* Years ago, I was a regular on Mike Wilson’s WMAY talk show in Springfield, mainly on Wednesday afternoons when the station would broadcast from a downtown studio connected to a tavern. I was on his last show before he was laid off, but I wasn’t the reason. The station made the move because of financial pressures.
Mike was a young phenom. He was one of the youngest radio producers in Chicago when he worked for WLS, then was the Statehouse Bureau Chief for WMAY at the tender age of 21. He won the ACLU’s 2008 Ethel Gingold award for defending free speech rights while on the air.
Mike ended up on the Senate Democratic staff. But he left two years ago and is now doing stand-up comedy and writing in Chicago.
* In other “Mike” news, my former cartoonist Mike Cramer’s award-winning film Dear Mr. Fidrych is playing at the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks, Michigan on June 27th at 3 o’clock Eastern Time. Mike says the town is about an hour and a quarter from the Loop. If we can get enough people to go, I could easily be talked into a road trip.
It’s 1976 in Detroit. Twelve-year-old Marty Jones is intellectual and poetic. But, in his final year of youth baseball, he desperately wants to ascend to his local youth league’s ‘majors’ and star as a pitcher. Marty blows tryouts and finds himself mired on a terrible team in the youth league minors.
When Bird-mania hits, Marty is motivated by the overnight success of the Detroit Tigers’ quirky rookie sensation, Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych. Marty writes a poem to the Detroit Tigers’ star, and Fidrych unexpectedly writes back, propelling Marty on a winning streak.
Thirty years later, Marty is a Chicago advertising executive muddling through a mid-life slump. His wife is thinking of leaving him; he barely knows his son; his career is faltering; and he can’t find the inspiration to write new poems.
Can a father-son road trip in search of Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych help Marty reconnect with his family and his youthful optimism? Who will be the hero of Marty’s own life?
The film features a poignant performance by the late Mark Fidryich, who died in a tragic accident in April 2009, just as the film was nearing completion.
* And while we’re plugging things, Sen. Rickey Hendon is about to release his second book in a year. This one is called Backstabbers: The Reality of Politics. From a press release…
Rickey Hendon is the illustrious Democratic state senator from Illinois’ fifth senatorial district—located on the west side of Chicago—who has served as assistant majority leader in that chamber for the last ten years. As a professional politician, political consultant and active campaign manager for numerous political contests, Hendon brings his considerable insider’s perspective to bear in this lively and informative book just in time for election season.
In Backstabbers, Hendon teaches the nuts and bolts of all aspects of political campaigns. It is the ultimate political handbook for winning elections; written by someone who practices what he preaches. Hendon has been an elected official since 1988 and has won an astounding 16 elections over his extensive career.
Hendon describes the petition process—getting on the ballot while knocking your opponent off—and details the different strategies for not only beating out the competition, but destroying it. He is a winner because of his people skills, his dedicated organization and his remarkable ability to motivate voters, and his book is sure to be a valuable resource to fans of politics and future politicians alike.
Senator Rickey Hendon lives in Chicago and is the author of Black Enough/White Enough: The Obama Dilemma. He has also spent time as a film producer and actor.
It’s the film that I really want to see. So far, no luck in convincing Rickey to re-release it.
…Adding… I forgot to add that a former college classmate of mine Amy Dean is promoting her best-selling book, A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement, via a “Webinar”…
This compelling webinar complements the vision and strategic plan that forms the basis of her book. Using case studies, Amy will demonstrate how this model has already started to show tremendous results for workers and the progressive movement around the country. Amy’s message on doing labor organizing and politics differently – focused on building a larger, sustainable grassroots base and stronger progressive collaboration – will get you energized and inspired to take the next steps.
Sign up today to take the first step toward developing and executing a practical plan for real change in your community.
An autographed copy of A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement ($29.95 value) is included in the webinar package, arming you with everything you need.
…Adding More… My Statehouse office-mate John Patterson of the Daily Herald has accepted a position with the Illinois Senate Democrats. Best of luck, John!
Anybody else out there wanna plug something? Have at it.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is his own worst enemy. 50% of Illinois voters disapprove of him, while only 27% of voters approve and 23% have no opinion. His opponents are generally unknown. 56% of voters have yet to form an opinion of Republican Bill Brady and 80% are unsure of Green Party candidate Rich Whitney.
