Antoine “Tony” Rezko has plead guilty to a 2006 charge of defrauding GE Capitol out of $10 million in loans for Rezko Enterprises and his Papa John’s Pizza restaurants.
The one-time confidant of Rod Blagojevich appeared in federal court Friday before Judge James B. Zagel wearing a federal prison uniform and leg shackels.
Rezko has been imprisoned at an undisclosed Wisconsin county jail since June 2008 on charges stemming from his association with the former Illinois governor.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal prosecutors are expected to drop the additional counts against Rezko in exchange for his guilty plea.
[Judge James Zagel] said federal guidelines call for sentence of at least eight years and one month.
There was no official plea agreement, so prosecutors remain mum on whether he will appear as a witness in the second trial of Rod Blagojevich. Defense attorney Joseph Duffy said Rezko is “ready, able and willing” to testify against Blagojevich and would be a “formidable witness.”
Rezko’s next court date will be December 17, but there is still no indication when he will be sentenced for either of his two cases.
Rahm Emanuel reached out to Chicago voters in his White House resignation speech even though he hasn’t formally announced he’s running for mayor.
He connected to Jewish voters by mentioning his bar mitzvah. He got to sports fans by mentioning the Chicago Bears’ 3-0 record. He talked about how his mother marched with Martin Luther King Jr., in a nod to black voters and others. He choked up talking about his family, showing his sensitive side.
Wow. Just, wow. I’ve seen campaign-generated tip sheets which were far more subtle than that idiotic tripe.
* Robert Gibbs had this to say at today’s White House press briefing when asked if the president would campaign for Rahm Emanuel…
“I don’t — I don’t believe any — I don’t have anything on that. I don’t — I don’t know the answer to that, to be honest with you. I think — I mean, obviously the president was — you’ve heard what the president said over the past several weeks and what the president said today about Rahm and his next endeavors.”
Smooth talker, that Gibbs. And just in case anyone at the White House sees this, have Gibbs return my call, please. I want to ask him about a topic I’ve never seen the president address: State Sen. Bill Brady. The two often played poker together back when Obama was a colleague. Brady’s been in the race for months, but Obama has been curiously silent.
Sneed is told [Rev. Sen. James Meeks], a state senator who is very unpopular in the gay community for his track record on gay issues, requested a hush-hush meeting with Rick Garcia, a top Illinois gay rights activist, days after Mayor Daley decided not to run again.
“Rev. Meeks, who would never return Rick’s calls in the past, is now treating Rick like his best friend,” said a source familiar with the meeting.
• The upshot: “It’s true we met, and Rev. Meeks has a completely anti-gay voting record and said horrible things about the gay community,” Garcia, a founder of Equality Illinois, told Sneed. “But my job is to build bridges, so we met at his Salem Baptist Church.”
• The final shot: “He [Meeks] told me he knows its going to be a hard sell and a hard stretch to endorse him, but he wanted to make sure he didn’t say things wrong. It was mainly an educational meeting,” said Garcia, “but it lasted two hours.”
Glenn Poshard snubbed the gay community in 1998 and it cost him dearly. Meeks won’t change his stripes, but at least he can change his rhetoric. Whoever wins will be mayor of the entire city, so it’s good to see he realizes that he needs to work on his mouth, as well as his heart.
* Greg Hinz has an interesting take on where the big money is going. Mostly, right now, to THE MAN WHO MUST NOT BE MENTIONED, but Sheriff Dart is picking up some bucksters…
Insiders say a second candidate, Sheriff Tom Dart, is likely to have one big business name in his camp, Mesirow Financial’s James Tyree — who’s also an owner of the Sun-Times. Mr. Tyree wouldn’t commit when my colleague Steve Strahler briefly chatted with him early in the week, but he has deep roots in Mr. Dart’s home 19th Ward on the Southwest Side.
Mr. Dart also may be best positioned to get money and troops from the Service Employees International Union, with whom he’s had a decent relationship at Cook County Jail.
SEIU absolutely despises THE MAN WHO MUST NOT BE MENTIONED. That’ll be a lot of fun to watch.
Hinz claims that Gery Chico is saying he can raise $5 million and reports that the Illinois Restaurant Association is gearing up to spend $150,000. More…
Preacher-politician James Meeks has deep respect in portions of the business community for his willingness to back school vouchers. Others, in the gambling business, like him because he’s against any further expansion of legal gambling here.
But many African-American business types are said to really like former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun. And it will be fascinating to see where President Obama’s circle of black business folk ends up — with Mr. Meeks, Ms. Braun or Mr. Emanuel.
