An attorney for Gov. Rod Blagojevich tells the Associated Press he could file a lawsuit within days to try to stop impeachment trial.
It was dead certain a few hours ago that there would be no lawsuit [I checked]. Stay tuned.
*** 6:04 PM *** I’m not sure if there was a miscommunication somewhere with the AP, or between lawyers or whether the Trib site had problems or what yet, but Genson tells the Tribune in this late-breaking report that there will be no lawsuit, and the original AP story referenced above was pulled off the site…
Genson also said that the legal team does not plan to sue to try to stop the impeachment trial from starting Monday or to try to block Blagojevich’s removal should the Senate vote to remove the governor from office.
“We had planned to file a lawsuit in the Illinois Supreme Court. We are not doing that,” Genson said of the Monday start date in the Senate. “There’s going to be no suits filed. I can say that with confidence.”
*** 6:13 PM *** Here’s a longer version of the AP story mentioned at the top. It appears that the two lawyers are at odds on this one. I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on, but need to find out more…
One of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys tells The Associated Press he could file a lawsuit within days in an attempt to stop the governor’s impending impeachment trial.
Speaking outside his Chicago office alongside Blagojevich on Thursday, attorney Samuel E. Adam said rules for calling witnesses and mounting a defense at the state Senate trial are unfair.
So, Adam says the lawsuit is a “go” and Genson said it’s a “no.” This is bizarre, because Genson was pushing for the lawsuit for the past several days and Adam was against it. Adam won that battle, Genson was upset and made his feelings known today…
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s lead criminal lawyer says he’s being left out of decisions on responding to the impeachment trial that could throw the governor out of office. […]
Genson says he isn’t involved in decisions on impeachment.
He said: “I should be, but I’m not.”
Yet, now, Adam is saying they are filing the suit. So, did Genson win? Stay tuned.
There’s as much drama on the governor’s defense team as there is in his administration.
Speaking outside his Chicago office alongside Blagojevich in the afternoon, attorney Samuel E. Adam told the Associated Press he might file a suit within days to attempt to derail the proceeding, set to begin Monday in Springfield. Earlier in the day, Blagojevich called the trial unfair and “a sham.”
Asked about Adam’s statement later on, Blagojevich’s lead criminal-defense lawyer, Edward Genson, said if a lawsuit was to be filed, the information hadn’t been shared with him. “I don’t know of any lawsuit,” Genson said. “I don’t know anything about it.”
Highways and Bridges: $1,001,675,645
Transit Capital: $352,823,530
Fixed Guideway Modernization: $191,779,080
Clean Water State Revolving Fund: $262,531,962 TOTAL: $1,808,810,217
Keep in mind that the US House Appropriations Committee has its own plan. No state-by-state breakdown has been released yet from that committee as far as I can tell. And there’s new pressure in the Senate to jack up the mass transit portion of the proposal.
Gov. Blagojevich’s legal team has no plans to file a lawsuit to block his Illinois Senate impeachment trial — though his lawyers considered that maneuver but decided against it, a source close to the governor told the Chicago Sun-Times today.
Blagojevich this morning railed on the rules governing the impeachment trial during an impromptu news conference outside his Northwest Side house, calling the process unfair and “a sham.”
But his lawyers — after meeting with the governor for several hours Wednesday — have decided not to try to derail the Senate trial, set to begin Monday.
The governor appeared to be publicly negotiating with the Senate earlier this morning when he said…
“I’d like to call, for example, Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff, who . . . made it very clear nothing inappropriate happened in his conversations with me, about who the next Senate pick is. I want the Senate to agree to let me call witnesses like that, and we want them to work with us to have a fair hearing, a fair process.” [emphasis added]
The rules are already passed and the governor has missed every deadline to date, including the deadline to subpoena witnesses. Saying he wants concessions from the Senate now, after the chamber’s deadlines have expired and after his laywers announced a boycott of the Senate trial, seems a bit odd.
But this governor is a bit odd, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the state law requiring a moment of silence in public schools across Illinois is unconstitutional, saying it crosses the line separating church and state.
“The statute is a subtle effort to force students at impressionable ages to contemplate religion,” U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman said in his ruling. […]
As passed by the Illinois General Assembly, the law allows students to reflect on the day’s activities rather than pray if that is their choice and defenders have said it therefore doesn’t force religion on anyone.
But Gettleman upheld critics such as the American Civil Liberties Union, who say the law is a thinly disguised effort to bring religion into the schools.
The “teacher is required to instruct her pupils, especially in the lower grades, about prayer and its meaning as well as the limitations on their ‘reflection,’” Gettleman ruled.
“The plain language of the statute, therefore, suggests an intent to force the introduction of the concept of prayer into the schools,” he said.
* As if we don’t already have enough distractions in Illinois politics, Big Jim wants another…
Former Illinois Governor George Ryan will ask President Barack Obama to commute his 6-and-a-half-year sentence for political corrupption. That’s according to former Governor Jim Thompson, one of Ryan’s lawyers.
