* As with last night, I won’t be able to watch the WTTW debate tonight at 7, so please help out in comments. Y’all did a great job last night. Let’s try it again. Thanks much.
* By the way, this is from Scott Lee Cohen’s latest press release…
SATURDAY: Cohen wraps up the week with an appearance with Reverend Jesse Jackson at Rainbow PUSH on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.
Not quite. I called Rainbow PUSH and was told that this is their traditional candidates event. It’s open to all candidates who want to come. Cohen won’t be speaking. Rev. Jackson will simply be acknowledging the candidates in the room and what they’re running for.
Asked if he has any regrets for tagging Kirk for “economic treason” last week, Giannoulias said, “I probably could have made a better choice of words.”
At least he’s now admitting that he shouldn’t have said it. So, wouldn’t it be time to man up and apologize?
Illinois GOP Senate hopeful Mark Kirk said Thursday morning that Democratic rival Alexi Giannoulias announcement at Wednesday’s debate that he would only run positive ads in the last week of the campaign was a “cynical” ploy because the Senate Democratic campaign operation is “doing his dirty work.”
“This move is very cynical,” Kirk said to reporters after a town hall session with Navistar employees at the Navistar World headquarters in Warrenville, in DuPage County, a mother lode of GOP votes.
“It’s just a few days to go. He is letting the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee do his dirty work. …I think his move is very cynical knowing that Sen. (Bob) Menendez and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is doing his dirty work,” Kirk said. Menendez is the New Jersey senator who is the chair of the DSCC, which is pouring millions into ads–many negative against Kirk–to bolster Giannoulias.
Yeah, well, at least somebody is running positive ads. And Kirk surely knows that, by law, Giannoulias cannot coordinate with a third party group about their ads.
* And a mystery is solved. Remember that mailer touting Libertarian candidate Mike Labno for Senate that was paid for by a committee of the Lake County Democrats? Well, the Lake County party chairman told the Sun-Times he didn’t know anything about it…
A line on the flier claims it’s paid for by “Illinois Victory, a project of the Lake County Democratic Party.”
State Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) heads up the Lake County Democratic Party, which he said has no “Illinois Victory” project. Link said he had never heard of the mailer until told of it by the Sun-Times Tuesday night.
A consultant to Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, Pete Giangreco, solved the mystery in a pre-debate press room this evening: It was, he confirmed, a “coordinated” product of the Democratic campaign, the latest in a series of such attempts by Democrats to drain Republican votes with more than a touch of deception.
* David Ormsby noted something interesting about yesterday’s Rasmussen poll. While Rasmussen has found that the number of self-identified tea party movement members is dropping nationally - to 17 percent in early October from 24 percent in April - it’s rising fast in Illinois…
According to… a March 8, 2010 Rasmussen Reports survey, 13% of Illinois voters identified themselves as members of the Tea Party movement, in contrast with a new survey on October 26 by the pollster which now identifies 22% of Illinois voters as part of the movement—a 75% increase. […]
In Illinois, only the precipitous drop among the 18-29 age demographic tracks the national numbers. In the March 8 survey, 21% of Illinois 18-29 voters self-identified as Tea Party members, while only 6% did so in the October 26 poll, a 71.4% drop.
However, Illinois women who claimed Tea Party membership spiked from 10% in March to 18% in October, an 80% increase. Self-identified men increased the protest movement’s ranks from 17% to 26%, a 52.9% jump.
* According to Public Policy Polling, the likely Illinois electorate is no more Democratic than it was in August, suggesting that there is no Democratic interest surge here…
In a couple of other key states though Democrats aren’t showing any increased interest and in some cases could even be sliding backward. The likely electorate in Illinois in August was Obama +9 and when we polled there last weekend it was still Obama +9. Usually for a Republican to win in a blue state like Illinois they would need a massive advantage with independents and to win over a fair number of Democrats. Mark Kirk and Bill Brady are doing neither of those things but still in a position to win because of what’s likely to be a massive drop in Democratic turnout in the state.
* The Right is certainly being stirred up here by shows like Fox & Friends, which told at least two blatant lies today…
The story is about how Cook County Jail inmates are suppposedly “taking priority” over soldiers. “Felons vote, soldiers don’t… at least, that seems to be the attitude in Cook County, Illinois,” said the show’s guest, Quinn Hillyer of the Washington Times.
The segment delved into the 2600 ballots that were allegedly delivered to jail inmates, which the show claimed, is the same number of ballots that were sent late to soldiers serving overseas “from that area.”
Actually, Cook County and Chicago sent overseas absentee ballots on time. Chicago’s board of elections sent the overseas applications two weeks ahead of the federal deadline.
They also claim on the Fox show that the city’s board “hand-delivered” ballots to inmates at the county jail. “It’s awful,” said Hillyer, who also claimed that “inmates don’t even have to request the ballots.”
A ballot is delivered to a detainee only if we receive an absentee application from a valid registered voter who is not yet convicted – under the standard of innocent until proven guilty. If the application is from someone who is convicted between the date they requested the ballot and election day, that sealed ballot, whether or not it’s from a registered voter, is not allowed into the count. Through [October 20th], there were 1,373 applications. [Emphasis added.]
So, to sum up: Inmates have to request the ballots. Only those who aren’t convicted are sent ballots. And soldiers received their ballots ahead of schedule. Other than that, the show was quite accurate. Except, there was no other than that.
