* Last night, Gov. Mitt Romney said this in response to President Barack Obama’s claim that Romney had invested in some Chinese companies…
“Any investments I have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust. And I understand they do include investments outside the United States, including in — in Chinese companies,” Romney said.
Romney then asked: “Mr. President, have you looked at your pension?”
Obama responded: “I don’t look at my pension. It’s not as big as yours so it doesn’t take as long.”
Romney then charged that Obama holds investments in companies based in foreign countries
“Look at your pension,” Romney said. “You also have investments in Chinese companies. You also have investments outside the United States. You also have investments through a Cayman’s trust.”
It’s unclear how many of those Chinese firms are in Obama’s specific portfolio. The board estimates that across all its funds, 19 percent of the assets are in foreign securities.
What Fox doesn’t mention is that the “president’s Illinois pension fund” is via the Illinois General Assembly Retirement System. From the Washington Post…
To our mind, there’s a qualitative difference between a pension-plan investment portfolio and earning returns from contemporary stock investments.
The Romney campaign explains that his point was that international investments are a crucial part of investing today — and that just as Obama has no control over the investments made by his pension fund, Romney has no control over investments made by funds that are part of his blind trust. The Romney campaign says that 19 percent of the Illinois pension fund’s investments are in foreign companies, including dozens of Chinese companies.
“Obama has a pension, managed by the IL Pension fund. He has no control over how they invest it, and they invest some of it in Chinese companies,” a Romney spokesman said. “Romney has a blind trust. He has no control over how the trustee invests it, and the trustee invests some of it in funds that invest in Chinese companies.”
So, will Democratic and Republican legislative challenges now start beating up incumbents for investing in China and having money in a “Cayman’s trust”? Stay tuned, campers.
That’s snark, of course.
Then again, the state House Democrats have been sending mailers blasting just about every Republican candidate for wanting to decimate Medicare and Social Security. At least the Chinese/Cayman claim is somewhat based in reality.
The look at Jackson’s finances is an “ongoing inquiry,” according to a federal source familiar with the probe. Another source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation into campaign finances has been ongoing “for months” and that vendors to Jackson’s campaign are among those being questioned in the case.
On Tuesday, a woman who identified herself as a co-owner of a suburban office furniture company told the Tribune that federal authorities contacted the business within the past month or so to tell the operators they would be receiving a federal subpoena for records connected to a purchase of furniture by Jackson’s campaign committee.
Campaign finance records show that Jackson’s campaign committee purchased office furniture from the company for $8,000 in September 2010.
If that’s what he did, then he’s dumber than a box of rocks.
* Meanwhile, the head of the BGA made some curious remarks to WBBM…
BGA President Andy Shaw notes that Jackson’s constituents have not had a representative for four months.
“There is no procedure for dealing with this,” Shaw said. “Congress does not have … a protocol for somebody to step in and that’s the most troubling thing from a good government standpoint.”
Yes, there is no “vice president” provision for sitting congresscritters (listen to the audio at the above link). Never has been. Kind of a weird idea.
* And Gov. Pat Quinn struggled mightily to avoid being dragged into the controversy today. You really should listen to this raw audio of today’s presser…
Governor Quinn admits it might be time for embattled Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior to speak publicly about what has been going on.
Shortly after the dedication of the new Belmont Road grade separation in west suburban Downers Grove Governor Quinn was pressed by WLS News about whether Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior should have come forward by now, and offered up an explanation about what has been going on to this constituents since he stopped working four months ago.
The governor responded by saying “It’s always helpful if you are in elected office, no matter what office, to provide as much information to your constituents and to the people as possible. I think that is the way government should be.”
* The Illinois Policy Institute has a new Internet video called “Contagion” which makes some dire claims about what the right-wing “think” tank claims is escalating labor unrest. You gotta watch it…
* Script…
Big labor is on the move in Illinois. Emboldened by the success of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, unions across the state are now waging, or threatening to wage, strikes of their own.
Why do unions erect roadblocks to reform? Remember that the explicit purpose of a union is to protect the employment status and benefits of their members, not to improve the quality or nature of the service that their members provide.
In fact, what we are now seeing may be the early stages of an outbreak of labor unrest that could consume the state.
The billion-dollar-question is: Will Illinois’ lawmakers confront these labor monopolies, contain the outbreak, and pass desperately needed reforms? Or will politicians once again succumb to the politically convenient in hopes that a federal bailout will save them from tough decisions?
* OK, five districts outside Chicago are mentioned in that ad. The state has 868 school districts. So, that’s about half a percent. And this is rampant labor unrest?
Not quite.
And if you look at the Institute’s own list, you’ll see that these strikes were pretty short. Lake Forest High School (one-week strike), North Shore School District 112 and Prairie Grove School District 46 (mere one-day strikes), Champaign (settled before strike). Yes, a hotbed of furiously angry communists, for sure.
By far the longest was in Evergreen Park, which lasted two weeks. From the Southtown Star…
The lessons of both the Chicago teachers’ strike and the just-settled one in Evergreen Park School District 124 are that teachers are tired of being made the scapegoats for public education’s ills and that animosity between them and their employers is growing. […]
We draw two conclusions about the strikes in Chicago and Evergreen Park. The school boards forced the teachers to walk out by making demands they saw as politically popular but that were unrealistic. And faced with strong parental support for the teachers, the boards blinked because the unions would not.
The national debate over public education and the power of teachers unions has teachers more united than ever, and if our local results are any measure, parents value teachers more than the critics. That’s a losing hand for school boards, and pushing teachers to strike and keeping kids out of class is the worst bet of all.
* So, publicly attacking teachers and subjecting them to ratings which have been widely debunked by experts have maybe led to a handful of strikes in Illinois, and maybe more are coming. But check out the oh so scary poster…
I get so tired of large groups of people being demonized like this.
* Do teachers unions have their faults? Heck yes they do.
But, to me anyway, the people at the very top are most at fault. I’ve never been a fan of the industrial model for education. Hate it, actually. As I was traveling home from Galena not long ago, I found myself wondering if a relatively new building out in the middle of nowhere was a school or a prison. It was a school.