THOMPSON: President Obama knows Governor Ryan, worked with him in Springfield, and I think can feel more personally the loss that the governor has suffered.
In the past, Mr. Obama’s office declined to comment on Ryan’s request.
Thompson says the new application will hopefully include more letters of support for the Ryan’s release. But Thompson says it’ll make the same basic arguments, including that Ryan’s continued imprisonment doesn’t appear to have deterred other politicians from corrupt activities.
WBEZ has posted the raw audio of its interview with Thompson on this page.
Just two weeks ago, Democratic leaders suggested that Roland Burris was tainted as a result of being appointed to the Senate by scandal-tarred Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Now he’s got spots on some top Senate committees and is in the position to help shape legislation on foreign affairs and domestic security.
The Senate approved a resolution Wednesday night setting committee assignments for the 111th Congress, and Burris is now poised to serve on the Armed Services Committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the Committee on Veterans Affairs.
* And he’ll no longer be the most junior Senator very soon…
Democrats Ted Kaufman of Delaware and Roland W. Burris of Illinois won’t be the Senate’s least senior members much longer.
Senate Democrats would like to swear in Democrat Michael Bennet on Thursday to replace Colorado Democrat Ken Salazar , who was confirmed as Interior secretary on Tuesday. Bennet, who was picked by Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. , is likely to be the first senator sworn in by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr .
Then there’s the Clinton replacement fiasco and the Minnesota imbroglio to deal with.
* He’s also the first of the new and potential appointees to have set up a federal campaign account.
* Despite a hatchet job by the Washington Post and other fantacists, claiming that Transportation Secretary Designate Ray LaHood was inextricably tied to indicted GOP fundraiser Bill Cellini and therefore could be a problemmatic appointment, the FBI found zero improprieties in LaHood’s background…
LaHood has come under fire for ties to William Cellini, the former associate of disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich who pleaded innocent to conspiracy charges in November. But committee Chairman John Rockefeller said an FBI report on LaHood was “sparkling clean.”
Any congresscritter in Illinois who earmarked road repair/construction money likely benefitted local asphalt pavers, who belong to an association run by Cellini. That doesn’t automatically mean they did something wrong, as the WaPo article more than suggested.
* And in that same spirit, let’s withhold immediate judgement on this revelation, at least for a few seconds…
For more than two years, Maltese’ bulging campaign fund had invested millions of dollars through a company headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the firm Invest Financial Corporation. Its CEO at the time was Robert Blagojevich, the governor’s older brother.
State records show that between July of 2000 and September of 2002, Robert Blagojevich’s company paid Maltese’ campaign fund nearly $3.3 million. The dozens of entries are listed as investment dividends, interest and proceeds from the sale of U.S. Treasury bills.
Some of the investment payments from Robert Blagojevich’s company occurred even after Mayor Maltese was convicted of swindling $12 million from the town through an insurance firm.
Lawyer Michael Ettinger, who represents the governor’s brother in the current federal investigation, was unaware of the link to Betty Loren Maltese.
On Wednesday at the I-Team’s request, Ettinger had Robert Blagojevich review the state records and Blagojevich reported that “he knows nothing about it” and that the investments must have been made by some other affiliated bank even though his was listed 41 times.
* Related…
* House panel takes shot at Blagojevich in stimulus: The U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee voted on Wednesday to bar Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, charged in a corruption scandal, from touching any money the state would receive from an economic stimulus package.
* 8:15 am - The governor talked to reporters this morning…
Speaking to reporters outside his North Side home before going on a morning jog, Gov. Rod Blagojevich accused the Illinois House and Senate of attempting to “thwart the will of the people” by removing a twice-elected governor.
“The impeachment trial is a sham,” he said.
Blagojevich said he was being denied due process by not being allowed to subpoena witnesses.
For instance, he said he wants to call Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, to testify on his behalf. He noted that Emanuel has said in a television interview that there was “nothing inappropriate” in his conversations with Blagojevich about naming someone to Obama’s former Senate seat.
He also referred to Illinois Sen. John Cullerton, who has said Blagojevich has been deceitful.
Denying any deceit on his part, Blagojevich invited reporters gathered in his front yard, to go down the block to Cullerton’s home and ask him about those comments.
The governor said he would have more to say after his morning run.
Stay tuned.
*** UPDATE *** Well, maybe not. NBC5 has changed that last line above to read…
The governor said he might have more to say after his morning run. [italics added]
I’ll let you know.
*** UPDATE 2 *** That sentence about saying more after the run has now been removed from the NBC5 story. So, no more? I dunno.
*** 8:26 am *** I’m sure he’ll demand a daily show…
During a show early Thursday, the program director at WLS-AM announced that if Blagojevich resigns, the station will offer him his own weekly radio program from noon to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
Program director Bob Shomper said the station is asking the governor to spare the state the embarrassment and expense of forcibly removing him from office. […]
Shomper says the station’s offer reflects the will of the people, who he says want the governor gone.
