Dude, your job rating numbers are quickly sinking into George Ryan territory. Public Policy Polling has teased tomorrow’s results. They have your approval rating at 25 percent, with your disapproval at 53. Yikes, man.
Releasing violent criminals from prison and then refusing to punish those responsible, and then pardoning a bunch of former criminals last week ain’t doing you much good, either. Just sayin’.
Also, two months since the primary and you still have no campaign manager? What are you smoking, man?
* Dear state Sen. Bill Brady,
There is not a single, up-to-date, reputable study that shows anything like the estimate you just gave for how much the new federal health care bill will cost Illinois government…
“Estimates range in an additional $2 (billion) to $6 billion in costs just to the public sector”
But this is not a bad argument at all…
“[Governor Quinn] criticizes my 10-percent reduction in spending, but yet he threatens to reduce classroom spending by 17 percent. He talks about eliminating 33 percent of the state troopers and putting the safety of the public at risk. He talks about eliminating 33 percent of funding for local and municipal governments, putting their public safety at risk.”
* Dear Forrest Claypool,
You showed today that you’re trying to piece back together the liberal/black coalition which so badly frayed during your 2006 primary race against Cook County Board President John Stroger. But having Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. at your side during today’s press conference won’t exactly help you burnish those reformer credentials. And while your message packed some real punches and was filled with lots of headline fodder, your delivery style needs more than a little work…
Question: Your only real elected experience was on the Carbondale City Council. Is that enough to be in the second-highest elected position in our state?
Answer: At a meeting, we were talking about democracy being the same at small towns, bigger towns and at the state level. We need more people participating. I learned many lessons working on the Carbondale City Council that can apply to the state of Illinois. We want to encourage people to pay attention and be part of the process. We encourage people to vote. Our history of corruption in the state shows more people need to be involved in the governing process.
Is Rod Blagojevich done with television? Don’t count on it.
In a conference call with members of the media on Tuesday, Blagojevich, who was ejected on Sunday from “The Celebrity Apprentice,” said he’s got another “potential” reality show in the works and he’s said he’s also participating in a documentary.
* Democratic US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias has had a horrible two months in the news media. His family bank’s troubles, replete with all the attendant weirdness of Outfit juice loans and whatnot, have prompted story after story wondering whether he might be pushed out of the race.
Up until today, the Real Clear Politics polling average had Giannoulias ahead of Republican Mark Kirk 43-37. But that’ll drop as soon as RCP plugs in the new Public Policy Polling survey…
Giannoulias 33
Kirk 37
TPM’s polltracker has the average now in favor of Kirk…
Notice that both candidate averages are trending downwards, but Giannoulias’ is far steeper. That’s partly a matter of how the polls were conducted. As the Hotline pointed out the other day, at least one of the earlier pollsters grossly undersampled senior citizens, which would result in giving the Democrat an edge. Kirk leads Giannoulias 39-31 among seniors in the new PPP poll.
* Even though he’s fallen quite a bit, Giannoulias is still hanging in there. And there is a way back, as PPP discusses today…
The main reason Giannoulias is behind is that he’s getting only 54% of the Democratic vote while Kirk is winning 77% of the Republican vote. It’s not that a lot of Democrats are planning to cross over and vote for Kirk, but 36% of them are undecided right now compared to just 16% of Republicans. That suggests Democratic voters don’t really know what to make of Giannoulias’ problems right now so they’re just taking a wait and see approach to the race.
“The undecided Democrats will decide this race,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Will they come home and support Giannoulias in the end, will they stay at home, or will they cross party lines to vote for Kirk? We don’t know that answer yet.”
Kirk has been running TV and radio ads lately, but they haven’t done much to help him as of yet. This is all about Giannoulias right now, which is right where Kirk wants it to be. That won’t last if Giannoulias has the cash to burn in the message with those undecided Democrats and Democratic leaning independents that Kirk is just another Republican obstructionist…
Giannoulias wants to make the election a referendum on Illinois’ favorite son Obama, which has a much better shot at working here than anywhere else. Kirk has tried to portray himself as a moderate, but being against Obama right down the line will make him look like a run-of-the-mill Republican obstructionist come November. Kirk walked right into the trap on health care.
Whether Blagojevich was a bizarrely incompetent governor is beyond dispute. And if anybody needed a reminder of just how goofy Blago truly was, his failings were on display for the nation on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice.” […]
There was the political double- talk. The self-obsession. The disdain for details. The inability to admit mistakes.
Our First Jogger couldn’t type. He couldn’t text. He couldn’t e-mail.
