* 4:07 pm - The striking Local 150 has split off another employer group. From a press release…
Today, the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 reached a tentative agreement with the Illinois Valley Contractors Association (IVCA), the major employer association covering LaSalle, Putnam, Bureau, and Livingston Counties. The agreement, like yesterday’s tentative agreement with the Chicago Area Independent Contractors Association, would provide an annual increase of approximately 3.25 percent for three years.
“The IVCA represents small and large contractors, and historically, they have agreed to the same terms that we reach with the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association (MARBA),” said James M. Sweeney, President-Business Manager of Local 150. MARBA has stalled negotiations with Local 150 until July 19th, calling the Union’s proposals “unrealistic.”
The Illinois Valley Contractors Association represents approximately 150 contractors, ranging from small local employers to national contractors.
“This tentative three-year contract with IVCA will protect our members’ healthcare and benefits,” said James M. Sweeney, President-Business Manager of Local 150. “Both sides sat down to negotiate and we found this to be a fair agreement that benefits the union members as well as the employers.”
“Obviously, employers across Northeastern Illinois find our proposal reasonable,” said Sweeney. “We are not looking for wage increases or to expand our benefits. We have committed $150 million of our money to stabilize our funds, and we are just asking employers to share the costs so workers can maintain what they have.”
Local 150 joined the Laborers’ District Council on strike against MARBA on July 1st in protest of unfair labor practices. MARBA has stalled negotiations once again until July 19th. “We once again repeat our offer to meet with MARBA earlier to try and work toward an agreement,” said Sweeney.
More than 100 contractors signed on to the CAICA agreement between this morning and noon, according to Sweeney. He continued that “MARBA’s stalling tactics were apparently meant not only to starve out union members, but small contractors as well. Now the contractors who are not on board with MARBA’s agenda have an alternative and they have been lined up since this morning to sign on with an association that wants to work instead of play games.”
* All the goofy hype notwithstanding, the state’s borrowing costs were actually lower than expected on yesterday’s bond offering. From the Wall Street Journal…
Illinois didn’t appear to have trouble attracting investors to a $900 million taxable municipal bond deal Wednesday, despite weak tax revenue, persistent fiscal woes and a yawning pension hole.
Investors bid up prices on the longest maturity part of the taxable Build America Bond deal, due in 2035, pushing down the risk premium to 325 basis points, or 3.25 percentage points, over the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond. Before the sale, the premium–the bonus investors demand to buy the bonds instead of extremely safe Treasurys–was forecast at 340 basis points, give or take 10 basis points.
The municipal market was unchanged to slightly firmer yesterday, amid light to moderate secondary trading activity, as Illinois launched $900 million of taxable Build America Bonds in the primary and the municipal scale stayed below 4% on the long end.
More than $2 billion in orders came in Wednesday for Illinois’ $900 million taxable Build America bond issue, a show of strong demand, said John Sinsheimer, the state’s director of capital markets. […]
The sale drew 93 investors, including 17 from overseas who bought about 29 percent of the issue.
“The fact that 17 highly sophisticated international investors made the decision that Illinois credit was worth their investment for the long term … is a true statement of their view of the creditworthiness of Illinois,” Sinsheimer said.
“The farther we traveled away from all of the noise that is in the US market on Illinois, the more focused investors were on the strength of the state’s economy and the statutory support we give our bonds,” said John Sinsheimer, head of capital markets for Illinois.
A big selling point for Illinois was that its state constitution requires that it make bond payments before any other bills, including education, public safety and entitlements.
“The whole muni sector hangs under this sovereign cloud from Europe,” said Scott Minerd, chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners, a US money manager who bought the Illinois bonds. “If you look at how secure you are in the Illinois deal [with the priority of payments], you can pick up some bonds that are relatively cheap basically because no one wants to own them right now. The time to buy securities like Illinois is when you are being paid to take the risk.”
* None of this means that Illinois doesn’t have serious problems. It does. But investors know that bonds are absolutely the first to be paid, and I’ll bet that many believed like Minerd does that they could let the crazy hype boost earnings on an otherwise strong investment, even at the lower payoff rate.
Brady for Illinois today announced it raised $3.6 million in campaign contributions through the first half of this year.
In a report to be filed by July 20 with the State Board of Elections for the reporting period January 1st to June 30th, the Brady campaign will report contributions from every one of the state’s 102 counties. The campaign received contributions from over 4,200 individual donors, 2,500 of which were donations under $100.
Through June 30th, the campaign had approximately $2.3 million on hand.
The campaign also today announced the addition of businessman and long time Republican Party leader Ron Gidwitz as Chairman of Brady for Illinois.
That’s pretty good, and better than I think a lot of folks thought he’d be doing at this point. Thoughts?
…Adding… A search of the Board of Elections site shows Brady raised just $243,200.95 between Jan. 1 and primary day. So he’s raised about $3.4 million since then. He had about $190K in the bank as of Jan. 1st as well.
* As I’ve told subscribers, the Cedra Crenshaw campaign has kicked up a whole lot of national interest and local media is finally starting to take notice.