* Speaking of stirring people up, blood always runs hot this time of year. But there’s hot and then there’s boiling…
* The organizer’s goal is to convince people to work precincts for Bill Brady’s campaign…
BILL BRADY NEEDS 400,000-450,000 VOTES Cook County aka Liberal Hell, and if you think the tea party princess is going to magically sprinkle winning tea leaves on him to win, without your help… Well, you are wrong.
Mike Madigan will have 500 foot soldiers out in Worth Township and the 19th Ward protecting his home front this weekend. This. Is. Dangerous.
Plus, that lunatic, Toni Periwinkle, has earmarked $400,000-$450,000 to defeat conservatives on the Southwest Side. She has also promised to round up members of the Purple Army, members of SEIU! I needn’t explain that just because these people are not wearing Brown shirts doesn’t make them any different than their brothers and sisters from decades ago.
They have been flooding the Southwest Side and we need to defeat them.
If we lose, call the movers because we won’t have a prayer.
* Related…
* Green: Where Quinn must get votes to eke out victory over Brady: Quinn must also narrowly win suburban Cook County; get beat by fewer than 125,000 votes in the collar counties, and get trounced by fewer than 200,000 votes Downstate. Key to Quinn losing the collars and Downstate by less than expected margins will likely be the success in these regions of Whitney, who is again running for governor on the Green Party ticket, and independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen.Brady, on the other hand, wins if the Chicago turnout is not robust and he is able to hold Quinn’s winning margin there to 375,000 votes, while breaking even in suburban Cook County. But he must also win the collar counties by 150,000 votes and totally demolish Quinn Downstate, with a margin of at least 250,000 votes.And unlike the Quinn scenario, Brady must minimize the vote for Whitney and Cohen in his base — the five collar counties and Downstate.
Some Chicago radio and TV stations have stopped airing some Bill Brady for governor ads due to nonpayment.
According to Patty Schuh, a spokeswoman for the Brady campaign, an accounting glitch led to the stop in payment on ads purchased by the group Citizens for Brady.
“We’ve paid our buyer,” said Schuh. “But there was a glitch with the buyer who purchased television and radio time for the Brady Campaign causing some stations to stop airing Brady for Governor ads.”
The glitch occurred overnight, Schuh said, and they hope to fix it by the end of business Thursday.
ABC7 plans to pull ads ordered by Citizens for Brady as of 1:58 p.m. Thursday.
Bizarre. Brady has raised a ton of cash. There are no indications that his campaign is broke. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening with a major campaign here. I wonder if this will come up during tonight’s WTTW gubernatorial debate. Paging Phil Ponce!
And, as the story notes, the RGA is now running ads, so Brady isn’t totally dark today. I saw it on the World Series last night. Here it is…
*** UPDATE 1 *** The Quinn campaign responded to the above story and then added something new. The campaign claims that Brady’s “Partner” ad has been pulled by some TV stations. I’m checking, but here is the statement…
Separately— one of the few Brady ads still on the air - “Partner” - was ordered to be pulled down today by television stations across the state. The ad attempted to link Governor Quinn and Rod Blagojevich, and makes claims found to be patently false.
Watch the ad in question by clicking here. It’s the Rod Blagojevich ad that claims Quinn stuck taxpayers “with a $250 million pay raise for government workers.” As I wrote the other day, the alleged “deal” with AFSCME was about layoffs. AFSCME’s contract, which included the pay raises, was negotiated by Rod Blagojevich.
…Adding… More from the Quinn campaign…
The first stations to report to pull it down were WIFR and WSIL. I’ll send the rest as they come in…but it may be everywhere it was playing.
*** UPDATE 2 *** I just got off the phone with Bill Brady’s campaign manager Jerry Clarke, who explained the situation. Jerry said the campaign placed a $2.2 million buy on Monday for the week. The Republican Governors Association was supposed to kick in $700,000 toward that ad buy today, but then decided to run its own ad instead. That meant the Brady campaign had to redo the buy and reduce it by $700K. The buyers, for whatever reason, did not pay for today.
Clarke said that the campaign is not dark. He didn’t know if WGN was in the current buy, but insisted that other stations have now been paid by his buyers and ads are running.
* As far as the Quinn campaign’s claim that Brady had pulled the “Partner” ad, Clarke said the ad was gone as of this morning because they changed traffic. “No station pulled it,” he insisted. According to Jerry, the “Future” ad is up as is the “Flatline” ad.
More info as warranted.
*** UPDATE 3 *** I called one of the two stations the governor’s campaign identified as “pulling” the “Partner” ad. WSIL TV general manager Steve Wheeler said the Quinn campaign claim is untrue. “We wouldn’t pull a candidate’s spot over its content,” Wheeler said.
This violates the old rule of letting your opponent twist in the wind. The Quinn campaign stuck their nose into this and screwed up the hit.
* Let’s add some semi-related stories while we’re at it…
* A reader had a good idea after I posted yesterday’s piece about Gov. Pat Quinn saying Bill Brady would rather that gay people “not exist.” His comment…
That is a pretty awesome play for the gay vote. Vote for me or you will *cease to exist.*
We need more attacks along these lines. Vote for me or the law of gravity will be reversed, etc.
* The Question: Fill in the blanks with a slogan that best surmises a major Illinois campaign this year: “Vote for _____ or ____________.”
As always, keep it clean. Snark is heavily encouraged, of course.
Answer our phones or read our inbound e-mails and you’ll learn from Democratic activists that the Tribune reflexively has endorsed Republicans for Tuesday’s election. That is, our endorsements are preordained, partisan, party-driven. And the party is Republican.