*** 8:38 am *** CBS2 reports that the governor’s lawyers are leaning towards the idea of going to court to block the Senate impeachment trial. Considering the governor’s comments today, and everything else I’ve been told and have seen for the past several days, that certainly appears likely…
The governor’s impeachment trial is set to start Monday, but Wednesday night, there are efforts to stop it. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that the governor’s attorneys, having virtually given up trying to win the case, are now leaning toward going to court, to try to block the trial.
But Senate President John Cullerton, in an exclusive interview, says he doubts they’ll be successful.
“If they want to go to a court and have a court tell us to stop, that’s up to them. But I cannot envision any court interfering with this process because we are following the constitution,” Cullerton said.
*** 12:38 pm *** Here’s an update, with a hat tip to a commenter…
Around 11:30 a.m. Blagojevich left his home dressed in jeans and a coat. He did not elaborate on his earlier statements but said he might have more to say Friday. He got into a state car with his security detail and left.
Rikeesha Phelon, spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), called the governor’s remarks an “unfortunate sideshow.”
“This is a blatant attempt to muddy the distinction between a criminal court process and the Senate impeachment proceeding and rules,” Phelon said.
Phelon is exactly right. I figure we’ll get another late afternoon horror show come Friday. Wonderful.
* Related…
* Blago’s legal fees as gov hit $2.6M: Since taking office in 2003, Gov. Blagojevich has spent a staggering $2.6 million out of his campaign fund on legal fees, with the lion’s share going to pay criminal defense lawyers.
More than three decades after highly toxic PCBs were banned in the United States, an unusual PCB compound has turned up in the air outside several Chicago schools.
Air Force officials have released a list of six bases, including one in Illinois (Scott Air Force Base, Ill.),
that are finalists to house the new Cyberspace Command.
Two years after winning election, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger finally is giving voters what his campaign says is a detailed accounting of what he raised and spent.
Campaign finance reports filed with the state show Stroger failed to report $733,000 in political donations—about a quarter of what he’s collected since October 2006. He also got far more help from his father than he had disclosed and has $520,000 in investments not previously listed.
A West Side alderman is denying allegations that she was driving drunk Tuesday night. Sharon Dixon was arrested after a confrontation with police in which they smelled alcohol on her breath. Craig Wall reports from the West Side with the alderman’s explanation.
A clout-heavy law firm paid $38.1 million to collect overdue Chicago parking tickets and other debt is still rolling in city business — one year after it was supposed to be fired for bankrolling an Arizona trip for a high-ranking Revenue Department official.
A hearing begins today to determine whether Chicago’s 29-year-old school desegregation case should be thrown out. The consent decree orders Chicago Public Schools to create as many integrated schools as possible. A lesser-known provision also spells out services the district must provide to students who don’t speak English proficiently. That’s the main reason some are fighting to keep the decree in place.
One of the groups that’s pushing hardest to keep the consent decree around is the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a Latino civil rights organization.
A Chicago homeless agency has fired Illinois First Lady Patricia Blagojevich from her job as its chief fundraiser.
The board of the Chicago Christian Industrial League on Tuesday exercised the termination clause of Blagojevich’s contract, according to interim executive director Mary Shaver. She said she could not discuss why the board terminated Blagojevich because it is a personnel issue.
The Tribune first reported five months ago that the group hired Blagojevich, who amid federal scrutiny left her longtime job of being a real estate agent and broker. She was earning about $100,000 a year as the league’s development director.
• • The background: The Sun-Times reported Jan. 8 that the charity raises about $1 million a year but needed to increase that to $2 million. Its big hurdle: Repaying a $10.8 million loan it obtained with help from the Illinois Finance Authority — a state agency created by Gov. Blagojevich — to build the $25 million shelter. In each of Patti Blagojevich’s first three months on the job, the League brought in $10,000 to $15,000 a month — the same as it did before she started, the Sun-Times reported.
• • The backshot: “She did a good job, but the circumstances made it very difficult for her,” said a source on the League’s board. Quoth another source: “She was always a lady at work.”
• • Further translation: “It was obvious the League board found a loophole for her to leave,” said a source.
* The governor, by the way, missed yet another impeachment trial deadline today. He had the right, under Rule 15, to request subpoenas.
The House has filed documents with the Senate under the aforementioned rule, and they will be posted soon at the impeachment tribunal’s website.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother said Wednesday the FBI may have recorded as many as 50 of his telephone conversations as part of the federal investigation of corruption in state government.
Robert Blagojevich, who chairs the governor’s Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund, made the statement through his attorneys in papers filed in U.S. District Court in the fraud and bribery case against the governor.
Attorney Michael D. Ettinger said federal prosecutors had given him only one tape of Robert Blagojevich on the telephone but he believes “there are 30 to 50 more conversations wherein he was recorded.”