*** UPDATE *** Your weekly exclusive preview of WBEZ’s “Best Game in Town” has just arrived. Click here to listen. From the producer…
This week on Best Game in Town – we head to Chicago’s Daley Plaza to talk about the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and the rest of the week’s political news with NPR’s David Schaper and Crain’s Chicago Business Columnist Greg Hinz.
Also, we sit down with Nancy Kaszak to talk about her experience running against Rahm almost a decade ago.
* Rahmup…
* Emanuel mayoral team would need to explain $17 million bank pay: Emanuel, 50, earned at least $17 million in three years as an investment banker after leaving the Clinton White House, public records show. While that part of his resume didn’t hurt him when he first ran for Congress in 2002, any new bid for public office would come amid criticism of Wall Street’s excesses and a U.S. unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. “It didn’t have traction because it was before the markets went down,” said Nancy Kaszak, who lost to Emanuel in the 2002 Democratic primary to represent part of Chicago’s north side and northwest suburbs. “There are a lot of people who are very angry now because of the finances they are facing. I think it is a potentially more harmful issue now.”
* Emanuel leaves White House: Alderman Ed Burke says he cannot remember when Emanuel ever visited his Southwest Side 14th Ward and wonders if just under five months is enough time for any candidate to make a citywide impression.
* It’s the Big Leagues Now, Rahm: “He’s a big political bully,” said Ricardo Munoz, an alderman who admits that he is “not a fan” of Mr. Emanuel. “There’s talk at City Hall, people out loud saying, ‘Do we want to go from a Daley dictatorship to another bully dictatorship?’ ”
* In one word sum up the Chicago media’s coverage of state political stories during the past month. Do not use the words “Rahm” or “Emanuel” or any iteration thereof. That’s just too easy.
OK, I’ve changed my mind. You can’t talk about this past month without somehow using those words. Feel free, but try to be creative with it.
She’s only a few weeks old but she already owes the federal government 43,000 dollars.
Will she have a better life than us? Or worse? How will she afford college, her first home?
Mark Kirk: If you’re as worried as I am about our skyrocketing national debt, runaway spending, and the lack of jobs, I need your vote. I’ll fight to spend less, borrow less and tax less so our children have a better future.
I’m Mark Kirk and I approved this message.
* Response from Giannoulias campaign…
After two decades in Washington DC supporting all of the Bush economic policies that sunk our economy into recession, Congressman Mark Kirk today released another ad that lies about his fiscal record.
“In ad after ad, Congressman Kirk expects voters to throw truth to the wind and forget his record of doubling the national debt and voting against tax cuts for the middle class,” said Alexi for Illinois campaign spokesman Scott Burnham. “The record is clear: Congressman Kirk’s votes took the country from record surpluses to record deficits by handing out tax cuts to millionaires and large corporations, while leaving the middle class and small business to fend for themselves. That’s not a record to be proud of, and it’s not the type of leadership that Illinois families can trust.”
…Adding… The Kirk spot appears to be a popular one this year. Ohio Republican congressional candidate Steve Stivers is running basically the same ad, except that he uses his own daughter…
* Meanwhile, in news from Kirk’s home district, Bob Dold has been threatened with an FEC audit. One of his constituents filed a complain alleging that he hadn’t reported spending money on his big campaign tour bus…
“I noticed he made very careful filings of expenditures under two dollars and I couldn’t imagine why an expenditure of this size was not listed,” Stowell explains of a motor coach that was used in Dold’s ads as part of a bus tour he touted post-primary and through the summer. In April, the cost was disclosed as about $15,000, but in July’s report, it wasn’t there.
Stowell wrote the FEC and she got a letter back. The Dold campaign got one too, threatening audit or enforcement action if he failed to provide more information. The FEC said Dold’s numbers don’t add up.
In Dold’s amended report, we found around $22,000 in debts that had gone unreported, as well as about $24,000 in expenditures. His cash on hand is listed as $22,000 more than it was the first time. But he did add the debt for the bus- it cost around $17,000.
“It would be really hard to say that a $17,000 miss was just sloppy bookkeeping. It looks a little funny,” said Burt Odelson, an election attorney who represented President Bush in the 2004 recount.
* Dold also complained to the Daily Herald about his opponent’s campaign posting a harsh remark on his Facebook page…
Republican congressional candidate Robert Dold and his Democratic rival, Dan Seals, have something new to fight about: Facebook.