Trouble is, that allegation would anger hordes of Republican activists still steaming that, in 2008, this page endorsed Barack Obama for president and Dick Durbin for senator. This year we’ve reopened those GOP wounds because, in two tight U.S. House races, we endorsed Democrats Melissa Bean and Bill Foster. Plus four Democrats and an independent, Forrest Claypool, in Cook County’s five countywide races. Plus six Democrats and two Green Party candidates (as well as six Republicans) running for Cook County Board. And a Democrat on the Illinois Supreme Court who faces a tough retention race. And so on …
The paper then moves on to its legislative endorsements…
We also hear complaints that we’ve endorsed people who aren’t likely to win, as if electoral prospects have anything to do with who’s best for the job.
But their logic is flawed. Their legislative endorsements do, indeed, appear to be preordained and partisan, and they appear to have provided themselves some partisan cover by what could be called a strategic endorsement of no-chance Democrats.
If you look at the Trib’s endorsement list, you’ll see that the Tribune did, indeed, endorse several Democrats for the General Assembly. Trouble is only one of those Democrats is actually in any sort of race. The rest appear to be completely safe from defeat right now.
For instance, the Tribune endorsed Sen. Michael Frerichs (D-Champaign), a tireless advocate for a tax hike, who is up against a tea party-backed Republican who had to run a write-in campaign to get on the ballot because the local GOP didn’t want much of anything to do with him. That candidate was recently slammed for allegedly racist remarks during an NAACP-sponsored forum. No state Senate Democrats in tough races were endorsed. Zero.
In the House, the Tribune endorsed one Democratic incumbent who is now having real trouble: Rep. Kevin McCarthy. But at the time of the paper’s endorsement, in late September, the House Republicans weren’t really doing all that much for McCarthy’s opponent. There were lots of rumors at the time that they just couldn’t get along with the guy. They spent less than $7,000 on him between July 1 and October 3rd. That’s all changed since then, however.
The Senate Republicans told me a few weeks ago that a member of the Tribune’s editorial board traveled to Springfield to meet with their Downstate candidates. The Senate Democrats said no such offer was made to them.
* The Sun-Times editorial board obviously leans Democratic, but that paper has been far more willing this year to endorse Republicans in hotly contested races. They backed three such Republicans in the House and two in the Senate.
Look, it’s the Tribune’s shop. They get to do whatever they want. I respect that. But a little more honesty, please.
The conduct of JUSTPAC, the political committee of the Illinois Civil Justice League and Kilbride’s primary nemesis, has been a big turnoff. The pro-business group’s leader channeled Malcolm X, of all people, in promising to use “whatever means necessary” to defeat Kilbride. The organization’s tactics prove that, not least of which was an ad using actors and graphic images to portray Kilbride as siding with violent felons. Some media outlets, including in Peoria, pulled the ad after its accuracy was questioned. Specifically there was an implication that Kilbride had voted to overturn the conviction of a serial rapist when in fact the case had been returned to the judge for resentencing because of procedural error. The ad did not provide that context.
JUSTPAC, which has raised nearly $650,000 in trying to end Kilbride’s Supreme Court career, has overreached here, has not played fair, especially for a group ostensibly representing the interests of healers. Arguably that has backfired, as it seems to have energized Kilbride’s supporters.
“Channeled Malcolm X”? Yikes. But I’m not sure they’re right about the JUSTPAC ads backfiring. Kilbride was in big trouble before those ads ever started.
* Is Sen. Rickey Hendon under a grand jury investigation? Today’s AP scoop could also indicate that a much broader federal probe is underway of state legislative grants. It’s certainly fertile territory…
A federal grand jury has demanded records describing how hundreds of thousands of dollars in state money was handed out to dozens of groups, at least some of which are linked to a top Illinois lawmaker who is running for Chicago mayor, records show.
Subpoenas from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office arrived in August at five state agencies seeking copies of contracts and other financial records related to nearly 50 not-for-profit agencies and more than a dozen individuals.
An accompanying letter says the subpoenas are part of “an official criminal investigation,” although it does not say who or what may have been the subject of the investigation.
A number of the agencies said they received grants with the assistance of Chicago mayoral candidate and Democratic state Sen. Rickey Hendon, who is also assistant Senate majority leader. Several of the individuals have ties to Hendon, including his sister and her daughter, whose film and stage production organization received more than $1 million from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in 2007-08, some of which went to make a movie. […]
Two people whose candidacies for public office Hendon backed financially are listed, including his office assistant, who ran for state representative. A Cook County official who said she is a member of Hendon’s political organization is named, but she told AP she has received no state grants.
The name of prominent Chicago magazine publisher Hermene Hartman appears. She wrote forewords to two Hendon books, but has received no state grants and told the AP she was unaware of the subpoenas.
* Blackmail? Really? Gov. Pat Quinn chose the Northstar Lottery Group in mid September as the new private manager of the state Lottery. The two losing firms then filed protests, including a company named Intralot. But then Intralot execs were reportedly whistled into a private meeting with Department of Revenue and the Lottery and told to zip their lips or else bad things would happen. Lewis Lazare had the scoop back on October 14th…
To the apparent amazement of the folks at Intralot, sources say, the state executives suggested it might be in the best interests of Intralot to drop its protest by Friday, Oct. 15, or the Lottery would move forward with a plan to release more detailed information about the so-called probity checks that doomed the Intralot bid.