On the radio on Monday, Blagojevich blamed his age — he’s an ancient 53. His generation, he said, didn’t grow up with “all that stuff.”
But Blago, as most of us in Illinois already knew, also couldn’t lead and couldn’t follow.
Exactly.
* Related…
* Prosecutors file new details of case against Blagojevich under wraps: Prosecutors revealed that the document contains details about the government’s evidence that have never been disclosed. The defense could argue the release of the details could taint the jury pool, even though the selection process is two months away.
* I just checked with the State Board of Elections about Forrest Claypool’s soon to be announced bid for Cook County Assessor as an independent candidate.
Claypool will need about 20,000 25,000 valid signatures. But nobody who circulated a petition in the recent partisan primary cycle can circulate for him. That’ll seriously cut down on his base of volunteers, but he could just end up using paid circulators (which haven’t always proved to be all that reliable in Chicago).
People who took partisan primary ballots in February can sign Claypool’s petitions, according to the Board.
* Claypool has apparently hired AKPD, the consulting firm once run by David Axelrod. Axe is gone, but they kept the “A” in the name. David Plouffe is also gone, but the “P” remains as well. Gov. Pat Quinn and failed US Senate candidate David Hoffman were both AKPD clients during the primary cycle.
* I’ve been saying for months that Speaker Madigan’s support of Board of Review Commissioner/Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Joe Berrios for Cook County assessor was gonna come back to haunt him but good, and the Claypool race is just one manifestation of that.
Last week, Assessor Jim Houlihan claimed Madigan and Berrios were in cahoots to delay property tax bills until after the November election, although the evidence seems to contradict that claim, as a Sun-Times editorial rightly pointed out.
For me, though, it was the fact that the two other Board of Review commisioners, Brendan Houlihan (no relation to the assessor) and Larry Rogers, both sided with Berrios and Madigan. Commissioner Houlihan was elected in 2006 over a Republican incumbent with big contributions from both Assessor Houlihan and Commissioner Rogers. Those two commissioners are not considered Berrios guys at all, so siding with him against the assessor was a telling moment for me. Instead, it looks suspiciously like a setup for Claypool’s announcement against Berrios, and the media ate it up.
* A Sun-Times editorial summed up the appearance of conflict of interest between Berrios and Madigan pretty well…
[Berrios] sits on the county’s Board of Review, where he shamelessly collects political contributions from the very same lawyers looking for tax assessment breaks from the board.
And who are these lawyers?
Many of the biggest tax attorneys in town work for Madigan & Getzendanner, the law firm of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.
But wait. It gets worse.
When Berrios is not wearing his Board of Review hat, he’s wearing his paid lobbyist hat. He goes down to Springfield — or to some fancy restaurant in the Loop — and lobbies state legislators on behalf of such clients as the video poker industry.
And whom must Berrios lobby most?
He must lobby Madigan — the same man looking for help from him, Berrios, when the petitioner’s shoe is on the other foot.
We have no evidence Berrios and Madigan have ever swapped a single lucrative favor, but anybody can see this is far too cozy a relationship.
But wait. It gets even worse.
Madigan and Berrios are also a political tag team. Madigan is chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party and Berrios is chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. Nobody gets slated for the party ticket — certainly nobody like Claypool — without going through them.
The G has looked at Madigan’s firm in the past and came up empty. The Tribune spent about a year looking at thousands of cases involving Madigan’s firm and came up with nothing earth shattering - and zippo on the Berrios/Madigan stuff.
But the appearance of impropriety is just far too much for the columnists and editorial writers and reporters to ignore. Madigan really screwed up and the big heat is coming.
* Related…
* Forrest Claypool announces independent bid for Cook County Assessor Tuesday
* While I was visiting my dad in the hospital last week, I noticed I was getting sicker and sicker by the day. Turns out I had a bad sinus infection that moved into my lungs. It got pretty darned bad. I was basically wiped out for days.
I’m better now, and I’m finally home, but I’m feeling pretty weak and need to see some local medical professionals today so I don’t end up sharing a hospital room with my father (and, as it turns out, my grandmother, who went into the hospital late last week). Blogging, therefore, will be light.
Illinois’ unemployment rate of 11.4 percent in February was the state’s highest since July 1983. It compared to 9.7 percent nationally.
* O’Hare to get $400 million from U.S. for new runways
What’s not immediately clear is whether the money is for completion of Phase I of the O’Hare Modernization Program’s proposed network of new and relocated runways, or the second phase, which includes a new runway at O’Hare’s southern end.
After a bad accident four years ago blamed on inspection lapses, the transit agency now brings in lasers and a sophisticated “brain box” once a year. The diagnostic equipment recently completed a check of the tracks to pinpoint any emerging problems that CTA inspectors might have missed.
