Federal prosecutors and FBI agents in Washington have launched a new criminal investigation of Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. involving financial improprieties, including possible misuse of funds monitored by Congress, law enforcement sources tell NBC News.
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.
The investigation — based in the Washington, D.C., FBI field office — is not related to the attempted sale of the U.S. Senate seat that figured in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption conviction, but is focusing on “suspicious activity” involving the congressman’s finances related to his House seat and the possibility of inappropriate expenditures, sources said.
The probe was active in the weeks prior to Jackson taking a leave from his U.S. House post on June 10, a leave his office ultimately attributed to his need for treatment for a bipolar disorder, the sources said.
It was unclear whether the probe involved the congressman’s official House spending account or his campaign finance account. But one source said it was an account monitored by Congress.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to start a campaign to boost support for changes to state pension systems. Quinn has been in campaign mode for months, repeatedly bringing up to the media and legislators the importance of tackling the state’s massively underfunded pension system. […]
“We’ve gotta, I think, activate the taxpayers,” Quinn told reporters Friday.
Quinn said he’s starting a grassroots campaign, which will put pressure on lawmakers in a way that hasn’t been used yet.
“If they can’t do it on their own, we’re gonna help them do it with the people of Illinois,” Quinn said.
Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that he’ll wait until next month to debut his so-called grassroots campaign raising awareness about Illinois’ pension problem, a move that comes days after lawmakers failed to come up with a plan to overhaul the massively underfunded system.
The governor shed some light on his so-called grassroots campaign to reform the state’s pension system at a Saturday morning stop in Decatur that was unrelated to his visit to unveil “The Portrait of a Soldier” exhibit at the Decatur Public Library.
While details remain vague, Quinn said he hopes to use the Internet and social media to inform people on the issue and to rally people to contact their lawmakers. […]
Quinn said he will be meeting with legislative leaders within the next two weeks to lay groundwork for pension reform before he moves on with the campaign.
Anyone wondering what Gov. Pat Quinn might do to rally support for an overhaul of the state’s pension systems need look no further than the governor’s own website.
Quinn, who says he is planning to launch an Internet-based grassroots pension lobbying effort in the coming weeks, already has a web page dedicated to the cause.
[Quinn’s] spokesperson, however, said the page has been up since the spring session, so, no, this is not part of the new plan.
* Yesterday, October 11th, Gov. Quinn was asked about his pledge to activate the grassroots on pension reform. His response…
“Well, we, uh, we’re working on a very good program, I think, that will involve the people of Illinois in this mission.”
* Quinn then went on one of his classic rambles…
“Because the real issue is we want to have proper resources for the education of these little boys and girls who are just in pre-school, and now they’re in grammar school, they’re going to be going to middle school and then to high school and ultimately to college, community college and a four-year university…”
Whew. Get all that?
* Quinn never again mentioned his grassroots activation plan, but he did say this…
“We’ve talked to a lot of legislators. I think we’re going to do pretty well once the election comes and goes.”
Talking to legislators is smart. Lay some groundwork for a change. Promising a “grassroots” campaign you can’t deliver? Not so good.
* Raw audio of the question and the governor’s answer…
* The National Republican Congressional Committee is running an ad bashing 10th District Democrat Brad Schneider for bragging about his business experience but not earning “any income from his business for three straight years.” Watch it…
In October 2002, a Tribune poll showed Governor George Ryan had an approval rating of 23-percent,
So, Quinn’s only three points higher than a guy who was obviously headed toward conviction? Yeesh. But at least he’s polling better than Rod Blagojevich was a little over a month before he was arrested by the FBI…
The Chicago Tribune reports 13-percent of 500 Illinois voters polled think Governor Rod Blagojevich is doing a good job.
Quinn’s 26 percent is two points lower than his previous Tribune poll low of 28 percent in September of 2010. But, he still won his election that November.
DCFS had planned to lay off 375 employees, the result of a $50 million cut to its budget by the General Assembly. The layoffs were to take effect Oct. 1, but DCFS spokesman Dave Clarkin said none of the layoffs took effect.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents DCFS workers, said a paperwork glitch delayed the layoffs.
AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said the union was in a bargaining session with DCFS Thursday over the planned layoffs when the announcement was made.
“AFSCME members and DCFS employees are extremely relieved that the Quinn administration has responded to the very real and serious concerns workers raised about the harm these cuts would cause to kids,” Lindall said.
However, he said it is too early for the union to comment on the agreement DCFS said it needs from the union for the reorganization plan to work.
The seniority-based layoffs were expected to begin this month. DCFS officials said that if the money is restored, the agency through a reorganization plan could beef up its child-protection investigative unit by 138 workers and reduce caseloads to below the mandated ratio of about 12 cases to 1 worker.
In June, Gov. Pat Quinn pushed to stave off the layoffs by diverting some savings from his plan to close some state prison facilities. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which represents DCFS and prison employees, argues that the prison closings are unsafe and suggests looking elsewhere for the money.
Though state revenues have increased beyond projections, lawmakers such as Rep. Sara Feigenholtz said so have Illinois’ bills. The North Side Democrat said that while lawmakers still have many questions for Calica to ensure the money isn’t wasted, their ongoing discussions are encouraging.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he will expend as much political capital as necessary to push for pension reforms, but that lawmakers in Springfield need to “get in gear.”
In a meeting with reporters at Bloomberg offices Thursday, Emanuel said he is holding hearings, talking with unions and collaborating with suburban mayors on the issue.
He says now it’s time for the General Assembly to “pick up the game.”
Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s premier hires, is out by “mutual agreement” with City Hall after just 17 months on the job, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Brizard was Emanuel’s pick to lead CPS and push through the mayor’s aggressive education agenda. But with the city’s first teachers strike in 25 years in the rearview mirror and a new contract to be implemented, Emanuel said it’s “time for a clean break.” […]
“The questions about J.C. became a distraction from what we had to do. We had a mutual agreement [that the distraction was] not helpful. . . . I didn’t have to come to that conclusion myself. We both agreed together. It kept on becoming about the static and noise about J.C. He said, ‘Look, getting the schools right is more important than me,’ ” the mayor told the Chicago Sun-Times. […]
“In all my experience working for two presidents, when you get to a certain point, you’ve got to have a fresh start,” said Emanuel, who served under presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. “Usually, you’ve got to tell the person that. “J.C. came to that understanding. . . . He didn’t have to be persuaded of that. He appreciated that. He didn’t want to become a distraction from the mission. I can’t underscore how different that is.”
* My Sun-Times column was written before the above results were published. Also, for whatever reason, the paper’s Internet staff hasn’t posted it online yet. Here it is…
I checked my e-mail after dinner Wednesday night and just about sprayed my beverage onto my computer screen.
Republican Congressman Joe Walsh was crowing about a new poll that had him ahead of Democrat Tammy Duckworth.
What the heck? The loudmouthed tea partier leading a bona fide war hero in a district drawn to elect a Democrat?
But, yes, there it was. We Ask America polled 1,171 likely voters October 9th and had Walsh with 47.4 percent to Duckworth’s 45.9 percent - a one and a half point lead.
Walsh’s lead is within the poll’s +/- 2.9 percent margin of error. So, maybe he isn’t really ahead. But maybe he is.
Either way, this was the second poll taken by We Ask America in that district in about a week. The last one, conducted on October 3rd for me, had Walsh trailing by about six points, 50-44. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee conducted a poll the next day and had Walsh trailing by ten. 52-42. A poll taking by Public Policy Polling in mid-September had Walsh down by 14, 52-38.
Three polls in a row had Duckworth getting between 50 and 52 percent. But then the latest poll has her at 46.
What gives?
Well, if you average all four polls together, which is commonly done, you get Duckworth 50 to Walsh’s 43.
But things have changed a lot since President Obama got his hat handed to him in the October 3rd presidential debate. First Obama’s poll numbers tanked, and then down-ballot candidates started feeling the impact in their own polling.
So, it’s very possible, even quite likely, that Obama’s horrific performance in his first debate has had some very real impact on the Duckworth vs. Walsh contest.
The We Ask America poll taken the evening of the debate had Obama leading Mitt Romney in that congressional district by about eleven points, 51.4 to 40.6. The October 9th We Ask America Poll showed Obama’s lead had dropped to five points, 49-44.
Independents went from backing Obama 50-34 before the debate was over, to backing Romney 47-41 six days later. And men went from being strongly for Obama 50-41, to being marginally for Romney, 48-45. Among folks 65 and over, Obama initially led 48-43, but then trailed Romney 48-43 after the debate.
