I think when the history of the current crisis is written much of blame will be placed on the sharp fiscal contraction of state and local governments, which offset almost all of the fiscal stimulus at the federal level. I think economists will view this as a preventable error equivalent to the Fed’s passive shrinkage of the money supply in the early 1930s.
Many others, including myself, have been warning about this very real phenomenon for well over a year now, but DC just isn’t paying attention.
A June 3 report from the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers shows that the states have cut aggregate spending by $74.4 billion, or 10.8 percent, since 2008. The expiration of $55 billion in temporary federal aid to the states could lead to further substantial spending cuts beginning on July 1.
Budget expert Stan Collender warned on June 8 that a sharp cutback in state spending mandated by state balanced budget requirements could have a negative effect on the economy as a whole. […]
A May paper from the Institute for the Study of Labor looks at the distributional consequences of cutting the pay of public sector workers based on the recent experience of Ireland. […]
A February study by economists Joshua Aizenman and Gurnain Kaur Pasricha found that fiscal contraction in the states offset almost 100% of the fiscal stimulus at the federal level in 2009.
* Yesterday was the first day that independents could file their petitions for the general election. These are always entertaining weeks. For instance…
The poor fellow can’t make up his mind what he wants to do.
Monday was the first day independent candidates could file to run for office in Illinois, but Scott Lee Cohen plans to wait until the last minute before finalizing his plans for governor.
Cohen, who previously won the Democratic primary race for lieutenant governor, plans to file his petitions June 21, the last available day, Cohen spokesman John Davis said.
“You’d like to have at least a little bit of drama,” Davis said. […]
But also waiting until the last day will be Mike Niecestro of Itasca, who also plans to file for the U.S. Senate race.
Niecestro says he has 27,000 signatures and expects to have as many as double that by the time he turns them in June 21.
“A little bit of drama”? Yeah. Like Cohen needs more of that.
Also, if Niecestro has 27,000 sigs today, I’m not sure how he doubles that in a week, unless they’re still coming in from all over the state. And considering Niecestro isn’t all that well known, that’s a bit doubtful. Not to mention that Niecestro told NBC5 he has collected over 40,000 signatures. Which is right?
Would Niecestro even favor drilling in Lake Michigan, if oil were discovered there?
“If there’s oil under Lake Michigan, why not?” he says. “Absolutely.”
Yeah. Stick with that promise. I’m sure it’ll work so well in the Chicago media market, which gets most of its drinking water from the lake. Niecestro also has a prediction…
“If I get my name on the ballot, Mark Kirk is going to go as far right as he can to get the conservative vote,” predicts Niecestro
Assuming he gets on the ballot, and that’s still a big “if,” Kirk will probably use stuff like “Drill, baby, drill in our fresh water supply!” to paint Niecestro as a crackpot.
Also, if you want to read a harshly critical take on people like Niecestro, then click here. It won’t disappoint.
* In other campaign-related news, the state Republican Party misfired badly with its first major attempt to use the Blagojevich trial against Pat Quinn and Alexi Giannoulias…
In a press release [yesterday], the Illinois Republican Party used a government exhibit from the case to point out that now-Gov. Pat Quinn and political consultant Pete Giangreco — who works for Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias — attended a meeting with some of those who have been charged or convicted in the case.
The meeting, which included Alonzo “Lon” Monk, “Antoin “Tony” Rezko and Blagojevich, happened a week after the new governor’s inauguration in January 2003. According to testimony from Monk, nothing untoward occurred. It was just a discussion involving nearly 20 people about what Blagojevich should try to accomplish policy-wise in his first term.
So, prosecution witness Monk testified under oath that the meeting was no big deal, but this is the press release we get from the IL GOP…
Recently, the U.S. Attorney introduced “Government Exhibit January 2003 Schedule” – a section of Rod Blagojevich’s calendar showing a meeting between Blagojevich, Lon Monk, Tony Rezko, Pat Quinn, Pete Giangreco and other key Blagojevich insiders.
Lon Monk testified that kickback schemes were being discussed by this core group as early as 2003. Now seven years later, Quinn is running for governor while Pete Giangreco is serving as senior strategist for Alexi Giannoulias’ Senate campaign.
Asked about the wording of the release, state GOP Chairman Pat Brady, he said he could see how some people could read it like the GOP was accusing Quinn and Giangreco of being part of the conspiracy. But he said that wasn’t the intent.
“I can see what you’re saying. We aren’t insinuating that,” Brady said. “Abraham Lincoln did not write this (press release). That was not the intent. We were talking about that gang of four.”
Um, no, you weren’t.
…Adding… Click here to see the document in question.
* Related…
* Illinois Supreme Court Election Flooded with Money: Millions of dollars will likely be spent on Kilbride’s election this year, though no one is running against him. “Those of us who will be trying to defeat him,” said Ed Murnane, of the Illinois Civil Justice League. “We don’t even need a candidate.”
* Press Release: Today, Tenth Congressional District Candidate Dan Seals announced that Aviva Gibbs, currently Communications Director to U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), will be joining his campaign team. Gibbs will leave Mr. Quigley’s office to serve as Communications Director for Seals starting in early July.
* Dems seeking applications for 35th District candidate: O’Shea said local Democratic leaders are focused on finding the best candidate and on making it an “open and transparent” process. Unlike the lieutenant governor process, applicants’ information and applications will not be posted online, O’Shea said. “We haven’t really set a timetable. We want to make sure we take as much time as we need to,” O’Shea said. “In my conversations with the mayors and committeemen throughout the district, the thought is to come up with the best possible person to be the Democratic nominee on the November ballot.”
Gov. Pat Quinn is facing criticism after announcing a $6 million grant for the Museum of Broadcast Communications Friday.
The grant will finish the half-built museum at State and Kinzie. MBC founder and president Bruce DuMont says it is not an unusual use of public money.
“If you look historically at how the great museums of Chicago have been built and funded over the years, they’ve all received significant support from the state,” said DuMont. […]
“Broadcast museum doesn’t mean a thing to anybody in our streets,” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Parish. He doesn’t understand how the cash-strapped state with its $13 billion deficit can commit any money from its capital or operating budget to a museum when many neighborhoods are overwhelmed by violence.
He showed ABC7 two letters he’d received in the past week advising that the governor is considering cutting a $3 million statewide program for at-risk young people.
“Youth prevention and youth intervention for violence while we’re talking about broadcast museums and other things that are not being cut and are continuing to be out on the table? That’s unacceptable,” said Rev. Pfleger.
* The Question: With whom do you side in this? Dumont or Pfleger? Explain.
* And, for a bit of context, here’s a budget-related news roundup…
* Glenbard Dist. 87 wants more information from Springfield: Because of very conservative estimates made early this year, Glenbard High School District 87 officials consider themselves better off financially than they expected, but uncertain funding from Springfield still leaves them in a bind.
The recent controversy regarding statements Kirk has made about his military service seems to be taking a large toll on him. Only 10% of voters in the state think Kirk has been truthful about his military service while 45% think he has lied and 45% are unsure.
The good news for Kirk is that only 22% of voters say they’ve been following the story very closely, because among those folks Giannoulias has a 39-28 lead. That may be a short lived saving grace for Kirk though since Democrats will make sure voters are very familiar with the story by the fall.
The candidates for Senate are Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, Republican Mark Kirk, and Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones. If the election was today, who would you vote for?
31% Alexi Giannoulias
30% Mark Kirk
14% LeAlan Jones
24% Undecided
This poll represents progress for Giannoulias since PPP last looked at the race in early April. He now leads 31-30 where he previously trailed Kirk 37-33. The main thing that’s changed since then is voter perceptions of Kirk. His net favorability of +1 (24/23) has seen a decline of nine points to -8 (23/31). Giannoulias is just as unpopular as Kirk, sporting the exact same 23/31 favorability spread. But that’s not a new development for him- he was already at -7 (21/28) back in the spring. Nothing voters have learned about Giannoulias in the last three months has made them like him any less than they already did.
