Sam Adam Jr., the boisterous onetime attorney to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and R&B singer R. Kelly, told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday he is considering a run for U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s seat.
“My wife and I are thinking about it,” Adam told the Sun-Times. “I am a fighter. They may have said I wasn’t qualified, but they can’t say I don’t fight.” […]
Adam said he would have to give up his law practice. He recently set up a new firm with Victor Henderson. The two represent Cook County Commissioner William Beavers, who is to go to trial on Dec. 3. They also represented indicted – but reelected – state Rep. Derrick Smith, a West Side Democrat. Along with Ed Genson and Adam’s father, Adam represented Kelly in an underaged sex case. Kelly was acquitted. Adam gave openings and closings in the first trial against Blagojevich, which ended in a deadlocked jury on 23 of 24 counts.
“Best” Sam Adam, Jr. campaign slogan wins a night of adult beverages on me.
Over the last few months, Blagojevich has fought off boredom with books about former presidents, Adam said.
“He and my father [defense attorney Sam Adam Sr.] now are studying Ulysses S. Grant. He sends presidential books every month, and now they’re up to Grant,” Adam Jr. told WBBM Newsradio.
“Blago is the son my father never had. He’s the intellectual,” he added.
* Some House members want to again remove Representative-elect Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) from the chamber…
On Thursday, Republican Rep. Jim Sacia, a former FBI agent from Pecatonica, said Smith must be removed because his alleged activities make Illinois a “national laughingstock.”
Kicking out Smith again could prove difficult because the Illinois Constitution prohibits a lawmaker from being expelled more than once over the same set of circumstances. It’s a provision akin to a double jeopardy clause, lawmakers from both parties said Thursday. If Smith is convicted in federal court, however, he would have to leave the House once more.
Sacia insisted “there has to be a way” and said he would gather the best legal minds of both parties soon to hunt for options to remove Smith again.
“There are those out there that have the attitude that, ‘If you’re not convicted … there is no need to throw someone out of the General Assembly,’” Sacia said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. He brought great discredit to the Illinois House and the General Assembly as a whole.”
Republican Rep. Jim Durkin, a former prosecutor from Western Springs who presented the first expulsion case against Smith, said the only way he sees to remove Smith a second time would be if federal prosecutors file more charges against him that allege misdeeds while he served as a lawmaker. Rep. Elaine Nekritz, the Northbrook Democrat who oversaw hearings on Smith’s legislative case, agreed with Durkin’s assessment.
* The Question: Do you think the General Assembly should try to find a way to remove Derrick Smith from office yet again? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
llinois has elected it’s fourth openly gay member of the Illinois House of Representatives. Democrat Sam Yingling won the 62nd district over Republican incumbent Sandy Cole.
“This is a very important and historic win because Mr. Yingling is the first openly gay State Representative to be elected outside of Chicago,” said Anthony Martinez, Executive Director for The Civil Rights Agenda. “This shows that constituents in Illinois are no longer concerned with the sexual orientation of their representative, but the capability of the individual.”
The 32-year-old Yingling is from Grayslake. As Avon Township supervisor, Yingling was a leading proponent for property tax reform.
* Democratic Senate candidate Andy Manar handily won his conservative Downstate district race even after being whacked by Republicans for supporting civil unions…
In a pleasantly pandering mailer sent recently on behalf of state Senate candidate MIKE McELROY, the state GOP displayed a nice color picture of a husband, wife, son and daughter sitting at the dinner table, hands clasped, praying over the chicken and vegetables. Everything is perfect, except that the son doesn’t join the rest in having his eyes closed.
“Who will stand up for our Illinois values?” the flier asks.
The answer, on the opposite side, says in part, “Conservative Mike McElroy believes that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman” and that McElroy is “opposed to efforts to water-down the definition of marriage and supports a constitutional Amendment to protect marriage.”
Despite the over the top mailer, Manar’s Republican opponent actually supported civil unions as well, despite the district being heavily Catholic.
Bernard Cherkasov, chief executive of the gay-rights group Equality Illinois, says the election results showed same-sex marriage winning in four states: Making same-sex marriage the law in Maine, Maryland and Washington, and preventing a constitutional ban in Minnesota. These are the first statewide victories at the ballot box for supporters of same-sex marriage.
“Here in Illinois itself, we had many candidates throughout the state who supported marriage equality, who ran in tight, competitive races and who won election, including candidates who were endorsed by our own PAC, so that was fantastic,” he said.
Democrats also will have huge majorities in the new General Assembly, but Cherkasov says when there have been advances on gay rights in Illinois and elsewhere, Republicans have joined, and he expects that to be the case on the marriage issue.
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill authorizing civil unions for same-sex couples, and he has come out for marriage rights, as has this page. It’s not likely to pass in the near future, but time is on the side of the proponents.
Their cause has the advantage of resting on respect for liberty and fairness. Wherever it can also count on public support, it will be unstoppable.
* But some groups, including the Catholic Church, refuse to concede…
- The Vatican, reacting to strong gains for gay marriage in the United States and Europe, on Saturday pledged never to stop fighting attempts to “erase” the privileged role of heterosexual marriage, which it called it “an achievement of civilization”.
For the second consecutive day, Vatican media weighed in with forceful editorials restating the Roman Catholic Church’s unequivocal opposition.
“It is clear that in Western countries there is a widespread tendency to modify the classic vision of marriage between a man and woman, or rather to try to give it up, erasing its specific and privileged legal recognition compared to other forms of union,” Father Federico Lombardi, said in a tough editorial on Vatican Radio.
State Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) confirmed his interest in ousting Radogno from her leadership post after she failed to stave off a whopping five-seat loss for Republicans in the state Senate.
“If we were a competitive college sports team with a record like this, somebody would have been fired already,” McCarter told the Chicago Sun-Times.
McCarter’s criticism came the same day that a conservative political action committee, Family PAC, circulated a letter to each Republican state senator, urging Radogno’s ouster. […]
Radogno, whose caucus will drop in size from 24 to 19 members in January, defended her backing of all Republican Senate campaigns and dismissed Caprio as an “outlier” in a party that she said must be recalibrated after Tuesday’s outcome. She also took direct aim at McCarter.
“I’m not sure what we need now is an in-your-face, confrontational, white, downstate male. I love our downstate guys. I have a great relationship with them, and I’m not playing a gender card,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“What I’m saying, as a practical matter, is that we need to change our image. Fairly or not, we’re perceived — and these aren’t my words, I’ve read it reported this way — as being the party of angry white men, and that’s not true by the way. The fact of the matter is perception is reality, and we need to deal with it,” she said. […]
[McCarter] also took issue with Radogno’s implication that the GOP would be best suited with a suburban woman, since Republicans across the board didn’t badly with women voters, particularly in the suburbs.
“If it’s all about doing better with women, having a woman in charge didn’t fix things Tuesday,” he said.
Ouch.
* Radogno’s team has attempted to put the losses into context by using data from past remap election results…
‘82 - Dem map — SGOP lost 3
‘92 - GOP map — SDems lost 4
‘02 - Dem map — SGOP lost 6
‘12 - Dem map - SGOP lost 5
That’s very true. Unfortunately for the Republicans, the last Democratic map was pretty darned good, so the SDems started this campaign cycle with 35 seats. They now have 40, which is unprecedented in modern times.