Crenshaw is a Republican candidate for the Illinois Senate. Actually, she was a candidate before she was knocked off the ballot. Her petitions had the wrong wording on them…
The [Will County] Electoral Board voted 2-1 to remove Crenshaw because her forms stated that signatures could be collected no earlier than 90 days before the filing deadline. A new state law requires that signatures be collected no earlier than 75 days before the deadline.
Those sorts of technicalities drive reformers up a wall. A different candidate in a different county faced the same objection, but was kept on the ballot. That drives reformers nuts as well, but we currently have two competing appellate cases on whether someone who votes in one primary can be appointed to the ballot on the other primary or run as a candidate with the other party.
Crenshaw is a tea partier, and she’s been touted nationally as a symbol of a simple mom who wants to run for the General Assembly. She’s also black, and tea party types have used her skincolor to counter claims by the NAACP and others that they are racists. As Fox Chicago reported last night, a Will County event with Gov. Quinn was interrupted yesterday by one of her white supporters, who made special mention of Crenshaw’s skin color…
Crenshaw herself has consistently claimed that the “Chicago Machine Democrats” who’ve kicked her off the ballot are racists…
I have yet to hear from the NAACP about this injustice to my campaign and the voters of Illinois’ 43rd State Senate District.
I encourage the NAACP to confront and condemn the explicit racist behavior of groups like the New Black Panther Party and to acknowledge the racial politics played by the Chicago Machine Democrats.
She’s also known for way over the top statements, like this one on Fox Chicago last night…
“Right here in the State of Illinois, the vote is being denied to the voters of the 43rd State Senate District by a frivolous challenge.”
No voters are being denied a right to vote. Just a “right” to vote for her.
These days, she’s running hard against the Chicago Machine, which seems quite afraid of her. […]
Crenshaw was bounced from the ballot, which just goes to show you how panicked the Dems are about the prospect of being held accountable in November.
“The Chicago Machine is afraid of me because I am a conservative black woman, backed by the tea party, with a winning message that is winning over typical Democratic constituencies,” Crenshaw says.
She deserves a chance to prove that. She needs to be on the ballot in November.
I don’t know a single sane Republican who thinks Crenshaw is gonna win that campaign or that the Democrats are afraid of her. Rod Blagojevich won that district in 2002 with 60 percent of the vote. John Kerry took 57 percent in 2004. State Sen.Wilhelmi took 70 percent in his last race. Only a partisan goofball would say this challenge was filed out of “fear.” They did it for the same reason Republicans and Democrats often challenge opposing candidates. They don’t want to bother with the distraction.
Crenshaw, herself, challenged a third candidate in the district. That candidate only filed one signature, but she could’ve let it slide. She objected because he’s a conservative who might take votes away from her.
* What the Democrats have done here is manage to create a massive PR headache for themselves. They could’ve just let it go, but they (like the Republicans) are what they are, and they just had to challenge those petitions. So, now they’re getting whacked by the Tribune and by at least one local columnist…
Crenshaw is a black homemaker and former accountant who is fighting for the chance to contest incumbent state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (D-Joliet) on Nov. 2. Wilhelmi’s 43rd District includes most of Homer Township and all of Lockport.
But as any newcomer knows, running for office often is the easy part. Getting on the ballot requires armor.
If you read this column on a semi-regular basis, you won’t be surprised at my indignation. More and more, incumbents expect to be carried through campaign season on chariots. Perhaps we can kiss their rings as they careen down the next parade route.
The Republicans are pretty sure they’ll win this on appeal. They may be right, but the red-hot racial rhetoric and the mindless Tribune rants really need to be toned down in the meantime. The Democrats didn’t challenge Crenshaw’s petitions because she was black, they challenged the petitions because she’s a Republican. Period.
* Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys are running into another brick wall with Judge Zagel. The judge is tossing their requests to play recordings out the window…
Of the 20 recordings Blagojevich lawyers asked to move into evidence Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Zagel said he’ll allow just two to be played and gave a “maybe” on a handful of others. Another 10 new recordings are likely to be played after an agreement with the prosecution.
In all, Blagojevich is seeking to play 38 recordings secretly made by the government, but he must get an OK from the judge in hearings held Wednesday and today.
Apparently, the lawyers are trying the judge’s patience by making frivolous requests…
U.S. District Judge James Zagel at times seemed to search for new ways to call the recordings irrelevant to Blagojevich’s corruption trial.
“Excluded on the grounds of uselessness,” he said of one transcript.
Just about every lawyer I talk to figures that Zagel is gonna throw the book at Blagojevich when the jury finds him guilty. Blagojevich and his lawyers have made a mockery of this case since the beginning. At times, it has appeared that the lawyers are deliberately trying to get under Zagel’s skin so he makes a mistake that will force a mistrial or move an appellate court to overturn his conviction. The real danger for Blagojevich is that Zagel will sentence him to so many years in prison that he won’t qualify for a minimum security lockup. No Club Fed for you!
Many of the conversations Rod Blagojevich wants jurors to hear have to do with his contention that he was acting with the advice of lawyers. Zagel tossed a number of those conversations, saying they didn’t qualify as advice of counsel argument, in some cases because Zagel deemed the discussions political in nature.
