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Â· Legislators file FOIA to find out what’s in budget. Meanwhile, the AP follows up on Chambers’ piece with “Illinois deficit largest in U.S.”

Â· “A highly touted music festival in Chicago Saturday and Sunday drew an estimated 2,000 fans. The cost to Illinois taxpayers: About $100 for each person who attended the inaugural Move! Chicago International House Music Festival.”

Â· Wine legislation signed into law

Â· ‘Big Box’ ordinance debate heats up

Â· “Chicago aldermen have cracked down on foie gras, public smoking, noisy street musicians and drivers yakking on cell phones. Now they want to microchip Fido.” They also want a big raise.

Â· It’s now Adeline Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park

Â· UAL to post first profit since 2000

Â· “A former high-ranking state official and childhood pal of Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced Monday to 15 weekends in the McHenry County jail after pleading guilty to a 2005 charge of drunken driving.”

Â· Sen. Garrett must be making the editorial board circuit these days.

Â· Fun link of the day: How fast can you type?

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 4:19 am

Comments

â€œ Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s budget director said the state’s financial condition isn’t as bad as those numbers suggest. John Filan said Illinois is taking in more than enough money each year to pay its annual expenses.
If Illinois is taking in more than enough money to pay the annual expenses â€“ then what is the problem? I am sensing another spin on the story. Double talk, double talk, gobble gobble goo.

Comment by state worker A Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 6:07 am
Re: FOIA
It’s pretty pathetic when legislators don’t know what is in the budget.

Re: Filan
Yo, Johnny, the State of Illinois is not a ‘joint’. I’m sure you and Rod know exactly what a ‘joint’ is so try to scrape up a ‘roaches’ worth of respect.

Re: $100 taxpayer/person music fest
What, are they trying to keep up with the World Shooting Complex?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 6:37 am
Re: $100 taxpayer/person music fest
Did we get a better return on that investment, or from the state’s subsidy of the “Gay Games”?

Comment by Leroy Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 6:51 am
The MOVE fest must have been run by people borrowed from ALLKIDS.

Or was it a Ken Dunkin thng?

Comment by Gregor Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 7:10 am
73.48 words per minute (1 mistake). Beat that!

Comment by Schiznitz Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 7:51 am
Wow, we found Radagno, no where is Stewie Umholtz?
As for the wine law, what donor, er vendor makes the tamper proof bags?

Comment by Wumpus Extremus Maximus Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 8:36 am
I’m with Daley on the big box ordinance.

Comment by Levois Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 8:40 am
The microchipping idea is interesting, mostly for the fact that it is like mean thoughts. There is no practical way to accomplish the goal.

Microchipping is a great idea [my GSD was microchipped by the breeder], but I don’t have a clue how it will be enforced. Most people in the City don’t have dog licenses, so it looks like more worthless legislation.

Certain alderman really seem to have lossed focus. We need to worry about things that the City can change, like marking street lanes and adding more police. They need to stay out of things like foie gras (not to digress, but let’s hope the alderman don’t find out how KFC raises chickens) and microchipping.

Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 8:44 am
Let’s see…Ken Dunkin chairs the tourism committee…Illinois Tourism Bureau tax dollars flow into the house music event…Dunkin’s campaign Manager Randy Crumpton was in charge of this fiasco.

How much money did these charlatans make from our tax dollars? How much of our money did they lose?

Comment by Phocion Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 9:02 am
Dunkin is one of the most effective, hard-working legislators in the GA. You guys will slander anyone who does a good job for his constituients but who doesn’t live close to you or who is not some right wing freak.
Give me a Rep. like Ken who knows how to bring home the bacon.

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 9:07 am
Hey Rich, I just got a press release from the Peraica’s campaign whose pollsters show him with a 42-38 edge over Prince Todd.

Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 9:17 am
House music all night long! The idea was right, but like any first time project the end result may not be what was expected. Miami hosts the Winter Music Conference every year in March which bring big tourism $$$ since people from around the world flock Miami for WMC. Why not bring a WMC caliber event to where house music was born, Chicago!

House music is one of few musical tastes that brings people from all backgrounds together under one roof to dance off the everyday stressors of life. The negativity, the cynicism, the political jargon, the disagreements are left behind. People need to experience the positive vibes first hand.

This event has potential to bring in revenue for the State and the city. Give it a chance.

Comment by House Music frees the mind, spirit, and soul Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 9:31 am
Before any cynical people start accusing me of being an organizer or being on Dunkin’s staff, I am neither!! I actually did not attend the event b/c I was out of town. Otherwise I would have been there!