The financial titans of Chicago’s Loop; right-wing think tanks and advocacy groups; the state’s largest newspaper and Republicans, whose campaign message was “Fire (House Speaker Michael) Madigan,” took aim. They ripped the Democrats for passing an income tax increase in 2011 aimed at stabilizing the state’s finances and for failing to restructure the state’s pension systems to deal with $83 billion of debt.
The state’s voters brushed aside those arguments, giving Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, larger majorities than they already had.
Voters didn’t just snub the Republicans, they also turned their noses up at the Tribune. From a pal…
By my count, in the seven most competitive races for the Illinois Senate, only one Chicago Tribune-endorsed candidate won (Kotowski.) Most of these races occurred in areas where the Tribune used to be pretty influential.
Mother Trib did a little better in the Illinois House, but not much better. In what looks to me like the 17 most competitive races, Tribune-endorsed candidates won only six of the 17 contests. Also interesting that the day before the election they did special reminder endorsements of Tyson, Sweeney, Fee, Saviano, Sente, and Friedman — only Sente won.
I guess we shouldn’t pick on the Trib, newspaper endorsements have lost their influence everywhere. It’s just that the Trib editorial board always seems so sure of itself…never allowing for the possibility they might be a little bit wrong about something. That makes it kinda fun when they are wrong. I also felt like they lost a lot of credibility when they didn’t endorse Elaine Nekritz.
After what the Tribune did to Nekritz, I don’t know why anyone would ever again try to cultivate that editorial board. She was the lone Democratic vote against Madigan’s rules, is negotiating pension reforms and has always been independent-minded. She’s pretty much the poster child of the suburban Tribune Democrat, yet the Trib endorsed her Republican opponent.
Tuesday, Nov 13, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives. They were first exempted from federal income taxes in 1917 to fulfill a special mission as valuable and affordable cooperative alternatives to for-profit banks. Even though credit unions are exempt from income tax, they still are subject to, and pay, property, payroll, and sales taxes, and a host of governmental regulatory supervision fees. Since their inception, credit unions have more than fulfilled their mission, as evidenced by Congressional codification of the credit union tax exemption in 1951 and 1998.
Though the range of services has evolved to effectively serve their members in an increasingly competitive financial marketplace, the cooperative structure, which is the reason for their tax exempt status, has remained constant. Nationally, consumers benefit to the tune of $10 billion annually because credit unions are tax-exempt.
In Illinois, by most recent estimates credit unions annually provide more than $198 million in direct financial benefits to almost three million members.
In an era that continuously poses economic and financial challenges, credit unions remain true to one principle - people before profits - and represent a highly valued resource by consumers during these uncertain economic times.
CHICAGO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Illinois Democratic lawmakers, facing the state’s own version of the fiscal cliff, are expected to use their newly won veto-proof majority in the legislature to solve the state’s impending financial crisis with permanently higher tax rates on personal income and corporations. […]
“The Democrats can install any agenda they want. They don’t need any Republican votes. My recommendation to Republicans is let them go forward and see if it works,” said John Tillman, chief executive of the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research group. […]
Predictions are that Madigan, who has been Speaker for 28 of the last 30 years, will pounce on the opportunity to make permanent temporary income tax rate increases approved in January 2011.
The Policy Institute and Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno were warning about a potential lame duck vote on the income tax hike for weeks before the election. I took a look at their warnings a while ago and found it to be without merit, partly because Senate President John Cullerton was completely opposed to the idea. The Sun-Times followed up…
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) sounded the alarm in an online interview with the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think-tank.
Cullerton, however, told the Chicago Sun-Times that it’s an issue best left for candidates in the 2014 governor’s race to sort out rather than ramming it through later this month, early next month or in January. On Thursday, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) sent a memo encouraging lawmakers to be prepared for a six-day session in January, when passing legislation becomes easier.
“My thought would be timing,” Cullerton said. “We’d have an election for governor, and that would be the best time to have a debate about what the proposal ought to be.
“I’d think the Republican running for governor and Gov. Quinn, if he’s running, would have a proposal for what they want to do: Keep it at 3.75 percent, do other changes or make it higher than that.
“I just think it would be the best time,” he said. “We’d have an election.”
* Finke: Veto proof? Maybe, maybe not: So the threat of an override is real and could affect the relationship between the legislature and Quinn. But an override isn’t necessarily a sure thing, especially in the House where all the Democrats would have to be in agreement if it came down to a party-line vote. And despite House Speaker Michael Madigan’s reputation, the Democrats there aren’t a monolithic bunch.
In 1992, Latinos made up about 8 percent of Illinois’ population, but only 1 percent of that year’s total voter pool was Latino. The trend continued for years. Latinos just didn’t vote.
Twenty years later, things have changed in a big way. According to exit polling, 12 percent of Illinois voters last week were Latinos, which is pretty close to their percentage (16 percent) of Illinois’ overall population.
That high participation contributed to many of last week’s electoral surprises.
Twenty years ago, 85 percent of Illinois voters were white and 12 percent were black, while the other 3 percent consisted of Latinos, Asian-Americans and others. Last week, whites made up 70 percent of the state’s voters, blacks were 14 percent and Asian-Americans 2 percent.
In 2004, 2006 and 2010, exit polls showed that 8 percent of voters were Latino, and they accounted for 6 percent in 2008. A persistent, years-long push by immigration rights groups to register Latinos to vote and get them to the polls definitely had an impact here this year, along with a decidedly hostile national Republican position on immigrant rights.
The state Democratic Party focused hard on getting Latinos to the polls. Only about 40 percent of Latinos live in Chicago, with the vast majority in the suburbs and downstate. So concentrating on those voters was a way of pumping up the total Democratic vote, and it appeared to work quite effectively.
Exit polling showed that 81 percent of Illinois Latinos voted for President Obama on Tuesday. That trend presumably resonated all the way down the ticket.
DuPage County is now almost 14 percent Latino, which could be why the Democratic Party did so well there this year. Lake County is 20 percent Latino, Will County 16 percent and Kane County 31 percent.
Rep. Skip Saviano (R-Elmwood Park) went into Election Day hoping to win his new district’s DuPage County precincts by 1,500 votes to overcome an expected 1,200-vote deficit on the Cook County side. He ended up doing slightly better than that in Cook, losing by 1,100 votes, but he lost DuPage by 26 votes. Despite an endorsement by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-4th), the Latino vote appears to have done in Saviano.
Democrat Mike Smiddy’s surprise win over freshman Rep. Rich Morthland (R-Cordova) is partially due to the Latino vote, Democrats say. The district’s Latino voting-age population is about 7 percent, and a heavy Latino turnout in the Sterling/Rock Falls area reportedly helped Smiddy over the top.
Smiddy also worked very hard for a year, raised a lot of money from labor unions, particularly AFSCME, and Morthland was injured and unable to walk precincts. Smiddy won with 52 percent of the vote, without any real help from the House Democrats.
The 36th Senate District has a voting-age population that’s about 9 percent Latino, and that undoubtedly helped gin up the numbers for Sen. Mike Jacobs (D-East Moline). The Senate Democrats went into Election Day hoping to squeak out a win for Jacobs. Instead, he breezed to victory with 55 percent of the vote.
One explanation for Jacobs’ surprisingly large margin is that pollsters didn’t accurately measure the potential Latino impact because Latinos voted in far higher numbers this year than ever before. That will change, as will the perception of Latinos as non-voters. This year marks a definite turning point in Latino political power in Illinois.