I happen to like the concept of charter schools, not because I think they are a panacea, but because I believe they can offer kids incredible alternatives to the one-size-fits-all industrial model. That link, by the way, goes to a French immersion charter school in Kansas City that my best friend’s children attend. My friend died a couple years back, and we wanted to help his widow and the kids come to Illinois, but there’s just nothing like that school anywhere here. So, they stayed put.
Why can’t we have these same choices in Illinois? What’s keeping us back?
Gov. Pat Quinn isn’t buying everything charter schools are selling. The governor invited education scholar Diane Ravitch to speak to a civic group in Chicago. Ravitch told the audience that charter schools are no better than traditional public schools, except that they allow the private sector to make money off education.
Ravitch, a former U.S. assistant secretary of education who served in appointed capacities under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, says charter schools were intended to help the poorest, least-able students, but they’re being used now to skim the kids who are easiest to educate.
“And my fear, having attended segregated schools in Houston, Texas, is that we are returning to a pre-Brown vs. Board of Education society, in which segregation will be based on class, not on race, in which the charter schools will take the most motivated children, and the public schools will become dumping grounds,” she told the City Club of Chicago, after an introduction by the governor.Ravitch is the author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.
I think the segregation fear has some legitimacy. But that can be overcome with reasonable regulations. The stuff about people making money off of schools doesn’t really bug me too much as long as the schools are well-run. The beauty of charter schools is the diversity they can potentially offer - and do offer in places like Kansas City.
There are downsides. Charter schools don’t perform all that much better on standardized tests. But I don’t like basing education on testing anyway. In Chicago, the charter schools are mostly non-union. But there’s nothing preventing the CTU unions from trying to organize those teachers.
All I’m saying here is let’s stop with the demonizing, please, and get on with truly changing the way we educate kids.
* What one word - and I mean that - best describes your feelings about last night’s presidential debate?
…Adding… I’ve been watching and posting some YouTube videos in comments about “candy” today because I thought Ms. Crowley did such a good job last night during the debate.
This video from 10,000 Maniacs called “Candy Everybody Wants” probably sums it up best. It’s about the cynical manipulation of the populace by giving the people what they want. We’re all too familiar with that theme.
Plus, it’s got the word “candy” in it and Natalie Merchant is the coolest…
Wednesday, Oct 17, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The cable industry is asking lawmakers to place a NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. HB 5440 is not about fairness, equity or parity – it’s a tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV. They cannot afford another NEW tax – not now and not in this economy!
HB 5440 Will Hurt Illinois Families and Small Businesses
• Satellite TV subscribers will see their monthly bills go up 5%.
• This tax will impact every bar, restaurant and hotel that subscribes to satellite TV service, which will translate into higher prices, decreased revenues, and fewer jobs.
• Rural Illinois has no choice: In many parts of Illinois, cable refuses to provide TV service to rural communities. Satellite TV is their only option.
HB 5440 Is Not About Parity or Fairness
• Cable’s claim that this discriminatory tax is justified because satellite TV doesn’t pay local franchise fees could not be further from the truth. Cable pays those fees to local towns and cities in exchange for the right to bury cables in the public rights of way—a right that Comcast and Charter value in the tens of billions of dollars in their SEC filings.
• Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: We use satellites—unlike cable, we don’t need to dig up streets and sidewalks to deliver our TV service.
• Making satellite subscribers pay franchise fees—or, in this case, an equivalent amount in taxes—would be like taxing the air It’s no different than making airline passengers pay a fee for laying railroad tracks.
* Democratic congressional candidate David Gill has repeatedly promised never to take corporate cash. He does so again in his latest TV ad, calling corporate and Wall Street money “legalized bribery.” Watch…
* But check out who paid for the ad…
The DCCC does take corporate and Wall St. money. So Gill just blatantly broke his “not one penny from corporations” pledge in an ad pledging not to take any cash from corporations. Ironic, no?
*** UPDATE 1 *** Right on cue, the Illinois Republican Party released an amateurish, but still correct, Internet video about this topic…
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the NRCC…
“David Gill has a history of being dishonest with Illinois families. The one thing voters know for sure is that David Gill has no problem selling himself out for political gain and he will do the same to Illinois families if sent to Congress.”
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Meanwhile, Gill has a new radio ad that has his Republican opponent up in arms. It begins thusly…
McDonald’s employee: “Next order, please.”
Announcer: “As a teenager, he worked at his parents’ McDonald’s. But these days, Rodney Davis is serving up whoppers in his campaign for Congress.”
The ad also includes a snarky “You want fries with that?” line followed by a claim that Davis “keeps super-sizing his lies.” Listen…
* Gill’s Republican opponent Rodney Davis is not amused. From a press release…
David Gill, a perennial candidate who has lost three elections for Congress, this week launched an attack radio ad against Rodney Davis for his work at his parents’ small business, a McDonald’s, while growing up in Taylorville.
This, once again, underscores Gill’s hypocrisy, as just last week he stated in an endorsement interview with the State Journal-Register that “100% of the advertising that has come from my campaign has been positive.”
The ad features a disparaging male voice which intones, “As a teenager, he worked at his parents’ McDonald’s…but these days, Rodney Davis is serving up whoppers in his campaign for Congress. He’s trying to cover up his past.” Later in the ad, a voice asks, “You want fries with that?”
“I am disgusted that David Gill would attack my family, my family’s business, and the hundreds of McDonald’s employees in the 13th District,” said Davis. “I continue to talk about the issues; about where I stand on issues and where he stands on issues. I have never once besmirched his profession, work history, family or background. David Gill, on the other hand, has continually tried to make this election a personal attack on me. He has trashed my work as a public servant, and now he is trashing the workers of my family’s small business. How low will David Gill go?”
I’m pretty sure that no candidate has ever been “disgusted” by a McDonald’s joke before now. So, we could be seeing a major first here.
* Davis goes on to defend the honor of “public servants”…
Gill also continued his attack on public sector employees by attempting to demean Davis’ work as a public employee. Gill states that Davis has been paid $1 million as a public servant, but what Gill does not say is that is over a 20-year period beginning with his first job out of college in 1992. This continues a theme of Gill and his Washington allies who have throughout this campaign belittled public servants. Earlier this year, attempts by Gill and his allies to link Davis to public scandals were debunked by local media as a “misleading attack ad.”