* And on an unrelated note, Rep. Sara Feigenholtz has a new Internet video up. Feigenholtz is running in the 5th Congressional District special election…
The number of unique visitors in December declined 27% at Politico compared to November’s stats. At The Washington Times, uniques in December dropped 12% compared to November. Dips were even steeper at the Boston Globe and San Francisco Chronicle sites.
Not all newspapers saw a reversal of online readers. The Chicago papers — most likely benefiting from the hometown Obama angle and the Rod Blagojevich mess — both reported increases in their audience in December. The Chicago Tribune was up 7% compared to November while the Chicago Sun-Times was up 21%.
I checked my stats and this site’s unique visitors were up 80.5 percent in December compared to November.
* I was told not to use this by the Sara Feigenholtz for Congress campaign, but the story about how they got it appears to be false, so I’m gonna use it anyway.
As I told you yesterday, Feigenholtz was slammed in a Fox Chicago report for running a poll that made some false and/or outrageous assertions about two of her opponents in the special election to succeed Rahm Emanuel, Rep. John Fritchey and Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley.
Feigenholtz’s poll claimed, among other things, that Fritchey took money from a mob connected source. The Feigenholtz campaign will not confirm on or even off the record that they ran the poll in question, but from what I can tell it’s obviously theirs.
I asked about what “mob” money Fritchey could’ve taken and was eventually e-mailed this story which they claimed came from a simple Google search…
Fritchey Was One Of Several Politicians To Receive Contributions From PAC Run By Family With Mob Ties And Under Federal Investigation:
In 2005 the Chicago Sun-Times noted that the political action committee of Liquor & Wine Sales Representatives Local 3 had contributed to three Chicago aldermen and three members of the state Legislature, including Fritchey. Local 3 represents around 1,700 liquor distribution workers and others and is run by Patrick Duff and his elder brother, John “Jack” Duff III… [Chicago Sun-Times, 1/31/05]
Trouble is, the above narrative isn’t available on Google. I looked. I also checked Google using various keywords without success. The Sun-Times story likely ran, but it has since apparently disappeared behind the paper’s firewall.
Also, Fritchey accepted a measly $500 contribution from the union in 1995. One of the local’s favorite campaign recipients? Grand reformer and governor-to-be Pat Quinn, who has banked $1,400 since 2002.
You don’t run poll questions unless you’re thinking about using the information in your campaign. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a bare-knuckled candidate. I quite like them, in fact. But please spare me the rhetoric from now on about how Rep. Feigenholtz is floating above the fray. She’s right down there in the mud.
…Adding… Quigley is attempting to raise some cash off the Feigenholtz flap. From a campaign e-mail…
Yesterday we watched with great pride as our friend Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. It was a reminder that a campaign based on hope and new ideas can truly change things for the better.
Sadly, at nearly the same time, one of Mike’s opponents, Sara Feigenholtz, launched the first negative attack of the campaign. On Monday night, Fox News reported that her campaign put out a poll attacking Mike and accusing State Representative John Fritchey of having connections to organized crime. Outrageous!
I know, my reaction was the same as yours. I thought that was the politics of the past we were all hoping to put behind us.
That’s why we need your help. A contribution of $35, $50, $100, $250 or more will help the campaign tell voters about Mike’s message of reforming government and getting this economy moving again.
Since we spoke last, you helped us get more than half-way to our goal of $5,000, but we still have $1,500 to go.
Let’s show Sara’s campaign that old-school politics are behind us, and blow past that goal this week.
* Meanwhile, this seems a bit early, but the early bird gets the worm, I suppose…
A Republican Air National Guard pilot already is considering a run for Congress against newly elected Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson in 2010.
Bloomington Republican Adam Kinzinger, 30, said he’ll make a final decision about entering the 11th Congressional District race in April after returning from a two-month stint in Iraq.
’’I’m taking a look,’’ said Kinzinger, a former McLean County board member. ’’Exploring.’’
Kinzinger explored taking on U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, in 2007 but eventually decided against it. Now, he says he’s interested in Halvorson’s seat.
Not all of the seating for the Illinois delegation was so glamorous. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, the top state official in Washington for the festivities, had a ticket in a standing-room-only section.
After a security agent told those in his group to get down because they were blocking the views of others, Quinn was forced to kneel on the Capitol grounds next to a tree.
“I was on my knees, literally,” he said. “But I was happy where we were.”
Blagojevich would’ve thrown a fit and dispatched his state police entourage to snag him a seat with the VIPs. Quinn just kneels down next to a tree and is happy about it. I mean, even Mel Reynolds got into the good seats. Mel Reynolds, the former convict, for crying out loud.
Unless Blagojevich can convince a federal judge to step in and halt the Senate’s impeachment trial, we’re literally just days away from an entirely new era in Illinois government. And no matter what you think of Pat Quinn’s ideas and his leadership style (or lack thereof), that’s not a bad thing.