In a horserace Brady comes out on top with 34% of the vote, even though he is unknown amongst a majority of voters. Governor Quinn follows with 30% and Whitney receives a meager 9%. This may be a sign of people voting against Quinn, not for Brady.
It appears that Governor Quinn has not recovered from his primary battle. 62% of Democrats either disapprove (37%) or have no opinion (25%) of their party’s nominee.
While the same is true for Brady—62% of Republicans either disapprove or have no opinion of their party’s nominee—only 10% of Republicans have an unfavorable opinion of Brady. Quinn has an uphill battle, as he has to regain the support of Democrats who know him and dislike him. Brady simply has to get his name out.
* Quinn is only getting 51 percent of the Democratic vote, which is just plain horrible…
And check out how badly the governor is doing with women voters…
Racial breakdown…
This is what you’d call an extremely unmotivated Democratic electorate.
Quinn’s numbers really haven’t changed much at all over the course of the three Illinois polls PPP has conducted this year. The chances of his actually convincing Illinois voters they like him by November do not seem very good. But he can make voters in this strongly Democratic state think that Brady is an even worse alternative and there’s a lot of room for him to make that argument with most voters not yet having formed an opinion about the GOP nominee.
Green Party candidate Rich Whitney, who got 10% of the vote in 2006, is polling at 9% in this poll. It will be interesting to see if he can keep up that level of support. Rod Blagojevich’s reelection was pretty much a foregone conclusion by election day last time so disaffected Democrats could safely cast a vote for Whitney without it resulting in the election of a Republican Governor. It doesn’t look like that will be the case this time and Whitney could see an erosion in support if Democrats who don’t like Quinn still end up voting for him because they feel the need to keep Brady from being elected.
Brady is still favored here but he is not strong enough on his own merits as a candidate for this race to turn into a blowout. It should be competitive into the fall.
Smokers in Kane County can breathe easy now that county board members snuffed out a call for a ban on outdoor smoking Tuesday.
The county began researching a potential ban after a private citizen from Aurora approached the county board’s development committee last month. Stacy Blaszak told the committee members she has a respiratory condition and outdoor smoking often impinges on her right and need to breathe as well as compromises her health and the health of babies and pets.
County staffers spent the last month researching any precedent for an outdoor smoking ban. At the most, communities have addressed the issue by inserting a clause into their public nuisance laws to address any unusual circumstances involving smoking, the staff reported. Development Director Mark VanKerkhoff said even organizations with missions to curb smoking said they only get a few of inquiries a year about how to institute an outdoor or residential smoking ban.
* The Question: Could you support a ban on smoking outdoors in your town? Explain.
* Over a week ago, Gov. Pat Quinn said he believed he had “three or four” Republican votes to pass the pension borrowing plan in the Senate. As you know already, the House passed the bill last month with two GOP votes, but it stalled in the Senate when two Dems expressed opposition.
A couple of days later, Quinn said that Senate President Cullerton had enough Democratic votes to pass the borrowing bill on his own. Cullerton has 37 Democrats and the bill requires a super-majority of 36. Cullerton’s office said Quinn was dreaming.
Yesterday, Quinn again said he believed the Senate had enough votes to pass the borrowing bill and said the chamber would return at the end of this month…
“They want to do it on the last day of the month, so be it.”
Trouble is, the Senate has no plans to return at the end of this month because the votes are still not there…
But a spokeswoman for the Senate President says there’s no plan to make lawmakers return to the capitol.
I’m getting whiplash from all this back and forth.
“They have to get their vacations and all this and that in order. But I expect them by the end of the month to come together. I mean this is what government is about. If you get sworn into office to protect the common good and carry out the public interest, then you have to be there when it counts.”
Like Blagojevich before him, Quinn is trying to deflect his problems onto the General Assembly. And like Blagojevich, Quinn may not fully realize that the governor always wears the jacket…
The executive director of the Elgin-based Community Crisis Center would rather help victims of domestic abuse than side with a party or endorse a specific agenda.
But Tuesday, crisis center supporters unfurled a large banner saying that the state owes the center $327,928 and people should call Gov. Pat Quinn’s office at (800) 642-3112 to protest.
It was a last resort move by Vapnar who, like many social service agency heads, has been pushed to the brink by the state budget mess.
“It’s like dominoes,” she said. “If one of us goes down, all of us are affected.”