The same thing happened to Duckworth, only bigger. She was leading Walsh 52-39 among independents on October 3rd, and losing them 51-41 by October 9th. Duckworth led Walsh among men 50-45, but was then losing men 53-41. Her lead among seniors had been 50-44. But Walsh led among oldsters in the October 9th poll 51-43.
According to that last poll, Duckworth’s problems are obviously worse than the president’s. There’s a reason for that, too.
Two years ago, the Democrats didn’t take Walsh seriously and he defeated a sitting congresswoman by a couple of hundred votes. This time around, with a favorable new district map and what they believed was a strong candidate, they figured they had it in the bag. Early polling confirmed it. “Everybody” knew it.
But outside groups have spent well over $2 million on TV ads attacking Duckworth and also bolstering Walsh’s flagging image. Duckworth and the national Democrats and their friends with super PACs have not kept pace. So, Duckworth hasn’t been able to respond to the attacks.
This isn’t over. Duckworth isn’t cooked yet (and neither is Obama). But Walsh has always been a better campaigner than the Democrats have ever admitted. They need to wake up, or they just might lose to him again.
* Republican congressional candidate Jason Plummer admitted yesterday that he misspoke when he said Democrat Bill Enyart had to take down a TV ad because it was misleading. But then Plummer said this…
Plummer said the attack ad against him that was pulled was actually sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an outside group that may not coordinate with the Enyart campaign.
“The ad the DCCC is using against me now has been pulled because it’s misleading,” Plummer said Thursday during a press conference. Plummer said he did not know what TV market that ad had been playing in.
But the DCCC says no ads have been pulled down in that race. And I haven’t seen any news stories or heard anything at all about such a thing happening.
So, I asked the Plummer campaign yesterday afternoon to identify the DCCC ad that was pulled. I have yet to hear back.
* Also yesterday, Plummer continued to claim that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi held a fundraiser for Enyart…
Enyart vigorously denied that claim during the debate Wednesday. On Thursday, a spokesman for Pelosi denied she had ever hosted a fundraiser for Enyart. Enyart campaign manager Jason Bresler also denied that Pelosi had hosted such a fundraiser.
On Thursday, Plummer’s campaign released a copy of an invitation that Pelosi and other top House Democrats had sent out in support of a DCCC fundraising reception for 50 Democrats running for the House known as the “2012 Red to Blue Candidates.” Included in those 50 names were Enyart and Dr. David Gill, the Democratic nominee for the 13th U.S. House District seat. Neither Enyart nor Gill attended that event.
Bresler said that on Sept. 20 Plummer and Enyart were in Marion for a 12th District debate, and at that debate Enyart told Plummer “that if you want to run against Nancy Pelosi, I suggest you move to San Francisco.”
* By the way, the full Oct. 10 debate is now online…
While 90 percent said they are familiar with Madigan, 40 percent didn’t have a favorable or unfavorable view of him, and 38 percent said they had no opinion on whether they approved of his job performance as speaker. […]
But even more than one-third of voters in the poll who identified themselves as Republicans said they had no view of Madigan or had no opinion on his job performance.
Suburban voters held the most negative views of Madigan. Only 13 percent of voters in suburban Cook County and the Republican-leaning collar counties had a favorable impression of the Chicago Democrat. In contrast, 45 percent of voters in suburban Cook and 50 percent of collar county voters view him unfavorably. Once again, more than 3 in 10 voters had no opinion.
The suburban negatives grew harsher when respondents were asked about Madigan’s job performance. Fully 53 percent of voters in suburban Cook and 52 percent in collar counties voters disapproved.
Downstate, more than half of voters expressed no opinion on how they viewed Madigan, and 46 percent said they could not rate his job performance. Among those who expressed an opinion, more viewed him negatively than positively.
* From an Illinois Federation of Teachers press release…
Since 1939, the Illinois Teachers Retirement System (TRS) has done a tremendous public service in stewarding and safeguarding the life savings of the state’s teachers. The state benefits from a system where teachers–who do not collect Social Security–can avoid poverty in retirement. But, once again, the current executive director of TRS, Dick Ingram, has announced his personal views about diminishing key benefits for existing workers and retirees.
In an interview with Crain’s Chicago Business last week, Ingram focused his remarks, as he did in April, 2012, on reducing cost of living adjustments (COLAs). It is inappropriate for Mr. Ingram, who is responsible for safeguarding the retirement benefits of 360,000 teachers, to promote his personal views by advocating for the destruction of TRS members’ retirement security. Such actions contradict his fiduciary duty and are in violation of a resolution passed by the TRS Board of Trustees. Mr. Ingram’s insubordinate and irresponsible actions can only result in one honorable outcome—his resignation.
Mr. Ingram fails to mention in his many interviews that teachers in the system have already paid for the cost of living benefits he wants to cut—their payments are built into the contribution calculations they are required to make in every paycheck. In addition, it seems not to matter to Mr. Ingram that the Illinois Constitution expressly forbids the benefit cuts he finds so attractive. Mr. Ingram says the Constitution is “unfortunate.” We say it is just and fair.
Mr. Ingram may think that he can mislead the members of the TRS Board of Trustees into believing that his remarks do not violate their fiduciary responsibility or their own resolutions regarding TRS advocacy. We have more faith in the board members than that.
Mr. Ingram would like the public and other unions to believe his comments are merely an intellectual exercise and are not meant to promote his own preferred solutions to the pension crisis. To this we say, “We will not be fooled.” The Teachers Retirement System must work for its members, not the politicians, corporate executives, or newspapers its leaders may be bullied by.
When the fox is guarding the hen house, it is the fox that must go. Mr. Ingram has lost the trust of those he is employed to protect. He should resign from his position as TRS executive director.
In an interview with Crain’s editors and reporters, Richard Ingram, executive director of the underfunded Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, said state politicians will have few other options if they want to make meaningful progress on closing the gap between promised pension benefits and the available funding.
“Look at every other state that’s done pension reform – what have they done? They’ve changed the COLA because that’s where the cost is,” Mr. Ingram said, noting that 25 percent of TRS payments are for cost-of-living increases on pension benefits.
Changes in cost-of-living adjustments could be targeted so they have the least impact on the oldest retirees and those with the lowest incomes, he said.
“If that is where we need to go in Illinois, then we can do it in a manner that is targeted and effective and protects those that need it the most and, at least to a large extent, get the job done,” Mr. Ingram said.
* The debate between congressional candidates Jason Plummer and Bill Enyart was apparently more of the same last night. Enyart demanded that Plummer released his tax returns, Plummer hammered Enyart over Nancy Pelosi.
Halfway through the debate, when asked to say what he found disappointing about his rivals, Plummer paused a moment while sizing up Enyart.
“Bill … I just expected a little bit more,” Plummer said. “I think the American people, the people of Southern Illinois, are thirsting for substantive conversations about the issues that are really impacting them … You’re never going to see a commercial for Jason Plummer yanked off the air because it’s not being honest … You’re never going to see us get in trouble for distorting anything.”
* Jason Rosenbaum of the St. Louis Beacon has the video. The claim starts at about one minute in…
* I was quite surprised to see reporters writing that without question because I hadn’t heard about any ads being taken off the air, so I checked with Plummer’s campaign. The response…
Jason misspoke last night at the debate as to which groups ads had been pulled
Oops.
The Plummer spokesperson continued…
but frankly it’s unfathomable that Bill Enyart would not call on his Washington attack dogs to take down such outrageously false claims on the air. If Bill Enyart is willing to stand by these lies on the airwaves as a candidate now, Southern Illinois families can count on Bill Enyart’s continued dishonesty if sent to Congress.
There was so much said last night that wasn’t true from Bill Enyart. If you want to cover Jason’s misstep I think it is fully necessary to look at the false claims by Enyart. Here are just a few of the most egregious claims from Enyart last night:
Distortion #1: Lies in Advertising
On more than one occasion, Enyart tried to tie Plummer to a company that is under federal investigation. Enyart said that Plummer has received donations from this company, claiming that it made its profits illegally. Not only are Enyart’s allegations about the company false, but the claim has already been named a “Pants on Fire” lie by the non-partisan fact-checking site “Politifact.”
Distortion #2: Bankrolled by Nancy Pelosi
Enyart hates to admit it, but he has received campaign contributions from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. While he flatly denied it, evidence from several sources shows that the liberal former Speaker has donated to Enyart. She hosted a fundraiser for him and other Democrat candidates on Sept. 20 in Washington, D.C., and held another fundraiser for him in Chicago in October 7. On October 14, Pelosi is sending the most liberal Member of Congress, Jan Schakowsky, with close ties to Rod Blagojevich, the Chicago political machine, and a felon husband - to Southern Illinois for a fundraiser.