* The Green Party candidate is giving Kirk something to hope for…
The beneficiary of the voter disgust with both Giannoulias and Kirk is Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones. Despite being viewed favorably by only 2% of voters in the state he’s pulling 14% in the horse race. Posing a particular problem for Giannoulias is that Jones is getting a remarkable 26% of the black vote right now. Third party candidates often poll a lot better in the summer than they do by the fall so it will be interesting to see if these folks really stick with Jones or go back to the Democratic fold and that could end up being one of the defining stories of this race.
Racial breakdown…
Jones is actually slightly ahead of Giannoulias with independents…
Favorables…
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Alexi Giannoulias?
23% Favorable
31% Unfavorable
45% Not Sure
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Mark Kirk?
23% Favorable
31% Unfavorable
46% Not Sure
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of LeAlan Jones?
2% Favorable
13% Unfavorable
84% Not Sure
It’s hard to see this race as anything but a pure tossup at this juncture but in Illinois a race between a flawed Democrat and a flawed Republican is probably going to end up in the Democratic column, and Giannoulias’ 5 point gain relative to Kirk is in the 10 weeks reflects that.
* You probably know about the “Truthers.” They’re the ones who insist that 9/11 was an “inside job.” They also have a bizarre theory about why Rod Blagojevich was “really” arrested.
According to them, Blagojevich was picked up by the feds because he dared to threaten Bank of America a few days earlier with the loss of all state business…
The impending prosecution of Blagojevich sends a powerful message to other governors, mayors, city council members around the country: don’t mess with the international banking cartel, the global financial mafia.
Your article just goes to show how epic this media failure is when it comes to the Blago trial. What Magical Current and what spell have you fallen under? AOL perhaps first and foremost. Just once I would like to see someone mention the Bank of America boycott! It was the last straw for the federal government. IT was not an action of a sinking life boat but rather an act of self-sacrifice. Watch ‘Rod Blagojevich Uncensored’ on youtube. Remember that when we take over we are going eat the bankers! [F-word expletive deleted] You!
As we have seen in the past year, the media has only tried to bad-name [Blagojevich’s] credibility, poke fun at his hair, call him names, or criticize his personal life. We Are Change, with the intention to provide the American people with the TRUTH, talked to Governor Blagojevich about his resistance to big banks, which is what really led to his arrest.
And here’s the video mentioned in that e-mail. Blagojevich does utter some expletives (no surprise there), so be careful if you’re on a work computer…
When told that they believe the former governor was arrested because of his stance on Bank of America, Blagojevich appears to agree, and talks about how he tried to bully the company into restoring credit to the struggling Republic Windows & Doors company, which is based in Chicago, by cutting off state business…
“I didn’t say ‘please,’ I just said, ‘Hey, you better do it…’ and then they arrest me.”
One of the Truthers then thanked Blagojevich for “standing up to those guys.” And Blagojevich goes all in…
“And the weekend before, this so-called crime spree, they’re liars. It’s all Bank of America.”
Adam is prompting repeated objections from the government, and all of them so far have been upheld by the judge. Government prosecutors have perhaps already objected more in the first 15 minutes of the day than Sam Adam Jr. objected for the entirety of the government’s three days of questioning Monk.
“It might be better if you use less loaded words,” Judge Zagel told Adam. Zagel has also cautioned him on the relevance of his questioning.
Sam Adam Jr. gets animated asking Monk if he remembers any details from the meetings where the four — Monk, Blagojevich, Rezko and Kelly — agreed to split up money off of state deals.
“I don’t remember,” Monk says repeatedly.
Adam is nearing him, then paces away. He points to the ex-governor and points in the air.
Adam notes it’s the first time in Monk’s adult life he was going to commit a felony and he can’t recall “one!” detail about what Tony Rezko wrote on the board.
Rod is sitting sideways with one arm lazily lying on the courtroom table, looking as if he’s enjoying this.
“I don’t know if we gave that much thought where the money was going to go,” Monk says. Rod starts quietly laughing to himself, then puts his hand over his mouth suppressing a smile.
* Mark Kirk is yet again appearing too defensive about his military record.
The Pentagon released a statement yesterday confirming that Kirk engaged in partisan political activities while on duty. From the Pentagon’s statement…
In December 2008, Commander Kirk, while on active duty, participated in video discussions in the media about the unfolding situation involving then-Governor Blagojevich of Illinois. Members of the Armed Forces on active duty may not participate in television discussions as an advocate for or against a partisan political party, candidate, or cause.
In July 2009, while on active duty in the Washington area, either Commander Kirk or a staff member posted a “twitter” to his Senate campaign web site that indicated he was on duty at the National Military Command Center. At the time, Commander Kirk was a candidate for the Senate. Candidates for political office may not participate in any campaign activities while on active duty. They may not update or revise their websites, and they must inform their campaign staff of the applicable restrictions.
These questions have been addressed by the campaign in the past and had there been any issues documented in Congressman Kirk’s military record, the Department of Defense would not have issued a second waiver for his deployment to Afghanistan. The campaign has made all of the Congressman’s military fitness reports available for review and no concerns were documented.
Commander Kirk was counseled about each of his violations after they occurred and signed a statement acknowledging the limitations on his ability to participate in campaign activities while on active duty. He was required to complete this acknowledgement before being allowed to begin active duty in December 2009.
In other words, Kirk was only able to obtain that waiver after he was “counseled” about his violations and signed a statement promising never to do it ever again.
More ominous for Kirk, though, is that unlike last week, when it was just some bloggers and the Sun-Times which picked up on the DoD memo story, this time both the AP and the Tribune have taken notice. From the AP…
The Pentagon said Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk has been cautioned twice for improperly mingling politics with his military service, but Kirk’s campaign denied any improper conduct Tuesday.
The Defense Department said Monday night that Kirk, a commander in the Navy Reserve, was warned after two incidents of political activity while he was on active duty. Before being allowed to go on active duty again in Afghanistan, Kirk was required to sign a statement acknowledging he knew to avoid all political work.
The Pentagon [yesterday] offered details to support its assertion that Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk twice violated military policy by participating in political activities while on active duty — once in 2008 and once in 2009.
* Kirk’s campaign tried to change the subject today with a press release demanding that Alexi Giannoulias release his tax returns…
After two months of waiting for Alexi Giannoulias to file his 2009 individual tax return, the Kirk for Senate campaign today renewed its call for Giannoulias to end his “Blagojevich-style” stonewall tactics and disclose his financial information for the last calendar year.
* And the Giannoulias campaign held a presser this morning to unveil Giannoulias’ energy policy…
In advance of President Barack Obama’s address to the nation after his latest visit to the Gulf Coast, U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias and Director of the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club Jack Darin will participate in a conference call with reporters TODAY, June 15, at 9:30 AM CST. Giannoulias will discuss the importance of implementing safeguards to prevent spills like this from happening again, holding BP accountable, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and jumpstarting the clean energy economy of tomorrow.
* Related…
* Senate Race Rankings: Not So Fast, Democrats: 6. Illinois (D): Rep. Mark Kirk (R) has certainly been bruised from having embellished his military record. But will that sort of controversy have the same gravity and staying power in voters’ minds as Alexi Giannoulias’ problems with his family’s controversial bank? Dems need to find a catchy moniker for Kirk on par with Republicans’ “mob banker” for Giannoulias.
* Why in the World is Giannoulias Announcing Gay Benefits Now?: If Giannoulias has already established himself as the Straight Avenger in this race, why the need for a big show? Because he’s not just competing for the gay vote. He’s also competing for the anti-anti-gay vote: heterosexual, middle-of-the-road voters who have gay friends, gay neighbors or gay relatives. They may not share Giannoulias’s liberal economic views, but they appreciate politicians who treat gays as human beings.
