* 1:35 pm - I have to be on the road soon, so I won’t be able to blog this afternoon. Please help out by updating the trial’s developments in comments. Use the links in the upper right corner of the page, plus any others you’ve grown to rely on. Thanks much. You’re the best.
Here’s the latest dispatch from the Sun-Times Blago Blog, which really ought to win some sort of national award for its trial coverage…
Sam Adam Jr. leaps back into his closing argument. The topic? The ex-governor’s $400,000 wardrobe.
Jurors learned a few weeks ago that Rod Blagojevich spent $400,000 on clothes during his six years in the governor’s seat — largely on custom suits and pricey ties.
“You know why he spent $400,000 on suits in six years?” Adam says. “Because he’s a politician. A CEO for the state of Illinois. He’s on the front page of the paper every day. They have media every day. You gotta look the part.”
“Why did Sarah Palin spend $150,000 on her wardrobe?” he says. “Now she’s getting $150,000 for a speech.”
“He’s broke, man, BROKE! When I say broke, I mean BROKE!”
Adam brings up that Blagojevich paid $500,000 in federal taxes while he was governor. That was really his No. 1 expenditure during those years — a fact the government failed to tell the jury, Adam says.
* David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, did a conference call with reporters this morning. From the Post-Dispatch…
[Plouffe] fielded some tough questions about Giannoulias’ own problems (the Illinois Republican Party helpfully emailed a suggested list to reporters just before the conference call), including his bank’s failure and its alleged ties to organized crime.
I’ve seen more of these “helpful” e-mailed questions this year than ever before. The other side will typically send out the usually loaded questions right before an opponent’s media event. Here is the one the Illinois Republican Party sent out earlier today…
This morning, David Plouffe will host a conference call with reporters to discuss the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. We have a few key questions for Mr. Plouffe:
1) Are you concerned about Alexi Giannoulias’ reported loans to mobsters and questionable relationships?
2) Are you concerned that Alexi Giannoulias’ loss of $73 million in college savings could become a major liability in the fall campaign?
3) Are you worried about new reports of criminals or mobsters tied to Alexi Giannoulias emerging between now and Election Day?
4) Are you concerned that Mark Kirk holds a 4-1 cash-on-hand advantage over Alexi Giannoulias right now?
5) How do you strategically square the President’s statement in Massachusetts that “bankers don’t need another vote in the U.S. Senate” with backing a former banker who made the kind of risky loans the Administration has criticized and whose risky decision-making led to the failure of a bank and a $394 million loss to the FDIC?
* The Question: What do you think reporters should do with such suggestions? Ignore them? Use them and admit it? Etc.? Explain.
* As we’ve discussed before, Gov. Quinn is relying on almost non-stop “non-campaign” events to bolster his campaign. He did it again yesterday when Ford unveiled its new Explorer in downtown Chicago. The video is from our old buddy Simon. Watch it…
* Quinn will have another, albeit smaller, “victory” to announce today when word gets out that the Illinois Racing Board has approved parimutuel wagering at the State Fair. It was looking like there would be no racing at the fair this year because the state hadn’t paid winners premiums from last year. Those premiums were finally paid and a deal was worked out and racing will return next month.
* And while tying furlough days to paid holidays may not go over well in Springfield, it’ll probably find at least some favor with voters…
[Rep. Rich Brauer] said he had “heard from a pretty good source” that the Quinn administration is considering eliminating holiday pay for the nonunion workers, effectively making those holidays – 13 this year and 12 next – unpaid furlough days. […]
The Capitol Fax newsletter last week reported the possible use of holidays as furlough days, though Brauer said he had also received similar reports from within state agencies.
“It’s ridiculous to take a small segment of society and say we’re going to make you suffer, and that’s exactly what this has done – not only once, but twice,” Brauer said, referring to the nonunion workers. While about 2,700 people are in that category in the state workforce, some are exempt from furloughs because they are paid with federal dollars, or for other reasons.
Whatever the case, the governor should’ve just rescinded his pay raises for top staff and not messed with this can of worms. He really screwed this one up.
Republican Mark Kirk is proposing seven debates and candidate forums in the race for President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat.
Kirk on Tuesday proposed that the debates begin Aug. 21 in Ottawa with the candidates talking about foreign policy. They would continue through Oct. 21 with a wide-ranging debate in Carbondale. Other debates and forums would focus on Middle East policy, agriculture and jobs.
The Giannoulias campaign says they reached out to Kirk’s campaign last week about debates and have accused the Kirk people of “litigating debates in the media.” From the Giannoulias camp…
We reached out to the Kirk campaign last week and asked to sit down and talk about debates - instead of working with us they pulled this classless stunt.
* Meanwhile, the Kirk campaign has issued two barrages in two days against Alexi Giannoulias. This one’s from yesterday afternoon…
Background: [Yesterday] morning, during a radio appearance on WGN-AM, Alexi Giannoulias made several statements that contradict previous accounts by him and his brother with regard to loans made to convicted mobsters while Alexi Giannoulias was Senior Loan Officer at Broadway Bank.
New Misleading Giannoulias Said: “Now, you know, there are some people who in a perfect world we never would have done business with.”
* FACT: Broadway Bank was aware of Michael “Jaws” Giorango’s mob record when they loaned him money. “Demetris Giannoulias said the bank learned of Giorango’s bookmaking and prostitution promotion convictions from a spring 2004 Tribune report detailing those cases… He said he asked Giorango about the convictions and Giorango said, ‘It’s in the past. I don’t do that anymore.’” (Chicago Tribune, 4/2/10)
* FACT: Alexi said he knew Giorgano had “legal problems.” “Giannoulias insisted he only knew that Giorango had ‘some legal problems’ while he was servicing the loans, declining to say whether he knew they were criminal in nature.” (Chicago Sun-Times, “Giannoulias: I Take It Back,” 4/27/06)
* FACT: Alexi knew about Giorango’s past and thought we was “a very nice person.” “He described Giorango as ‘a very nice person’ and questioned whether Giorango actually was a criminal. ‘Is he a crime figure?’ Giannoulias asked. ‘I don’t know what the charges are that makes him this huge crime figure.’” (Chicago Tribune, 3/15/06)
Misleading Giannoulias Statement: “You look at the credit worthiness of the borrower, you look at the appraisal of the property…You don’t do criminal background checks on who they give loans to.”