A company named Kroll handled the probity checks for the Lottery management privatization…
What Kroll determined to be a problem during the Intralot probity check, sources say, is the background of the Greece-based head of Intralot, a gentleman named Sokratis Kokkalis. A brief review of Kokkalis’ background does suggest the man has had some questionable associations, including a stint as an agent with the East German secret police. He has also been indicted in several foreign countries, but cleared of all charges in every instance, sources tell us. What’s more, Kokkalis never became a huge sticking point in 12 other United States lottery-related bids and 40 foreign bids in which Intralot has participated in recent years.
The alleged blackmail threat apparently didn’t deter Inerlot, and the company hand-delivered a letter to the governor’s office on October 19th, according to Lazare, which explained their side of what happened.
Two companies who lost out on a contract to privately manage the Illinois Lottery have sent letters to Gov. Pat Quinn and others questioning how their protests to the contract are being handled.
Camelot Illinois is asking that the contract be rebid, but through an “unbiased intermediary” rather than by the Illinois Department of Revenue.
Intralot USA, meanwhile, in its letter cited an instance in which a Revenue official allegedly threatened to make public “certain negative information” about an executive with Intralot’s parent company if Intralot persisted with its protest.
Everybody on the state side is denying there were any improprieties and they’re planning to file a formal response soon.
This is some weird stuff, man.
* Meanwhile, in actual reform and renewal news, the Better Government Association now has several blogs for your perusal. We’ll be keeping an eye on them from now on.
Chicago also had the third-highest number of homes repossessed by lenders during the quarter — 12,568 — behind the Phoenix metro area’s 14,317 and the Miami metro area’s 12,963, RealtyTrac said.
The Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois recorded 168 sales in September after reporting 196 in August. In Madison County, the Greater Gateway Association of Realtors recorded 194 sales in September and 190 for August.
Sales have been gradually falling in St. Clair and Madison counties since 2005.
“Defendant’s motion is founded in substantial part on the well-known principle that if a lawyer cannot attack the law or the facts in a criminal prosecution, the only recourse is to attack the prosecutor,” Zagel said. “One aspect of the case that makes it clear that the defense had no attack on the law or the facts … is that defense counsel did not, and correctly so, choose to attack the evidence” of Blagojevich’s guilt on the lone count of conviction.
The parents wanted a library opened in the fieldhouse, but CPS agreed to find space inside the school for one. But Parents complained that space within Whittier is already tight.
* Whittier parents end sit-in but will continue to fight for library
Citing the cost of $2,270 to send all three, trustees approved sending two commissioners, Marv Ruppert and Wayne Winterberg, at a cost of $960, but they won’t attend all of the sessions and won’t stay at the hotel where the conference is being held from Nov. 5 to 7 in Bloomingdale.
The key changes would be allowing voters to elect the city clerk and treasurer, rather than having the mayor appoint them, and the creation of a 7th Ward - the Roosevelt Ward, named after an elementary school in the proposed ward’s boundaries.
A Lake County judge said Wednesday he will decide in three weeks if he will allow an Island Lake village board resolution concerning an employee’s pay status to be used at her trial. […]
Hyde, the wife of former Island Lake mayor Thomas Hyde, is charged with collecting more than $100,000 in pay for being the director of a village-run day care center for hours she did not work.
Since the year began, Elgin officials have handed out $21,345 in fines for violating the city’s animal control ordinance.
So far, the city has collected $6,820, or about a third of what’s been levied so far, said the city’s Corporation Counsel William Cogley.
Soon, if someone can’t pay a fine penalties under the city’s stronger animal control ordinance are $1,000 if a dog bites a human or another dog they will be able to work it off through community service at a rate of $10 per hour.
A third construction-related business has provided $1,000 to backers of a Gurnee Elementary District 56 ballot question seeking permission to borrow $28.5 million mostly to build a new school in Wadsworth.
Black Engineering Co. Inc. of Lake Forest made the most recent donation to Citizens for District 56 Schools. Black’s $1,000 gift was logged Oct. 20, according to state campaign finance disclosure records.
When Knox County voters go to the polls on Tuesday, they’ll decide on a penny sales tax to support public education. It would generate $3.7 million each year for school repairs and projects.
* Forbes ranks Quincy eighth in list of best small cities to raise family
Quincy ranked the highest among the top 15 cities in cost of living and commute time. Forbes ranked Quincy No. 4 in the nation in lowest cost of living and No. 7 in shortest commute time(s).
Dubuque, Iowa, was ranked No. 1 overall, followed by Manitowoc, Wis., Marquette, Mich., Midland, Mich., and Marshfield, Wis., in the top five. Twelve of the top 15 cities listed are from the Midwest.
The state made that easier Wednesday afternoon, by officially creating a STAR Bonds District. It will offer major tax incentives. Developers say they can now recruit potential businesses a lot more easily.
When Kirk pulled out his yellow-highlighted list of mobsters that Giannoulias gave loans to as senior loan officers at his family’s Broadway Bank, Giannoulias pulled out his own list of five felons Kirk has taken campaign contributions from over the years.
But Kirk said the difference was he had returned those loans “The instant we knew about criminal activity.”
The testiest exchange came when Kirk accused Giannoulias of flip-flopping on President Bush’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Giannoulias has said he would have voted for but would have insisted on more safeguards to prevent the big banks for mis-using the money.
Giannoulias complained that Kirk voted for that bill but against President Obama’s follow-up bills and the bills to prohibit banks that took the money from giving executives big bonuses.
“Congressman Kirk, because he’s bought and paid for by the corporate special interests, voted against it,” Giannoulias said. “That’s the fundamental difference. I never said I was against it.”