* GOP Candidate: Politics In Treasurer’s Same Sex Benefit Order: The GOP state senator and candidate for Illinois treasurer says he supports the order, but wonders about the motivation behind it. Rutherford said he also wonders whether there are other initiatives from the Giannoulias office that are being launched or publicized to maximize their political benefit
* Desiree Rogers Dodges Reporters at Giannoulias Event: But when Rogers’ car pulled up to the event and she saw the NBC 5 camera, the driver kept rolling. Rogers apparently came and left thru the back door in the alley. One attendee told us Rogers didn’t know how to pronounce the name of Congressman Jan Schakowsky, one of the hosts for the event.
Ruben Delgado, who died Saturday, taught advanced placement Spanish at Morton East High School for the past three years and had been accepted into a master’s program in Spanish language at the Royal Academy of Languages in Salamanca, Spain, a spokeswoman for the senator said.
The move goes against a decades-long trend toward middle schools in which school districts have invested in the middle grades by adding enrichment courses, reducing class sizes and boosting planning time for teachers.
But budget issues are causing several Illinois districts to reconsider the middle years.
About $777.6 million in administrative costs could be saved by improving claims payment accuracy by 1 percentage point, the AMA estimates. Getting to 100% claims payment accuracy would save up to $15.5 billion, according to the AMA. Among other findings, the AMA reported that claim response time ranged from five to 13 days; and health plans improved in terms of disclosing policies and information to physicians through the Internet.
Lauren Sartain is one of the authors of the report. She says the pilot program helps principals do a better job of rating teachers because it clearly defines an unsatisfactory rating as “doing harm to students.”
Eight percent of teachers got at least one unsatisfactory rating — defined as doing academic harm to students — under the new system, piloted in 44 Chicago elementary schools. By comparison, just 0.4 percent of teachers in the same schools were deemed subpar when they were evaluated using the traditional checklist one year earlier, according to the report released Tuesday by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.
Goodwin’s “right thing” is a plan to open up the 450 acres of developable land at the DuPage National Technology Park to more than just technology-based firms.
To Schillerstrom, it’s the wrong thing. The county board chairman wants to remove the airport board from having any oversight of the tech park land and allow a tech park board to handle future land deals.
The county’s credit rating went from the A range to Aa2, the second highest rating available. That means its “obligations are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk,” Moody’s says.
This new rating was not easily earned, and the county still has an operating deficit of $2 million, which it is trying to whittle down by early retirement options and other measures. But the rating does mean that Moody’s considers the county’s $10 million reserve fund to be enough to ensure financial obligations to bond holders are met, says Scott Christiansen, County Board chairman.
* Eric Zorn recently predicted that Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers wouldn’t put up a defense. Instead, they’ll rest their case right after the prosecution does so, explaining that the feds hadn’t proved anything beyond a reasonable doubt. We’ll have to wait and see if Zorn is correct, but in the meantime the defense is saying that they could call Gov. Pat Quinn as a witness…
About 10 minutes before Blagojevich arrived, his lawyer Sheldon Sorosky held a quick pen-and-pad session with television reporters in which he threw out some names of potential witnesses. Among them, he mentioned the possibility of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn being called to the stand.
Keep in mind that the defense wants these witnesses (Rahm Emanuel, Dick Durbin, etc.) to testify that they saw Blagojevich do nothing illegal during their dealings with him. Wouldn’t it be a hoot to see Quinn testifying to that? Yikes.
* Quinn’s campaign, meanwhile, will protest Jeb Bush’s Wednesday fundraiser for Bill Brady. From a press release…
Bloomington– As former Florida Governor Jeb Bush visits Illinois to headline a fundraiser for Sen. Bill Brady’s gubernatorial campaign, Lt. Gov. Nominee Sheila Simon will host a rally to “Keep Bushonomics Out of Illinois” at 6:00 p.m.
This event will be free and open to the public, and will highlight the contrasts between the positive economic policies offered by the Democratic gubernatorial ticket, and the backwards, regressive policies proposed by Sen. Bill Brady, Republican nominee for governor.
The rally will be held in the Laborers Local 362 Hall, Bloomington, Illinois. It will also be sponsored by the McLean County Democratic Party.
Plummer drew attention recently when he was called out by Democrats for not releasing his tax records. He says he refuses to let the issue sidetrack his campaign.
“I get out there and I talk to people about the issues they care about,” he said. “I’m not going to allow (Illinois Gov.) Pat Quinn to really change the topic of conversation. When I get out there, people talk about jobs, talk about the economy, talk about education.
“They talk about a lot things but that’s not something they talk about, nor should it be.”
He’ll never get away from that question.
* Congressman Mark Kirk’s campaign has sent out a press release on the state’s bond rating downgrade…
“While many are focused on the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, Illinois families are focused on the state debt crisis right here in Illinois. Alexi Giannoulias stood by and watched as our state’s debt skyrocketed and our pension liabilities spiraled out of control. His failures at Broadway Bank cost the FDIC $394 million. His failures in Bright Start cost Illinois families more than $70 million. And now his failure to do his job as State Treasurer could cost our state even more. The recent downgrading of Illinois’ credit rating by Fitch and Moody’s should be a major wake-up call to the citizens of Illinois. We need fiscal leadership at the federal and state level to rescue our state and turn this economy around.”
I asked the campaign to explain just how Giannoulias’ “failure to do his job” resulted in the credit rating downgrade. I’ll let you know what they say.
“I think Mark Kirk has been brought down to earth by the revelations of some of his exaggerations”, said Durbin today speaking Mark Kirk’s Military record. While making sure to give him respect for the 21 years served, the Illinois senior senator stopped just short of calling Kirk a liar.
* Rock Island Co. Republicans host one-of-a-kind fundraiser: The first “Shot Heard ‘Round the State” sporting clays tournament took place at the Bi-State Sportsmen’s Association in Colona and included a raffle, awards dinner, and a “bragging rights” mixer. Around 65 shooters participated in the fundraiser that planners hoped would be one-of-a-kind and still have meaning for the participants.
* As I told subscribers last week, punishments have been meted out to Republican state Reps. Bill Black and Bob Biggins for their votes for the pension borrowing bill…
[Rep. Black] now goes from one of two deputy minority leader positions to one of six assistant Republican leader positions.
He said his salary will decline “by about $2,500 to $3,000 a month” and he no longer will be the Republican leader on the House floor. […]
Black said some Republicans were angry that he spoke on the House floor after Cross had spoken on behalf of the GOP caucus.
“The mistake I made, and that I feel badly about, is that I have a rule that I will never speak after the Republican leader will speak,” Black explained. “And I did that this time and that was a mistake on my part. As I told Tom (Cross), I don’t know whether I wasn’t focused on the fact that he had already spoken or what. I should have not done that and I apologized to him for that.
Just weeks after the House vote, Republican House leader Tom Cross of Oswego stripped Biggins of his title of minority spokesman for a House appropriations committee. That title came with a $10,327 pay boost, on top of salary and stipends given for committee assignments, of which every General Assembly member has at least one.
The Democratic party may not want Rod Blagojevich, but that doesn’t mean Democrats want the former governor to go to jail.
A Rasmussen poll released Sunday showed that party identity still does play a significant role in what Illinois voters think should happen to Blagojevich, currently on trial for corruption, including trying to sell President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. The poll found 68 percent of Republicans saying Blagojevich should be convicted and sent off to prison, compared to only 44 percent of Democrats. In a column on Sunday, the Chicago Tribune’s John Kass dismissed the notion of political identity having any impact on a juror “in a Combine state when public money is on the dinner table.”
In reality, the crosstabs (subscribers only) show that a 44-28 plurality of self-identified Democrats favor imprisoning Blagojevich. Either a majority or a plurality of all but three demographic groups favor imprisoning Blagojevich.