The 62nd House District, where Democrat Sam Yingling upset Rep. Sandy Cole (R-Grayslake) has a Latino voting-age population of 22 percent. Yingling defeated Cole by 10 percentage points in a district drawn to elect a Republican. Yingling worked very hard for months,and Cole simply didn’t, but the Latino vote was obviously crucial.
The Kankakee-area’s 79th House District is 7 percent Latino. Democrat Kate Cloonen won the district despite being drastically outspent by the GOP and it being widely perceived as a Republican district. Hard work, message discipline and a favorable black and Latino vote enabled Cloonen to win.
If the Republican Party wants to again be relevant in Illinois, it had better stop dismissing Latino concerns. The GOP simply cannot win many elections, especially for statewide office, in this state if Latinos turn out in large numbers and vote 81 percent Democratic.
* An example of how surprised even the Democrats were last week…
John Cullerton said internal Senate Democratic polling showed Tom Cullerton trailing [GOP Sen. Carole Pankau] even up to Election Day, though within the margin of error, meaning there was a chance for victory.
“I’m the one who told Tom he won,” John Cullerton said. “He was just stunned. He didn’t know he was gonna win. Our polls had him behind, but close.”
That Senate district has a Latino voting age population of 13.6 percent.
* So if Latinos continue voting in large numbers, and if they continue voting for Democrats, this may not pan out…
The narrative about the election in Illinois so far has been about the Democrats’ dominance of hotly contested races for both Congress and Statehouse.
But in the suburbs, Republicans can look to 2014 with hope. Because the suburbs are Illinois’ version of swing territory, and seats have tended to change hands often between Republicans and Democrats.
It seems every cycle, Democrats are either gaining seats in the suburbs or ceding ground.
Also, no targeted suburban Senate Democratic members will be up for reelection in 2014. None.
The Justice Department probe into Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.) over alleged misuse of campaign funds has broadened to include his wife, Chicago Alderwoman Sandi Jackson, The Wall Street Journal reports.
In a report Tuesday, the Journal said prosecutors are investigating whether Sandi Jackson was complicit in the alleged use of campaign money to redecorate the family’s Washington, D.C., home.
Prosecutors have not decided whether they will press criminal charges against Sandi Jackson, and sources in the report suggested that federal lawyers are using the threat of charges to pressure Jesse Jackson to accept a plea deal.
Unlike the mob, the feds will target your family. They’ll go after your friends. They’ll do whatever it takes to convince you to play ball.
Just days after winning a handy reelection to his Chicago-area district, 17-year Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., has entered negotiations for a plea deal that would include his resignation from Congress and likely jail time.
Jackson, Jr., the son of civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., and husband to Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, has not yet pleaded guilty to alleged misuse of campaign funds to decorate his house and purchase a $40,000 Rolex watch for a female friend. But CBS Chicago reports the congressman’s lawyer, white-collar criminal defense attorney Dan Webb, is negotiating with the federal government a plea bargain that will likely be reached by year’s end.
The tentative deal includes Jackson, Jr.’s resignation from Congress for health reasons, a “guilty” plea involving misuse of campaign funds, and repayment of any contributions that were converted to personal use. At least some jail time is expected. Jackson, Jr.’s pension, which would pay out between $65,000 and $80,000 a year when he turns 62, is also part of the talks.
* Related…
* Cellini gives up bid to remain free, will go to prison Jan. 4: Defense attorney Thomas Kirsch II told The Associated Press that Cellini also is considering forgoing any appeal, even though Cellini believes he would prevail, Kirsch said. The appeals process would take longer than Cellini’s sentence, he said, and Cellini and his family want to put the legal saga behind them as quickly as possible.
* Kadner: Jesse Jackson Jr.’s saga of failure and betrayal
David Gill Ends Congressional Campaign in 13th District
Thanks Supporters & Calls on Rodney Davis to Seek Compromise To Help Middle Class
Dr. David Gill, Democratic candidate in Illinois’ 13th District, issued the following message to his supporters as he ended his campaign for Congress this afternoon:
“My exhausted campaign team has completed a county by county analysis of outstanding provisional and absentee ballots in the 13th Congressional District, as well as some precinct-based anomalies in ballot returns and turnout.
The closeness of this race (less than 1/2 percentage point) demanded that we diligently check the numbers. I am very grateful for the dedicated work of my campaign staff to go through this data in the last few days, and for the cooperation of election officials in each of the 14 counties.
It has become clear to me, based on the numbers I’ve seen, that there are simply not enough uncounted ballots remaining to wipe out the current 1,287 vote deficit I face in this election. […]
While Rodney Davis and I have very different priorities and political philosophies, I hope we share a few things in common: a deep desire to see a better future for the communities we love in this part of Illinois and a commitment to leave things better than we found them for our children. I hope Mr. Davis will seek ways to compromise and support the President so we can see real progress for middle class families.
The time has now come to bring this exciting campaign to a close. I know the friendships and partnerships we have forged in this long fight together will go on for many years to come. I will never forget all that you have done.”
* Davis’ statement…
Congressman-Elect Rodney Davis issued the following statement Friday evening following David Gill’s concession in the 13th Congressional District race:
“I would like to thank David Gill for the passion with which he campaigned. I appreciate that he has forgone dragging this out further with his concession this evening. Shannon, our family, and I are thankful for the wonderful support we’ve received. I am humbled to have the honor to serve as Congressman for the 13th District and am ready to get to work.”
* Someone once said that the end of a political campaign has all the subtlety of a freight train crashing into the side of a mountain. So, let’s have Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss make the world go away…
* You may have noticed that I haven’t picked on Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady this week, despite his party’s big losses. One reason for that is, unlike the Democrats’ top guy, the Republican chairman is rather powerless. The losses cannot really be blamed on him.
Yes, his “Fire Madigan” mantra failed miserably. But lots of commenters have already dinged the guy for that. It didn’t work. At all. Speaker Madigan and President Cullerton picked up almost every seat they targeted, and then some. And while the new map put Democrats in play, it didn’t explain some outcomes, like Sam Yingling’s huge upset win against GOP Rep. Sandy Cole up in Lake County.
I’ve talked with Pat Brady many times over the years. He’s not a bad guy at all. And I was told that he offered to resign on election night because somebody, somewhere ought to man up and fall on his sword. I respect that.
Part of Republicans’ brutal losses can be chalked up to the once-a-decade redistricting process, during which Democrats redrew political boundaries to their favor, Brady said.
But he also said Tuesday’s losses demonstrate that Illinois Republicans have a larger image problem.
“You can’t whine about the map. The map’s the map,” Brady said. “We need to take a cold, hard look at what happened, face the realities and do better, which we will.” [Emphasis added.]
* One of those realities the party needs to face is that making robocalls and even in-person calls hasn’t worked all that well. In 2010, the party claimed to have made 4 million calls to voters, urging them to cast their ballots for Republican candidates. This year, the party made the same claim about the same 4 million calls.
Our beloved Oswego Willy loves to talk about how the Republicans in this state can’t seem to get any sort of ground game going. For instance, here’s a comment from today about the 2010 campaign…
ILGOP needs to do the following:
Find more GOP voters in Cook, as simple as 4 more KNOWN votes per precinct in Chicago and Cook, given that “known” GOP voters and NOT voting, literally VOTING at a 100% turnout. (2034 Pcts in the City, 1673 Suburban Cook), that gets you 14,800 … Brady lost by just over 19,400, you now need to find 4,600 votes … in the entire state.
