Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Could there be fireworks this Friday at Stu Levine’s federal hearing? The I-Team claims “Yes.”

The I-Team has learned that Levine wore a wire for the government and details of those conversations will be made public for the first time in federal court on Friday. […]

Sources close to the investigation tell the I-Team that the secret recordings Levine made while conducting crooked deals could be the missing link to several of Governor Blagojevich’s top associates and campaign fundraisers. Among them: the governor’s political guru Christopher Kelly, a roofer by trade who has been identified by federal sources as “individual B” in the Levine indictment. […]

Chris Kelly has not been charged with committing any crimes, nor have federal prosecutors cited him by name. Kelly’s attorney Michael Monico says he would be stunned if there were charges lodged against his client and that he doubts Kelly will be heard on any undercover recordings made by Stuart Levine.

Meanwhile, Topinka’s campaign is still dark. The Blagojevich people say she’s broke. The Topinka people say not to worry, an ad is on the way. We’ll all see soon enough.

44 Comments

Early evening radio/TV blogging

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Today’s afternoon update from WBBM 780 is below. The station’s website is here, you can subscribe to the station’s afternoon updates by clicking here. The afternoon show has a piece about Peter Roskam’s press conference.

[audio:780_WBBM_4_30_p_m__News_for_October_23__2006-1161640497.mp3]

* WBEZ has a story up about the state Senate committee hearing today on a statewide smoking ban. All of Chicago Public Radio’s latest stories can be found at this link.

[audio:local-chicago-536775.mp3]

* WBEZ’s full afternoon update is below, or go here.

[audio:local-chicago-536867.mp3]

* LifeHacker reports that This American Life now has a podcast.

* Rush Limbaugh claims that Michael J. Fox goes “off his meds” when he wants to stress the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s Disease.

[audio:rush-mjfox.mp3]

* “Live” Chicago political interview show with Todd Stroger and Tony Peraica, among others.

6 Comments

Congressional stuff

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Michael J. Fox is coming to Illinois for a stem cell research press pop for Tammy Duckworth. From a Duckworth press release:

Sixth District Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth will hold a rally with Michael J. Fox on Tuesday to address the importance of stem cell research.

Fox did a TV ad in Missouri a few days ago, and it’s one of the most powerful spots I’ve seen all year.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton was in town today for Duckworth and Melissa Bean.

Former President Bill Clinton helped raise $800,000 at a fundraiser today for Democrats Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Representative Melissa Bean. […]

Earlier this month, President Bush came to Illinois for a fundraiser to help their GOP opponents, Peter Roskam and David McSweeney.

A Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman says about 600 people attended the fundraiser in downtown Chicago.

The former president urged the candidates to target all voters — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — as they work toward next month’s election.

…But all did not go extremely well, for either Clinton or Duckworth’s GOP opponent, Peter Roskam. Animal Farm:

*The event was closed to the press. After much pressure from reporters (including myself) over the weekend, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee relented and had a “media availability” with Clinton, Bean and Duckworth. Now, you might think that means all three would take questions. But no. Duckworth ducked questions from the press. Clinton took none. Only Bean came back to take questions from reporters. Duckworth, I’m told, was barely visible on the dais because college-age supporters blocked the view. Oh, and Clinton was 45 minutes late.

*The Clinton debacle unfolded after Duckworth’s Republican foe, Peter Roskam, had his own logistical nightmare. Roskam scheduled a news conference with the father of 9/11 victim Todd Beamer to criticize Clinton on national security. Well, Roskam thought he could hold his press conference in the lobby of the Hilton, the same place the fund-raiser was taking place. A couple problems with that: the hotel was on security lockdown because of Clinton’s presence. And the hotel was the home to a lot of marathoners from yesterday’s race, and they had events going on too. The hotel manager read Roskam campaign manager Ryan McLaughlin the riot act when he arrived, and made the Roskam campaign rent a room at the hotel to have their press conference.

28 Comments

Question of the day

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Yesterday, Governor Blagojevich offered his help for a possible Barack Obama presidential bid.

“He has to make that decision for himself, and I would imagine he’ll spend a lot of time consulting with his wife, with his family before making a decision like that. But if he were to do something like that I’d be eager to help him,” Blagojevich said.

How do you think Obama reacted? Snark heavily encouraged.

85 Comments

“Rod… What are your thoughts?” *** Updated x1 ***

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The governor can deny that he had anything to do with Rezko all he wants, but stories like this undercut his every word. Today’s Sun-Times piece puts some questionable behavior right in the governor’s very own lap.