“‘I’m proud of my work with my family’s small business, just as I’m proud of my work as a public servant collaborating with community leaders to solve problems and move this economy forward,” added Davis. “I have never called into question David Gill’s work nor his obvious passion for medicine, and I never will. We can certainly disagree on the issues, but his personal attacks on my work and my family go too far.”
The race for the 26th Senate District features two candidates who both say they are independent voices and haven’t received funding from their respective parties. Incumbent Republican Dan Duffy, a small-business man from Lake Barrington, faces a challenge from Democrat Amanda Howland, an attorney and College of Lake County board member. […]
Howland ran for state representative without Madigan’s help in 2006 and is doing so again.
Howland is running for the state Senate, so why would she be getting help from Speaker Madigan?
* With that editorial, the Daily Herald has pretty much jumped the shark on the Tribune/GOP “Fire Madigan” program. The Northwest Herald is also firmly on the bandwagon…
Republican David McSweeney is running for election to Illinois’ 52nd State Representative District. The seat currently is held by Kent Gaffney, who lost to McSweeney in the Republican primary. Gaffney was appointed to the position after the death in June 2011 of longtime state Rep. Mark Beaubien. […]
McSweeney’s opponent, Dee Beaubien, is the widow of the late Rep. Mark Beaubien. She did not run in the primary, getting her name on the ballot afterward as an independent.
She says she is a fiscal conservative, but she has accepted financial and campaign help from Madigan. This will make her beholden to him if she is elected. In an interview with the Northwest Herald’s Editorial Board, she would not commit to not voting for Madigan for speaker.
Voters in the 52nd District have a clear choice. That choice should be McSweeney.
22nd District: House Speaker Michael Madigan was first elected to the Illinois House in 1970 and became speaker in 1983. He’s controlled the House for all but two years since then. In short, he has presided over nearly every bad decision that brought Illinois to its current mess, chasing employers away with higher taxes, watching its credit rating plunge, squeezing money out of valued social services. He is running against Robert Handzik, a 13th Ward denizen who faithfully voted in Democratic primaries until this year when he mysteriously filed to run as a Republican. He’s one more Madigan plant to protect the speaker from the fuss of a real election. Voters have no real choice. No endorsement.
Today, EMILY’s List WOMEN VOTE! will release an ad to expose Bobby Schilling’s extreme, anti-middle class agenda. The ad will go up on broadcast television with 1000 points in Peoria, bolstering the nine pieces of mail that have been circulating to nearly 23,000 independent women since September 19th.
“Bobby Schilling has made it clear that he is willing to dismantle vital services like Medicare in order to increase tax breaks for wealthy corporations,” said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List. “And this November, voters in Illinois are going to make it equally clear that they don’t support his right-wing agenda. Right now, women and families need leaders like Cheri Bustos – pro-choice Democratic women who will fight for their access to healthcare and economic opportunity.”
* Schilling edges Bustos in fundraising: Both candidates did well, but Republican incumbent Bobby Schilling holds an advantage. Schilling raised $613,164 in the third quarter and finished with $839,150 cash on hand. Democratic challenger Cheri Bustos raised $488,803 in the third quarter and finished with $656,827 cash on hand.
* Schilling tops Bustos in 3Q fundraising: Schilling outspent Bustos for the quarter, dishing out $723,925, including a $45,450 transfer that went to the state Republican Party. Bustos spent $661,568.
* Our View: Will Bustos or Schilling give best answers in debate?: Who has the best plan to bring jobs back to the U.S.? Who has the best ideas on how to move health care forward? Who has the best grasp of education issues? And who will be a better representative for the Rockford region?
A conservative SuperPAC touting Duckworth rival Joe Walsh is preparing to dump an extra $2.5 million into the heated 8th Congressional District race — on top of $2 million it has already spent, a source familiar with the plan told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The idea is to “bury Duckworth,” the source said.
The revelation comes a day after Duckworth reported that she personally raised more than five times as much as Walsh did in the last quarter — about $1.5 million to the Republican’s $251,000. That means that the Now or Never SuperPAC spent eight times what Walsh was able to raise himself in the last quarter.
The Duckworth campaign and the DCCC failed to define Joe Walsh early with paid media. They counted on the Democratic map and Walsh’s horrible reputation to sink the freshman Republican. And they figured Duckworth’s very solid fundraising was probably enough. So far, they’ve been wrong on all counts. As I’ve said before, Duckworth hasn’t lost it yet, but the Democrats are in real danger there.
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh helped found a group that is the top contributor to a SuperPAC supporting his re-election bid.
Walsh’s campaign says he hasn’t been involved with the group, Americans for Limited Government, for a decade. By law, SuperPACs and the candidates they support cannot have direct contact. […]
Walsh attacked Duckworth for being several hours late in filing her complete third-quarter campaign finance report. He has subsequently filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission.
In filings with the Federal Elections Commission, it appears Now or Never began as a group of Missouri business men interested in helping state treasurer Sarah Steelman win the Show-Me State’s GOP Senate primary in August. But when Steelman finished third, Now or Never went quiet.
But on the same day Now or Never started its TV ad buys to help Walsh, the PAC received a $1 million contribution from Americans for Limited Government. Eleven days later, another donation from ALG came in for a little less, $950,000.
Why would ALG, a conservative group that advocates for a more limited federal government and reduced spending, go to the trouble funneling almost $2 million through a Missouri PAC instead of doing it directly themselves?
We got this from ALG communications director Richard Manning by e-mail: “Now or Never PAC does an impressive job of fighting for free market principles, which are in alignment with Americans for Limited Government, and we are proud to support it.”
Every penny received by Now or Never in September, when it launched its Illinois ad blitz,came from a Virginia-based nonprofit called Americans for Limited Government. ALG forked over, in two payments, a whopping $1.95 million. As a nonprofit, ALG doesn’t disclose its donors.
Americans for Limited Government was co-founded in 1996 by real estate investor Howard Rich, who also serves on the boards of the Cato Institute and the Club for Growth. According to Politico, ALG has been among the recipients of funding from the extensive donor networkestablished by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. ALG has also employedSean Noble, according to Politico, who helped to oversee how the Koch donor network’s contributions were spent.
Ray Wotring, a spokesman for ALG, refused to say who funds his organization. “We as a practice don’t reveal our donors,” he says. Wotring also declined to say why ALG contributed to Now or Never. Harber, a spokesman for Now or Never, says in an email that the super-PAC discloses all of its donors. “ALG isn’t our first, last, or only donor,” Harber notes. “We can’t compel them to disclose their donors, but we have done everything we can to be as transparent and accessible as possible.”