On Wednesday, a posting appeared on Seals’ Facebook page tipping off his Internet followers to a news report about Dold.
“Uh oh,” began the post, which was attributed to Seals and ran next to his picture. “The Cook County Clerk and States Attorney are now looking into Dold’s potential property tax fraud.”
An electronic link to a Chicago-area media report raising questions about Dold’s residency and voting record in the last decade followed. The comment was posted on Seals’ Twitter account, too.
However, representatives of the clerk’s office and the state’s attorney’s office insist there is no investigation.
The matter was referred to the state’s attorney by the Cook County Clerk. But the state’s attorney claims there’s nothing going on with the issue.
What Dold did manage to do, however, was move the residency story from the Sun-Times, where it began, to the Daily Herald.
Every county in the Chicago area except Kendall experienced slightly increased poverty rates during the four-year period, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Cook County’s rate was 15.9 percent in 2009, up from 14.8 percent in 2008 and 15.3 in 2006.
In Illinois, the poverty rate rose to 13.3 percent in 2009, up from 12.3 percent in 2006. The national poverty rate last year was 14.3 percent.
A report released Thursday by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows there were 8,909 second-quarter foreclosure sales, accounting for 24.32 percent of all homes sold in the state. That was an increase of almost 5 percent from the first quarter of 2010.
For his part, Mr. Singh, who gave more than $30,000 to local Democratic politicians in the most recent presidential cycle and $2,000 to Ms. Schakowsky’s campaign in 2006, says he owns property on North Clark Street with a $5.6 million loan from Mutual Bank. He says United Central had rebuffed his attempts to ease the terms of his loan as he rounded up potential new tenants at his property, prompting him to spur the action from the tight-knit Indian-American business community in Chicago.
* Ald. Stone rips problem building crackdown as too extreme
Only 2 percent of eligible households — about 7,000 — have signed up for free meters since the program began in March 2009. And the city has installed only 2,500 of the devices.
Many Chicagoans don’t believe the meters will lower their water bills, thinking it’s cheaper not to have one. But few realize just how unfair the city’s water-billing system is.
Hardik Bhatt, Chicago’s chief information officer, has resigned his $141,840-a-year job to join Cisco Systems, a California-company that bills itself as the “worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.”
Bhatt is the first member of Mayor Daley’s cabinet to pull the plug since the mayor chose political retirement over the quest for a seventh term.
But he’s not expected to be the last.
All 956 city policymakers exempt from the federal Shakman decree banning political hiring and firing must decide whether to stick around — and hope they can defy the odds and be retained by Daley’s successor — or dust off their resumes now.
* Eric Zorn once again provides us a transcript of one quite interesting part of yesterday’s Chicago Tribune gubernatorial debate. Scott Lee Cohen talks about why he dropped out of the lt. governor’s race…
COHEN: The governor made it very clear to me that he was going to take away my responsibilities, put me in a room with nothing to do. […]
Q: You had a conversation with Governor Quinn before you withdrew in which he told you he was going to put you in a room with nothing to do?
COHEN: I did not have a conversation with Governor Quinn. Next question.
Q: You say did you did not have a conversation with Governor Quinn? You just said that he told you —
COHEN: He made it clear. I did not say he told me. I said he made it clear.
* Of course, Gov. Pat Quinn argued with Bill Brady about Brady’s taxes…
Quinn called for all candidates to make available to the public their income tax returns, pointedly noting that Brady only made his returns available to reporters for about three hours in Springfield and would not allow copies to be made. Quinn also said that public officials should pay state and federal taxes on their public jobs even when their overall tax matters would allow them to not owe the state or federal taxes. Brady did not owe federal income taxes for two years and state taxes one year, citing the ups and downs of construction and other businesses he operates.
“I think we ought to end the Brady loophole,” Quinn charged.
A pre- Labor Day Tribune survey had Brady leading Quinn 37 percent to 32 percent. But in the last four weeks, Quinn’s abysmal job approval rating improved a little, and voters view him slightly more favorably than a month ago. And the governor is attracting more support from traditionally key sources of Democratic vote, particularly in Chicago and among African-American voters.
On the other hand, Brady’s numbers flipped and he is now liked and disliked by about the same percentage of voters, though more than a third say they still haven’t formed an opinion about the veteran state senator. Brady, who hails from a prominent Bloomington homebuilding family, continues to trounce Quinn downstate, though his lead in the collar counties has disappeared.