One nondescript page — containing 19 names and a note to Gov. Blagojevich from his chief of staff — shows the clout Antoin “Tony” Rezko once wielded in state government.

“Rod, Here is a list of candidates that Tony Rezko wants to be put on non-paying boards. What are your thoughts?” Blagojevich’s former top aide, Lon Monk, wrote in a note faxed to the governor along with the Jan. 20, 2003, list.

Of the 19 people named on the document, obtained exclusively by the Chicago Sun-Times, 10 wound up being appointed by the governor to a state board or commission — or got a spouse named. Others wound up with contracts underwritten by taxpayers, or their children got state jobs amid a Blagojevich hiring freeze.

The governor, meanwhile, got more than $830,000 in campaign contributions dating back to 2001 from 15 people on the list, or from their businesses, state records show. The Blagojevich campaign called that figure an “inaccurate representation of the facts.” […]

Fifteen days after the governor’s office faxed the list to Blagojevich’s home, Blagojevich met with Rezko at Rezko’s real estate office at 853 N. Elston for an hour and 45 minutes, according to the governor’s schedule. […]

The Blagojevich campaign said it could attribute only about $80,000 in political contributions to those identified on the Rezko list. The larger Sun-Times tally includes individual contributions, donations from companies those individuals owned and, in one instance, dollars from a labor organization that operates under a top union official appointed by the governor.

The note and the list can be seen here. Make special note of the people listed as “Priority.” Two of them were appointed to the thoroughly corrupt hospital board, which was essentially controlled by Stu Levine. One is the wife of a Rezko busines partner whose tollway restaurant records have been subpoenaed by the feds.

Meanwhile, the AP ran this story yesterday.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Sunday he is not worried about what Antoin “Tony” Rezko could tell investigators if he decides to cooperate with federal authorities. […]

The governor was asked by reporters if the allegations surrounding Rezko stem from conduct the Wilmette businessman pursued on his own.

“Correct,” Blagojevich replied.

*** UPDATE *** The Sun-Times has posted a different version of the letter, which includes the “fax header” information. It can be downloaded here.

49 Comments

The Stroger beat goes on and on and on

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Sun-Times starts off our roundup with an endorsement of Todd Stroger.

Change must come to Cook County government, no matter who wins the race for county board president. The old way of doing things, personified by the honorable yet inflexible former president John Stroger, will not suffice any more. Because both parties have fielded candidates who are promising to shake things up in the $3 billion-a-year government, the question therefore becomes, who is more likely to succeed? While we believe Republican Tony Peraica is a qualified and experienced candidate who would be dedicated to reform, we fear his agenda would founder on the rocks of the county’s Democratic domination, paralyzing his tenure. We therefore endorse Democrat Todd Stroger, the 8th Ward alderman and the son of the former president.

Peraica’s campaign called the editorial “Stuck on stupid redux” and released a statement from consultant Dan Proft.

“The Sun-Times’ extraordinary and confounding endorsement of Todd Stroger for County Board President is, quite simply, a violation of the public trust.

“Besides flying in the face of common sense and the manifest weight of the evidence in this race, it is completely at odds with virtually every Sun-Times commentator who has weighed in on this campaign.

It goes on and on, but you get the drift. If you want to read the whole thing, I turned it into a text file that you can download here.

Meanwhile, Bill Beavers asked the governor on Friday (through the media) to pony up $100,000 from his obese campaign chest to help fund the Stroger effort The governor responded Saturday that he had agreed to give Todd some money, but he couldn’t resist putting the onus on everybody else.

“We are working on gathering contributions for Todd,” he said. “We are in the process of getting … Mike Madigan to be a good party chairman and help … We’re looking to get … Lisa Madigan to help Todd Stroger because she doesn’t have a race of any consequence. We want the other candidates who … don’t have hard races to help … If they’ll help, we’ll help.”

House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown said his boss has supported Stroger financially and has “no idea what the governor is talking about.”

Perhaps I can translate for Brownie. “I’m not going to give any money to Stroger out of my campaign fund because I may need it for, um, other things. I will, however, raise money for Stroger from other people like Lisa and Mike Madigan.”

But Stroger has more money than he’s let on.

While his campaign says it’s broke and his allies hit up the governor for cash, Cook County Board presidential candidate Todd Stroger has quietly formed a new campaign fund that is collecting tens of thousands of dollars every day.

Stroger’s campaign officials waited more than two months to notify the state about this new fund — a delay that may be illegal. […]

According to those reports, Stroger’s new campaign fund has pulled in $261,636 in 149 large donations in just 11 days.

