* Just when you think the Republicans might have a shot at something big, stuff like this always happens.
I strongly encourage you to read the whole article, but the gist is that a young woman complained about a way too handsy president of the Chicago Young Republicans, Jeremy Rose…
When she tried to leave, it only got worse. “Jeremy and the other guy refused to walk me out, saying I needed to stay and hang out with them, and Jeremy took my phone away from me (I had been trying to call a cab) and sat on my lap, not letting me up.
“At this point I felt like his behavior was bordering on keeping me there by force. At last the girl who was there walked me out to the street and I hailed a cab and went home.”
After allegedly being briefed on the complaint, Cook County Republican Party Chairman Lee Roupas hired Rose as the county party’s political director, then promoted him to executive director. Roupas now claims that he didn’t really know much about what was going on, a claim that is challenged in a sworn statement.
And if that wasn’t enough, Roupas then attempted to foment a rebellion against Eloise Gerson, the chairwoman of the Chicago Republican Party, after Gerson and her chief legal counsel demanded that Roupas’ executive director resign…
Frustrated with his failure to oust Gerson, Roupas was allegedly overheard in an angry rant after the meeting, calling Gerson “boss b**ch.” And, despite objections by many committeemen that the new post appeared to undermine Gerson’s authority, Roupas announced the appointment of a Chicago Chair of the CCRP in an email on July 1.
“This is like the Catholic Church all over again, where the cover-up is worse than the crime, and there’s this concerted effort to try to shut down the whistleblower,” said CRP political director Tom Swiss in an interview. “He [Roupas] has a meeting and tries to vote her out and get her removed from her position, because she brings this complaint to him and he doesn’t want to be bothered by it.”
This scandal has been building on smaller blogs for weeks. Kudos to Huffington Post for ferreting out the full story. And it had results. Rose has resigned…
And indeed, though many details of the story remain to be unearthed, the inquiries have already caused one head to roll: within an hour of concluding his interview with Huffington Post Chicago, Chairman Roupas circulated a letter to Republican officials announcing the resignation of Jeremy Rose.
“I feel it is best for our GOP team that I step aside as executive director so you and the Republican Committeemen can continue without distraction the work needed to win in November,” Rose writes in his resignation letter.
Again, go read the whole thing. Rose may be gone, but Roupas apparently still has some explaining to do.
* NCSL has a new report that has caused more than a few eyeballs to pop out…
Thirty states plan to spend more in FY 2011 than last year. Four of these boosted appropriations by more than 10 percent, with the largest increases in Illinois (15.1 percent) and Texas (14.8 percent). […]
Thirty-three states expect year-over-year growth in revenue collections, although in three the increase is less than 1 percent. Five states project double-digit increases: Illinois (17.9 percent), Alabama (16.0 percent), Washington (14.1 percent), North Dakota (13 percent) and Kansas (10.2 percent).
* What the heck? That’s gigantic growth in both spending and expected revenue increases. What’s going on here? I asked the governor’s budget office for a response. Here it is…
1. SOURCE: NCSL report does NOT cite where the data is coming from, especially regarding revenue (17.9%) and spending (15.1%) growth amounts cited. If there is any “wishful thinking”, it is on part of NCSL, not GOMB or the State.
2. FACTUAL BUDGET INFORMATION: The State’s Budget information incorporated in recent bond documents can be found in Table 5 (attached):
a. FY11 Revenues (all General Funds sources including State Revenues, Federal Revenues and Transfers In from Other State Funds) are forecast as $27,655M versus actual FY10 Revenues of $27,090M (per the IOC) or a 2.1% growth.
b. FY11 Spending (Appropriations plus Transfers Out to Other State Funds) are budgeted at $33,502M versus estimated FY10 Spending of $28,865M. However, FY10 Pension Contributions of $3,466M were NOT appropriated in the General Funds so the FY10 Spending in Table 5 (see footnote #1) must be adjusted to provide an apples-to-apples comparison. Using the adjusted FY10 amount of $32,331M ($28,865M + $3,466M) results in a 3.6% increase ($1,171M) in FY11 Spending over the adjusted (for pensions) FY10 Spending.
