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Afternoon shorts

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Illinois

I was going to hold these for tomorrow, but then I collected too many of them, so I’ll dump ‘em on you now instead.

Â· Kadner takes a big swing at “Little Mikey” Madigan.

Â· McQueary: Sleeping with the enemy

Â· Pat Guinane has a good piece about leasing the tollway. Pat is in Indiana now and covered the tollway lease in that state.

Â· Illinois proposes scaled-down version of bridge

Â· “More than 20 people came to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus for a public hearing on a proposal that would require all pharmacies in Illinois to inform customers of their right to have contraceptive prescriptions filled.” … Only 20? Has this issue died down?

Â· Pinney responds to criticism.

Â· Dude, I know just how you feel. Same here.

Â· UPDATE: I forgot one.

The swirl of confusion over the health of Cook County Board President John Stroger took a dramatic new legal turn Monday as two board members took steps that ultimately could lead to the selection of a new, interim county chief, perhaps within a matter of weeks.

In separate actions, Commissioner Michael Quigley formally requested a legal opinion from Stateâ€™s Attorney Richard Devine on if and how the board can act if the president is found to be incapacitated. And Commissioner Anthony Peraica began circulating a resolution to call a special board meeting on Mr. Strogerâ€™s status.

Though neither action necessarily will lead to the selection of a new board president, they add a new note of immediacy to a controversy that, until now, has largely centered on whether Mr. Stroger will step down from the Democratic ticket in the November electionâ€”not whether someone else should take over county government now.

The spokeswoman for Mr. Stroger, who suffered a severe stroke in March, released a statement saying only, â€œWe are not in the position to tell commissioners what they can or cannot do.â€

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 1:41 pm

Comments

I hate to be the one to point out the obvious to Kadner, but Mike Madigan is not the problem.

Last I heard, there were forty-something Democrats in the House ready to support radical education funding reform. Missing are the Republicans and the Governor. If Governor Rod Blagojevich hadn’t made such a big point out of the fact he would veto any effort to fundamentally reform school funding, everyone in Springfield knows we would’ve had a rollcall by now.

Instead of blaming Madigan, who rallied Democrats to pass the Edgar Plan in 1997, Kadner should focus his vitriol where it belongs: on Blagojevich, and whomever has advised the Governor to paint himself into this corner, despite recent polling from NIU which shows the majority of Illinoisians support an income tax increase to fund education.

Kadner would also do well to remember that Republican Kay Pangle didn’t loose the 79th State Rep. race because she supports education funding reform. She lost because, as a school superintendent, Pangle used her office to attempt to shield a school district employee accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a student.

The former state rep. for the 79th, Phil Novak, was a leading member of the Downstate Caucus and a staunch supporter of education funding reform. I have no doubt Lisa Dugan will do what’s right, as soon as we elect a Governor willing to do what’s necessary.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 2:10 pm
That Kadner column was a riot.

Comment by Levois Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 3:11 pm
Pat Guinane’s article is a good read — except for the unfortunate use of the term “cash strapped”. Governments are like teen aged kids. The are supposed to be on a short leash balanced budget. It is the taxpayer’s (the parent’s?) money they are using.

When the Indiana toll road fees for cars doubles, is that not a tax on the users? When that facility is privatized and a component for profit is added in, is that not an additional tax on the users?

Comment by Truthful James Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 3:52 pm
ydd: the lack of leadership on the governor’s part does not excuse a failure of leadership by the speaker. you cannot cite a nine-year old example as an honest counter-point. are you arguing that madigan has leadership *potential?*

face it, madigan plays multiple roles in illinois (speaker, head of party, ward boss) and his lack of leadership in this area cannot be excused because the governor’s failed, too. it’s possible that this issue hasn’t been properly addressed precisely because madigan plays so many roles in illinois politics. perhaps if his only concern was maintaining control of the general assembly (whatver, pick one), he might have more flexibility to deal with the real problems that illinois faces.

or not. i could be wrong. the fact is, so much of democratic politics in illinois is done behind the curtain that an outsider can only speculate. but i’m not willing to take an insider’s word for it. i understand the inherent conflict of interest here.

and that’s my point…

Comment by bored now Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 4:38 pm
What a bozo day this has been…Cheney doing the CashDash in Lake Forest and Cornflakes Kadner dazzling all with his witty commentary. Wonder if the editors down there in the Southland — whatever the hell that is — ever notices no one pays attention to Phil? At least Rick Bryant got himself an airport

Comment by Reddbyrd Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 5:59 pm
What is Maureen Murphy doing protecting Democrats?

Comment by Schiznitz Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 6:31 pm
This isn’t the first time Madigan has questioned the Governor, and I dont think he’s been dormant for the past 9 years. I think he knows that it’s easier to let people formulate their own opinions about the subjects while reminding everyone that even the most genuine idea (not that I think Blago’s idea was genuine) requires much thought and legal review.

Comment by NotABlagoFan Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 8:20 pm
YDD- Kadner is simply pointing out that Madigan and the Illinois Democrats control EVERYTHING, yet they can’t pass a bill that they are supposedly in favor of. Who cares what the Republicans think? They don’t control anything.

Tell your Speaker to put up or shut up, and don’t criticize a Republican for bravely supporting a bill that the Speaker himself was the lead House sponsor of.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=750&GAID=3&GA=93&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=1147&SessionID=3

Comment by Mad at Mikey Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 9:49 pm
As long as the pork dollars keep flowing in sufficent amounts to cronies and contributors, and debt is “manageable”, why should Mikey tick off his union and blue collar base by raising taxes and fraudulently claiming that “property tax relief” would survive more than an election cycle?

He knows, despite the smoke put out by teacher union shill groups like EFAB, A+ Illinois, and Martire’s “Center for Tax and Budget Accountability”, that there’s more than enough money being spent in Illinois to provide a quality education to every child in our state.

He understands that the corrupt and wasteful delivery system is the problem, and that no matter how many billions are poured into public education in Illinois, only a small fraction of the resources, if any, will benefit our children.

He’s putting the onus on Blago to deal with the ed funding issue, and create a path for daughter Lisa to be the “White Irish Knight” to come riding to the rescue in four years.

It would be politically stupid for him to steal her thunder and become the “main” Madigan between now and then.

Comment by PalosParkBob Tuesday, Jun 6, 06 @ 12:29 pm