46 Comments

Reform and Renewal marches ever forward

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Copley has bad new for the governor:

Springfield attorney Mary Lee Leahy must give a deposition in an Illinois Department of Transportation wrongful-firing lawsuit, and the questioning will not be limited to the one agency, a federal judge ruled Friday.

In a setback to the state, Judge Byron Cudmore said Leahy must answer questions about her work for more than a dozen state agencies during the six months she was a contractor for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration. Leahy, best known for getting the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw most political patronage through the Rutan decision, was employed to review state hiring practices and identify unnecessary jobs.

Seventeen former IDOT employees are suing the state, claiming they were illegally fired by the Democratic administration because they are Republicans. Lawyers for those employees want to question Leahy about personnel activities in the early days of the Blagojevich administration. […]

“Plaintiffs allege that the defendants participated in an illegal, statewide scheme to fire supporters of the Republican (George) Ryan administration in violation of the employees’ First Amendment rights,” Cudmore wrote. “Leahy’s work with state officials outside of (IDOT) may be relevant to this claim or may lead to relevant evidence related to this claim.”

And Finke finds more taxpayer subsidies of the governor’s campaign fund.

Last week, Peoria resident DIANE FREEBURG received an envelope from the Department of Revenue. In it was a brief message saying that all Illinoisans who filed tax returns were getting information about prescription drug assistance. (It was only those over 65.) The drug information was contained in a separate letter in the envelope from, ta-daa, Blagojevich. We know this because the letterhead says “Office of the Governor. Rod Blagojevich, Governor.” Just to get the point across, he also signed the letter.

“I believe that everyone deserves access to good, affordable health care,” writes the governor, sounding like one of his paid TV commercials. “I also believe that no senior citizen should ever have to worry about how to pay for the high cost of prescription drugs.”

The letter then explains the state’s prescription drug assistance program for seniors.

The Department of Revenue mailed the letter, but the production originated with the Department on Aging, said Revenue spokesman MIKE KLEMENS. For the record, 329,000 letters were mailed at a cost of $103,000. Aging picked up the cost.

Blagojevich spokesman GERARDO CARDENAS said the letters were mailed now because people already enrolled in the program must renew by Dec. 31. Also, November is open enrollment for Medicare, and seniors will be focused on their possible need for prescription drug assistance.

The intended recipient died in January.

18 Comments

Topinka picks up a few endorsements

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The endorsements of Topinka read more like diatribes against Blagojevich, but I’m sure she’ll take whatever she can get at this point.

* Tribune:

The governor’s flimsy responses–he doesn’t know, he can’t recall, he’s the victim here–insult the people of Illinois.

The governor who promised in 2002 to “end business as usual” would have you pay no attention to the gathering evidence of broad corruption.

He points to his efforts in health care and education. He has indeed expanded access to health care for Illinois children. He has expanded government-funded preschool. The governor says, next up: universal health care in Illinois!

But he refuses to acknowledge that he can’t pay for all those things. He can’t pay for the government we already have. The state’s long-term debt has grown dramatically during the Blagojevich administration.

* Peoria Journal-Star:

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich must take Illinoisans for fools.

You’d have to be a fool to buy the 49-year-old Chicago Democrat’s explanations regarding the ethical misconduct allegations that dog his administration as he tries to defeat GOP challenger Judy Baar Topinka.

* If you can find the Herald & Review’s endorsement, link it in comments.

* Blagojevich responds:

Newspaper endorsements backing Gov. Rod Blagojevich all refer to the “cloud of scandal” surrounding his administration, but the incumbent Democrat said Sunday he is not concerned with how those comments might shape the public’s perception of him as the Nov. 7 election approaches.

Blagojevich said “real people” are aware of the accomplishments of his first term and understand his administration is not the first to be investigated by federal authorities.

“That’s just the nature of the beast in today’s politics,” Blagojevich said after receiving the endorsement of the Illinois Nurses Association, adding officials in local, state and federal government are increasingly under scrutiny.

* The AP also ran this puff piece:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is more than a casual John Wayne fan.

When he rattles off Wayne’s movie titles, his list of favorites includes the little-known B-Westerns the Duke made before “Stagecoach” made him a star.

He can list all of John Wayne’s B movies, but he can’t remember if his kid ever got another $1500 check.

19 Comments

The “empire” expands just a bit

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I knew they were doing this in the print version, but I hadn’t noticed that they put it online until now. The Daily Southtown is running excerpts from your comments on a regular basis (I think every week). You can see the latest version - from the QOTD “Assume it’s the first 100 days of a Pat Quinn administration. What happens?” - here. Pretty cool. The “empire” will expand even more this week. I’ll have details soon.