3. FY11 SPENDING GROWTH: FY11 growth can be attributed to pensions, as follows:
a. Statutorily Required Pensions – as Certified by the Pension Boards: The FY10 amount was $3,466M while the FY11 amount is $4,157M, or an increase of $691M.
b. Debt Service of FY10 Pension Bonds: The FY10 pension contribution of $3,466M was financed using GO Pension Bonds sold in January 2010. The FY11 Debt Service on those bonds increased by $1,095M over the FY10 Debt Service amount for those bonds. The debt service is shown in the Statutory Transfers Out to Other Funds in Table 5.
c. Appropriations – Excluding estimated FY10 Unspent Appropriations and FY11 estimated Reserves, Appropriations DECREASED by $509M ($26,340 in FY10 vs. $25,831M in FY11).
d. Remaining Difference: Relates to REDUCTIONS in other Statutory Transfers Out to Other Funds beyond the pension bond debt service.
* Related and a roundup…
* ADDED: Metra claims reforms, but state panel wants more: Too little, too late. That was the prevailing sentiment about Metra on Wednesday at a state Senate hearing at which the commuter train operator won praise for reforms in the wake of the death of Phil Pagano, but lawmakers made it clear they’d like to see more.
Gov. Pat Quinn issued another amendatory veto [yesterday] that drastically changes the content of the original bill. […]
Quinn left the content of the bill intact but tacked on provisions that would create a citizens’ initiative process for ideas pertaining to “ethical conduct and campaign finance reform.” […]
Under the new version of HB 5206, proposals that receive 100,000 petition signatures would be drafted into a bill and voted on by the General Assembly. If the legislation failed to become law, it would go onto the ballot as an advisory referendum, which does not have any binding legal power.
* The Question: Leaving aside the amendatory veto power used here, what do you think of the governor’s idea? As always, explain fully. Thanks.
* In the age of the Internet, nothing ever disappears. For instance, somebody claiming to be with Bill Brady’s campaign radically changed the candidate’s Wikipedia page. Actually, it was more of a hack than a change, and there’s a complete record to back up what was changed and why.
Wikipedia is a community-based product, but Brady’s campaign supporter went in and whacked the page but good, deleting references to gay rights, gun control, stem cell research and other basic policy proposals.
The original, unedited by Brady, page is here. It included stuff like this…
Education
Brady supports replacing the Illinois State Board of Education, with a smaller agency.[6]
Brady believes that intelligent design should be taught in public schools “through the principles of the Founding Fathers’ design” along with evolution.[7][8]
The Brady-edited page is pure campaign talking points. Check it out…
The Bill Brady Record: Clean Break, Common Ground
In office, Bill Brady has always stood for the principles on which he has run. Since joining the Illinois House in 1993 and his appointment to the Illinois Senate in 2002, Brady has also worked with Democrats and others seeking to promote the best interests of Illinois. For example, he has pushed for:
Protection of pharmaceutical benefits for seniors Creation of an Illinois Conservation Corps for young adults. Bipartisan teacher pension and banking and insurance reform. Protecting children from sexual predators. Expansion of property tax breaks for disabled veterans.
The campaign supporter twice explained why it substituted facts for drivel in the page’s change log…
Changed by Bill Brady and his family to better represent him as a person. This page does not give an accurate description of who I am and what I stand for. […]
This page misrepresented Bill Brady, (R) Candidate for Governor. It has been changed to reflect the truth about Bill Brady by his campaign, Brady for Illinois.
If Bill Brady doesn’t think his record is too extreme - then why did he erase it….?
*** UPDATE 1 - 1:09 pm *** As if all that wasn’t enough, the Brady campaign person is now claiming that the revisions which undid its attempts at posting blatant propaganda are “vandalism.” Give me a break. And, since I know that the Brady campaign monitors this site, I have a message for it: Stop playing around with Wikipedia because you look like total morons.
changed it back to the best representation of Bill Brady)
Sheesh.
*** UPDATE 3 - 1:50 pm *** The Brady Interwebtube goofballs have even changed the discussion section to mirror the propaganda page. These guys are just bizarre.
*** UPDATE 4 - 1:58 pm *** The page keeps going back and forth. Check the history logs. The pro-Brady forces are now saying that the original Wikipedia article is propaganda…
The propaganda is on the page created to make Brady look bad. This is the truth.