Faced with a deficit projected to be at least $427 million, Board of Education members gave unanimous approval at an emergency meeting on Tuesday to resolutions that will allow CEO Ron Huberman to raise class sizes to 35 students and still pay teacher raises promised in the union contract. […]
Huberman stressed that he doesn’t know exactly how much he will have to cut because Gov. Pat Quinn has yet to sign the state budget. Also, the Legislature gave Quinn the power to make changes in the budget.
“This could be good for us or not so good,” Huberman said. Quinn could decide to keep education funding level, which would reduce CPS’ budget gap by $127 million, or make cuts.
Another big question mark is whether and when the state will pay out what it already owes CPS for this year. That amount now stands at more than $400 million, prompting Huberman to ask the board for the power to borrow $800 million. He explained it as a short-term loan that the district will pay back as soon as they get the money from the state.
* Village still reaping tax revenue for residents who left: A new state law could determine how much shared tax revenue the new village of Campton Hills is entitled to collect from the state. The county says it’s collecting part of the county’s share.
“I think I could beat the president running for governor in Illinois today,” Brady, a state senator, said during a visit to Washington this week, pointing to Obama’s record on government spending.
Bravado is one thing, but that’s something quite different.
* Gov. Pat Quinn is sending unpaid state interns to attend and monitor the Blagojevich trial. Here’s the Quinn statement issued to WBEZ…
“Unpaid interns from our legal staff have been attending the Blagojevich trial on a regular basis. The reason is twofold: trial observation is often a requirement of internships for law students, and the interns who attend the trial can provide our legal staff with recaps on any testimony relating to current State government.”
The question becomes whether their daily reports are getting to the campaign. I’ll check.
* The Democratic Governors Association has removed an Internet ad that may have violated the General Assembly’s rules. The ad featured footage apparently from the official GA website of a House proceeding. The House footage was used to illustrate Sen. Bill Brady’s hundreds of missed Senate votes. But the House has a policy against using the footage without permission, and the campaign never received that permission…
In addition to the General Assembly’s policy, state law clearly prohibits the use of public resources for political purposes. The use of this footage in a political ad could fall into a gray area, said Ronald Michaelson, a political consultant and former executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections.
“This is a little obtuse, but I suppose one could argue this was public material,” he said. “This was footage produced by a public agency.”
Frankly, this is a goofy policy. There is a “Fair Use Doctrine” in this country, and I really doubt the House can legally prevent anyone from using the video. There is, however, a “gentleman’s agreement” to not use the video in campaigns to avoid embarrassing anybody. And that’s what is really at stake here.
…Adding… I forgot to post a video from the Quinn campaign. As you may know, Quinn signed AT&T’s deregulation bill yesterday during a Chicago ceremony. He received plaudits from all involved, including a somewhat unlikely source: Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Doug Whitley. Here’s Whitley…
*** UPDATE *** I told subscribers about this earlier today, but the Tribune now has a story online about how Rod Blagojevich is caught on tape dissing his former bigtime contributor Blair Hull…
…Blagojevich was sitting in his house with the “golden” opportunity to appoint whoever he wanted as a U.S. Senator. Hull, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2004 against Barack Obama, was calling around to people close to Blagojevich to see if he had a shot to get the seat this time.
He didn’t. But Blagojevich didn’t want him to know that.
So just before 11 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2008 – even before Obama won the presidency – Blagojevich was on the phone with his brother, Robert, asking him to get another $100,000 in contributions from Hull, for whom the governor clearly had little respect.
“Blair Hull actually thinks he can be senator, you believe this guy?” Blagojevich is overheard on a federal wiretap of his home phone telling his brother, who laughs.
Adam worked to undo the damage Monk had done over three days on the stand.
Monk leveled severe allegations against his old law school roommate and boss, including that Blagojevich was in on meetings in which associates plotted to make hundreds of thousands of dollars off of state deals.
In one exchange Tuesday, Adam asked Monk if he recalled additional details about his testimony that Monk, Blagojevich and fund-raisers Tony Rezko and Christopher Kelly met secretly to set up ways to split up money from state deals.
Probing for increasing levels of detail, Adam designed his questions so that time and again, Monk could only offer the same reply: “I don’t remember.”
“This is the first time you all sit down and agreed to commit crimes together and you can’t remember?” Adam shouted.
Monk, a longtime friend and top aide to Blagojevich, had testified that Rezko was the instigator and the one who was going to be the keeper of the cash, including $500,000 that allegedly was diverted from the 2003 sale of $10 billion in state bonds designed to shore up Illinois pension systems.