Zagel said one proposed recording was akin to a man who tells his lawyer friends he thinks he’s going to poison his wife and they say nothing.
“Can you take from that the answer is to murder your wife?” Zagel said. “The answer is obviously no.”
* Meanwhile, Blagojevich’s “advice of counsel” defense is probably doomed…
An advice-of-counsel defense must demonstrate that Blagojevich approached his advisers “for the purpose of securing advice on the lawfulness of his possible future conduct” and that he provided them with all necessary facts. The prosecution has argued that Blagojevich sought political advice, rather than legal advice. He was, the argument goes, gauging how much President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat was allegedly worth, rather than seeing if it was legal to allegedly trade it for campaign donations or cabinet posts.
Heaton is not the only one surprised by the move. Zagel told the defense he has only seen one person with a law degree argue advice-of-counsel during his 23 years on the bench.
Giannoulias, the Illinois treasurer, collected slightly more than $900,000 during the quarter that ended June 30, with the bulk of the money donated in June, said Kathleen Strand, a campaign spokeswoman.
The campaign for Representative Mark Kirk, the Republican Senate candidate, said July 1 that he raised $2.3 million during the second quarter. Kirk had about $3.9 million in the bank for his Senate race at the end of the quarter, according to his campaign.
Giannoulias, 34, had about $1 million in the bank at the end of the quarter, Strand said.
Strand said Giannoulias lagged behind in fundraising because of a self-imposed pledge to reject contributions from corporate political action committees and federal lobbyists.
Giannoulias’ fund-raising was hobbled most of the last quarter because of a cloud over him because of the April failure of his family owned Broadway Bank. Giannoulias, the state treasurer, is also declining to accept donations from federal lobbyists and corporate political action committees. […]
This morning in Chicago, Giannoulias is hosting a press conference where he is expected to highlight Kirk’s opposition to Wall Street reform–a Senate vote is possible today on the overhaul bill–and on Kirk’s accepting donations from the financial services industry. Kirk voted against the House version of the main Wall Street reform bill.
Giannoulias won’t be able to sugar-coat this or excuse it. Kirk now has almost a four-to-one cash advantage over him, and there’s no sign that Kirk has slowed down. He raised more than Giannoulias in June, which should’ve been a prime fundraising period for the Democrat since Kirk was getting bashed over not telling the truth about his military record. Time’s running out to raise the big bucks necessary to compete in this state’s expensive media markets. His supporters better hope he has a plan.
* Related…
* Journal-Star: $30 million on a useless special US Senate election? No way
“It has nothing to do with race,” co-writer township clerk Steve Balich said, reports the Southtown Star. “It has to do with the law and whether or not a person is a legal immigrant.”
With a population that is 94% white, we didn’t realize the Homer Township had such a bad immigration problem.
But a rival tanker aircraft built by European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. would create roughly the same number of jobs at six subcontractors in the state, using some of the same suppliers Boeing plans to use, such as Rockford’s Hamilton-Sundstrand, which makes onboard power generators, and the Rolling Meadows plant of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., which provides an anti-missile defense system.
The money, totaling about $11.4 million in Illinois, is part of $713.2 million to be pulled from about 309 “high-priority” projects that didn’t get off the ground or consume all the money earmarked by members of Congress in surface transportation bills dating to 1987.
The proposal by the county’s independent hospital board passed a County Board committee by a 9-3 vote, though some commissioners worried the strategy will shortchange some of the neediest neighborhoods by closing acute care services at Oak Forest Hospital and scaling them back significantly at Provident Hospital.
The Illinois Department of Insurance, which oversees public pension funds, has asked for a copy of the transcript of the pension board’s meeting last week, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Last Thursday, the board fell one vote shy of approving the pension of longtime Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo but unanimously approved the pension of his deputy, Gary Montino.
The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to name the post office near Wrigley Field after musician Steve Goodman. U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley sponsored the resolution to rename the post office the “Steve Goodman Post Office Building.” President Obama must now sign the resolution.
* 3:41 pm - Striking unions have split management in two. Pretty good move on their part and will certainly help their PR battle. From a press release…
Early this morning, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 and the Laborers’ District Council of Chicago & Vicinity reached a tentative three-year agreement with the Chicago Area Independent Contractors Association (CAICA), one of the four major employer associations that bargain on behalf of construction contractors in the Chicago metropolitan area. Once ratified by union members and delegates, this contract would provide annual increases of approximately 3.25 percent over the next three years to cover skyrocketing healthcare and benefit costs.
“This tentative three-year contract with CAICA will protect the healthcare and benefits of the Unions’ members and get hundreds of contractors back to work,” said James M. Sweeney, President-Business Manager of Local 150. “There are about 1,300 small and medium sized contractors in the area that will likely be eligible to sign on to this agreement.”
More than 450 employers are currently signed to the CAICA agreement, and others will be able to sign a “memorandum of agreement,” making them signatory. MARBA currently has nearly 200 association members, who will not be eligible to transfer their bargaining rights to CAICA.