* The Enyart campaign has its own fact check…
False Claim #1: Plummer’s Secret Financial Record Is Somehow Public: Jason Plummer again refused to release his tax returns and falsely claimed that his financial information is all “public information.” The truth is that Plummer only filled out what was required by him by federal campaign law and refuses to disclose his tax rate, whether or not he paid taxes at all, if he holds offshore assets, or how as a 30 year old who reportedly earns less than $50,000 is worth millions.
False Claim #2: Plummer’s Tax Plan Doesn’t Reward Millionaires, Outsourcers: Plummer had the audacity to claim tonight that he”never endorsed tax cuts for companies that ship jobs overseas” and that he “doesn’t support tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.” The truth is that Plummer supports a tax plan that gives more tax breaks to millionaires He signed a pledge that protects tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and he praised the Ryan plan that protects tax breaks for the super-rich and outsourcers.
False Claim # 3: Plummer Is Running A Positive Campaign and Enyart’s TV Ads Were Pulled. Jason Plummer hasn’t run a single ad that focuses on positive information about himself to let voters learn more about who he is. Instead, he and his secret corporate allies have run smears so egregious that the Associated Press called them “misleading.” To be clear, NO Democratic ad has EVER been pulled in this race.
False Claim #4: Plummer & the Ryan Budget: Plummer can’t face tough questions about the fact that he praised a plan that would end the Medicare guarantee and force seniors to pay thousands more for their health care. Enyart is the only candidate in the race with the endorsement of the Committee to Protect and Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
False Claim #5: Plummer & Washington Party Leadership: Jason Plummer tried to claim he was the best candidate who stand up to Washington Party Leaders. Too bad he spent the better part of the day fundraising alongside Republican Party Leader Eric Cantor who has encouraged all candidates to “embrace” the Republican plan to end the Medicare guarantee.
After some crosstalk, Enyart then said “most lieutenant junior grades will refer to somebody older than them as sir.” The line - used in previous debates - is a reference to Plummer’s service in U.S. Naval Reserve.
“I referred to Mr. Plummer as Mr. Plummer out of some modicum of respect,” said Enyart, who made the similar barb during previous debates.
The Schilling campaign accused Bustos of illegally coordinating with the House Majority PAC in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission. […]
The Schilling campaign’s complaint says that the House Majority PAC is violating election law by using video the Bustos campaign put on YouTube in August in a new ad that targets Schilling. The complaint said use of the footage is illegal direct and in-kind contributions, and it asked for an investigation. […]
Andy Stone, a spokesman for the House Majority PAC, said it is on the right side of the law.
“The footage used in the ad is publicly available and was found on the Internet,” he said. “The FEC has made clear that using clips of a candidate’s footage is perfectly legal and does not violate the rule against redistribution of campaign materials.”
In a news release, the Schilling camp said Bustos who was breaking the law, too, by “illegally coordinating with the House Majority PAC.” The complaint filed with the FEC does not make that charge, however. Jon Schweppe, a Schilling spokesman, said the Bustos campaign put the video on the Internet and the House Majority PAC used it.
“We define that as coordination,” he said.
That’s goofy.
A video is posted online, somebody else uses it and that’s somehow illegal coordination?
Veteran Republican U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert has dropped out of a radio debate with Democratic challenger Bill Foster that was set for Oct. 16, saying a co-sponsor didn’t appear neutral.
At issue for Biggert is information from AARP and the organization’s logo appearing in liberal-sponsored television advertising and mailers that attacked her. Biggert announced her withdrawal from the debate in a statement Wednesday night. […]
Biggert, in part, questioned whether AARP can be a “neutral arbiter.”
* But it looks to me like Biggert was using this as an excuse to get out of the debate…
One TV ad from last week, titled “Judy Biggert: Bankroll” and paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, attacked her for purportedly favoring tax cuts for the wealthy and “removing Medicare’s promise of secure health coverage.” AARP’s logo appeared in the spot, along with a note citing the organization for information.
But Heppner said AARP takes public positions on issues and can’t control how the information is used by others.
* The SJ-R endorsed a Republican House candidate today, and the reason appears to be Democratic candidate Sue Scherer’s position on House Speaker Michael Madigan…
Scherer, a Decatur teacher who’s taking the school year off to campaign, has taken at least $248,000 from campaign committees controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, whose staff drew this district to elect a Democrat. The contributions alone raise serious questions about her independence.
But the mailers Scherer has allowed to be sent out on her behalf raise more than questions. They point to a person who has allowed her campaign to be dictated by Madigan campaign strategists — “the program,” as they like to call it.
Like every candidate this time of year, she talks about working with Republicans. But the mailers and the money strongly indicate that she would be a backbench legislator, casting votes to ensure Madigan is speaker for years to come.
Who will she vote for for speaker after getting all that Madigan money? The people of her district, she said, dodging the question.
If she’s a member of the House, Scherer will be asked to vote whether to pass rules that prevent the minority party from having its bills heard. She’ll be asked to vote whether to allow Madigan to bury such legislation. Democratic legislators, particularly those whose campaigns received aid from the speaker, seem to forget they were going to reach across the aisle when those votes are called. […]
Scherer seems well intentioned and talks passionately about education, a subject she knows well. But we cannot endorse someone who seems to think voters are stupid.
Give the Republicans credit, they’ve managed to inject the “Fire Madigan” theme into the race this year in a pretty big way. It’s effecting coverage of legislative races…
In the campaign for the 84th state House seat, the name Michael Madigan keeps coming up.
The Republican running for the open seat in the newly drawn district, Pat Fee of Aurora, says Madigan must be replaced as speaker of the House before Illinois legislators from both parties will be able to work together on solutions to the state’s biggest problems. […]
“There will be no working together. He (Madigan) rules it the way he wants it ruled and this is where we are today,” Fee said. “What Michael Madigan wants to do is shift it (pension costs) over to the schools. Guess where that’s going? To the taxpayers. This can’t be. You’re a Michael Madigan-backed candidate, and are you going to vote for Michael Madigan to be speaker?”
In an endorsement interview and candidate questionnaire for the Daily Herald, Kifowit, 40, did not indicate if she would vote for Madigan as speaker. She said she is being supported by the Democratic Party, and campaign finance records submitted to the Illinois State Board of Elections show she has received donations from the Democratic Majority, the Democratic Party of Illinois and a $40,000 contribution from Friends of Michael J. Madigan.
* The Daily Herald’s editorial board appears to have bought almost all the way in to the GOP/Tribune’s anti-Madigan war. From its endorsement of David McSweeney over Dee Beaubien…
Beaubien has been criticized for accepting money from House Speaker Michael Madigan and thereby beholding herself to him and Democrats. She responds that she has received money from independent Republicans as well. But the larger issue for us is her unwillingness to reveal which caucus she would align herself with in Springfield. Voters cannot know what they would get when she keeps her cards so close the vest.
* And Rep. Sid Mathias (R-Buffalo Grove) has a new TV ad which reminds voters that a vote for his opponent is a vote for Mike Madigan…
Well, the baseball season of 2012 is in the books. It was a disappointing season, but I hope fans understand there are better days ahead. We bought this team because we are committed to delivering Cubs fans the World Series championship they deserve. We believe this season represents the first step to delivering on that promise.
Baseball Operations President Theo Epstein, General Manager Jed Hoyer and the entire Cubs organization are working day and night to put together a championship organization — from A-ball to the major league club. We are building the team toward a future of sustained success with a youth movement. We are investing in our player development system, both in terms of talent and facilities. We are building a nucleus of solid young players to perform around shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
* This preliminary injunction is basically just replaces the judge’s temporary restraining order. It’s not really all that new…
An Alexander County judge sided with the state’s largest employee union Wednesday, blocking Gov. Pat Quinn from closing prisons, halfway houses and youth detention facilities.
Associate Circuit Court Judge Charles Cavaness issued an injunction that keeps a hold on the closure of prisons in Dwight and Tamms, a youth facility in Murphysboro and adult transition centers in Decatur and Carbondale.
Quinn, who wants to close the facilities as part of a budget-cutting plan he outlined in February, could appeal the decision or await action on budget-related issues by the General Assembly when lawmakers convene in late November for the fall veto session.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 argued that moving violent inmates out of Tamms and into an already crowded prison system could endanger prison employees.
Quinn spokesman Abdon Pallasch said delaying the closures, most of which were scheduled for Aug. 31, is costing the state $7 million a month it doesn’t have. Pallasch said the administration plans to appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Cavaness agreed with AFSCME’s argument that Quinn’s changes, such as closing Tamms and transferring highly troublesome inmates to the maximum-security prison at Pontiac, are so drastic they require adjustments to contractual working conditions. Particularly in a prison system designed for 33,700 inmates but holding more than 49,000.