* Related…
* Less glitz, glamour in local debate prep: Walsh, sources said, relies on some training he received in the mid-1980s in stage, theater and television at the Lee Strasburg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.
* Heritage Action for America Goes Duckworth Hunting: Earlier this year, Walsh received a 93 percent rating on the foundation’s scorecard, one of the highest in Congress — far higher than any other member of the Illinois delegation. Walsh won the organization’s approval by voting to repeal Obamacare, to block loans to green energy companies, and to disapprove of the administration’s waiver of welfare-to-work requirements. Heritage Action for America has paid Walsh back for his commitment to conservative principles by opening a Victory Center in the 8th District, and with a new website, “5 Facts About Tammy Duckworth.”
U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-Colona) today released a new poll from Public Opinions Strategies showing that, despite millions being spent against him by outside groups in recent weeks, Schilling is starting to pull away from his opponent, Cheri Bustos (D-East Moline).
At the same time, Schilling released fundraising totals for the third quarter showing he raised $617,826.37 in that span, pushing his total fundraising efforts for the 2011-12 election cycle over $2.1 million. The campaign currently has $839,000 cash on hand.
The Public Opinion Strategies poll surveyed 400 likely voters and gave Schilling a 51-44 lead over Bustos. 45 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of Schilling, while 34 percent of voters had an unfavorable opinion of him. Meanwhile, just 34 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of Bustos, while 38 percent of voters had an unfavorable opinion of her. The poll also found that President Obama leads Mitt Romney in the Illinois 17th District by a 50-44 margin.
We Ask America had Bustos ahead by less than a point on October 9th. The firm had Obama ahead of Romney by almost 12 points, not the 6-point margin in Schilling’s poll.
* Meanwhile, the DCCChas a new poll showing Democrat Brad Schneider leading Republican Bob Dold by a single point, 44-43. That October 14th poll tracks pretty closely with We Ask America’s October 9th poll which had Dold up by less than 2 points. This race appears to be quite close.
The data in this memo is from a survey of 451 likely 2012 voters conducted October 14, 2012, in Illinois’ 10th Congressional district. Respondents’ information came from the voter file and respondents were interviewed over the phone by an automated survey. The margin of error is 4.6%.
* OK, on to the DCCC’s new TV ads. The first hits Bobby Schilling on Medicare….
Script…
We work a lifetime for these moments…
We save…and plan so there’s peace of mind in retirement.
But some in Washington like Bobby Schilling would end that security… end the guarantee of Medicare…
Schilling would hand decisions about our health care to insurance companies…
To give more tax breaks to millionaires.
Bobby Schilling needs to remember: he works for us.
And we work our whole lives…for this.
* Another “Jason Plummer’s never had to work for anything” spot…
Script…
In Washington, special interests are drowning out the middle-class.
But if you send this Plummer to Congress, he’ll make it worse.
Jason Plummer signed a pledge that protected tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs.
And he’d give more tax breaks to millionaires like himself — while making the middle-class pay thousands more.
Jason Plummer’s never had to work for anything…what makes you think he’ll work for you?
47,000 Illinois jobs lost.
Sent overseas in unfair trade deals.
47,000 families left to scrape by… while corporations are rewarded for the mass layoffs.
Rewarded by politicians like Rodney Davis who want to hand them tax breaks for shipping our jobs overseas.
47,000 more reasons why Rodney Davis is wrong for Illinois.
I didn’t see any new GOP ads posted on YouTube this afternoon, but if or when I do I’ll update the post.
*** UPDATE *** A pretty good Rodney Davis ad I missed…
New Poll Shows Romano in close battle with 26 year incumbent Lang
Could it be? Could Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) really be in trouble?
* Not so much…
In a poll conducting by Victory Media Group of Glenview from October 9-11, challenger Vince Romano scored 44.2% of the vote to 26-year incumbent Democrat Lou Lang’s 55.8%.
OK, so Lang is well over 50. And the pollster isn’t a pollster.
* But it gets better. Check out the questions the pollster asked…
* 16th District State Representative Lou Lang has been in office for 25 years– since 1987. Last year he joined 59 Democrats and zero Republicans to pass a 67% tax increase on personal income and 46% tax increase on business income. Knowing this…
Less/More Likely to Vote for Lou Lang
Less Likely 57.5
More Likely 17.9
No Difference 24.6
* If the election for your State Representative were held today between 25 year incumbent Democrat Lou Lang and Republican businessman Vincent Romano, who opposes tax increases and will vote to repeal them if elected.
Lou Lang 55.8
Vincent Romano 44.2
* The Question: Could you come up with a more lopsided set of poll questions?
Snark, of course, is heavily encouraged.
…Adding… Your answer doesn’t have to be about Lou Lang, unless you really want to, of course.
* The Sun-Times has the list of potential replacements for retired US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. US Sen. Dick Durbin will make the pick, but Sen. Mark Kirk has veto power. Check it out…
◆ Patrick Collins, who led the successful high-profile prosecution of former Gov. George Ryan and now works with law firm Perkins Coie.
◆ Zach Fardon, who also prosecuted Ryan and is now in private practice with Latham and Watkins.
◆ Judge Virginia Kendall, appointed to the federal bench in 2006 by President George W. Bush. Kendall has had her criminal cases reassigned while she competes for the top prosecutor’s job.
◆ Lori Lightfoot, one of the city’s leading African-American attorneys, once the chief administrator at the Chicago Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards, now works with law firm Mayer Brown.
◆ John Bunge, a former deputy chief of the U.S. attorney’s general crimes section in Chicago, who now works with the Kirkland & Ellis law firm.
◆ John Lausch, who led the prosecution of several corrupt cops cases and now also works with Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in white-collar criminal defense and securities enforcement.
◆ Ricardo Meza, the former head of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, appointed Executive Inspector General for Illinois by Quinn in 2010.
◆ Gil Soffer, who worked in Washington, D.C., under former Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, has served as a commissioner on the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission and now works with law firm Katten.