* As I told you yesterday, the governor has missed yet another deadline for filing motions in the Senate’s impeachment trial schedule. His next step is being kept mum…
It’s unclear, however, whether this means Blagojevich is simply going to refuse to engage in the impeachment process at all.
“Honestly, we just don’t know,” Blagojevich attorney Sheldon Sorosky said.
Sorosky said that “no one is resigning from the case in the sense of quitting the case.” He also said that the lawyers are not squabbling among themselves, something that seemed unclear last week, and are fully behind the governor.
“The team is united,” Sorosky said. “No one is angry at the governor.”
Yeah. OK. That ain’t what I hear.
* On another Blagojevich front, you know most of this already…
Gov. Blagojevich reported having about $2.7 million in his campaign fund at the end of 2008, though that number might not reflect his true fund-raising total.
A lawyer for the governor’s campaign fund told the Illinois State Board of Elections Tuesday the figure might be incomplete because the FBI seized documents from the governor’s campaign office on Dec. 9, the day he was arrested on corruption charges. […]
Blagojevich raised more than $705,000 during the last six months of 2008, according to figures disclosed by Tuesday’s filing deadline. He spent more than $1.6 million during that span, including money to pay off an outstanding legal tab at the law firm of Winston & Strawn and to pay bills for his current criminal defense team.
Blagojevich filed a campaign report showing he paid $705,000 in longstanding fees owed to Winston & Strawn, which had been the governor’s legal counsel. In addition, the report shows the governor spent an additional $500,000 for his criminal defense attorney, Ed Genson, and $100,000 for criminal defense co-counsel Sheldon Sorosky.
He also spent almost $26,000 for hotel rooms in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. Those were the days.
llinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, long considered one of several major contenders for governor in 2010, sought to cool off that speculation in a conversation just now, saying the likely ouster of Gov. Rod Blagojevich changes everything.
“Blagojevich was so unpopular, and people were so fed up with him, that there was a lot of clamoring for a different candidate,” Hynes said in the lobby bar of the Renaissance Washington Hotel here, decked in a tux and holding a Heineken as he and other Illinoisans await the start of the state’s inaugural ball. “That’s changed a bit, because he’s going to be gone no matter what. Let’s see what the next few months hold.”
As I told subscribers this morning, every Democratic gubernatorial aspirant is essentially on hold right now as events play themselves out.
Trains, planes, automobiles and . . . sewage. Those are just some of the issues that local governments hope they can improve upon if and when some of President Barack Obama’s proposed $800 billion stimulus package trickles down to the south and southwest suburbs.
Details have yet to be ironed out for the package—and the president already is facing opposition from Republicans in Congress on key points—but that hasn’t stopped local officials from whipping up wish lists for area projects.
Cook County Assessor James Houlihan says he’s researching ways to come up with a standard adjustment in property assessed valuations — which directly relate to how much homeowners pay in real estate taxes — to bring them more in line with current housing market conditions. The plan would make adjustments based on a property’s location — likely calculated for each township — and could save people some cash.
Mayor Richard Daley’s administration will announce plans Wednesday to close as many as five of the city’s 12 mental health centers on Feb. 1, citing a decline in state funding.
Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon (24th) was arrested and charged with drunken driving and obstructing a police officer when she reportedly refused to obey street closures at the scene of a fatal fire early Wednesday in the North Side’s Rogers Park neighborhood.
Dixon, 46, of the 1600 block of South Central Park Avenue, was charged with driving under the influence, obstructing a police officer, obstruction of traffic and operating a vehicle without insurance, according to a police source.
The governor, charged with political corruption, was fingerprinted again because the quality of the first set of prints taken last month was not considered good enough, sources said.
The fingerprinting inside the federal courthouse came on a Blagojevich visit to pretrial services that his attorneys characterized as routine. The governor’s attorneys noted that the governor is required to appear at the offices whenever directed. His lead lawyer, Edward Genson, was not present.
* 7:24 pm - Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn reported having just $83,500 in his campaign account today while raising $142,032.50 during the final six months of 2008. Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has not yet filed. Here are some more numbers…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan reported having $3.5 million in her campaign account after raising just over $1 million in the second half of 2008, the period the report covers.
Comptroller Dan Hynes raised $644,000 and had $2.9 million in the bank. […]
Among Republicans mentioned for the governor’s office, state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington has $331,000; Sen. Dan Rutherford of Chenoa has $263,000; and DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett has $45,000.
Republican Doug Whitley reported raising $85,389.58 and had $81,588.70 in the bank.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys say that when FBI agents carried out a search warrant at his campaign office, they may have confiscated documents he needed to file complete financial disclosure reports.
Attorney Anthony J. Jacob said in a letter Tuesday to the Illinois State Board of Elections that the Friends of Blagojevich committee filed its report. But he says the FBI seized paperwork on Dec. 9 that may contain information that needs to be disclosed.
Jacob says the committee has requested the information from the FBI and will update its report as needed.