After MARBA delayed further negotiations until July 19th, it became apparent that MARBA’s strategy was likely not only to starve out union members, but also drive small and medium sized contractors out of business by prolonging the work stoppage for longer than these independent contractors can survive.
“There are a lot of contractors out there who don’t agree with MARBA’s stall tactics because it will put them out of business,” said James Connolly, Business Manager of the Laborers’ District Council of Chicago & Vicinity. “Our union members are not the only ones struggling during this strike. Plenty of contractors are asking MARBA to stop playing games and negotiate a settlement. This newly-signed agreement was negotiated with this in mind and will give many contractors the opportunity to get back to work.”
Still, the Unions’ offer to push up the negotiation date with MARBA stands. “We reiterate our willingness to meet day or night to work toward an agreement with MARBA,” said Sweeney. “To sit and wait until next Monday to negotiate is a colossal waste of time, and many independent employers agree with us on that, so signing on to CAICA’s agreement gives them an alternative to waiting for MARBA to take this situation seriously.”
This agreement further illustrates the fact that what the Unions have proposed in negotiations with MARBA is reasonable. In recent weeks, agreements have been reached in Peoria, the Quad Cities, Northwest Indiana, and throughout the construction industry in Northern Illinois for economic packages comparable to what the Unions have proposed to MARBA, and which far exceed what MARBA has offered.
The tables may have been turned here. Your thoughts?
* For decades, folks on the Left complained that whenever they staged a march/protest/event the media would always seem to key in on their craziest speakers or their weirdest participants. The tea party folks are experiencing that same thing now. It’s the nature of the media beast. Crazy sells.
[Bill Brady] prefers the Tea Parties of rural Illinois to the coffee shops of Chicago.
Brady attended a Tea Party in Oglesby on Tuesday night. Like most of the right-wing bloodfeasts he holds south of I-80, it wasn’t reported on in the Chicago media. One of Brady’s biggest challenges as a candidate is to balance his native conservatism with a message that will sell across the entire state. For every LaSalle voter who jumps to his feet as Brady rails against illegal immigration, Brady is in danger of losing three or four voters in Cook County.
“Right-wing bloodfeasts”? Wow. That rhetoric is more worthy of a second-tier Daily Kos blogger than a major Chicago media outlet.
Beverly Perlson of Aurora, organizer of Band of Mothers, a support group for soldiers, spoke [at the Brady event]. Perlson said she protested in Washington D.C. with a sign that said, “Al Qaeda loves Nancy Pelosi.” Perlson said Obama has been “going around the country and telling everyone we are not a Christian nation.”
And expanded a bit on the local story…
The event’s coordinator gave Brady a copy of The Five-Thousand Year Leap , a book by the late anti-communist W. Cleon Skousen, asserting that the United States is a Christian nation founded on Biblical principles. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck has cited the book as one of the biggest influences on his own philosophy. Publishers of The Conservative Magazine of Illinois circulated through the crowd, signing up subscribers with an offer of two tickets to hear Beck in Chicago.
Brady, a businessman from Bloomington, defended the Tea Party. “Some people say ‘ah, it’s just a fringe group.’ Continue what you’re doing and go out and recruit more people.”
Sorry, dude. Perlson is obviously a fringe type. And at least some of those types are active in Brady’s campaign…
It wasn’t hard to find political extremists in the crowd, however. From her seat at a picnic table near the speakers, Streamwood resident Mary Ann McKiernan attacked Obama’s citizenship and denied he is the nation’s president.
“We don’t have a president, we have a usurper,” said McKiernan, who identified herself as a volunteer with the Brady campaign.
“Obama will be judged on his actions and if I were him I’d just provide the proof. One action he should do is provide the proof. I really haven’t seen any proof, but I haven’t been following this issue closely.”
* Brady needs to study how the Chicago media burned Glenn Poshard for his social conservatism back in 1998. He should learn from Poshard’s mistakes. Speaking at these tea party events is just the ammo they need - and are looking for - to sink the battleship.
You wanna be inclusive? Hold inclusive events. You wanna improve GOP performance in Cook County? Dump the crazy rhetoric. You can be angry without being a nutball. Brady is walking right into a trap of his own making. The media isn’t gonna change, so he must.
* We’ve seen a lot of back and forth this week over whether six “satellite” offices established by Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and his chief of staff Robin Kelly (who is running to replace her boss) are worthwhile or not. From the Sun-Times…
State Sen. Dan Rutherford doesn’t believe State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and his deputy and heir-nominee Robin Kelly can open six satellite offices around the state without it costing the state any money.
“They say they’re using state office buildings so they are not getting charged rent,” said Rutherford, the Republican nominee for state treasurer. “We’re closing down Department of Children and Family Services offices across the state, five state police headquarters. If there is space in these regional offices, let them use it.”
A spokeswoman for Kelly, who is running to succeed her boss as state treasurer, said that since Treasurer’s employees no longer have to drive out to remote locations, the satellite offices actually save the state $30,000 a year.
But why does the state treasurer even need satellite offices, Rutherford asked Tuesday.