But under questioning from Adam, Monk acknowledged that he knew nothing about where the money he supposedly was going to get was being held.
“You can’t tell us the name on the account?” Adam asked Monk, who agreed. “You can’t even tell us the state the account was held in?”
“What if Rezko dies?” Adam continued. “You don’t know where the money is. What if Rezko is arrested? You can get the money, can you?”
Rezko associate Bob Kjellander worked as a lobbyist for Bear Sterns during the bond sale and was awarded more than $800,000 for helping secure the contract, according to Vincent Mazzaro, an accountant for the investment firm at the time of the sale.
Kjellander also has been a longtime player in Springfield Republican politics, serving as a committeeman on the Republican National Committee until he stepped down in September 2008.
But the government’s case is a complicated one.
Prosecutors allege that Blagojevich increased the size of the [pension bond] contract in addition to rigging it, in order to increase Kjellander’s profits.
Mazzaro testified Kjellander would receive “success fees” based on how much money Bear Sterns received from the deal. Those fees increased when the state decided to unload all $10 billion on June 5, 2003, rather than the three installments as was originally intended.
But the defense argues the decision was influenced by economics, rather than greed. Prosecution witness and former Illinois Director of Debt Management David Able affirmed that notion during cross examination.
Interest rates were at 5.05 percent in early June, the lowest in more than 30 years. Able said it was good economics for the state to issue bonds when interest was low and would benefit future returns on investment.
Prosecutors appear to be trying to link money that was in Aramanda’s account to earlier testimony, which indicated that more than half a million dollars was routed through Kjellander from a state pension bond deal and eventually was to be divvied up between Rezko, Blagojevich and two other associates. […]
Aramanda planned to use the money to rebuild a pizza business which he’d bought from Rezko.
Instead, Aramanda testified that once Rezko helped arrange for the loan, he turned around and demanded the money.
Aramanda said Rezko forced him to use the money to settle a $475,000 debt Aramanda still owed Rezko from Aramanda’s pizza franchise purchase.
Aramanda ended up paying $461,000 to people to whom Rezko owed money, he said. He said he used the rest of the money to try to help his pizza restaurants stay afloat.
Then, in April 2004, Kjellander called Aramanda wanting the one-year loan repaid early.
That’s when, according to Aramanda, Rezko arranged for another loan to him — from Jay Wilton, a California developer who’d recently been awarded a deal to operate oases for the Illinois Tollway. Wilton also was a major Blagojevich campaign contributor.
Aramanda used the Wilton loan to repay Kjellander the $600,000, plus another $24,000, which was presumably interest.
OK, so the original loan was used to pay off Rezko’s debts. Then Aramanda got another loan from Wilton to repay Kjellander. So, my question is, where is the money that the “cabal of four” were supposed to divvy up? There appears to have been a plan to do so, but it doesn’t look like they ever got the cash, unless those pay-back recipients kicked it all back to Rezko. Then again, a conspiracy is alleged. Not necessarily a result.
* Roundup…
* Suit against Blago aides by fired workers going to trial: Sixteen former state workers fired during an alleged partisan purge under impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich cleared a major legal hurdle Tuesday after a federal judge ordered that their lawsuit against three Blagojevich appointees proceed to trial.
I think when the history of the current crisis is written much of blame will be placed on the sharp fiscal contraction of state and local governments, which offset almost all of the fiscal stimulus at the federal level. I think economists will view this as a preventable error equivalent to the Fed’s passive shrinkage of the money supply in the early 1930s.
Many others, including myself, have been warning about this very real phenomenon for well over a year now, but DC just isn’t paying attention.
A June 3 report from the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers shows that the states have cut aggregate spending by $74.4 billion, or 10.8 percent, since 2008. The expiration of $55 billion in temporary federal aid to the states could lead to further substantial spending cuts beginning on July 1.
Budget expert Stan Collender warned on June 8 that a sharp cutback in state spending mandated by state balanced budget requirements could have a negative effect on the economy as a whole. […]
A May paper from the Institute for the Study of Labor looks at the distributional consequences of cutting the pay of public sector workers based on the recent experience of Ireland. […]
A February study by economists Joshua Aizenman and Gurnain Kaur Pasricha found that fiscal contraction in the states offset almost 100% of the fiscal stimulus at the federal level in 2009.