* As we’ve already seen, Republican Congressman Bob Dold used his mom in a TV ad to bolster his claims that he won’t harm Social Security or Medicare. Republican Congressman Bobby Schilling uses his grandmother to make the same point, but with a harder edge at the end…
Jackson told The Daily that he is “not well” and has doctor’s appointments twice a day at George Washington University Hospital, not far from his home in the trendy DuPont Circle neighborhood: “I go over there … at 10 [a.m.] and 1 p.m.”
Jackson didn’t address the allegation that he misused money from his supporters — to decorate his home.
* The publication did apparently confirm that Jackson went out on the town the other night, but it didn’t seem like a big deal…
Jesse Jackson Jr. showed up at the Bier Baron Tavern last Tuesday and Wednesday, the first time he had been seen in a public place since going on leave.
Jackson caught the attention of both patrons and the staff. A server who would identify himself only as “Frank” told The Daily that Jackson was with a group that included both men and women.
“He was here. He was drinking. He was with other people,” Frank said. “I personally didn’t serve his table.”
Some commenters wondered why I didn’t post that breathless and oddly sourced Gawker story yesterday. Well, there you have it.
* Freshman Republican Bob Dold has complained that Democrat Brad Schneider’s ad which calls him a “Tea Party loyalist” is a fabrication. Well, the House Majority PAC has now doubled down…
Dold ain’t gonna like that one.
* Dold, by the way, has a major cash advantage over Schneider in the 10th CD…
Team Dold netted $993,509 in donations during the quarter, according to the campaign’s report. For the entire election cycle, the Dold campaign has received an estimated $3.9 million from donors.
The Dold campaign spent $832,560 during the quarter and $1.9 million during the race so far, records show.
The Dold campaign ended the period with $2.3 million in the bank and $44,480 in debts.
Schneider’s campaign netted $777,268 in donations during the last quarter. For the campaign, he’s received nearly $2.3 million in campaign checks.
Schneider spent more than Dold during the quarter, reporting nearly $1.1 million in expenses. Overall, the Schneider campaign has spent $2.1 million on the race. That includes money spent during the contested Democratic primary. Dold ran unopposed in the GOP primary.
Schneider finished the quarter with $267,625 in the bank — roughly 11 percent of the funds in Dold’s campaign war chest.
* Related…
* Dold, Schneider discuss bipartisanship, health care reform: Dold, though, said the act addressed access to insurance, not quality. He said the way to drive down medical costs is through consumer-driven plans. While a large portion of the country gets its health insurance through employers, Dold said he has talked to business owners who would prefer to pay a required penalty in exchange for sending their employees to find alternatives on the “free market.” “I can think of few things more terrifying than to tell someone they’re on their own to get health care,” Dold said.
* Dold Discards Norquist Pledge in Debate With Schneider: Dold then touted his support of the Cooper-LaTourette financial plan as an alternative to the House Republican Budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), his party’s vice presidential candidate. He was one of eight co-sponsors—four Democrats and four Republicans… “I’ll do it in a way we will be able to get more than 38 votes,” Schneider said of his intentions to work with Republicans. “The day after (Cooper La Tourette was defeated) he (Dold) voted for the Ryan budget that will replace Medicare with a voucher system.”
* The constant media drumbeat about how public employees need to essentially be punished for their “lavish” pensions isn’t working, according to the Tribune’s latest poll…
Illinois voters overwhelmingly blame politicians for creating the state’s public employee pension mess, but like elected officials, they’re divided about plans to fix the problem, a new Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
* This was a quickie poll question. The consequences weren’t totally laid out. We need better numbers. But when less than a third of the population supports an idea, it may be time to rethink that idea. And it also means that even harsher ideas should be looked at with much suspicion.
The proposal also drew 55 percent opposition from white suburban women, moderate voters that include so-called soccer moms especially concerned about education. Only 28 percent of that group backed the cost shift. Among independent voters, a key demographic that influences state elections, the idea was rejected 44 percent to 31 percent.
The Chicago Democrats have really shot themselves in the foot with that plan.
Could the race for the Illinois House in the 96th District actually become a race? Apparently, yes.
It hasn’t seemed like it for several weeks. Democrat SUE SCHERER of Decatur, who won a close contest in the primary, has had TV ads running and fliers carrying her picture filling mailboxes across the district, which runs from Decatur into central Springfield. There’s been virtually nothing to match those public efforts from Republican DENNIS SHACKELFORD of Rochester. […]
As of late last week, meanwhile, Schackelford’s only disclosed large donation from the House Republican Organization since July was $5,100 worth of telephone polling. Total large donations reported in that time were less than $17,000.
But things will be changing, said KEVIN ARTL, political director of the House GOP campaign organization.
“It goes back to the old saying, ‘You can’t buy me love,’” Artl said, saying his group believes Scherer’s support has leveled off. “Voters have seen through it,” he said. “We’re going to do a full plan here (for Shackelford) for the final 30 days.” In that short time frame, he said, “We can invest less than the Democrats, but get a higher rate of return.”
Since then, the Republicans have put in just $5,873.28 for a mailer.
* And now, a couple of their members are complaining to the media. But they’re not upset with their own party for failing to get involved. They’re agnry that the House Democrats are playing to win…
Republicans have not poured nearly as much into Dennis Shackelford’s attempt to win the open seat, which stretches between Decatur and Springfield. Reports show Shackelford, a small business owner from Rochester, had $11,000 in his account after raising $16,666 during the quarter.
Shackelford is trying to make Scherer’s fundraising an issue on the campaign trail. On Tuesday, he has scheduled a press conference with GOP state Reps. Adam Brown of Decatur and Bill Mitchell of Forsyth to highlight Madigan’s financial influence in the race, which includes paying for a direct mail campaign and other big ticket expenditures.
* Rep. Mitchell had $141,907.78 in his campaign fund at the end of the third quarter. He has no opposition in the general election. As of now, Rep. Mitchell hasn’t contributed a dime to Shackelford’s campaign.
The reason that the House Republicans didn’t put any money into this race is because of that expenditure Bernie reported…
Schackelford’s only disclosed large donation from the House Republican Organization since July was $5,100 worth of telephone polling
That polling expenditure was reported on August 24th. After that, no more money was spent on Shackleford until this month.
What does that tell you?
Well, it’s kinda obvious. When you see that somebody paid for a poll and then that somebody doesn’t spend any more money, it’s a pretty good sign that the poll wasn’t exactly favorable.