* FACT: Alexi made loans despite full knowledge of criminal backgrounds. “‘If every time someone got arrested the bank threw them out, I think it would be a problem,’ Alexi Giannoulias said. ‘We look at the commercial viability of loans, and that’s where we make our credit decisions.’” (Associated Press, 4/8/06)
* FACT: We are supposed to believe that a community bank helped mobsters finance a casino riverboat marina in South Carolina because it was a good investment. “‘From a commercial standpoint, it looked like a loan that should be made,’ Giannoulias said, adding he was unaware the marina was used to dock a SunCruz Casinos riverboat.” (Chicago Tribune, 4/9/06)
Misleading Giannoulias Statement: “I wouldn’t know what a mafia guy looked like if he walked down the street.”
* FACT: Alexi Giannoulias visited mobster Michael “Jaws” Giorango in Miami. “Giannoulias said he traveled to Miami ‘about a year or two ago’ to inspect property the bank had financed for Giorango and met with him there. Giannoulias declined to provide details of that meeting.” (Chicago Tribune, 4/27/06)
* FACT: Alexi admitted meeting Giorango at the bank “a few times.” “But Giannoulias said that since he became a full-time senior loan officer, he has met Giorango at the bank ‘a few’ times.” (Chicago Tribune, 3/15/06)
The Kirk for Senate campaign today called on Alexi Giannoulias to explain his decision to participate in a far left-wing conference that featured panels with Van Jones, marijuana legalization advocates and J-Street.
Last week, Giannoulias announced on his Facebook page that he would be “leading the Illinois Caucus” at the Netroots Nation convention in Las Vegas. The Netroots website showed Giannoulias confirmed to attend the conference’s candidate event as well.
“Alexi Giannoulias’ decision to root his campaign in the far-left should be a troubling signal to independent voters,” Kirk spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said. “Alexi Giannoulias claims to be mainstream but has no problem associating with 9/11 truthers like Van Jones and other left-wing radicals. Alexi Giannoulias claims to stand with Israel but has no problem aligning his campaign with J-Street and its supporters. The people of Illinois deserve a thoughtful, centrist leader not someone who panders to left-wing fringe groups.”
Kirk is listed as a contributor to Andrew Breitbart’s super-controversial Big Government website, so the guilt by association can cut both ways there. Breitbart ain’t very “centrist.” I’ll leave you to decide whether he’s “thoughtful.”
* But if you really want to see harshness, check out this mocking, but well-done video posted to YouTube yesterday…
* A relatively meaningless special US Senate election is all but ordered…
Acting after a series of directions from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Judge John Grady said he is inclined to hold a special election to fill the rest of Mr. Obama’s term on Nov. 3, the same day as the regularly scheduled election.
Judge Grady also is inclined not to hold a special primary election but to allow the political parties to fill their ballot slots by vote of their central committees.
Also appearing on the ballot would be independent candidates who already have qualified for the six-year vote by filing petitions with at least 25,000 signatures, Judge Grady indicated.
Appointed Sen. Roland Burris is already attempting to turn this into yet another Illinois political spectacle…
Tom Wright, an attorney representing Burris, said using the nominees already on the ballot for the special election would deny Burris and other interested individuals the opportunity to serve the 60-day period.
Wright went on to say he believed Burris at least deserves the opportunity to see out the remainder of the term.
“No one else can come up to speed like that. No one else has the staff that’s already on top of these issues. No one else would be in a better position to finish this office,” he said.
But Grady emphasized that legally, Burris cannot receive preferential treatment in retaining the Senate seat and must be considered the same as any other citizen interested in the 60-day term.
Burris might be expected to push the state party to hold open hearings on whom they appoint to the ballot. That would be just one more opportunity to show to the world how thoroughly screwed up the Democrats are here.
Sam Adam Jr. cranks up the volume right from the start, telling jurors in his closing argument that he decided not to put Rod Blagojevich on the stand — despite his promise that he would — because the government didn’t prove its case against him.
It’s what he refers to as the “big pink elephant in the room.”
“I promised each and every single one of you that Rod was going to get up there and take the stand,” Adam says. And at opening statement I gave you my word and I meant every word of it,” he says. “I had no idea no idea that in two months of trial (the government) would prove nothing.”
He argues that the government proved the defense’s case — that Patti got paid for legitimate work she did for Tony Rezko, that “Rod didn’t take a dime,” that government witness Lon Monk pocketed envelopes of cash from Rezko.
Sam Adam Jr. briefly focuses on testimony of Bob Greenlee, Blago’s former deputy governor.
“He looked like Tom Arnold and Buddy Holly had a baby … remember those glasses?” Adam says, recalling Greenlee’s thick plastic frames. A female juror in front row crosses her arms and can’t suppress a smile.
“He took more than $100,000 a year to advise this man … and what does he come in here and tell you? Ridiculousness,” Adam says. “The most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard before: ‘Yes, I said those things, yes, I gave you encouragement… you know why? Because I was trying to disagree by agreeing.’ Who are you kidding?”
Adam is referring to Greenlee’s testimony that he told the ex-governor what he wanted to hear - that placating his boss was often easier than arguing with him.
*** UPDATE 4 - 12:11 pm *** SAJ states the obvious…
Ripping apart prosecution witnesses, Adam says to #Blagojevich, “You’ve got absolutely horrible judgment on people.”
18 times: Number of objections from prosecution on SAJr’s closing argument in defense of #Blagojevich
[ *** End of Updates ***]
* After all the hooplah late yesterday when Sam Adam, Jr. vowed to risk a contempt of court citation and jail time for insisting on pointing to the absence of Tony Rezko and other witnesses the prosecution didn’t call, we have this short report from inside this morning’s hearing…
Zagel to #Blagojevich attorney Sam Adam Jr: “To put you at ease, Mr. Adam, jail is not in the picture and never was in the picture.”
Prosecutors had mentioned some of those witnesses, including convicted fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, in their closing argument, and Adam argued the defense should be able to do the same.
“Your honor, I have a man here that is fighting for his life,” Adam said, turning red and raising his hands.
Zagel responded: “You will follow that order because if you don’t follow that order you will be in contempt of court.”
“I’m willing to go to jail on this,” Adam shot back.