*** UPDATE 5 - 2:07 pm *** Added references to campaign supporter/backer/person for accuracy’s sake. That person may be Brady’s niece.
*** UPDATE 6 - 2:20 pm *** Weirder and weirder it gets. The blog apparently run by Sen. Brady’s niece just went private. I had posted a question to her on the blog a few minutes ago about the Wikipedia changes.
*** UPDATE 8 - 3:09 pm *** Somehow, the lock has been broken. Brady’s Wikipedia page has been changed back to propaganda mode.
*** UPDATE 9 - 3:13 pm *** This is like watching a bad ping-pong game. We’re back to normal Wiki mode.
*** UPDATE 10 - 3:28 pm *** The whole point of this post is how things posted on the Internet never go away. If you’re interested in screen shots of the now-private blog by what appears to be the person behind some of these changes, click here.
Yesterday, Republican Congressional Candidate Bob Dold announced his support for Rep. Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future, a radical plan to privatize social security, eliminate Medicare and Medicaid, and raise taxes on the middle class.
“I will not support a proposal that hurts middle-class families and ends Social Security and Medicare as we know it,” said Democratic Candidate Dan Seals. “Older Americans have been investing in and counting on these programs for decades, and sticking them with the bill now is not only morally objectionable, it is fiscally irresponsible.”
Dold removed the post from his Facebook site. But it lives on thanks to the Seals campaign and ArchPundit, who notes…
This is especially interesting since Dold is running as a ‘moderate’ while he keeps getting endorsed by nutters on the right like the Eagle Forum.
That refers to a dustup over whether Dold is actually pro-choice or not.
* Anyway, I asked Dold’s campaign why the candidate posted that item to Facebook. The response…
Robert believes we should analyze any serious proposal –Republican or Democratic – that discusses how to get control of spending in Washington and ensure the viability of Medicare and Social Security. Paul Ryan’s proposal has opened an important debate about how to do that. Robert didn’t endorse the proposal but encouraged people to study it.
Let’s be clear. Doing nothing is a disaster, because analysis of our Medicare and Social Security programs shows they are on a path toward insolvency. Dan Seals only attacks any proposal and then ducks from providing any solutions of his own.
…Adding… The Seals campaign responded to the crack on not having solutions by providing this link.
And why did he delete it?…
It’s Facebook. We put things up and take things down all the time. We’re not announcing policy on Facebook. Seals seems pretty desperate already, probably because Bob outraised him last quarter and is outworking him in the District.
You can’t ever “take things down” on the Internet. It’s somewhere forever. And that deletion sure looks suspicious to me.
* Related…
* Pollak confirms support for Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com
* Dold Calls on Seals to Return Tainted Rangel Contribution
* I’ve been telling my subscribers about massive labor union donations to Gov. Quinn for weeks. The Republicans are a bit late to the game, but better late than never, I suppose…
Two leading state Republicans questioned [yesterday] whether union donations given last month to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn had anything to do with administration pressure on road builders to settle a strike that had brought area highway construction to a halt.
Pat Brady, the state GOP chairman, and unsuccessful Republican governor candidate Kirk Dillard tried to tie the donations to the trial of Quinn’s predecessor, disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, which was being held across the street from the site of their news conference in downtown Chicago.
Quinn blasted the allegations as a political ploy.
Both Republicans wouldn’t say whether they believed the donations led to actions by the Illinois Department of Transportation to threaten road construction firms with a rebidding of contracts and other moves if roadbuilders didn’t settle with union workers. They said they were only “questioning” if pay to play politics had occurred.
Dillard and Illinois Republican Chairman Pat Brady are linking Governor Pat Quinn’s acceptance in June of a $500,000 campaign contribution from labor unions to the administration’s intervention in July aimed at ending a laborer’s strike that shut down highway and construction projects.
On July 19, Illinois Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig sent a letter to inform road builders their state highway contracts might be rebid if the work stoppage continued.
“In fact, the letter sent by Secretary Hannig is very threatening in its tone. It is not impartial,” said Dillard.