4 votes …4 voters … 2 houses of a couple that has a recorded GOP history and they didn’t vote … at all. Remember, not AGAINST Brady’s conservative views, they didn’t vote.
4 votes, and then the collars and the rest of the state should be ably to find the 5,000 to easily get over.
If you have a strong GOTV and Field Operation.
* As a group, Republicans just don’t walk many precincts. Some do, but not most. Still, focusing very hard on a smaller number of people could definitely help. And that can be done over the phone, and in mail, and in an efficient and aggressive vote-by-mail campaign.
It won’t solve all the party’s many, many problems. And it won’t insulate the GOP from the national freak show. But it would be a good start.
* Also, I mentioned this yesterday, but the party chairman cannot be timid about calling out the flakes. Chairman Brady could have helped insulate people like Bob Dold by publicly taking that goofball Joe Walsh to the woodshed after Walsh’s infamous “no exceptions” press conference. The far Right might’ve blown up, but it’s not like they’re in danger of voting Democratic.
Brady says he’s putting together an “after action” report. A realistic and effective GOTV program needs to be a big part of that. But he also needs to be willing to be a referee within his own party.
Friday, Nov 9, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The State of Illinois is in a budget crisis. Yet, satellite TV operators – who represent a third of the video provider market – pay no franchise or video service fees to support our communities and state. By exploiting this corporate tax loophole, satellite operators are taking their profits out of Illinois instead of paying the industry standard in franchise or video service fees.
When customers watch television through a satellite or cable provider, what they get is largely the same experience. There is no reason why satellite providers should be permitted to exploit this corporate loophole.
Twelve other states have successfully closed similar tax loopholes on satellite companies and in turn have worked towards more balanced government budgets. Here in Illinois, closing this loophole would bring much needed funding to Illinois education, including support for early childhood education, local K-12 school districts, and financial assistance for Illinois college students.
Let’s ensure that everyone pays a fair share. There should be a level playing field for everybody to compete fairly – particularly when closing such loopholes will directly help Illinois students.
Now is the Time to Support our Students and Communities. Vote Yes on HB 5440!
*** UPDATE *** As noted by a commenter, House Speaker Michael Madigan revived a bill of his today that directly impacts this topic…
Declares that the State shall appropriate for no more than an X% increase for wage increases associated with any and all collectively bargained contracts throughout State government.
States the policy of the State of Illinois that the size of, or a reduction in, the State employee workforce shall not be a topic of collective bargaining.
The bill has been languishing for a year, but was moved into the House Revenue Committee today. The proposal has bipartisan co-sponsorship.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* A friend of mine came home from work last night and found this Henry Bayer robocall on his answering machine…
This is Henry Bayer, director of your union, AFSCME Council 31.
Negotiations for a new state contract have gone on for more than ten months, and the Quinn administration is still demanding big takeaways that will reduce your pay and drastically increase your health insurance cost.
That’s why state employees are coming together to take action at their worksite next week, between November 13th and the 15th.
We have to make clear to management that we are not going to accept these very steep cuts.
If you’re not willing to settle for a contract that drives down your standard of living, then join in the Unity Days of Action at your worksite next week.
These action days are being coordinated at the local and worksite levels. I asked AFSCME for some examples of what its members will be doing. The e-mailed response….
- “Green Days” in which all members wear AFSCME green shirts, wristbands, jackets or hats;
- Displaying signs with “Stand Together” and “Fair Contract” messages in cars and throughout worksites;
- Solidarity actions such as all members marching into a worksite together in the morning, standing up as one and silently displaying signs in their worksite at an appointed time, or picketing worksites over the lunch hour.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says he’s looking forward to accomplishing pension reform by Jan. 9 with bipartisan cooperation and before a new Legislature is sworn in. […]
Quinn says an overhaul of the state’s employee retirement system is needed so there will be adequate resources for schools, public safety and veterans’ programs.
He says Tuesday’s election results show that voters across the country want to see Democrats and Republicans work together.
* Over 100 people responded to yesterday’s question about state Sen. Kirk Dillard’s upcoming gubernatorial campaign. Large numbers described him as a “moderate” who would save the Republican Party.
I’ve known Sen. Dillard for a very long time. He’s a good guy and a good legislator. He’s well-known for working across the aisle, and his moderate bonafides were boosted when he cut that TV ad for Barack Obama’s 2008 primary campaign.
* But on abortion, guns and gay rights he’s no moderate. And those three issues play heavily in the suburbs.
Dillard was rated as “Fully Pro-Life” this year by Illinois Citizens for Life and was endorsed by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life PAC. Judy Baar Topinka was a moderate on abortion issues, supporting most abortion rights but also supporting things like parental notification. That moderate stance got her labeled as a pro-life fanatic by groups like Personal PAC, which raises and spends big bucks in this state.
And while gay rights has become a far more acceptable issue in Illinois, Dillard attempted to intervene in a lawsuit this year on the anti-gay rights side. He also voted against civil unions.
* All campaigns are cartoons. We are subjected to black and white arguments. Nuance and moderation don’t always come through very well. Topinka was slammed in a cartoonish way for her moderation on abortion. But Dillard’s position is the same as Bill Brady’s on that issue, so he’ll be subjected to a similar assault if he wins the primary. The same goes for guns and gays.
I am not saying here that Dillard cannot win a general election. I’m also not saying that Dillard doesn’t have a moderate persona. What I am saying, however, is that he will be portrayed in TV ads as a hardline right-winger if he makes it to the general election.
When it comes to the idea of raising income taxes, about half felt that families making over $250,000 a year could afford to pay a little more. About four in 10 wanted to see tax rates frozen for everyone, while few backed the idea of an across-the-board tax hike.
Efforts to dismantle a 16-year ban on same-sex marriage in Illinois may be gaining support. Two years after the state legalized civil unions, more than half of voters said the state should legally recognize same-sex marriages. No issues involving same-sex marriage or civil unions were on the ballot.
Illegal immigrants wanting a chance to apply for permanent residency appear to have Illinois in their corner. More than 70% of voters say illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be given a chance to apply for legal status.
Definite slippage among Catholics, so the bishops should be somewhat happy. But Obama also slipped among white voters overall this year, so that may explain at least part of the Catholic result.
* Sometimes, a graph is easier than reading. My Sun-Times column today is based on a graph I made yesterday afternoon to help myself understand Tuesday’s election. I was so blown away by the chart that I had to write about it. Using exit polling data, here is the partisan makeup of self-identified election day voters since 1992. Click for a better view…
For the first time in at least 20 years, more independents voted in Illinois last Tuesday than Republicans.
I spent part of Thursday afternoon going through some exit polling data to see if I could find anything to cheer up my Republican friends. I really couldn’t.
Way back in 1992, when Republican Jim Edgar was governor and George H.W. Bush was running for re-election against Bill Clinton, 39 percent of Illinois voters told the exit pollsters they were Democrats; 34 percent said they were Republicans, and 27 percent said they were independents.
Two years later, when the country turned against Clinton and the Republicans swept just about everything here and nationally, the two parties were tied at 36 percent each in Illinois, with 28 percent saying they were independents.