Zagel said he was giving Adam the night to rework his closing arguments, given his “profound misunderstanding of legal rules.” He said Adam could designate another defense attorney to give the closing if he couldn’t follow the rules.
“The jury has to decide based on evidence,” Zagel ruled, “and the fact that someone wasn’t called isn’t evidence.”
Adam raised objections, as the lack of testimony was expected to be a cornerstone of his closing to cast doubts on the government case against disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich and his fundraiser brother Robert Blagojevich.
“You will not argue it. You will argue evidence,” Zagel insisted.
He said other legal jurisdictions might permit the tactic where if “the law’s against you (and) the evidence is against you, then attack the opposing lawyer,” but federal court and his courtroom do not.
“I can’t follow your order,” Adam said.
“You will follow that order,” Zagel replied. “Because if you don’t, you’ll be in contempt of court.”
Presuming they weren’t the signs of a meltdown, experts say Adam Jr.’s histrionics at the end of court Monday ultimately proved to be an unwieldy way of accomplishing two simple goals:
1. Stall for time so that he could give his entire closing argument on the same day.
In fact, records show that nearly half the people sentenced for unlawful use of a weapon receive probation in the Cook County courts. Last year, 2,264 people were sentenced for unlawful use of a weapon. Of them, about 54 percent got prison time and the rest got probation or some form of punishment other than prison, such as boot camp or court supervision, court records show.
On a single weekend in 2008 — 59 hours — 40 people were shot in Chicago, seven of them fatally. In each case, the police swooped in and interviewed neighbors and witnesses, took statements and collected evidence. They even made arrests.
But two years later, reporters Konkol and Main found, not one shooter has been charged and convicted, and just one suspected shooter is awaiting trial.
* Analysis: Home sales up in Elgin, entire metro area
According to an analysis of housing transactions for the first six months of this year conducted by RE/MAX, sales continued a steady rebound last month. RE/MAX looked at data available through Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the multiple listing service for Chicago and its Illinois suburbs, and it showed home sales in June were 26 percent higher in the seven-county metro area than they had been a year earlier, with 9,022 units changing hands.[…]
The average price of a home sold in the seven-county area in June reached $274,217, up 2.6 percent from the $267,338 average recorded in June 2009 and 5.6 percent higher than the $259,573 average of May 2010. However, the median price of homes sold declined 2 percent, from $213,500 last June to $209,000 in June of this year.
It’s just possible the Cook County Board of Review is hearing more tax appeals this year than any other tribunal in the United States, says spokesman Scott Guetzow.
A verbal sparring match between the board and retiring Assessor Jim Houlihan over whether the county property tax bills will be sent out before the Nov. 2 election has been going on since spring.
Houlihan sees a conspiracy.
But if the bills don’t make it out by then, Guetzow said, it won’t be the Board of Review’s fault.
“The process itself was not bad,” said McDonald, who initially plans to buy a .45-caliber handgun for his Morgan Park home. “But the unreasonable thing was the $100 many people will not be able to afford. And that’s a shame because they will continue to be vulnerable to the drug dealers and gangbangers.”
Kenneth Klee, appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to review the Tribune deal, said in a report submitted late today that fraud may have occurred in late 2007. That’s when the Chicago-based Tribune finalized $3.6 billion in financing to complete the $8.2 billion acquisition that came overwhelmingly from debt.
The old proposal set a target of $635 million in operating cash flow for a year. The new one raises the target to $685 million. Reduced bonuses, totaling $16.5 million and about half the level of the original plan, would be paid if the company reaches $500 million in operating cash flow.
The company’s most recent financial reports, filed with U.S. bankruptcy court, indicate it is short of bonus thresholds. For a two-month period from late March to late May, for example, it reported about $50 million from operating cash flow.
A company that wants a deal to attract corporate-sponsored holiday displays on Chicago River bridge houses told aldermen Monday that City Hall could net more than $10 million a year.
Corporations each would pay up to $1 million to decorate the houses at each of the city’s 14 most prominent bridges around Easter, Independence Day, Halloween and Christmas, said Philip Lynch, president and owner of Lincolnshire-based Fresh Picked Media.
The company would coordinate the effort and keep 25 percent of the profit, leaving $10.5 million for the city if the projections work out, Lynch said.
The river is currently just past the 17-foot level as measured at Lock and Dam 15 in the Quad-Cities, according to the National Weather Service. Flood stage is 15 feet.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Fawell told Bakalis that Caudill was not a flight risk and that his client had “some psychiatric hospitalization in the past.” Fawell declined to elaborate out of court.
While some contributors have already given the maximum $2,400 to either Kirk or Giannoulias for the midterm campaign, they would be able to pony up thousands more, ostensibly for the separate special election, Federal Election Commission spokeswoman Julia Queen said.
“It’s separate from just the primary and the general,” Queen confirmed.
What this means is that both candidates could go back to their maxed-out contributors and ask them to give again. It’s doubtful that there will be a special primary, but that would mean even more money could be raised.
* Mark Kirk was in Peoria on Friday and got grilled by the local media. Have a look at how he dodged a simple question: How can voters trust your word? The video is from the Giannoulias campaign. Have a look…
Judge James Zagel interrupts Michael Ettinger, asking how long he has left in his closing. The attorney for Robert Blagojevich says he has about 30 minutes to go.
We’re clearly behind schedule. The judge wanted to finish all the closing arguments in one day, but with Sam Adam Jr. and the government wrap-up to go, that’s looking increasingly unlikely.
Instead, Zagel says, closings will carry into tomorrow. Ettinger will wrap up for Robert Blagojevich this afternoon and then Sam Adam Jr. will present about half of his argument for Rod Blagojevich. He’ll finish up in the morning, to be followed by the government’s final argument.
Niewoehner finishes his argument around 2:05 by calling on the jury to find the defendants guilty on “each and every” count.
“(Rod Blagojevich) knew exactly what was happening,” the prosecutor says. “And now you do, too.”
When the prosecutor finished, Rod turned to his daughters, smiled, and mouthed something to his youngest daughter, Annie, as Patti passed her hand over the 7-year-old’s hair.
Robert Blagojevich, the one-time head of the Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund, did not mix politics and fund-raising, his lawyer said as the defense began presenting its two-pronged closing arguments this afternoon.