Kirk contended Giannoulias, the first-term state treasurer, displayed his “immaturity” by “trying to have it both ways” in saying he would have voted for the Congressional bailout of financial institutions while wanting more oversight in the legislation.
Kirk also accused Giannoulias of flip-flopping by saying he did not favor reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement, though the Democrat’s Web site proposes to seek more labor and social protections. Giannoulias “wanted to start a trade war,” Kirk said, prompting the Democrat to interject that the Republican’s statement was “absolutely unequivocally untrue.”
The two began talking over each other so much that Kirk asked the show’s host, Phil Ponce to restore order. “Do you want to moderate this?” Kirk asked.
Questioned on his vote for the Iraq war, Kirk, a five-term Congressman, criticized the way intelligence gathering was handled. On reports that Iraq was pursuing nuclear weapons, Kirk said, “I think that we were lied to in the end, by the deputy director of national intelligence absolutely.” Questioned on the point, Kirk backtracked, saying the intelligence was wrong.
Giannoulias pounced on Kirk’s answer, saying, “He actually convinced other members of Congress that he knew to a moral certitude” that the Iraq war was necessary.
[Kirk] returned repeatedly in the debate to his credentials as an endangered moderate. “The path to partisanship,” Kirk said, “is the path to leadership” in the House of Representatives, explaining that he’d deliberately sought Democratic co-sponsors and consensus causes.
“Most Americans are centrists and moderates who want to make things happen and the question is who represents us,” he said. “I’ve tried to be very moderate, very centrist, very coalition-building.”
Giannoulias also said that he will not be running negative ads from here on out. However, the DSCC is still up with negatives and isn’t going to stop.
* I won’t be watching because I don’t live in Chicago, but if you’re in the area tune in to WTTW’s US Senate debate at 7 o’clock tonight and help us out in comments by live-blogging, please. Thanks. We’ve done this before and it’s been great.
* Also, the Pollster Who Shall Not Be Named released another poll today on the US Senate race. Once again, he didn’t include all the names. And “Some other candidate” received 5 percent of the vote. Go hear and read it yourself if you want.
* From the toplines, President Obama’s approval rating here is now 51 percent. Disapproval is at 48 percent. That’s about where Raz has always had him here. The Democrats have just a six-point advantage on the congressional generic ballot, which isn’t nearly enough…
* Thinking about this year’s elections - suppose that your vote determined which political party wins control of the U.S. Senate this year. Would you vote for the Republican Party or the Democratic Party?
43% The Republican party
49% The Democratic party
8% Not sure
And then there’s this…
* Do you consider yourself part of the Tea Party Movement?
22% Yes
63% No
15% Not sure
And…
* A proposal has been made to repeal the health care bill and stop it from going into effect. Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose a proposal to repeal the health care bill?
* Back in the day,a candidate could say something inappropriate to a small publication and nobody would notice right away. That Interwebtube thingy has forever changed all that, however. Take, for instance, Gov. Pat Quinn’s comments to a publication called “Grab Magazine”…
“Senator Brady doesn’t believe in equality for women and would rather LGBT people not exist,” said Quinn.
Really? Isn’t that just a slightly less blunt way of saying what Sen. Rickey Hendon said the other day? We’re awfully close to an invocation of Godwin’s Law in this campaign, if we’re not there already.
…Adding… Oops. I forgot to post these stories today. Sorry…
* The candidate who may have been “hurt” the most by the Daley/Rahm/etc. mayoral drama is Forrest Claypool. He was most certainly counting on a ton of earned media before the election, but editors have been too busy focusing on 2011 to care much about next Tuesday.
Today is a good case in point. Claypool held a press conference this morning at 10:30 to unveil some new information. Unfortunately for him, Sheriff Dart’s “I’m not running for mayor” presser was held exactly the same time. So, Claypool gets buried once again.
In a revealing look inside county government that is both more and less than it appears to be, assessor hopeful Forrest Claypool released a detailed study that he said shows a connection between campaign cash and government decisions. […]
The findings: Of $6.2 billion in assessment cuts awarded by the board this year to all property owners — residential, commercial and industrial — 92%, or $5.7 billion, went to those who used a lawyer who has donated to Mr. Berrios, Mr. Claypool said.
That translates to just under $1 billion in taxes that were shifted to other property owners, Mr. Claypool said.
Mr. Claypool has promised not to accept campaign donations from property tax lawyers. Doing so is like “the judge taking cash from the litigant in front of him, and then making a decision.”
Claypool also said he would recuse himself as assessor from ruling on assessments if he accepted campaign contributions. He’s taken money from some bigtime land owners.
* Berrios responded via press release…
“It’s almost laughable because he obviously doesn’t know how the office operates,” said Joe Berrios, Democratic candidate for assessor. “The assessor sets the assessments. He is required by law to do so. To hire a third-party or assign the duty to someone else would require legislative approval and ultimately cost taxpayers.” […]
Claypool not only accepts money from the likes of the Pritzkers and Sam Zell, but from Houlihan, which is pure evidence of his hypocrisy and double-standard, Berrios said. “Houlihan takes contributions from anyone – including property attorneys and real estate developers — and he then turns that money over to Claypool. Allowing Houlihan to be one of the largest funders demonstrates that Claypool isn’t being straight with voters,” Berrios said.
* The Question: After all the extreme negativity this year, can positive ads like this one break through all the last-week clutter and work? Explain.