* Yesterday was the first day that independents could file their petitions for the general election. These are always entertaining weeks. For instance…
The poor fellow can’t make up his mind what he wants to do.
Monday was the first day independent candidates could file to run for office in Illinois, but Scott Lee Cohen plans to wait until the last minute before finalizing his plans for governor.
Cohen, who previously won the Democratic primary race for lieutenant governor, plans to file his petitions June 21, the last available day, Cohen spokesman John Davis said.
“You’d like to have at least a little bit of drama,” Davis said. […]
But also waiting until the last day will be Mike Niecestro of Itasca, who also plans to file for the U.S. Senate race.
Niecestro says he has 27,000 signatures and expects to have as many as double that by the time he turns them in June 21.
“A little bit of drama”? Yeah. Like Cohen needs more of that.
Also, if Niecestro has 27,000 sigs today, I’m not sure how he doubles that in a week, unless they’re still coming in from all over the state. And considering Niecestro isn’t all that well known, that’s a bit doubtful. Not to mention that Niecestro told NBC5 he has collected over 40,000 signatures. Which is right?
Would Niecestro even favor drilling in Lake Michigan, if oil were discovered there?
“If there’s oil under Lake Michigan, why not?” he says. “Absolutely.”
Yeah. Stick with that promise. I’m sure it’ll work so well in the Chicago media market, which gets most of its drinking water from the lake. Niecestro also has a prediction…
“If I get my name on the ballot, Mark Kirk is going to go as far right as he can to get the conservative vote,” predicts Niecestro
Assuming he gets on the ballot, and that’s still a big “if,” Kirk will probably use stuff like “Drill, baby, drill in our fresh water supply!” to paint Niecestro as a crackpot.
Also, if you want to read a harshly critical take on people like Niecestro, then click here. It won’t disappoint.
* In other campaign-related news, the state Republican Party misfired badly with its first major attempt to use the Blagojevich trial against Pat Quinn and Alexi Giannoulias…
In a press release [yesterday], the Illinois Republican Party used a government exhibit from the case to point out that now-Gov. Pat Quinn and political consultant Pete Giangreco — who works for Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias — attended a meeting with some of those who have been charged or convicted in the case.
The meeting, which included Alonzo “Lon” Monk, “Antoin “Tony” Rezko and Blagojevich, happened a week after the new governor’s inauguration in January 2003. According to testimony from Monk, nothing untoward occurred. It was just a discussion involving nearly 20 people about what Blagojevich should try to accomplish policy-wise in his first term.
So, prosecution witness Monk testified under oath that the meeting was no big deal, but this is the press release we get from the IL GOP…
Recently, the U.S. Attorney introduced “Government Exhibit January 2003 Schedule” – a section of Rod Blagojevich’s calendar showing a meeting between Blagojevich, Lon Monk, Tony Rezko, Pat Quinn, Pete Giangreco and other key Blagojevich insiders.
Lon Monk testified that kickback schemes were being discussed by this core group as early as 2003. Now seven years later, Quinn is running for governor while Pete Giangreco is serving as senior strategist for Alexi Giannoulias’ Senate campaign.
Asked about the wording of the release, state GOP Chairman Pat Brady, he said he could see how some people could read it like the GOP was accusing Quinn and Giangreco of being part of the conspiracy. But he said that wasn’t the intent.
“I can see what you’re saying. We aren’t insinuating that,” Brady said. “Abraham Lincoln did not write this (press release). That was not the intent. We were talking about that gang of four.”
Um, no, you weren’t.
…Adding… Click here to see the document in question.
* Related…
* Illinois Supreme Court Election Flooded with Money: Millions of dollars will likely be spent on Kilbride’s election this year, though no one is running against him. “Those of us who will be trying to defeat him,” said Ed Murnane, of the Illinois Civil Justice League. “We don’t even need a candidate.”
* Press Release: Today, Tenth Congressional District Candidate Dan Seals announced that Aviva Gibbs, currently Communications Director to U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), will be joining his campaign team. Gibbs will leave Mr. Quigley’s office to serve as Communications Director for Seals starting in early July.
* Dems seeking applications for 35th District candidate: O’Shea said local Democratic leaders are focused on finding the best candidate and on making it an “open and transparent” process. Unlike the lieutenant governor process, applicants’ information and applications will not be posted online, O’Shea said. “We haven’t really set a timetable. We want to make sure we take as much time as we need to,” O’Shea said. “In my conversations with the mayors and committeemen throughout the district, the thought is to come up with the best possible person to be the Democratic nominee on the November ballot.”