The Republicans dropped down to 32 percent two years later, while the Democrats surged to 42 percent. Things stayed more or less the same until 2006, George W. Bush’s second midterm election, when Democrats vaulted to 46 percent, Republicans dropped to 31 percent and independents plummeted to a 20-year low of 23 percent.
Obviously, the Democrats won over independents, and the Republicans lost them. Republicans continued losing more independent-minded folks in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president. Democrats made up 47 percent of the Illinois electoral pool, but Republicans dropped to 28 percent and independents moved up to 28 percent.
And despite a national Republican landslide in 2010, people who said they were Democrats dropped just 3 percentage points, to 44 percent. Republicans moved up only three points to 31 percent, and independents dropped a couple of points to 24 percent.
Believe it or not, the percentage of voters who said they were Democrats was the same in this year’s election as it was in 2008: 44 percent. But Republicans tumbled to 27 percent and independents rose to 28 percent.
The number of people who say they’re independent really hasn’t moved a whole lot over the past two decades. It has been within a five-point range for more than 20 years.
The Republican Party’s problem is that it has been on the decline overall since its 1994 high. Part of the reason is that a triple whammy hit the GOP: George Ryan, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Ryan’s corruption turned voters away from their favored state governing party; Bush turned Illinoisans off altogether, and Obama is the home-state guy.
So, it’s possible that with both Georges long gone and Obama having won his final election, Republicans might start returning to a more reasonable level of support. But they probably can’t turn around numbers like this on a dime.
For starters, women have left the party in droves. In 1994, 61 percent of Illinois women voted for the pro-choice Edgar’s re-election bid. By 2010, just 44 percent of women voted for the pro-life Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady. And this year, a mere 35 percent of women here voted for Mitt Romney, according to the exit polls.
If the Republicans don’t do something differently, and soon, they’ll hurt their brand so much that most women will eventually refuse to vote for any GOP candidate.
Latinos, the fastest-growing ethnic group in Illinois, also have trended more Democratic. In 2004, 53 percent of Latinos voted for John Kerry. Two years ago, 63 percent of Latinos voted for Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. This year, 81 percent went with Obama.
The bottom line here is that the GOP has to stop alienating women and Latinos. Now. Today. There is simply no other path back to relevance in Illinois.
Friday, Nov 9, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Illinois state Sen. Kirk Dillard says he’s preparing to make another run for Illinois governor.
The Hinsdale Republican’s name has often been mentioned as a top candidate for the 2014 race. He narrowly lost the 2010 gubernatorial primary to Republican Sen. Bill Brady.
Dillard tells WIND-AM in Chicago that he’s more committed to the race now and that he has a proven track record and statewide recognition from his work with previous Republican governors.
* Michael Sneed has very good federal and Jackson organization sources, so this is fascinating…
Sneed has learned U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who handily won re-election Tuesday despite a lengthy stay at Mayo Clinic for depression and bipolar disorder, is in the midst of plea discussions with the feds probing his alleged misuse of campaign funds.
“No one has pled guilty, but plea discussions are ongoing,” said a top Sneed source, who said Jackson is still undergoing treatment at Mayo Clinic.
Sneed is also told Jackson, who returned to Mayo Clinic after undergoing outpatient treatment in the seclusion of his home in Washington, D.C., is not only being investigated for allegedly using campaign funds to decorate his Washington home — but also Sneed hears he may also have used campaign funds to buy a $40,000 Rolex watch as a gift for a female friend.
* That last item about the watch has set off a fury among some female aldermen…
“In every marriage somewhere down the line, you think that your husband might fool around on you, but not necessarily commit adultery. Being a high-profile person, how constrained could he be? But, to have it all now slammed in her face. That has got to be so humiliating, it’s like, I don’t want to get out of bed,” said Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee.
“You fooled us all — including your wife. We respected you were ill. [We said,] `Let the man heal.’ And then, you come out with this poppycock? I’m angry that you would wait until the day after the election that you won handily with the support of all of us. Nobody came against you. Then, you come out the next day working out a deal? We’ll deal your butt out of the Congress. Get somebody in there who’s gonna be honest with us and work on our behalf. Maybe, it should be Sandi.” […]
“She’s tried to stand up under all this pressure. She’s tried to be a good wife [and] stand behind her husband. Then, you turn around and do this? You bought this hussy a $40,000 watch? He would need to stay at the Mayo Clinic if he was my husband,” Austin said.
“This is a real expensive girlfriend. Wow. What $40,000 watch have you bought for Sandi, you buzzard?” […]
Ald. Deborah Graham (29th) said she was “heartbroken” for Sandi Jackson and the humiliation she must be enduring.
“She’s got to be torn. She’s got to be going through a lot of different emotions. It’s a terrible time for her and her children,” Graham said.
If she was in Sandi’s shoes, Graham said, “I would be devastated, but there’s some vows that you make. Now, she has to make some decisions about whether she stands by him or makes other choices. Those decisions belong to her. She’s a beautiful and bubbly person. My heart goes out to her. It’s a sad time.”
“Today I stand before you as a new man. I’m excited again about representing the people of the 10th district, and I intend to work hard, and work hand-in-hand with those who voted against me and those who worked against me, because that is the best thing to do for the individual constituents of the district,” Smith said.
Meantime, [Smith attorney Victor Henderson] framed Smith as a trailblazer in Springfield, and an independent voice standing up to all the legislators who have worked against him.
“There were a lot of ministers who didn’t want Martin Luther King up here in the ’60s because he said he was causing problems. Look what good he did. People wanted Nelson Mandela to be quiet. People wanted Jesus to be quiet,” Henderson said.
* Out of the two, only Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno appears to be in any sort of trouble, right now and that’s not a sure thing either…
Ms. Radogno and House Minority Leader Tom Cross are also facing calls to step down, but the “million-dollar question,” as another party operative put it, is who would replace them. So far, the few names that have surfaced have been conservatives from downstate who wouldn’t necessarily be able to make the party more competitive in the suburbs of Chicago. Ms. Schuh said her boss “intends to pursue leading the caucus through the next phase.”
“They have to watch what they wish for — they might get it,” said state Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, a moderate Republican who lost his west suburban seat after 20 years in the Illinois House. As assistant minority leader, he worked closely with Mr. Cross, who could not be reached for comment. “He’s the hardest-working guy I know, and it’s a thankless job.”
After this week’s historic drubbing, it will only take 10 votes to elect a Senate minority leader. Stuff can happen…
A day after suffering through one of their worst elections in modern times, at least one GOP lawmaker said he’s considering challenging Minority Leader Christine Radogno for control of the soon-to-be 19-member Republican caucus in the Senate.
“Obviously, it’s something that has to be addressed,” said state Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon. “We need to do a better job of delivering our message. We’ve got to restructure our party from the bottom up.”
McCarter’s potential candidacy emerged after Tuesday’s Democratic tidal wave gave Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, a 40-seat, veto-proof majority beginning in January, while House Speaker Michael Madigan saw his Democratic majority increase by seven seats to a veto-proof 71.
Actually, McCarter has been talking about running for months.
Republican Sen. Dan Duffy, of Lake Barrington, suggested an alternative to Radogno as leader: Sen. Darin LaHood, the Peoria-area lawmaker who is the son of Ray LaHood, Obama’s transportation secretary. Sen. LaHood could not be reached for comment.
