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Morning shorts

Posted in:

· Quote of the week. Governor Blagojevich answering a question about limiting his fundraising.

Now (people) are saying I should, suddenly, operate under a different set of rules when I have the possibility of Ron Gidwitz selling a Picasso for $50 million.

· The defense rests.

· Sweet writes about the 3rd CD.

· Stefanski busted for DUI again. S-T reports he’s finally gone.

· Roland Burris hosts funder for Blagojevich. Tix are $500.

· A commenter asked last night about Andy Martin. Today, the Daily Herald runs a profile.

· More later.

· Sen. Carole Pankau calls Comptroller Dan Hynes a Blagojevich lapdog.

· Pioneer Press has a 6th CD roundup.

· Pharmacist still refuses to compromise beliefs.

· Dave Clarkin has spoken often about his grandmother with me. I never met her, but she sounds like she was a fascinating lady. Dave’s a friend and I asked him to write up an obituary for her. Here it is:

Mary “Carol” Clarkin, a newspaper reporter whose career spanned six decades, passed away Tuesday. Carol began writing in the 1940’s for the Jacksonville Journal-Courier and then the old Springfield State-Register. After a stint in p.r., she joined the Alton Telegraph, where she covered politics for 28 years. Among her career highlights, Clarkin interviewed Truman Capote, Cesar Chavez, and enjoyed a lifetime friendship with newspaper colleague Paul Simon, whom she said “launched his campaign on Edwardsville’s courthouse steps, speaking not from a piece of paper but from the heart, and then took questions from the crowd. It was classic Paul.” In her semi-retirement, Clarkin was a columnist for St. Louis’s Suburban Journals until 1996, drawing upon her experiences as a member of America’s “Greatest Generation.” Carol Clarkin was 85.

Final arrangements are pending courtesy of Weber Funeral Home. Memorials are being accepted in lieu of flowers on behalf of Hospice of Southern Illinois.

· Clean air measures advance.

· Note to DuPage Dems: Hiram’s got your weekend planned.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 4:49 am

Comments

  1. that last link is dead. try this instead

    http://www.dailyherald.com/politics/ele_story.asp?id=165214

    Comment by Name/Nickname/Anon Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 6:35 am

  2. Stepanski is gone, but is he really gone? He says he is fighting the DUI’s. After all, once in state government, an employee gets to keep his job almost no matter what, unless he is double exempt and serves at the will of the governor. Which is possible in this case.

    The Democrats will probably get him a job in some other government entity.

    Stepanski obviously is a patronage hire with a problem he can’t control, making him visible. One wonders how many thousands of other state patronage employees Blago has put in place in the bureaucracy that we don’t hear about.

    And they are expensive.

    Comment by Cassandra Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 7:12 am

  3. Add to that Cassandra a another example is Roland Burris. When he held office they hired his nephew who did not show up for work half of the time and when Roland got out of office his nephew cashed out thousands of dollars in sick and vacation time.Funny thing no one to this day knows how he earned it.Right now there is a woman who was hired 2 years ago at almost 90 thousand a year.She has been to the office 3 times.The claim is she can do her job from her home.

    Comment by DOWNSTATE Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 7:31 am

  4. Lynn Sweet wrote about the 3rd District, where John Kelly is making ground against incumbent Dan Lipinski. John Sullivan’s poll driven campaign sent voters a slick and expensive mailer - they should have added adhesive gum to the fold-out window banner. Guy’s like me can’t find the scotch tape after Christmas.
    Lynn Sweet’s column featured a centered and smiling John T. Kelly book ended by the other candidates: Lipinski appears lost, again, and John Sullivan looks like Niles Crain from the Frazier show.

    Comment by Pat Hickey Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 7:50 am

  5. Based on the S-T article, it sounds like Stefanski is facing some serious jail time. Hard (both not impossible in Illinois) to stay on hte state payroll while in jail.

    Comment by Bluefish Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 10:05 am

  6. If Pankau tries this ‘lapdog’ approach with the Comptroller, she is going to be in for a rude awakening. Dan has shown a tremendous amount of leadership and independence in his office and has the record, and support, to prove it.

    Comment by Hon. John Fritchey Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 10:57 am

  7. Thanks Rich, and everybody else for your calls and e-mails.

    Comment by Dave Clarkin Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 11:11 am

  8. Well… I guess Blago reads the blogs. That was a hilarious post about Gidwitz selling the Picaso. And when I was done reading it, I knew it was fake… this is the kind of stupid thing that makes everyone think that they could be governor. I think my 2 year old nephew could be a better governor. Atleast he would have more common sense… this is too good… it’s even better than Bill Brady’s “Republican Farty.”

    Comment by Lovie's Leather Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 11:28 am

  9. Carole is cute but if she didn’t have a safe seat there is no way she would be running against Danny. she will be locky to get 30%.

    Comment by Bill Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 2:13 pm

  10. Hey Downstate – we have a couple of people like that lady who works from home in my District. The only difference is that they don’t claim to work from home – we have no idea what type of work they do, we only know they are listed as being in Traffic Safety. You may see them 1-2 times per month (if that). They have assigned desk and phones. Get this – we even have a ‘law enforcement liaison’. You may see him 2-3 times a month (in the afternoon). What a joke.

    On another note, we even had a guy show up last year in a suit and he stated that he was supposed to be working at IDOT. No one knew he was coming (none of the B-team knew). When he got there he then proceeded to fill out an application and they found an empty desk for him in Land Acquisition and that’s where he’s been since. Did I mention he was a 6 grade music teacher and he is now our condemnation manager? He is the only condemnation manager in the entire state.

    Comment by girl friday Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 9:27 pm

  11. As to the Guv’s being threatened by Giddy’s Picasso, dumping that $50 million into his campaign might move him up 5 points in the polls.

    And as for this Stefanski joker being on the state payroll after 1 DUI and finally fired after 2, it’s a good thing he didn’t kill anyone (including himself) in his “incidents”. It would have been some awful PR.

    Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Mar 9, 06 @ 11:10 pm

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