Democrats are coming home. A month ago, Quinn had only 56 percent of Dem voters. Now, it’s 71. He’s almost at 60 percent of Chicagoans, up from less than half of city voters a month ago.
Brady’s unfavorables have risen 10 points, from 19 to 29.
The poll found 39 percent of those surveyed think Brady would do a better job of restoring the state’s economy, compared to one-third who said Quinn would do the better job. […]
Quinn remains heavily out of favor with voters outside the Chicago area — a possible explanation for his recent spate of downstate visits to cut ribbons for public works projects. Almost half of downstate residents view the governor unfavorably, and Brady has the backing of 51 percent of the region’s voters compared to Quinn’s 27 percent.
Among independent voters, a group key to Republican chances for victory, Brady holds the advantage but has failed to distance himself significantly from Quinn. The poll found Brady favored by 37 percent of independent voters, compared to 33 percent a month ago. But Quinn also gained and is now backed by 29 percent of independents, up from 24 percent last month.
But the Trib says they’re basically tied in the collar counties. That’s hugely significant. Huge.
…Adding… I forgot to mention the other guys. Scott Lee Cohen is at 4 percent, Green Party nominee Rich Whitney is at 3 and Libertarian Lex Green is at 2.
…Adding more… The reason I say this looks like a trend is that we have now seen four polls released this week which put the race in single digits. Three of the four are public, one is private, except for subscribers. And three of those four polls have this as a one or two-point race.
(W)hen [Scott Lee Cohen is] included in polling, the Capitol Fax calculated that Democratic numbers improve.
Look at the polls that have included Cohen’s name going back a month, when the Tribune had this as a five-point race. Every major pollster who included Cohen had this contest in single digits. Every one. Rasmussen, PPP (until now) and the rest have simply been churning out completely wrong numbers. This race has been close for a while. And now it’s probably closer.
* Sen. Bill Brady’s latest TV ad is a blistering attack on Gov. Pat Quinn over the widely vilified AFSCME endorsement/no layoff story. Rate it…
The ad was recorded off the air this evening during “Wheel of Fortune.” Here’s the script…
Pat Quinn sold us out.
When union bosses endorsed Quinn, Quinn guaranteed them jobs until June of 2012.
Using 190 million of our tax dollars.
Newspapers called Quinn’s actions, “A return to the state’s pay to play politics,” “Horrible for the state,” “A conflict,” and “A sellout for Quinn’s benefit and not ours.”
Every time he sells us out, we learn that Pat Quinn’s only priority is Pat Quinn.
During yesterday’s debate, you mentioned how Texas was doing so well. They ain’t…
Earlier this month [Texas] House Speaker Joe Straus told county administrators the state budget deficit would be at least $18 billion.
Tuesday legislative budget staff said the shortfall has grown to $21 billion.
But on the same day, when Governor Rick Perry sat down with KERA, Perry said the gap to fund the next two-years of state government will be only half that bad, no more than $11 billion.
Meredith Whitney, the analyst who correctly predicted Citigroup Inc.’s dividend cut in 2008, will release a report rating California’s financial condition as the worst among the 15 largest U.S. states, Fortune said. […]
After California, New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio tie as the second-worst
A suburban political candidate said he regrets saying the nation’s attitude toward gay marriage will change because older people eventually will die.
“It was a poor choice of words,” said Rich Voltair, a Round Lake Beach Democrat running for the 62nd District seat. “I definitely realize that.” […]
“As a 32-year-old, I hold views that are consistent with my age group,” he said in that story, which was based on e-mail exchanges with both candidates. “These views represent the future and it is only a matter of time before the previous generation expires and our generation takes over.”
The Great Die-Off you speak of will also “solve” our Social Security, Medicare and state pension problems. But it’s not something you’re supposed to cheer for, dude.
Over the last several months, [Republican lt. governor nominee Jason Plummer] said he has been on the campaign trail, visiting those cities – Rockford, Moline, Danville – that are located near borders with other states.
But, then again, Chicago also has reporters who probably wouldn’t write puff pieces about you. So, better stick with the little towns.
* Dear Adam Andrzejewski,
Timing is everything. If the primary was later, you and your “forensic audit” proposal might’ve actually won the governor’s race. I mean, even a Chicago alderman is hyping the phrase…
[Ald. Scott Waguespack] now plans to put together an “agenda” — including a “forensic audit” of city finances and contracts — for a City Council expected to assert itself more forcefully in the post-Daley era.
“Open the books. Let’s look at how we’re spending and re-direct the monies towards our most important needs, including the Police Department,” he said.