A 55-18 majority of African-Americans oppose imprisonment, as does a 36-31 plurality of those who make less than $20K per year. A tiny 45-44 plurality of those unsure of whether to repeal the national health insurance law is also opposed to imprisonment. Keep in mind that these small subgroups will have a very large margin of error, so there is a real danger of outliers and false results here.
Also, keep in mind that the poll was conducted June 7th, before Lon Monk’s damaging testimony began. Still, this is a big movement from a December, 2008 Rasmussen poll taken two days after he was arrested when 79 percent of likely voters said Blagojevich should go to jail, including 73 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of African-Americans and 69 percent of those making under $20K per year.
* Do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable impression of Rod Blagojevich?
5% Very favorable
8% Somewhat favorable
16% Somewhat unfavorable
69% Very unfavorable
2% Not sure
* How closely are you following news reports about former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s trial on federal corruption charges?
31% Very closely
38% Somewhat closely
7% Not very closely
8% Not at all
0% Not sure
* Should Blagojevich go to jail for his actions?
57% Yes
17% No
26% Not sure
Lon Monk is back on the stand saying he witnessed Rod Blagojevich grow upset when he learned the hospital wasn’t returning his brother’s phone calls soliciting campaign contributions.
“He wasn’t happy, he got up and said: ‘Screw these guys,’ and got on the phone,” Monk testified Blagojevich said in a meeting with him and Robert Blagojevich.
Monk said Rod Blagojevich then called the governor’s office and talked to an aide about the status of state funds for the hospital.
“Don’t do anything with it until I talk to you,” Monk said he overheard Rod Blagojevich say.
Monk told jurors this morning that it went down like this: Blagojevich wanted Johnston to raise $100,000 for Friends of Blagojevich in exchange for signing a bill that would extend cash payments to the horse-racing industry a windfall from Illinois’ nine casinos.
Monk, who also was a lobbyist for Johnston, testified he knew this illegal and wanted to get the contribution in hand as quickly as possible.
“I was trying to get the contribution as quickly as I could so there would be more time between the contribution and the signing of the bill,” Monk said.
Potential jurors waiting to be questioned in Rod Blagojevich’s case discussed the trial’s news coverage with each other last week, apparently flouting a judge’s order just days after they were told to stop reading or listening to such news, a former prospective juror told the Chicago Sun-Times.
But only one of the chosen jurors was in the room at the time, and she didn’t participate in the discussion.
Keep in mind while watching coverage of the Rod Blagojevich trial that reporters in the courtroom have a far keener understanding of what is going on than do the jurors. Their perceptions are not necessarily the same as the jurors’ views. So, their coverage may not match up to how the case will turn out.
For most of the jurors, this is their first time in a courtroom. Unlike most of the reporters at the trial, this experience is quite new to all but two of them who have served on juries before. And, unlike many of the reporters, they have limited knowledge of what the trial is about and the context of the charges.
Most of the jurors know little of Blagojevich and his administration except for their skimming of the local news and maybe seeing him a time or two on TV entertainment programs. One juror said she checks the news “only for the weather.”
If you’re reading this column, then you most likely have more interest in politics than the average citizen. So, to people like us, some of those jurors may seem ignorant and even clueless. But people like us aren’t “normal” citizens. We pay attention to politics closely because it’s in our blood.
Most people, like many of those jurors, live their lives almost totally divorced from day-to-day political machinations.
I’ve often tried to explain this political disconnect with my “Hockey Theory.” And it probably applies to the Blagojevich trial as well.
I never played hockey as a kid. I can barely skate on ice. I have a vague memory of us owning a couple of hockey sticks back in the day, but my brothers and I probably just used them to terrorize each other.
I’ve seen two hockey games in person. One of my earliest memories of television is of a Blackhawks game, but other than that I’ve only watched parts of a few games on TV. I’ve never watched a complete game.
I almost never read about hockey in the papers and don’t know the players, although I am familiar with some historical names.
I’m well aware that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup Final, and I know they have some great players, but I’m almost ashamed to say that I didn’t watch more than a few minutes of any of the playoff games and couldn’t tell you who the Blackhawks’ big names are if you put a gun to my head.
Two million people showed up in downtown Chicago to celebrate the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup, but I wasn’t one of them, and I am more amazed by the turnout than what was said and who was there.
Plain and simple, I’m just not a hockey fan. I suppose I have too many other things to occupy my time.
That’s pretty much the way most people (half of whom don’t even vote) view politics in this country. And it’s probably somewhere around the same level of knowledge that many, if not most, of Blagojevich’s jurors have about his alleged crimes and misgovernance.
So while many of us can list many of the reasons why Blagojevich is guilty as sin (just as Blackhawks fans can tell you in detail how their team won the big trophy), many of his jurors are pretty much in the dark at the moment.
It’s not just ignorance that makes them different. If they didn’t know that Blagojevich’s friend, Chris Kelly, committed suicide rather than testify against his buddy, they won’t learn it at the trial, either. The same sort of thing goes for convicted felon Stu Levine. There will be no mention of Levine’s excessive drug use and heavy partying at the trial.
Combine all that with the decree that jurors must always keep an open mind and the result is they will almost undoubtedly see things differently than will the reporters who are covering the trial and the people who are following that coverage.
Jurors often see things in a way that “insiders” don’t, and they make judgments on things that get past some of us. George Ryan’s corruption trial produced countless banner headlines, but some of Ryan’s jurors said there was no single “smoking gun” that did Ryan in. Rather it was the overwhelming amount of evidence produced by the prosecution that sealed the former governor’s fate.
The rating downgrade, to ‘A’ from ‘A+’, reflects the continuing unwillingness of the state of Illinois to take action to address its significant budgetary problems. The recently enacted FY 2011 budget does not begin to address the current operating gap, relying almost entirely on various forms of deficit financing to close the gap. The state is facing a growing budget deficit, very high accounts payables, and a significant structural gap for which solutions have been difficult to identify and implement.
Illinois entered this economic cycle with little financial flexibility to handle a downturn. It came out of the last recession relatively late and did not take actions to build its reserves or restructure its finances as its economy and the national economy grew over the five years leading into this recession. While the extent of the current fiscal problem was clear midway through FY 2009 as revenue estimates were downsized, comprehensive solutions have been repeatedly delayed. Faced with reduced revenues and an aversion to broad based tax increases, the FY 2010 enacted budget relied heavily on non-recurring revenues, particularly the use of debt to finance current operations. Declining revenues and an inability to achieve enacted budget solutions contributed to a $2 billion gap (7% of general fund resources) opening in the FY 2010 budget, for which no solutions were proposed other than to delay payments to vendors and schools districts and other entities that rely on state payments. Taking into account the pension payment that was effectively covered by a $3.5 billion GO issuance rather than general fund resources, the budgetary deficit has grown to almost $6 billion, 22% of general fund resources. The cumulative deficit, reflecting the pension borrowing but including the carryover of $3.7 billion in prior year deficits, is now projected to be $6.1 billion, or 19% of general fund resources.
Fitch indicated in December 2009 and in March 2010 that future rating action would be taken if the state did not address its operating deficit, its growing structural deficit, and its accumulated liabilities in a comprehensive way in the context of its FY 2011 budget. The enacted budget continues to push solutions out to the future; budgetary balance will continue to rely on sizeable borrowing, and those reliant on state payments will continue to have long waits to be paid. While the enacted budget for FY 2011 does include $1 billion in spending cuts, it leaves a $5.9 billion funding gap (21.3% of FY 2011 expected revenues) that is expected to be closed by issuing bonds, interfund transfers, and securitization of tobacco settlement revenues, and carries over $6 billion in accounts payable through another fiscal year.
Yields on some Illinois bonds on Friday rose above those of California, the poster child for local financial problems. The state’s 10-year bonds were quoted at 4.20 per cent while California’s 10-year bonds were quoted at 3.95 per cent, according to one trading desk.
“The market is growing more careful about Illinois,” said Matt Fabian, managing director at Municipal Market Advisors. “Higher yields are one of the costs of a poorly balanced budget.”