* By the way, I let Barton pick the winner of yesterday’s “Cyclone contest,” and he chose Secret Square for this one…
The Capitol Fax Political Storm Prediction Center has placed all of Illinois in a High Risk for an outbreak of severe campaign rhetoric, damaging news leaks, destructive character attacks, and attack ads gusting to 75 words per minute until 7 p.m. next Tuesday.
SS should e-mail me with his/her particulars. Congratulations and thanks to all!
An Illinois county election official is telling the ABC 7 I-Team that thousands — potentially hundreds of thousands — of voters who are expecting a ballot sent to them by mail may be disenfranchised.
That may be an exaggeration, but it’s at least thousands. This is a massive screwup. But the Lake County Clerk has to follow the law, so her sorrows are her own problem…
The Lake County clerk received a shipment of 500 ballot requests from the IDCC Tuesday. By law, her office has two days to process the ballot requests. The problem is, Thursday is the deadline for election officials to get the ballots out.
IDCC told the clerk that another 1,500 ballot requests are headed to her office, which, she says, may not give her enough time to process all the ballots, potentially disenfranchising voters.
There’s an even worse problem, though. Subscribers already know what that is. Basically, if you sign the application and stick it in the mail, it is sent to the coordinated campaign. They then process the applications and send them to the clerks. But lots of people got their absentee applications yesterday. The deadline for sending them in is Thursday. If those recipients signed the apps and send them in today, the earliest the coordinated campaign will get them is Thursday, which, again, is the deadline day. Considering the US Postal Service’s record, the Democrats will probably get a ton of applications after the deadline. This was just a horribly designed plan.
And then there’s this…
Carter and others who contacted the I-Team are furious that their vote may also be thrown out because the IDCC put the registered voters’ wrong birthdate on the form.
The coordinated campaign says that only one percent of the applications have the wrong birth date. It’s probably way more than that. But, again, Goudie is exaggerating here. Birth dates aren’t required information in some areas, including the city of Chicago. And it’s not their “vote” which may be thrown out. It’s the ballot application.
Either way, though, this stupidity is causing huge problems and mass confusion.
A Chicago elections board spokesman told me yesterday that voters who get these late applications should just download a form from the board itself and mail it in by Thursday. The Chicago media and every other state media outlet needs to get on this one fast. People need to know that their party might’ve just accidentally shafted them.
And this is another really bad thing…
Forty-five of the ballots the Lake County clerk received Tuesday from the [Democratic coordinated campaign] should have gone to Will County.
That’s almost ten percent of the ballot requests she received yesterday.
Idiots.
…Adding… A Daily Kos diarist wondered aloud yesterday if these flawed ballot applications might be some sort of Rovian trick…
I just noticed something strange, and I don’t know if it is a genuine mistake or some sort of evil trick. […]
I’d hate to think it is an evil plot by Karl Rove to dupe a lot of people into unwittingly committing “voter fraud.”
Nope. Karl Rove isn’t trying to suppress Democratic voters. The Dems are doing it to their own kind. And they’ll probably end up suppressing more votes than Mark Kirk and the Illinois Republican Party ever could, despite Alexi Giannoulias’ many claims.
If either Pat Quinn or Giannoulias lose by a few thousand votes, they may have their own party’s coordinated campaign to blame.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Illinois Review diarist “Ghost of John Brown” received an absentee ballot app mailer today from a Republican group…
Today Mrs. Ghost and I both received mailers from the Alliance for America’s Future, which is a group operated by Dick Cheney’s daughter, Mary. The mailer encourages you to go to a personalized website so you can get an absentee ballot. Click [here] for a full view. The trouble is that at least in my County, an absentee ballot has to be mailed out five days ahead of time, which is Thursday. How likely is it that if you fill out the on-line form that your election board will be able to mail out the ballot in time? Not likely. However, you might THINK that you are getting one, and fail to vote.
Sheesh. Both sides are suppressing their own voters. What a mess.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Blogger’s blogger OneMan received three absentee apps from that same Republican group yesterday.
* I told subscribers about this weeks ago. At least it seems like weeks ago…
State lawmakers are quietly exploring how to push through a major gambling expansion during next month’s fall session, the political safety zone that will open and shut over a few weeks following Tuesday’s election.
The details are evolving, but one version would put a land-based casino in Chicago and new riverboats in Lake County, the south suburbs and downstate Danville. Horse tracks would get video gambling to create “racinos,” and existing riverboats would be allowed to expand. Supporters are dangling the prospect of more than $400 million upfront and hundreds of millions more as the casinos come online for a state that can’t pay its bills.
Slipping through big-ticket items during lame-duck sessions is nothing new in Illinois. In the past, lawmakers have raised their pay, legalized off-track betting and cut a deal to rebuild Soldier Field into its current saucerlike shape. Legislators who aren’t returning have little to lose in casting controversial votes, creating a deal-making atmosphere inside the Capitol.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea” Gov. Quinn told the paper. Brady’s response…
“There are a lot of dangerous things that you always fear in a lame-duck session when one party loses power,” Brady said. “They should wait until the newly elected people of the state of Illinois can weigh in on it.”
Unless it has no immediate effective date, any gaming bill would have to get three-fifths majorities in both chambers during the veto session. They could, however, pass a bill with an immediate effective date in January before the new General Assembly is sworn in. If Brady wins the governor’s race, they could conceivably pass more than one bill that way. The Republicans blazed that trail in 1997, after the Democrats took back the House.
* In other campaign news, the State Journal-Register has decided to endorse Bill Brady for governor because the Democrats have failed to govern together…
If we have learned anything from the past eight years, it is this: Illinois Democrats don’t work well together.