“I cannot think of one thing worthwhile,” Rutherford said. “They say it’s for ‘outreach, public awareness…’ There’s nothing the consumer needs at offices for the Treasurer. For people to come in and talk about Bright Start, Cash Dash? All of that stuff is on-line. And if it’s not, it should be. At the Thompson Center, there are people waiting at Attorney General’s office the Secretary of State’s office, but there’s not one soul waiting at the Treasurer’s office.”
The two candidates debated this week and longtime commenter and blogger bored now has video of the two going at it over this issue…
Frankly, even if this saves $30,000 a year as Kelly claims, I still think it’s awfully suspect that they would be opening one of those offices in the Metro East a few months before the election.
* Kelly also defended her office over the Bright Start debacle. Kelly claimed that just 3 percent of Bright Start participants all of their money in the fund that crashed and claimed they got all but 36 percent of their money back. Rutherford wasn’t impressed. Watch…
Kelly also answered questions about who was minding the store while both she and her boss ran statewide and how she was separating her work from her campaign…
* Related…
* Treasurer candidates wrangle at Southland chamber debate
* Rutherford Thinks Treasurer Has Too Many Offices
* Galesburg Mayor Garza backs Dem. treasurer candidate
* Many of you know Matt Ryan, a longtime political operative who is chief of staff to Will County Executive Larry Walsh. Matt is very sick. He’s been back in the hospital for a while and he lapsed into a coma last week. Matt hasn’t stabilized enough yet for the doctors to move him to a bigger hospital, but his wife Angela is updating his condition on a personal blog supplied by the hospital…
Today they took him off the ventilator and he is breathing all on his own.
He has also opened his eyes completely, but does not respond to verbal command as of yet. Our hopes are real soon.
All of the tests continue to come back negative and he is stable. I am awaiting (constant waiting) for the doctors to come and visit for updated information. Dr. Schubert (primary) is the one that has the authority to move him and I know he is already on board for Matt to move to University of Chicago Hospital.
I’ve known Matt for years, as many of you have. Like everyone in politics, he’s made his share of enemies, but I’m positive that even his worst enemy is rooting for him right now. I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t smiling. Even when we argued (and we had some doozies), he’d always be smiling by the end. He’s just a good guy through and through, and he’s a devoted husband to Angela, who I’m sure is devastated by this turn of events.
If you know Matt, take the time to leave him a message here in comments. Angela knows about this post, so she’ll be checking in and hopefully she can read them to him. And if you don’t know him, wish him well anyway. Take my word for it, your karma/prayers/goodwill won’t be wasted on him.
This post replaces our usual “Question of the Day,” so have at it.
llinois voters would no longer have to declare their party in a primary election under a surprise amendatory veto Gov. Quinn issued Tuesday.
Under new rules pushed by Quinn, voters would be handed the ballots of Republicans, Democrats and whatever other parties have primary contests. Voters then would privately choose which ballot to fill out.
No one but the voter would know which party’s primary they voted in. Voters would not be able to vote in more than one party’s primary… Quinn said the bill will end the era of party bosses being able to check whether voters, and especially government employees, voted in the “right” party’s primary.
Quinn, who grew up in DuPage County, said “that county, when I was growing up, was quite Republican.” He added he remembered “some people being afraid to vote in the Democratic Primary.”
However, in addition to simply allowing voters to choose between ballots privately, Collins advocated for taking the measure a step further to allow selection of candidates running in more than one party primary.
“If there’s a good candidate for high office from one party, and from another, I shouldn’t have to choose,” he said.
The specific privacy interest at issue is not the confidentiality of medical records or personal finances, but confidentiality of one’s party affiliation. Even if (as seems unlikely) a scheme for administering a closed primary could not be devised in which the voter’s declaration of party affiliation would not be public information, we do not think that the State’s interest in assuring the privacy of this piece of information in all cases can conceivably be considered a “compelling” one. If such information were generally so sacrosanct, federal statutes would not require a declaration of party affiliation as a condition of appointment to certain offices.
* House GOP Leader Tom Cross just sent out a press release on the subject…
“Primary elections historically draw low voter turn-out partly because some are hesitant to publically declare their party. Some voters actually fear for their jobs and others just view it as an invasion of their privacy.
“Governor Quinn’s Illinois Reform Commission last year recommended that primaries should be open to combat patronage and prevent intimidation of public employees by party leaders.
“I agree that an open primary system is the best way to protect the voters’ right to keep their vote private. Speaker Madigan’s staff says they have this issue under review. In my opinion, a voters’ right to privacy is fundamental and must be protected. But this is only one piece of the election reform puzzle, House Republicans have also supported recall, and special elections for U.S. Senate seat vacancies, and imposing campaign finance caps on legislative leaders and party chairman – it is time to make a clean break from the past.”
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said he thinks an open primary might help Republicans. He thinks taking away patronage might allow some voters to vote their consciences and not vote to keep their jobs.
State Rep. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, said the governor’s plan would do more to influence elections in Illinois than anything legislators have done in years.
“(An open primary) will triple the cost of an election,” Tryon said. “Because now, instead of worrying about getting your own voters out in a primary, you’re now going to have to mail and campaign to the other party. And the other party may not have pure intentions.”