“We’re a team,” [Sen. Bill Brady] said. “We went into this as a team. There’s no question we’re a little shell-shocked right now. But we were tremendously outspent and egregiously out-mapped.”
They were “egregiously out-mapped” because the GOP lost the 2010 governor’s race.
Get used to it. Because he wants it. And he’s reaching for it.
“I’ve thought about it before and I don’t take it off the table,” Daley told me in an interview on WLS-AM 890 on Wednesday as he sat for an hour talking national and local politics. “I think right now, to be very frank with you, the last thing in the world anybody wants to hear about is a race that’s two years down the road.” […]
“I’m not closing the door and, I know that sounds like a politician, but the fact of the matter is that these are tough days and I think there’s a lot to be done by the (state) Legislature. I don’t think it helps right now for people to be out there saying they’re going to run and they have a solution at this point. I think we’ve got to see what the Legislature does.”
And then he methodically discussed how state government, all but bankrupt under a crushing multimillion-dollar debt from unfunded pension liabilities for public workers, could deal with the red ink drowning the state. He said that each side has to give. Republicans have to give on taxes, Democrats on compelling the unions and others to pay more of the freight. Daley said a compromise wouldn’t work unless each side took actions that could cost them in the election.
I found these to be serious words offered by a serious man.
Bill Daley has been talking about running for governor since at least 1999. I kinda fell for his game three years ago. So, I’ll believe it when I actually see it.
The power of an incumbent governor during a primary is pretty significant. Just ask Dan Hynes.
Not to mention that the Daley brand is old and wilted.
Mr. Daley, the brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, sure has been acting like a candidate. He’s been booked to talk to the City Club of Chicago on Dec. 20 — a good sign of a pol who wants to raise his profile. He’s releasing a new report on state schools in a few days. And he told Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass this morning that the gubernatorial option is on the table.
But Mr. Daley made similar moves a few years ago, then backed off at the last minute. If incumbent Pat Quinn decides to run again, is Mr. Daley reallllly willing to go through what could be an extraordinarily nasty primary battle with him for the rights to battle the GOP nominee in what might well be a Republican year?
For Democrats flush with power, there are pitfalls ahead. Madigan and Cullerton can now render the governor’s veto power meaningless. Already, lawmakers and Quinn have clashed over casino expansion, with the governor using his veto despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s support for the measure.
Quinn, who indicated Wednesday that he plans to run again, said he did “not at all” see a downside or a threat to his own power.
They can only render Quinn’s veto power “meaningless” in the House if they hold every single Democrat (not always easy) or pick up some GOP votes. But the two chambers have a decent record of overriding vetoes already. The governor totally vetoed 8 bills in 2011. The GA overrode three.
He’s not totally irrelevant. But he is less relevant than he was, particularly in the Senate. He needs to be aware of the pitfalls, and he often isn’t.
Exultation might be the natural reaction after unleashing such a blistering conquest. But all those new lawmakers will have their own agendas, making party cohesion more difficult. And Mooney said they pose other problems, particularly in setting an agenda that voters in distinct legislative districts will support in the next election.
“It’s unlikely they’re going to just cram through something crazy,” Mooney said. “One, it’s hard to get everybody on board, and even if they did, they’re going to pay for it down the road.”
* Soon to be ex-Congressman Joe Walsh was asked by the Daily Herald where the Illinois GOP needs to go…
My answer is simple. This state has fallen off a cliff. It’s a one-party state. We need a GOP that clearly and forcefully and cheerfully articulates a different vision. The state party hasn’t stood for anything for years. It’s enabled House Speaker Mike Madigan to have so much power. […]
It’s by having a clear stance. You have to go to independents and say to guys and girls, “The state has the worst foreclosure crisis in the country.” Republicans need to go to Latinos and Hispanics and blacks and say, “the education you’re getting at city public schools is terrible.” I believe in school choice. Republicans have to stand for real ideas. If all we have to do to get more voters is sound like Democrats, we’re never going to win. We can’t out-Democrat the Democrats.
Calling them “girls” probably won’t work, Joe. That’s actually part of the problem with the GOP.
Also, as long as you’re extreme on national issues, most Latinos won’t listen to you, either.
And as far as African-Americans, the GOP will have to actively kick the “white identity” types out of its party the way the Democrats did decades ago before black people will view the Republicans as an alternative.
Q. What about a bid for governor for you? A possibility?
A. You know that I believe fervently in that vision. I don’t know of many other candidates who articulate that vision. Am I going to do something? Oh gosh, I don’t know. People approach me every day and ask, “Walsh, are you going to run for the governor? Are you going to run for Senate?” I want to do my part to lead a movement to present a vision to this. I’d rather go down fighting. Democrats have ruined this state but they’ve been able to do it because the Republicans have allowed them to.
Yeah, I’m sure lots of people want him to run for governor. Put Pat Quinn at the top of that well-wisher list.
* Congressman Aaron Schock takes stock of his party’s stunning losses…
“We have to run candidates who can compete in districts that are swing or Democratic seats. Don’t offend moderate women and young people. We can’t have candidates who say silly things.”
Easier said than done. Moderates are often outgunned in primaries by unelectable ultra-conservatives, who then go on to offend moderate women and say “silly things.”
Party leadership needs to start hitting back at these people. Where was Schock when Joe Walsh went off about “no exceptions” for abortion including life of the mother? Where was anybody else, for that matter?
The only way the GOP can “run candidates who can compete in districts that are swing or Democratic seats” is by making sure that those sorts of candidates win their primaries. And that means taking a hard line against the far Right. And that wing has a different take on the election than does Schock. Here’s John Tillman from the right-wing Illinois Policy Institute…
Romney was attacked all summer long; he did not respond and thus fell behind. His high point was when he went on offense in the first debate. Rather than continuing an aggressive offense after this surge, however, he returned to a passive, defensive posture in an attempt to win over more women and independents. You cannot win from a defensive posture.
Oh, please.
The Republican Party, particularly in this state, is in real danger of turning moderate suburban white women into hardcore Democrats. Time and time again, the GOP has gone out of its way to freak out those women. Eventually, they’ll just turn off their ears entirely to the GOP.
You can’t win statewide in Illinois without moderate suburban women. And you can’t win suburban legislative and congressional races without them, either. The GOP is simply not an hospitable refuge for that demographic.
In Illinois, the gender gap among women was even more pronounced, based on exit polling conducted for The Associated Press and the major TV networks. Fully 63 percent of female voters backed Obama to 35 percent for Romney.
Obama garnered 71 percent of the Latino vote nationwide compared to Mitt Romney’s 27 percent, according to the exit polls. Romney’s showing among Latinos in 2012 is the worst for a GOP candidate since Bob Dole won 21 percent of the Latino vote in 1996. When President George W. Bush won in 2000, he received 44 percent of the Latino vote, and in 2008 John McCain won 31 percent of the vote.
The Latino population is exploding in Illinois. Yet, the GOP continues to snub them. The party is doomed forever if it doesn’t change its ways. Simple as that.
Among the estimated 12 percent of Illinois voters who are Latinos, 81 percent backed Obama compared with only 18 percent for Romney, the exit polls showed.
“If you know you’re a party that needs to win independent and Democratic voters, you can’t be so strident,” he said. “You can’t just placate the base all the time, ’cause at the end of the day, if you just win Republicans in Illinois, you are going to lose on Election Day.”