* Let me make this clear. I don’t blame the HGOPs for not playing there. It’s a Democratic-leaning district and their candidate just hasn’t yet gotten any traction. They have other candidates in relatively close races who have worked very hard and deserve the cash a whole lot more. If I had to bet money, I’d say the recent Shackleford mailer was likely the SJ-R endorsement. That’ll help, but it won’t be nearly enough.
So, if Reps. Mitchell and Brown show up at that press conference without large checks in hand, their presser should be treated for what it is. Empty whining.
* But, hey, I suppose the press conference is not a bad idea. If you have no money, you try to get publicity. And the easiest way to get publicity Downstate is to fear-monger about Mike Madigan.
One way of getting around the state’s new campaign contribution caps law is by forming a lot of different campaign committees. State law forbids people from forming more than one committee (except for independent expenditures, political parties and state legislative leaders), but nothing in the law prevents “friends” and allies from forming their own committees to receive and give money.
For example, House Republican Leader Tom Cross has his own PAC, Citizens to Elect Tom Cross, his allowed “caucus” PAC, the House Republican Leadership Committee, and also appears to control or at least influence four other committees: Illinois Crossroads PAC, Citizens to Change Illinois, the Illinois House Victory Fund and the Move Illinois Forward PAC.
Before we go any further, let me stress that none of this appears to be illegal. The House Republicans don’t deny they’re doing this, with one official saying that they even include these campaign accounts in the presentations they give to large donors.
The point here is not to say that somebody is doing something wrong. It’s to show that if somebody wants to contribute money, they’ll find a way. State law caps the dollar amount that campaign committees can both give and receive, so multiple funds means contributors can give more money and the various funds can then, in turn, give out more cash.
The state’s contribution cap law is just not very good at what it’s supposed to do. In fact, the law makes it more difficult to track donors, because we have to look up so many different angles. I happened to stumble upon these House Republican committees, for example, while casually looking up contributions made by Jack Roeser.
The Illinois Crossroads PAC was formed in January, but reported collecting no contributions until July. It has since received more than $40,000 from Cross’ personal committee, plus two $10,000 contributions from Otto Engineering, a company owned by conservative activist and GOP fundraiser Jack Roeser. Walmart kicked in another $10,000, and energy magnate Gerald Forsythe contributed $5,000. Residual Based Finance Corp. contributed $2,500. The PAC has reported receiving $82,500 so far this cycle, and has contributed $70,000 to the Illinois Republican Party.
Citizens to Change Illinois was formed back in 2007, years before the caps were implemented. Its treasurer is a longtime aide to Cross. The PAC had just $22,000 in the bank at the end of June, but then money started coming in the next month, totaling $67,500, including two $10,000 checks from Roeser’s company, $10K from Walmart, $5k from Gerald Forsythe and $2,500 from Residual Based Finance Corp. $60,000 of the money raised since June 30th has already been contributed, with $35,000 going to the state Republican Party and the rest going to House GOP candidates.
The Illinois House Victory Fund is controlled directly by Cross. It was formed way back in 2004, but it had just a bit over $20,000 in the bank as of June 30th. So far, it’s received the usual two $10,000 checks from Roeser’s Otto Engineering and the $2,500 from Residual Based Finance Corp. All of the contributions it has made so far have gone to a handful of House Republican candidates.
Move Illinois Forward PAC, based in Oswego (which is in Cross’ district), was formed several years ago, but it had only $15K in the bank at the end of June. Since then, Otto has contributed $10K, Forsythe contributed $5K and Residual has contributed $2,500. The PAC has so far contributed $25K to Cross’ House Republican Organization and $15K to targeted House GOP candidates.
Again, there doesn’t seem to be anything untoward about these committees or these contributions, at least not at this point. It’s just money finding a way to its intended target. You may hate it, but the truth is that’s just the way of the political world — and of the money world.
It’s also a pretty good demonstration of how a perhaps well-intended law doesn’t perform as promised.
But most of all, it’s further proof that nobody, not even reformers, ought to be crowned as unquestioned experts in this business.
* From a Tribune editorial on House Speaker Michael Madigan and, of course, pensions…
The Capitol he entered in 1971, like the state it governed, was muscular and robust. […]
Madigan’s reaction is to lament, as would a victim, the crises he helped cause — and has the influence to solve. At the federal level, the senatorial Gang of Eight works to avoid a fiscal cliff, and presidential candidates clash over debt. In Illinois, Madigan and his fellow leaders haven’t had significant talks about their pension debacle in months.
* The Tribune really needs to bone up on its Illinois history, at least regarding pensions. Here’s a chart showing the pension systems based on percent they were funded from 1968 through 2011…
You can click the pic for a larger image. If you still can’t see the funding ratio for the early seventies, here you go…
So, in 1971, right as Madigan took office, the pension systems were being blatantly ignored.
Now, that’s not to say that other aspects of the state budget were worse then than they are now. It’s just that the Tribune has always acted as if this pension funding problem is somehow new. It’s not. As I’ve told you before, this problem goes back more than half a century.
* The Tribune’s latest poll has a plurality of Illinoisans opposing the gaming expansion bill that Gov. Quinn recently vetoed…
The survey results show growing opposition to new casinos and video slots at horse racing tracks, contrasting sharply with a similar poll conducted in February. The latest poll findings also appear to show that voters back Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to veto the legislature’s latest gambling expansion bill in August.
Lawmakers have twice approved measures to allow five new gambling palaces for Chicago, Rockford, Danville, the south suburbs and Park City in Lake County, but Quinn has raised many concerns to block the measures.
The poll found 47 percent oppose the gambling expansion plan, while 43 percent approve of it. Those numbers are turned around from February, when a survey showed 50 percent of voters statewide approved of the gambling expansion plan while 42 percent disapproved.
In the new survey, almost half of Chicago residents, 49 percent, opposed the gambling expansion proposal, while 40 percent supported it.
Respondents were not told what the money from expanded gaming would be used for, but whatever. It is what it is.
* Meanwhile, as Penn National fights against gaming expansion and slots at tracks to protect its Joliet and St. Louis casinos, the company is making the exact opposite argument in Maryland…
Election Day – Nov. 6 – could very well be doomsday for a Maryland horse racing establishment.