Comment by House Music frees the mind, spirit, and soul Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 9:36 am
Speaking of Morning Shorts, it appears Capt. Fax omitted the pinch of Lake County GOP (as in MOPE) honcho (and former chair)Tom Adams on kiddie porn charges.
Don’t love when the party of morality hits itself in the head?

Comment by Reddbyrd Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 10:15 am
The best part about the whole dog chipping issue is that Schulter, a northside Alderman, invited JBT to take part in the press conference with him. Any other questions about how Rod’s neighbors feel about him?

Comment by Odd Man Out Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 10:22 am
The MOVE fest looked suspect from the get go. Even if it was a good idea, nothing justified putting 200K into it. (Other than desperation to pass a budget that is)

Comment by Blow the Whistle Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 10:44 am
Illinois, New Jersey or Michigan - which state is sliding downhill faster?

Granholm is trying to find out if a bake sale is going to bail Michigan out.

Corzine is trying to find out if jacking taxes even higher after promising tax relief will bail New Jersey out.

Blagojevich is searching for state assets to sell off to his friends.

Geez, Indiana is looking better every day.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 10:49 am
Vanilla man,
Seeya!

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 11:00 am
“In his third term, Dunkin became the Chair of Tourism and Conventions. He allocated $200,000 in seed money to Crumpton to launch the first state-sponsored house music festival. When pressed to elaborate, he says, ‘You know how it is. You from Chicago?’ I tell him I’m not, but have an idea of how things work here, to which he replies, ‘Well there you have it!’ He later expounds, ‘Now, we already discussed how this town works, so we don’t have to go through this. I chair the committee, I come up with a great idea, and you know: dot, dot, dot. We didn’t break any laws, but we made it happen! It’s the city that works, now!’” http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/5561.html

Comment by Move Fest = Total Scam Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 11:10 am
And get this. The house music festival got $200,000 in state taxpayer largesse. Then they turned around and charged $65 per ticket. Funded by the people, but not free for the people?

As for the embarassed Tourism Bureau flacks defending this disaster (see “frees the mind, spirit and soul” commenter), how is it that other music festivals in Chicago, like Lollapalooza, get ZERO dollars in public financing but draw hundreds of thousands of people?

The real scandal has yet to be uncovered, though: How much did Dunkin cronies Crumpton, Dunson and Mathes pay themselves to run this festival into the ground at taxpayer expense?

Comment by Move Fest = Total Scam Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 11:14 am
‘The house music festival got $200,000 in state taxpayer largesse. Then they turned around and charged $65 per ticket’

This is a classic example of how you launder public money into private money.

Comment by Leroy Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 11:17 am
I don’t know nor am I aware of the politics involved with how the fest was organized. All I know is that the idea was a good one considering that Miami banks with their tourism every year with the Winter Music Conference. I am strictly speaking as a dj and someone who appreciates house music.

If you pundits want to beat each other over the ’scams’, by all means do so. I just see the potential of tourism revenue this type of event can bring in down the line. Maybe the marketing was at fault. And perhaps the festival should have been free, but like I said I don’t know and if it was a scam then shame on the organizers.

Comment by House Music frees the mind, spirit, and soul Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 11:27 am
Vanilla Man: If you think Indianna ever looks good you must be GOP that Cellini and KJ can count on

Comment by Reddbyrd Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 12:11 pm
this is good news for IDOT. At least there is good qualified minutemen patroling the highways.

a letter written by a constituent.
——————————————————————————–

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE (LETTER)

Highway heroes

Paul Iams
Published July 25, 2006

Wilmette — Recently I had a blowout on Interstate Highway 55 heading into the city. I immediately called 911 and was connected to the Illinois Department of Transportation. In less than 10 minutes, one of the big green trucks was pulling up behind me. The friendly and personable Minuteman towed me to a safe area, changed the tire and sent me on my way. Total elapsed time: less than 35 minutes.

Later I read “Minutemen name rescued; IDOT workers keep it even though immigration group uses moniker” (Metro, July 16). These guys deserve to wear the title Minuteman.

They’ve earned it–day in and day out–saving people on the expressways.

This letter must include a shout out to Ilio in Unit 968.

You are the best! Keep up the great work.

Comment by Feedback Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 1:01 pm
Rich, there’s quite a discussion on The Fix about an Obama candidacy. It generated a lot of discussion over here (and gave you fodder for a column), so I thought people here might want to check it out.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/07/2008_the_case_for_barack_obama_1.html

Today, Cillizza gives the argument for an Obama candidacny. On Thursday, he’ll make the case for why Obama shouldn’t run.

Comment by Dan Vock Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 1:27 pm