He said that means that in the suburbs, Republicans will need to be less socially conservative, while Downstate, they’ll have to show stronger cooperation with unions.
The Downstate union vote derailed Bill Brady’s race against Pat Quinn.
Here again, Schock is talking a good game. But let’s see how his voting record matches up to his rhetoric in the coming months as he ponders a gubernatorial bid.
Look, I just don’t trust DC politicians. Period. They get infected with a hyper-partisan disease that doesn’t work well in state government. Long before he was arrested, Rod Blagojevich governed like he was still sitting on a back bench in Congress. All hype and partisanship all the time. For me, anyway, Schock must overcome this very severe handicap if he wants to run statewide here.
* I want to thank everyone who came to my election night party on Tuesday. I heard it was a lot of fun, but I was working most of the time, so I didn’t really get to enjoy it.
Also, many thanks to Google for organizing the event and picking up the tab. That couldn’t have been cheap. And thanks to NBC5 for its active participation.
Pretty much everybody had a great time. A couple were over-served, but that happens with an open bar. No blood, no foul, no arrests. No big deal.
I don’t think I’ll do it again unless we can find a location where I can have a private office. I work on election night, so the party was a huge distraction. Barton Lorimor did a great job for us, but I felt like I was constantly torn between what was going on outside the party and what was going on inside, so I never got a good handle on anything. I hope you weren’t disappointed.
* The party ended at around 11 o’clock. Some of us headed to the Senate Democratic event just down the street. After that party ended, I was walking back to the parking garage when I heard someone behind me say, “Hey! Can I walk with you?”
Now, if you know the State Street block between Kinzie and Hubbard, you also know that it’s populated by some sketchy types. I used to enjoy that block in my younger days because it was so, um, interesting. Now, it’s just kind of a pain. So I kept walking and didn’t turn around.
And then the guy behind me said, “I’ll buy you a cannoli.”
Yes, it was Oswego Willy. He came late to the party and apparently just happened to see me walk by. We went to Mother Hubbard’s for drinks and some of their famous wings and talked for a good, long time. He is as funny and as witty in person as he is here on the blog. I loved every minute of our time together.
This blog just wouldn’t be what it is without people like Oswego Willy and Wordslinger and so many, many others. One day, I want to have a party just for this site’s regular commenters. They could all out themselves to each other. I’m sure it would be a ton of fun.
I have often said that I have the best commenters, bar none, of any blog anywhere in the country. You really make this place what it is. Thanks.
Thanks also to my advertisers. This site is a lot of work, so your support makes it worthwhile. I don’t like to do stuff for free, unless it’s charity, so many, many thanks.
* But most of all, thanks to my subscribers, without whom I wouldn’t be here today. You may have no idea how much I appreciate your support, but just know I’m always overwhelmed at how this endeavor has been such a success. Y’all mean the world to me.
* The Sunlight Foundation took a look at the best and worst returns on investment for outside groups making independent expenditures. Here is their ist of the top spenders’ best ROI…
SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION PEA-FEDERAL
84% of $15,202,306 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
SEIU COPE (SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION)
70% of $14,318,192 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
MAJORITY PAC
69% of $34,359,657 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
WOMEN VOTE!
69% of $6,072,693 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
* The worst…
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA POLITICAL VICTORY FUND
0% of $10,955,688 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
AMERICAN CROSSROADS*
1% of $103,559,672 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
* Crossroads GPS had a 13% ROI
US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
5% of $31,937,037 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
AMERICAN FUTURE FUND
5% of $23,613,532 spent in the general election ended in the desired result.
The NRA’s “Institute for Legislative Action” had a slightly better ROI than its “Political Victory Fund,” at 10.25 percent. The Now Or Never PAC, which played extensively in the Joe Walsh campaign had an ROI of just 14.3 percent. FreedomWorks, which also advertised against Tammy Duckworth, had an ROI of 24.5 percent.
On the other side, Planned Parenthood’s “Action Fund” had a 97.8 percent ROI.
* The 17th Congressional District made it into the top three IE races. The result…
IL-17 (House)
Total outside money: $8,843,981
General candidate fundraising: $4,233,575
Candidate // General election outside support // Candidate fundraising
**winner BUSTOS, CHERI (D) $4,289,889 $1,964,893
SCHILLING, ROBERT T. (R) (Incumbent) $4,543,956 $2,268,682
* The Sun-Times looked at the congressional races by dollars spent per vote. For instance, each vote Walsh won “cost” $70, including IEs. More…
Bill Foster, who ousted longtime Republican Judy Biggert in the west suburban 11th Congressional District, won with the biggest margin, according to vote tallies, with 58 percent of the vote. It cost about $30 per vote for Foster, given the $4.3 million spent by or on his behalf and the 139,849 votes cast for him.
Spending on Biggert’s side exceeded $6.3 million. Ending up with 101,002 ballots cast for her, it averages out to $62 a vote.
Walsh’s challenger, Tammy Duckworth, was a relatively good investment. Duckworth’s totals meant $39 a vote with $4.7 million in spending and 120,774 votes. […]
The closest congressional race of the three was in the 10th Congressional District, where a combination of campaign and outside money added up to $7.5 million for Republican Bob Dold. Dold narrowly lost to challenger Brad Schneider, earning 128,129 votes. That comes out to about $58 per vote for Dold.
By comparison, about $3.9 million went in on Schneider’s side, and he tallied 130,676. That’s about $29 per vote.
A Republican lumber company executive is conceding defeat in a southern Illinois congressional race.
Jason Plummer made Wednesday’s announcement a day after voters in the 12th Congressional District elected Democrat Bill Enyart, a Belleville lawyer who has headed the Illinois National Guard. The Green Party’s Paula Bradshaw finished third.
Plummer says in a one-paragraph statement e-mailed to The Associated Press that he thanks the thousands of supporters, volunteers and friends who backed his campaign.
He noted that while Democrats have held the seat since World War II, he’s proud of his bid to replace outgoing Democratic Rep. Jerry Costello and hopes “southern Illinoisans can work together the solve the serious problems facing the region.”
I checked with the Bill Enyart campaign again this morning and they have not yet received a concession call from Plummer. So, he may have conceded to the AP, but he has yet to show some class and reach out to the guy who beat him.
Gill, by the way, was said to be “resting” yesterday and “spending time with his family.” He should be more than rested enough today to pick up the phone and call Rodney Davis.
Dr. David Gill’s campaign manager Sherry Greenberg issued the following statement on the current status of the congressional race in Illinois 13th District:
“Rodney Davis jumped the gun and gave a premature victory speech in Taylorville less than an hour ago. In a campaign marred by lies and distortions, Mr. Davis continued his strategy of misleading the voters.
From what we now know from our discussions with county clerks’ offices, there are a significant number of ballots still outstanding in Macon County. We believe we need to keep counting ballots.
Dr. Gill intends to speak to supporters when the results from these remaining 9 precincts have been reported by election officials. The voters of the 13th Congressional District deserve nothing less. “
* From about 11:30 this morning…
IL 13 Outcome Still Uncertain
Central Illinois Congressional Race Is One of the Closest in the Nation
Gill for Congress campaign manager Sherry Greenberg issued the following statement this morning after Macon County tallies for all precincts were reported by the County Clerk’s office.