“I think it’s sickening that citizens could again be subjected to the same pay-to-play politics that rocked Illinois under Rod Blagojevich,” Pat Brady said
It wasn’t one $500,000 contribution. It was several totaling about that amount, from the Operating Engineers and the Laborers.
“When you take a look at that letter from your transportation secretary to the contractors, it seemed to be pressuring the contractors more than unions. How does that not pass the smell test?” Levine asked Quinn.
“That’s a lot of baloney, and you know it and they know it,” Quinn replied. “We told the unions the same thing we told the contractors: get to the bargaining table, be serious, resolve your differences. They came up with a contract.” […]
“That’s a smear,” Quinn shot back, “And those who made it, the Brady Bunch, know it’s a smear. It’s totally untrue, it’s completely untrue, and they know it. It’s all politics.”
Though Quinn made no apologies for his allegiance to labor.
“The unions, they have a right to support their candidate, and I happen to be their candidate,” said Quinn.
Actually, the letter, which can be downloaded by clicking here, was quite one-sided, even though IDOT claimed to remain “impartial” in the matter. The meat of its threats…
Not only could IDOT have cost the contractors a fortune in loss of their incentive bonuses, but they were in danger, via a PLA, of actually being replaced by contractors who would sign a union deal.
The contractors caved almost immediately.
Quinn is definitely a pro-union guy. Those big contributions certainly raise questions that he has to answer. The question is whether he knew about the strike when he got that money. I’m told he didn’t. But it’s a fair hit.
* Rasmussen’s latest poll shows that Democrat Alexi Giannoulias continues to trend slightly upwards, while Republican Mark Kirk has stopped slipping, at least for now. Previous results from Rasmussen’s polls conducted July 7, June 7, April 28, April 5, March 8 and February 3 are in brackets…
Kirk carries 74% of conservative voters in the state, while 79% of liberals support Giannoulias. Moderates favor the Democrat by a 47% to 35% margin.
Forty-four percent (44%) say Kirk’s views are in the mainstream, but 30% say they are extreme. Forty-two percent (42%) view Giannoulias in the mainstream, while 33% say he’s extreme.
Seven percent (7%) of Illinois voters hold a Very Favorable opinion of Giannoulias, while 25% view him Very Unfavorably.
Kirk is viewed Very Favorably by 10% and Very Unfavorably by 14%.
At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.
Kirk holds a modest lead among male voters, and Giannoulias has a similar lead among women. Voters not affiliated with either major party prefer the Republican by nearly 20 points.
That big lead among independents is crucial and means that Kirk has a very good shot at winning this one, despite the toplines. Illinois has lots more Democrats than Republicans, but they’re not a firm majority. Independents are a must-get. But moderates are also very important, and Giannoulias’ lead is important there.
* Is Mark Kirk more ethical, less ethical, or about as ethical as most politicians?
10% More ethical
21% Less ethical
50% About as ethical
19% Not sure
* Is Alexi Giannoulias more ethical, less ethical or about as ethical as most politicians?
8% More ethical
31% Less ethical
44% About as ethical
17% Not sure
* Is Rod Blagojevich more ethical, less ethical, or about as ethical as most politicians?
2% More ethical
59% Less ethical
32% About as ethical
7% Not sure
Almost half say Giannoulias is less ethical than most politicos or aren’t sure. The Kirk camp will do its best to push that up as high as possible with the “mob banker” stuff. Whether it’ll work this year is another story, however.
And, let’s all hope that none of that crazy 2 percent who think Rod Blagojevich is more ethical than most is sitting on the jury.
* More results…
* Would it be more accurate to describe Mark Kirk’s views as mainstream or extreme?
44% Mainstream
30% Extreme
27% Not sure
* Would it be more accurate to describe Alexi Giannoulias’s views as mainstream or extreme?
The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Illinois was conducted on July 26, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
“A conspiracy may be committed even if its purpose is not accomplished,” the judge reads steadily
*** UPDATE 2 - 1:14 pm *** Download a copy of the blank jury verdict form by clicking here. [fixed link]
And here’s a note from the US Attorney’s office…
Also, please be advised that I or my office will issue a blast email when we receive notice that a verdict has been reached ONLY. We will NOT be issuing any alerts if the jury has a question or other notes.