In the order, Cavaness again agreed that AFSMCE had shown the closures “have the potential to make the prisons that remain more dangerous for employees.” He had made that statement a month ago when he issued a temporary prohibition on closures. Quinn appealed that decision to a state appellate court but lost and that appeal remains before the Supreme Court.
That action resulted from an independent arbitrator’s ruling in late August that Quinn had violated the AFSCME contract by not negotiating the impact of the closures on working conditions.
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With less than four weeks until Election Day, Joe Walsh is in the lead over Tammy Duckworth in the race for Congress in Illinois’ 8th District by 1.5% according to a flash poll taken Tuesday, October 9th. The poll was commissioned by ChampionNews.net.
The poll showed Walsh with 47.4% of the vote to Duckworth’s 45.9%, with only 6.7% undecided. This while Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney in the 8th District by 4.6%: 49% to 44.4%. Walsh’s lead stems mainly from his huge advantage amongst independents, where he leads Duckworth by 10% (51% - 41%). Walsh has a 12% lead among male voters and trails by only 3% among female voters. […]
The automated poll was conducted by We Ask America on Tuesday, October 9th. 1,171 responses were collected, resulting in a margin of error of 2.9%. The full poll summary report can be viewed here.
Keep in mind when reading the internals that We Ask America gives unweighted numbers on its crosstabs. So, while you’ll see that slightly more Republicans than Democrats were interviewed, that’s not how the numbers end up when the final weighting is done.
Also, yes, Jack Roeser paid for this poll. But I’ve been using WAA for a few years now and I’m going to be using them a whole lot more in the coming year (stay tuned for an official announcement), and they do good work. They were the only outfit that caught Bill Brady’s late 2010 primary surge, for instance. And their legislative polling in the primary was quite good.
Just about every time I post a poll, commenters’ tinfoil hats come out in abundance. This is legit. Deal with it.
Any time our numbers go that much against the grain of conventional wisdom, you can bet on us re-visting the race soon. But we decided to publish the results because there’s something interesting going on in Virginia and other states. There is a significant percentage of voters who are shifting their self-described political party affiliation; we refer to them as lane changers. People who are strict party loyalists sometimes find it disconcerting that affiliations can shift like this. In truth, its probably more accurate to simply call these lane changers Independents, but we’ve seen a lot of it lately, and that may why so many are wringing their hands about pollsters’ mix of GOP/Dem/Ind in their polls.
In our opinion, those who try to shape their samples based on the 2008 presidential mix are missing the boat. While digging into the reasons our numbers are different–and out of curiosity–we weighted the raw numbers out of Virginia based on that 2008 presidential ratio. Lo and behold…it moves Kaine AHEAD by four points, about the same lead the the Real Clear Politics average is showing in this race. That doesn’t mean that other pollsters are using the wrong mix, but it makes us wonder.
* Meanwhile, allegations made by Walsh against Duckworth during this week’s debate has drawn some media attention…
As the head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth is accused of firing an employee after the woman filed a complaint against her supervisor.
Duckworth allegedly told the woman: “If you do your job and keep your mouth shut and concentrate on job duties, you will keep your job,” according to a lawsuit pending in a Downstate court. The Illinois Attorney General’s office, which is defending Duckworth, has filed a request to again dismiss the lawsuit.
The original complaint was dismissed from federal court but was again filed in state court, now being handled out of the First Judicial District in Union County. The initial attorney who handled the case for the whistleblower said it was dismissed because of “jurisdictional issues.”
It was Duckworth’s opponent, Joe Walsh, a Tea Party Republican, who flagged the lawsuit in front of more than 1,000 people in a Tuesday night debate in Rolling Meadows. Walsh did it to many “boos” in the raucous audience, but made it known that Duckworth, a Democrat, had a December pending court date.
The disclosure caused a stern retort from Duckworth campaign manager Kaitlin Fahey, who called Walsh a “financially irresponsible deadbeat.”
A look at the lawsuit reveals it’s not classified as a wrongful termination suit. The complaint is about allegations that Duckworth and a colleague violated the state’s ethics act and inflicted intentional emotional distress. And the two workers still have their jobs.
Turns out, U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh probably would have won the bet.
Democrat Tammy Duckworth didn’t take the Republican congressman up on a wager he laid out at their Tuesday night debate — but if she had, it sounds like she would have lost.
The proposed bet involved Chicago Prime Steakhouse in Schaumburg.
Walsh insisted that the restaurant owner was concerned about how Obamacare affected his business.
Duckworth said she also had talked to the restaurant owner and had heard a different story. She accused Walsh of talking too much and not listening.
I’m pretty sure Walsh said the company would be bankrupted by Obamacare. Duckworth said the company would have to lay off a few employees to get it under the 50-worker cap to avoid having to provide health insurance. Here’s the restaurant’s full response…
So that we do not have to respond individually to the high volume of reporters who have contacted us in the last 24 hours, we thought we would just respond with the following statements.
First, we would like to thank both Tammy Duckworth and Joe Walsh for attending and mentioning our round table discussions held at our restaurant, Chicago Prime Steakhouse in Schaumburg, Il, last evening during their spirited debate. My father George Kalkounos and I appreciate your friendship, and both of you along with all of your supporters are always welcome to our restaurant.
Allow me to preface my comments by sharing that I do not have a political axe to grind. I am not speaking as a partisan, I am simply speaking a businessman, and concerned citizen who has a business to protect, a wonderful family to provide for and a hard-working staff to answer to.
The idea of health benefits for employees is a significant consideration that we take seriously. Based purely as a business owner, the AHCA would impose a significant added expense without contributing any added revenue. Plainly speaking the Affordable Health Care Act, as I understand it to be written, is NOT affordable to this small business.
The math is simple, these new rules are creating costs for businesses like our own who already struggle in this economy and we have to treat it as any other expense and attempt to curtail it as much as possible.
I can say that I am assuaged by the fact that both Ms. Duckworth and Mr. Walsh agree that our restaurant will suffer under the new changes implemented by the AHCA and they both want to do something about it. It is of great concern that government is imposing a penalty on businesses that may not be able to afford health care. It burdens entrepreneurs like us that take the risk of leveraging assets and sacrifice time away from their families to create, open and operate a successful business in today’s climate. The AHCA as written goes against supporting our business growth.
As it relates to AHCA, you ask me if my business is better off before it or after, the answer is obviously before. Both candidates agree with this and I am hopeful that this specific issue gets resolved immediately.
Thursday, Oct 11, 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.
* It’s October 11th. Election day is less than four weeks away. Yet the Tribune’s pollster is still surveying registered voters? That’s not great…
With national surveys showing the contest between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney tightening, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows the home-state president retains a comfortable advantage in Illinois even though the economy has drained some of the enthusiasm.
Obama scored 55 percent support to 36 percent for Romney, virtually identical to a similar poll in February before Romney had clinched the nomination.
This poll isn’t worth a whole lot unless you factor in the fact that registered voters tend to lean more Democratic than likely voters.
So, with that in mind, here’s a real problem for the Democrats…
…Obama’s slipping support among white suburban women. The voting group, which is considered politically moderate, favored Obama 63 percent to 30 percent eight months ago. Now Obama’s backing has fallen to 50 percent, with 43 percent backing Romney.
That’s not good news for Democrats. White suburban women are the key to statewide races.
* Not that Obama is gonna lose Illinois, but his performance will impact down-ballot candidates. For instance…
The poll asked a generic congressional support question. In Chicago and suburban Cook County, large majorities of voters said they would vote for an unspecified Democratic candidate for Congress. Even in the Republican-rich collar counties, 48 percent of voters said they’d side with a Democrat compared with 41 percent for a GOP contender.
That dynamic could help Democrats in three suburban contests: the northwest and west suburban 8th District, where Democrat Tammy Duckworth is challenging freshman Republican Rep. Joe Walsh, the north suburban 10th District where Democrat Brad Schneider is pitted against freshman GOP Rep. Robert Dold, and the far west and southwest suburban 11th District, where former Democratic Rep. Bill Foster is running against veteran Republican Rep. Judy Biggert. Chicago TV is full of millions of dollars in attack ads as interest groups try to sway voters.
But there also are three hard-fought congressional contests Downstate. Outside the Chicago region, 48 percent of voters said they’d side with a generic Republican, compared with 42 percent who preferred a Democrat. That lay of the land could help Republicans retain two seats and pick up a third now held by a retiring Democrat.
Again, adjust those Democratic numbers down and you can see the problem here.