But by referring to leaving “daily operations of the bank,” the Giannoulias camp clearly was trying to leave the impression that he had walked out the bank’s doors for good.
Giannoulias’ opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, has been no more straightforward on Broadway Bank issues. Last week, in a meeting with the Sun-Times editorial board, he ominously said the Giannoulias family “took $70 million out of the bank before its collapse” without mentioning that most of that money went to pay taxes.
We can only hope both campaigns get more straightforward in the final weeks before Nov. 2.
The public floggings need to continue on a regular basis.
The story line for Election 2010 has been set for months: Republicans are on the march; Democrats are in deep trouble. Is it possible that Democrats have begun a comeback?
Several Democrats say there is modest movement in their direction and some reason for optimism after many dismal months
“It was an unknown person from an internet media source, and I did not reply,” said Steve Tomaszewski, spokesman for Shimkus, when asked about Cary’s request.
The name of Illinois Insurance Director and Chicago resident Michael McRaith is being floated as the first chief of the new Federal Insurance Office, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
If huge, hungry Asian carp end up reaching Lake Michigan, their long-dreaded invasion might turn out to be less ferocious than once expected because a tiny competitor is gobbling up their primary food source, some Great Lakes researchers say.
The quagga mussel — a thumbnail-sized foreign mullosk first spotted in the lakes two decades ago — has devoured so much plankton in southern Lake Michigan that the entire food web is being altered, federal and university scientists say in a series of newly published articles.
Illinois is failing to crack down on water pollution from large confined-animal farms, the Obama administration announced Wednesday in a stinging rebuke that gave the state a month to figure out how to fix its troubled permitting and enforcement programs.
Responding to a petition from environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said its nearly yearlong investigation found widespread problems with the Illinois EPA’s oversight of confined-animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. Many of the cattle, hog and chicken operations produce manure in amounts comparable to the waste generated by small towns.
Rahm Emanuel lunched [yesterday] with Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, chairman of the Tribune Company, as the White House chief of staff mulls a run for Chicago mayor.
The two dined at a chic eatery, Central Michel Richard, a restaurant manager confirmed. The spot is about six blocks from the White House, where Emanuel serves as chief of staff to President Barack Obama.
“They have lunch all the time when he (Zell) comes to D.C.,” according to a source close to Emanuel, who cautioned against reading too much into the power lunch. “He’s known him (Zell) for a long time and I imagined they talked about the race, Chicago, the economy, education and other issues.”
In other words: This is not news. But, hey, if they were really enterprising reporters, they’d tell us what the two men ordered.
WASHINGTON — Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, is resigning to run for mayor of Chicago, people familiar with his plans said today.
We’ve known this for days now. Thanks for retelling us.
* But there was one useful story about Emanuel this week. Medill Reports took a close, even-handed look at his residency questions. State law requires a mayoral candidate to reside in the city for a year before an election. Chicago’s election is February 22nd. Election law attorneys Burt Odelson and James Nally claimed Emanuel can’t run…
Odelson noted that a section of the statute in the Illinois election code allows individuals who are in service to the U.S. to keep their residency status, but only for voting purposes.
“Even if Mr. Emanuel could make a claim that he’s in service of the U.S. and still vote absentee, he cannot make the claim he has been a resident of the city of Chicago for one year prior to the election because he leased his house to a family,” Odelson said.
“Physical presence is very important,” Nally said. “The statute asks, ‘Were you residing in that municipality a year prior to election?’ That’s a pretty straight-up fact question.”
However, Jim Allen with the Chicago Board of Elections disagrees, and says if a candidate maintains a residence and voter registration, then he’ll pass muster. And Ron Michaelson, the former Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Elections, agrees with Allen…
“Intent goes a long way in determining where one’s residency actually is,” he said.
Michaelson also noted that in these types of residency laws, the benefit of the doubt is usually given to the individual claiming intent.
* The Highway Loss Data Institute released a study this week that claims state bans on texting while driving don’t work. Jamey Dunn fills us in…
The institute compared insurance claims data with stats from before and after the bans, as well as with those of neighboring states that did not have bans. Researchers also considered other factors that can affect collision rates, such as seasonal changes in traffic. The instance of collisions did not go down in any of the states; in fact, it went up a small amount in three of the four states studied. The largest increase was 9 percent in Minnesota. According to the study: “If the goal of texting and cell phone bans is the reduction of crash risk, then the bans have so far been ineffective.”