Tryon, who is also the head of the McHenry County Republican Party, said political operatives could use an open primary to thin out the competition.
“You’re going to have Democrats and Republicans, and Libertarians and Green Party (voters) crossing into each others’ primary, saying I’m going to vote against this guy or I’m going to vote for this guy so this guy doesn’t get the nomination - so our guy has a better chance,” he said.
While Illinois continues its biggest borrowing spree in recent years, it is paying a steep premium for loans because of its failure to significantly address its financial crisis, observers say.
In peddling another $900 million in Build America capital projects bonds on Wednesday, Illinois could face interest costs of about $9 million a year more than if the state were in better financial shape. The extra costs would total about $225 million over the life of the bonds.
The annual hit may not seem like a huge sum compared with the state’s $25 billion budget. But it’s more than Gov. Pat Quinn’s $8 million in cuts to the Department of Natural Resources, for example, or his $8 million in cuts for veterans programs.
And while I sometimes disagree with Laurence Msall, he’s on target here…
“The financial uncertainty of the state and the continued failure of the General Assembly and the governor to address the problem are having very negative consequences for the business climate,” said Laurence Msall, president of the nonpartisan Civic Federation. “Businesses are not willing to invest in a state when they cannot predict the long-term tax policy and fiscal conditions.”
Businesses want stability. Illinois’ government is completely in doubt at the moment. Because Bill Brady isn’t the best candidate the GOP could’ve fielded, nobody really knows what will happen in November. And that means nobody knows what will happen after that in Springfield. The impeachment and removal of Rod Blagojevich has put everything on hold because the current governor has no public mandate for his budget proposals. Nobody voted for higher taxes last time, except maybe that ten percent who cast their ballots for Rich Whitney. More from Miles White, chairman of Abbott Park, Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories…
To address its budget crisis, state officials need to cut spending, especially by finding ways to reduce their commitment to employee pensions, said White, the Abbott chairman. Even if a commitment to cutting spending is demonstrated, they may still need to raise taxes to help eliminate the deficit, he said.
It’s not that they’re wholly opposed to tax hikes, it’s that they want to know what the heck they can expect to see.
* And I’ve been wondering a whole lot lately whether this sort of thinking is just wishful fantasy…
“You can’t afford to decimate the social safety net or fire all the two-year teachers,” meaning the most recent recruits, said Vaught in a phone interview. “You have to use strategic borrowing until times get better.”
But what if things don’t get better for a few or more years? Can we afford to keep this base spending at these levels and pay off the accumulated debt when things turn around? I’ve heartily fought this goofy “Illinois is Greece” comparison, but without a much faster turnaround than anyone is predicting, this spending is simply not sustainable.
I think what we need to do soon is come up with a list of programs that could be cut or should be preserved and ask all gubernatorial candidates whether they’d be in favor of cutting any or all of them and why. Maybe that’s too detailed for campaigns to deal with, but we need to do something here, so let’s put our heads together today and talk about this.
In answering a question, Brady said he would support shifting social welfare funding to business training in low income neighborhoods.
Thoughts?
* Related and a roundup…
* John Cullerton: Senate Dems have provided Quinn new budget tools
* Lending crisis may hit libraries - Funding cuts put interlibrary loans at risk
* Brady heats up local Tea Party: “We can only bring jobs back to the state by sustained revenue growth through deregulation and lower taxes, not by additional burdens on our citizens and businesses.”
* River Forest plans sales tax referendum in November
* Don’t kill the messenger: Don’t blame the schools. Don’t blame City Hall. Don’t blame the County or the cops. The elimination of programs, the layoff of staff, the decisions not to replace or repair, all falls at the feet of our State Legislature and Governor Pat Quinn. It really is that simple.
* Is 30 million pounds a lot of carp? Yes: The upside? Creation of 180 new jobs. Export revenues for Illinois. And fewer carp. To be precise, 30 million fewer pounds of carp by the end of 2011.
Since launching his campaign, Kirk has come under sharp criticism for exaggerating his military accomplishments, repeatedly choosing to emphasize the few “Top Gun” moments in a 21-year Reserve career that has been spent almost entirely focused on office work.
But an Associated Press review of Navy personnel documents — as well as interviews with former colleagues, commanders and experts — shows Kirk has been an exceptional officer entrusted with vital, sensitive duties. His work was important but not glamorous.
If Kirk had limited his statements to his actual military record, he would not have lacked for achievements to brag about.
During the Kosovo bombing campaign, for instance, Kirk stayed behind at a base in Italy to study data and prepare briefings while the pilots of his unit, known as the “Star Warriors,” were in the air.
But instead of describing his actual duties when talking to voters, Kirk has talked about encountering anti-aircraft fire over Kosovo on what he called his “first mission.” But it was his only flight, and he was just an observer.