* “Saving Illinois taxpayers” via jet helicopter? From the Illinois Review…
Aboard a jet helicopter this morning, on his way from Joliet’s Lewis University airport to Cahokia, For the Good of Illinois founder Adam Andrzejewski just sent Illinois Review a photo of the Illinois River with these words, “It’s a beautiful state and we are going to restore our historic greatness.”
Andrzejewski will join House Republican Leader Tom Cross, State Senator Kyle McCarter, State Representative Dwight Kay and GOP candidates at the first of four planned stops in Wednesday’s “Save Illinois Taxpayers” fly around in Cahokia at 10:00 am.
*** UPDATE *** There’s now a video. Leader Cross talks about the helicopter ride at around the 4 minute mark. Among other things, Andrzejewski claims that the Democrats want another $2 billion tax hike…
* Ignoring complaints about their last ad, which used local Democratic Party officials, the DCCC is running a new ad blasting Congressman Bobby Schilling featuring those same local Democrats…
* Script…
42 years I’ve been working?
Paying all those years into Medicare.
That’s part of my future.
Congressman Bobby Schilling voted to cut Medicare, costing seniors sixty four hundred dollars more per year for health care…
People can’t afford $6400 a year.
$6400 is not affordable.
…Just to fund tax cuts for millionaires.
I don’t know how we’d handle that.
There’s just no way.
Bob just doesn’t get it.
We worked all our lives.
And to take that away from us now would be a lie.
Congressman, you broke a promise to me.
* And AFSCME is also getting involved in the district with this TV ad…
* Script…
Bobby Schilling’s negative attacks on Cheri Bustos? Pure fiction. The facts? Another hundred and seventy Illinois jobs going to China. After Bobby Schilling voted to protect tax breaks that help companies ship jobs overseas. Yep. After all the jobs we’ve lost in Illinois, Schilling voted to help outsource even more. With Bobby Schilling in Congress, the truth hurts. The real story? Cheri Bustos is a working mom who’ll stand up for the middle class and fight for Illinois jobs.
So, here is the hard truth: in less than four years, payments to meet our pension obligations will comprise 22 percent of the City’s budget – one out of every five dollars. That’s $1.2 billion of taxpayer money, and growing, each year after that.
Think about it this way: $1.2 Billion dollars is close to what we spend on all salaries for our Police Department. $1.2 Billion dollars would pay for the resurfacing of 32,000 blocks in Chicago’s neighborhoods. $1.2 Billion dollars could build 10 new high schools and 12 new neighborhood libraries every year. $1.2 Billion dollars could pay for the combined cost of public health programs, garbage collection, tree trimming, rodent control, street light fixing, pot-hole filling, recycling, street cleaning, snow-removal, and programs at our parks and for our seniors every year.
Our taxpayers and residents should not be asked to choose between pension payments and public safety or pension payments and paved streets, or pension payments and public health.
If we choose to keep those services and make no changes to our pension system, you and I would have to ask taxpayers to pay 150 percent more in property taxes. That is unacceptable to me. I think it is safe to assume it is unacceptable to you. And I know it is absolutely unacceptable to the homeowners of Chicago.
No one should underestimate the difficult choices involved in delivering the reforms we need to stabilize our pensions and our pension payments. But they pale in comparison to the alternative – eliminating all of the essential services that Chicago’s residents expect and pay for.
We must come together to ensure security for both our city retirees and our city taxpayers. And what we really need is for our representatives in Springfield to step up, take their share of responsibility and not miss this critical opportunity once again.
The 30-second TV spot refers to Dold as a “Tea Party loyalist” and quotes a Sept. 16 column in the Houston Chronicle. Although the print version of the Chronicle used the phrase, the version available online doesn’t.
Dold, who paints himself as a moderate and has distanced himself from the conservative Tea Party, attacked the ad during a joint 10th District candidate interview last week at the Daily Herald’s headquarters in Arlington Heights.
“The Houston Chronicle actually corrected that, and I’m calling on my opponent to actually take down that ad because I’m not a Tea Party loyalist,” said Dold, of Kenilworth. […]
In an email Monday, Schneider campaign spokeswoman Staci McCabe stood by the commercial.
She provided a copy of the printed version of the Chronicle column to show the “Tea Party loyalist” phrase was used. She had no comment about the phrase’s later removal from the digital version of the column.
Joe Walsh is not the only Illinois Republican in trouble. Four tea party loyalists were targeted by Democrats who control the legislature. Robert Dold, a freshman from the Chicago area, was placed in a Democratic district represented by liberal Rep. Jan Schakowsky. He moved to the neighboring district where most of his current constituents live. His race with management consultant Brad Schneider is highly competitive. The fate of the Illinois Five could depend on the margin of President Barack Obama’s victory in his home state.
Fair or no?
…Adding… From the DCCC…
Congressman Robert Dold really wants to cover up his record supporting the Tea Party Majority in the House of Representatives. Too bad.
In Washington, Congressman Bob Dold went along with extreme cuts to the Great Lakes, slashes to education or Pell Grants, and even restricting a woman’s right to emergency contraception. Now, Congressman Dold seems to have a problem when anyone holds him accountable for putting the Tea Party ahead of Illinois.
“Where was Congressman Robert Dold’s outrage when the Tea Party Majority in Congress pushed cuts to the Great Lakes or restricting a woman’s right to emergency contraception? He was too busy voting alongside them,” said Haley Morris of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Congressman Dold caved to extreme Tea Party cuts that gutted everything from environmental protections to Pell Grants and now he wishes no one knew about it. Apparently the only way to get a reaction from Congressman Dold is to hold him accountable for putting the Tea Party first.”
Background
Congressman Dold Voted to Cut $250 Million from Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. In February 2011, Dold voted to pass the House continuing resolution (H.R.1) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, that cut funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by $250 million – from $475 million to $225 million. In March 2011, Crain’s Chicago Business wrote that Dold had previously promised to protect the Great Lakes but then voted for the Republican’s continuing resolution that included a $250 million reduction in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Dold responded saying, “We have to tighten our belt,” even though “some of the things we cut will be things I disagree with.” [HR 1, Vote #147, 2/19/11; WHTC, 3/02/11; Crain’s Chicago Business, 3/28/11]
Congressman Dold Voted to Cut Pell Grant Funding. Dold voted for two House Republicans budgets that cut critical education programs. “The Department of Education would be cut by more than $115 billion over a decade. Approximately 9.6 million students would see their Pell Grants fall by more than $1000 in 2014, and, over the next decade, over one million students would lose support altogether.” [H Con. Res. 34, Vote #277, 4/15/11; H Con Res 112, Vote #151; OMB, 3/21/12]
Congressman Dold Voted to Allow Hospitals to Refuse to Provide Emergency Care. On October 13, 2011, Dold voted for a “bill to ban effectively abortion coverage in state health-insurance exchanges. The bill also would allow hospitals to refuse to provide emergency abortion care, even when a woman’s life is in danger, and gives states the ability to undermine coverage of many health related services, such as contraception.” [HR 358, Vote #789, 10/13/11; NARAL’s Congressional Record on Choice, 2011]
Illinois freshman Rep. Bob Dold holds the distinction of representing the most Democratic congressional district currently in Republican hands. Add to that the fact that Illinois is President Obama’s home state and he’s going to win biiiiiiiiiiig there. One Tea Party freshman from Illinois, Joe Walsh, is already toast. But Dold, one of the most independent of the GOP freshmen, has run a solid campaign and remains in a competitive contest with Democratic businessman Brad Schneider. Romney’s performance could well determine Dold’s future.
* If you listened to last night’s debate between Tammy Duckworth and Joe Walsh, you might’ve noticed that the audience was quite rowdy. The Daily Herald has one explanation…
a boisterous crowd free to purchase liquor throughout the night — fueled the heated, vitriolic two-hour match between the two candidates
Oy.
I dunno who made that stupid decision, but booze at a debate? At a Joe Walsh debate? You’re just asking for trouble.
“I never said she wasn’t a hero,” Walsh said of Duckworth, who lost both her legs while piloting a helicopter in Iraq. That caused a major groan to wash over the auditorium.
“Yes you did!” someone shouted.
Walsh was responding to a question about whether he was “too extreme.”
Walsh won a chorus of groans later when he tried to defend another comment he made over the summer. He was explaining his remark about Duckworth picking out an outfit to wear at the convention when he said she should have been back in the district talking to people.
It was at that point that Walsh held up the photo he said showed Duckworth shopping for a dress.
He couldn’t even finish his remark. The crowd drowned him out in disapproval.
“What a dork!” said one man, who was wearing an anti-Walsh sticker.