Meanwhile, after going through the poll results that we’ve covered here before, my syndicated newspaper column ends thusly:

It seems easy to predict a Blagojevich victory because he’s ahead in every poll, this state leans heavily Democratic and Topinka has been successfully transformed by the governor’s media team from being a respected state elder into a George Ryan hack. But no credible poll shows Blagojevich with enough votes to win, despite all the positive TV ads he’s running. His favorability and job approval ratings are so bad that he hasn’t been able to close the deal.

On the other hand, Topinka’s numbers are even worse. Usually we assume that the vast majority of undecided voters will eventually break towards the challenger. In a “normal” year, Topinka would have a decent shot at closing the gap. But this isn’t a normal year. The undecideds don’t like her, either.

Lots of voters appear to be mulling whether to cast their ballot for the Green Party candidate. Normally, voters will change their mind at the end and go with an established party candidate. But, like I said, this isn’t a normal year. As a result, if Topinka doesn’t change the race’s dynamics right now then Rich Whitney (and Green Party treasurer candidate Dan Schlorff) might end up with a lot more votes than most people think.

Speaking of polls, the Hotline has a funny quip about the latest results:

Topinka is probably quoting Jon Lovitz-as-Michael Dukakis to herself at night: “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.”

11 Comments

Morning shorts

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Gov. Blagojevich’s State Board of Education chairman appointed to ComEd board

* Krol: Quinn suddenly has little to say about Blagojevich

* McQueary: Turn off the TV, tune into the election

* Marin: Meeks didn’t run, but he isn’t going away

* Big-time spenders - Local bars, eateries benefit from politicians’ campaign cash

* Group pushes to alter smoking ban - Beverage association chief says council will hear proposal to end ban at bars

* FEMA rejects Rockfordâ€™s request for disaster funds - The agency says damage in the city was $1 million, not $30 million.

* Rockford Residents mum on political affiliation

* Washington: What has Brown done for — her campaign?

* Madigan, Umholtz a study in contrast

* Blagojevich, Topinka trading accusations of improper doings

3 Comments

That’s gonna make a heckuva mailer

Monday, Oct 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Alderman Burt Natarus continues behaving like a man who either doesn’t realize that he’s headed for the toughest re-election fight of his life or doesn’t care.

“Downtown, we have more dogs than people. Everybody’s got to have a dog. You know why? They’re lonely. The young women don’t have kids yet. They’re not married. So, they have a dog as a child. And some of the fellas who don’t want to get married — they want to have kids around, so they have a dog. That’s a substitute,” [Naturus] said.

It’s always the politically smart thing to insult your constituents. Not.

13 Comments

Help!

Sunday, Oct 22, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’ve been chuckling as - once again - the national press corps has gone almost completely off its rocker today over the “news” about Barack Obama. I imagine parents must’ve felt this way in 1964 when their quiet, studious daughters turned into insane, screaming banshees at the mere mention of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

“WE HAVE TO WATCH ED SULLIVAN TONIGHT OR I’LL JUST DIE!!!”

Sheesh.

We should’ve seen this coming earlier this year. Many of the nation’s top political reporters, who you normally couldn’t pry out of a comfortable tavern with a nuclear bomb, eagerly hopped and skipped like ecstatic little girls behind Barack Obama through some decidedly uncomfortable African locations. Then there was the TIME cover and the breathless coverage of his new book and subsequent publicity tour.

This weekend, Obama opened the door to a presidential run a little bit more than he did the last time he published a book and the screams of delight were louder than Shea Stadium in August ‘65.

A normally sedate Tribune reporter even compared him to Abraham Lincoln today, for crying out loud. And it was a lousy analogy at that. Then there’s Steinberg, who turns to mush at the mere sight of the man. Neil, pull yourself together, dude.

Having known him for several years and watched him develop and grow, I respect Barack Obama, like him a lot and even think he ought to seriously consider running for president while the hype is hot. I don’t believe that he’s the problem here. He doesn’t act like he thinks he’s the Beatles. The political press corps and the punditry are the problem. They’re the screaming teenagers.

There’s such a thing as too much hype. The Beatles eventually stopped touring because nobody could hear their music over the roar of the crowd. The Fab Four then fought constantly in the studio and eventually broke up.

The press needs to calm the heck down and stop raising expectations so high or they’re gonna destroy Obama. He’s not a god or a giant or even a great American leader (yet). He’s just a man, who a few short years ago was an obscure but ~~brilliant~~ well above average state Senator.

Take a deep breath, girls. Please.

36 Comments

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