“The results from Macon County prove this is one of the tightest congressional races in the nation. Rodney Davis currently leads David Gill by less than half a percentage point districtwide. Dr. Gill is getting some much-needed rest and spending time with his family today while we explore all the legal options available to the campaign to ensure there was a full and fair count of every ballot cast. Today, we will be looking at the impact of provisional ballots on the totals and working to ensure that no one who tried to vote in this election was left out.”
* Now, let’s go back a few months, to the day after the March, 2012 primary…
Though Bloomington physician David Gill has claimed victory in the Democratic 13th Congressional District primary, opponent Matt Goetten said he is waiting for all the absentee votes to be counted.
Unofficial totals have Gill with 15,507 votes to Goetten’s 15,364 votes.
Macoupin County made up the last 61 precincts to come in after 4 a.m. Wednesday. Goetten, who is Greene County state’s attorney, won the county handily with 2,144 votes to Gill’s 1,262.
It apparently wasn’t enough to overcome Gill’s margin, but absentee ballots mailed on time can be counted up to 14 days after the election.
The victor will face U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, an Urbana Republican, who easily won the Republican primary Tuesday.
Gill said Wednesday morning that he wasn’t sure how many absentee ballots were out there. “In talking with a couple of people who have been through this stuff before; 143 (votes) is a lot to make up,” he said. [Emphasis added]
So, 143 votes is “a lot to make up,” but 1,287 votes isn’t?
* For a constitutional amendment to succeed in Illinois, it has to get at least 60 percent of the votes or support from 50 percent of all the people who vote. About 5 million people voted in Illinois, so the proposed pension reform amendment failed on both fronts…
Yes 2,213,269 votes 55.9%
No 1,748,601 votes 44.1%
92% of precincts reporting
The amendment would’ve required a three-fifths super-majority in both chambers of the General Assembly before a pension increase could be approved.
Some voters seemed confused by the wording of the ballot measure Tuesday, uncertain whether a “yes” vote represented support for public employees or support for fiscal restraint.
But other voters said they felt well informed on the issue.
In Springfield, Lynn McClanahan, 42, a retail grocery manager, said she voted yes because she doesn’t believe public workers should be entitled to more benefits than other workers.
“We all work hard and we should all share the burden together,” McClanahan said.
But 67-year-old John Taylor of Chicago voted against the amendment because his wife is a retired teacher. He said he doesn’t understand why a “supermajority” should be needed to increase benefits.
* This story is from October 30th. I didn’t see any of these ads. Did you?…
State and national labor unions are cranking up the fundraising in an attempt to kill a proposed change to the Illinois Constitution.
Members of the We Are One coalition, originally formed to stop legislative efforts to overhaul the state’s massively underfunded employee retirement systems, created a special campaign committee last week and raised more than $500,000 in just a matter of days.
The money is fueling an advertising campaign aimed at convincing Illinoisans to vote “no” on the constitutional amendment question that leads off the Nov. 6 ballot.
* The Democrats won more races yesterday than they thought they would, many by a larger amount than they ever dreamed possible. Yet, there was this…
Former state Democratic Rep. Derrick Smith, booted from his House seat in August because of a federal bribery charge, won back his post with 62 percent of the vote over a candidate the Democrats wanted to replace him.
The Illinois Constitution precludes kicking Smith out more than once for the same offense.
Smith has pleaded not guilty to an allegation that he accepted a $7,000 bribe in exchange for political support in favor of a grant application. Although expelled from the House, he refused to leave the ballot and easily defeated the Democrats’ pick, 10th District Unity candidate Lance Tyson, who has worked for former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.
“No one’s really talking about it, and they’re just saying, ‘You’re innocent until proven guilty,’” Smith said during a visit to a west-side Chicago polling place. “I’ve been talking to my lawyer continually to try to expedite it so I can clear my name.”
The Illinois Constitution prohibits the House from kicking Smith out again for the same reason. So, they can either come up with another reason or just let him sit there until he’s either convicted or acquitted.
And then there’s Secretary of State Jesse White, who had Smith appointed to the House and then failed to implement any sort of early plan to defeat Smith at the polls. The Lance Tyson campaign simply didn’t get off the ground early enough. Maybe it would’ve never worked. It’s very possible, even probable, that Tyson was doomed from the start. But the slapdash, late-entry nature of his campaign didn’t do him any favors. White is a ward guy. He should’ve known that this would take time to put together.
And there’s Speaker Madigan, who didn’t do much, if anything, to help Tyson.
* The biggest culprit here is Smith, of course. Nobody else can be blamed for his arrest and indictment for allegedly accepting a cash bribe. White didn’t know that Smith would go on the take. Neither did Madigan.
Smith becomes the second House member in a century to be kicked out of the chamber, only to win the seat back in an election. When Rod Blagojevich was impeached and then convicted and removed, the Constitution forbade him from ever running again for state office. I’d hate to change a Constitution just because of one bad guy, and the last person to reclaim his seat was booted for purely political reasons, so there’s that.
So, I guess I’m wondering what your thoughts are today.
Two years ago, when voters nationwide delivered a stinging rebuke to a Democratic president and his party, the state of Illinois was a deep blue outlier: Not even the lingering scent of the Rod Blagojevich scandal could cost Democrats the governorship or either chamber in the General Assembly.
That left House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton to parlay their clout into new district maps intended to solidify their majorities.
Tuesday’s election results represented what one GOP strategist late Tuesday soberly called “a bloodbath for Illinois Republicans” at the Statehouse.
With the defeat of four House Republican incumbents and a net gain of seven seats, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) secured a 71-47 veto-proof majority in the Illinois House.
The results were similar — and more historic — in the Senate for Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), who picked up a net gain of five seats, giving him a 40-19 veto-proof majority.
Those stunning gains also figure to weaken Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who no longer will have the capability of singlehandedly blocking legislation with his veto pen.
“The map the Democrats drew performed as they designed,” said Patty Schuh, a spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont).
The effect of the Democratic-friendly legislative maps coupled with President Barack Obama’s huge numbers mean DuPage County will be represented by a Democrat in the state Senate for the first time in Illinois history.
As I told subscribers this morning, it wasn’t just the map.
I mean, c’mon, Bill Foster defeated Judy Biggert by 15 points. She lost DuPage County. Mitt Romney lost DuPage County. Skip Saviano lost DuPage County. Tammy Duckworth won DuPage.
This goes well beyond the map. Bobby Schilling was beaten by almost 7 points. Brad Schneider edged by Bob Dold. And David Gill hasn’t yet conceded because the race is still pretty close.
The map definitely put those districts into play. But Schilling did just about everything right for the past two years. Dold fit his district’s profile. Gill was considered unelectable just a few months ago.
And it wasn’t all about Obama, either. Yes, he most certainly helped in these districts, particularly with Cheri Bustos. But Obama received a lower percentage this time than he’s ever received running statewide.
On top of the map, on top of Obama, there’s a real Republican brand problem here this year. The party constantly foams at the mouth and eagerly parrots the Tribune’s more inane goofiness, but doesn’t offer solutions. Their leaders stand by in mute silence while high-profile candidates like Joe Walsh spew utter nonsense about women. And they continually nominate unelectable and very unattractive candidates in their primaries.
But, even then, even with all that, this is still an historic and incredibly unusual across-the-board drubbing.
