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* No retreat for gov’s fighting donors
It was a weekend retreat. Gov. Blagojevich had gotten together with his top fund-raisers at a Lake Geneva resort in the fall of 2003.
The governor gave a speech. There was a cocktail party and a boat cruise. Then, at 2 in the morning, a fight broke out.
The public never heard about it. But documents obtained by the Sun-Times show that one Blagojevich campaign backer went to a hospital and another ended up the subject of a monthlong police investigation.
* School board to ignore state’s moment-of-silence law
The loophole means educators must comply with a law that is poorly defined, leaving teachers open to lawsuits and students vulnerable to teachers who might use the moment to promote prayer, said state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston).
On Oct. 18, Schoenberg sent letters to 17 school systems in his legislative district, which stretches from northern Chicago to Glencoe, calling on school districts to apply for a waiver on grounds that the law represents “undue interference in the ability of teachers to manage their own classrooms.”
“Right now school districts across the state lack formal guidelines for how to follow this new law,” Schoenberg said. “[Legislators] deliberately wrote the bill so that it was not directly part of the school code so there’s no [possibility to seek a waiver].”
* Daley rips Loop business tax
Calling it “dangerous” and a “disaster” for Chicago’s thriving downtown, Mayor Daley on Wednesday shot down an aldermanic plan to tax downtown businesses for police and fire protection to lop another $16.4 million off the mayor’s record property tax increase.
Twenty-two aldermen have signed on to a plan to impose a 40-cent-per-square foot “public safety assessment” on “each commercial owner or tenant occupying more than 5,000 square feet” of space in an area bounded by Congress, Halsted, Michigan and the Chicago River.
* Daley cool to proposed downtown business tax
* Chicago Public Radio: Aldermen take final stab at changing the budget
* Alderman plays hardball with Children’s Memorial Hospital
Reilly is the rookie alderman at odds with Mayor Daley over the mayor’s plan to build a Children’s Museum in Grant Park.
Now he’s naming his price for signing off on the 275-bed hospital that Children’s Memorial wants to build at 215-233 East Chestnut: Add parking, provide relief for traffic-choked intersections and guarantee that a heliport won’t endanger public safety in a congested area with 25,000 residents and 8,000 more units being built.
* Tasering grandma displeases Daley
Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), chairman of the City Council’s Police Committee, said the incident exposed by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell could have been worse.
“It’s very unfortunate that it had to result to that, but I certainly understand. I’m pleased that they decided not to shoot her and they decided not to tackle her and that they didn’t use the night stick, which may have been options if someone is swinging a hammer at you,” he said.
* Orlando Jones death still under investigation
* Judith Miller: Secrecy should concern all
Charles Lewis, president and CEO of the Fund for Independence in Journalism, said there seems to be a “war on journalists” with the cutback in government information being made available.
And Charlie Wheeler, director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at UIS, said he’s seen a move by government at several levels seeking more than ever to “control the message,” with one way being to avoid questions from “pesky reporters.”
The administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, he said that Statehouse reporters tell him, is “the most closed (state) government we’ve ever had.”
posted by Paul Richardson
Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 9:14 am
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Yep! Remember this one, A State Senator Mike Jacobs, D-East Molin complained Friday that Gov. Rod Blagojevich made unethical threats against him and that the two nearly came to blows in a disagreement over health care. “There should never be a time when the governor of Illinois threatens someone in a political and personal manner. It’s beneath the decorum of this building,” said a visibly angry Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline.
Comment by Don't worry, trust us - ROD Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 9:29 am
If you’re talking about the first story it looks like two supporters came to blows. The only reason the Governor is in the middle of it is because someone in that administration intervened.
Comment by Levois Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 9:43 am
I could tell you that Blago’s govt isn’t keeping government closed and a secret, but that information is a secret. shhh don’t tell anyone.
Comment by Ghost Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 10:25 am
the locked door to the Governor’s Press Office says it all.
Comment by capitol view Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 10:44 am
The media has only themselves to blame for Blagojevich’s manipulation of the press.
Stop whinning and start really reporting!
Comment by Push the Envelope! Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 11:24 am
If the fighters are Blago donors, are they Indian givers?
Comment by Anon Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 12:44 pm
I wonder why the mayor doesn’t want to hit up his friends in the downtown business community.
Comment by Levois Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 4:27 pm
Good old Rajinder. If he was only half as successful in operating DCEO’s Office of Trade and Investment we might make some progress on exports and reverse investment. Instead, he’s busy hushing these people, raising money for the Governor, and traveling the world.
The AP might want to take a look at his travel history and ask what results we have for the tens of thousands of dollars we’ve paid for his junkets.
Comment by Paroled Thursday, Nov 8, 07 @ 7:24 pm