“Something significant needs to happen on either side of the budget – either cutting spending or raising revenues,” said Karen Krop of Fitch. “Now they are relying on deficit borrowing.”
Ms Krop said Illinois has budgeted to raise more than $8bn with bonds in the current and next fiscal years. “There doesn’t seem to be an endgame,” she said.
- Eight U.S. states, including California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois, risk lower credit ratings because they lack completed budgets less than three weeks before the start of their new fiscal years.
A ninth, New York, has operated without one since its year started April 1. All are gripped by political stalemates over how to cope with a collapse in tax revenue that included a $67 billion decline in the 12 months ended June 30, 2009, according to the Census Bureau. The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government called that the biggest on record.
* Two maps. The first is state budget gaps. Click the pic for more info, but the redder the state, the higher the gap…
The bluer the state, the higher the revenue shortage…
* Related…
* Big State, Big Cuts, Little Room: As the new head of the Illinois Department of Human Services, Michelle R.B. Saddler knew she would confront tough choices in preparing a budget that juggled rising needs for services with tumbling state revenue. But she wasn’t prepared for the long list of mandates and governor’s priorities that tied her hands. She wasn’t supposed to eliminate services required by law or court order. She was to spare Medicaid-eligible services and food-stamp benefits. And she couldn’t jeopardize residents’ safety or well-being. “What’s left?” she said.
*** UPDATE *** Note to the Giannoulias campaign: If you’re gonna use a surrogate, make sure the surrogate knows what she’s talking about. From a press release…
The negative campaign being waged against my 21 years of service in the United States Navy Reserve turned from dirty to ridiculous. Yesterday, WFLD allowed a partisan surrogate for Alexi Giannoulias to make ludicrous accusations without challenge or correction.
According to Giannoulias’ surrogate State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora), I should “apologize to all the veterans especially the veterans during the Vietnam era because that’s when he supposedly served.” I was 13 years old when the Vietnam Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973.
Rep. Chapa LaVia was on a roll. She also said “allegations are starting to come out where he falsified that he served in Iraq and Afghanistan too.” I served over Iraq as part of Operation Northern Watch in 2000 and twice served in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
* The Tribune completely ignored the uproar last week over the Department of Defense memo that expressed concerns about Congressman Mark Kirk’s partisan political activities during two tours of active duty. Instead, the paper assigned two reporters to work on a story about semantics…
When Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk says he repeatedly deployed to Afghanistan with the Navy, he’s referring to two-week training missions as part of his annual reservist requirements.
After acknowledging a series of misstatements that embellished his Navy service, Kirk is being challenged over his use of the military term “deployment,” and this could be yet another opportunity for critics to parse his words in what has recently become a resume-bashing battle with Democratic Senate opponent Alexi Giannoulias.
Deployment can mean more than one thing in the military, but it is often used to describe service members going off to war for an extended time.
(DOD) 1. In naval usage, the change from a cruising approach or contact disposition to a disposition for battle.
(DOD) 2. The movement of forces within operational areas.
(DOD) 3. The positioning of forces into a formation for battle.
(DOD) 4. The relocation of forces and materiel to desired operational areas. Deployment encompasses all activities from origin or home station through destination, specifically including intra-continental United States, intertheater, and intratheater movement legs, staging, and holding areas. See also deployment order; deployment planning; prepare to deploy order.
Item “4″ appears to support Kirk’s claim that he used the proper term. The Kirk campaign reportedly sent that definition to the Tribune, but it’s not mentioned anywhere in the article.
U.S. Rep. Phil Hare’s use of the word “veteran” to describe his military service has angered some local military veterans who say he’s improperly taking on the title.
However, a survey of advocacy groups, lawyers and government officials shows that there’s no standard definition of the word.
In fact, while Hare’s service doesn’t appear to meet the basic legal definition of “veteran” used by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of receiving benefits, some of the largest veterans organizations in the country say he’s properly using the word when referring to his own service.
Hare served in the Army Reserves during the Vietnam War. He was recently confronted by two supporters of his Republican opponent Bobby Schilling who said he shouldn’t be using that term in one portion of his biography. Schilling at one point claimed on his website that Hare “presumably” joined the reserves to get out of serving in battle, but Hare objected and the passage was removed.
Mark Kirk claims that he is a “21-year Navy veteran” on his own website. But despite the fact that Kirk actually serves in the Naval Reserves, nobody has challenged him on that topic.
The wars between Mexico’s drug cartels are closer than you think, Senate candidate Mark Kirk says.
“The West Coast [of Mexico] Sinaloa Cartel has been attacking the East Coast Juarez Cartel. We should feel somewhat concerned about this because the Juarez Cartel is our guys — they control the drug trade in Chicago,” Kirk says, only half-joking, to audiences on the campaign trail.
Alexi Giannoulias’ prescription for solving the drug problem was the same old, same old…
“The U.S. must do more to curtail the growing threat posed by Mexican drug cartels. I have recommended a two-pronged approach. First, we must embrace a policy that not only strengthens our borders, but also reduces American demand for these drugs through prevention and treatment. Second, we must strengthen our gun control enforcement to ensure that American weapons don’t get into the hands of Mexican criminals. Ninety percent of assault weapons in the hands of drug traffickers in Mexico come from the U.S. Just as Mexico must help to stop the flow of drugs from south to north, we must curb gun flows from north to south.”
Legalization would wipe out the cartels, but nobody ever wants to mention that.
The highest-paid elected-official-turned-lobbyist, according to the Sun-Times/BGA survey, is Lipinski, who as a congressman was the powerful longtime chairman of the House Transportation Committee. He has lucrative contracts with the CTA and Metra.
The Carmen Group has made millions representing Metra and the water reclamation district — two of Chicago’s largest government agencies — for more than 25 years.
The water reclamation district — Cook County’s sewage-treatment agency — pays the firm as much as $645 an hour, under a $657,000 no-bid contract, to help it obtain continuing federal funding for the ongoing Deep Tunnel flood-control project.
And Metra, the city and suburban commuter rail agency, paid the Carmen Group $712,500 last year. That was under a contract that was renegotiated three months ago, cutting the lobbying tab to $500,000 this year.
U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Peoria has introduced legislation for a study on a Pike County site that was the first town planned and founded by an African-American. U.S. Sen. Roland Burris proposed similar legislation earlier this year.
As Mr. Daley, 68, prepares a presumed run for an unprecedented seventh term, economic data examined by Crain’s show his success over the past 21 years in remaking Chicago’s business center and nearby neighborhoods into a “global city,” where incomes and education levels are high and amenities are world-class.
But big parts of Chicago have been left behind.
And the city is stuck with the debts Mr. Daley has piled up on infrastructure-rebuilding and gentrification, including the cost of projects such as the Olympics bid, Millennium Park, theater districts, median planters — not to mention underfinanced city pensions and the tax-increment financing subsidies doled out to downtown developers.
…
Bonded debt and long-term leases have risen much faster than the city’s property-tax base under Mr. Daley and now amount to about $5,600 for each Chicagoan. Then there’s billions in unfunded pension liabilities — another $5,000 per Chicagoan — and one of the deepest municipal budget holes in the country.
CPS revealed its latest plans on how to confront its record deficit within hours of teachers concluding their vote on whether Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart or challenger Karen Lewis, a King College Prep teacher, should lead them through tough times ahead. Election results are expected early today.
The draw? The former Motorola building in Harvard, now known as the Midwest Corporate Campus. Officials from the city of Harvard, the McHenry County Economic Development Corp., the County Board, and state and federal lawmakers have collaborated to pitch the 1.6 million-square-foot facility as the new corporate headquarters for Navistar.