Duckworth was quick with a retort: “I wear one color, it’s called camouflage.”
* I listened to the debate last night. In retrospect, I should’ve live-blogged it. If you scroll down in the ScribbleLive feed in the center column, you’ll see a lot of Tweets from the debate. The Sun-Times Storified it, so you can look at the play-by-play. I can’t find an audio file, so if you know where one is, please let us know in comments.
Duckworth talked quite a bit about bipartisanship, about Republican bills she could support and about how she backed Speaker Boehner’s budget compromise. But, mainly, the debate was all about the zingers…
Chicago Prime Steakhouse in Schaumburg — where Walsh and Duckworth had met, separately, with area business owners — became a talking point for both candidates over how to reform health care. Walsh challenged Duckworth to sit down with owners together to ask “what they’d like to do with Obamacare.” If the restaurant owners said they would keep the controversial legislation in place, he said, he’d personally donate $2,500 to her campaign.
Duckworth dismissed the bet as “classic Joe Walsh grandstanding.”
“He’s voted against this district time and again; he’s not there to serve this district, he’s there to serve the tea party and that simply is not good enough,” said Duckworth.
“She has established a long track record at the Illinois V.A. as a failed bureaucrat who wasted taxpayer dollars,” said Walsh.
* A lawsuit filed by a couple of Duckworth’s former employees was also an issue. From a Joe Walsh press release…
“However what really concerned me is that tonight Ms. Duckworth lied to every voter in the 8th dstrict. When I asked if she was being sued for terminating and humiliating employees that tried to expose political corruption, she said that was not true. Unfortunately for Ms. Duckworth and the taxpayer, who is footing her legal bill for the past three years, she is currently being sued and she should come clean about what happened during her time at the Illinois VA.”
It wasn’t exactly clear what Duckworth was responding to, but the lawsuit does exist. Click here to read it.
* Walsh distributed copies of the lawsuit during the debate, and Duckworth was asked about it by reporters after the debate ended…
“This is what Walsh does,” said Duckworth, who later described suits as “common to a head of any agency.” “He tries to distract from the issues at hand. If you want to make this about finance and being sued by former employees we can talk about the fact that you were sued by your former campaign manager for not paying his salary,” she charged.
* Related…
* Marin: Walsh gaining ground on Duckworth’s territorial advantage: But there is a growing sense that the race is tightening. Sean Trende, an election analyst for RealClearPolitics.com, said Tuesday that the website, which aggregates polling data, is considering downgrading its rating of the Duckworth-Walsh contest from “likely Democratic” to “leans Democratic.”
(T)he American Action Network has a new reserve of about $1,020,000 in broadcast television in Illinois’ 13th congressional district, in both the St. Louis and Champaign media markets.
This reserve is in addition to AAN’s initial $350,000 buy that included television and digital advertising against David Gill.
David Gill is running against Republican Rodney Davis in the district.
* Tom Kacich has more about the $16 million being spent by outside groups in Illinois and in the 13th District…
Almost $2.5 million already has been spent in the 13th District contest. And that doesn’t include spending by the candidates’ campaign committees, which will be officially disclosed next Monday. When all the numbers are added up later this year, total spending on the congressional race undoubtedly will set a local record.
Voters in Champaign-Urbana aren’t accustomed to this kind of free spending and aggressive television advertising in a congressional race. The last competitive congressional contest here was in 2000 when Republican Tim Johnson beat Democrat Mike Kelleher, 53 percent to 47 percent. In that race — and in the days before outside, independent groups got involved — a total of $2.9 million was spent. Since then, total spending in Champaign-Urbana’s old 15th District never exceeded $559,000 in an election cycle. […]
In the 13th District most of the spending has been done by groups opposed to Gill. Four groups — the National Republican Congressional Committee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Action Network and the New Prosperity Foundation — have spent more than $1.5 million on ads opposing the Democratic candidate.
The biggest spender among that group is the NRCC at $585,594. […]
Opponents of Davis, meanwhile, have spent a little more than $940,000 in the 13th District, most of that ($886,000) from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
While nonprofits like American Action Network do not disclose their donors, an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity revealed that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, better known as PhRMA, gave $4.5 million to the group in 2010, which accounted for 15 percent of its income that year.
American Action Network spent $26 million on ads in 2010, making it the second-most active outside political spending group that year behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Center for Responsive Politics also uncovered several other donors to the group including the American Natural Gas Alliance ($35,000), Crossroads GPS ($500,000) and the Republican Jewish Coalition ($4 million).
* The income tax return disclosure issue has been mostly biting Republicans this year, but it’s become a problem for a Democrat in the 10th Congressional District…
The issue of tax returns took the spotlight in a North Shore congressional campaign Thursday as Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Dold made public his tax returns and Democratic challenger Brad Schneider declined to do so.
Schneider suggested voters should look at his candidate disclosure reports to learn about his finances. But those forms, which congressional candidates are required by law to fill out, make it hard to discern his personal income and provide no information about the taxes he pays or his wife’s salary. […]
Schneider, meanwhile, says his accountants haven’t yet finished his taxes for 2011. The candidate said he paid a tax rate of “well in excess of 20 percent” for 2010, but he did not provide documentation.
Without the tax returns, it is impossible to know Schneider’s exact income. The federal disclosure reports require candidates to note only a broad range on the value of assets and, in many cases, income.
Though the Deerfield candidate started a one-man consulting firm in 2008, he reported no direct income from it on his disclosure reports. He did report making about $30,000 in renewal commissions from an insurance firm he once ran.
As we’ve already discussed, a recent Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll found that 79 percent of Illinoisans believe a candidate releasing tax returns was important.
* The Question: Should Brad Schneider release his tax returns? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Tuesday, Oct 9, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
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* This is what’s really at the heart of the matter in the dispute between Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel over who will be the new executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority…
The mayor appoints three board members, the governor four, including the chairman. But there was a “political understanding” that the mayor would choose the executive director to balance things out, said Peter Bynoe, the lawyer who helped create the authority and was its first executive director.
“That was the understanding,” Bynoe said. “I think a lot of people have gotten confused and a lot of things have gotten blurred since then.”
There used to be the same sort of deal with McPier, until the law was rewritten. Springfield has its own such arrangements. The House Republicans for years controlled who was director of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. And it’s still their guy, kinda.
…Adding… The governor’s people say the governor’s office has controlled the post for quite a few years.
* So the governor now wants to break the old ISFA arrangement, perhaps because he’s trying to stop Mayor Emanuel from cutting a multi-million dollar deal to help the Chicago Cubs, and maybe the Bulls and Blackhawks. The governor ostensibly controls the ISFA board, but the mayor can be mighty persuasive and there are some very persuadable people on that board.
From what I hear, Quinn can’t get the ISFA board to back him up on his new executive director appointment of communications director Kelly Kraft, so they’re in stalemate right now.
* And it sure looks like the mayor’s side retaliated by leaking or at least pointing to a bit of somewhat embarrassing information about the past life of the governor’s choice to run the agency. She didn’t do anything that millions of other Americans haven’t done in this country. But it’s Rahm, so he’s always gotta be brutal. Always with the dead fish. Always with humiliating the enemy.
Gov. Pat Quinn accuses Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel of character assassination in connection with Quinn’s choice to run the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. […]
Finally, the governor’s office confirmed that shortly before she joined the Quinn administration, Kraft filed a personal bankruptcy in 2009, with $102,500 in debts mainly from credit cards.
The governor says his appointee’s financial problems stemming from a “personal situation” are resolved, as he blamed the mayor’s people for trying to smear Kraft’s reputation.
“I wish the mayor would stop doing this. This is a very good person. Stop assassinating her character. He has his operatives doing that. That’s not the right way to go,” said Quinn.
“I want the best there,” Emanuel said. “I have nothing against Ms. Kraft, nothing individually… we need to make sure the people in and around the Illinois Sports Authority have the best professionalism to achieve that goal of protecting the Chicago taxpayers — not anybody else — Chicago’s taxpayers, from paying the bonds if, God forbid, anything bad happens.”
Kraft was a TV reporter before she joined the Quinn administration as a budget spokeswoman in 2009, the same year she filed for personal bankruptcy with $102,500 in debt. The case has been resolved. Quinn later promoted Kraft to assistant budget director before naming her his director of communications in July.
Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday accused Mayor Rahm Emanuel of blocking the governor’s choice to lead the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority — and tarnishing the reputation of a “strong woman” in the process — to pave the way for a “backroom deal” to renovate 98-year-old Wrigley Field. […]
“We’re not gonna have any backroom deals involving the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and Wrigley Field. I want to make sure there is someone there — the executive director — who is a goalie for the taxpayers and prevents any cooked-up deals behind closed doors on Wrigley Field,” the governor said in an exclusive interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
Quinn then referred to Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell’s failed plan to have the state acquire and renovate Wrigley under now-convicted-and-jailed former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
“We’ve already had a preamble here — a couple of efforts to use public money to invest in Wrigley Field. We don’t want another one of these deals that comes down that involves a private sports stadium, Wrigley Field, wanting public money with the cooperation of City Hall,” Quinn said.
“I’ve said over and over again I don’t think public money should be abused with respect to private stadiums. Kelly Kraft is a strong woman who knows how to say `no’ to proposals that are not in the public interest. That’s what the position entails: A person who knows the financials, knows the bond world and is able to prevent backroom deals.”
The Sun-Times claims that sources close to Emanuel say he has no intention of using the ISFA in a Wrigley deal.
* Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is reportedly mulling a “violence tax” on guns and ammunition…
Such a tax alone wouldn’t close a $115 million budget gap in 2013, but it could at least funnel money into the county’s $3 billion operation — where roughly two-thirds of the budget pays for both the county’s public health clinics and two hospitals along with the criminal justice system that includes the courts and jail.
“If we were to pursue a tax on something like guns and ammo, clearly that wouldn’t be popular with the [gun lobby] out there, and it may not generate $50 million, but … it is consistent with our commitment to pursuing violence reduction in the city and in the county,” Kurt Summers, Preckwinkle’s chief of staff, said on Monday.
The idea is to curb the number of guns in circulation, he said, citing a report issued last summer showing that nearly one-third of the guns recovered on Chicago’s streets were purchased in suburban gun shops. Other statistics are more dire: Murders in Chicago are up 25 percent this year, according to recent police statistics, and the county jail is filling up — with 9,000-plus inmates, nearing the 10,155 capacity. […]
The cost to treat a gunshot victim, without insurance, is pegged at $52,000, Summers said. And 70 percent of gunshot victims don’t have health insurance, he says.
* The Illinois State Rifle Association’s response…
“Today the president of the Cook County Board announced another in a long string of schemes to punish law-abiding firearm owners and firearm dealers. In the past, the county board has tried banning firearms and heaping all sorts of red tape on firearm owners and dealers – all in an attempt to discourage county citizens from exercising their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms. This latest proposal, a tax on firearms and ammunition, will raise very little revenue and do nothing to stem the violent crime that Cook County has become famous for.
“As with the county board’s past gun control schemes, this firearm and ammunition tax is just a smokescreen designed to obscure the fallout from ineffective government. Estimates are that about 90% of those people who commit murders in Cook County have previous criminal records. Likewise, estimates indicate that about 75% of murder victims have criminal records as well. These numbers are an indictment of the Cook County courts and the county’s correctional system. It’s clear that the county cannot deter criminal activity and cannot rehabilitate the criminals that do end up incarcerated. Regardless of what the county board would have us believe, the problem of crime and punishment in Cook County is not the fault of law-abiding hunters and sportsmen.
“Whether board president Preckwinkle likes it or not, the demand for firearms and ammunition by law-abiding citizens remains strong – in great part due to the failure of the county to keep its streets safe. Imposition of this punitive tax on guns and ammunition will do nothing to stem that demand. The reality is that lawful firearm dealers will avoid the tax by moving out to the collar counties and take their law-abiding customers with them. And with their customers will go hefty sales tax receipts that far out strip any revenues that the firearm “sin tax” would generate. And lastly, passage of this tax on firearms and ammunition will make reelection bids much more expensive for those board members who vote for it.”
There’s not a lot that a state legislative candidate can do when his or her party’s presidential nominee starts to tank.
The presidential race drives turnout to the point where candidates lower on the ballot must struggle mightily to rise above the noise and get their messages heard by distracted voters.
And because there are no statewide races in Illinois this year, that means there are no truly high-profile campaigns to “break up” any presidential advantage or momentum.
Congressional races are all that state legislators have this year to cushion the blow from the top, and down-ballot candidates are increasingly placing their hopes on those contests.
After 2010, downstate Illinois looked like highly fertile ground for the Republican Party. If the GOP had fielded better candidates in the Metro East area near St. Louis, for instance, they might have picked up more seats in the Legislature.
But 2010 is little more than a memory these days, and although downstate still has several opportunities for Republicans, the north and northwest Chicago suburbs appear to be gaining importance. Lots of proud ticket-splitters in that area, along with some viable Republican congressional incumbents (Bob Dold and Joe Walsh), means it could be fertile ground for the Republicans.
The 29th Senate District might be one example. Arie Friedman (R-Highland Park) is running as a moderate Republican. He was slammed hard last month by the conservative Illinois Family Institute for claiming to be pro-choice, which the Republicans actually loved. They believe the attack will help Friedman with more moderate voters, and that’s the path to victory.
The Democrats thought they had this Senate district in the bag, along with both of its House districts (Reps. Elaine Nekritz and Scott Drury). But the area’s congressional races (especially Dold) have the Republicans believing they’re at least in the hunt in all three legislative contests.
Polling shows single-digit advantages for the Democrats in those three races. If Dold’s lead evaporates, then the GOP candidates further down on the ballot are probably cooked. If Dold hangs in there, the others might at least have a shot.
So far, Dold appears to be holding his own. The latest We Ask America poll taken last week had Dold up by almost four points.
The Senate Republicans are hammering Friedman’s Democratic opponent, Julie Morrison, of Deerfield, in the mailboxes these days. Two recent mailers highlighted Morrison’s struggles on three separate occasions to answer questions about where she stood on the state income tax increase.
The Republicans believe that once north suburban voters have “checked the boxes” on abortion, guns and other social issues, they’re open to listening to fiscal messages such as taxes. That worked well for U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk in the area when he was a congressman, and Dold has positioned himself the same way.
Friedman has a history of being conservative, however, so this is somewhat of a GOP makeover attempt, and the Democrats are saying voters won’t buy into it. They may very well be right. The Republicans may have needed a more moderate candidate there.
What looks to be a fairly close congressional race in the Quad Cities/Rockford/Peoria region is working to the Democrats’ disadvantage in state Sen. Mike Jacobs’ (D-East Moline) district.
Jacobs has made some major missteps in his career and has real problems with his Democratic base. And even though President Barack Obama will win the Senate district by a sizable margin, Jacobs still is struggling hard to defeat Republican Bill Albracht.
And Albracht is being helped against the prevailing presidential winds by U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling’s race against Cheri Bustos. The latest We Ask America poll taken last week had Schilling (R-17th) leading by about 2 1/2 points, while Obama led by about 7 points in the district.
This explains why the Illinois Republican Party chairman recently declared that most of his organization’s energy would be focused on congressional races this year. Simply put, the Republicans have to break up Obama’s momentum in his home state and create some of their own momentum in the congressional races to avoid a down-ballot disaster.
Obama helped the Republicans by performing badly in the first presidential debate Wednesday night against Mitt Romney. As a result, he lost some ground nationally and here in Illinois.
That doesn’t mean Obama will lose Illinois or even the election — George W. Bush badly lost his first 2004 debate to John Kerry and still won. But if Obama doesn’t regain his footing, it could mean that Republicans running for Congress and the Legislature won’t have to push so hard against the wind.
* The DCCC has slightly different numbers in the Schilling vs. Bustos race. From a press release…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a new Anzalone Liszt poll showing Cheri Bustos gaining critical momentum over Congressman Bobby Schilling.
After overcoming a 9 point deficit in August, Bustos now holds the lead over Congressman Schilling 45 percent to 44 percent and is winning independents 39 percent to Schilling’s 37 percent.
This poll also shows that attacks on Congressman Schilling’s record of voting to end the Medicare guarantee just to give tax breaks for outsourcers are working, and Congressman Schilling’s popularity is tanking. President Obama is set to win big in Illinois 17th Congressional District as he did in 2008.
Barack Obama holds an 11-point lead over Mitt Romney (51% Obama / 40% Romney), in a district he won by 21 points in 2008 (60% Obama / 39% McCain). Obama further consolidating his 2008 coalition could cause Schilling even more problems.
* The Tribune endorsed Tammy Duckworth for congress…
Walsh has been a congressman made for cable television, but not for his constituents. He has fueled the political vitriol that has paralyzed Washington, that nearly shut down the federal government, that has failed to produce meaningful fiscal reform and economic recovery. We saw something in that endorsement interview — what a congressman Joe Walsh might have been.