And I can attest to this…
From the report: “This unexpected consequence of banning texting suggests that texting drivers have responded to the law perhaps by attempting to avoid fines by hiding their phones from view. If this causes them to take their eyes off the road more than before the ban, then the bans may make texting more dangerous rather than eliminating it.”
I’ve held my iPhone down low when looking up phone numbers because I didn’t want to get busted for texting, even though I wasn’t texting. I stopped doing that when I realized what an idiot I was being.
* So, what to do? Ban cellphone usage entirely? Rep. John D’Amico, a sponsor of the Illinois texting ban, says that’s a way to go…
D’Amico said a ban on using cell phones while driving would be a better solution. Illinois currently bans drivers from talking on phones in school and construction zones. He compared a possible ban to laws against driving while intoxicated, which have become more strictly enforced, causing the drunken driving to elicit more of a social stigma than it did in past decades. He said people will eventually see using a cell phone the way people see driving drunk now, and will say: “‘Boy I can’t believe we used to be allowed to do that.’”
But the Institute says that won’t help much, either…
Fleming said another study from the institute found hands-free options to be just as dangerous as standard cell phones. However, the same study also found cell phone bans to be ineffective in cutting accidents. Fleming acknowledges that such results are disappointing to those interested in improving driver safety. But, she said, if police can find better ways to catch violators in the act of texting or talking on the phone, bans could help make roads safer.
A Virginia Tech study last year found that among truckers, dialing a cell phone made a driver 5.9 times more likely to cause an accident, while text messaging increased the likelihood 23.2 times.
* The Question: Should the state ban cellphone usage while driving? Period. Not just mandate hands-free use, but ban it entirely. Explain.
[Gov. Pat Quinn} has received political contributions connected to at least 77 of the people he has chosen for state task forces, agencies, boards or commissions since he became governor in January 2009, according to a Tribune review of public records. At least 20 of the donations from the appointees, their families or their businesses came within two months of the appointment.
We know via the story that three of those contributions were rather large. But we don’t know how big the rest of them were. We don’t even know their average size. $100? $500? $10,000? The Tribune doesn’t tell us, except to say that “many” are under the $25K asking price that Rod Blagojevich had set. They don’t define “many.” And until they tell us, I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions here.
* And of those four examples they gave? The first one was from the father of Mariyana Spyropoulos. Quinn supported her more than two years ago for MWRD. She lost the race, applied for an opening, Quinn gave her the appointment. Shortly before this year’s primary, when Quinn was literally desperate for money, her father contributed $25,000, then another $25,000 after the primary. She kicked in $1K.
While it doesn’t look great, Quinn appears to have known the father for quite a while, and dined with him twice in Copenhagen during the city’s Olympics bid.
Another appointee, William Brandt Jr., is described as a “high school chum” of Quinn’s. People with decent piles of cash often go in heavy for their oldest friends. No surprise The other is Steven Gilford, who worked with Quinn in the Walker administration.
* The last example shows you how much of a stretch some of these “connections” may be…
For an appointment to the Executive Ethics Commission, Quinn needed a Republican because state law required a degree of balance among political parties. He turned to retired Pinckneyville attorney Gayl Pyatt, a former member of the Illinois Gaming Board.
The job comes with a $37,571 annual salary and a ban on political activity. Quinn appointed Pyatt in October. Her husband, Richard, a retired funeral director, gave $500 to Quinn in November.
Gayl Pyatt said the “contribution was made because a very, very good friend” of her family held a fundraiser for the governor. If not, Pyatt said, “that check would never have been written.”
$500? Really? Move along. Nothing to see there.
…Adding… From a commenter…
Also, could the brain trust at the Trib let us know how many of those 77 received appointments to boards that PAY? Most don’t, as I recall.
* Two publicly released polls in two days showing a single digit governor’s race. Something’s up. Subscribers know one theory. From Public Policy Polling…
Bill Brady continues to lead the Illinois Governor’s race but Pat Quinn’s pulling a little closer, trailing 42-35 in PPP’s newest survey of the race. Independent Scott Lee Cohen gets 6%, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney is at 4%, and Libertarian Lex Green is at 2%.
Quinn’s doing better than he was in an August PPP poll, when he trailed by 9, largely because of an improved standing with independents. He continues to trail Brady 39-27 with them, but that’s a significant improvement from his 25 point deficit in the last poll. Quinn is incredibly unpopular with independent voters, at an 18/67 approval spread. But those voters don’t like Brady either, viewing him negatively 32/38.