While authorities won’t say exactly how many cameras are included, with 1,500 installed by emergency officials, 6,500 in city schools and many more at public and private facilities, nobody disputes an estimate of 10,000 and growing. Weis said he would like to add “covert” cameras, perhaps as small as matchboxes.
* University of Illinois interviews finalists for president
Five finalists are university provosts — typically the top academic officer of a university — according to trustee Pamela Strobel, chair of the presidential search committee. Eight candidates come from public universities, and some of them have ties to U. of I., officials said.
Rasmussen College - with 18 campuses offering online and on-campus education services - is eyeing a property in Central Peoria visible to motorists on War Memorial Drive and Interstate 74.
* Decatur council OKs budget nearly $17 million less than previous year
* Springfield School Board accepts Watson’s resignation
Watson two weeks ago admitted she had copied substantial portions of the Philadelphia School District’s strategic plan into the Springfield district’s new plan, “Believe 2020,” which she was in charge of producing.
* Belleville OKs budget: You get $20 wheel tax; mayor gets 2 assistants
City leaders estimate that Belleville could receive $1.8 million less in tax reimbursement from the state in the coming year, and they said the wheel tax is needed to help them keep from cutting staff and services.
* New East St. Louis police chief is supposed to be in place; where is he?
Jenne, when asked when he is scheduled to start, said: “I’m getting mixed signals. I signed the contract in March. Two weeks later, I got an addendum asking me to take a 7 percent pay cut and two furlough days per pay period. I told them I am an exempt employee and I couldn’t do that.”
* Emergency repair: $1.2 million project will fix levee problem — for now
* O’Fallon mayor on bare-bones budget: ‘If there is any fat left, we can’t find it’
* Cahokia trustees will decline to testify in trial that seeks to oust them
Trustees Kevin Johnson, Trevon Tompkin and Phyllis Pearson are named in a noncriminal petition filed under Illinois election law by three losing candidates, Gloria McCoy, Robert Eden and Dennis Phillips, in the April 2009 village election.
In the last fiscal year, Illinois sold a record $2.08 billion in tickets. The state’s profit was $625 million. And Illinois Lottery Acting Superintendent Jodie Winnett said so far this year, the lottery is on pace to increase ticket sales by more than 6 percent.
As officials with Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration envision it, the deal would allow a private manager to be paid a percent of lottery profits. The company could increase its earnings if it grows revenues by boosting marketing, adding new games such as keno or Internet lottery sales and finding so-called “efficiencies” in operating costs.
Hoping to avoid the corruption that brought down Illinois’ two previous governors, the Quinn administration has attempted to make sure companies involved in the potentially lucrative transaction won’t benefit from insider deals.
For example, the company selected to write the bidding documents for the $1 billion deal would be barred from any business relationship with whoever is chosen as the manager for a year after the management contract is awarded.
Companies wanting to serve as the state’s lottery consultant also were required to disclose all of their business relationships.
Illinois officials are confident their plans will satisfy the federal government. So their real interest in negotiating with them is over the idea of selling lottery tickets online.
The (pension) changes were approved, and within days two rating services issued reports critical of Illinois’ efforts. That’s not to say the pension changes were a wasted effort. They weren’t. In fact, Fitch Ratings mentioned the pension changes as a plus for Illinois.
* Steve Preckwinkle: Pension ‘solution’ didn’t fix anything
* What does spring break really mean in Springfield?
Perhaps they are filming a new spring break episode of “Budget Gone Wild,” in which inmates are released early from prison to find the state police force has been reduced by 30 percent because of budget problems. This film has not yet been rated.
* [Springfield] legislators’ scorecards show hits, misses
Fewer troopers also mean less money coming into the counties from traffic citations, as well as fines associated with misdemeanor and felony criminal cases.
According to the Sangamon County circuit clerk’s office, fines assessed by the Illinois State Police within the county increased from $368,700 in 2005 to $541,740 in 2008. Last year, the figure fell to $427,070.
* Sweeny: Andrzejewski says state audit would find ways to save
* Hillard’s security firm branching out to consult police departments, cities
Terry Hillard retired from the Chicago Police Department in 2003, and Arnette Heintze from the Secret Service the same year. Their Chicago-based firm now employs 85 people in offices across the country.
Fifth Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston isn’t ready to call in troops, but she says now is the time to implement ShotSpotter, which is a camera-based gunshot-location system that is designed to pinpoint a shooter’s location within seconds.