That’s how officials of Rosecroft Raceway see it. They predict that if voters approve the referendum on expansion of gaming in the state, it will mean the demise of the 63-year-old raceway.
Karen Bailey, director of public affairs for Penn National Gaming [PNG], owner of Rosecroft, said that they’re being squeezed out of consideration to develop a new casino in Prince George’s County if the measure passes, which will likely force the track to close.
“Rosecroft is not going to have a fair shot,” said Bailey. “In order for us to stay open, we need to add gaming.”
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is interested in introducing a special gambling tax on video poker and slot machines, to the tune of $800 per machine, as part of her larger budget proposal this week, the Sun-Times has learned.
In a brief phone call with the Sun-Times, Preckwinkle confirmed that she’s examining a gambling tax, including on the poker machines, but declined to provide specifics beyond that. […]
Zack Stamp, a lobbyist for the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association, had no problem commenting on such a proposal.
“I don’t know if they can legally do that,” said Stamp.
“These businesses have made a substantial investment in this equipment with an understanding somewhat of what the tax target is going to be, but if you’re going to come back in and lop something like this on top of them, it’s just another hurdle to get a return on their investment,” said Stamp.
State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, a champion of gambling expansion, also said he was surprised.
“I find it ironic that the same County Board that prohibited video gaming in unincorporated areas of the county has decided to make some money off of the video gaming devices where they can’t prohibit them,” Lang said. “I find it unusual and interesting.”
Lang said he was most concerned that an additional $800 charge per machine could eat into additional revenue bars and restaurants would use to improve their businesses and hire more employees.
“This additional tax on games might have a chilling effect on economic growth and jobs within Cook County,” Lang said.
* Related…
* September revenue dips 1 percent at St. Louis area casinos: Casino Queen in East St. Louis saw its revenue fall 5.5 percent last month to $10.3 million compred with September 2011. The Casino Queen’s revenue had risen 8 percent in August 2012 compared to the prior year’s month. Argosy Alton saw its September revenue fall 5.1 percent to $5.6 million compared with the same month last year. Argosy’s revenue had risen 9 percent in August compared with August 2011.
* New video gambling machines start to go live at area businesses
* Video Poker Collection Timeline Unclear: The Illinois Gaming Board says it’s also processing applications from more than 2,200 businesses interested in running video poker machines.
* This 15-second pause while Congresswoman Judy Biggert attempts to ask a question of Democratic challenger Bill Foster is just downright painful to sit through…
When the candidates were given the opportunity to grill each other, Biggert stumbled for 15 seconds before asking a half-formed question.
“I wanna know how you are going to, uh – solve the, uh, campaign finance…”
“ – problem,” finished Foster, who then went on to say that outside spending by super PACs and other groups is “one of the biggest threats to our democracy.”
Asked afterward why it seemed so difficult to come up with the question, Biggert suggested she wasn’t comfortable going on the attack.
“I had a question and I just couldn’t remember what it was,” she said. “I just didn’t think that this was the way I wanna be. I don’t like sending out anything like [negative ads]. … But it’s what people respond to, and I think that’s a shame.”
* Biggert press release…
“Judy Biggert won today’s debate on the facts and on temperament, while demonstrating her command of the issues and commitment to the 11th District,” said campaign manager Mike Lukach. “In contrast, and in a desperate attempt to distract from his record of layoffs at Electronic Theatre Controls, former Congressman Foster ran from the fact that his company closed the deal for their new headquarters just weeks after laying off ten percent of their workforce, and broke ground just months later.”
“Millionaire former Congressman Foster owes the voters of the 11th District an apology for his distortions and falsehoods, and for hypocritically calling for higher taxes while paying no federal income taxes himself last year. Those watching today’s debate have been reminded why the voters fired Bill Foster in 2010.”
* Foster’s spin…
Today Congresswoman Judy Biggert refused to back down from her support of the Ryan budget that she voted for twice that would end Medicare’s guaranteed benefit, force seniors to pay more for their prescriptions immediately, and increase health care costs for future seniors by $6400. Congresswoman Biggert had no explanation for her votes to raise taxes on middle class families by $2700. After 30 years in politics, Congresswoman Biggert is more concerned about the profits of billionaires and corporations than the health of the middle class.
“Today Congresswoman Biggert stood by her vote to take away Medicare’s guaranteed benefit for seniors and raise taxes on the middle class,” said Bill Foster. “The Ryan/Biggert budget would force seniors to pay more for their prescriptions and leave future seniors with $6400 in additional costs, while also increasing taxes on middle class families by $2700. By voting for the Ryan budget, and continuing to support it, Congresswoman Biggert chose to protect tax breaks for insurance companies, billionaires, and Wall Street, while squeezing out the middle class.”
Congresswoman Biggert defended the Ryan budget this morning at a taped debate hosted by the League of Women Voters and ABC7 Chicago, which will air on Sunday Morning after This Week with George Stephanopoulos. The next debate was scheduled for Tuesday evening, but Congresswoman Biggert canceled her appearance at the AARP forum, refusing to explain her position to concerned seniors.
* Democrat Ron Stradt hasn’t raised much money for his Sangamon County State’s Attorney race. He spent less than $11K in the last quarter and had less than $6K on hand at the end of September. As of this writing, his GOP opponent, an appointed incumbent, hadn’t filed his quarterly report, but his previous report showed he had far more cash than Stradt.
So what does an underfunded and definite underdog do? Try to create as much of a stir as possible, of course…
Stradt, obviously hoping to do something different to wrest the Sangamon County state’s attorney’s office away from the GOP, is also running a radio ad in which a conversation between a man and a woman includes how Stradt wants to empanel a grand jury to investigate misconduct of state legislators.
“With broken promises to state employees, he can start with Madigan and Quinn,” it says.
That refers to Democrats including Gov. PAT QUINN.
One participant in the ad wonders if Stradt is a Democrat, and the other says he is “a conservative Democrat for concealed carry” who will “clean up the Statehouse.”
* Over the years, local state’s attorneys have stayed as far away from the Statehouse as they could. Incumbent John Milhiser, for instance, refused to get involved after Sen. Mike Jacobs allegedly punched Sen. Kyle McCarter on the Senate floor. Most CapitolFax.com readers agreed with the decision, as did the SJ-R…
Cheers to Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser for introducing some common sense into a situation that never should have come across his desk. Milhiser said last week that no criminal charges will be filed as the result of an incident between Sens. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, and Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, on the Senate floor during the last hours of the spring legislative session. McCarter accused Jacobs of striking him following debate on a bill for which Jacobs’ father, former state Sen. Denny Jacobs, had lobbied. Whether it was a poke, shove or punch, this was not a police matter and should have been resolved accordingly.