Our endorsement instead goes to former Veterans Affairs leader Tammy Duckworth, a war veteran from Hoffman Estates, who has campaigned as a constructive, bipartisan problem solver and would eschew extreme rhetoric in favor of thoughtfully working together. We think she would be the kind of moderate Blue Dog Democrat who reflects the new 8th District, which takes in portions of western Cook, northern DuPage and eastern Kane counties.
* Walsh issued a defiant statement in response…
“I’m not at all surprised by the decisions of the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald to endorse Tammy Duckworth. Ms. Duckworth has always been the preferred candidate of the elite Chicago liberal media. The day I care what the Chicago media thinks about me or this race will be the same day that I leave the political arena. I am running for Congress to serve the people of the 8th district, who are struggling to find work, stay in their homes, and are fighting to make sure that their kids and grandkids have the same opportunities that they did.
“For years, the Chicago media has been out of touch with families like those in the 8th district. It is no surprise that these papers lose readership almost every single year and have essentially become irrelevant and bankrupt. It is because the elite media does not understand that American families are fed up. They are sick of the same old politicians making promises to get endorsements. As the Tribune said of my opponent, she is a ‘more-practiced politician. Practiced, that is, in not offering her opposition targets by getting to specific on solutions.’ I can not and will not go down that same road.
“We are at a crucial point in America, and this country needs leaders who will stand up and say no to Washington’s back room go along to get along deals. Now more than ever we must move past the talking points and come up with real solutions. The elite Chicago media will never understand that, but the American people do. Let us remember that if the good people of Illinois cared about what these irrelevant papers had to say, Tammy Duckworth would now be serving her third term in Congress, as both the Herald and Tribune enthusiastically endorsed her 6 years ago, against Peter Roskam.”
…Adding… A commenter sums it up well…
If he truly did not care about getting the newspapers’ endorsements then he would not have bothered to sit down with them for the endorsement interviews.
His press release is little more than the response of a petulant child who did not get what he wanted.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a new automated poll showing Tammy Duckworth with a 10 point lead, winning 52 percent over Congressman Joe Walsh’s 42 percent – dangerous territory for an incumbent. Congressman Joe Walsh’s favorables are underwater with nearly half of voters holding a negative opinion of him. In contrast, Tammy Duckworth is both well known and well liked with a definite advantage in this Democratic leaning district.
“The problem Congressman Joe Walsh faces is that voters both know him and dislike him,” said Haley Morris of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “While Illinois families have had enough of Congressman Walsh’s dangerous uncompromising Tea Party record in Washington, they clearly favor Tammy Duckworth as the only candidate standing up for the middle class.”
* Related…
* Truth check: Is Duckworth violating uniform rules?: Department of Defense rules state that members of the military “not on active duty (including retired members) may use photos of themselves in uniform for ‘campaign media’ purposes.” However, “the photo or information must be accompanied by a prominent and clearly displayed disclaimer that neither the military information nor photographs imply endorsement by the Department of Defense or their particular military department.”
* The House Majority PAC says it will spend $2.4 million on ads linking moderate Republican US Reps. Judy Biggert and Bob Dold to Joe Walsh and other unpopular conservative people and causes.
When Fox Chicago reported exclusively on Rep. Judy Biggert’s income tax returns two weeks ago, we noted that she is believed to be the wealthiest member of Illinois’s Congressional delegation. Her Democratic challenger, though, is even wealthier, a point underscored in her new attack ad.
A Foster spokesman said the 11th District congressional candidate is, indeed, a multi-millionaire. But he called just about everything else in his opponent’s new ad misleading. He said a theatrical stage lighting company Foster co-founded in 1975 did layoff 61 people during a downturn a decade ago, but it now employs more than ever: 650 in the U.S.
The new ad debuted as Foster released his income tax returns for the first time ever. One surprise in a review by Fox Chicago News: while preparing his campaign to return to Congress, Foster earned so little last year that he owed no income tax. His wife, Aesook Byon, also a physicist like Foster, filed her taxes separately. She made more than $200,000 in 2011. So, the couple paid about $55,000 in taxes — 24.7% of their income.
While Foster sold his interest in the lighting company to his partners in 2007, the payout will take 16 years and be taxed at the lower, capital gains rate. In 2010, for example, Foster and his wife received a combined $1.5 million, with 18.6% their effective joint tax rate.
* Biggert’s campaign pounced on the fact that Foster paid no income taxes last year. From a press release…
The Judy Biggert for Congress campaign today released the following statement from Naperville small businessman Jimmy Bergeron, owner of Jimmy’s Grill:
“I’m a hardworking small business owner and taxpayer, and the things Bill Foster voted for while he was in Washington makes it harder for me to keep my doors open. He’s running again, and he’s always talking about how he wants to raise taxes on people like me. So I was pretty angry when I saw on the news that he paid no federal incomes taxes last year. It’s incredibly hypocritical of Bill Foster to pay no taxes when he’s running around campaigning for higher taxes on hardworking small business owners.”
* The Biggert campaign also wants Foster to release more returns…
Over the weekend we learned that millionaire former Congressman Bill Foster paid no taxes last year. In keeping with a promise she made on Fox Chicago during a televised debate, Representative Biggert previously provided the last five years of her returns to the station. In the interest of transparency, the campaign will offer other members of the media the same opportunity. But it comes with a challenge - will Congressman Foster release the last five years of his and his wife’s returns to the media as well?
* Biggert has been running an ad claiming that the “millionaire former congressman” Foster outsourced jobs to Wisconsin and backed legislation that allegedly “sent jobs to China”…
Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Hinsdale) has been endorsed by the Illinois Education Association. The announcement was made at Hinsdale South High School in Darien Monday.
Biggert is the incumbent running for the 11th Congressional District. Her opponent is Democrat Bill Foster.
Although some members of the Republican Party have actively said they don’t agree with teacher unions, Vice President Kathi Griffin of the Illinois Education Association said it’s important to look past Biggert’s political party.
“I think it’s important that we focus on what the candidate stands for,” Griffin said. “It’s not whether you are a Democrat or Republican. It’s whether you’re a friend to education, and that’s what we see in Judy Biggert and why we are endorsing her.”
Even better than the recommendation — IEA does not use the word “endorse” — the group’s national parent, the National Education Association, several days ago quietly disclosed a $546,000 “independent expenditure” on her behalf.
A vote for Biggert would be a vote for fiscal restraint. And her re-election would be a constant, nagging reminder to House Speaker Michael Madigan and the rest of his crafty mapmakers that the voters don’t like being used as pawns.
Always with the Madigan.
* And I can’t remember if I posted this last week, so here’s the US Chamber’s latest ad against Foster…
* I told you over the weekend that a St. Clair County judge has accused Democratic congressional candidate Bill Enyart of pushing her during a Saturday parade. She now wants an apology and says all will be forgiven…
Immediately after the press conference, [St. Clair County Associate Judge Laninya Cason] was a guest on the Dana Show, a radio broadcast emanating from St. Louis that is heard on KFTK, 97.1. Cason told conservative host Dana Loesch that if Enyart will make a “proper” apology, she is willing to drop her efforts to have him charged.
“I don’t want him to have a criminal record,” she said, “but I won’t be bullied.”
“He did apologize immediately when he accidentally bumped into her, as witnesses have attested,” Bresler said Monday. “This is political campaign silly season.”
* There’s also some to-do being made about this photo of the judge wearing a Plummer sweatshirt the day of the parade…
As for Cason wearing a Plummer sweatshirt, Cason said only wore it because she was cold and asked a Plummer supporter if she could wear one temporarily.
The Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct urges judges not to get involved in politics beyond handing out their own political literature and speaking about their own campaign. […]
Asked whether such a public association with political candidates might violate the judicial ethics code, Cason said, “No. Absolutely not. We are running on the same ticket. So we can support each other.
…Adding… As some commenters have noted, that sure looks like a Plummer t-shirt worn over a sweatshirt. So, her explanation appears bogus.
Frankly, I’m a little surprised that this hasn’t gone national. It’s tailor-made for Drudge. “White Democrat allegedly shoves black Republican woman.”
* VIDEO: Judge Laninya Cason demands apology from General Bill Enyart after alleged altercation
* 12th candidates differ on future plans for ‘Obamacare‘
* Cason files amended JIB complaint against opponent: Cason, who switched political affiliation from Democrat to Republican after a falling out with party leaders earlier this year, claims her opponent Associate Judge Zina Cruse has engaged in an additional 15 ethical violations since her original complaint accused Cruse of improperly presiding over cases in which her campaign manager, Belleville divorce attorney Charles Courtney, represented one of the parties.
* Editorial: Judge Cruse could have avoided ethics question
Tuesday, Oct 9, 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.