MR. EMANUEL: …Well, the secretary of state of, of Illinois signed the papers to seat [Burris]. At that point there wasn’t a objection for the Senate. He was seated and has served at ready and cast his vote, as he did the other day.
MR. GREGORY: Senate Democrats switched their position, allowed him to serve.
MR. EMANUEL: You know, and also…
MR. GREGORY: As did the president-elect.
MR. EMANUEL: Yeah. Once, once the papers were signed by the secretary of state, who originally said he wasn’t going to sign it, he signed them.
Jesse White never signed the appointment certificate, and Emanuel surely knows it. White autopen signed a different document which merely authenticated the original, unsigned (by White) document. The Senate Democrats then used that technicality to weasel out of its pledge to block any appointment made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
This is just one more reason why I despise Washington, DC.
First, the Senate Democrats said they’d block anyone appointed by RRB. Then they watched with horror as Blagojevich & Co. played the race card at every opportunity, so they began to backtrack. When they realized that their bluff was called, they found a convenient African-American politician to be their scapegoat, Jesse White. “See? It’s not us white guys and gals in the Senate who are blocking Burris, it’s that black guy!” And they, through Emanuel, continue this fiction to today.
Burris was seen walking near the U.S. Supreme Court building on his way to another inauguration event. He was stopped constantly by admirers hoping to get his picture and shake his hand.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Burris said as he hurried off.
…the Republican gubernatorial hopeful in 2010 must offer blueprints instead of bromides on state finances, ethics reform and education issues, such as closing the academic achievement gap between whites and minorities and assimilating the youngest of our burgeoning immigrant population—matters vital to Illinois’ economic destiny.
Although Blagojevich and the Burris appointment may have kick-started a Republican resurgence and significantly improved GOP chances to garner the governorship and the U.S. Senate seat, the demographics still favor Democrats. In addition, Madigan and rising Democratic stars may have mitigated voter vengeance by pressing for Blagojevich’s ouster.
Republicans cannot rely solely on Blagojevich backlash. They must field outstanding candidates with mainstream views and somehow protect them from being cannibalized in primary-election holy wars by right-wing fanatics. Witness the internecine thrashing that left gubernatorial nominees Jim Ryan and Judy Baar Topinka bloodied as they entered battle with Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006.
It is fair for Republicans to attack. But they also must attract.
* And I’m not sure representing himself as an “outsider” is gonna work all that well for Doug Whitley…
We’ll soon get a new governor in the form of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. But can Quinn fix this mess in the two years left on Blago’s term? Doug Whitley thinks not. Whitley, on leave from his job as president of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, is a Republican running for governor in 2010. […]
Whitley has a calm demeanor and a pragmatic approach to public affairs. In the past, Whitley headed the Taxpayers Federation, ran Ameritech and was budget director for our last ethical governor — Jim Edgar.
Except for the stint with Edgar, Whitley has been just outside government, lobbying for pro-business laws to create jobs in the private sector. […]
Whitley presents himself as the outsider who nevertheless is intimately familiar with how government works and how it doesn’t. That combination could play very well with voters fed up with the same old pay-to-play crowd of professional politicians.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Fox Chicago has a story up about misleading poll questions in a survey sponsored by Rep. Feigenholtz’s campaign. Both Rep. Fritchey and Commissioner Quigley blast their opponent for the poll. Click here to watch the story.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Quigley responds to the Feigenholtz poll via press release…
“The people of the 5th Congressional district deserve better than this kind of negative, slash-and-burn politics and personal attacks,” Quigley said. […]
“This campaign should be an honest discussion of which candidate has the best record of reform and the ability to bring change to Washington—not a contest to see who can sling the most mud.
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* We’ll see if any winnowing happens in the coming days as challenges are filed, but the 5th District field is jam-packed, and Ald. O’Connor’s people say that “the sleeping giant” has been awakened…
Twenty-six candidates will vie to succeed former U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, in a March 3 primary in the 5th District.
Among those filing nominating petitions by Monday’s deadline was Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), Mayor Daley’s unofficial City Council floor leader. O’Connor filed about 5,000 signatures — nearly five times the 927 needed to get on the Democratic ballot — in an apparent show of force designed to combat a slatemaking embarrassment on Jan. 10.
O’Connor went into the slatemaking session saying he was close to wrapping up the Democratic Party’s endorsement, but state Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) got nearly three times as many weighted votes.
“Some people blamed me. They said I wasn’t aggressive enough,” O’Connor said Monday. “It wakes you up. . . . It strengthened my resolve to make sure I was filing a large number of signatures.”
* Laura Washington thinks recent history shows Rep. Sara Feigenholtz has a great shot at winning the Democratic primary…
The “experts” already are calling Feigenholtz, a North Side legislator, a front-runner for the Democratic nomination. The diverse district spans a chunk of Chicago’s North Side and extends into the west suburbs. The 14-year legislator claims a $300,000-and-counting war chest and filed 4,000 signatures on her petition for the March 3 primary.