*** UPDATE 3 - 3:55 pm *** Another day, another mistrial motion…
“Determinations of credibility and findings of fact are the province of the jury. Throughout the closing argument of Attorney Sam Adam, Jr., the government objected approximately three dozen times, with improper objections. The court, in an apparent endorsement of the government in front of the jury, erroneously ruled on the government’s improper objections, making findings of credibility and fact. This violated Rod Blagojevich rights to due process, a fair trial, effective assistance of counsel and the right to present a defense case, in contravention of the United States Constitution, Amendments 5 and 6.”
It continued: “The government objected to Attorney Adam around three dozen times. The objections were intended only to obstruct and disrupt the closing argument. The government’s objections were disingenuous and misleading.”
“The law I give you is the law you must follow, whether you like it or not.”
Zagel was speaking to Rod Blagojevich’s attorney Sam Adam, Jr., who had just been shot down again by a prosecution objection. The quote was used by Zorn to make this spot-on analysis…
The federal statutes on wire fraud, extortion, bribery, racketeering and making false statements to law enforcement that Blagojevich is accused of violating may strike some of the jurors as severe — fussy, sometimes victimless sanctions against bluster and big talk. This is certainly, clearly how SAJr (left, Tribune photo by Antonio Perez), feels about them.
Most of the charges against Blagojevich lack the “smoking gun” that so many people say they want to see in such cases — the envelope stuffed with unmarked bills peeking out of the inner breast pocket of a public official’s suit jacket as he signs off on a boondoggle to enrich his benefactor.
Blagojevich’s allegedly corrupt schemes tended to go nowhere, as notable for their fecklessness as for their arrogant perfidy. Adam dismissed them as “just yakking” in his closing argument.
But the cold wording of the law and the jury instructions simply won’t leave jurors much room to acquit, whether they “like it or not.”
The law is the law and the jury instructions will hem the panel in.
[Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar eviscerated] Adam’s argument, ridiculing the defense notion that the feds and Blagojevich’s own inner circle conspired to take him down.
“There’s a conspiracy of liars,” Schar said sarcastically. “Everyone’s lying to frame defendant Blagojevich. It’s one of the great frame-ups of all time. What’s amazing about this massive conspiracy is that not only are these people lying, they somehow managed to get Blagojevich on all those tapes you heard, to frame himself.”
When Schar was talking, several jurors leaned forward.
Rod Blagojevich has “more training in criminal background than the average lawyer,” and yet the defense portrays him as a victim of circumstance who was unaware he was doing anything wrong, prosecutor Reid Schar argues.
“Somehow he is the accidentally corrupt governor? I mean, come on. Come on,” Schar says, his voice rising a little.
“He is the decision maker. He is the governor,” the prosecutor said. “He is the one who makes the ultimate decision.” […]
Earlier, Schar hit back at Sam Adam Jr.’s argument that Blagojevich’s alleged crimes are “all talk.”
“The crimes the defendants are charged with are crimes that involve a lot of talking,” Schar said. “When you go to rob a bank, you talk about it for a while.”
[Schar] also broke down the charges related to the head of Children’s Memorial Hospital and its head, Patrick Magoon. As part of the charges, Blagojevich allegedly told others, including aide John Wyma, who was working as a lobbyist for the hospital, that he was going to approve a rate increase that would help pediatric doctors. […]
He also noted that when the fundraiser wasn’t immediately forthcoming and Magoon wasn’t calling Robert Blagojevich back, the governor spoke to a Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee, who held up the measure.
He said any talk on the calls that Blagojevich wanted to hold up the effort for budgetary reasons also makes no sense. There are no other calls at that time about the budget and Blagojevich makes it clear to Wyma in a call caught by the feds.
“But you don’t need to guess what was in defendant Blagojevich’s mind,” Schar said. “He tells John Wyma, ‘I’m doing Children’s Memorial Hospital for $8 million, I want him for $50,000.’”
Schar told jurors not to believe Blagojevich when he says on one wiretap that pending horseracing legislation has nothing to do with his quest to secure a donation from a local track owner. Prosecutors have alleged that the governor’s effort to secure a campaign donation from the track owner was extortion.