Gov. Pat Quinn is facing criticism after announcing a $6 million grant for the Museum of Broadcast Communications Friday.
The grant will finish the half-built museum at State and Kinzie. MBC founder and president Bruce DuMont says it is not an unusual use of public money.
“If you look historically at how the great museums of Chicago have been built and funded over the years, they’ve all received significant support from the state,” said DuMont. […]
“Broadcast museum doesn’t mean a thing to anybody in our streets,” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Parish. He doesn’t understand how the cash-strapped state with its $13 billion deficit can commit any money from its capital or operating budget to a museum when many neighborhoods are overwhelmed by violence.
He showed ABC7 two letters he’d received in the past week advising that the governor is considering cutting a $3 million statewide program for at-risk young people.
“Youth prevention and youth intervention for violence while we’re talking about broadcast museums and other things that are not being cut and are continuing to be out on the table? That’s unacceptable,” said Rev. Pfleger.
* The Question: With whom do you side in this? Dumont or Pfleger? Explain.
* And, for a bit of context, here’s a budget-related news roundup…
* Glenbard Dist. 87 wants more information from Springfield: Because of very conservative estimates made early this year, Glenbard High School District 87 officials consider themselves better off financially than they expected, but uncertain funding from Springfield still leaves them in a bind.
The recent controversy regarding statements Kirk has made about his military service seems to be taking a large toll on him. Only 10% of voters in the state think Kirk has been truthful about his military service while 45% think he has lied and 45% are unsure.
The good news for Kirk is that only 22% of voters say they’ve been following the story very closely, because among those folks Giannoulias has a 39-28 lead. That may be a short lived saving grace for Kirk though since Democrats will make sure voters are very familiar with the story by the fall.
The candidates for Senate are Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, Republican Mark Kirk, and Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones. If the election was today, who would you vote for?
31% Alexi Giannoulias
30% Mark Kirk
14% LeAlan Jones
24% Undecided
This poll represents progress for Giannoulias since PPP last looked at the race in early April. He now leads 31-30 where he previously trailed Kirk 37-33. The main thing that’s changed since then is voter perceptions of Kirk. His net favorability of +1 (24/23) has seen a decline of nine points to -8 (23/31). Giannoulias is just as unpopular as Kirk, sporting the exact same 23/31 favorability spread. But that’s not a new development for him- he was already at -7 (21/28) back in the spring. Nothing voters have learned about Giannoulias in the last three months has made them like him any less than they already did.
* The Green Party candidate is giving Kirk something to hope for…
The beneficiary of the voter disgust with both Giannoulias and Kirk is Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones. Despite being viewed favorably by only 2% of voters in the state he’s pulling 14% in the horse race. Posing a particular problem for Giannoulias is that Jones is getting a remarkable 26% of the black vote right now. Third party candidates often poll a lot better in the summer than they do by the fall so it will be interesting to see if these folks really stick with Jones or go back to the Democratic fold and that could end up being one of the defining stories of this race.
Racial breakdown…
Jones is actually slightly ahead of Giannoulias with independents…
Favorables…
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Alexi Giannoulias?
23% Favorable
31% Unfavorable
45% Not Sure
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Mark Kirk?
23% Favorable
31% Unfavorable
46% Not Sure
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of LeAlan Jones?
2% Favorable
13% Unfavorable
84% Not Sure
It’s hard to see this race as anything but a pure tossup at this juncture but in Illinois a race between a flawed Democrat and a flawed Republican is probably going to end up in the Democratic column, and Giannoulias’ 5 point gain relative to Kirk is in the 10 weeks reflects that.
* You probably know about the “Truthers.” They’re the ones who insist that 9/11 was an “inside job.” They also have a bizarre theory about why Rod Blagojevich was “really” arrested.
According to them, Blagojevich was picked up by the feds because he dared to threaten Bank of America a few days earlier with the loss of all state business…
The impending prosecution of Blagojevich sends a powerful message to other governors, mayors, city council members around the country: don’t mess with the international banking cartel, the global financial mafia.
