will be let go.
“I’ve known Dan a long time and he’s very, very negative. Eighty-five percent of their commercials are very negative and I don’t think that’s the way in a recession to get Illinois back on its feet,” Quinn said of Hynes’ campaign.
“We need to have jobs, economic growth,” Quinn said. “We’ve got to repair all the damage that was caused in our state government. I’ve done that. We want to make sure then we focus on what the people need, not what politicians are thinking about.”
Quinn said Republicans who want his job are “calling me a bunch of names” and warned, “he who slings mud generally loses ground.”
“I want to be a truth slinger,” said Quinn, who was elevated to the state’s top job when Blagojevich was ousted by lawmakers in January. “I think in the 10 months or so I’ve been governor, I think I’ve done a good job in stabilizing our state. I’m an honest person and I want to keep our government honest.”
* Giannoulias Gets Grilled On State Of Family Bank…
When asked why his family took $70 million out of the bank, Giannoulias said, “Most of the dividends were used for tax purposes. And what was left, most of that was used to help settle my father’s estate.”
When asked to explain further, Giannoulias said, “I’m not gonna go into the details of my father’s estate with you.”
Giannoulias’ campaign spokeswoman Kati Phillips said the $70 million payout occurred in 2007 and 2008 and was triggered by the 2006 death of Alexi’s father the year before. Alexis Giannoulias’ will called for estate and income taxes to be paid for with dividend payments from sale of shares at Broadway. Alexi’s portion was $2.5 million, she said, $1 million of which went to pay income taxes.
Phillips said Alexi Giannoulias had no say in selling the shares because he sold his voting shares when he was elected treasurer.
For his part, as a 3.6% shareholder of Broadway, Mr. Giannoulias said he received $2.5 million in dividends over the period. He kept something less than $1 million, with the rest going for taxes and his share of the estate expenses, he said. The campaign will release his tax returns with detailed information Wednesday.
Mr. Giannoulias couldn’t quantify how much of the $70 million went for taxes and the estate, though, saying that would have to come from his brother, Demetris, who runs the bank and thus far hasn’t provided the information.
Asked whether he would plow dividends he’s received back into the bank in order to save it, he said, “Anyone would walk on glass if they find a way to help their family. They’re going to make a management decision on the best way to keep that bank running.”
However, immediacy and Illinois’ death penalty are two incongruous concepts.
Absent one of the inmates dropping his appeal, there is little chance that the governor elected in 2010 — or even 2014 — will be confronted with the issue, possibly making all of last week’s rhetoric moot unless one of the current crop of gubernatorial hopefuls goes on to win a second term.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, which represents the state in death penalty cases, predicted that none of the inmates now on Death Row will face execution earlier than 2017 because many of their appeals are only in their infancy.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said after the hearing there was no evidence of willful misconduct by the government but suggested that the agents may be “kicking themselves for what they did or didn’t do.”
The Chicago businessman and former head of the state’s Republican Party says the state must stop spending more than it is taking in. If elected, he pledges not to increase spending above the rate of inflation plus population growth and to consolidate government operations. […]
McKenna, 52, supports enabling revenue growth by stimulating business growth and freezing spending for three to four years. That solution may not be popular and may cap his career at one term, but McKenna claims it will help get the state back in the black.