“If it’s not one for the other, you don’t say that,” Schar said.
Schar also has urged jurors to ask themselves how state government should work. Campaign donations should never be a factor when deciding to sign or support legislation, he said.
“You don’t sit around debating whether you’ll get your money,” Schar said. “How backward can you get?”
One of the odd things about trials is that the person in a courtroom with whom jurors most tend to identify is the judge. For starters, the judge gives them their meal and bathroom breaks. He’s the boss in the courtroom.
So if a lawyer openly feuds with the judge, it’s going to be difficult to get an entire jury to believe the judge is unfairly biased against him.
But again, one or two just might, which in this case could make them more amenable to apply Adam’s suggested common sense understanding of extortion and bribery rather than the legal definition the judge will provide. If so, a hung jury is a possibility. I could also see the jury knocking out any charge not supported by wiretap evidence.
* Roundup…
* Judge James Zagel to jury: “You’ve heard all the evidence and the arguments”
Each piece of township government had its website quietly evaluated and scored on 10 criteria - including the online availability of officials’ contact information, public records, budgets, financial audits, taxes, salaries and benefits.
Between May 24 and June 2, Costin said, institute staff contacted each entity for the first time after its audit was completed to talk about the score - and ways it could be improved upon before a second audit was conducted six weeks later.
The number of students meeting or exceeding state standards on the Prairie State exam rose to 29.4 percent, up from 27.9 percent last year. Average ACT scores inched upward — from 17 to 17.3 out of a possible 36. That’s the highest ACT score for CPS students in a decade.
And college readiness — students achieving an ACT score of 20 or better — rose by 2.6 percentage points, from 21.8 percent to 24.4 percent. In 2001, only 17.1 percent of CPS students hit that benchmark.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Pamela S. Hollis has approved a settlement that routes $7 million in insurance money to Burr Oak and $150,000 to Cedar Park Cemetery in Calumet Park, Howard Korenthal, a court-appointed reorganization specialist who has been overseeing Burr Oak, said Tuesday.
A $500 contribution from the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group to Sheriff Mark Curran’s campaign fund was a mistake, both groups said Tuesday.
But Curran’s Democratic opponent in the November general election, Waukegan attorney Doug Roberts, said the fact Curran accepted public funds as a campaign donation in violation of the law is a telling fact about his opponent.
“He can’t be that stupid,” Roberts said after bringing the donation listed on Curran’s campaign disclosure forms to the attention of the media.
“Anyone who could look at that check and not realize it was public money and send it right back is not fit to hold any office in any jurisdiction in any state,” he added.
The money, paid with a MEG check, was written June 1 to pay for four MEG agents to play in Curran’s annual golf outing fundraiser, MEG Director Larry Lindenman said.
A one-time campaign staffer for Cook County Board President Todd Stroger was awarded a $15,000 consulting job to help the county negotiate contracts with its labor unions.
Raymond L. Harris Sr., of Bolingbrook, worked on the Stroger campaign briefly, but that wasn’t the reason he was tapped, said Stroger spokesman Eugene Mullins.
“It’s not because he was a campaign worker — it was because of his extensive experience in labor relations,” Mullins said. “He has over 40 years experience, and he’ll be sitting at the table with the … bargaining units.”
Harris, who is retired from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is described as an expert in labor negotiations — even working on 13 previous collective bargaining agreements in the county — in a recommendation letter written by the county’s human resources chief Joseph Sova.
“We know that a lot of lobbyists contacted 60 elected officials between January and June — some of them [elected leaders] more than 30 times,” said Cook County Clerk David Orr.
Orr worked with Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer to pass a stricter ethics ordinance that requires lobbyists to provide more detailed information about who they’re meeting with, the subject matter and how much they’re paid for the work.
The searchable database reveals that 188 lobbyists —representing 84 firms and five sole proprietors — registered in Cook County earned $1.1 million, down from $1.3 million reported between July and December 2009.
“We’re in a more urban area than what we used to be,” said Jim McGuire, first-year president of the DuPage County Fair, which finished its run in Wheaton on Sunday. “That has been a challenge: to be able to put on a good agricultural fair, but to still keep it relevant and exciting to the community that we’re in.”
* 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.