Michael Ettinger, the defense attorney for the ex-governor’s brother, described Robert Blagojevich as a “person of honor, a person of character” during his four-month stint heading Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
Ettinger said Blagojevich gave up a successful business career in Tennessee in 2008 to help revive his brother’s depleted campaign fund and to help lessen tensions with his brother - and was unaware of any illegal activity.
Ettinger dwelt on Robert Blagojevich’s background in the military and business and raising funds for the YMCA and the Red Cross. Initially, he was reticent about answering his brother’s call for help running his struggling fund-raising operation.
“Robert didn’t want to do it, but he did. When Robert gives a commitment to do something, he keeps his word,” Ettinger said.
Perhaps nearing the conclusion of his closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Niewoehner again tackles what has been a key idea of the defense — that Rod Blagojevich was unsuccessful in carrying out any of the alleged schemes and is therefore not guilty.
Niewoehner takes the allegations surrounding Jesse Jackson Jr. as an example. He argues that even if the ex-governor didn’t really plan to appoint the congressman to a vacant Senate seat, he is still guilty of trying to accept a bribe of $6 million in campaign cash from his supporters.
“What is bribery?” Niewoehner asks the jury. He says a key point is that the bribery can be “indirect” — “It does not have to be ‘x’ for ‘y.’”
“You do not have to say to (Jackson supporter) Raghu Nayak, ‘I will give you a Senate seat only if you give me $1 million,” he says. “People do not talk that way. You flip $1 million on the table, wink and say ‘I’d like to be senator.’ Is there any doubt what you mean?”
The government doesn’t have to show that Blagojevich actually intended to appoint Jackson, Niewoehner says — just that he tried to convince Jackson’s supporters that he did, so they would give him the money.
“These bribe attempts don’t have to work. Attempts are fine,” Niewoehner says.
“Again, you don’t have to be a successful criminal to be a criminal,” he tells them.
Niewoehner pointed to hundreds of thousands of dollars that Patti Blagojevich was paid by Tony Rezko to allegedly do nothing in real estate deals.
“How many dimes are there in hundreds of thousands of dollars?” Niewoehner said.
Early on, Niewoehner took on Sam Adam Jr.’s opening statement promise that by the trial’s end, jurors would know in Rod Blagojevich was innocent.
“You were going to know in your gut that Rod Blagojevich is as honest as the day is long,” Niewoehner said. “Now is the time to answer those questions.”
While Adam in opening statements criticized prosecutors for charging a man who is broke, Niewoehner said the reason he was broke: the federal investigation cut off the former governor from Tony Rezko. Rezko’s payments to Patti Blagojevich stopped in 2004, when state board member Stuart Levine was interviewed by the FBI, he said.
Prosecutors dropped Count 13, Wire Fraud, against the head of the Blagojevich fund raising arm. The charge related to a December 4, 2008 phone call in which both brothers allegedly schemed to receive political donations from Jesse Jackson Jr. in exchange for an appointment.
It’s unclear why the prosecution dropped this count against Robert, but not for Rod.
Last week, Niewoehner said he’d take about two hours for his closing argument. At this point, accounting for breaks, he’s going on 2-1/2.
Judge James Zagel wanted to get through all the closing arguments today. If that’s still the case, we may be in for a long day.
Attorneys for the defendants said they would need 2-1/2 hours for their two closing arguments, and once they’re done, the prosecution gets a last shot to address the jury. That’s supposed to take an hour.
* As some of you have already pointed out in comments, Rod Blagojevich brought his two daughters to court today so they could witness closing arguments by prosecutors and the defense.
* The Question: Smart defense move, or shocking parental abuse? Explain.
…Adding… Don’t just vent. Explain.
* The reason I can’t do regular blogging today is it takes a few minutes to open up each of these links, meaning it would be late afternoon before I could read everything, digest it and put it into normal blogging format. Thank goodness I have interns who could gather all these for me or there’d be nothing for you to comment on…
[The links have disappeared twice now. Hope this update works.]
* I suppose we’ll know when AT&T truly takes advantage of that new state deregulation law and builds out its wireless network when I can blog easily from my uncle’s house, which is just a mile from I-57. Bad AT&T. Bad…
* Rich Miller: Where should Quinn draw line between governing, campaigning?
* OK, well, I have an Internet connection, but it feels like a 1200 baud dial-up modem. For you youngsters, that’s really, really s-l-o—-w.
Anyway, today is closing arguments day at the Blagojevich trial. I’d keep a close eye on the Sun-Times Blago Blog if I were you. Here’s a link-fest roundup…
…Adding… Some of you are already doing it, but please help us out by posting updated stories in comments. Thanks.
It’s told by the wounded, the accused and the officers who were on the street during a weekend in April 2008 when 40 people were shot, seven fatally.
Two years later, the grim reality is this: Nearly all of the shooters from that weekend have escaped charges.
“You don’t go to jail for shooting people,” says Dontae Gamble, who took six bullets that weekend, only to see his alleged shooter walk free.
“That’s why m————- think they can get back on the streets and kill again. You feel me?”
So far, not one accused shooter has been convicted of pulling the trigger during those deadly 59 hours from April 18-20 of that year, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.
Chicago Police and the feds were bragging and feeling good Thursday about a bust that took drugs and guns off the city’s streets.
But the head of Chicago’s FBI said his agents were demoralized after seeing a comment from Mayor Daley in the Sun-Times that it was “about time” the feds helped out.
“It might have been an off hand, unfortunate comment but it demoralizes individuals,” said Robert Grant, Special Agent in Charge.
Bashing the federal government is easy and fun, and anyone can play. But there is a trick to it. You should be as general as possible, shaking your fist at the camera and inveighing against “Those bastards in Washington” and “Those idiots in Congress.”
If you get too specific and say, oh, “Those loafers in the Ag department in Des Moines,” it will turn out there actually is a real Department of Agriculture office in Des Moines, staffed by real people who actually do stuff and will not take kindly to the suggestion they don’t.
Williams joined more than 900 other bikers Sunday who rumbled through Chicago as part of the sixth annual Ride to Remember sponsored by Harrison Area Detectives to raise money for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which helps the families of Chicago police officers who are severely injured or killed while on duty.
Funk, 41, made his mark in the Chicago office, which he is leaving after a decade for family reasons to head to Denver. Funk, who was raised in Germany before attending college in Illinois, will join the law firm of Perkins Cole.