There are a couple of other women contenders, but right now they don’t have significant skin in the game. So this pundit advises that Feigenholtz remember just two words: Anita Alvarez.
Last year, in her first pitch for public office, the career county prosecutor whipped a crowded field in a heated Democratic primary race for Cook County state’s attorney. She was dismissed as a no-name by the party honchos and dissed by her own boss, who endorsed her office rival, Bob Milan.
Alvarez capitalized on their myopia by promoting a platform of the working mom bound to serve and protect children and families. She donned snazzy red suits, ran a flurry of snappy commercials, and touted her record. She took the nomination and went on to clobber Republican rival Tony Peraica with 78 percent of the vote, becoming the first Hispanic and woman to serve as the county’s chief prosecutor.
* I told you about Mike Quigley’s poll a few days ago, here’s more from the polling summary…
Quigley also maintains a 4-point lead over Feigenholtz when O’Connor is included in a similar vote (Quigley 14% / Feigenholtz 10% / O’Connor 8% / Fritchey 7%). Quigley is better able to translate his popularity into real vote — 40% more than O’Connor is able to do
with the same name identification. Quigley also leads the pack as the most likely “second choice” of voters.
In one-on-one match-ups with other leading candidates… Quigley leads Feigenholtz by 13 points (Quigley 30% / Feigenholtz 17%) and Fritchey by 19 points (Quigley 32% / Fritchey 13%).
…Almost 90% (89%) of voters would be more likely to support a candidate who has led the fight for government reform on the Cook County Board (56% much more likely)… Similarly, a candidate who led the fight against Todd Stroger’s sales tax increase is also extremely appealing (72% total more likely / 43% much more likely).
Forrest Claypool is extremely popular among 5th District Democrats (66% Fav / 9% Unfav), with a favorability ratio of better than 7 to 1. A Claypool endorsement could play a major role in this race, with 56% of primary voters more likely to vote for a candidate with Claypool’s support.
Those high undecideds make this race impossible to call.
*** UPDATE *** I told subscribers about this today…
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has filed no answer to impeachment charges against him as the state Senate directed.
He may still file a request to dismiss the charges in the Senate, which is preparing to put him on trial Jan. 26. Senators will decide whether to remove him from office.
Toby Trimmer is spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton. Trimmer says if the governor does not file any paperwork before the trial, a plea of “not guilty” will be entered for him.
Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero says he knows of no plans to file any documents.
[ *** End of Update *** ]
* The governor’s lawyers deny that no money for an impeachment defense was the reason they resigned from the case in protest last week…
With the governor strapped for cash, his lawyers were looking to his campaign fund for their fees. But prosecutors wouldn’t sign off on lawyers tapping into the Friends of Blagojevich war chest to cover legal expenses for the impeachment. They have agreed that some attorney fees can come out of the fund for the criminal case, though, sources said.
The Blagojevich campaign fund’s latest report showed it had more than $3.6 million in it.
While there’s no formal government order that bans defense lawyers from tapping the fund, prosecutors have filed a notice that they intended to freeze it. Since receiving that notice — which came about a week after the governor’s Dec. 9 arrest on corruption charges, including an allegation he tried to sell an appointment to succeed Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate — Blagojevich’s lawyers have been careful to take money from the fund only with government permission, fearing the money might be seized later, sources said.
Lawyers for Blagojevich said the possibility of not getting paid didn’t factor into their decision to pull out of the Senate impeachment trial, which will go on without them.
“That’s nonsense,” said lead attorney Ed Genson. “Putting on this hearing was counterproductive, and anything other than what was best for the client.”
The daughter-in-law of a Bridgeview concrete company executive, identified as “Highway Contractor 1″ in the federal charges against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, quietly was appointed to head a state commission and received a big bump in pay.
Lainie Krozel, 39, of Hinsdale, was promoted Oct. 1 by the governor to executive director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission - about the same time that Blagojevich sought a $500,000 campaign donation from Gerald Krozel, vice president of Bridgeview’s Prairie Material, one of the state’s largest concrete producers, according to federal prosecutors.
Illinois state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) said last week that the Senate Democrats will seek “feedback” from the Senate Republicans before making final decisions on new rules for the chamber. Steans was put in charge of devising new rules by Senate President John Cullerton several months ago.
That statement, probably more than anything else that was said or done Thursday, illustrates how much things are about to change in the Illinois Senate.
For 10 years, Republican Senate President Pate Philip justified his partisan games by pointing to past grievances over how the Democrats had treated his caucus. Since Democrat Emil Jones became Senate President in 2003, we’ve heard an almost exact replica of Pate’s old refrains time and time again, only with the aggrieved parties reversed.
It was long past time to get beyond this endless back-and-forth goofiness, and that appears to be happening now that Jones has finally retired.
The chamber’s rules have always been the province of the Senate president, and he (it’s always a “he”) has held tightly to that power and used it for his own and his own party’s advantage. So, the president’s majority party consulting the minority party on proposed new rules is absolutely without precedence.