Your article just goes to show how epic this media failure is when it comes to the Blago trial. What Magical Current and what spell have you fallen under? AOL perhaps first and foremost. Just once I would like to see someone mention the Bank of America boycott! It was the last straw for the federal government. IT was not an action of a sinking life boat but rather an act of self-sacrifice. Watch ‘Rod Blagojevich Uncensored’ on youtube. Remember that when we take over we are going eat the bankers! [F-word expletive deleted] You!
As we have seen in the past year, the media has only tried to bad-name [Blagojevich’s] credibility, poke fun at his hair, call him names, or criticize his personal life. We Are Change, with the intention to provide the American people with the TRUTH, talked to Governor Blagojevich about his resistance to big banks, which is what really led to his arrest.
And here’s the video mentioned in that e-mail. Blagojevich does utter some expletives (no surprise there), so be careful if you’re on a work computer…
When told that they believe the former governor was arrested because of his stance on Bank of America, Blagojevich appears to agree, and talks about how he tried to bully the company into restoring credit to the struggling Republic Windows & Doors company, which is based in Chicago, by cutting off state business…
“I didn’t say ‘please,’ I just said, ‘Hey, you better do it…’ and then they arrest me.”
One of the Truthers then thanked Blagojevich for “standing up to those guys.” And Blagojevich goes all in…
“And the weekend before, this so-called crime spree, they’re liars. It’s all Bank of America.”
Adam is prompting repeated objections from the government, and all of them so far have been upheld by the judge. Government prosecutors have perhaps already objected more in the first 15 minutes of the day than Sam Adam Jr. objected for the entirety of the government’s three days of questioning Monk.
“It might be better if you use less loaded words,” Judge Zagel told Adam. Zagel has also cautioned him on the relevance of his questioning.
Sam Adam Jr. gets animated asking Monk if he remembers any details from the meetings where the four — Monk, Blagojevich, Rezko and Kelly — agreed to split up money off of state deals.
“I don’t remember,” Monk says repeatedly.
Adam is nearing him, then paces away. He points to the ex-governor and points in the air.
Adam notes it’s the first time in Monk’s adult life he was going to commit a felony and he can’t recall “one!” detail about what Tony Rezko wrote on the board.
Rod is sitting sideways with one arm lazily lying on the courtroom table, looking as if he’s enjoying this.
“I don’t know if we gave that much thought where the money was going to go,” Monk says. Rod starts quietly laughing to himself, then puts his hand over his mouth suppressing a smile.
* Mark Kirk is yet again appearing too defensive about his military record.
The Pentagon released a statement yesterday confirming that Kirk engaged in partisan political activities while on duty. From the Pentagon’s statement…
In December 2008, Commander Kirk, while on active duty, participated in video discussions in the media about the unfolding situation involving then-Governor Blagojevich of Illinois. Members of the Armed Forces on active duty may not participate in television discussions as an advocate for or against a partisan political party, candidate, or cause.
In July 2009, while on active duty in the Washington area, either Commander Kirk or a staff member posted a “twitter” to his Senate campaign web site that indicated he was on duty at the National Military Command Center. At the time, Commander Kirk was a candidate for the Senate. Candidates for political office may not participate in any campaign activities while on active duty. They may not update or revise their websites, and they must inform their campaign staff of the applicable restrictions.
These questions have been addressed by the campaign in the past and had there been any issues documented in Congressman Kirk’s military record, the Department of Defense would not have issued a second waiver for his deployment to Afghanistan. The campaign has made all of the Congressman’s military fitness reports available for review and no concerns were documented.
Commander Kirk was counseled about each of his violations after they occurred and signed a statement acknowledging the limitations on his ability to participate in campaign activities while on active duty. He was required to complete this acknowledgement before being allowed to begin active duty in December 2009.
In other words, Kirk was only able to obtain that waiver after he was “counseled” about his violations and signed a statement promising never to do it ever again.
More ominous for Kirk, though, is that unlike last week, when it was just some bloggers and the Sun-Times which picked up on the DoD memo story, this time both the AP and the Tribune have taken notice. From the AP…
The Pentagon said Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk has been cautioned twice for improperly mingling politics with his military service, but Kirk’s campaign denied any improper conduct Tuesday.
The Defense Department said Monday night that Kirk, a commander in the Navy Reserve, was warned after two incidents of political activity while he was on active duty. Before being allowed to go on active duty again in Afghanistan, Kirk was required to sign a statement acknowledging he knew to avoid all political work.