“Markus has worked on some incredibly important cases over the years … and done an incredible job,'’ U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said.
Funk “would go the extra mile,” said FBI Special Agent Michael Maseth, who worked with Funk on the historic Family Secrets mob prosecution.
Some committee members said Friday they are troubled by company officials’ reluctance to publicly commit to paying at least $8.75 per hour at its Chicago stores, a key concession that helped a proposal for a Wal-Mart in the Pullman neighborhood clear the council June 30 by a 50-0 vote.
Under a deal signed late last year among the state of Illinois, Sangamon County and Springfield, engineers were given 16 months to complete a draft environmental impact statement evaluating the best route for trains through the city, and the study had to be final in two years. At the time, officials said the deadlines were tight.
But the clock doesn’t start ticking until the Illinois Department of Transportation executes a grant with the Federal Railroad Administration to fund all or part of a high-speed rail project between St. Louis and Chicago. That still hasn’t happened.
When Madison County Recorder of Deeds Kyle Anderson donated his $1,651 state stipend to the county last week, his political opponent Matt Rice called it an election-year stunt.
Probably; the oversized, cardboard check that Anderson presented to County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan was a tipoff.
* Southern Illinois tourism steady, but late state money makes marketing difficult
In Illinois, Ameren reported about 16,000 customers lost power. By 6 p.m. Sunday, the utility said it had restored power to almost all of those hit by outages.
“I was forced off the ticket by the Democratic Party,” he said Tuesday, noting this didn’t happen prior to the primary because the party didn’t believe he had a chance in the world of winning in April.
“When I won, they turned everything upside down because I’m not a career politicians, and because I stood for honesty and integrity. That’s something the Democratic Party does not like.
“You laugh, but it’s the truth,” he added.
I think somebody laughed because it was an enormous lie.
* Jim Allen of the Chicago Board of Elections explains what’s going on behind the scenes in the case that’s attempting to force a special election for US Senate. As we’ve already discussed, the appellate bench has ruled that the trial judge can order a special election and that federal laws outweigh state concerns. From an Allen e-mail…
Technically, the new opinion is silent on the question of whether a special primary must be conducted, leaving the District Court to resolve the process of determining who the candidates would be for the Special Election for the last weeks of the current term. However, in District Court this week, the attorneys and Judge John Grady were contemplating an order that would have the parties select the nominees by Aug. 19. They also discussed how such an order might have any independent candidates who qualify for the general election ballot also appear on the special election contest just above it.
Under this scenario, the Nov. 2 ballot would have voters first make a selection for the unexpired portion of the current U.S. Senate term, and then, directly below that, make a selection for the full six-year term.
The trial judge has moved the next status hearing up to Monday.
* In other federal-level political news, our quote of the day goes to Republican congressional candidate Adam Kinzinger, whose claims about his military service record were recently slammed by his Democratic opponent’s campaign…
“You say you honor veterans — until a veteran gets in your way and threatens you politically,” Kinzinger says.
The background…
Kinzinger, 32, who jumped into politics at age 20 to win a McLean County board seat and is challenging Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.), answered the call of Sept. 11, 2001, and enlisted in the Air Force. When his campaign website went up last year, a staffer wrote that reserve officer Kinzinger “now serves as a pilot with the Air Force Special Operations Command.” Indeed, at the time Kinzinger was on Special Ops duty. It was a temporary assignment, but after he returned to civilian life, the wording was not changed. When a complaint surfaced that Kinzinger was trying to make Special Ops seem like a permanent posting, the wording on the website was changed to “has served” and added his work in other units.
Kinzinger says that produced online chatter and e-mails alleging he inflated his record. Kinzinger, with 140 combat missions over Afghanistan and Iraq and duty ferrying wounded warriors out of Afghanistan, understandably takes umbrage at attempts to disparage his service. This allegation is as flimsy a political charge as I’ve seen in five decades in journalism.
I’ve seen flimsier, but I get the point. Unlike the very serious and perplexing Kirk problem, this is a matter of semantics, and, unlike Kirk, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern of untruths here. Debbie Halvorson’s campaign deserves all the heat it gets for this one unless they can prove otherwise.
“Going from an honorable military servant to a fraud … they’re trying to place that seed in people’s minds, and there’s no reason to do it. It’s absolutely wrong,” Kinzinger said.
We agree. Kinzinger’s military record is impressive, it’s solid, and it deserves respect, not denigration.
Halvorson should battle for the issues she believes in, not drag a worthy opponent through the muck and mire.
* Related…
* Republican Kirk says he would support Kagan: In his announcement in support of Kagan Friday morning, Kirk quoted Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist papers: “To what purpose then require the cooperation of the Senate? I answer that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though in general a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the president, would tend generally to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from family connection, from personal attachment, and from a view to popularity.”
* Kirk Joins Giannoulias in Support of Kagan: The nomination was too careful, though, for the Green Party’s U.S. Senate candidate, LeAlan Jones. In a statement, the Jones campaign criticized the administration for “playing it ’safe’” with the Kagan pick, and expressed concern the president has yet to nominate an African American to the Supreme Court.
* How Controversy-Plagued Candidates Are Winning The Money Race
* ADDED: DCCC buys time in 40 districts : The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has invested approximately $28 million worth of television air time to defend vulnerable incumbents running for reelection this fall, a senior Democratic official confirmed to POLITICO… Illinois Reps. Debbie Halvorson and Bill Foster [are two recipients of the funds].
* On Tuesday, Gov. Pat Quinn’s office sent out a press release touting all the new jobs created with a $98 million dollar high-speed rail project…
Governor Pat Quinn today announced that construction will begin in early September on the Chicago to St. Louis high-speed rail route. An agreement between the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and Union Pacific Railroad will allow upgrades to be made on an initial 90-mile segment of Union Pacific track to prepare it for high-speed rail. The $98 million dollar project is funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and will support an estimated 900 jobs.
“Today’s announcement will create hundreds of jobs and is a major step towards making high-speed rail a reality in Illinois,” said Governor Quinn. “When the corridor is completed, travelers will be able to move from Chicago to St. Louis in under four hours, making Illinois the high-speed rail hub of the Midwest.”