It seems to me that Kirk always needs to be the smartest and bravest person in the room. We all have friends with that annoying habit of trying to top every story that everybody tells. Kirk’s problem is he ventures into taboo territory with his false braggadocia about military exploits that never existed. He’s a Commander McBragg for our times…
* And as I’ve written before, once you get the reputation for being dishonest, you’ll have an extremely difficult time overcoming it. From the Sun-Times…
Just when you thought Mark Kirk couldn’t be more disingenuous.
The Republican Senate candidate who tried to pass off a series of exaggerations in his military record as honest errors now is smearing his Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, with a blatantly misleading TV ad that links him to the Gulf oil spill.
Usually, that ad would’ve been debunked and people would’ve moved on. Considering the press coverage Giannoulias was getting before Kirk’s problems were exposed, the ad might’ve even been ignored. Instead, it now becomes a character issue for Kirk…
And what do we call a candidate who thinks the voters are too stupid to see the truth for what it is?
* For almost two years now, Rod Blagojevich has said he is completely innocent of all charges, that he never did anything wrong, that he was “stolen” from the people by a too-aggressive prosecutor, that the surveillance tapes would prove everything.
The trial of embattled former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich shifts to the defense team this week. Federal prosecutors wrapped their case Tuesday after six weeks of putting on evidence in the racketeering and extortion case against Mr. Blagojevich, attempting to portray him as a crass negotiator who inappropriately secured millions for his own campaign and spent lavishly on his wardrobe.
The defense strategy will not downplay Blagojevich’s actions, but focus on his intent.
His legal team, headed by Sam Adams Sr. and Sam Adams Jr., a well-known father-and-son duo in the city’s county court system, hope to convince jurors that the former governor knew what he was doing but was misguided, due to the poor legal advice from his inner circle.
So, a guy who gets elected to governor twice on the issue of George Ryan’s corruption, who is a lawyer and a former prosecutor is now saying he just did stupid things because of bad legal advice? I’m with Zorn. This situation does remind me of a certain Seinfeld episode…
Mr. Lippman: It’s come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. Is that correct?
George Costanza: Who said that?
Mr. Lippman: She did.
George Costanza: [pause] Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon… you know, cause I’ve worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time.”
Contrary to popular wisdom, “sometimes ignorance of the law is an excuse,” said Northwestern University law professor Albert Alschuler. He mentioned tax- and mail-fraud cases in which the “good faith” defense has prevailed. But to invoke “an ‘advice of counsel’ defense” that blames bum attorneys for one’s misdeeds, Alschuler said, a defendant has to show, among other things, “a request for advice of counsel regarding the legality of the proposed action.”
Alschuler added that “if any lawyer ever did” explicitly give the thumbs-up to some of the Blagojeviches’ alleged schemes and shakedowns, “it wouldn’t have been reasonable to rely on his advice.”
Especially since his predecessor was and is in prison for using the power of the governor’s office for personal gain.
This defense strategy relies far more on skillful argument to the jury at the end of the case than it does on the introduction of more evidence and testimony. Each new witness, particularly those with the last name Blagojevich, will come to the stand dragging a keg — not just a can — of worms ready to be opened.
But when he takes the witness stand, a promise that Adam renewed Tuesday, the former governor will contend he thought he was acting within the law when he did those things.
In other words, he thought it was OK to direct others to try to wring campaign donations from the CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital at the same time he was in discussions with that same CEO on a government policy change worth up to $10 million annually to the hospital, so long as he didn’t explicitly connect the two subjects in direct contacts with the hospital.
The same would go for his attempts to extract campaign donations from road-building and racetrack industry executives while holding hostage matters of importance to them — and maybe even for his ill-fated effort to get some personal benefit from filling Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.
* Cook County: We can’t afford to police towns — unless they pay
Squeezed by budget cuts, several suburban police departments have talked with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office about policing their towns — but Cook County Board members say those law enforcement agencies would have to cover the costs and get county board approval.
The county board typically endorses the president’s nominations, but some commissioners told the Sun-Times last week they were balking at the appointment of Williams.
Cook County suburbs looking to save money by dropping their police departments and handing over law enforcement to the sheriff would be out of luck under a measure the County Board approved Tuesday.
The resolution, approved with only one commissioner voting against, opposes allowing the sheriff’s department to take over primary police responsibilities in municipalities, as it did in Ford Heights. To hammer home the point, the measure states that no new funding will be provided for such efforts.
The symptoms are troubling: Thousands of impoverished patients rely for their health care on Cook County facilities that don’t match their needs and that cost more than taxpayers can sustain.
The prognosis, though, has brightened. Apply the right treatments and everyone could win — the county health system’s patients, the underused infrastructure and the taxpayers who pay for it all.
* Mayor Daley: Not making gun owners jump through hoops with new law
“We’re not jumping through hoops. We have to have accountability. … This is protection of the city from lawsuits from a lot of people,” the mayor said.
* Alderman wants investigation into offensive graffiti on South Loop building
An alderman who discovered graffiti on a South Loop building that said “we kill cops” just days days after a police officer was gunned down on the South Side wants the defacement removed immediately and criminal charges against its creator.
That new list includes reputed street gang members accused of murder and a former police officer accused of shaking down drug dealers. The nonprofit group’s Most Wanted list has nine men and one woman.