* Community colleges serve more students with less cash
Illinois’ two-year colleges have seen average spring enrollment jump nearly 8 percent over last year, and enrollment was up 3 percent in 2009. Several campuses have seen double-digit gains, including Highland Community College in Freeport, where enrollment is up 21 percent this spring.
Enforcement of the state smoking ban, which was instituted over two years ago, has been patchy. But if the proposal to allow administrative tickets to be administered for smoking violations is approved by the City Council, it would make it easier for local police to enforce the law.
What are the chances that the remaining $1.4 million will cover all of the ex-governor’s legal bills through his trial?
“Zero,” predicts Ron Safer, a former federal prosecutor who served as chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago and is now managing partner of the law firm Schiff Hardin LLP. “It won’t cover costs. They will go to public funds.”
Patti’s family — brother, Richard; sister, state Rep. Deborah Mell; and father, Chicago Ald. Dick Mell — is tight. They describe Patti as a loving mother, daughter, wife and sister. Loyal. And they are just as loyal to her, with plans to do whatever Patti needs from attending the trial to helping with the girls.
* I’m not sure yet if I’m coming back to work Monday or Tuesday, but blogging will resume next week, as will the subscriber services. Sorry about the interruption, but it couldn’t be helped. Thanks much to my two interns for filling in for me all week. They did a splendid job.
* I’ve been listening to a lot of Wilco on my way back and forth to the hospital to visit my dad, so they and Billy Bragg will play us out today…
* The Tribune ran a huge headline over its long, front-page story on the Giannoulias family’s Broadway Bank today, but it meandered all over the place and missed the real point. The story was about how the bank loaned more money to a couple of shady characters than originally thought. But the Kirk campaign pointed out what should’ve been the real angle in a follow-up press release…
Less than one month ago, Alexi Giannoulias took a tour of Chicago newspaper editorial boards to answer questions about his time as Vice President and Senior Loan Officer at Broadway Bank.
When asked specifically to answer questions about loans Broadway Bank made to convicted mobsters Michael “Jaws” Giorango and Demitri Stavropoulos, Giannoulias flatly denied he or his family had any knowledge of their criminal backgrounds when they approved those loans.
Demetris Giannoulias in Today’s Chicago Tribune:
“Demetris Giannoulias said the bank learned of Giorango’s bookmaking and prostitution promotion convictions from a spring 2004 Tribune report detailing those cases…He said he asked Giorango about the convictions and Giorango said, ‘It’s in the past. I don’t do that anymore.’” (Chicago Tribune, April 2, 2010)
Alexi Giannoulias One Month Ago:
Audio Available: “Banks do not perform criminal background checks on their borrowers. If I knew then what I know now, would we have given these loans to these colorful characters? Absolutely not.” (Alexi Giannoulias, Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Interview, March 3, 2010)
Audio Available: “I learned of it primarily when I was running for the office of state treasurer…I mean, I don’t remember the exact date, whether it was during the primary or during the general. I think it was during the primary…We didn’t know about this, no.” (Alexi Giannoulias, Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Interview, March 3, 2010)
“Mr. Giannoulias personally visited Florida to see property involved in a Giorango loan. Asked if he was aware then of Mr. Giorango’s criminal past, Mr. Giannoulias replied, I didn’t know the full extent of his legal problems.’ Full extent? Mr. Giannoulias declined to say more, despite several efforts to get him to elaborate on exactly what he knew and when he knew it. (Crain’s Chicago Business, March 3, 2010)
“Giannoulias denied, even though he went down to Florida to inspect the properties, that he was aware of Giorango’s mob ties.” (Chicago Sun-Times, “Giannoulias acknowledges family bank will probably fail,” March 3, 2010)
Meanwhile, the Tribune has yet to publish a single article about Mark Kirk’s apparent flip-flop on whether he would “lead the effort” to repeal the new federal health care reform law.
* On a personal note, my dad is still in the hospital, which is why I haven’t been around here this week. He’s in a rehab unit to help him recover from a stroke. The stroke didn’t appear to damage his brain (he beat me two out of three at checkers the other day), but it left his left side very weak. Thanks for all the calls and e-mails.
The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville area employed 137,500 fewer people in February than the same month in 2009, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Chicago’s unemployment is eighth-highest in the state, according to figures released Thursday by the department.
* Decatur area unemployment rate continues unabated climb to 14.6 percent
The February rate was the highest since 1983, when it was 19 percent. In January, it was 14.4 percent.
In the Peoria metropolitan area, unemployment worsened slightly to 13.2 percent, the worst February rate since 1984 - the last time rates stayed in double digits for a sustained period of time - and an increase from 12.9 percent in January. A year earlier, the rate was 9.4 percent in the Peoria region.