It’s amazing that Quinn’s still in this given his continuing incredible unpopularity. 60% of voters in the state now disapprove of the job he’s doing to only 24% who are happy with it. In addition to those dreadful numbers with independents only 6% of Republicans think he’s doing a good job and even with Democrats he’s at just a 42/38 spread. But he’s fortunate that GOP voters nominated a very weak candidate themselves. Only 36% of folks in Illinois see Brady in a favorable light while 44% have a negative opinion of him.
The two biggest things to watch in this race over the final five weeks are the undecideds and the 10% of voters currently leaning either toward Cohen or Whitney.
The undecideds are an overwhelmingly Democratic bunch. 67% voted for Barack Obama while only 20% supported John McCain. They’re planning to vote Democratic for Congress by a 44-17 margin this fall. They’re supporting Alexi Giannoulias by a 21 point margin over Mark Kirk. But they don’t like Pat Quinn- only 14% of them approve of him with 42% disapproving. Whether their Democratic loyalties outweigh their dislike of Quinn in the end may determine whether he can still pull out this race despite his very poor personal numbers.
The folks supporting Cohen or Whitney right now are also a Democratic leaning bunch. 52% voted for Obama to only 32% who supported McCain. They’re planning to vote Democratic for Congress by a 43-28 margin. But they really hate Quinn- 4% approve of him and 83% disapprove of him.
If you allocate all of the undecideds who voted for Obama to Quinn and the ones who voted for McCain to Brady, the Brady lead shrinks to 44-43. My guess is that most of the undecideds will indeed end up in the Quinn camp and make this a much closer race. Quinn’s path with the Whitney and Cohen voters is tougher though and he needs to hope those folks’ dislike of him isn’t so strong that they’ll go so far as to vote for Brady to get him out.
This is a pretty fascinating race.
Yes, it is. That undecided info is also quite interesting. The question is whether the Democrats can keep them moving their way and then turn those people out. From the company’s president…
“Things are starting to look a little more encouraging for Pat Quinn than they did earlier in the summer,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “He remains personally unpopular but the minor candidates are starting to pick up some of the anti-Quinn instead of it all going to Brady.”
That can happen in a multi-candidate race. You slam the other guy, but those voters don’t automatically go to you if they have other options. It’s the biggest reason why Rich Whitney scored 10 percent four years ago.
* Methodology…
PPP surveyed 470 likely Illinois voters from September 23 to 26. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.5%.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index released Tuesday ticked up in July from June. But the gain is merely temporary, analysts say. They see home values taking a dive in many major markets well into next year.
That’s because the peak home-buying season is now ending after a dismal summer. The hardest-hit markets, already battered by foreclosures, are bracing for a bigger wave of homes sold at foreclosure or through short sales. A short sale is when a lender lets a homeowner sell for less than the mortgage is worth.
Add high unemployment and reluctant buyers, and the outlook in many areas is bleak. Nationally, home values are projected to fall 2.2 percent in the second half of the year, according to analysts surveyed by MacroMarkets LLC. And Moody’s Analytics predicts the Case-Shiller index will drop 8 percent within a year.
Despite the passage last year of the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, foreclosure filings in Chicago’s six-county region rose 38 percent from the first half of 2009 to the first half of 2010, according to data from the Woodstock Institute, which tracks foreclosure activity in the region.
The program, part of President Obama’s comprehensive plan to address the housing crisis and restore economic stability, helps struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing their monthly mortgage payments.
Among other criteria, eligible candidates must have a monthly mortgage payment greater than 31 percent of their gross monthly income and have suffered a loss of income that prevents them from making payments.
But Katie Buitrago, policy communications associate for the institute, said actual delinquency is not a requirement.
* Marin: Feel Safer? Thanks to Cook County government, you’re not
There were more than 550,000 uninsured people — or 19.7 percent of the population — in the city of Chicago last year, according to the bureau’s American Community Survey. In Illinois, nearly 1.7 million people, or 13 percent of the state’s population, did not have insurance.
Nationally, there were 50.7 million uninsured residents, or 16.7 percent of the population, according to the data.
Despite a 24 percent spike in the number of people below the poverty level statewide over the past 10 years, Joliet’s numbers remained steady over the years between 10 and 13 percent. In 2009, the number of people in poverty was 11 percent.
However, Joliet’s median household income did dip slightly from $61,061 in 2008 to $53,687 in 2009, likely due to an increase in unemployment.
Mudge’s request follows by two days the publication of a News-Democrat investigation, which showed that Bathon took in about $140,000 in campaign donations from investors who bought delinquent property tax debts.