When Rod Blagojevich was sworn in as governor in 2003, it marked the first time since the Dan Walker administration ended in 1977 that Democrats held the governor’s office and controlled both the Illinois House and Senate. Except for a two-year span during the Jim Edgar administration when Republicans controlled both houses, the parties shared power in some form for 26 years under Republican governors. Democrats and Republicans didn’t join hands and sing “Kumbaya” during this time, but things generally got done under shared power.
That’s why today we endorse Republican state Sen. Bill Brady for governor. In fact, it’s the only reason we endorse Brady.
They don’t care for Brady at all, and that’s an understatement…
We’re far from confident that Brady will fare better as governor.
But…
We can only hope that maybe, as a Republican governor, Brady will manage to stir enough across-the-aisle cooperation to break the stalemate that finds Illinois in a deep hole and sinking fast.
This actually does make some logical sense. Republican governors can generally convince at least some Republican legislators to go along with them while the governors try to make deals with Democratic chamber leaders. How the Democrats react to Brady, however, is unknown at the moment.
Republican State Senator Bill Brady says he has no knowledge of disparaging remarks made by commentator Glenn Beck about first lady Michelle Obama while at a “Right Nation” event last month. That’s despite the fact that Brady spoke at the event.
Brady, the GOP nominee for governor, says he will not apologize for his party, despite Governor Quinn suggesting he was at the Beck appearance and clapping as Beck made an off color remark about Michelle Obama’s healthy eating plan.
“The governor’s got to realize that just because he says something, it doesn’t make it true. I was not at the Glenn Beck event… I don’t know what Glenn Beck said,” Brady said.
The ellipsis conceals that Brady actually said: “I was not at the Glenn Beck event with Glenn Beck.”
A prominent religious leader wants both Governor Pat Quinn and State Senator Rickey Hendon to apologize for comments Hendon made backing Quinn’s re-election campaign.
Bishop Larry Trotter of Sweet Holy Spirit Church claimed mudslinging that takes politics into the gutter is inappropriate. He referred to Hendon’s charge that State Senator Bill Brady, the republican nominee for governor, is sexist and racist.
“You and I may be on 2 different teams, but we don’t have to be ugly about it. It may push toward more voter apathy than if they just dealt with the issues, and left one another alone,” said Bishop Trotter.
“It’s like every time [Hendon] gets up, he’s in a rage. And I really want to talk to him, because there are a lot of people who like him. But they want to see a different — I mean he’s delivered as a senator. They want to see a different Rickey when he’s projected on a microphone. He said something terrible about Carol Moseley Braun the other week,” Trotter said.
Quinn was on a Fox Chicago program this morning and the Hendon thing came up. Watch…
* Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is announcing at a 10:30 press conference this morning that he won’t run for mayor. A top inside source confirmed the rumors earlier today which have been swirling since last night. The source choked up at times with emotion.
Dart has a large and very young family, and the time away from them would be just too much to bear, I’m told.
To be mayor means to “be less of a father,” Dart said at a news conference Wednesday.
“This time, it’s not something that would work for my family,” said Dart, who has five children.
He said fund-raising would not have been an issue for him in a race that would have pitted him against a champion fund-raiser, former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, the former congressman from the Northwest Side.
“I have found it impossible for it to be compatible between running for mayor and being a father and husband,” Dart said at the news conference.
“I’m disappointing people, but at the end of the day I have to look myself in the mirror,” he said of those who wanted him to run for mayor.
Dart said no back channel overtures were made by other candidates to encourage him to get out of the race. “I haven’t spoken to any other candidates at all,” he said, with the exception of Gutierrez calling him after the congressman announced he wasn’t running.
Dart said he did not call any of the other candidates and said he has “no intention” of doing so.
* Mayoral roundup…
* Potential Mayoral Picks Narrowed To Meeks, Braun
* Emanuel sitting down with city education leaders as he plots schools policy
* Sneed: Emanuel creates first Spanish version of mayoral website
* Chico media firm has Democratic ties from Chicago to Washington
* The spots aren’t posted online as I write this, but the DCCC is spending big bucks during the coming week on TV ads in two Illinois campaigns. From the Hotline…
IL-10 Open (Kirk) $590,722
IL-14 Bill Foster (D) $526,917
IL-17 Phil Hare (D) $92,158
Phil Hare’s district is cheaper to advertise in, and I’m not sure what the DCCC has already booked, so I’m withholding judgment at the moment about what that particular figure means. Noticeably absent is Debbie Halvorson, who the polls show is trailing badly, and Melissa Bean, whose Republican opponent has no money.
* The DSSC has a new TV ad connecting Mark Kirk to George W. Bush. Rate it…
* JUSTPAC has a new TV ad whacking Supreme Court Chief Justice Kilbride. Rate it…
* The Tribune editorialized on the JUSTPAC ads today…
You’ve probably heard one of those snarling radio or television ads aimed at bouncing Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride from the bench.
Three actors portray criminals, describing their vicious crimes’ vivid detail. “On appeal, Justice Thomas Kilbride sided with us over law enforcement or our victims,” one says. “Unfortunately for felons like us, other justices overruled Kilbride and our convictions stood.”
No, Kilbride didn’t hand out Get Out Of Jail Free passes to rabid criminals. He brands that ad and others as “gross distortions” of his record in criminal cases.
But crime isn’t the prime issue in this race. Politics is. The Illinois Supreme Court has four Democrats and three Republicans. A switch of one seat would shift the balance of power.