* Adams County officials forsee improvement in job market as rates hold steady in February
The latest Illinois Department of Unemployment Security (IDES) report indicates Adams County remains at 9.6 percent and the city of Quincy at 10.3 percent. Both of those figures are the highest since the late 1980s…Hancock County dropped to 15.5 percent from January’s record 15.7 percent, and Brown County saw its unemployment rate reduced to 6.5 percent from 6.7 percent. Pike County’s rose to 12.2 percent from 12 percent.
Unemployment in Granite City increased from 13.9 percent to 14.4 percent, O’Fallon’s rate went up from 7.8 percent to 10 percent, Collinsville’s rate jumped from 9.5 percent to 12.4 percent and Belleville’s total swelled from 10.9 percent to 14.2 percent. The number of jobless in East St. Louis witnessed the greatest increase over the past year as it inflated from 14.9 percent in February 2009 to 19.6 percent last month.
It’s not news that the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state- and city-run organization known as McPier that operates the city’s convention venues, needs an overhaul. Its dysfunction has been apparent for years. What was different and refreshing Thursday was a sense of urgency that punctuated testimony over three hours at the packed-to-capacity hearing run by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.
Orlando and Las Vegas both receive hotel tax revenue to help pay for operations. Illinois needs to consider doing that, too, Mr. Cullerton said, but making that change would require action by the General Assembly.
* Work rules under attack at McCormick Place legislative hearing
Organizers of five shows called on lawmakers to reduce overlapping union jurisdictions at the convention hall. They said trade show exhibitors — companies that bear the final cost for staging a show, are exasperated with Chicago. “It’s not only pricing but also the hassle factor,” said Mary Pat Heftman, executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association.
* Longtime state agency director Barry Maram resigns
Maram was also cited earlier this year for failing to properly supervise his former chief of staff Tamara Hoffman, who was the target of a critical internal investigation.
Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday that Barry Maram will continue serving as director of Healthcare and Family Services until a replacement is found.
* Illinois, short by billions, still cuts 2-cent checks
Since 1993, the state has paid 1 percent interest per month on each bill that’s over 60 days old. Illinois was on the hook for $55.4 million in interest under the “prompt payment act” the last two years, according to the state comptroller.
Until now, a vendor had to request payment in writing for any amount of interest under $50.
Last year’s ethics bill made the payments automatic, no matter how small.
Kelly Kraft with the Illinois Office of Management and Budget said there is good news in last week’s developments at Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s: Neither downgraded Illinois, which she saw as “reaffirmation” about the state’s credit.
But having spent the better part of the last week poring over the 350-page Chicago Public Schools budget, I can tell you there’s little evidence that the central office has gone on a diet. In fact, top schools brass are enjoying something like a carbo-loading feast. The district’s highest-ranking officials got healthy raises this year— and one of the biggest went to Huberman…There are 53 departments, bureaus, or offices in the central schools bureaucracy, and the top remaining officials in every one—as well as many of their assistants—received raises, according to the budget.
State officials were glad that Zappa’s ruling was overturned, Arnold said. But to avoid more legal disputes about the level of fines, she said the department - at least for now - will continue to limit nursing home fines to $10,000.
“The governor spends a lot of time here, and he’s opened it up to the public. It’s the peoples’ house, and we have a responsibility to maintain it,” Bourland said.
* DH: It’s time Democrats push to vote on party limits
* Jack Roeser now a rising star in Illinois GOP’s big new tent
You know Mr. Roeser. He’s the guy who, just a couple of months ago, was being widely quoted in radio ads aimed at GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mark Kirk, ads that said, “Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual. Roeser suggests that (Kirk) is part of a homosexual club.”
Well, guess who’s the new finance co-chair of the Illinois Republican Party, one of five folks leading the party’s hunt for cash to retake control of Springfield and Washington?
Sun-Times Media received a letter from appellate prosecutor Charles Colburn last week requesting a Courier-News correspondent make himself and his notes available from a mid-March interview with coroner Chuck West for use as evidence in at least one grand jury hearing scheduled for April.
Thornton, 52, was behind the wheel of his car when he was shot twice in the chest. Washington Park police said he was headed home from his job as an overnight-shift foreman at the Metro East Sanitary District.
* ‘The people’s soldier’ is remembered: ‘They did an injury to all of Washington Park’
Last July, one of Thornton’s duties was to sign the village’s second petition for bankruptcy in five years. The village reported debts of at least $1.6 million, including $449,000 to the Illinois Department of Employment Security and $300,000 to Johnny “Chico” Matt, a former village public safety director who had accused the village of dismissing him for political reasons.