The Pentagon [yesterday] offered details to support its assertion that Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk twice violated military policy by participating in political activities while on active duty — once in 2008 and once in 2009.
* Kirk’s campaign tried to change the subject today with a press release demanding that Alexi Giannoulias release his tax returns…
After two months of waiting for Alexi Giannoulias to file his 2009 individual tax return, the Kirk for Senate campaign today renewed its call for Giannoulias to end his “Blagojevich-style” stonewall tactics and disclose his financial information for the last calendar year.
* And the Giannoulias campaign held a presser this morning to unveil Giannoulias’ energy policy…
In advance of President Barack Obama’s address to the nation after his latest visit to the Gulf Coast, U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias and Director of the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club Jack Darin will participate in a conference call with reporters TODAY, June 15, at 9:30 AM CST. Giannoulias will discuss the importance of implementing safeguards to prevent spills like this from happening again, holding BP accountable, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and jumpstarting the clean energy economy of tomorrow.
* Related…
* Senate Race Rankings: Not So Fast, Democrats: 6. Illinois (D): Rep. Mark Kirk (R) has certainly been bruised from having embellished his military record. But will that sort of controversy have the same gravity and staying power in voters’ minds as Alexi Giannoulias’ problems with his family’s controversial bank? Dems need to find a catchy moniker for Kirk on par with Republicans’ “mob banker” for Giannoulias.
* Why in the World is Giannoulias Announcing Gay Benefits Now?: If Giannoulias has already established himself as the Straight Avenger in this race, why the need for a big show? Because he’s not just competing for the gay vote. He’s also competing for the anti-anti-gay vote: heterosexual, middle-of-the-road voters who have gay friends, gay neighbors or gay relatives. They may not share Giannoulias’s liberal economic views, but they appreciate politicians who treat gays as human beings.
* GOP Candidate: Politics In Treasurer’s Same Sex Benefit Order: The GOP state senator and candidate for Illinois treasurer says he supports the order, but wonders about the motivation behind it. Rutherford said he also wonders whether there are other initiatives from the Giannoulias office that are being launched or publicized to maximize their political benefit
* Desiree Rogers Dodges Reporters at Giannoulias Event: But when Rogers’ car pulled up to the event and she saw the NBC 5 camera, the driver kept rolling. Rogers apparently came and left thru the back door in the alley. One attendee told us Rogers didn’t know how to pronounce the name of Congressman Jan Schakowsky, one of the hosts for the event.
Ruben Delgado, who died Saturday, taught advanced placement Spanish at Morton East High School for the past three years and had been accepted into a master’s program in Spanish language at the Royal Academy of Languages in Salamanca, Spain, a spokeswoman for the senator said.
The move goes against a decades-long trend toward middle schools in which school districts have invested in the middle grades by adding enrichment courses, reducing class sizes and boosting planning time for teachers.
But budget issues are causing several Illinois districts to reconsider the middle years.
About $777.6 million in administrative costs could be saved by improving claims payment accuracy by 1 percentage point, the AMA estimates. Getting to 100% claims payment accuracy would save up to $15.5 billion, according to the AMA. Among other findings, the AMA reported that claim response time ranged from five to 13 days; and health plans improved in terms of disclosing policies and information to physicians through the Internet.
Lauren Sartain is one of the authors of the report. She says the pilot program helps principals do a better job of rating teachers because it clearly defines an unsatisfactory rating as “doing harm to students.”
Eight percent of teachers got at least one unsatisfactory rating — defined as doing academic harm to students — under the new system, piloted in 44 Chicago elementary schools. By comparison, just 0.4 percent of teachers in the same schools were deemed subpar when they were evaluated using the traditional checklist one year earlier, according to the report released Tuesday by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.
Goodwin’s “right thing” is a plan to open up the 450 acres of developable land at the DuPage National Technology Park to more than just technology-based firms.
To Schillerstrom, it’s the wrong thing. The county board chairman wants to remove the airport board from having any oversight of the tech park land and allow a tech park board to handle future land deals.
The county’s credit rating went from the A range to Aa2, the second highest rating available. That means its “obligations are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk,” Moody’s says.
This new rating was not easily earned, and the county still has an operating deficit of $2 million, which it is trying to whittle down by early retirement options and other measures. But the rating does mean that Moody’s considers the county’s $10 million reserve fund to be enough to ensure financial obligations to bond holders are met, says Scott Christiansen, County Board chairman.