The old rules allowed the Senate president to control almost every single aspect of the Senate’s activities. Members couldn’t advance any legislation of any kind without the Senate Rules Committee’s approval. The committee, of course, was completely controlled by the Senate president. In other words, nothing moved without one person’s say-so. It has been an intolerable situation, particularly for the party that was out of power.
The new rules will be addressed and adopted once the impeachment trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich ends sometime early next month. The one change that appeared Thursday was a new “Committee on Assignment” in place of the old and often-hated Rules Committee. Killing off the Rules Committee would be akin to knocking down the Berlin Wall.
Cullerton also pledged last week to end a notorious practice made infamous by Philip and continued with gusto by Jones: Sending bills to the House that are obviously doomed in order to put some sort of political pressure on the other chamber. The tactic never worked, and more often than not backfired badly.
“We must reach agreement (with the House) rather than trying to one-up each other by passing bills that will never be enacted,” Cullerton said during his inaugural address.
Cullerton’s new chief of staff even wandered over to the press box last week for a chat - something that I’ve never seen happen in the almost 19 years I’ve been covering the chamber. He later promised a much more open approach by the Senate Democrats’ operation.
And when the governor’s defense lawyers quit in protest over the Senate’s impeachment trial rules last week, Cullerton said it wouldn’t delay the trial.
“That’s his problem. Get another lawyer,” said Cullerton, adding, “Rod can defend himself, he’s a lawyer.”
A response like that would’ve been unheard of during Blagojevich pal Jones’ tenure.
It’s more than just a new day. If this stuff continues, then we will be in an entirely new era. And once that fresh openness starts in the Senate, it may spread to the House.
And speaking of the House, Speaker Michael Madigan has refused to return Blagojevich’s phone calls for years, and has even refused to be in the same room with him since 2007. That intransigence (albeit for good reasons) has triggered a massive government meltdown since the governor’s 2006 re-election.
But things may be changing soon. Madigan told a Chicago radio station recently that he has met “on and off” with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn during the past two years. Madigan also revealed the two men have discussed Quinn’s transition to the governor’s office. When the transition comes, Madigan said, “We’ll be ready to move forward to try and resolve some of these huge problems that afflict the state.”
Madigan said the first order of business would be to “balance the books … pay the bills,” noting the state is 90 to 120 days behind in its payments to state service providers.
The two men may not see eye to eye on solving all the problems, but at least Madigan will physically be looking Quinn in the eye if and or when he says “no.”
New bike lanes, reduction of CTA slow zones, and sidewalk and curb ramp improvements are all non-highway projects that could be funded by the $850 billion economic stimulus bill before the U.S. House. […]
The stimulus bill, intended to create jobs, currently contains $40 billion for transportation — with $30 billion for highways, city projects and non-highway transportation enhancements, and $10 billion for transit.
O’Hare, annually neck-and-neck with Hartsfield-Jackson for the title of world’s busiest, could be poised to take over the top spot as airlines threaten to shift flights from Atlanta’s airport due to a possible increase in fees
Most of Sun-Times Media Group Inc.’s board, including its chief executive officer, are set to be replaced after one of the media company’s largest shareholders said it gathered enough support from fellow investors to force a change.
Daley quietly introduced a repeal this past week of the ordinance tied to his 2009 budget requiring satellite customers to pay the 9 percent amusement tax that applies to monthly cable TV bills.
To get around a federal law that appears to ban cities from taxing direct-broadcast satellite services, Daley wanted to require DirecTV and Dish Network to give the city’s Revenue Department the name, address and phone number of all of their Chicago subscribers so the city could do the billing.
Customer billing information would have been due by Aug. 15 each year — unless DirectTV and Dish volunteered to “collect and remit” the tax itself to the city. The companies also would have been required to warn subscribers they were “liable for the amusement tax” and “may receive a separate bill from the city.”
Security concerns at the federal courthouse in Chicago and at Cook County’s courthouses have prompted a crackdown on people who might pose a threat to judges, prosecutors and other public officials.
A $108,732-a-year superintendent in Chicago’s Streets and Sanitation Department has been suspended for 15 days without pay and reassigned for allegedly leaving an office window open during subzero temperatures, triggering a flood that caused damage estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars .
Let’s try not to be too political. Keep comments confined to the festivities themselves.
If you’re in DC, tell us what you’re seeing, where you’re going, etc. If you’re staying at home and watching it all on the teevee or the Intertubes, give us the highlights.
Also, inaugural party locations, etc. would be appreciated for some readers.
…Adding… The full text of Obama’s address is here.
* Some related stories…
* GOP Lawmaker, Obama Friend, Hits Inaugural Festivities: A John McCain supporter from Illinois is in Washington Tuesday for the inaugural festivities. State Senator Kirk Dillard has taken some flack for his friendship with Barack Obama.