* John McCain had his plumber, Pat Quinn has his welder and now Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky has an electrician…
* Schakowsky’s opponent Joel Pollak claims that this is no ordinary electrician. From a press release…
The facts about Sindelar reveal that Schakowsky’s not fighting for workers–she’s fighting for her political cronies, including Sindelar.
Sindelar is a Democrat insider with close ties to the party machine:
Sindelar is the Treasurer of “Citizens for Elaine Nekritz,” the official campaign committee for State Representative Elaine Nekritz (D-57) (http://tinyurl.com/2bsf9v5)
Sindelar filed a successful ballot challenge against Nekritz’s Republican opponent in 2006, Wayne Berzon, who was struck off the ballot (http://tinyurl.com/2dxejlx)
Sindelar ran for Assessor in Maine Township in 2005 as a Democrat against Republican Tom Rueckert, and lost (http://tinyurl.com/25nakav)
Sindelar was paid $1000 in January 2010 by Blagojevich appointee Bill Brandt, Chair of the Illinois Finance Authority, as Brandt began his campaign for 10th District Democratic State Central Committeeman (http://tinyurl.com/276trl9)
Sindelar and his wife have donated thousands of dollars to individual Democrats and party organizations over the past several years (search http://tinyurl.com/22mdeoo)
Sindelar has been paid for consulting work by the Maine Township Regular Democratic Organization (search http://tinyurl.com/2dcdrfj)
* First of all, Rep. Nekritz is not a “Machine” Democrat. She was the only Democrat who voted against Speaker Madigan’s rules two years ago, for crying out loud. I did my own searches and found $2600 in campaign contributions made by Sindelar and his wife since September of 2001. I guess that allows Pollack to claim “thousands” in contributions, but that’s an average of just $289 a year. Sindelar was paid $400 by Maine Township five years ago. Yeah, he’s some player.
Just for the heck of it, I checked campaign contributions made by my handyman. Tony and his wonderful wife have contributed $2,247 to Republicans since 2000 - not much different than Schakowsky’s alleged “Machine Democrat” electrician. Tony is also listed as the handyman for the local county party. Do those contributions and expenditures make my handyman a Republican hack? Heck no. He’s a fine, upstanding American who likes to be involved in the American Way. Does his activism make Tony less of a handyman? Absolutely not. He’s the best handyman ever, in my opinion. I absolutely love the guy and recommend him all the time to Democrats, Republicans and to folks who I have no idea what party they belong to.
There’s nothing at all wrong with people being an electrician or a handyman and at the same time being politically active. This would be America, after all.
* Let’s look at some Internet promo videos. First up, Otis McDonald, of the landmark McDonald v Chicago gun control case has endorsed Bill Brady for governor. The video is long and slow-paced and doesn’t get to the point until 3:50 into it…
Good man. Bad video.
* I think this is an Internet video, but am not sure. “Seals” for Dold…
…Adding… Politico says that the seal is actually a sea lion. Oops
“I’m what they call a 99er,” the 43-year-old Oak Lawn resident said.
I had heard of 49ers, in reference to the football team in San Francisco and to the California Gold Rush. But I didn’t have a clue what a 99er is.
“It means I’ve gone past Tier 4 in unemployment benefits, which goes to 99 weeks,” Hannah explained. “So they call those of us who are no longer eligible for unemployment ‘99ers.’ ”
And so the Great Recession has created its own language.
No one knows the exact number of 99ers, although the government estimates that they represent about 10 percent of all the people who are jobless. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s 1.4 million Americans, but the number in all likelihood is much greater.
Two Chicago police officers are suing Supt. Jody Weis, alleging the city’s top cop defamed them when he stripped them of their badges after a high-profile internal investigation was launched into a group of officers who allegedly beat a handcuffed suspect.
A global-positioning device in the officers’ squad car showed the Gresham District Tactical Unit officers, Lynn Meuris and Jason Vanna, weren’t present during the alleged Oct. 11 beating and they were returned to street duty .
Outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley took a couple of stabs at one-stop-shopping for permits and the like, but the fact is, Chicago remains an extraordinarily difficult place for someone with a good idea but little time and capital to get on his or her feet.
Historical accounts indicate that in DuPage, only the late Elmhurst City Manager Robert Palmer, who held his post from July 1953 until December 1983, served longer. And next spring, Rose will surpass Palmer to become the county’s longest-serving city manager.
After receiving millions of dollars in state assistance over the past decade, Keystone Steel & Wire Co., stunned area legislators by hiring out-of-state labor for a current plant upgrade. […]
What the company requested and received was a lower employment threshold to qualify for a utility tax exemption. The exemption is normally granted only to companies with employment of at least 1,000 people.
When layoffs at the Bartonville plant caused employment to dip to 165 salaried workers and 668 hourly workers, the utility tax would normally have kicked in.
A bill signed by Gov. Pat Quinn last January extended the company’s utility tax exemption, a move that saves Keystone an estimated $120,000 to $140,000 a month.
* I posted a Bill Brady ad earlier today that brought up Rod Blagojevich right off the bat. Another ad, called “Partner,” is far more negative with the Blagojevich stuff. Rate it…
…Adding… The ad falsely claims that Gov. Quinn stuck taxpayers “with a $250 million pay raise for government workers.” The alleged “deal” with AFSCME was about layoffs. AFSCME’s contract, which included the pay raises, was negotiated by Rod Blagojevich.
To refresh your memory, here’s that other ad, which goes positive at the end…
* And for some nighttime viewing, the SJ-R has posted raw video from their gubernatorial endorsement sessions…