* SouthtownStar: Oak Lawn fees demonstrate a bigger problem
Existing service in Bloomington-Normal is just one of the factors that could influence the possibility of Peoria rail service. Others include the fact that Illinois recently received over $1 billion in federal funds to upgrade Amtrak service between Chicago and St. Louis and that other Illinois communities - most recently the Quad Cities - are already on track to restore rail service.
…
Rail service, of course, is something that used to work in Peoria, once the fourth largest regional hub in the country. Peoria used to be served by 15 different passenger railroads that accounted for 70,000 miles of track. But the city has been off-track since 1981, after Amtrak’s short-lived Prairie Marksman experiment failed to deliver passengers on service between East Peoria and Chicago.
A judge ruled Thursday that DeWitt County has too much money on hand and had levied some property taxes improperly, and county officials are trying to figure out how that will affect pending tax bills.
In a lawsuit filed by a citizens group challenging the county’s tax practices, Douglas County Judge Michael Carroll ruled that the county violated a 1969 Illinois Supreme Court ruling that prohibited counties from holding excessive reserves without plans for spending the money.
The six-month terms of The State Journal-Register editorial board’s three community guest members are about to expire. This week we will begin the process of naming their successors.
Southern Illinois officials claim a possible Cape Girardeau casino could have an impact on the region’s sole casino, Harrah’s Metropolis Hotel and Casino.
“It’s pretty darn close from what I’ve been reading about the location. It will definitely draw other communities,” said Metropolis Mayor Billy McDaniel.
Edna Stewart’s legendary soul food restaurant on Chicago’s West Side served as a meeting place for leaders of the civil rights movement during the 1960s.
Among her patrons were the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an aide, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who came to eat for free while they organized for equal rights. King and his colleagues also held meetings in the eatery to launch a campaign to end housing discrimination.
* We had a great start to the weekend this afternoon when the White Sox trounced the Flubs at Ricketts Park, 10-5. Let’s hope the rest of the weekend is as entertaining.
A new candidate is planning to enter the wild race for the U.S. Senate, and he might make a difference if he spends the $1 million of his own money that he’s promising.
Mike Niecestro, a west suburban mortgage broker with little political past, describes himself as “a disgusted Republican” who’s unhappy with the two major-party nominees in the contest: Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and, in particular, North Shore congressman Mark Kirk, the GOP nominee.
M. Niecestro claims he already has roughly the 25,000 signatures he’ll need to get on the ballot as an independent, and plans to double that by the June 21 deadline.
Perhaps even more important, he says the $1 million is ready and that he’s already raised $100,000.
Subscribers know about another possible candidate as well who might balance out whatever impact Niecestro has on Kirk. Here is Niecestro’s website, so you can take a look for yourself.
On May 1st, Niecestro plans to inventory his signatures and then hire professional signature gatherers to complete his petitions. He expects to spend $30-40,000 on this. He has $1 million of personal wealth he has set aside for this campaign.
Niecestro says his supporters mostly come from people he’s met in his 29 year career as a mortgage banker. He says in those 29 years he’s helped 7,000 families. He has a database of 700 supporters.
Niecestro describes himself as a lifelong Republican who has become disillusioned in the last ten years.
Niecestro said NAFTA was the worst thing that has happened to the United States because of the loss of jobs.
Niecestro has set a contribution limit of $500 per individual.
…Adding… In case you’re wondering…
QUINN FOR ILLINOIS PUBLIC SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY, JUNE 12 AND SUNDAY, JUNE 13
At 10 a.m., Saturday, June 12, Governor Quinn will speak at the Oak Park Democratic Party Membership Meeting at Unity Temple, 875 Lake St., Oak Park.
At 1:30 p.m., Saturday, June 12, Lt. Gov. Nominee Sheila Simon will attend the Metropolis Annual Superman Days Celebration, Market St., between 6th and 10th Sts., Metropolis.
At 6:30 p.m., Saturday June 12, Lt. Gov. Nominee Sheila Simon will attend the Shawneetown Bicentennial Parade, Lincoln Blvd., Shawneetown.
At 5 p.m., Governor Quinn will speak at the Democratic Party of Evanston Annual Meeting at Beth Emet Synagogue, 1224 Dempster, Evanston.
I’d like to see Brady do this, too, as well as Giannoulias and Kirk.
Diane Sajdak wanted to have a discussion with Quinn about the impact of [state budget cuts on schools] but got upset when the governor prepared to leave.
“You’re going to blow us off and run to a Hawks game and not discuss the issue at hand,” Sajdak said.
Quinn seemed taken aback by the accusation. “Woah, woah, woah, woah,” he replied.
The well-regarded North Suburban Library System, which links local libraries into a large group, pretty much shut down at the end of May because the state didn’t make its payments. Now, another of Illinois’ multi-library systems has reached its last chapter.
The Metropolitan Library System, which links libraries in Chicago and suburban Cook, DuPage and Will counties, is suspending many services effective June 30. Plans call for ending consulting and continuing education and maintaining only a skeleton staff for back office operations.
The state’s regional library networks are going out of business not because the Legislature voted in favor of that but because the state just isn’t sending along the money it has appropriated.
The agriculture department sought bids starting in late April for a vendor to operate harness racing at both Springfield and DuQuoin for the 2010-12 fairs. It got no response, including from Balmoral Park and Maywood, the Chicago-area tracks that have run the races for the past several years.
Jack Kelly, a director at the tracks, said a big problem was that horse owners still hadn’t been paid their winnings from the 2009 state fair.
Nearly a year after Gov. Pat Quinn signed the state’s capital plan, little of the local work it will pay for has started.
Agencies expecting thousands — in some cases, millions — of dollars each for building projects and other improvements are either fronting their own money to get started or, more commonly, putting off the work indefinitely.
The delay has effectively ruined what should have been a busy summer of capital projects, said Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford.
“Unfortunately, we are still really awaiting the release of projects that have been approved and have been already bonded for,” he said. “We don’t need all of it done, but with the economy the way it is, we ought to be releasing money for projects that are construction-ready so people can go to work right away.”
Syverson estimates the state has already issued $2.9 billion in bonds, but has only released $600 million.
“They’re sitting on $2.3 billion in the bank that we’re paying interest on that could be released,” he said.
Fairgoers looking for a cold Pepsi to wash down that corn dog will be out of luck at this years Illinois State Fair. Fair officials have reached an agreement with Coca-Cola Enterprises for Coke products to be the official soda of the August event in Springfield.
Coke, promising the state $10,000 up front and a percentage of all sales, beat Pepsi in the bidding. Pepsi had the fair contract last year, and Coke’s new deal could last as long as three years. […]
The deal means that even independent vendors have to sell Coke products, including the company’s bottled water, at the fair. No Pepsi products will be allowed.
* The Question: Is $10,000 and a cut of the sales enough to justify this exclusive contract for a soft drink company? Explain.
* On Wednesday, I told you about the Kankakee County Board Chairman’s shameful refusal to ask the governor to put Pembroke Township and Hopkins Park on the disaster area list after the big tornadoes hit.
Well, yesterday, Gov. Quinn unilaterally declared all of Kankakee County a disaster area.
Thanks, governor. Good job.
However, it would be nice if Gov. Quinn went out there himself and saw what a mess Pembroke and Hopkins Park are. He should see the houses with dirt floors, and experience the local misery first hand. That’s the only real way to begin to understand how horrific their situation is.
When B.J. Howery was hired as the superintendent of Pembroke Community Consolidated School District 259 in 2002, the goal set by the Pembroke school board and the Illinois Board of Education was simple, in theory — get the district off the state watchlist.
In practice, however, that was easier said than done.
Now, eight years later, Pembroke is the little school district that could. The ISBE this year designated Lorenzo R. Smith Elementary School, the district’s single school, as one of the state’s 975 “Honor Roll” schools for maintaining academic excellence. It has also been named a “Spotlight School” for beating the odds overcoming a high-poverty rate to achieve that designation, and has been recognized for a program to foster more parent involvement.