All of a $98.3 million federal grant for high-speed rail will go to the Union Pacific Railroad, and there are no assurances that anyone in Illinois will get a job as a result, under an agreement between the railroad and the Illinois Department of Transportation. […]
But Union Pacific will procure all labor under the contract with IDOT announced this week, and the labor will be provided under the railroad’s existing labor agreements. The contract also says the $98.3 million will go to the railroad to install concrete ties and new rail on an 89-mile segment between Alton and Springfield and between the capital city and Lincoln, and the railroad alone will own the improvements. […]
“I think it’s pretty transparent that that they’re talking about people who are currently gainfully employed,” said [Brad Schaive, business manager for Laborers Local 477 in Springfield], who worked as a Union Pacific conductor in the 1990s. “They’ll bring in their own rail crews — it’s almost all automated by machine now. You’ll see a lot of out-of-state people come in and put the rail in and leave.”
Schaive said his office hasn’t received any calls from anyone interested in hiring workers for high-speed rail construction.
Oy.
* And speaking of jobs, Pat Quinn’s running mate Sheila Simon visited Rock Island to tout a successful local business that’s doing well in the recession. But she heard something she may not have expected…
Evans Manufacturing knows about the tough times in Illinois. The longtime Rock Island business is bouncing back from the recession. Orders are up 50% from last year, but the state’s financial instability and political mishaps are turning off other business growth.
“Some people are hesitating to make investments, make strong commitments, because of this situation,” said Stephanie Acri, president of Evans Manufacturing. “The sooner it becomes stable, the better off I think we all are.”
Above all else, businesses want stability. Quinn’s administration and Illinois politics in general are not in any way stable. Ms. Simon needs to take that message back to the governor.
On Tuesday, Gov. Pat Quinn announced that more than 22,000 people have secured jobs through the Put Illinois to Work employment program.
Count LaWanda Banks among them.
Through the program, the resident of Chicago’s West Lawndale neighborhood worked five weeks for ABM Security, logging more than 190 hours.
Now, if she could just get paid.
The state isn’t paying these workers for four weeks after they get hired, which seems odd considering many of them are in desperate need for employment. The woman in this story had some additional paperwork problems and her first check arrived about a week late. She also didn’t receive a weekly bus pass promised by the program. She could no longer afford the commute, she said, so she quit.
* Back to Gov. Quinn, who has been touting government actions instead of making many campaign appearances of late. His use of the state plane for campaign-related purposes is an issue that won’t go away…
Despite making two campaign-related stops during a trip to southern Illinois earlier this week, Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday brushed aside suggestions that he reimburse taxpayers for the use of the state plane.
“That’s totally ridiculous,” Quinn said during an interview on WFLD television.
On Monday, the Chicago Democrat flew on the state plane for an official government event with Southern Illinois University officials. Later, however, he met with supporters at a restaurant in Marion where Williamson County Democratic Party officials said fundraising activity for Quinn’s gubernatorial bid against Republican Bill Brady was discussed.
Quinn also visited the Williamson County Democratic Party headquarters, where he shook hands with precinct workers and gave a short speech.
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady, who is not related to Bill Brady, said Quinn should not mix state business with campaign events.
“I think it needs to be looked into,” Brady said. “It just baffles me.”
* Related and a roundup…
* Quinn’s Office: No Medicaid Boost Equals Cuts: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s office is, for the first time, acknowledging that the state may not get $750 million from Washington for the neediest families in Illinois. The so-called FMAP money — Federal Medical Assistance Percentage – has been tied up on Capitol Hill for months as states lobbied the federal government to extend the increased Medicaid reimbursements set to expire Dec. 31.
* Will lawmakers take more furlough days?: Steve Brown, spokesman for the Illinois House Democrats, said he was unaware if any of their members plan to. But, he said, House Speaker Michael Madigan has said he’ll talk to Quinn and lawmakers about the idea. Senate Republican spokesman Mark Gordon he doesn’t know of others, either.
* State law: Newspapers’ public notices to appear online: Starting in December 2012, Illinois newspapers that print public notices — such as public hearing announcements or dates and details of real estate auctions — will also have to post them on PublicNoticeIllinois.com.
* Controversial new law aims to protect pedestrians: Illinois motorists must come to a complete stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, under legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday. The measure requires a full stop even if the crosswalk doesn’t have a stop sign or traffic light.
* Quinn signs 2 pet-related bills: One of the laws signed Thursday requires the addition of a bitter flavor to antifreeze and engine coolant sold in Illinois. The other prohibits the private ownership of primates as pets.
* Jacobs bill to increase radiation safety measures signed into law
The funeral home, at 7838 S. Cottage Grove, was a couple of blocks from Bailey’s home, where he — in uniform and fresh off guard duty at Mayor Daley’s home — was gunned down while tending to his new car, the target of carjackers at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
And it’s the same venue in May that was the site of the wake for Police Officer Thomas Wortham IV, killed during the attempted theft of his motorcycle outside his parents’ South Side home. “How sick is it to say that we’re here again for the exact same thing?” said Wortham’s sister, Sandra. “This is ridiculous. If anybody feels safe in this city, they’re just not connected to what’s going on.”
Bailey, the third Chicago officer shot to death in two months, was weeks from retirement.
In the nine-county Chicago region, sales of single-family homes and condominiums rose more than 27% to 9,085, compared to 7,140 homes sold in June 2009, according to a news release Thursday from the Illinois Assn. of Realtors.
In the city of Chicago, sales similarly jumped 27.5% to 2,526, compared to 1,981 homes sold in June 2009, the 10th consecutive month of higher year-over-year sales for the city.
Why? Because Belmont Cragin and many other neighborhoods north and northwest of the Loop suffered the untimely misfortune of tumbling headlong into the abyss of foreclosure too late in the crisis, after most of the funding had been committed to the early subprime loan fatalities of 2006 and 2007. In the last two years, foreclosure filings in Belmont Cragin exceeded 1,600, tripling the combined number of filings reported in the neighborhood in 2006 and 2007.
But according to Alicia Winckler, the district’s chief human capital officer, a second round of layoffs affecting staff at about 400 schools that return after Labor Day is expected to claim 1,000 classroom teachers and “a few hundred” school clerks and assistants. Those staffers will get notices in two to three weeks.
Once projected as high as 2,700 teachers, Huberman recently said layoffs could exceed 1,200. Winckler on Wednesday said layoffs of teachers and support personnel “could exceed 1,500.” But counting staff already canned, it appears closer to 2,000.