Those investors were routinely allowed to buy property owners’ tax debts at an 18 percent penalty rate — the maximum allowed under state law. The investors took in up to $200,000 apiece in penalties for some years.
“State law affords county treasurers wide latitude on how to conduct these sales,” Mudge wrote. “However, I believe an independent review is in order in light of the recent concerns expressed about these former practices.”
Mudge, a Democrat, added: “Everyone should be careful not to politicize this exercise during a campaign season. These authorities are aware of the situation, and I am confident that they will conduct a fair, independent and proper review.”
Despite it being one of the larger communities south of Springfield, Carbondale and its surrounding area is not within one of those designated areas. That’s not uncommon, but most of the land within Illinois’ borders east of Interstate 55 and south of Interstate 72 is also outside of an MSA. That means communities such as Charleston-Mattoon, Effingham, Mount Vernon, Marion and, of course, Carbondale can be easily overlooked in government reports.
Seems like quite a blind spot, especially when talking about a region that relies heavily on government programs to get by.
Franklin County dropped 1.4%, but is still ranked 3rd highest statewide.
Hardin County remained the same at 12.3 unemployed. Perry County dropped from 12.5% to 11.8% And Saline County is out of double digits now at 9.9% from last year’s 11.2%.
Different officials are blaming each other for why the bills are going out late. But regardless of who’s to blame, Blue Island Mayor Don Peloquin says his city will be hurt by the late payments.
Metra officials said they also want an independent watchdog but prefer someone picked by the Regional Transportation Authority, which has oversight of the three transit agencies in the region. Another option is an IG named by the people who appoint the Metra board of directors, who include the Chicago mayor, the chairman of the DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will County Boards, and Cook County Board members.
Once again the CTA, which faces almost $7 billion in unfunded capital needs, will reluctantly use capital funds meant for improvements to help balance the day-to-day 2011 operating budget and avoid reducing services again, according to the proposed budget released Wednesday.
Certainly, Jarrett fills an important role for Obama: She has deep and personal ties to the president, as well as undivided loyalties, and can talk honestly to him on a first-name basis. But current and former White House officials I spoke with raised questions about Jarrett’s effectiveness and judgment.
With a projected $18 million deficit looming for 2011, the city has once again offered its employees the chance to voluntarily leave city service, with incentives.
For those who stay, the city is requiring each employee to give up 10 percent of their salary. That money can come from wages or benefits. Chief Management Officer Carie Anne Ergo said that however it’s done, the city is seeking a total of $8.4 million in savings.
That amount, Ergo said, would minimize upcoming layoffs, but not prevent them.
* Vote fraud, tax trial resumes for former East St. Louis councilman
Prosecutors allege that Collins lived at 4382 Redfield in Swansea but voted from 22 Loisel Drive in East St. Louis in an election in which a federal candidate was on the ballot. Collins is accused of using the Loisel address to get work in and around East St. Louis and to be the Democratic committeeman in Precinct 26.
* Judge allows former ESL councilman limited mobility until sentencing
* Yesterday, Gov. Pat Quinn claimed during the debate that Bill Brady had admitted his budget cutting plan for schools would raise local property taxes. Reporters asked him about his remarks after the debate and Quinn referred to a comment made by Brady at the State Fair. We posted that video back then. Here’s the relevant excerpt…
REPORTER: How do you cut 10 percent out of school budgets or education money and not fire people?
BRADY: The local school districts will make those decisions.
REPORTER: And where do they get the money?
BRADY: Maybe they’ll have to forego some pay raises
REPORTER: Is that enough? If they’re getting 10 percent less money?
BRADY: We’re trying to drill down and see what the average pay raises are within those those things. So maybe they’ll have to make some decisions like the private sector’s made.
REPORTER: Like raising property taxes
BRADY: No
REPORTER: So less money for schools, but no layoffs but no property tax increases for them to operate?
BRADY: Well, there are some natural property tax increases that will go into effect. I mean, if you drill down to education funding the state of Illinois provides less than a third, OK? So that would be a cut of less than 2.5 percent by what we defined as our budget. I think if you look at pay raises and you look at some other things, there are various options at the local level. I will ask them to be responsible as we have to be.
* And here is the ABC7 report on the debate from Charles Thomas…
* Lots more debate videos and a full news roundup were posted yesterday, in case you missed them.
* MSNBC asked Alexi Giannoulias yesterday about the Tribune’s latest story. WGN ran an excerpt from his appearance in New York and had some more analysis. Watch…