But corruption is another story. I’m curious if you think local state’s attorneys should get involved in this stuff.
Amendment 49 on the November ballot in Illinois is cleverly drafted to concentrate more monetary power in the same Springfield legislative leaders who have de facto bankrupted the Illinois Treasury. With $83 billion in projected liabilities, Illinois has the nation’s largest state budget crisis.
Amendment 49 is crafted to strip local governments and voters of current decision-making prerogatives and transfer those decisions to Springfield.
Among other subterfuges, Amendment 49 overrules and destroys the Illinois Constitutional protection against eliminating or reducing earned benefits, such as pensions for state retirees who by state law cannot receive Social Security and, in many instances, cannot receive Medicaid.
Furthermore, thousands of elderly retirees and current state employees were mandated by Illinois law to pay into Illinois retirement systems and then were legally prohibited from having Social Security.
Amendment 49 contains more words than the entire first 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution — the Bill of Rights. The obvious intent of the verbose Amendment 49 is to hide its true impacts from voters in a 700-word avalanche of unnecessary and deceptive words.
Marketing experts know that few voters will read beyond the benign first sentences and that voters will be inclined to vote “yes” in that benign spirit. While the voters may wish to vote to concentrate more monetary power in Springfield leadership, they should not be tricked into misdirecting their votes and eliminating their current constitutional safeguards by the confusing 700 words in Amendment 49.
For example, hidden in the “last sentence” is the new constitutional provision: “(d) Nothing in this Section shall prevent the passage or adoption of any law, ordinance, resolution, rule, policy or practice that further restricts the ability to provide a ‘benefit increase,’ ‘emolument increase,’ or ‘beneficial determination’ as those terms are used under this Section.”
Thus, Amendment 49 overrules the current Constitutional safeguard known as the “non-impairment provision” in Article XIII, sec. 5, of the Illinois Constitution.
As confirmed by expert memoranda — for example, the State Universities Annuitants Association memoranda (at www.suaa.org, June 8, 2012) — Amendment 49 was drafted outside normal processes, including the Springfield Legislative Reference Bureau.
Among other problems for local taxpayers, the language overriding the “non-impairment provision” was added at virtually the last minute as the “last sentence” hidden at the end of 700 words.
Amendment 49 has also been disguised with various monikers including “HCA49” and “HJRCA49,” and it was originally floated by Speaker Michael Madigan’s office as “Amendment 5.”
Instead of concentrating more power in Springfield’s legislative leadership, taxpayers should consider simply rejecting Amendment 49 as just more deceptive legislative legerdemain.
* Kindt uses a heckuva lot of scare tactics in the piece. That gibberish about the proposal having different names is just whacky talk, for instance. There is no such a thing as “HCA49.” HJRCA49 is the actual, legal legislative name. Amendment 49 is short-hand.
* But what really irked me was how Kindt cited a bit of language and then declared that it overrules the Constitution’s non-impairment provision without any explanation whatsoever.
“Legal counsel for the We Are One Illinois coalition of unions does not share the view that (the amendment) threatens existing constitutional pension protections,” said AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall.
Until the opposition comes up with actual legal reasoning behind this claim, I just can’t buy into it.
Democrat Tammy Duckworth went on the attack against Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh on Friday, airing a TV ad calling attention to what she said were his extreme views on abortion.
The half-minute commercial, which appears to target female voters who might be more likely to support abortion rights, features a repeated video clip of Walsh saying, “I am pro-life without exception.”
A Walsh campaign spokesman did not directly respond to a question asking Walsh’s stance on abortion, but the congressman previously has indicated that he opposes abortion, including in cases of rape and incest.
Duckworth supports abortion rights. In an email Friday, Duckworth said she does not “support any restrictions on a woman’s right to choose or her access to safe, affordable reproductive health services.”
U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s campaign finances are the subject of a federal probe after the congressman allegedly improperly used campaign money to decorate his home, according to a new report.
The Chicago Sun-Times on Friday first reported that Jackson was under federal investigation, a probe that began before he took a leave from Congress in June to seek medical help. Ultimately, the Jacksons said he suffered from bipolar depression.
The Sun-Times reported that the investigation was being handled out of Washington D.C. and was an entirely new area of scrutiny and did not involve the sale of the U.S. Senate seat — a case involving Rod Blagojevich where Jackson’s name repeatedly came up. Spokespeople representing Jackson were not talking on Sunday.
The probe prompted lawyers for Jackson to meet with federal prosecutors this week in an attempt to persuade them not to indict the congressman.
The sources said it was unclear whether Jackson, who has not been seen in his office for months, would be charged before the November election — a subject that was discussed between Jackson’s lawyers and the prosecutors this week. Jackson’s lawyers urged the prosecutors not to file charges before the election — but prosecutors refused to make any commitments, the sources familiar with the meeting said.
* Independent expenditures against Democratic congressional candidate Cheri Bustos had already topped $2.1 million. And now Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS has weighed in with a new TV ad…
I’m told that Crossroads has placed $540k in the Quad Cities, $174K in Rockford and $171K in Peoria, for a total of $885,000. But the Moline Dispatch reported today that they’re spending $749k.
Either way, that ad will help to balance out the outside money spent against Republican incumbent Bobby Schilling, who has endured almost $2.3 million in spending against him, mainly from the DCCC, House Majority PAC and some unions.
* Related…
* Bustos campaign slams Schilling over future of Medicare: “The other side isn’t coming to the table to offer solutions,” Schweppe said. “Bobby is the only candidate in this race with a plan to save and protect Medicare, and that is why he supported the Ryan budget.”
* Chuck Sweeney: Tying a bag of Quinn around Bustos: Maybe it was a cunning strategy for Schilling to link Bustos with Quinn, even if it is an unfair comparison. Quinn has a record. Bustos doesn’t. She doesn’t advocate a massive income tax increase, something Quinn signed into law, raising our state income tax 67 percent. But what’s fair in politics? Nothing. The word’s not in the political dictionary..