“You know him because every storm, he was out there. During the summer and during the winter, he was out there. That’s the Al Sanchez I know. He worked very hard. He’s very proud that he’s Hispanic. That’s my Al Sanchez,” the mayor said.
Exactly 24 years ago Thursday, Michael Tillman says, he was beaten, burned, smothered and threatened with death in a police interview room as Calumet Area detectives working for then-Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge tried to coerce him to confess to the rape and murder of a South Side woman.
Tillman’s eyes welled with tears as he sat with his daughter and sister while his attorneys announced the filing of a federal lawsuit against Burge, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and other Chicago police detectives alleging that they conspired to cover up the torture and abuse of Tillman and others.
“As they speak, I’m reliving this in my mind, all that happened to me, all that was done to me, to my daughter,” Tillman said. “I missed my daughter. She wasn’t able to walk at that time, and she needed me there.”
Tillman was freed from prison in January after spending more than 23 years in prison for the 1986 rape and murder of Betty Howard after special prosecutors declined to retry him, saying there was little evidence he committed the crime and ample evidence that his confession was coerced.
“If Mayor Daley does it, [you’d say], ‘The boss does it. He just like rams it down.’. . .Your headline would say, ‘Look at Mayor Daley. He doesn’t care about the people. He doesn’t listen to anybody.’ I know what you’re gonna do. I’m a ping-pong ball every day for you,” [Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke] said.
* Daley Wants City Council to Sign Off on 3rd Wal-Mart
Kostka, who served on the village council from 1997 to 2005, requested the commission assemble after seeing an advertisement by Schwantz’s employer in a recent Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce publication. Von Sydow’s Moving & Storage Inc. invited anyone with moving needs to call Schwantz, dubbing him both the sales manager and mayor of Palatine.
* Southtown Star: Tinley Park wise to proceed slowly on tax break bid
* New Hoffman Estates police station puts a focus on green
Under the commission’s structure, the DuPage County Board chairman selects six of the Lake Michigan water agency’s commissioners and its chairman, while municipal mayors and village presidents, divided by County Board districts, choose the other six commissioners. Suess was selected Monday by the mayors of Wheaton and village presidents of Glen Ellyn and Glendale Heights.
The commission’s board has one other vacancy. Longtime Commissioner Liz Chaplin, a county appointee who lives near Downers Grove, resigned last month as her term expired.
* Downers Grove police officer charged with misconduct
Officer Randall J. Caudill Jr., 34, is charged with four counts of official misconduct. Caudill, an 8.5-year police officer assigned to the patrol division, has been placed on paid administrative leave.
The judiciary, circuit clerk, state’s attorney and sheriff departments were highlighted Thursday as the departments with the most overspending concerns.
The decision of Advance Publications Inc., Ann Arbor News’ parent company, to close the struggling paper and replace it with the leaner, bloggier AnnArbor.com looked like a sharp turn on a rocky road to an all-digital future for print news.
Twelve months later, though, it looks more like a small fork. Through the newspaper business remains in transition, the funeral knells have quieted and struggling publications are riding the improving economy out of bankruptcy and into the black.
Back when Rod Blagojevich was being impeached, he announced that he would refuse to testify or even put on a defense at his state Senate trial.
He said the system had been rigged against him. If the trial rules were fair, Blagojevich claimed at the time, he would’ve called White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and President Obama’s adviser Valerie Jarrett to the stand. They would, he said, testify under oath that he did nothing wrong when he was caught breaking all sorts of laws.
If the Senate’s rules were more like a federal court’s, Blagojevich added, he would be happy to put on a full, aggressive defense and testify.
His argument was bogus from the start. The state Senate’s impeachment trial rules were copied almost completely from the U.S. Senate’s rules used when President Bill Clinton was impeached. Clinton won his trial. But Blagojevich said those very same rules were unfair to him.
Countless cable TV bobbleheads nodded in agreement with Blagojevich back in those days. They thrilled at his bravado at challenging what he claimed was an illegal legislative coup d’etat. And they all believed him when he emphatically declared that when it came time for his criminal trial, he would definitely testify.
Fast-forward a year and a half, and Blagojevich and his attorneys are confirming that they had issued subpoenas to — surprise! — Rahm Emanuel, Rep. Jackson and Valerie Jarrett.
And, of course, Blagojevich was continuing to say that he couldn’t wait to testify.
“I can’t wait to get on there, swear on the holy Bible to tell the whole truth and to begin to give clarification and explanations and confront my accusers and confront those who are lying,” he said last month.
Once again, the cable TV nitwits went into overdrive, declaring that the subpoenas were a major embarrassment to the Obama administration and that Blagojevich could very well undermine the president himself. Blagojevich was even roundly cheered by some rightist types for what they were certain was his potential to bring down Obama.
What just about everyone involved in all this hype failed to see is that Rod Blagojevich is a liar. Always has been. His lies were legion and quite well-documented before he was even arrested. And he has been lying ever since that fateful morning in December 2008 when the FBI came knocking at his door.
There was no inherent bias in those Senate trial rules. He lied about wanting to call Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett or anybody else to the stand in his own defense. He was just creating a diversion that he knew the national media would fall for whenever he trotted out those names.
The FBI surveillance tapes clearly show he was furious about being left behind by his fellow Chicagoans when Obama was elected president.
“The whole world’s passing me by and I’m stuck in this f - - - - - - job as governor now. Everybody’s passing me by and I’m stuck,” he was recorded as saying.
Bringing up those names again and again was his vengeance for being passed over. Nothing more.
We now know he has been lying about testifying at his criminal trial as well. He didn’t even put on a defense. That’s because he has no defense. Trying to prove his innocence would only prove just the opposite when the prosecutors had their turn at him.
I can only hope that everyone who has enabled this clown since his arrest will learn one lesson. Don’t ever believe a word he says.
IS ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF MARK KIRK’S MOUTH THE TRUTH?
Kirk’s Embellishments, Lies, And Misstatements Could Fill A Phone Book
Illinois Voters Deserve Someone Who They Can Trust To Tell The Truth
Republican Congressman Mark Kirk, already under fire for embellishing details of his military and teaching records, found himself on the front page of the Chicago Tribune this morning, in an startling piece calling into question even further Kirk’s uncomfortable relationship with the truth. As the paper reported, Kirk repeatedly speaks of an incident in his youth, when a boat he was piloting capsized in Lake Michigan and was subsequently rescued by the Coast Guard. However, Kirk’s account of the story has changed over time and has been “embellished” frequently, to the point where Kirk’s account contradicts those of other bystanders and even contradicts the facts of medical science.