“Now for us to be a spotlight school, and now a 2009 Honor Roll School, to see the children excel at math… It is the work of the teachers, the administrators, the parents and the students,” said Howery, sharing credit for the accomplishment.
Pembroke and Hopkins Park aren’t hopeless causes. But they do need a big hand up.
Area churches and charities are doing quite a bit, but there’s only so much they can accomplish. Legislators have tried over the years, but have often run into brick walls, particularly from county officials and (lately) the county school board, which refuses to give up control of an old, abandoned school building so it could be used as a warming/cooling/safety shelter, among other things. Blagojevich was little to no help. Quinn hasn’t really put the place on his radar.
I’m 48 years old and I’ve been hearing about the problems out there my whole life. I’m really getting tired of this. Who will finally step up?
* The allegation yesterday at Rod Blagojevich’s trial that then-Senate President Emil Jones agreed to kill an ethics bill in exchange for an appointment to the US Senate doesn’t really surprise me. It sickens me, but it doesn’t surprise me, considering how I’ve watched both of those guys pretty closely over the years.
Blagojevich wanted the ethics bill killed because it was specifically designed to dry up his campaign cash. The bill prohibited anyone with a state contract over a certain size to contribute to the statewide official who was responsible for the contract. Blagojevich’s fundraising machine focused heavily on contractors, including (but definitely not limited to) road contractors. So, Blagojevich used his amendatory veto to rewrite the bill to include contribution bans to legislators as well. That’s when the Jones deal went down…
“Emil Jones agreed not to call a vote if Rod named him to Obama’s Senate seat,” Monk said.
The agreement fell through when Obama called Jones personally and asked him to call the bill to a vote, so it wouldn’t negatively impact Obama’s campaign in 2008, Monk said he learned.
After Obama asked, Jones decided to call a vote on the bill, which would make it illegal for individuals or companies getting state business to make donations, Monk recalled. He said the Blagojevich camp believed Jones had reneged on the deal.
The House voted to override Blagojevich’s veto of the bill 110 to 3, and the Senate eventually voted 55 to 0 to do the same.
If it hadn’t been for Barack Obama, we could’ve had Emil Jones as our Senator. You think Roland Burris’ appointment caused an explosion? If Jones got the seat, the resulting explosion would’ve been thermonuclear because the media would’ve taken it right back to the President-elect, rightly or wrongly. Jones, remember, was often described as Obama’s “political godfather.” The mess would’ve been enormous.
* Speaking of legislative leaders, I don’t think anyone else has covered this aspect of how Stu Levine got introduced to Rod Blagojevich. One of the people who recommended him was House GOP Leader Tom Cross, according to testimony yesterday…
The prosecution asked Monk about Stuart Levine. He said Rezko introduced him to Levine at Rezko’s office and recommend Levine be appointed to two boards: TRS and the Illinois Health Facility Planning Board, which decides where and when hospitals can be built.
Monk said Levine was not the only person Rezko recommended be appointed to the facilities board, and Monk passed on all the recommendations to Blagojevich. Blagojevich wanted to appoint Levine because Levine was a big Republican, and would show Blagojevich was above party politics. Levine had received an honor from a foreign country, was also recommended by State Rep. Tom Cross and Kelly and seemed smart and reputable enough that Blagojevich followed through on Rezko’s recommendation.
Monk says Rezko wanted Levine appointed to TRS quickly because of an issue that Rezko was interested in.
* Back to the fundraising. After Barack Obama called Emil Jones and the Senate overrode the governor’s amendatory veto of the ethics bill, Blagojevich had until December 31st, 2008 to raise as much money as he could from state contractors. It didn’t go well, though, and the governor started to freak out…
The voices of the Blagojevich brothers are filling the courtroom for the first time as secret FBI recordings are played with Lon Monk on the stand.
Jurors can hear an animated and irritated Rod Blagojevich who is pushing his brother hard to get to $4 million.
Rod Blagojevich is snapping at his brother, telling him to keep hitting people up.
“In terms of having money in the bank, it’s going to be close,” Rod says. “We’ve got to somehow get there…get to that $4 million.”
Rod tells Rob to keep calling people and ask: “Can you send us $5,000, can you find us whatever, follow me?”
Rod tells his brother on the recording to hit up anyone and everyone: the Pritzkers, Sam Zell, Blair Hull.
* As we know by now, Blagojevich also tried to tie a $5 billion Tollway construction program to a $500,000 campaign contribution…
Monk said in the fall of 2008, the then-governor hoped the tollway plan would “incentivize” Krozel to make a large contribution before a new ethics law banning such donations went into effect at the end of that year, Monk said.
“We need to get $500,000 from him,” Monk recalled Blagojevich saying.
Monk said Blagojevich regularly asked about the matter, and Monk checked in with Krozel but didn’t specifically ask for $500,000 because he “didn’t feel like it” and didn’t think it was reasonable in a down economy.
Blagojevich announced a $1.8 billion tollway plan that fall but held off on an even bigger expenditure because he thought Krozel should be able to bring in money from members of his group, Monk told the jury.
Here’s one reason why the contributions never arrived…
As Monk checked up on progress, [contractor Jerry Krozel] said he hit a snag.
“I’m not going to be able to raise money from my members right now because they had been served subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Monk said.
Lon Monk testified about a deal Blagojevich claimed he had made with former state Rep. Kurt Granberg to name him director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in exchange for the balance of the Democratic lawmaker’s campaign fund.
“If he was going to retire,” Monk said of Granberg. “We [decided we] should check on the amount of money in his campaign fund, because he doesn’t need that anymore if he is going to come for state, and we should check his cash balance and ask him for it.”
Granberg never paid Blagojevich’s campaign, even though Blagojevich held up the appointment until almost the very last minute of his governorship.
The tapes and another full day of admissions from Monk revealed the full extent of Blagojevich’s money-raising obsession. He knew everything - who was giving how much and when, and he would sulk and pout when donors held off.
So much for Blagojevich beating Count 24, a “making false statements” charge based on a 2005 interview Blagojevich gave to federal investigators. During it, he claimed a “firewall” existed between the campaign and government sides of his administration to ensure there was no conflict. One side had no idea what the other was doing.
But based on Monk’s testimony, the only firewall that existed apparently was lodged in Blagojevich’s brain, blocking the truth from exiting his mouth.
Monk said Rezko didn’t seem to be interested in what work Patti Blagojevich did for his company. All he cared about was “that he hire Patti and she do something and he be able to pay her a salary,” he told jurors.
It was preferred that Patti Blagojevich be placed on a retainer, as opposed to being paid by commission, which would require the actual sale of property for her to be compensated, Monk said.
In a conversation with a lawyer then representing Blagojevich and his wife, Monk said, it was made clear that Patti Blagojevich would actually have to at least show up at Rezko’s firm on a regular basis. That presented a dilemma, Monk said. “She was not only the governor’s wife and had certain duties there, (but) she was a stay-at-home mom for two little girls,” Monk said.
Prosecutors contend Patti Blagojevich did no work for approximately $150,000 from Rezko, while the former governor’s criminal-defense lawyers have argued she earned the money for her real-estate work.
* The outlook for the Illinois US Senate race by Chris Cilliza at the Washington Post…
Combine Kirk’s problems and those of Giannoulias, which are still significant and majorly problematic even though they haven’t gotten much attention of late, and you have a recipe for what we believe will be the nastiest Senate race in the country this fall.
* Meanwhile, Lynn Sweet followed up on Congressman Mark Kirk’s claims that the White House was involved with leaking the Department of Defense memo which raised concerns about Kirk’s “partisan political activities during his last two tours of active duty.” You’ll recall that this was the heart of the Kirk campaign’s response…
“This raises grave concerns and questions about who gained access to Kirk’s confidential records. The document in question should be viewed for what it is — a baseless political ploy by partisans bent on defending a U.S. Senate seat at any cost.”