Hamilton said the nearest city neighborhood is about a mile away and the nearest suburbs are about three-quarters of a mile away. Studies have shown the range wouldn’t create noise problems for those residents, he said.[…]
But the Southeast Environmental Task Force didn’t know about the proposal until it was placed on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s agenda in June, said Peggy Salazar, the task force’s interim director. The task force has sent letters to the city’s Department of Environment and to police Supt. Jody Weis with questions about possible noise and lead pollution, Salazar said. She also said the task force envisioned the property becoming open land for recreational use.
[I]n recent years, with more access to information about the disease, increasing numbers of black churches are slowly becoming outspoken advocates for testing, increased government funding and education. For some, it has meant changing their views about religion and opening their doors to gays and lesbians, whom they once shunned.
* Contractor’s error cut off access to riverwalk near Lakeshore East
Residents of Chicago’s Lakeshore East community were denied access to the riverwalk for two days last week when a contractor hired to replace missing aluminum panels separating the riverwalk and Lower Wacker Drive mistakenly installed one too many.[…]
‘’Fifteen thousand people live in that neighborhood. You had people coming off the riverwalk expecting to be able to cut under Lower Wacker and, instead, they were running into this wall. That extended their commute home by five or 10 minutes,'’ said Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who drove to the scene to eyeball the mistake before demanding that the Department of Transportation remove the panel.
It may be too early in the debate to condemn the University of Illinois for firing an adjunct professor whose orthodox Catholic views on homosexuality deeply offended some of his students. But the university’s action against religion professor Kenneth Howell certainly bears more, and careful, scrutiny.
A faculty group at the University of Illinois’ flagship campus will review the decision to fire an adjunct religion professor for saying he agreed with Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.
CARBONDALE - Despite precautions taken to fight a lack of timely state funding, SIUC Chancellor Rita Cheng told the Faculty Senate on Tuesday that some furloughs will likely still have to happen.
“Even with our savings and the 4 percent reductions, we still do not have enough to support our budget next year,” Cheng said.
[T]oday, many students choose to hit the books in June and July so they can rack up extra credits — for a fee — or learn the ropes before starting freshmen year. High schools cater to the new type of teenager with an array of college-prep courses.
* To cut gridlock, drivers should pay for fast lane, new study says
‘’Based on the investigation conducted by this department, it is determined that Salgado’s death was caused by drowning with no indication of the drowning to have been caused by or at the hands of another,'’ according to the report.
The city of Blue Island bears no responsibility for last month’s drowning death of a Calumet Township trustee at an after-hours party on park district property, Mayor Don Peloquin said at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
As a columnist, I like elected officials throwing after-hours parties in public buildings where women get naked, people get drunk and a couple is seen having sex in a shower stall.[…]
Of course, when a dead body is found the next morning, all of the fun suddenly becomes deadly serious and extremely embarrassing.
The issue: In Blue Island, public officials and employees, using public facilities at public expense for private debauchery that led to tragedy, have been exposed.
We say: It’s time for those responsible to stand up and be counted.
Though a Southland nursing home is back in compliance with recent care violations, state health officials said Tuesday they are still pressing ahead with license revocation based on a history of substandard care.
Naperville Unit District 203 provided a free lunch for construction crews Tuesday in hopes of showing its appreciation for striking workers who returned to the job.
Hewitt, based in Lincolnshire, is one of the world’s biggest human resources consulting and outsourcing companies with over $3 billion in annual revenue.
Hewitt, which employs roughly 4,500 people in the Chicago area and 23,000 globally, will be merged with Aon subsidiary Aon Consulting. Aon Corp. employs 36,000 globally, including 6,300 at its Aon Consulting unit.
The adjoining suburbs of Alsip, Chicago Ridge and Oak Lawn in recent months have signed on to a study by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus that explores the feasibility of merging some function of their fire departments or consolidating them into a single fire protection district.
Though there was already little doubt about Schaumburg’s negative stance on Cook County’s proposed red-light camera program for the suburbs, village officials Tuesday felt it important there be no doubt at all.
History may be a hard thing for leaders of the Islamic Center of Western Suburbs to overcome in their effort to seek permission from DuPage County to convert a house into a prayer center.
Sangamon County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter said he wants the school representatives to come back with a clearer plan for how improvements to area schools will improve children’s educations.
More than a decade after Illinois changed the way electricity is sold in the state, business customers have more alternatives to traditional utilities than ever, but similar choices have failed to develop for residential users.
We applaud Mayor Larry Morrissey’s decision Monday to release the results of a Police Department internal investigation of officers Oda Poole and Stan North in the Aug. 24, 2009, shooting death of Mark Anthony Barmore in the basement day care of the Kingdom Authority International Ministries Church.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined the Greenville Livestock Inc. $40,000 last Friday for not following the Clean Water Act when it discarded animal waste.
The corps announced the plan last month, touting the injection of a slurry of water, coal ash and lime into 25 miles of slide-prone levees in 200-mile stretch of the river from Alton, Ill., near St. Louis to tiny Gale on southern Illinois’ tip as the cheapest, longest-lasting fix among several options it weighed.