“Kirk’s embellishments, lies, and misstatements could fill a phone book,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Eric Schultz. “Mark Kirk may be on the wrong side of nearly every issue but he also has an aversion to telling the truth. The people of Illinois deserve a Senator who they can trust to always be honest.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Giannoulias campaign…
In light of today’s story in Chicago Tribune regarding Mark Kirk’s latest embellishment, Alexi for Illinois spokesman Matt McGrath released the following statement:
“Now Congressman Kirk has been caught in another embellishment — this time an apparent fish story that was his basis for going into public service in the first place. Whether he’s lying about his military record or claiming to be a fiscal conservative when his votes helped triple the national debt, one thing is clear: Congressman Kirk apparently can’t tell the truth about anything.”
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* I highly recommend that you read the entire Tribune article about Congressman Mark Kirk today. He has obviously embellished his core story about why he decided to pursue a career in public service. Kirk has claimed from the time he first ran for Congress that being saved from drowning by the Coast Guard when he was a teenager changed his entire life.
In the most recent instance, the 50-year-old North Shore congressman told a boating magazine that he stood on his overturned sailboat and watched the sun set, when in fact he was rescued in midafternoon on June 15, 1976.
Kirk also has said he swam up to a mile in 42-degree water and that he was rescued with his body temperature hovering two degrees from death. Those declarations are questionable, based on interviews with an eyewitness and medical experts.
Those declarations aren’t just “questionable,” they sound impossible.
And he doesn’t just mention the darkness. It’s an important element to his story…
In the story, Kirk twice refers to being on the water as darkness fell.
“I lost the halyard and ended up watching the sunset standing on the upside-down boat with only a ski belt on,” Kirk said, according to the quote in the story and the recording Landry played for the Tribune.
Kirk also noted a teenager on shore saw him struggling with the sailboat and called for help. “It was unusual because Sunfishes come home at night and this one wasn’t,” Kirk told the magazine.
And this is the most telling aspect of the Tribune piece. Kirk has to retract when he realizes the interview was recorded…
Pressed on the timing of the rescue, Kirk told the Tribune the magazine reporter must have made a mistake. Informed the interview was recorded, Kirk then said he did not watch the sunset but denied embellishing his story.
I’d be interested to know how much time transpired between those two statements. Seconds? Days?
…Adding… I just noticed a private e-mail from someone high up in the Kirk campaign. He claims statements and information the campaign provided weren’t included. Stay tuned.
…Adding more… Apparently, Kirk told the Tribune that he helped his friend swim to shore after the boat first capsized. He was on a private beach and decided he needed to go back out to the boat to avoid getting into trouble (he was 16, so that’s understandable) and that’s where the problems started.
“Over 30 years ago, when I was 16 years old, I nearly drowned in Lake Michigan and was rescued by the Coast Guard. It was a life-changing experience. Multiple statements by eyewitnesses confirm my rescue. It’s unfortunate that some reporters had a pre-conceived premise that led to a ridiculous story about an event that is indisputable. Voters will see this story for what it is and I will continue to focus on the issues that matter and how I will serve the people of Illinois.”
Statement by his mother…
In the afternoon of June 15, 1976, I received a phone call from Evanston Hospital letting me know that my son, Mark, was in the Emergency Room. He had been rescued by the Coast Guard in Lake Michigan and was being treated for hypothermia.
When I got to Evanston Hospital, I saw my son in a hospital bed under a special warming blanket. His lips were blue. I had never seen that before. I remember his body temperature was in the 80s and they were slowly bringing him back up.
I stayed there, watching his color return to his lips and body. Later in the day, he was discharged and sent home. Mark’s father, Frank, was working downtown at the time and took an afternoon Metra to meet us. I remember Frank was very upset, saying again and again to Mark: You never leave the boat.
As a mother, this was a traumatic experience. It was a life-changing event for Mark and for our entire family.
Statement by his friend who was out on the boat with him…
In the early afternoon of June 15, 1976, I left Kenilworth Beach in a sunfish sailboat with my high school best friend, Mark Kirk, for an afternoon sail in Lake Michigan.
I learned a lot that day – about the unpredictability of weather and about the fragility of life.
During our sail, the weather turned and we encountered what I would describe as a squall. At some point, our sailboat capsized and we entered the cold water. Mark acted quickly to stabilize the boat and brought us to safety at a beach along the Winnetka shore.
Mark was concerned for my safety, and after warming up on the beach he urged me to walk home while he would get the sunfish back to Kenilworth.
I protested but Mark refused to let me go with him. I walked home and Mark took care of the boat.
A couple of hours later, I was in the Emergency Room at Evanston Hospital. I saw Mark under warming blankets – I remember his body temperature being roughly 89 degrees at the time. It was about an hour after he arrived in the Emergency Room and he was speaking gibberish.
It was a life-changing experience. At that moment, I realized we are not immortal – life is fragile at any age.
Later on, I remember recounting the experience with Mark. He told me how he thought he was going to die and had given up just before his rescue.
This was a major event in both of our lives – one I will never forget.
Statement about hypothermia…
Centers for Disease Control: Moderate hypothermia is diagnosed when the core body temperature is 82-90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Princeton University: 86-82 degrees – Symptoms: Muscle rigidity; semiconscious; stupor; loss of awareness of others; pulse and respiration rate decrease; possible heart fibrillation.
Statement by Dr. Jay Alexander
It is completely preposterous for anyone to say they can prove or disprove what Mark Kirk’s body temperature was on June 15, 1976 without knowing detailed statistics, including Mr. Kirk’s exact body mass index at the time, his exact time in the water, the exact temperature of the water, the exact weight and type of clothing Mr. Kirk was wearing, the exact wind speeds and air temperatures throughout the experience and the vigor and duration of any activity conducted by Mr. Kirk in the water. Body temperature reflects a balance between heat production and heat loss both of which would be almost impossible to predict without a detailed knowledge of all the factors and events that took place that day and short of having all of these facts certain or an official medical document from 1976, there’s no credible scientist or physician who could speak with certainty on this matter.