With no evidence, the Illinois GOP Senate campaign of Rep. Mark Kirk accused the Obama White House of leaking information about Kirk’s military record, a charge White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Thursday is not true.
“Obviously, Congressman Kirk has some problems that are of his creation and he can’t download them on us,” Axelrod told me. “I assure you that everyone here has plenty to do. No one is trafficking in revelatory records about him.” […]
On Thursday, I asked the Kirk campaign if they had any more information to back up their leak accusation — in the wake of the White House denial and Welch saying the leak came from inside the Kirk operation.
The statement sent over from Kirk’s operation did not address the leak controversy. Here it is: Said Kukowski, “Congressman Kirk has served honorably for 21 years as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer.
“The Fitness Report from his service in Afghanistan is documented proof that the congressman not only did nothing wrong — he performed exceptionally in service to our country. In the end, Alexi Giannoulias cannot distract voters from his calls to raise taxes, increase spending and continue the failed policies that led our state into economic ruin.”
Not exactly a response.
And what about that initial claim by the Kirk campaign? First, they expressed “grave concerns” about who gained access to the congressman’s records and seemed0 to blame the White House. From Terry Welch, who broke the story…
The memo was sent to me from someone who received it from inside Kirk’s own camp. Suggesting it came from administration officials or political operatives is baseless. I have backed up every single statement I’ve made about Mark Kirk, but he has chosen to respond to substantive and substantiated claims I have made with unsupported accusations. […]
If Kirk’s campaign wants to accuse me of colluding with someone in his opponent’s campaign or in the administration, he better bring some proof. The truth is Kirk has a leaky campaign.
“The document in question should be viewed for what it is — a baseless political ploy by partisans bent on defending a U.S. Senate seat at any cost.”
That’s some pretty bold talk about an official memo issued by Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Gail McGinn. If you check McGinn’s bio, she started at the Department of Defense in 1988, under a GOP administration. She rose to her current position in 2002, also under a Republican administration, and has a long list of government service awards.
My own opinion is that the Kirk campaign tried to piggyback on the national kerfuffle over the White House allegedly offering jobs or slots to Democrats to keep them out of primaries. It hasn’t worked at all, and probably will only backfire, which may be why the Kirk campaign backed off when pressed by Lynn Sweet. Kirk’s initial reaction was just way too far over the top and couldn’t be sustained.
Someone has jerked the “Kirk For Senate” sign from the window of the Lincoln Square campaign headquarters of Adam Brown. […]
Even though City Councilman Brown, who is running for state representative against incumbent Democrat Bob Flider, is the high profile candidate being promoted at the office, a few Republicans are quick to remind everyone within earshot that it is the Republican headquarters, and not just Brown’s headquarters.
Now, about that sign. Who took it out of the window is not exactly known, but the Macon County’s Republican Party head honcho, Jerry Stocks, is said to be upset with Congressman Mark Kirk’s “misstatements” about his military service. The “misstatements” have soured a lot of Republicans on Kirk’s candidacy to replace Senator Roland Burris in the November election, and left them wondering what the difference is between a “misstatement” and a “lie”.
Yikes. This scandal not only hurts Kirk with the media, but it also goes right to his base. Not good at all.
Back when I knew him, Rod Blagojevich loved to play Lifeboat.
You probably played the game when you were a kid, but Blagojevich seemed to get particular enjoyment out of it when he was governor.
In case you aren’t familiar with the rules, the game went like this: Suppose you are in a lifeboat and you have room for only one other person, but two people are in the water and almost drowning. Which one would you save?
The first time we played Lifeboat was after we talked at length one day about his long, brutal legislative war with House Speaker Michael Madigan and his disgust with Attorney General Lisa Madigan for launching a corruption probe against him. I eventually tossed a question out about which of the two Blagojevich hated more.
“Do you mean, if they were both in the water and I was on a lifeboat and only had room for one which one would I save and which would I let die?” Blagojevich asked.
I thought his question was a tad bit on the extreme side, not to mention juvenile, but I went with it.
After a long pause he said, “I’d probably save the old man,” meaning the speaker. Blagojevich explained that as much as the two had fought, he admired the way the “old man” had raised his son Andrew, who, indeed, has grown up quite well.
Another day, we were talking about the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had just held a press conference in opposition to Blagojevich’s doomed gross receipts tax on business. Blagojevich told a reporter that Jackson was just shilling for his financial backers. I thought it was ironic at the time, and it’s even more so now.
The conversation led to a long diatribe about Jackson’s son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Back when he was still a congressman, Blagojevich had gone out of his way to befriend Congressman Jackson.
The ultimate goal, Blagojevich explained, was to secure Congressman Jackson’s endorsement when he ran for governor. Blagojevich said he actually did lock down that endorsement. But then Roland Burris jumped into the race, and Jackson backed away. Jackson hemmed and hawed and hinted at a large campaign contribution, Blagojevich confided, then ultimately broke his pledge.
Blagojevich felt betrayed. And when we played Lifeboat on the two men, he couldn’t decide and joked that he’d probably let both of them drown.
And now, it’s Rod Blagojevich’s turn in the water. And nobody’s throwing him a lifeline.
One of his best friends in the world, Lon Monk, has spent the week testifying against Blagojevich during his corruption trial. The only other great friend Blagojevich had, Chris Kelly, killed himself right before his last chance to make his own choice.
Except for his wife, all of Blagojevich’s defense witnesses that we know of so far are being compelled to testify via subpoena, including Rep. Jackson. Almost everyone else who ever had any contact with him has lined up with the prosecution.
No matter how many times Blagojevich played Lifeboat, it apparently never occurred to him that he should live his life in a way that somebody would throw him a line if the going ever got rough. Rod was always about Rod. Even when he was helping somebody else, it was all about him, and he always made sure you knew it.
And now, all the lifeboats, full or not, have drifted away, while he furiously dogpaddles and ponders his end amidst the whitecaps, probably wondering why nobody feels even a little guilty for letting him drown alone.
I’ll have a full recap of the Blagojevich trial in a bit, but I wanted this one to stand alone. Thoughts?
Navistar International Corp. leaders will meet Monday with state and local officials to discuss options that could persuade the engine manufacturer to renew plans to move its headquarters to Lisle, officials said Thursday.
The talks will come two weeks after Warrenville-based Navistar decided to scrap plans to move to the former Alcatel-Lucent site in Lisle, saying local opposition to the project was “jeopardizing our image.”
In recent days, state officials have stepped up their efforts to prevent Navistar from moving out of Illinois and taking thousands of jobs and millions of dollars with it. Navistar officials previously said they were also exploring headquarters locations in Alabama, Texas and South Carolina.
Hargrove is caught in the middle. Below her is a foreclosed property and above her is a unit whose owner has stopped paying assessments. Like a lot of condo owners in Rogers Park, she has paid her mortgage and assessments on time, but has been forced to foot the heat, water and other maintenance bills for the building….Rogers Park had nearly twice the city’s average concentration of foreclosures with 410 in 2009, according to the National People’s Action report, and is on track to surpass that number in 2010. According to RealtyTrac, there were 209 foreclosures in Rogers Park through the first four months of this year.
Amid opposition from the Chicago Teachers Union, Mayor Daley today unveiled a dramatic expansion in so-called “virtual summer school,” bankrolled by $940,000 in federal stimulus funds.
It will allow the Chicago Public Schools to serve an unlimited number of students — some working from home, libraries or parent’s office — at a fraction of the cost.
Some board members questioned if they should be the ones picking the new general manager since legislation awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature would force their resignation by the end of the year.
The city of Springfield put documents online that contained such sensitive information as people’s Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, home and work telephone numbers — even a bank account number and the name of someone who called the state anonymously to report suspected child abuse.
The documents were posted on the city’s website in response to Freedom of Information Act requests as part of an initiative to make public information available to anyone with a computer. But personal information, such as home phone numbers, Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, are exempt from disclosure under state law.
