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* Inside Rep. Weller’s Nicaragua land deal - Illinois lawmaker benefits from trade accord, fails to report extent of his ocean-view holdings…

Besides not mentioning his Nicaraguan investments during the CAFTA debate on the House floor, Weller did not give anywhere close to a complete accounting of them in his required 2005 financial disclosure statement. House ethics rules require representatives to disclose all property they own except for their personal residences.

The congressman listed only one Nicaraguan property purchase on his 2005 disclosure form, but property records in Nicaragua show that he bought or sold at least eight pieces of land.

That’s not the only discrepancy. On at least two occasions, Weller has reported a land sale on his House ethics form and reported a much lower price for the same sale on Nicaraguan property records. […]

Since his wedding, Weller has omitted his wife’s finances from his annual personal financial disclosure form, which calls for the inclusion of spousal assets.

* Dems at odds for pick on State’s Attorney

* State’s attorney hopefuls studied

* Obama’s family tree gets even more interesting

One of Obama’s ancestors once accused a fellow New England colonist of witchcraft and later stole from the governor’s house. Another had two brothers killed by American Indians, who scalped one brother and kidnapped the other’s daughter. Still another ancestor was said to have been slain by pirates. And yet another lost a son in the Civil War to pro-slavery bushwackers who torched the man’s home and threw burning coals on his infant daughter.

Obama has ancestors who were born in Kenya, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and the Netherlands. And today, he has seven half brothers and half sisters living across the world.

* Father of fallen Marine to run for Congress in 8th district

* Archpundit: Time for Dan Lipinski to go back to academia

* Geneva mayor vying to succeed Rep. Hastert

* Former Gov. Thompson backs Giuliani

* Thompson’s for Giuliani, Hastert’s for Romney

* Haas: Green Party prepares for 2008 run

* Dick Simpson: How to fix county government

The next three steps to be implemented by the Stroger administration recommended by the transition team will be: 1) implementing performance measures for county government services, 2) greening (or pro-environment) efforts throughout the county, including new rubberized asphalt paving projects in the suburbs, and 3) releasing the proposed county budget on time for the first time in many years.

In a democracy there should be discussion, debate and leadership. No one expects all of the transition team proposals to be enacted. Team members are as fallible as anyone else. But in the current meltdown, the administration is beginning to reinvent county government. After November, the entire transition team report will become public and we will all be able to evaluate the Stroger administration’s performance. Bringing the county into the 21st century is important for all its citizens.

* Stroger open to hiking taxes on utility bills, cigarettes

* Stroger ally proposes three types of tax hikes

* Chicago Public Radio: Property tax relief for Cook Co?

* Possible Union influence in elections rile commissioners

* Tribune Editorial: The Chicago city sheep

* City’s public school may try to franchise success stories

* Kane county still tops charts of collar county poor

* Illinois sees more interest in mortgage program

* New law aims to keep guns from mentally ill

* Editorial: Thumbs up to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

* Friday Beer Blogging: Beer snob edition

posted by Paul Richardson
Friday, Sep 7, 07 @ 7:27 am

Comments

El Geraldo lives!

Comment by The Blogger Formerly Known As Anonymous Friday, Sep 7, 07 @ 8:30 am
Paul - the link to the article about Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns didn’t work.

Any rumors about if Hastert will make an endorsement in that race?

Comment by Napoleon has left the building Friday, Sep 7, 07 @ 8:38 am
Napoleon, thanks for the heads up.

It should link correctly now.

Comment by Paul Richardson Friday, Sep 7, 07 @ 9:27 am
Nice to see that the Trib finally decided to go after Weller. Better late than never!

Oh, and the smart money is on Hastert endorsing Oberweis.

Comment by Stuck with Sen. CPA Friday, Sep 7, 07 @ 9:36 am
Regarding excise taxes, I have already commented on the tendency of large excise tax increases to reduce total revenue take.

I would like to post the following regarding excise taxes and lower income taspayers.

EXCISE TAXES IMPOSE GROWING BURDEN ON THE POOR
Excise taxes on items such as cigarettes, alcohol, gasoline and telephone service may be a minor nuisance to a wealthy person, but they take up a significant share of a low-income family’s income, say Michael L. Davis, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), and Robert McTeer, a distinguished fellow at the NCPA.

Consider:

One-third of lower-income U.S. adults smoke, versus one-fifth of middle- and high-income earners, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
High school dropouts who smoke spend three to four times as much of their income on tobacco products as professionals who smoke.
The portion of income spent on alcoholic beverages by the lowest fifth of earners is double that of middle earners and more than three times that of the highest earners, on average.
As if taxes on cigarettes and alcohol weren’t enough, poorer taxpayers are also disproportionately burdened by excise taxes on necessities such as gasoline, utilities and telephone services:

Statistically, people making $24,000 a year spend more than twice as much of their income on gasoline as those earning five times as much.
People making less than $10,000 a year spend nearly one-fifth of their incomes (18.8 percent) on necessities subject to excise taxes, including utilities and public services.
They pay almost six times as much of their incomes on these taxes as the highest earners.
Some health policy advocates claim taxes on harmful behaviors encourage people to change their behaviors in socially desirable ways. But this paternalistic argument is really disingenuous — these taxes are designed to raise revenue, not discourage unhealthy behavior. Overall, this new system of raising taxes on “sins” and necessities is actually punishing those who have the temerity to be poor.

Source: Michael L. Davis and Robert McTeer, “Excise Taxes Impose Growing Burden on the Poor,” The Heartland Institute, October 1, 2007.

For text:

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=21931

Comment by Truthful James Friday, Sep 7, 07 @ 12:20 pm
It was a given that there would be no Party endorsement in the State’s Attorney race,given that there are several good candidates with different bases in the party.I’d bet on Sufffredin for several reasons: some African American poiiticians may not be interested in giving Brookins a boost - Rich Stuart suggested getting elected State’s Attorney would be a steeping-stone for a future mayoral run. Suffredin will sweep the major newspaper endorsements because of his smarts, and because he is the obvious “good governemnt” candidate; Allen and Brookins will split the machine vote. Suffrecin will do very well with the independents, on the lakefront, and in the suburbs. But it will be a fun race to watch.

I’ll be happy to vote for the winner of this primary, whoever it turns out to be, against Tony Peraica.

I was a little surprised that the party dumped Santos. She definetley is in real trouble, Dean Maragos has plenty of money and desparately wants to be elected - otherwise he would not keep runniing repeatedly.

Comment by Captain America Friday, Sep 7, 07 @ 2:02 pm